Posts Tagged: "nfl"

Chiefs Win! Chiefs WIN??

Posted by Shane on October 18, 2009 in Football / 2 Comments

The Chiefs shocked everyone in the NFL today by defeating the Washington Redskins at home 14-6.

14 points seems like 2 touchdowns, right? NOPE. 4 field goals by the greatest Chiefs kicker of the last decade, Ryan Succop and a safety at the end of the game by Tamba Hali. Madness.

It was an ugly game that was dominated not by defense, but by two offensive deadbeats who took turns turning the ball over and running into the back of their respective offensive lines. Larry Johnson somehow managed to put together his best rushing effort of the season, including his longest run from scrimmage (a whopping 17 yards!).

One of the worst things I saw during the game was the Gatorade dump on head coach Todd Haley once the team sealed the deal with Hali’s safety. Look, I know “a win is a win” but the victory only proves that KC as an organization is only run slightly better than Dan Snyder’s Redskins. Seriously, if there was ever a team that languished in mediocrity longer than the Chiefs, it is the Redskins (although they’ve been to the Super Bowl more recently, but who hasn’t?).

I don’t mean to be one of those people who is a pessimist about my favorite team, but I gotta call a spade a spade. The Chiefs are still one of the worst teams in the NFL. It just so happened that this Sunday, they were matched against another one team in that same lower echelon.

I just hope it doesn’t ruin our draft pick for next year.

Pretty awesome news

Posted by Shane on January 13, 2009 in Football / No Comments

No, I didn’t get a job.

It appears the Chiefs have hired Scott Pioli as their next head of football operations. This isn’t exactly news…Clark Hunt has been courting the Patriots’ head of player personnel for weeks now, but Pioli made no bones about the fact that he didn’t want to inherit Herm Edwards and wanted him out the door before he came in.

That didn’t happen, but it appears that it is only a matter of time before the Evil Carl and his awful hire (from the start, as I said time after time on this blog) Herm have both been run out of town.

I’m so happy.

I don’t get it

Posted by Shane on November 17, 2008 in Football / 2 Comments

Last week, instead of going for overtime, Herm goes for two to win the game. That’s fine. I have no problem with that call.

I do, however, have a problem with NOT going for it on 4th & 2 in Saints territory with 5 minutes left in the game, especially when New Orleans hadn’t had much of a problem controlling the ball. I just don’t get it.

Actually, I do get it. He’s an awful coach. HORRIBLE even. The Saints fan sitting behind me during the game said, “I don’t understand why you guys are running the ball at all. The only thing the Saints can do is defend the run.” Watching the game, I had to agree with him. Thigpen was once again efficient and effective as a passer and would have been even moreso if not for several dropped passes. (I mean, really, D-Bowe…how about you put up TWO hands to catch the ball instead of just the one?)

It’s getting old that I have to keep saying this, but Herm Edwards cannot coach in the NFL. It took a decent offensive coordinator to make this bunch of clowns actually put any semblance of an offense on the field (not Herm’s doing) and yet the Chiefs still have yet to compete in the second half. This is a head coaching problem. I don’t know how many ways I have to say it. Herm is the biggest problem. His philosophies and approach to the game are antiquated and INEFFECTIVE. There’s no doubt that Carl is a larger part of the problem, but let’s be honest: with Herm Edwards, the Chiefs will not return to the playoffs.

Bring on The Chin.

The draft’s over

Posted by Shane on April 27, 2008 in Football / 2 Comments

So the coverage is probably better over at Arrowhead Pride, but I thought I’d give my thoughts. Earlier in the week, I predicted:

Offensive line: 3-4 players
Wide receiver: 2 players
Corner/Safety: 2-3 players
Running Backs: 2 players (1 fullback, 1 running back)
Defensive line: 2-3 players
Quarterback: 1 player (perhaps Michigan’s Chad Henne in a later round, if he falls)

The Chiefs ended up taking:

Offensive line: 3 players (counting the final TE as a lineman, since he looks to be the second coming of Jason Dunn)

Receivers: 3 players (2 receivers, 1 TE)

Corner/Safety: 3 players (2 corners, 1 safety)

Running Backs: 1 player

Defensive line: 2 players (although most significant was #5 overall Glenn Dorsey, who looks like a beast)

Quarterback: 0 players (not a massive surprise because all the good guys were gone and they have that Thigpen kid as well)

I didn’t expect the Chiefs to pick 2 tight ends. It seems that Carl Peterson can’t stay away from them. I’m assuming that they are a “best athlete at the pick” type of thing, but we’ll see.

