Broncos at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: NOW It's 1-10

A tale of two pass plays.

The score: Denver 14, Kansas City 9.

The situation: Sometime in the middle of the 4th quarter. The Chiefs defense had just brilliantly stopped Denver on successive possessions and their offense has the ball at midfield.

The Chiefs play: I'm not sure if it was a third down, but it was a critical passing play. Quarterback Brady Quinn passes the ball to super-duper wide receiver Dwayne Bowe who's running a quick in-and-out route covered by a linebacker. The ball just sort of plops off of Bowe's hands. The Chiefs must punt.

The Broncos play: In the ensuing possession, with the ball close to midfield but still in their own territory and about five minutes left in the game, quarterback Peyton Manning throws a perfect strike to his wide receiver, much-less-well-known-than-Bowe Demaryius Thomas who's gotten about a mile-and-a-half separation from his defender, quick Jalil Brown.

Soooo, our play: a supposedly stud wide-out covered by a linebacker: doink. Their play: a supposedly nothing-much wide-out covered by a speedy back gets the clutch catch, easily.

Broncos run clock all the way down to about the Chiefs 10-yard line whereupon they kick a pretty much meaningless field goal with seconds left to seal the game.

Chiefs lose.

The sky is blue, the Pope is Catholic, a bear shits in the woods, all is well with the world.

All we can do is continue our agonizing rumination about why it is all this way. And when I say it is this way I mean it has been this way for years. To review, in order of importance:

1. Our wretchedly poor drafts. Yes even in the last years of the King Carl era we got people like Dwayne Bowe, Tamba Hali, and Derrick Johnson, but we just haven't been able to flesh out our team enough to truly contend. The early-2000's drafts were especially abysmal, and the worst of all of this is in the equally woeful second thing:

2. The Chiefs ineptitude/misfortune/inability/refusal/rottenest-of-Curse-of-Odin's-Revenge-luck in drafting and developing a long-term studly quarterback.

Matthew Stafford, Matt Schaub, Tony Romo, Robert Griffin III, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Colin Kaepernick, Drew Brees. Because of Thanksgiving weekend the television has all the pro football games on, and yes, I do work to avoid watching much of it -- a lot because it is just too freekin' painful. All these guys played quarterback just splendidly for their respective teams Thursday or today, and each one demonstrated that he is about 87,000 times better than anything the Chiefs can even remotely put on the field.

Again, what I said in my last post is something that even my wife said today, "Isn't there some way we can get new quarterbacks?" To reiterate, is there simply no possible way in the entire universe that we could pleeeeeaze unload these guys, all of them, Cassel Quinn Stanzi, the whole bunch and sign three other guys whoever they are -- we have absolutely nothing to lose. WILL this team show us some ganas?

So much more can be said about this even after it seems it's all been said, but ya know? There's another really awful thought that has come screechingly into the picture. That is that

Our receivers may really be much more crappy than we ever thought.

Look at today's game. How many catches did Bowe have? Two? Along with the three or four standard drops? I've also noticed that Bowe just does not get separation from his defender nearly as often as the other team's receivers do, sorry.

Jon Baldwin was invisible again. And he's supposed to be our big strong receiver -- erckk, how many times I see the other team have some big strong receiver eat us alive and I wonder, where's ours? Where on earth is Jon Baldwin???

I don't think the not-Todd-Haley staff here likes Steve Breaston, he hardly plays. The only decent solid catch I remember today was by a wide-out named Jamar Newsome -- who? Where on earth did they get this guy? And there were a couple of catches by Tony Moeaki, a couple I think by Dexter McCluster, annnnd... that's it.

So, yeah, we actually truly in reality not only have a crappy quarterback but crappy receivers too. And this may actually be fixable if we didn't have this third major crappy thing:

3. Our head coach is hapless. That's all. This is not news. But we haven't had even a decent head coach since Dick Vermeil. Extraordinarily excruciating ouch.

We can all see that guys out there can play. Today I liked what I saw from just about every player on defense, especially the regularly solid guys, Eric Berry, Brandon Flowers, Justin Houston. I even liked what I saw in Dontari Poe. Our offensive line was actually pretty great today particularly in light of the injuries and the shifting guys around and the having to start rookies like Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson.

But Romeo Crennel et al still have us running around like the Keystone Kops -- er -- Cops, you know, the KC -- there is simply so much going on out there that is on the coaching. How many times do I say during a game, "Romeo, that's on you." "That penalty -- Romeo, that's on you." "Calling that totally unnecessary time-out, Romeo..." Whatever kind of metaphor there is for things being on other things works just fine here, but I'm too tired to think of one.

Other things are in the mix too, like Rodney Hudson's crushing injury (again, see last post for more) and our terribly inconsistent defensive line play. But those big three just came smashing through the television set today.

Smashing through, just like the reality of future Chiefs destitution. I mention this at the cost of belaboring the harrowing details, but I knew there was something in that last post that I realized I was simply not fully articulating. You know, the post I wrote about how sure I was of things.

I saved this part for now, because I'm not so sure about it, but if what I think but am not sure about is the way it is actually going to be, then it is truly the most frightening thing of all. This thing was woven through all that I wrote in that post. You could see it in why a Chiefs fan may actually think, "You say the Chiefs folding is the worst thing? No it isn't, this train wreck is the worst thing..."

What would a particularly sensitive and cerebral Chiefs fan do to finish that thought? Why would they even think that it'd be best to put a shotgun to the head of all things Chiefs? Do you know? Have you thought about it? Have you grasped the deepness and darkness of these Chiefs days as the deepest and darkest ever?

What any observant Chiefs fan could perhaps very reasonably say to complete the above thought is:

"...and if it will be this way for many more years then it isn't any worse than mercifully putting us out of our misery right now."

For you see, worse than the Chiefs now, and worse than the Chiefs not being around at all ever more, is quite plainly

The Chiefs being the way they are now for many more years to come.

So yeah, I do know something else for sure, something that could easily be the very worst thing of them all. To echo my thoughts from the last post:

I do know the worst thing of them all is indeed being made a floormat for the AFC West, even the NFL, for the next many years to come however many that is.

Because we have no quarterback -- not a single one for the future, because we so contemptibly fail to ever get one in the draft, because we may have to resort to picking a quarterback off the rest-of-the-NFL scrap heap yet again, because that 2009 draft made Scott Pioli look like such a choke, and as such

Because the entire league and all pro football anything now looks at us with the lowest amount of respect...

How could a Chiefs fan not see anything else in his/her team's future?

As I said in that post, we can't know that it is this bleak. It sure looks this way, but it is still possible we can have a bit of luck in a draft, get that quarterback, nab a pretty decent head coach.

So there is that still slight ever-so slight sliver of hope.

