The Eighth
Have you ever had one of those moments when the coincidences of life are so overwhelming that you have to pay attention? I’m talking about when the Universe seems to be yelling at you to pay attention. For example, I once met this girl who, as we were talking, I discovered that her siblings had my exact first and middle names. See what I mean? that’s a pay attention God moment for sure.
As we prepare for this week of football, it occurred to me that the Chiefs are pursuing their eighth straight win in Patrick Mahomes’s eighth season, having just acquired Andy Reid’s newest chess piece, number 8 Dhop; I think we should pay attention! Come to think of it, how come there isn’t an 8th wonder of the world? Why only 7?
In the game in Las Vegas last week, it was encouraging to see MVPat spread the ball to 8 different Targets. Taylor’s BF checked in with a great performance, hauling in ten passes for 90 yards and a TD. We saw number 8 Dhop check in with two catches for 29 yards; however, impressively, MVPat wasted no time finding Dhop early in the game on a critical early 3rd down and 7 to keep the Chief’s opening drive going. The drive resulted in a touchdown and gave the Chiefs early momentum.
What more can we say about this defense? Truly, Steve Spagnuolo has crafted a fierce, tenacious, never-say-die defense. Our defense was challenged by having to make a superhuman goal line stand to preserve the win and protect the Chiefs from a turnover deep in Raiders territory that started on the Chiefs 3-yard line. What we witnessed was a team that refuses to lose. This defense was left with only 9 feet of real estate to keep the hard-charging Raiders away, and they did!
On four straight plays, the Chiefs defense stonewalled the Raiders repeatedly as if to say, “Not today,” preserving a very slim Chief’s lead of 17-13. The Chiefs would take that momentum and go on a long 19-play drive that resulted in a field goal that stretched the lead to a touchdown at 20-13.
On the Raider’s ensuing drive, with the Chiefs clinging to a touchdown lead, the Raiders appeared to start a drive to tie the game. However, On the drive’s second play, the Chief’s defense came up with the surefire game-winner. If the goal-line stand preserving the lead was the main course, this play was the creme-brulee dessert. With exactly, you guessed it, 8 minutes to go in the game, Mike Pennel stripped Gartner Minshew of the ball, and the Chiefs recovered the fumble. The Chiefs Offense knew precisely what to do with this do-over, and followed up with a Touchdown to go-up 27-13 from where they would not look back.
The previous two times the Chiefs started a season undefeated were in 2013 and 2017. In both years, the Chiefs were quarterbacked by Alex Smith, and those streaks ended at nine wins and five wins, respectively. Neither of those teams resembled these Chiefs. How do we describe perfection? We may never see anything quite like this again. What does it take to qualify as a wonder of the world and who exactly makes these decisions? Perhaps the 8th wonder is a 3-peat NFL Champion!
These Chiefs are showing us that in a year where they are chasing the three-peat of titles, the little extra is to be still undefeated at this point in the season. I mean, what-if they didn’t lose this season? Ok, Ok, Let’s take it as the Chiefs do, collecting one win at a time. Bring on the Buccaneers at Arrowhead to party in prime-time on Monday night. Lets-go!