Tag: first half

Chiefs’ top performers from first half of 2020 season

A look at the top performers from the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half of the season.

At the halfway point of the 2020 NFL season, the Kansas City Chiefs sit with a 7-1 record. They’re atop the AFC West division and a half-game back of the AFC conference lead. Things are looking good for the defending champions in their title defense, but there are still areas where they can look to improve in the second half of the season.

The team received some top-notch performances from key players in the first half of 2020, headlined by QB Patrick Mahomes, TE Travis Kelce and DT Chris Jones. They’ll look to build on those performances during the final half of the season.

Below you’ll find a look at the top statistical performers for the Chiefs from the first half of the 2020 season:

First Half Recap: Washington trails Eagles, 17-7 at the break

A slow start was buoyed a bit by the Washington defense, and Dwayne Haskins was able to add a late touchdown for Washington before the half.

A tough first half was provided a face-lift late in the second quarter when CB Fabian Moreau was able to pick off Carson Wentz, and Dwayne Haskins led the offense on a late scoring drive, finding tight end Logan Thomas wide open in the endzone.

However, if you were expecting to see a new-and-improved product from the Washington Football Team in the opening half of their first game of the season, you are probably extremely disappointed thus far.

If you were tepidly tuning in to see the defense look great, and the offense try to get going, you pretty much got what you were expecting.

Halftime Stats

Washington Football Team

  • 7 Points
  • 137 Yards
  • 1-7 on 3rd Down
  • Haskins: 7-for-16, 76 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
  • McLaurin: 3 catches, 43 yards
  • Gibson: 6 rushes, 33 yards
  • Defense: 4 sacks
  • Punts: 5

Philadelphia Eagles

  • 17 points
  • 175 yards
  • 4-7 on 3rd Down
  • Wentz: 14-for-19, 182 yards, 2TD, 1INT
  • Goedert: 4 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD

It was more of the same for Washington early on against the Eagles. Dwayne Haskins and the offense were unable to get anything going in the first quarter, with 5 punts in the half. On defense, it was a slow start, with the Eagles marching down the field for an opening-drive touchdown to Zach Ertz in the first quarter, and then a field goal on the next drive down the field. Though there were many holes in the secondary, the defensive front did a great job of containing Carson Wentz at times.

The defensive line was the early star of the game, with a total of 4 sacks in the first two quarters. Of course, Philly is playing without three of their starting five offensive linemen, but it’s still nice to see Washington take advantage of that.

Early in the second quarter, Haskins was able to get into a bit of a rhythm and lead a drive down the field. However, K Dustin Hopkins was able to convert a 48-yard FG, pushing it wide left. Though no points were scored, there was at least some positive momentum for the offense.

The next time the Eagles were on the field, it was yet another Wentz-to-TE classic, this time with him finding Dallas Goedert down the field for an impressive touchdown. It became extremely apparent down the stretch that Washington’s line may be solid, but they are getting completely lost in coverage.

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5 takeaways from Seattle’s 28-23 divisional-round defeat in Green Bay

The Seattle Seahawks fell to the Green Bay Packers by a score of 28-23 in the divisional round of the playoffs. Here are five takeaways.

The Seattle Seahawks fell to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the 2019 NFL playoffs, extending their losing streak at Lambeau Field to nine games. Here are five takeaways from the loss on Sunday.

Disastrous first half

The Seahawks went into halftime trailing 21-3 as their defense could not stop a nosebleed. They could not generate much offensively, only scoring a 45-yard Jason Myers field goal and a subsequent 50-yard miss and a failed Hail Mary attempt at the end of the half. The Packers outgained the Seahawks in yards 201 to 135, as well as the time of possession with 18:05 to Seattle’s 11:55. Green Bay would match Seattle’s subsequent touchdown in the second half with one of its own, and this would ultimately prove too much to overcome.

No answer for Davante Adams

Davante Adams finished with eight receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns and had 120 yards and one TD in the first half. He burned whoever covered him and the Seahawks defense simply had no answer for him in particular. He caught all four of his targets of 10 or more yards downfield, and one of those was a clutch third-and-8 conversion that went for 32 yards when the Packers needed a play to run the clock down. He averaged 5.7 yards per route and was Aaron Rodgers’ most reliable target, as well as Green Bay’s biggest contributor to its offensive production.

