How often have we Chiefs fans hoped for the start of a new era when this would be the time of destiny, finally, for the Kansas City Chiefs. Most recently it happened when we had a spiffy new coach -- Todd Haley yay! -- and a spiffy new quarterback -- Matt Cassel yay! -- right at the beginning of the 2010 season when we'd gotten all the kinks out through the '09 season and we were ready to start dominating. The 2010 season really did look like that start, except that Matt Cassel was, well, Matt Cassel.
I'm blogging now at a time when I never blog, right smack in the middle of the off-season because this again looks like one of those times. Suuure this could be just one of those ugly situations when we are yet again being teased into thinking this is thuh time.
But this is different.
We got our new general manager, and I imagine he's feverishly cogitating about the combine and what to do with the draft. I know nothing about John Dorsey, not a thing but his name, so I guess he's probably doing those things. I'm just hoping he's doing them well.
We got our new head coach, and I imagine he's in the mix of that too. I only know that Andy Reid was with the Eagles for quite a while, got them to a Super Bowl once, and one acquaintance even said he was good working with quarterbacks. But that's it.
Now the final piece that we needed has been put in place.
We got our new quarterback.
I do know a bit more about Alex Smith just because my radar works so well and I pick up so much from the pro football noise that I can't help but hear. Obviously one of the weirdest things everyone is surely talking about is he is yet another 49er quarterback to come over to the Chiefs. That, I believe, is just a weird coincidence, but it definitely is one of those intriguing trivia things.
The key thing is that he had established himself as a genuinely studly quarterback before 49ers' coach Jim Harbaugh decided he'd rather have Colin Kaepernick in there instead. I did catch that before Smith had that concussion against the Rams this past season, that he had a rating of 140 and for the something-like three or four games just prior to it he had more touchdown passes than incompletions. Did you get that? More touchdown passes than incompletions. I don't think any of our quarterbacks last year had a touchdown pass -- er, oh, they did? Oh, wasn't sure about that, but I guess they did. Hmm. I imagine they did, but I don't think many noticed.
So what's the deal with Smith and the Chiefs? Well, for one, he was a No. 1 overall pick, so he can join the other QB's in the AFC West with that notoriety. One thing that makes me nervous was that he was very erratic for a long time, but then blossomed under Jim Harbaugh and his confidence in him. Will Andy Reid be able to do the same? If he's as good with quarterbacks as it is said he is, then this should be fantastic.
And what about his length of service for us? If we can get four or five good solid years from him, I think that'll be awesome. But for it to work, we've got to get that much. On the other hand this just smacks of the typical "Let's just get some QB off the scrap heap" Chiefs tactic we've all come to so justifiably revile. It does represent many more years of just not having that originally drafted and developed guy, but hey, if Smith comes through, I think we can wait on that little bit more. The only thing is, we still have to draft a guy who'll replace him, and that'll have to be in the next two or three years. Question: Will that freak Smith out, seeing Colin Kaepernick's face in whoever that is? This makes me nervous too.
Was the price too high? Giving up two second round picks for him? It does seem kind of steep, but remember. You - have - got - to - have - that - guy - be - great - if - you - hope - to - contend. You have got to! We Chiefs fans know oh-so-well what it means to have a solid quarterback. Oh do we know!
We actually have good skill at several key positions. This makes me think the move should be to not trade down with the No. 1 to get more picks, and instead go with taking that No. 1 guy. If that guy is going to be a game-changer, whoever he is wherever he plays, then he could really help get this team to the highest levels of contention now that we've got our QB.
From my perspective, just seeing what I saw all last year, we so need linebacker help, we need a corner, and we need to address our wide receiver situation big-time.
As it is I have to add that I've been finishing up Ten-Gallon War about the pro football battle for Dallas between the very new AFL Texans and NFL Cowboys. Even though everyone was pretty amicable and was simply taking care of business, I was amazed at how utterly crappy the NFL was in manipulating things to Lamar's disadvantage. The striking irony for Chiefs fans reading this is that as sad as you were to see Lamar force his hand by moving the team to KC, you knew that it had to happen for the Chiefs to be born at all!
But about Lamar, this book gave me even more of a feel for the extraordinary commitment and industrious work Lamar put into his team. Yes, I still believe that his later distractions were plainly detrimental to the Chiefs, but the amazingly novel and phenomenally attentive things he did to build the Chiefs and all things Chiefs certainly make him worthy of our respect. Not that we never had it, but it was truly eye-opening to behold the expanse of that effort.
