The ninth-seeded Winnipeg Jets (29 points) would face off against the second wild-card Los Angeles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Smith was the darling of Kansas City just a few weeks ago, when the quarterback who seems to never make any major mistakes had the Chiefs rolling to the top of the AFC West.Now, theres a sizeable group of fans who want him replaced.Smith has struggled in his two games back from a head injury sustained in Indianapolis, including a lousy performance last Sunday in a 19-17 loss to Tampa Bay. The defeat snapped the Chiefs five-game winning streak and left them playing catch-up in the division race.I think Alex is OK. Hes going to be fine. Weve just got to keep going here, Chief coach Andy Reid said. He does a great job with leadership and all of those things.Hell be fine. Weve had a couple weeks here where weve been in a little bit of a slump. We need to pull out of it and get better.The Chiefs dont put too much stock in numbers, unless youre talking about turnovers, penalties and points on the scoreboard. But it is hard to dispute that Smiths numbers are down across the board.He has just nine touchdown passes in nine games, along with four interceptions. Hes averaging 6.9 yards per attempt, down nearly a yard from last season.His yards-per-completion, quarterback rating and several other benchmarks are also down, even though he may have more talent around him.The Chiefs shored up the offensive line in the offseason, which is why his sack total is also down, and gave him a speedy playmaker in wide receiver Tyreek Hill through the draft.I think stats can definitely be useful. They can tell you glaring themes here and there, Smith said, but sometime its easy to get caught up too much and read into them, especially if there isnt a glaring theme.Each season is different and is its own journey, and every years schedule is different, so its hard to compare it to years past. Theres different challenges.The challenges are only going to get stiffer for the Chiefs, too.They head to Denver on Sunday night for a pivotal showdown with the Broncos, who like them are battling the Raiders for the division lead.Then its off to Atlanta for a game against the high-flying Falcons, and the Chiefs will likely need to score a lot of points to win.Then, a Thursday night game against the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium.But first up are the Broncos, who may have the best defense the Chiefs have faced all season -- not a good thing for a Chiefs offense that is struggling to put up points.Theyre really good, Smith said. Thats obvious looking at them statistically the last few years. Personnel-wise, theyre good across the board.Up front, linebacker level and secondary, these guys are really, really good. Theyre well coached and theyre fast. You look at the numbers and theyre there.OK, so maybe Smith does put some stock in statistics.Its not that everything is dire in Kansas City, of course. The Chiefs (7-3) are still squarely in the playoff picture, and they could still snatch away a division title.But everyone also recognizes that Smith needs to begin performing better for the offense to hit its stride again.He threw for just 261 yards last week against Tampa Bay, a good chunk of that when he was trying to rally the Chiefs down the stretch.And while he scored his first touchdown on the ground since the opener, he also threw an interception in the end zone that foiled a potential comeback.Predictably, many fans began to argue backup Nick Foles should be given a chance.Reid has been steadfastly in Smiths corner, though, ever since the moment the Chiefs sent two second-round picks to San Francisco to acquire him.It was Reid who took the blame for the interception -- he called a bad play, he said -- and the coach insisted this week that Smiths job is not in jeopardy.Im just worried that we execute better and thats all the way around, Reid said.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Tom Rathman Jersey . 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Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, a driving force behind the NHL adopting its wildly popular 3-on-3 overtime, wondered recently how exciting it would be for the league to adopt a wild-card play-in game similar to what is used by Major League Baseball.The proposal would add a third wild-card playoff team to each conference, with the bottom two wild-card teams facing each other in a one-game playoff to determine which team advances to a first-round playoff series. The idea was discussed at last weeks board of governors meetings in Florida.Personally, Im not in favor of it, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall said. I think we demand a lot of our players and playing more games, I dont think, is a solution.Hextall said that considering the teams play a preseason with a minimum of seven games, 82 games in the regular season and up to two months in the playoffs, plus the potential of the Olympics and World Cup every other season, weve got to be really careful of putting our players through more than we already do.Under Hollands plan, if the current season ended Sunday, the ninth-seeded New Jersey Devils (30 points) would face the second wild-card team in the East, the Washington Capitals (37 points), in the Eastern Conference play-in game. The ninth-seeded Winnipeg Jets (29 points) would face off against the second wild-card Los Angeles Kings (30 points) in the West.It is something weve discussed and it has gained some traction, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said. But what if the second wild-card team has a six-point lead on the ninth-place team? Should they be knocked out of the playoffs becausse they lose one game?In the three seasons since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, when the Columbus Blue Jackets missed the playoffs despite being tied in points with the Minnesota Wild, at least two points have separated the second wild-card team from the ninth-seeded non-playoff team in each conference.ddddddddddddThat alone, Florida Panthers executive chairman Peter Luukko said, should be reason enough to keep the current playoff format unchanged.I think its fine the way it is, Luukko said. I mean, were playing 82 games. I think its fair and I think its really working. Its coming down to the end of the season anyway right now. It couldnt be more exciting. I just think that kind of cheapens it.Nill said there have been discussions among general managers about giving the No. 1 playoff seed more of a reward for finishing with the best record in each conference, perhaps by increasing their number of first-round home games from four to five.That idea might be more palatable to the players than adding an extra game to their schedules.I think its stupid, Flyers forward Jakub Voracek said. A one-game playoff? I dont think this is baseball. You have 82 games to get in the playoffs. If youre not in, youre out.Teammate Wayne Simmonds agreed.You get in, you get in, he said. There should be no play-in game. You finish one through eight, youre in the playoffs. You finish ninth and you lose a tiebreaker by goal differential or something else, its too bad. The tiebreakers are fine, why change it now? ' ' '