Broncos at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 1-3

The Chiefs finally pick up a win! And a convincing win at that! This putrid 12-game winless streak is history!

It was clear today that when you have a team with three extraordinary players at specialty offense positions, there is no way you can't win at least some ball games no matter how weak your offensive line is. These three guys were able to pull Broncos off that line, speading their defense thinner allowing us to get the yards and scores we needed to win.

Those guys were, of course, Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, and Dwayne Bowe.

Johnson was finally back to the way we've all known him to be: Hitting that hole and churning out huge swaths of yardage. Gonzalez' touchdown grab makes me wonder (yet again--you too, huh?) why on earth we just don't throw the ball anywhere near the guy on every play. And Bowe has seemed to commit himself to using every game this season to atone for his opening day dropsies. That's just fine with Chiefs fans.

It helped that Damon Huard was very good and our defense played like the opportunistic Chiefs of the 90's, snatching four balls from the Broncos. That one in which Derrick Johnson stripped their guy and Brandon Flowers swooped in to take it down the Bronco two was a thing of beauty.

It is heartening to note that we aren't as bad as it looked. We're far from a Super Bowl team, far far from it. We still need linemen and that Super Bowl calibur QB, the analysis of which I'll just have to put off until another Sunday.

As for today, our three studly guys on offense carried the day, and how much fun was that.

Chiefs at Falcons - Week 3 - Record: 0-3

The story of this game is actually a contrast of opening days. There was the Falcons' opening day when the Atlanta fans could open their Christmas gift, Matt Ryan, and watch him torch their opponent to inaugurate his progress to Super Bowl calibur QB.

Then there was the Chiefs' opening day. Our third year guy Brodie Croyle gets his chance to develop a bit more through this team's rebuilding efforts, but on the other side of the ball Tom Brady gets his knee twisted in a pile-up sidelining him for the rest of the year. As everyone's attention rains down upon this catastrophe, the Chiefs pathetic offensive line allows a Patriot pass rusher to blast through untouched with one objective in mind, defend the honor of Tom Brady and by default, the entire NFL.

Said pass rusher flies in to sack Croyle, but vengeance is not so easily tamed. He gives Croyle the extra fierce and quite unnecessary body-slam to the turf, putting him out indefinitely with a shoulder contusion. Mission accomplished. If the Patriots must suffer (and today they lost their first game in umpteen times stopping their record winning streak), then the Chiefs should suffer too.

Problem.

The Chiefs are not the Patriots. Their guy goes down and the world has a fit. Our guy goes down and no one notices, or they say nothing because to admit "he deserved it" is a bit rude. Their team will still be great. The Chiefs can only be far worse.

From that comes the second problem, and this is the disease that has infected all of modern major professional team sports.

I happened to come across this story from Newsweek elucidating what's really at stake in these games. Because the Chiefs are the guilty ones for murdering the golden goose, there is no way they can effectively defend themselves against their prosecution. Helped along by an enraged Patriots team, we are doomed to a season, if not many seasons to come, of abject ineptitude.

This certainly makes it seem that I'm saying Brodie Croyle was our savior. I am not. Not even in the teensiest way am I an apologist for Brodie Croyle. Nor am I saying the Patriots are to blame for our woeful condition.

This whole Chiefs team is awful. I do love our boys, but let's be honest. There are ten college defenses out there that would stuff our offense with the OL we have. And I don't even want to put all the blame on them. I thought our young defense would be way better than it is.

The issue is that Croyle should've been allowed his full chance to try. He still may make it out there sometime this season, but his absence for these few games just puts a huge wrench in anything the Chiefs can do that's remotely decent.

That's the contrast between QB's today. Their future guy, Matt Ryan, played wonderfully, while our fill-in guy, Tyler Thigpen, well, just played.

Next week I'll share more about quarterbacks and why they are so important. As for today, it is disheartening to see that even though Croyle has proved nothing yet, our team shouldn't have to be shamed by an NFL and an NFL fandom that seems to think the "bottom line" shouldn't be so desecrated.

Raiders at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 0-2

When we play the Keystone Kops, maybe we'll have a chance to win a game. Just maybe. When is that one on the schedule? Week 14? Okay, I can't wait because then maybe we'll be able to break our losing streak. Maybe. I dunno, but maybe...