We're all just hoping that after all these 50-plus years of Lamar's vision we can get back to being a perennielly exceptional pro football team, and right now it does look promising, in a truly realistic way. And it isn't just getting Reid and Smith, it is that this team is coming together with the football, yes football leadership of Clark Hunt. I have to think other teams wanted Reid, but we got him. I have to think other teams wanted Smith, but we got him.
I imagine I'll be back here with a post after the draft in April since we do have that No. 1 pick, which will be another major piece of this what-is-now quite an exciting time for Chiefs fans. I won't be watching or following any of it, but I'm sure my radar will pick it up.
Until then...
_
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 04, 2013
The Quarterback Project - Post-Super Bowl 2013 Edition
I'm sitting here up and wide awake at 2:30 am because a bug has hammered me and I just can't sleep. Has that ever happened to you? Your body is going crazy trying to fight off germs that it has no sense to get the chemicals in your brain to mix together like they do on most other nights so you can sleep.
Well, I called in sick for work so I can just sleep tomorrow. It's all good.
But I still can't sleep now, so I'm just going to take this time right now to share some thoughts about the Chiefs and pro football and the Super Bowl that Lamar Hunt coined and we have been nowhere close for eons.
I watched the Super Bowl because my NFC team is the 49ers, because while I was born near Kansas City, all of my family is from there, and I love the city -- I was brought up most of my life in or near the Bay Area. The Super Bowl itself was a thrilling game with the Niners mounting a furious comeback, even though they didn't quite catch the Ravens. Disappointed, but it was still a good game.
Besides, the highlight of the Super Bowl was the announcement of the Chiefs first overall pick of the entire NFL draft! Did you catch it?! We've got Leon Sandcastle! Awright! Woo-hoo! Well, anyway, the promo was for the NFL Network to get us to watch the NFL combine activities, but I'm telling you, I look forward to seeing what's what about Leon Sandcastle!
Thought too about the Chiefs game I attended in October. What was the team the Chiefs actually almost beat that day? These very same Ravens. We held them to 9 points, and yet today against a fine Niners defense they went off for 34. Something to be encouraged about. I still can't help but think about watching Matt Cassel back at Arrowhead in that Ravens game throwing that ball away when he had Jon Baldwin breaking wide open just two plays before the Ravens knocked him out, effectively for his career, really.
So yeah, that leads to the major question of all questions. You know what it is.
What will happen with that quarterback situation?
Will we get Alex Smith? Every Chiefs fan is waiting with bated breath to see. Still, it will be yet another long time before we get our own drafted and developed quarterback out there winning ball games. Remember, our last win by a D&D guy was September 12, 1987. Just looking at that is harrowing. Today they said Ravens' QB Joe Flacco has won something like 60 games for the Ravens since they drafted him.
That's over a period of five seasons.
We haven't had a single solitary win from a Chiefs D&D guy for 26 years.
And I also thought of this. When was the last time we actually had a really good solid QB performance from a Chiefs D&D guy in a game? That game Sept 12 '87 was a classic Blackledge puke, we only won on the legs of Paul Palmer and Christian Okoye. It certainly wasn't the last-game win in '86 against the Steelers to get us into the playoffs -- all that was special teams, remember?
I mean, come on. When was it? I'm talkin' at least 30 for 40 passing, at least 320 yards, at least 3 TD's and at least 0 INT's. I am indeed asking right now very plainly: when was the last time a Chiefs D&D quarterback had a game like that? In fact -- oh this starts to get very gruesome --
Has there ever even been one?
See, you've really only got Mike Livingston, Steve Fuller, and Todd Blackledge to choose from here. Really, have any of those guys had that sterling performance that makes an entire team and city proud to have been led by a marvelous, talented signal-caller? And even if they did, how many times did it happen?
I shudder right now, I really do, I shudder to think.
Today Joe Flacco played like a champion, and sorry, but as the administrator of this depressing endeavor "The Quarterback Project" I can only still shake my head. It hurts, I tell you -- it hurts. I don't know what his actual numbers were for today's Super Bowl, I don't really care to look -- but I'd bet they were something along the lines of 30 for 40, 320 yards...
See, here's the thing. My latest foray into looking-at-all-this quarterback stuff is to see which QB's have been drafted and where, and I did it all the way back to the '70 merger. I found that very rarely do Round 3 or lower guys ever pan out. This year it looks like Russell Wilson is a keeper for Seattle, and yes, the Chiefs could have had him but, well...
