Per Kansas City Star:
The Chiefs quickly became a desperate team Sunday, a fact revealed with nothing more than a quick glance at the postgame stat sheet.
Matt Cassel posted career highs for pass attempts (53), completions (33) and yards (469). Dwayne Bowe did the same for receptions (13) and yards (186).
Those numbers were due more to the fact the Chiefs fell behind by 35 points in the second quarter of what would become a 49-29 loss to the Broncos.
“When you get down like that, you get one-dimensional,” Cassel said. “You’ve got to throw, and you’ve got to try to get points on the board quickly. That’s the mode we went into, more of a 2-minute mode. We had some success here and there, but it was just a tough game for us all around.”
The more pertinent statistic to the game’s outcome is that the Chiefs were held scoreless until fewer than 2 minutes remained in the first half.
The offense also contributed to Denver’s 35-0 second-quarter lead when Cassel, with the Chiefs inside the Broncos’ 10 in the second quarter, was sacked by linebacker Mario Haggan, who was unblocked.
Cassel fumbled on the play and the ball was scooped up by Denver’s Jason Hunter. He returned it 75 yards for the touchdown that put the Chiefs behind by 35 points.
“It was just one of those plays where at the very last second I saw him,” Cassel said.
Facing the massive deficit, the Chiefs found themselves in a most unusual spot. Their previous biggest deficit this season was 10 points, the final margin in last month’s loss to the Colts in Indianapolis.
Built around their running game and some play-action passes, the Chiefs were forced into a mode that doesn’t suit them best.
Cassel was the first Chiefs quarterback to put up 400-plus yards since Trent Green did it in a 2003 game at Green Bay.
Only Elvis Grbac, with 504 yards in is a 2000 game against Oakland, (504 yards) is ahead of Cassel on the Chiefs’ all-time single-game list.
“That gave our quarterback confidence in throwing the ball,” said running back Jamaal Charles, who caught one of Cassel’s four touchdown passes, a 5-yarder in the second quarter. “He completed a lot of passes.
“Everybody has one of these losses every year. It’s good we had ours this game. We know we’ve got to play them again. We’ll see them again in (three) more weeks.”
Many of the passes went to Bowe, who scored twice. He has a touchdown in each of Kansas City’s last five games, tying the club record by Chris Burford in 1962 and Otis Taylor in 1966.
Those numbers and records didn’t fool the Chiefs. Their offense is suddenly faced with the prospect of having to score in big numbers if the Chiefs are going to win.
“For us, it’s just getting back to basics,” Cassel said. “We had some success this season and we know we can play good football.”
