KANSAS CITY, Mo.
Adrianna Franch Jersey . -- The Kansas City
Chiefs felt on top of the world a week ago, when they were coming off a narrow
win at Carolina -- mostly because they were suddenly on top of the AFC West.They
sure didnt feel like that Sunday.Their offense continued to fizzle in the red
zone, where Alex Smith threw a crucial interception in the fourth quarter. Their
defense couldnt get Tampa Bay off the field on third downs, when Jameis Winston
was able to repeatedly find Mike Evans and the rest of his wide receivers for
first downs.The result was a 19-17 setback that changes the complexion of the
Chiefs entire season.No longer are they fighting for the No. 1 seed in the
playoffs. Now, theyre fighting to make the playoffs.Its just one game. We have
to figure out what went wrong and move forward, Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell
Schwartz said, trying to put things in perspective. It is an aberration,
hopefully. Its not the type of thing a really top-tier team would let happen to
them.Yet it happened. And it happened on both sides of the ball.So far this
season, the Chiefs (7-3) have been able to bail out their defense by converting
crucial plays on offense, while their defense has stood tall when the offense
has been scuffling.When both sides went haywire Sunday, the result was obvious:
a loss.We have to execute the plays. Thats the cause. We stopped ourselves, said
running back Spencer Ware, held to 69 yards rushing in another dismal effort. We
know what we need to fix and were going to continue to work on it as a team.That
may be the biggest thing going for Kansas City as it tries to bounce back from
its first loss since Oct. 2. There was no finger-pointing in an eerily quiet
locker room, only resolve to fix the issues that have become the Chiefs biggest
concern in the waning weeks of the regular season.On offense, its the failure to
score inside the opponents 20-yard line.Kansas City came up empty on three trips
two weeks ago at Carolina, and was converting touchdowns at a 40 percent clip
heading into Sundays game against Tampa Bay. The Chiefs settled for a chip-shot
field goal by Cairo Santos on their first trip, then Alex Smith threw an
interception that spoiled their comeback.It also set up Tampa Bays touchdown
march that essentially sealed the victory.Its hard when you get that far down
there. The back line becomes another defender for them, Schwartz said. We need
to be able to stick to it and be able to execute the plays.The interception was
on a play designed to be a quick pass to a slanting wide receiver, but Tampa Bay
safety Chris Conte never bit on it. He was there when Smith released the pass,
and coach Andy Reid said later the fault for the call rested on his shoulders.We
were rolling there at that point, Smith said. Had a good run on first down and
were sitting there at second-and-goal, and you just cant have it. You cant throw
it. Youve got to protect the play.On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs need
to figure out ways to force fourth downs. The Buccaneers were 11 of 16 on third
down, none bigger than Winstons pass to Evans on third-and-3 just before the
two-minute warning. It not only gave them a fresh set of downs, but allowed them
to run off all but the final 8 seconds of the clock.We didnt do a good job
rushing the quarterback, said Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston, who made his
season debut after ACL surgery in February. He had plenty of time in the pocket.
We didnt get in the pocket at all, no penetration. We have to do better.It didnt
help that their secondary was missing top cornerback Marcus Peters, who has been
dealing with a hip pointer. Peters hoped to play against Tampa Bay but the pain
was too much.Now, the Chiefs hope hell be back for a Sunday night showdown
against AFC West rival Denver.They need to have their other issues fixed,
too.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and
http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL.
Emily Sonnett Jersey . John Tavares,
Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling
Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early.
Ali Krieger Jersey . Dallas hasnt ruled out
the star quarterback for Sunday nights game against Philadelphia, but all signs
point to Romos back injury pushing Kyle Orton into the starting role after two
years of limited play as the backup. Surely Ortons name isnt the first that
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