Week 8 - Lambs 7 at Chiefs 34

Lamb - It's what's for dinner.

It took the guys a little while to get rolling, but once they found that extra gear, this thing became a rout. The Lambs faked some of the same trickery they pulled on the Champs last week, but the Kool Aid Man would have none of it. Hard to believe that in five meetings, this is Andy Reid's first win over Jeff Fisher. It couldn't have come at a better time. The Chiefs are coming into the soft underbelly of their otherwise brutal schedule, with a home game against the reeling Jets, and then on the road vs the Bills. KC is now tied in the loss column with San Diego, who has yet to have their bye week. I don't want to gloss over just how many ridiculous penalties St. Louis had. They punished themselves repeatedly with cheap shots and stupid, Raider-esque fouls. Oh, and for the record, I liked Donovan McNabb as the color announcer. He was very funny.

Offense: Alex Smith was Mr. Efficiency, only missing on 4 attempts. That 85.7%, believe it or not, sets a Chiefs franchise record for the most accurate passing day by any QB with over 20 attempts. The only downside is that, once again the WR's not named Bowe were invisible. However Bowe and both Fasano and Kelce had big days, and Charles had 44 yards on 4 receptions. But this game was not won by the air force. The ground troops dominated this battle. Jamaal Charles has carried the rock across the goal line more times than any other player the past two seasons. Four more than Julius Thomas of the Broncos and five more than Marshawn Lynch of the Seahawks. He padded that resume with two more yesterday. Knile (singular, Donovan) Davis also put up two scores. One from scrimmage, and one on the opening kickoff of the second half. All-in-all, add in Alex Smith's scrambling and you have 34 carries between them for 143 yards and three TD's. As good as the run blocking was, the pass blocking was about that bad. And Mr #1 Overall, Eric Fisher got beat like a rented mule by Robert Quinn. And when he wasn't, he was guilty of boneheaded, drive-killing penalties.

Defense: What can you say? Everyone was having fun. Ron Parker, in his fifth game filling in for the injured pro-bowler, Eric Berry, made a statement. An interception and a sack in the first half that killed St Louis drives. The sack was huge because it came on third and goal, and forced them to attempt a field goal that sailed wide right. Justin Houston added three sacks, taking his place as the NFL sack leader at the halfway point of the season. Rookie Dee Ford got in on his first NFL sack, which he shared with Allen Bailey, who also had 1.5 sacks. But the five sacks alone don't tell the story of how badly Ram's QB Austin Davis was harassed, and how well covered his receivers were by that patchwork young secondary, which came up big again, for the third straight game. Big Macs for everybody!

Specials: The best special teams performance by KC in a very long time. The Duke managed to make all of his kicks, including a text-book perfect 53 yarder. Colquitt - the best punter in the NFL - dropped three more punts inside the 20, pinning St. Louis into holes they couldn't get out of. The Mamba didn't really get loose on punt returns, although he did have one nice 14 yarder. Knile Davis broke the back of the Cardinals on the first play of the second half, taking the opening kickoff 99 yards for a score.

Throw him a bone: Any number of people could have gotten the bone today. Knile Davis, Jamaal Charles, Justin Houston - but I'm going to give it to Ron Parker. You don't expect an all-pro performance out of the guys below the surface on your depth chart. But he gave one in this game.

Doggity Dog: If little is expected of second-teamers like Parker, a lot is expected of the number one overall pick in the draft, and Eric Fisher continues to disappoint. He's pretty good a run blocking, but his pass blocking is not worthy of his draft position, and his stupid penalties only make things worse.

Next up - The low-flying Jets stumble into Arrowhead next Sunday at noon.

Tailgating recipe:

Lamb chops with mint pesto and honey mustard sauce:

2 lamb chops per serving, tossed in Tuscan olive oil and lightly salted with sea salt
Sear over med-high heat to desired internal temp (about 4 min per side for medium-rare)
Fresh black pepper to taste

Mint Pesto:

Combine in food processor and run to desired texture.

·       3/4 cup packed mint leaves

·       2 scallions, thick sliced (including greens)

·       2 medium garlic cloves

·       1/4 cup sunflower seeds
·       1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

·       2 tablespoons Meyer lemon olive oil

·       Sea salt to taste

Honey Mustard Sauce:
Whisk together

·       1/2-cup sweet/spicy mustard (like Boulevard Pale Ale mustard)

·       2 tablespoons clover honey

·       1 tablespoon Ginger white balsamic vinegar