I've also found that guys taken in Round 2 aren't really a whole lot better. Here are the Round 2 QB's drafted from 2006 to 2010, and now is the time these guys should be shining brightly as studly NFL quarterbacks: Kellen Clemens, Tarvaris Jackson, Kevin Kolb, John Beck, Drew Stanton, Trent Edwards, Pat White, Jimmy Clausen. Sorry, but none of these guys are lighting it up, and likely will not.
On the other hand in 2011 two guys were taken in Round 2 who are genuine QB studs: the Bengals' Andy Dalton and the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick. You may know this latter guy, he might be more familiar as the QB who merely led the Niners to the Super Bowl. They were both taken very high in that round, however, so it was almost as if they were first rounders.
Thing is, again, the Chiefs could've had any of them -- Flacco, Kaepernick, Dalton.
In 2011 instead of Kaepernick (who even though he was on the losing end played terrifically today, just by-the-way in case you didn't notice) we took Jon Baldwin at 26 overall (Kaeparnick was taken 36th overall). Now, if Baldwin can be coached to not try to make insanely goofy circus catches on every play (and we have the quarterback to make it easier on him) and he becomes as studly as a, say, Anquan Boldin, I'll eat my words. But come on...
Who'd you rather have on the Chiefs right now?
Then there is Joe Flacco, who was taken 18th overall in 2008. We took Glenn Dorsey with the 5th overall pick and Branden Albert with the 15th that year. Hey, I do kind of like these guys, my Chiefs' very, very deep red rose-colored glasses tell me that I do.
But wow. With our ruthless inability to get that D&D guy, we really should've picked up Flacco. And really! Come on! It wasn't like we had anyone really there who we had committed to! This was 2008!!! The guy we had in there was Tyler Thigpen and we actually thought Brodie Croyle was anything!
Yes, I know this sounds like sour grapes whining, spilt milk crying, yeah yeah. Yes I know this is all based on hindsight, everyone's an expert using that. But my goodness gracious glory-be -- the word I like (as it were) in all of this is ruthless.
Yes, the Chiefs have just been utterly, utterly ruthless in failing to get that drafted and developed quarterback.
Thing is I'm just not going to get into all I want to share with Quarterback Project stuff. There's more, but it'll have to wait. Lot's of things to get to, in due time.
For now I have to close with just some final thoughts about the Lamar Hunt biography I finished reading. It was quite engaging and I let the author Michael MacCambridge know in an email. He graciously replied which was really cool.
Yes, as you know I went into this read just asking what in the world could it have been about Lamar that has had the Chiefs so miserable with their pro football success over the many years. And yes I did see a number of confirmations, many of which were amplified by MacCambridge's exposition. I have to believe his obsessive involvement with all the pro tennis and pro soccer stuff kept him from really being in more of the details of Chiefs success. I have to believe that his terrible involvement in his brothers' silver manipulation scheme was also a prominent factor.
There was a very brief anecdote MacCambridge shared which really stood out to me that demonstrated the results of Lamar's -- for want of a much better word -- negligence. He'd written that when Carl Peterson took over in 1989, he had to completely revamp the entire Chiefs culture. MacCambridge spoke of a Bible study several employees were holding, and people from the new administration had to just stand them up and tell them what's what.
Now Bible studies are great -- I'm a Christian man myself -- and I think Bible studies can be had with fellow employees when the time is appropriate. I'm sad that it was about a Bible study that the woeful condition of the Chiefs culture had to be exposed. The idea: Have a Bible study when you have a Bible study...
But when working on the job for the Chiefs be doing that.
I'm sorry, Lamar being preoccupied with so much of that other stuff just killed our team. I really believe that.
To his credit however, it was very encouraging to read about his very fond affection for the team, for Kansas City (I don't think for a second his being loosely based in Dallas had anything to do with any Chiefs badness), for Arrowhead Stadium, for the fans, and for everything that could be labeled Chiefs. Yes, very sadly, I think he just did a poor job of administrating as an owner.
But I have to say that his devotion to the Chiefs and to pro football did do a lot of wonderful, positive things. No matter what, I will always have the most tremendous amount of respect for Lamar as a person, as a professional, and yes as our founder and owner.
This does lead to the final thing in the post. (Wow, can't believe I'm holding up this long. It's already 3:15 in the morning. But I'm still not sleepy. Ergh...)