We'll see. It's all we can do right now. Unless we hoot and holler about it, wear black at Arrowhead about it, put banners behind airplanes that say "We deserve better" and fly them around the stadium about it, or as I can do here, blog about it.

All we can do is wait and see...
_

Broncos at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: Most Likely 1-10

I'm getting a head start on Chapter Umpteen of the nightmare that is the Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, the game is Sunday, five days from now, and this is only Tuesday. Only two days ago I'd polished up yet another elaborate piece that comprises the deeply introspective therapy session all of this has become.

I've become quite enlightened, I must tell you. Only because a number of revelatory things have burst out of my skull over these two days that must I write again. I've always worked really hard to only write on gameday, but I really must unload this visionary anguish onto the blog today.

Ten things I've just got to spell out before the masses, ten things that I do know for sure. There are some things I'm not sure about, but these, I am sure about. Commiserate with me, please, I beg you. The following is in no particular order, though I kind of arranged them in the order of when the light came on:

1. I do know that the Patriots scored 59 points in their game on Sunday. I caught this when looking at the NFL website to peek at past Chiefs drafts -- a hobby I have, sort of a cerebral exercise to resolve the ongoing conundrum of our contemptibly incessant ineptitude. The Patriots beat the Colts 59-24. I think the Colts had 24, but the Patriots did score 59 points.

Then I looked at how many recent games it has taken the Chiefs to score 59 points. You laugh at this?

Well, let's put it this way. If the Chiefs were playing the Patriots this past Sunday, and the Patriots gave the Chiefs a five-game head start to score points to try to beat the Patriots and their 59 points, the Chiefs still would've lost. 59-58.

Yee-epp. Patriots 59, Chiefs 58.

Patriots vs. Colts, 59 points. Chiefs vs. Buccaneers Raiders Chargers Steelers Bengals, 58 points.

I just can't refuse to bring your attention yet again to that time in November, 2005, that glorious time when the Chiefs beat the Patriots at Arrowhead. I actually thought, wow, now it's our time to be awesome and great and wonderful, and the Patriots are going to get to schlurp for a while.

Ouch.

The whole Chiefs-Patriots comparison thing, which I do every once in a while, is really, really painful, yes. I'm just a masochist, that's all.

2. I do know that people are dying because of the Chiefs. There was actually a story, there in the national news no less, that a Kansas City man died and blamed his death on the Chiefs. Now you'll see that the dude was a fun, joking, kind of guy. But you know? If you're a true Chiefs fan, you know that the Chiefs have been trying to kill you for years. Here's a guy who's just openly sharing the truth about things. Good for him -- as it were.

3. I do know that the San Francisco 49ers now have a raging quarterback controversy. They have two pretty dang fine quarterbacks, Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick, and the latter had a splendidly boffo game last night in place of the concussion-recovering former. It's kind of like the quarterback controversy the Chiefs have, only the complete opposite.

The Chiefs have no one.

Oh, yeah, in the 2011 draft we could've snatched up Kaepernick who, from what little I know, was a studly dude from some Nevada school whom everyone apparently knew quite surely was studly. Maybe Scott Pioli was getting his cup of coffee when everyone noticed. Instead he got Jon Baldwin, who still can develop into a fine receiver, and I mean that, exceppttt there is no quarterback to throw him the ball. Annnd there is no coach to coach the quarterback we don't have. Annnnnd...

Here's the real deal with the quarterback thing right now. Why are Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn still around? Why is Ricky Stanzi still around if they won't at least put him out there and see what he can do? Why aren't we picking up someone like JaMarcus Russell or Matt Leinart or someone who was thought to once be studly but are nowhere now? Why don't we just try somebody out?

What on earth do we have to lose?

Respect? I can't see how we have any of that now. Announcers were saying Sunday that players were nervous they'd be benched or canned or whatever, and that affected their play. What? If you suck you'll be out -- nothing personal, but this is business.

So why not get somebody else and just see what they can do for the rest of the season? Who cares if we lose 87-0? What difference does it make? Maybe someone like JaMarcus Russell is the perfect fit for Kansas City when he wasn't for Oakland -- and if he doesn't fit here, what's the loss?

See, this is the time for the Chiefs to show they mean business. But, well, erggkhhkrgh...

4. I do know how phenomenally important O-linemen are. Even though having Rodney Hudson in there probably wouldn't have made that much difference with all the Chiefs rotteness there is, I can't help but think that losing your brand spankin' new spiffy center to a broken leg for the rest of the season in only the third game has got to be pretty major. People still don't get how critical the offensive line is, and when your center goes down, the one O-line guy who's got to do a real skill thing in snapping the ball, that's devastating.

Look at what's happened with our O-line. We've had a crazy high number of bad snaps from the replacement centers. The coaches have been frantically shifting linemen's positions all around to try to get the right mix. What you've got is our backs unable to get untracked, no sustained pass protection, and more turnovers.

Just losing that one seemingly meaningless player has doubly killed us this year.

5. I do know how much we were destroyed by the stupendously poor 2009 Chiefs draft. I'd mentioned how bad the 2009 draft was in my last post, but when you think about it, it could easily be one of the worst ever in NFL history. One reason is that it came off a 2-14 season. There is just no way you should ever be having as bad a draft as this after being such an awful team the year before.

And even though it was Scott Pioli's first, he has no excuse. He came over as the genius player personnel guy from the Patriots. No excuse whatsoever. I mean, was he that bad? Did all the people he consulted and all the draft analysts get it all so wrong? Did we just have the most rotten luck, I mean, is the Curse of Odin's Revenge just that overwhelming? Or did Pioli just go out of his way to pulverize conventional wisdom and get guys who very predictably tanked? He definitely tried to do the whole "I'll turn the tables and show 'em" with Tyson Jackson and, well, we all know how that worked out.

In any case, not having a single regular player (that is, someone not a kicker) from that '09 draft class regularly out there doing great things for us now has really hammered us. (The irony that only a Chiefs fan can savor: the only truly relevant player from '09 is Mr. Irrelevant, Ryan Succop, taken last among the whole bunch. Wow.)

And this is again one reason the days are so deathly dark for Chiefs fans. We're rocketing to a 1-15 season and we just can't be sure the guys we get next April are going to make us contenders again. Extraordinarily depressing...

6. I do know I was wrong about my consideration of the Chiefs this year. Yes, I do try to be somewhat optimistic in the blog enough times to revel in some hopefulness among the Chiefs fandom, nothing wrong in that. But I must say it was painful to watch Sunday's gamecast show graphics related to how many others thought the Chiefs were going to really contend this year. I was right about the quarterbacks, I knew they'd schlurp and sure enough they've schlurped.