The streak is now at 11, and all Chiefs fans may want to string up Herm Edwards by his headphones. But give him a break. Granted, what looked like a brilliant offensive scheme bringing in Marques Hagans at QB to shake things up turned out to be just offensive. Pulling Damon Huard for a completely hopeless Tyler Thigpen could easily be seen as desperate, and, well, it was. Desperate measures for an abjectly hopeless team.

The problem is Herm has been handed a team that has been patched together to try to get people in the park, and that's about it. I don't know how much that is working--I haven't seen the latest attendance figures but looking in the stands at the empty seats, I've got a suspicion our reputation for sellouts is a thing of the distant past.

I mean, I'm kinda tired of hearing an announcer cheerfully say this about the Chiefs: "What a great play there made by [FILL-IN-THE-BLANK-WITH-SOME-OBSCURE-PLAYER], a fine pick-up from the [FILL-IN-THE-BLANK-WITH-SOME-OTHER-TEAM-WHO-PAWNED-OFF-SOME-SECOND-STRINGER-ON-US-BECAUSE-WE'VE-BEEN-SO-LOUSY-AT-DRAFTING-TO-ACTUALLY-BE-COMPETITIVE].

There is so much wretchedness to write about this team that why should I even go on. I know I blog to connect with other Chiefs fans and, in these cases, commiserate. Really though, all I'm going to do is say over and over and over again, "offensive line--offensive line--offensive line..." Everyone seems to wonder why Larry Johnson isn't his wonderful past self. Come on, people. When Johnson was great he had people like Will Shields in front of him. Nothing against Johnson, he's still great. But you could have all the best players in the world and if you've got squat up front, then you've got...

This.

So. Herm is just thinking of the future. Looking at who we got. Getting those rookies worn in. This is just a full year of exhibition games.

Yeee.

Chiefs at Patriots - Week 1 - Record: 0-1

There is something in me that considers it my faithful duty to let those who may be a bit unclear about why a team does well or not well why precisely it is that is the way it happens. Oh I admit I'm not right down in there, I don't know all the details, I'm not trying to boast at all about being some football genius. Come on, I'm just a measly sports team fanatic blogging like a nutball just like any other guy with a keyboard.

But I am a passionate Chiefs fan and committed cynic. That means I work real hard to bravely face brutal truths. I've got a job to do dammit.

I will get to what I think the key reason is that we lost this one, but first I cannot refuse to offer something quite positive. Indeed it is wonderfully positive, considering I had thoughts of a 63-0 headache today. Literally I thought it would be that bad.

Instead we took the Patriots right down to the wire. Sure some of our strong performance could be simply because Tom Brady was knocked out early and never returned. But there is tremendous promise in what I saw today.

Tony Gonzalez was his stellar self. New offensive coordinator Chan Gailey did great mixing things up a bit--finally! Our defense did phenomenally in light of how young and inexperienced it is. This rookie back Jamaal Charles showed some spunk. And hey, wow, I can't believe Brodie Croyle had some ganas out there and made some plays. Damon Huard relieved him after a shoulder injury and got us a clutch TD pass.

Two key notes to make here. Yeah, some brutal reality.

First, what's with the inconsistency of Dwayne Bowe? In the first half it was the Randy Moss show, he snagged everything with a pigskin on it anywhere around him. Bowe, the guy with definite Randy Moss-class big-time potential, handled every pigskin thing near him as though he had been dipped in grease. In the second half Bowe wiped some of the grease off, but he's got to get it all off if we hope to have any success at all this season. Really, he's all we've got at wide receiver. We've got to hope we get production from this new guy from Baltimore, Devard Darling--the guy who caught that big-time 50 yard pass to get us down to the New England five yard-line late.

Secondly, ahem. Yes, here's where the brutal truth comes in. Plug your ears if you don't want to hear it, especially since you should know what it is. You should know because it is still the bane of our beloved Chiefs team.

Whimper.

Our poor, sad, woeful offensive line.

We're trying to patch that right side with journeymen and fill that critical left tackle spot with an extraordinarily untested rookie. I will hope the very best for these guys, you know I will root for them with every fiber of my being.