That final word is that Lamar was indeed such a fine, decent, and just flat-out awesome individual. That he was driven to succeed and seek excellence in everything he touched, there is nothing but respect anyone can have for him and his legacy. Here's the really, really great thing about that, for us right now...
His son.
Clark does seem to me to have a lot of those traits, and he's still young and ambitious. As I wrote earlier the more football he can master, the better the Chiefs will be. That he was so courageously forceful about taking care of business after the Scott Pioli implosion just shows that the very best of Lamar will translate into Chiefs success...
And even more.
Until April when we can officially name Leon Sandcastle as our No. 1 Superstud!...
_
Well, I called in sick for work so I can just sleep tomorrow. It's all good.
But I still can't sleep now, so I'm just going to take this time right now to share some thoughts about the Chiefs and pro football and the Super Bowl that Lamar Hunt coined and we have been nowhere close for eons.
I watched the Super Bowl because my NFC team is the 49ers, because while I was born near Kansas City, all of my family is from there, and I love the city -- I was brought up most of my life in or near the Bay Area. The Super Bowl itself was a thrilling game with the Niners mounting a furious comeback, even though they didn't quite catch the Ravens. Disappointed, but it was still a good game.
Besides, the highlight of the Super Bowl was the announcement of the Chiefs first overall pick of the entire NFL draft! Did you catch it?! We've got Leon Sandcastle! Awright! Woo-hoo! Well, anyway, the promo was for the NFL Network to get us to watch the NFL combine activities, but I'm telling you, I look forward to seeing what's what about Leon Sandcastle!
It's all delightful fun. The funny thing is, everyone in the room watching the game with me mentioned how much the name was simply too much like another Chiefs player who has been the subject of great revulsion of late. Wonder who it is...
So yeah, that leads to the major question of all questions. You know what it is.
What will happen with that quarterback situation?
Will we get Alex Smith? Every Chiefs fan is waiting with bated breath to see. Still, it will be yet another long time before we get our own drafted and developed quarterback out there winning ball games. Remember, our last win by a D&D guy was September 12, 1987. Just looking at that is harrowing. Today they said Ravens' QB Joe Flacco has won something like 60 games for the Ravens since they drafted him.
That's over a period of five seasons.
We haven't had a single solitary win from a Chiefs D&D guy for 26 years.
And I also thought of this. When was the last time we actually had a really good solid QB performance from a Chiefs D&D guy in a game? That game Sept 12 '87 was a classic Blackledge puke, we only won on the legs of Paul Palmer and Christian Okoye. It certainly wasn't the last-game win in '86 against the Steelers to get us into the playoffs -- all that was special teams, remember?
I mean, come on. When was it? I'm talkin' at least 30 for 40 passing, at least 320 yards, at least 3 TD's and at least 0 INT's. I am indeed asking right now very plainly: when was the last time a Chiefs D&D quarterback had a game like that? In fact -- oh this starts to get very gruesome --
Has there ever even been one?
See, you've really only got Mike Livingston, Steve Fuller, and Todd Blackledge to choose from here. Really, have any of those guys had that sterling performance that makes an entire team and city proud to have been led by a marvelous, talented signal-caller? And even if they did, how many times did it happen?
I shudder right now, I really do, I shudder to think.
Today Joe Flacco played like a champion, and sorry, but as the administrator of this depressing endeavor "The Quarterback Project" I can only still shake my head. It hurts, I tell you -- it hurts. I don't know what his actual numbers were for today's Super Bowl, I don't really care to look -- but I'd bet they were something along the lines of 30 for 40, 320 yards...
See, here's the thing. My latest foray into looking-at-all-this quarterback stuff is to see which QB's have been drafted and where, and I did it all the way back to the '70 merger. I found that very rarely do Round 3 or lower guys ever pan out. This year it looks like Russell Wilson is a keeper for Seattle, and yes, the Chiefs could have had him but, well...
I've also found that guys taken in Round 2 aren't really a whole lot better. Here are the Round 2 QB's drafted from 2006 to 2010, and now is the time these guys should be shining brightly as studly NFL quarterbacks: Kellen Clemens, Tarvaris Jackson, Kevin Kolb, John Beck, Drew Stanton, Trent Edwards, Pat White, Jimmy Clausen. Sorry, but none of these guys are lighting it up, and likely will not.