But I actually had very positive feelings about our ownership/management/coaching. This is just my mea culpa. I was very wrong. I will get to this more as the season progresses and we all see what transpires.

1st, ownership. This ownership, umm -- I have mentioned that Clark Hunt scares me. I still have yet to get and read Michael MacCambridge's new biography of Lamar, but I'm curious to see what could be in there that Lamar possibly did to have contributed to Chiefs not-very-goodness. I may not want to know. But we must face reality that after Lamar's stellar late-60's Chiefs run, the Chiefs were nothin' much, for great yawning periods of time.

How much of that was Lamar?

And even more frightening -- reality is brutal -- how much of it today is Clark?

2nd, management. I actually am still holding out hope for Scott Pioli. A little, tiny, sliver of hope that the guy may actually have it in him. I dunno. Watch, tomorrow he gets fired. But I can't see how that'll happen, because didn't Clark just give him a bazillion dollar contract extension? Looking at this train wreck as it is, that's comical really.

3rd, coaching. Romeo Crennel is as good as gone. If he doesn't go, then the ownership/management of this team is really deplorable.

7. I do know Peyton Manning is still a very good quarterback, and I think I know why he didn't choose the Chiefs. Remember back in, what was it, March or April when he was mulling over the team he'd want to join? Everybody was talking about it, it was all over the news even. Thing is, I'd heard some people say it was a sure thing he was going to the Chiefs. How overjoyed I was!

Well, he up and went to the Broncos. He had to have looked at our leadership, and looked at the Broncos leadership, and well, there ya go. And I don't think this was something lost on all the other Chiefs fans. I mean, look at the Broncos coaching. They're led by John Fox, who led the Panthers to the Super Bowl one year. The Panthers. Last year he led the Broncos to a division title and a playoff win, something the Chiefs have done only twice in their entire near-50-year history. (In case you're wondering: we won the division in 1966 then beat the Bills, and 1993 then beat the Steelers. That's it.)

So lessee, John Fox vs. Romeo Crennel. Romeo Crennel vs. John Fox. Hmm. I also know Peyton Manning is a smart guy.

8. I do know that the San Francisco Giants are the World Series champions of major league baseball. I only say this because I can still revel in knowing that my baseball team did the dance on the mound yet again, and not be so thoroughly despondent over the Chiefs destitution.

But I can add that I do know this. Good teams with good leadership win. There were a number of really good teams that didn't win the World Series, but still earn the greatest respect from everyone, the Tigers and Cardinals and several other teams are good and have good leadership. The Tampa Bay Rays are a shining example -- they didn't even make the playoffs but they still win and earn the respect of everyone for how they play on the field and what they do in the front office to make that happen. None of these teams have to worry -- sure the breaks may not go their way and they may not get the trophy, but they still win. (And yes, I do know this is all a zero sum game -- if there's a Giants there is most likely an Astros somewhere. But with the Chiefs, it is ridiculous...)

This year when I wondered if the Giants would win, if they'd come back from those deep series deficits they had against the Reds and Cardinals, I thought about something that as a fan of the Giants many years ago I knew sadly applied only to other teams, and that was this:

Good teams win.

I took a great deal of assurance in the fact that the Giants this year were a good team, and a lot of that was because they had that very strong leadership. Yeah, the photograph here is of Giants manager Bruce Bochy, and it was taken of him with a 49ers cap on. I couldn't resist doing a "photoshop" job on it, just to think... ahhh... to have someone like that managing the Chiefs... true bliss.

Here's the thing: if the Giants weren't a good team, then they wouldn't win. The Chiefs have overwhelmingly proven this very basic principle this year.

If they have strong leadership they'll get good players who'll respect them and play well, and they will win too. Even if they don't win a title in one year or another, they'll be proud to be on the team and represent the city and the fans.

This leads to a very scary thing I know:

9. I do know that players can get very frustrated.

All men want to be respected in their jobs.

In football that's the players and the coaches and the managers and the owner.

And I fill in those positions with Chiefs people and I do wonder about something I don't know:

How much will these guys take all this hardship to heart? Will they stop trying? Will they give up? Will the fears they have of being disrespected move them to check out?

And how much of a toll will that take on the entire Kansas City Chiefs environment that encompasses the whole of all things Chiefs -- team, organization, city, culture, everything?

The scariest thing to me is this. What happens if someone like Matt Barkley does end up being the stud quarterback that he should be, and he's the guy we're slotted to get, I mean he really does turn out to be all that and we've got him, yet because of the abject wretchedness of all things Kansas City Chiefs he does a John Elway in 1983? Remember that? Just utterly rejecting the Colts in favor of ::gulp:: the Broncos (guess their leadership was better then too...)

I do know that all of this is not the worst thing that can happen to the Chiefs. You'd think this was about as rock-bottom as you could get being anything Chiefs, whether you're the smallest fan or our All-Pro quarterback. All of this horrificness, however, makes it very scary that the worst thing could happen.

That worst thing is not even that the Chiefs move to Los Angeles. Oh yes a very harrowing thing for Chiefs fans living in and around Kansas City. But ya know? The Chiefs in a big market like LA would be terrific for the Chiefs themselves. Don't get me wrong -- not an option for the KANSAS CITY Chiefs, no matter how awful they are.

No, the absolute worst thing is that the Chiefs fold all together. Many may very rightfully, understandably, perfectly reasonably say, "Huh! That would probably be the best thing that could happen! Take that big mean-looking shotgun to head of this suffering beast and put us out of our misery!"

Would that happen? At this point it is very unlikely. The Chiefs still have a great deal going for it. It has a proud history and strong support, with Arrowhead and the fan base in Kansas City. The team still has highly-regarded reputation and a prominent place in the entire NFL culture with the Lamar Hunt legacy -- I mean take a tour of the Hall of Honor there at the stadium again.

But I still wonder. How much more awfulness can be tolerated? Kansas City fans are fiercely loyal, they're still going to Arrowhead, many even wearing those terrible bags over their heads.

10. I do know there is a lot I don't know. I admit I don't know about a lot of the different things that make up Chiefsitude. The cruel truth is that we all do know that many of those things are indeed manifesting themselves as this.

How much longer will this go on? It isn't just the last few years. It is the entirety of time since we last won a Super Bowl for cryin' out loud. We weren't much through the '70s and '80s. We were nothing in the playoffs in the '90s. We've been back to not-much since then. I'm not being a Negative Nabob of Nattering Negativity...

I'm just telling you what I know.

And I do know exactly what was most meaningful about the words on that banner following the airplane, the one that circled Arrowhead on that Sunday I was there at the beginning of October. It wasn't the part about benching Cassel, everyone knew that was going to happen. It wasn't the part about firing Pioli, I'm just not sure that switching around your general manager every year or so will really get you anywhere.