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Strong second-half surge

The Seahawks came out of halftime to score three consecutive offensive touchdowns, getting them back into the game. They could not capitalize on opportunities when the contest was on the line, but the Seahawks continued to make the statement that they are a no-quit team, as they have often been throughout the Pete Carroll era. They always find a way to stay in the game and receive a chance to win it. Unfortunately, they could not pull it off this time.

Defense horrid on third down

Ken Norton Jr.’s defense got torched on third down all game long, including several times with the game hanging in the balance. The Packers converted nine of their 14 third-down attempts and were six of eight after making the score 28-10 in their favor. In addition, all three of Green Bay’s first-half TDs were on third down. The Seahawks defense could not get stops when they needed to, and this played a huge role in the outcome.

Former Seahawk Jimmy Graham makes the game-winning catch

Tight end Jimmy Graham made perhaps the biggest catch of his career when he converted a third and 9 with 1:48 remaining in the game. The spot was controversial, as it appeared Graham was short of the first-down marker, but the Seahawks defense could have prevented him from making the crucial catch, and they did not, nor did they get to quarterback Aaron Rodgers when they needed to. Graham caught two additional passes on third down and was clutch for the Packers with the game on the line. This will obviously sting Seahawks fans quite a bit, but it must have felt good for Graham to win against his former team.

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5 takeaways from Seattle’s 28-12 blowout road loss in Los Angeles

Five takeaways from the Seattle Seahawks 28-12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on the road during Week 14’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup.

The Seattle Seahawks (10-3) suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory to the Los Angeles Rams (8-5) Sunday night and fell back to second place in the NFC West after the San Francisco 49ers’ (11-2) victory over the New Orleans Saints (10-3).

The Seahawks also dropped their first road game of the year, fell back to the No. 5 seed in the NFC and were denied from clinching a playoff spot. Running back Rashaad Penny sprained his ACL and the team as a whole looked terribly unprepared and outmatched. Here are a few additional takeaways from the game.

Wheels fell off offensively after the opening drive

The Seahawks managed a field goal on their opening drive and did not score offensively again until the fourth quarter when they kicked another field goal. They were held without an offensive touchdown for the first time all season. Russell Wilson and his cohorts never established a rhythm and often found themselves punting away. Wilson was under duress from the Rams’ ferocious pass rush and his receivers could not consistently get open and had a few drops as well. Penny’s injury may have played a factor in the results, but the Seahawks offense could not capitalize on the opportunities given to them. They will have to return to form to compete in the postseason and fast.

Almost no pass rush whatsoever

The Seahawks’ pass rush reverted to their inept form that was on display for most of the season before Week 10. The defense landed no sacks on Jared Goff, and this contributed significantly to the hefty production of the Rams’ offense. There were a few moments of pressure, but not nearly enough to even keep Seattle in the game, let alone win it. The Rams offensive line kept their signal-caller clean and he made plays when he needed to. The same cannot be said for Seattle’s pass rush. Speaking of the defense…

Defense gave up three touchdowns in the first half

This is not a recipe for success. The secondary was routinely gashed for big gains by the Rams’ receivers and looked thoroughly outmatched for the majority of the game, but this was especially evident in the first half. All three of the Rams’ first-half TDs came from sustained, high-yardage drives and the third one came right before halftime. The Rams received the second-half kickoff and largely controlled the game from there thanks to the sizable lead they built up.

Quandre Diggs was the lone bright spot on defense

Diggs had two interceptions of Goff, the first being a pick-six when Seattle was down 21-3. Jason Myers missed the extra point, but this play had the potential to be a massive shift in momentum for the Seahawks. Unfortunately, the offense could not take advantage of the big picks from Diggs and the rest of the defense certainly did not help matters. This was a solid game from the veteran safety and it could provide something for him to build on even more.

This was one of the ugliest Seahawks losses of the Pete Carroll era

Seattle could not establish a run game, sack the quarterback or consistently cover the Rams’ offensive weapons. Pete Carroll prides his reputation on his teams being able to execute in these situations and Seattle was poor in all categories tonight. Not even Wilson could provide many heroics, and this team just looked wholly unprepared for one of the most important games of the season. It is not uncommon for Carroll’s teams to lose, but they rarely get blown out. It is even rarer to see them get blown out on primetime in December. They did Sunday night against a division rival, and they must recover from it and defeat the Panthers (5-8) on the road next week.