On the other hand in 2011 two guys were taken in Round 2 who are genuine QB studs: the Bengals' Andy Dalton and the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick. You may know this latter guy, he might be more familiar as the QB who merely led the Niners to the Super Bowl. They were both taken very high in that round, however, so it was almost as if they were first rounders.
Thing is, again, the Chiefs could've had any of them -- Flacco, Kaepernick, Dalton.
In 2011 instead of Kaepernick (who even though he was on the losing end played terrifically today, just by-the-way in case you didn't notice) we took Jon Baldwin at 26 overall (Kaeparnick was taken 36th overall). Now, if Baldwin can be coached to not try to make insanely goofy circus catches on every play (and we have the quarterback to make it easier on him) and he becomes as studly as a, say, Anquan Boldin, I'll eat my words. But come on...
Who'd you rather have on the Chiefs right now?
Then there is Joe Flacco, who was taken 18th overall in 2008. We took Glenn Dorsey with the 5th overall pick and Branden Albert with the 15th that year. Hey, I do kind of like these guys, my Chiefs' very, very deep red rose-colored glasses tell me that I do.
But wow. With our ruthless inability to get that D&D guy, we really should've picked up Flacco. And really! Come on! It wasn't like we had anyone really there who we had committed to! This was 2008!!! The guy we had in there was Tyler Thigpen and we actually thought Brodie Croyle was anything!
Yes, I know this sounds like sour grapes whining, spilt milk crying, yeah yeah. Yes I know this is all based on hindsight, everyone's an expert using that. But my goodness gracious glory-be -- the word I like (as it were) in all of this is ruthless.
Yes, the Chiefs have just been utterly, utterly ruthless in failing to get that drafted and developed quarterback.
Thing is I'm just not going to get into all I want to share with Quarterback Project stuff. There's more, but it'll have to wait. Lot's of things to get to, in due time.
For now I have to close with just some final thoughts about the Lamar Hunt biography I finished reading. It was quite engaging and I let the author Michael MacCambridge know in an email. He graciously replied which was really cool.
Yes, as you know I went into this read just asking what in the world could it have been about Lamar that has had the Chiefs so miserable with their pro football success over the many years. And yes I did see a number of confirmations, many of which were amplified by MacCambridge's exposition. I have to believe his obsessive involvement with all the pro tennis and pro soccer stuff kept him from really being in more of the details of Chiefs success. I have to believe that his terrible involvement in his brothers' silver manipulation scheme was also a prominent factor.
There was a very brief anecdote MacCambridge shared which really stood out to me that demonstrated the results of Lamar's -- for want of a much better word -- negligence. He'd written that when Carl Peterson took over in 1989, he had to completely revamp the entire Chiefs culture. MacCambridge spoke of a Bible study several employees were holding, and people from the new administration had to just stand them up and tell them what's what.
Now Bible studies are great -- I'm a Christian man myself -- and I think Bible studies can be had with fellow employees when the time is appropriate. I'm sad that it was about a Bible study that the woeful condition of the Chiefs culture had to be exposed. The idea: Have a Bible study when you have a Bible study...
But when working on the job for the Chiefs be doing that.
I'm sorry, Lamar being preoccupied with so much of that other stuff just killed our team. I really believe that.
To his credit however, it was very encouraging to read about his very fond affection for the team, for Kansas City (I don't think for a second his being loosely based in Dallas had anything to do with any Chiefs badness), for Arrowhead Stadium, for the fans, and for everything that could be labeled Chiefs. Yes, very sadly, I think he just did a poor job of administrating as an owner.
But I have to say that his devotion to the Chiefs and to pro football did do a lot of wonderful, positive things. No matter what, I will always have the most tremendous amount of respect for Lamar as a person, as a professional, and yes as our founder and owner.
This does lead to the final thing in the post. (Wow, can't believe I'm holding up this long. It's already 3:15 in the morning. But I'm still not sleepy. Ergh...)
That final word is that Lamar was indeed such a fine, decent, and just flat-out awesome individual. That he was driven to succeed and seek excellence in everything he touched, there is nothing but respect anyone can have for him and his legacy. Here's the really, really great thing about that, for us right now...
His son.
Clark does seem to me to have a lot of those traits, and he's still young and ambitious. As I wrote earlier the more football he can master, the better the Chiefs will be. That he was so courageously forceful about taking care of business after the Scott Pioli implosion just shows that the very best of Lamar will translate into Chiefs success...
And even more.
Until April when we can officially name Leon Sandcastle as our No. 1 Superstud!...
_
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