I do know that Chiefs fans deserve better.

Will we get it? I just don't know. But we can keep looking to see if it will. And right now, all this is kind of fun in a therapeutic kind of way. And that's because I do know a couple other things.

There are still fans who are with me, still with the Chiefs, rooting for any and all Chiefs things no matter what.

And there is hope, however little there is.

Those two things are very good things to know.
_

Bengals at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 1-9

I really don't think there has ever been a darker day for Chiefs fans ever in the team's history.

Yes, there have been the awful playoff losses. But at least we were a good team.

Yes, there have been the awful seasons. But at least there was reasonable hope we could pick it back up for next year.

But now, right now, I just don't know of a time that is more abjectly wretchedly pukifyingly awful as it is right now for Chiefs fans.

And ya know? I have proof.

Today was "Wear Black Day" at Arrowhead. How amazing is that. That enough fans wore black to make the statement, and quite a few did. At one point when most of the fans had gone home, sometime in the third quarter, they pulled the camera back to show the crowd, and it was indeed a sea of black. Well, "sea" is not exactly the word, more like a large pond, but still.

A lot of black in the stands.

Not going to go over all the gory details of the game today. They just weren't a whole lot different than they've been all season -- we weren't in this game and were never going to be. It wasn't even funny -- in fact it has gone way past being funny in any way.

What I'd like to do is just go over two of the most critical things that the Chiefs have got to do to climb out of this abyss, but first, we must face one of those extraordinarily brutal things that makes this time so dark. It wouldn't be so bad if our headlong dive into the first draft-pick slot next April scored us a quarterback that'll be truly fully exceptionally studly for the next fifteen years or so. But we quite simply picked the wrong year to be frightfully bad, by just a single year.

Look at Indianapolis right now. (And I knew this was going to happen.) For eons they had Peyton Manning to get them to playoff glory after playoff glory, including a nifty Super Bowl title. Then last year, for the first time in those eons of years, Manning is gone for the season with a nasty injury, the Colts schlurp, and they get to nab the next Peyton Manning in the draft, Andrew Luck. Luck hasn't been that phenomenal this year, but he has led the Colts to a 6-3 record so far -- and he's still only a rookie. Even if we were the second worst team last year we'd have scored RGIII who's shown he can be especially studly himself.

Meanwhile, look at what us Chiefs have to look forward to in April. Matt Barkley? He looks like a shinier Matt Cassel if you ask me. Geno Smith? He's tanked. Johnny Manziel? Suddenly flashy and popular, but NFL material? Collin Klein? They say he's the next Tim Tebow. (And let's not forget to mention another aspect to this deeply dark day: K-State lost last night after Klein had an atrocious day, pretty much dashing their once very possible national championship hopes.)

I just don't follow college football a whole lot, but there has definitely been a humongous dearth of talk about the next Peyton Manning coming out of college.

Right at the time we so so so so so so so need that guy.

This is precisely why this is the darkest time for Chiefs fans, the darkest, cruelest, meanest, ugliest, and any of hundreds of other such connotative adjectives you can barf up. While we should be at least that little bit gleeful inside about our assured future largesse, we can't even do that.

We're not only bad now, but appears there's only more bad to come.

So what to do.

That first thing to look at is the players. Do we actually have decent players out there or not? I looked at all the draft picks we've gotten in the past three years, all the years after Scott Pioli's first pathetic attempt in '09 when he ridiculously took Tyson Jackson first and then proceeded to select a horde of other dudes none of whom have been even remotely meaningful (except Ryan Succop, but he was just a surprisingly nice very-end-of-the-draft gift).

Here are those players, and I'm only including the ones that are still on the roster (with round and overall pick numbers):

2012
1 11 Dontari Poe NT
2 44 Jeff Allen T
3 74 Donald Stephenson T
4 107 Devon Wylie WR
2011
1 26 Jonathan Baldwin WR
2 55 Rodney Hudson C
3 70 Justin Houston LB
3 86 Allen Bailey DE
4 118 Jalil Brown DB
5 135 Ricky Stanzi QB
2010
1 5 Eric Berry SS
2 36 Dexter McCluster WR
2 50 Javier Arenas DB
3 68 Jon Asamoah G
3 93 Tony Moeaki TE
5 136 Kendrick Lewis FS

Now, you'd think this'd be a great foundation for the future, but here's my question. Are these guys all on the team because they're really that good, or are they on the team because we have no one better?

Did Scott Pioli actually do a splendid job drafting these past three years, or did he do a sucky job of it and we're just playing these guys because they're who we've got?

What's the answer to the question?

I'd say guys like Eric Berry, Tony Moeaki, and Justin Houston make it seem like he scored. But then I'm really not sure about guys like Dexter McCluster, Kendrick Lewis, and Allen Bailey. And guys like Jon Baldwin drive me crazy.

This leads to the second thing.

Coaching.

There is absolutely no question this entire staff needs to go. Too many things to even mention make this imperative. Telling your players "You fumble and you sit" reflects tremendous inability to manage a team -- and that's just one of the lesser problems. I was nervous about Romeo Crennel from the get-go, really hoping that the Chiefs not hire him as the permanent coach after he took over for Todd Haley. What did they do? Went off and hired him.

The most important thing the Chiefs must do is to get that great quarterback, but as we've just seen that looks hopeless, at least right now it does. But we can still do something else almost as important and perhaps a bit more within our capacity to get.

First, Chiefs ownership must keep Crennel and company until the end of the season. It just seems pointless to fire him now and then have to go through all the stuff we went through last year all over again. Fire him now and what you get is an interim space-filler guy like Crennel who everyone gets unusually fond of then we end up with him. Don't do it! Just let Crennel finish up this train wreck then we can start brand-spankin' new fresh in January.

Then -- in fact it may go without saying that they should be starting this right now: Seek and find and get the smartest, toughest, keenest, most determined, most thoughtful, most incisive, and simply the best coach that the bazillions of dollars Clark Hunt has on-hand can buy. Find a guy who's all the Bills rolled into one: Bill Walsh Bill Parcells Bill Belichick (I definitely remember writing this already. Guess I have to keep writing it until the Chiefs actually do the thing...) Cripes I think I'd be happy if the guy we get is two of those Bills. No, I'd be happy if he were even one... or wow, even one-half of one of those guys because it'd be infinitely better than anything we've had. And reeelly try to get a sound college guy or the brightest young star in the NFL's assistant coaching ranks -- if we get an NFL retread who's tried head coaching six other teams I'm going to be sick.

You know, I recently watched one of those NFL Network "Ten Best" shows. This one had the ten most motivational coaches ever. You wanna know something wild?

Five former Chiefs coaches were mentioned. Five!