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Key takeaways from first half of Chiefs vs. Chargers

These things stood out in the first half of the contest between the Chiefs and Chargers.

Most fans will tell you that this has been a strange game so far.

Everyone expected both teams to come out and execute at a high level on offense but mistakes have plagued both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers. The Estadio Azteca field is falling apart on the players as they play on it, which is very uncharacteristic of an NFL quality playing surface. The scoring is extremely low with less than 20 points between the two teams and the Chiefs leading at halftime by a score of 10-9.

Here are some key takeaways from the first half of play:

Lack of offensive execution

This looked to be the first game where the Chiefs had their full complement of offensive personnel at their disposal. Unfortunately, the offense just hasn’t done a good job executing in the early goings of the game.

Mahomes has been unable to get anything going in the passing game. He completed just two passes in the first quarter and then his star wide receiver Tyreek Hill left the game with an injury. Hill’s absence has seemingly changed the gameplan for the Chiefs, but even before then they were struggling to find any consistency.

Mahomes even forced a deep ball and threw an uncharacteristic interception. That alone should tell you how out of sync the Kansas City offense has been so far in this game.

Defense stepping up

The story of the first half has been the opportunistic Chiefs defense. They’ve still struggled to stop the run and running backs in the passing game, but they’ve been forcing mistakes from Chargers QB Philip Rivers.

Kansas City forced two interceptions in the first half of the game. One came because of pressure from DE Frank Clark. He swatted Rivers’ hand and the ball came out funny and landed in the waiting arms of DT Derrick Nnadi. The offense was unable to capitalize on this one.

However, the next interception was just some great ball-hawking from safety Tyrann Mathieu. The following play LeSean McCoy got a carry and took it for a touchdown to give the Chiefs their first lead of the game. If the Chiefs can keep forcing turnovers they’ll definitely have an opportunity to come away with a win in Week 11.

Special teams still concerning

Special teams has really been no good for the Chiefs this season. It’s to the point where Dave Toub can’t defend how poorly they’ve executed at times. This game hasn’t exactly restored anyone’s faith in the Chiefs’ special teams.

Chris Jones had a post field goal attempt penalty that cost the Chiefs yardage. Later, the punt coverage unit had an opportunity to come up with a muffed punt and they just failed to capitalize even though they had four players in the area.

It just seems like mental mistakes are continuing to compound each other and cost the team valuable opportunities. At some point, it’ll come back and cost the Chiefs more than yardage or possessions in a game.

Texas vs Iowa State: First half recap

An ugly first half for the Longhorns got saved by a Brennan Eagles touchdown. If Texas wants to win, the offense must step up and convert.

Until the final drive of the first half, it was an ugly start to the day for the Longhorns. Punting the ball five times, Texas went three-and-out four times and added a turnover on downs deep in Iowa State territory.

Luckily for the Longhorns, they were able to find some rhythm with under a minute to go in the first half, scoring on five plays in 30 seconds. Quarterback Sam Ehlinger found Brennan Eagles on a spectacular 14-yard touchdown.

Texas has really struggled running the ball, only gaining 33 yards on 17 attempts. Ehlinger was not throwing the ball downfield as he was 3/7 with 26 yards before the last drive in the half. The entire offense must step it up in the second half if the Longhorns want to win this game.

Besides the Iowa State touchdown, the Texas defense has an interception, forced two three-and-outs, and held the Cyclone offense to a field goal. Iowa State Brock Purdy is 16/23 with 116 yards and a touchdown. Iowa State has been decent running the ball, having 85 yards on 17 carries. The defense has not been the problem for the Longhorns and needs to continue what they have been doing.

Texas has a great opportunity to win against Iowa State if the offense is able to step up and make some plays. Texas’ defense was able to contain the Iowa State offense and keep them to 10 points. If they can do the same in the second half, they will set the Longhorn offense up to win the game and control their destiny in the Big 12.

Texas is facing Iowa State on FS1.

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