Arrowhead Pride
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs opened a can of something-or-other on the Las Vegas Raiders, escorting them off GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium after a 31-0 beatdown.
Here are three things that occur to me after reflecting on Sunday’s game.
No matter what I think about it, the Raiders’ backup left tackle — who was filling in for the injured starter Kolton Miller — was going to end up with some blame for the rookie defensive tackle’s season-ending ACL injury, which happened with 2:30 left in the third quarter.
Forsyth was, in fact, the player who was engaged with Norman-Lott before he went down. He did draw an (entirely justified) unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for dropping on the Kansas City player after he was on the ground.
But I have now watched the video many times. While there is room for interpretation — unfortunately, the available video doesn’t include a great angle of the incident — it doesn’t appear that Forsyth caused the injury; Norman-Lott seems to be reaching for his knee before Forsyth lands on him.
Could Forsyth have made the injury worse? Yes… that is possible. But while I believe he absolutely deserved to be penalized for hitting Norman-Lott while he was on the ground, it appeared to be a garden-variety foul — much like a pass rusher who draws a flag for taking two steps (rather than one) before hitting a quarterback after the ball is away. It didn’t appear to be a cold-blooded, deliberate attempt to inflict physical harm on the rookie.
If you believe otherwise… well, you’re entitled to that. The legacy of Ben Davidson dies hard.
Kansas City’s second-year wideout isn’t the first NFL player to suck it up and play through a torn labrum. But he still deserves great credit for putting it aside and playing at a high level. That’s not easy to do.
It might even be that we shouldn’t have been concerned that his 5-foot-11, 165-pound frame wouldn’t stand up to the punishment doled out by the league’s defensive backs. So far, he’s proved capable of taking it — and coming back for more.
Consider this example: On a first-and-10 with a little over 10 minutes left in the third quarter, quarterback Patrick Mahomes escaped the pass rush by rolling to his right. Just short of the line of scrimmage, he threw across his body toward Worthy, who extended to make a terrific contested catch against Las Vegas cornerback Darnay Holmes. The 12-yard gain moved the sticks to the Raiders’ 15-yard line.
A defensive holding penalty on Holmes was declined. Watching live, you had to admire Mahomes’ ability to see the flag and recognize he could take a chance on the low-percentage throw to Worthy.
What was less obvious, however, was that Holmes had knocked Worthy to the ground while Mahomes was scrambling. Worthy got back on his feet, attracted an official’s attention...