When I saw the breakdown today (I didn’t watch all 8 hours of the draft today, what with church and all), I wasn’t all too thrilled, but as I look closer, it seems like Carl and Herm did the best they could – the best of the last several drafts for sure. Here are my quick-hit thoughts of all the picks.

Rd 1 / Pick 5 – Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU

The belle of the ball. Beast. Will compliment Tank Tyler and free up Tamba Hali to run freely. I foresee the Chiefs moving Turk McBride to the edge for some games next season as a possible Jared Allen replacement.

1 / 15 – Branden Albert, OG, Virginia

I hope Albert turns out to be the stud tackle that everyone thinks he’s going to be. Even if he ends up being the next Will Shields, that’s a big win for us.

2 / 4 (35) – Brandon Flowers, CB, Virginia Tech

The best part of his ESPN.com overview: “he plays far bigger than his size indicates and faster than his 40 time suggest.” We need a stud corner to replace the crappy age we have out there now.

3 / 10 (73) – Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas

Backup plan in case Larry Johnson doesn’t recover from his foot thing? Maybe. Charles was a good player on a decent Texas team. He’s no Ricky Williams or Priest Holmes, but he could be decent enough to take more of the load off Larry.

3 / 13 (76) – Brad Cottam, TE, Tennessee

This guy is big. 6′ 7″ 270 lbs. He sounds better than Kris Wilson.

3 / 19 (82) – Dajuan Morgan, S, NC State

I suppose the Chiefs need some depth at safety, but this guy will sit behind Pollard and Page. Special teams, here he comes.

4 / 6 (105) – William Franklin, WR, Missouri

As much as I hate the Chiefs drafting players from Missouri, their receivers are good. And we need depth at receiver. I hoped that we would take one earlier.

5 / 5 (140) – Brandon Carr, CB, Grand Valley St.

A corner from a no-name school. This guy is going to be Carl’s gem of the draft.

6 / 4 (170) – Barry Richardson, OT, Clemson

I don’t like that the line on this guy was “not mean enough”, but tackles…hey, we need lots. Maybe Herm can put some mean into him.

6 / 16 (182) – Kevin Robinson, WR, Utah St.

Yay. Another receiver that won’t make the team.

7 / 3 (210) – Brian Johnson, DE, Gardner Webb

This guy gets props for going to “Gardner Webb”, which is just south of Olathe. No wait, that’s Gardner.

7 / 32 (239) – Mike Merritt, TE, Central Florida

He’s listed as a tight end, but they’re saying that he’s probably more of a guard or a 3rd tackle type guy. “Very slow and lacks athleticism.” Sounds like they drafted me.

There are too many guys on the second day that we’ll need to see in pre-season to properly evaluate. What should be noted is that KCChiefs.com is one of the worst team sites in the NFL. Stuff is hard to find, the user experience sucks, and it just looks like it came straight out of Penn Valley Community College Web Design 101…FROM 1995.

KC firm VML…you should be ASHAMED at the horror that is your nested tables and excessive use of…what is that? REALPLAYER? The Chiefs took a step backwards when they abandoned the Happy Cog design that Zeldman did for them. I suppose that’s par for the course and just another example of where the front office’s heads are at.

2008 NFL Draft Preview

Posted by Shane on April 24, 2008 in Football / 1 Comment

So, the NFL Draft really snuck up on me this year. Now that the Jared Allen deal is done, we can take a look at where the Chiefs need help. The Chiefs own a league-high 13 picks in the draft this weekend, including 6 in the first 3 rounds (#5 and #17 in 1st round, a second round pick, and 3 3rd round picks).