Hank Stram was No. 8, Marty Schottenheimer was No. 5, and Dick Vermeil was No. 2. No. 2! Only Vince Lombardi (of course) was higher. Marv Levy and Herm Edwards were mentioned as "Best of the Rest." As far as Chiefs coaches with any length of service, the only guy not there is John Mackovic.

This made me think. Have the Chiefs ownership/management just not been able to find a good, solid, genius head coach who gets the damn job done and doesn't have to be a big rah-rah guy? I mean, I'm not dissing Hank Stram or Dick Vermeil at all, those guys were super-geniuses. But come on!

When, WHEN are we going to have a coach who just flat knows what the hell he wants to do with our football team and gets it done? And of course I should add, finishes, because as "great" as Marty was he devolved into a waaay below average coach every year after Game No. 16. Every stinkin' year.

Can you imagine it? Really, in your mind, close your eyes, and dream a little bit: Roaming the sidelines... a good, bright, solid, focused, fully integrated head coach. You can see it in his eyes, look there, do you see it? Fully committed to sustained Chiefs success at any price and knowing exactly what to do to get it.

Ahh. Nice thoughts. Very nice indeed.

If we all knew that was a possibility,

A very real true actual possibility

Then maybe this wouldn't be the darkest day ever.

As it is...

::Sigh::
_

Chiefs at Steelers - Week 10 - Record: 1-8

Thank goodness for this blog. Ahhh, some more therapy.

Would you believe that as we started our overtime drive, I actually thought, "Hmm, we haven't had a single turnover tonight! Yowza!" (Well, I didn't say "Yowza" in my head, but I did think about how neat that was.) Then, of course, after conjuring some splendid last-ditch-final-drive-in-regulation magic to get us into game-tying field goal range, Matt Cassel turned back into

Matt Cassel.

His first typically wounded-duck pass dropped right into the hands of a Steelers dude after which Pittsburgh summarily kicked the game-winning field goal.

Eeee-yeah. That's nice.

Well, look at it this way. We're still on track to get the top studly QB in the draft.

Otherwise, a final valiant attempt to win the game does not erase the contemptible embarrassment that is this Chiefs team. It isn't just that we drop easy passes and get stupid penalties or even that we look like we drop passes and get penalties because we're so bad. (I counted three different times we were penalized on plays replays showed just really weren't penalties.)

It's that we're an embarrassing team.

Now, first remember, that I love my Chiefs. I will always love my Chiefs. I will root whole-heartedly for all Chiefs things. Always and forever. I could sing the song right now but won't because this is a blog post. With only writing, no sound. And good thing because I'd embarrass myself. Anyway...

I have to confess I was really embarrassed to be a Chiefs fan tonight, just because of our insipid behavior, displayed in bright colors for a whole national television game-watching audience to behold.

About halfway through the third quarter, Dwayne Bowe caught a nice screen pass and ran it in for a score, one that would've given us 17 points. The way our defense was playing that might have been good enough for the win.

But before he crossed the goal line he foolishly held the ball out behind him in the defender's face to show him up. Sure enough, the sports gods duly punished us. Flag on the play, Branden Albert, holding. And no, that wasn't one of those not-a-penalty calls. Albert did hold the guy. So it all comes back, we go nowhere, and Succop misses the chip-shot field goal. Great drive, mindlessly stupid unsportsmanly move, then our due justice: zero points.

That wasn't even the worst of it. When the Steelers got the ball back, backup QB Byron Leftwich threw an incomplete pass on one of those plays where the quarterback gets hammered and loses the ball as his arm is going forward. The whole time it looked as such. But Justin Houston picked up the loose ball and ran it in for a touchdown, upon which the entire Chiefs defense gathers in the end zone to juke and jive with an idiotic looking hip-hop dance, resulting in a very justified flag for excessive celebration. 15-yard penalty.

Upon further review the play is an incomplete pass, but because our team decided to work real hard to be the best in the NFL at embarrassing themselves -- at least they should be good at something -- the penalty was still assessed on the play and Pittsburgh got a very generous first down. Yeah, that's right, we got an excessive celebration penalty on a play that didn't even exist.

This, folks, is the Kansas City Chiefs.

So yeah, Romeo Crennel may be a very nice man. I really don't know the guy, but he does look like a very nice man, he really does. A wonderful, good, fine gentleman. I mean that, I'm not being facetious at all, from what I see I like Romeo Crennel.

But he should be fired right now.

We have fine players out there. Dang, we played even with the Steelers, dang it, even with Roethlisberger in there. We should be better than this, and yet we're thoroughly embarrassing ourselves in every aspect of the game because our coach just isn't doing the job, big-time. Ironic, isn't it, that last year's Chiefs-coach-who-must-be-fired, Todd Haley, now the Steelers' offensive coordinator, was watching on the other sideline. I can't believe he wasn't smiling reeeal big on the inside.

As the season progresses, or regresses as a more appropriate description of this still unfolding train wreck, we'll surely get more into the leadership situation of this team. The more I think about it the more I wonder just how ugly it really is. And I don't think there's a Chiefs fan who hasn't been thinking how far it goes, far past Scott Pioli.

But more on that when I have time. It's late, I've got work tomorrow, so until next time...
_

Chiefs 2012 Mid-Season Muddling

Sad. Very sad. Even the other Kansas City football team can't escape the Curse of Odin's Revenge when it comes to first playoff games. Today the pro soccer team Sporting KC lost to their awful nemesis, this Houston team that I'd read they just can't seem to figure out. Apparently I guess (because I just don't follow soccer at all) they've got to take down Houston something like 57-0 in the next game to have hopes of moving on. Yeah, here's this splendid KC football team THE NUMBER ONE SEED IN THEIR CONFERENCE/DIVISION/REGION whatever-it-is GETTING BEATEN RIGHT OUTTA THE GATE IN THE PLAYOFFS.

DOES THIS SOUND ALL TOO FAMILIAR?

Okay, I'll stop yelling with the text here.

So let's talk Chiefs. Mid-season, 2012, a presidential election year. You know I thought, hmm, we really really sucked in the last presidential year, too. So I thought, hmm, how do we do in election years? Yep, for the most part, we suck.

Look at their records with a bit of commentary when needed: (Not counting '60 because we were the Texans then. Sorry. Not the Chiefs.)

