Alex Smith: "They don't give trophies out after nine weeks"

[Pugz]

The Kansas City Chiefs improved to 9-0 with a win at the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

But some are dubious of the quality of that record as the Chiefs haven't had the most difficult schedule.

"The funny thing is, a little bit I feel like what are we even talking about? There's a system in place in the NFL to find out who's the best," said Alex Smith. "It's the 16 game season and it's the playoffs. To be speculating right now, nine games in, who's the best and who's not is just talk.

"They don't give any trophies out after nine weeks, and we understand that and all the talk of any of that is just talk. It's pointless in my mind. It has it set up to find out who's the best and that's our focus, just one game at a time, one week at a time until we get there."

Via Joel Thorman/Arrowhead Pride

 

[Fuhgeddaboudit]

Who here doesn't think the Chiefs are overrated? 

 

[Hurricane Season]

They may be underrated at this point because everyone thinks they're overrated.

 

[RipCity32]

I'll take 9-0 for what it's worth. They are a damn good team.

 

[Teagz]

Played the easiest schedule of any team in the league. They're easily the worst 9-0 team ever.

 

[RipCity32]

Wins a win. So such thing as an easy game in football.

 

[Big Bid'Ness]

Week 11 awaits

 

[BwareDWare94]

I kind of feel that Andy Reid isn't revealing too much offensively because of how good his defense is. I think they're capable of more than this, at least.

 

[bosoxlover12]

I wouldn't go that far, but I agree about that defense.


They have great edge rushers in Justin Houston and Tamba Hali. Dontari Poe is a really good NT this season, stuffing the run with success. DeVito was a good pickup, as he is a good run stopper as well. Tyson is solid, and is definitely having his best year this year. Derrick Johnson is still playing at a Pro Bowl level at ILB. Eric Berry is a top 3 safety this season, and the CB trio of Sean Smith-Brandon Flowers-Dunta Robinson is a lockdown group.

The offense needs work, for sure. But compare this Chiefs team in a way to the 2011 49ers. The SF offense was a run dominant: Frank Gore had 282 rushing attempts, 5th most in the NFL, for 1,211 yards, 6th in the NFL. Their passing attack was not great; they relied on only Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, who combined had 46% of the team's total passing targets go to them (50.1% of the teams completions as well). And the Niners had a ridiculous defense, with good DBs, a run stopping 3-4 DL, good edge rushers, and good ILBs.

The Chiefs have a similar offense approach. They use Donnie Avery and Dwayne Bowe as their main receivers, but their offense runs through Jamaal Charles. Charles gets a lot of rushing looks (on pace to exceed 1,288 rushing yards this season), while coming close to a projected 700 yards receiving as well, (so close to 2,000 total yards for those who cant math).

So as we call these Chiefs "the worst 9-0 team out there", remember they are 9-0. And they are set up very similarly to the 49ers, who have been the most successful team in the NFC in the past 3 years or so.

 

[Bengals1Fan]

I agree. 9-0 is 9-0. While the Chiefs may not look like a 9-0 team on paper, they are. Even Denver lost, and after week one if you had to pick a team to go 9-0 I think we all would've chosen them. Dwayne Bowe has statistically played fairly well over his career in KC without a solid quarterback. Now that he has Alex Smith, they're going 9-0. I believe in the Chiefs, and will continue to think highly of them, until they start losing games and give me a reason not to believe in them.

 

[Giantmetfan07]

I agree they're 9-0 but we'll never know since aside from the Broncos their schedule is crap. Take them for what they are, a great pass-rushing team with a great secondary, a lot of pro-bowl talent all around and a QB who doesn't make bad decisions too frequently. 

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

I don't think they are as good as their record indicates but either way, I give them credit for being 9-0. I just feel like they really haven't been challenged yet, but they only play the schedule they are assigned so you can't blame them for that, they are taking care of business. I think the Broncos will take the division, as they play each other twice yet. The best team they've probably beaten thus far is the Browns. They have Denver twice, San Diego twice, Indianapolis, New Orleans, San Francisco and Green Bay yet. I think it's safe to say we will get a much better read on this team in the coming weeks. 

 

[BwareDWare94]

I think we get so caught up in this new, high octane offense NFL that we forget what a great defense is capable of. We're not talking about the Chicago Bears with Jim Miller or rookie Kyle Orton, either. Alex Smith is significantly better than that.
 
And realistically, the NFL isn't nearly as high scoring as some people think. Lots of games end with at least 1 team not even reaching twenty points.