For a team that is “going young” you have to see this as a good thing. Unfortunately for Kansas City fans, we’ve been burned by the Junior Siaviis and Sylvester Morrises of the past years and so every draft is approached with less than high hopes.

Let’s take a look at the Chiefs’ biggest needs:

Offensive line

This is a no-brainer. Our offensive line is abysmal. The hope is that Damion McIntosh will get healthy this year and resume his tackle position, but I get the feeling he’d rather be on the right side. As much as they’d like to though, the Chiefs can’t afford to have a guy like Will Svitek still manning Brodie Croyle’s weak side. I forsee the Chiefs going with a left tackle with their #5 pick, probably Ryan Clady of Boise State (even though he allegedly only got a 14 on the Wonderlic test). The #17 pick they acquired from Minnesota does give them some flexibility though. They could go with Matt Ryan, the QB from Boston College that everyone loves, and then hope one of the other projected 1st round offensive lineman falls into their laps at 17 (maybe Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams or Pitt’s Jeff Otah). I still think that they’ll go with either Clady or Virginia guard Branden Albert, whom many are saying is going to be a tackle in the NFL. I’d also see them picking up a couple more folks in later rounds, maybe

Cornerback

Face it – Ty Law and Patrick Surtain are bad. They used to be good, but they aren’t anymore. They are slow, they rarely make plays and they cannot compensate for the youth that the Chiefs have at safety. We need a shutdown corner to replace Ty Law so Bennie Sapp can finally enter the starting lineup in Surtain’s place, putting Surtain into the nickelback position. I’m starting to wonder whether Kansas’ Aqib Talib could fall to 17, since most have him as a top 3 corner in the draft. I imagine there are those that think his reefer tokeage might be a problem. Keeping him close to his dealer friends at KU might cause issues. But it would be fun to have a hometown guy to root for. There are several corners in the draft. I think that if the Chiefs don’t take Ryan in the first round, they’ll go lineman and corner with their #5 and #17.

Wide Receiver

Dwayne Bowe was a rousing success. The dude is amazing. With the departure of Eddie Kennison, it would be great to have another option besides Bowe and Tony Gonzalez. I’d love to see Bobby Sippio get more snaps, but a team that is in rebuilding mode is going to go young. Jeff Webb is a strong 3rd receiver, but I think that we need a viable #2 option, preferably someone with some serious wheels. The draft is pretty weak with star receivers this year (not like last year, which had Calvin Johnson and Dwayne Bowe), but it’s possible that the Chiefs could get someone like Eddie Royal from Virginia Tech to fill that slot.

Other positions

The Chiefs need depth at the above positions more than anything, but they also need a viable fullback. I loved Boomer Grigsby’s fire, but he’s gone. The Chiefs have 2 fullbacks on the roster that I’ve never heard of, so I look for them to try and get a mid-round blocking back, perhaps on day two. The Chiefs could also use some depth on the defensive line. Tank Tyler has been a good pick, but needs to keep his weight down. Turk McBride hasn’t been great, but I look for those two to have better seasons after being in the league for a year. Tamba Hali will have a breakout year and I think that (Chiefs Defensive Line Coach) Tim Krumrie may move him to the strong side where Allen was, although he probably is stronger at the weak side since he does not possess the physical strength that Allen did – he was more of a speed rusher. Past that, we’ll see.

Breakdown

Here’s how I see the Chiefs 13 picks breaking down:

Offensive line: 3-4 players
Wide receiver: 2 players
Corner/Safety: 2-3 players
Running Backs: 2 players (1 fullback, 1 running back)
Defensive line: 2-3 players
Quarterback: 1 player (perhaps Michigan’s Chad Henne in a later round, if he falls)

So there are my thoughts. What are yours? I love watching the draft. I’m signing up for text alerts today.