'64   7-7
'68   12-2   One of two of these kinds of years we made the playoffs. 12-2 is great until you remember we got pasted by the Raiders 41-6 right outta the gate in the playoffs. Sorry, but awful awful awful.
'72   8-6   This year we started the season with the first game ever at Arrowhead, a loss to the eventual undefeated Dolphins, in the very next game after we lost to them on that awful Christmas day. Awful.
'76   5-9
'80   8-8
'84   8-8   A bunch of records close to 8-8 through our history kept us mediocre enough to never get great high draft picks, yet great teams in the 1960's and 1990's kept us having an overall winning record. Swell.
'88   4-11-1  A Frank Gansz year. Ick.
'92   10-6   The other time we made the playoffs, but we barely got in when we should've romped in, and outta the gate we got shutout by San Diego. Wretchedly awful.
'96   9-7   Probably the worst year of the bunch. Don't let the winning season throw you. We were 9-4 after beating Detroit on Thanksgiving then went in the tank. I mean we went in at warp speed.
'00   7-9
'04   7-9  This ugliness was sandwiched between two fine winning Vermeil years. Hey, presidential election year. It's meant to be.
'08   2-14   The worst Chiefs season record ever.
'12   1-7   The soon-to-be worst Chiefs season record ever.

I was going to count this all up to get an overall presidential election year record, but I don't want to. You get the idea. Doesn't really mean anything except that it's yet another way to look at the abyss of Chiefs stuff through history and think that our luck just has to change. But the way Sporting KC got beat today, I'm not so sure. Hey even K-State Heisman candidate Collin Klein got some weird still undisclosed injury last night that may help derail the Wildcats' shot at a spot in the national championship game.

The Curse of Odin's Revenge I tell you. It is really, really shitty.

Before I get into my thoughts about our team, I'll tell you what I'm going to do in a minute, some other things about the insanity of that last stat from Thursday night's game. Oh it isn't any less horrific, but some things to know I have to make you suffer through also.

Looked up that game, the last one a Chiefs-drafted quarterback won, Todd Blackledge over the Chargers, September 13 1987. Did you know he went 6 for 15 with one interception? For 79 total passing yards? Even this was pathetic. We only won because Christian Okoye had a nice TD run and Paul Palmer ran back a kickoff. After that game we lost eight straight. Nice.

I thought I'd agonize myself even more by looking at Dan Marino's game that day. He threw three touchdown passes in a loss to New England. Oh, whew, at least his team lost. But it isn't just that Marino won a bunch more games for Miami after that, but think of all the playoff games he won with them. At least two of them were against the Chiefs. Niiiice.

Oh, and yeah, one more Blackledge note. He is the only Chiefs-drafted quarterback to even play in a playoff game for the Chiefs. '86 against the Jets when his last-ditch attempt to show he could play NFL football was a predictable disaster.

As for now? I'd heard after Thursday's game that Philip Rivers had the fifth best completion percentage game in NFL history with 90%. So much for the one thing I thought was good about our team, the D-backfield.

Well, let's get to what I'd been thinking.

Ownership, management, coaching -- that ugliness has to wait until the end-of-the-season wrap-up. For now, the players. I've just been thinking about which players on our team are actually any good, and yes, this is not pretty. But just to give the best to some of our better players, I've ranked them and put a percentage next to each as to how far they have to go to be a full-on Pro Bowl quality player. I really don't think we have any really Pro Bowl players, but a few are close. We'll talk about all that, but again, the percent next to each reflects how much farther of their "100%" do they need to go to be that Pro Bowler they can be, in my opinion.

Here're the top ten ranked Kansas City Chiefs today, with comments.

1. Dustin Colquitt. 15%. Oh how insane is it that our best player is, yes, our punter. But it is true. It is quite disturbing that this is pretty much the same as it was in '07 to '09. Anyway, Colquitt is amazing at getting the ball down inside not just the 20 but the 5. He doesn't get the full "100%" because he shanks about every tenth punt.

2. Eric Berry. 25%. The San Diego game got me to put him higher on the list. He was the only good Chiefs thing about that game. The key is that, as everyone knows, for him to be as studly as he should be he's got to look a lot like Troy Polamalu out there, and he just hasn't been looking that way. That was until Thursday, when he was finally flying all over the field. Maybe he's just got to get back from that injury, and maybe just maybe in a miserable campaign as this has been, this is a solid glimmer of hope for us.

3. Dwayne Bowe. 30%. A traditional Pro Bowler he's only at 30% because he still drops passes he should catch. Otherwise he is still runs great slant routes, and is probably the best sideline catcher there is. Something should be added here that I think all Chiefs fans know, and that is that a lot of why Bowe isn't going off is because of two critical deficiencies, quarterback and coaching. Yeah, no kidding.

4. Jamaal Charles. 35%. Another player who is made worse because we have no real coaching, no quarterback to take much of the offensive load off, and an inconsistent offensive line. Otherwise, like Bowe, this guy is a pro football stud.

5. Brandon Flowers. 35%. I'd have him higher but I just don't think he does very well against big receivers, and there are just too many of those in the league now.

6. Justin Houston. 45%. I had him higher earlier until I started seeing him simply not do very well pursuing runners in the open field. As a pass rusher he can be deadly, but he's simply got to be a better complete linebacker to rank higher.

7. Derrick Johnson. 50%. He's still there to make tackles and keep the opponent from scoring too many points. But then, not much difference between losing 31-13 and 48-13. Occassionally he does make that spectacular play, but I think his age is making it so there are fewer and fewer of those.

8. Tamba Hali. 80%. He has definitely slowed some. Either that or teams have just figured him out, or he's just getting older, or something. But he is way not the factor he has been in the past.

9.  Jon Baldwin. 90%. The only reason this guy is so high is because he is a phenomenal physical talent. He can make amazing catches. He is big and strong and as such can make a D-back look silly trying to cover him. But the obvious problem is that he just has no connection with the quarterback at all. He looks lost running his routes, every other pass play he looks to be somewhere he's not supposed to. If this guy really went to work and learned how an NFL passing game goes, he'd be a superstar. Maybe when we get our whole new coaching staff and our brand spankin' new highly drafted quarterback it'll be wonderfully different.

10. Dexter McCluster. 95%. I've always thought of him way higher, and even so I still really like this guy. But I'm sorry I'm tired of the whole not-finding-a-place-for-him, I'm tired of the fact that our coaches still haven't figured out how to get him untracked, although it looks like he can run the wildcat with some effectiveness. And too often he doesn't seem to know how to really get those pass routes figured out.

Players who could be up there in the top ten do include Ryan Succop (he's very good but getting field goals when we need touchdowns makes him just not much of a factor), Tony Moeaki (still trying to get going after his knee injury), and Peyton Hillis (who's also had injury problems keeping him from finding his place on this team). TE Kevin Boss and C Rodney Hudson could be there too but are out indefinitely.

Otherwise, we've got quite a lot of roster spot holders. Some are better than others, but one reason we're 1-7 is that we just don't have all the talent we need.

The worst of this is that there were three kinds of players that didn't crack that top ten, and all Super Bowl contending teams must have at least a few in their top ten. Did you notice their absence?