But please allow me tell you what I thought as Darling was galloping for 50 yards with under a minute left in the game. All that was in my head was "Score. Score. Score. Just score the touchdown. You've got to score..." This is because of what I was thinking as he was dragged down just five yards from getting us that game-tying TD. What was going on in my mind? Nothing other than this:

This offensive line won't be able to get us into the end zone.

The key play among the following four was when Larry Johnson was given the ball and was stopped cold. Two, three years ago--wouldn't have happened. Would've been 17-17. Just like that.

With an OL exposed like that, the Patriots only needed to rush a couple linemen and still put pressure on the QB, and then flood the endzone with defenders knocking away anything thrown to two of the finest receivers in the league, Gonzalez and Bowe.

On the whole, however, a pretty decent start to a rebuilding effort that, really, won't start to show dividends for a couple years. We have a lot of young players and the genesis of a super defense, at least it will be fun watching them grow.

Chiefs 2008 Preview

Thought I'd put in a word about our Chiefs before this one begins. This is the week everyone's laying out their picks, and I juuuuuuust don't think a whole lot of people are expecting a lot from this team.

As you may know I pay no deliberate attention at all to anything about the Chiefs or pro football at any time other than that 12 to 3 CST time slot on Sunday when I watch the game. While some may wonder why anyone should then pay any attention to this blog, I feel I offer a unique perspective. So that my commitment is not questioned, I should add that I do the complete sports celibacy thing not because I don't care as much about the Chiefs, but that I've come to understand that I feel too much about them.

Hey, I'm still doing this blog. I'm still going to watch every game.

So to preface our valiant attempt to remain at least a tinch relevant, I thought I'd just share what's on my mind however much about the Chiefs that is.

The last time I saw anything of substance was that we drafted Glenn Dorsey. I know nothing about anything else we've done. Oh, except (just to be honest here) I did see we traded Jared Allen to the Vikings. But who do we have? Who do we not have? Did we even sign Dorsey, and is he even healthy enough? If he is would that matter? This is much of why I don't pack my brains with depressing things not having to do with the game itself. If it's great stuff, like Dorsey looking like a stud during exhibition play, then my hopes are dashed when we don't win the Super Bowl because of it. If it's crappy stuff like he's still hurt or some other awful thing, well, there ya go...

This summer I happened to see a scrolling list at the bottom of an ESPN screen one time--I don't know what the context was--someone had something on the TV in their home, and my eyes couldn't avert themselves. Sigh. It was the "Power Rankings" ESPN had put out for the 2008 season. Number one was the Patriots, then came a bunch of other good teams, and I kept watching the numbers go by there across the bottom of that screen, yearning for the Chiefs to show up soon. 15, 16, 17... Nope. 23, 24, 25... Still not. We settled in at number 30.

Yay. At least we weren't 31 or 32.

So we get to play the Patriots outta the gate. In Foxboro. (Or I should just say "in their place" because I dunno, I haven't been following it--weren't they supposed to move into new digs somewhere?) At least we have nothing to lose. If we get slaughtered no big deal. If we win it's a rapturous miracle.

I thought too that maybe we'd be on national television this Sunday on CBS, but not. The BFFL (Brett-Favre-Football-League) has got to show the New York-Miami game. And I can understand that, really, who wants to watch the Boston Massacre all over again. The Patriots are riding a 19-game regular season winning streak with a horrificly putrid perfect-season wrecking Super Bowl loss shoved right up their rectum.

I kind of envision the Chiefs and their current 9-game losing streak as the picture that the starving lion has in the thought bubble over his head as he gazes at the limping gazelle calf in front of him. You know the one: fancy china dinner plate upon which rests a generous portion of gazelle slowly roasted in honey glaze with rice, steamed vegetables, and attractive garnish.

Oh what fun.

So yeah, we can confidently say that we're in a "rebuilding phase" before we've even played a down in the '08 campaign. I'd heard from someone that we'd actually stockpiled some draft picks, and whatever happens that can't be bad. Let's just hope Carl Peterson is successful in this, what should be (whimper) his final attempt to redeem himself. Check back in about three years.

Until then, bottoms up!