No offensive linemen. Funny, I'd heard somewhere that our O-line was one of the highest ranked in the NFL. But inconsistency and very bad offensive coaching has belied that hopeful situation. Sure Erik Winston came highly touted. Sure young Branden Albert and Jon Asamoah are great hopes for us. But it just isn't showing up. Remember the days when Willie Roaf and Will Shields would be way at the top of the top ten Chiefs? Ahhh...

No defensive linemen. Jackson and Dorsey are still huge high-draft-pick busts. Poe is too young to show us anything right now. Every other D-lineman is just a fill-in. This Ropati Pitoitua guy has looked good for a few plays, but that's it. Remember the days when Dan Saleamua and Neil Smith would be way at the top of the top ten Chiefs? Ahhh...

And of course...

No quarterback. This is the biggest killer of all.

But then why belabor that point.

(Except if you want to, I get into it all with The Quarterback Project. It's all there in its resplendently atrocious atrociousness.)
_

Chiefs at Chargers - Week 9 - Record: 1-7 - Total Turnover Differential: -20

There are eight minutes left in the fourth quarter of this game and I just don't think I can watch any more of this game. I'm already here at the computer blogging about it.

My previous post was about how wonderful it was to watch my baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, do virtually everything right last week. On Sunday they finished off a good Tigers team to sweep the entire World Series. It just can't get any better than that.

Tonight, a scant three days later, I'm watching a Kansas City Chiefs team do absolutely nothing right. That span of the difference between the goodosity of the baseball Giants and the football Chiefs has grown even larger, I think now encompassing the entire breadth of the universe.

Right now they're behind 31-6, and they were actually in this thing a few minutes of gametime ago. The 2012 Chiefs can be simply encapsulated by what happened just as the fourth quarter was beginning.

They were behind by 11 and had the ball on their own 4 -- so they weren't in the best shape -- but as they went to the line Dwayne Bowe was lined up wide left with no defender near him anywhere in sight. Even Matt Cassel couldn't miss him for an easy 96-yard touchdown...

Except -- the officials or timekeeper or someone possessed by the spirit of Odin did not reset the 25-second play clock. Whistle blows. Reset everything. The Chargers can now pick him up.

Two plays later, a sack, a fumble, and another Charger touchdown.

Guh.

Rate.

But ya know? Whatever. We're still on track to get the best quarterback in the draft.

It is still depressing. At the beginning of the game they said that no team has not led at any time in their first seven games since the 1929 Buffalo Bisons, whoever they were. Now the Chiefs have not led at any time in their first eight games, and, wait, wait, I think I hear the announcer in the other room say the last time that happened was during the Pleistocene Era sometime. Guess they don't have the exact year because everything was recorded on cave walls.

No, actually, I hear Shaun Draughn scoring a touchdown. Yay.

I'm sad because I look at this team and see so many proud players on the Chiefs, some actually pretty decent, too many who really just aren't, but still taking pride in playing as hard as they can for our team.

So this Sunday when I have a bit more time, I plan to do my mid-season report with my rankings of our best players and some thoughts about each.

As for the Chiefs, they've got a ten-day layoff until Pittsburgh in a Monday night game, which will certainly be the last prime-time game we'll get until about 2054.

Ten days! Plennty of time to prepare for our Super Bowl run!
_

Postscript: As I finished this post, I foolishly slipped back in to witness the very end of this ugliness, and the NFL Network shared one final stat I have to put here. It is the stat that says everything about why the Chiefs are where they are. Beware. It is gruesome. It is harrowing. I spent a whole bunch of writing time spitting up a whole bunch of words to make this point with The Quarterback Project but they did it with one simple statistic.

Here it is. Please, again, send your children out of the room now because this will be extraordinarily unpleasant.

Okay, ahem, here it is.

The last time the Kansas City Chiefs won a pro football game with a quarterback that they drafted was -- gulp -- over 25  years ago. Even with all my Quarterback Project work, I did not know that!

The quarterback was Todd Blackledge, and on September 13, 1987 he led the Chiefs to a win over the San Diego Chargers.

That, folks, was the last time a Chiefs-drafted quarterback won a football game.

What else can be said. What else can be said...
_

Giants at Tigers - World Series Final Game - Record: 4-0

I had to put this special post here to make quite a striking announcement: no one in the history of sports fandom has had such a wide spacing of his two favorite sports teams' fortunes as that of the author of this site.

For you see, I am a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco Giants. These are indeed my two favorite sports teams. Just point of fact, I was born about 100 miles west of KC, near where most of my immediate ancestors established themselves, and two years later my folks moved to the Bay Area where I grew up for the next 15 formidable years of my life.

If you've been paying attention to anything sportsesque, you'd undoubtedly see that in the span of a scant eight hours, the divergence of the talent and success between these two teams has never been matched in the entire history of sports fandom. It's a record!

To wit, last night the Giants finished off the Detroit Tigers in a brilliant display of baseball playing excellence, team commitment, and managerial skill. They swept them in four straight games, doing everything it took to win. They didn't dominate the scoreboard, but their pitching, defense, and timely hitting was so superb that the Tigers only looked like were in any of these games. Since their last loss to the Cardinals on Thursday, October 18th, the Giants were behind in any game only for a length of two innings total (last night when they were briefly behind 2-1), a span covering seven games (last three against StL and all four against Det).

Meanwhile, there is the Kansas City Chiefs, a team in such disarray that they themselves only look like they belong in the NFL. The record-making point is that while the Giants only barely allowed a team to be slightly ahead once over the course of 64 total innings of play, the Chiefs have not been ahead at any point of 28 quarters of regulation play. This, by the way, has not been accomplished by any NFL team since 1940, and I don't even want to know which team that was -- far too frightening even during Halloween season. The Chiefs have only managed to bumble, bungle, fumble, flambongled everything they've tried, just generally fouling up every place they've played.

Look at it this way. San Francisco Giants: See that bright glistening star in the northern sky? That's them, about 57 gazillion light years from the Chiefs, which is -- well, out of modest respect, I'll just complete the metaphor this way -- compared to the Giants up there, the Chiefs are that really unsavory thing there lying along the base of your backyard fence over by the patchy dirt part, you know that thing there... okay, now you can use your own imagination.

And what I'm seeing is not something unusual at all. It just looks so stark with such a yawning difference. The key is the management. It is the whole ownership/management package. I know. I remember when this was abysmally ugly for the Giants. But today they've got in place an ownership group who is really on-the-ball. A president who has nurtured this team for many years and established the organization as one of the best in the majors. A general manager who's been able to hone his skills and develop into one of the best, sometimes doing what seems to be miracle work to assemble the very best team for right now. And a field manager who is at the same time tough and gentle, understanding and calculating, earthy and cerebral, and above all phenomenally respected.

The Chiefs? I'm starting to get real scared about the real leadership ability of Clark Hunt. If this year is a reflection of Scott Pioli's abilities then I'm extraordinarily scared that we did indeed hire a Joe Thomas and not a Bill Walsh. And Romeo Crennel is an unmitigated bust. We actually have some fine players! But they look like they really don't know what they're doing out there, where they are going on the field, or even what planet they're walking on. This is all on management and coaching. Ouch.

Meanwhile, the Giants are making me very happy right now. I'm walking a foot above the ground today just reveling in the utter awesomeness of yet another world championship for my baseball team.

Plus, for me as a fan, I've set a record!

Largest Spread of Goodness Value Between a Fan's Two Favorite Pro Sports Teams.

Awwright! (Or "Ohh no" as the case may be...)
_

Raiders at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 1-6

I'm sure it has been considered a zillion times before when the Chiefs really suck, that the "KC" actually stands for "Keystone Cops" Chiefs. Needless to say, our Keystone Cops brand of football was showcased yet again today. We coughed up the ball like a wheezing asthmaniac, and even so I couldn't believe this, but our turnover obsession is reaching record levels. The guys on the broadcast today said if we keep it up we'll set an NFL record. Neat. Remember back in the '90's when our turnover ratio was something like +5,294? The Norse gods are just now getting around to punishing us for that.

The good news is that we're right on track for winning the Geno Smith-Matt Barkley-Collin Klein sweepstakes. I think it was said that we now have the worst record in the NFL. I don't know because I just blissfully don't look at the standings. But if so, good, okay, right on track. The big question for us now is whether we'll get a John Elway-Peyton Manning-Cam Newton type dude, or our pathetically wretched luck with drafted and developed quarterbacks will continue and we get a Ryan Leaf. So yeah, I'm still very nervous. We suck now and we'll suck in April. ::Sigh::

As it is, remember the second-to-the-last time the Chiefs beat the Raiders at Arrowhead? The game in 2005? Think now, if you follow the Chiefs but don't quite remember, I'll give you some hints.

At that time I'm pretty sure we'd already had a good streak of beating the Raiders a bunch of times in a row at Arrowhead. It was looking like the Raiders were going to end that streak on that day.

It was a close game, something the Chiefs have not been regularly played against the Raiders at Arrowhead even when they do lose.

It was an exciting game, going right down to the wire.

We were behind with less than a minute left, but we had the ball at around midfield.

On the next to last play of the game, quarterback Trent Green threw the clutch pass we needed.

Do you remember who it went to and what happened? I can tell some of you remember, because it really was one of the most thrilling moments in Arrowhead history.

The Raiders defenders dropped so deep into coverage that Green was able to dump the ball off to Larry Johnson who rambled for about 30 yards all the way down to the one-yard line with a scant second left on the clock. We were down by only three, but coach Dick Vermeil went for it, sending Johnson through the line and into the endzone for the game-winning touchdown as time expired.

Wow.

The old days.

::Sigh::
_

Wildcats at Mountaineers - Week 7 - Record: 7-0 (Chiefs Record: Still 1-5)

The Chiefs have a bye this weekend, and I simply couldn't help but get a post up on my blog about the football team most Kansas Citians are thinking about. No it isn't the Jayhawks, they're just as bad as the Chiefs. No, not the Tigers, they're kind of wallowing around being not-very-good themselves. (Unless of course you're talking about the Detroit Tigers, but that's baseball...)

No, it is the Kansas State Wildcats, who obliterated a good West Virginia team tonight. I mean really, how many Chiefs fans have said no fewer than 57 times so far this season, "At least there is the Wildcats!"

I really don't pay much attention to college football at all, but am kind of psyched about K-State. My folks went there and I myself was born in Manhattan. The school is actually on course to put itself in a position to actually -- if you can believe it -- challenge for a national title.

Now, I know it is college football and the Chiefs play in the NFL, okay, I got that, but I'm posting here to point out the light-years apart difference between the two teams. It doesn't matter what level you're at, if you can't fend off the four horsemen of the football apocalypse, you're toast.

The Wildcats are fantastic at keeping them in Siberia, the Chiefs have these guys in their backyard for barbeque every weekend.

What are the four horsemen?

They are turnovers, penalties, injuries, and bad calls wherever they come from.

Let's look at each one.

Turnovers. The Chiefs have a -15 turnover differential in six games. That's an average of almost three times more that the Chiefs fumble or throw picks than the Chiefs get those things. The Wildcats, on the other hand, picked off studly West Virginia QB Geno Smith twice tonight, and he hadn't thrown an interception all year.

Penalties. Do you remember the Jets game last year? I know I know it's last year, but stay with me. There was a point in that game when we had the ball on something like the Jets 4-yard line and then we started committing penalty after penalty after penalty, ending up on like our own 4-yard line with a 2nd-and-90. Actually, I think that was the game that finally got Todd Haley fired.

See, here's the thing. This year's Chiefs are still just a penalty waiting to happen. It isn't a disciplined team and it doesn't look like it is disciplined, ya know?

The Wildcats, however, are probably the most disciplined team in college football. They are so fundamentally sound across the board and it is a testament to the work of Bill Snyder, definitely. The insane thing is that any coach, really, could get his team to be sound as such, it's just getting your team to understand their roles, to know what to do, and to play smart.

Annnd what's the Chiefs coaches' excuse?

Injuries. This is not to blame anyone for this unfortunate reality, but it is a reality just the same. This year has been wretched for the Chiefs, just like last year. It may even be worse because I just don't see Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki back yet to their former selves. Jamaal Charles has looked like he's back, but then, is that going to last.

This year we've had our fine new center Rodney Hudson break his leg. Our two top signings in the off-season, Kevin Boss and Peyton Hillis are out -- and I'm just not sure how long they'll be gone but they haven't been seen for a long time. Half our D-backs were gone at the start of the season, and Glenn Dorsey's been out for a while.

Bad calls. If it is the referees making calls against us, we've had our share, especially in the Baltimore game. But the bad calls thing more importantly is about the bad play-calling and team-managing by the coaching staff. I really had high expectations for Romeo Crennel, hoping he'd coach more games like the one he did last year against Green Bay. Instead he's coached way more games like the one he did against Oakland. Ick.

Unimaginative, uninspired, unremarkable, unbelieveably astounding in its ineptitude. The Chiefs just aren't doing the things it can do to make the most of its best players. And the refs' poor calls will always come more against teams which everyone knows aren't just governed well from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, there's the Wildcats.

Proficient, deft, opportunistic, rigorously ruthless in its execution. An interesting and quite novel stat shown during tonight's game pointed out that in execution covering all aspects of the game, K-State ranks right at the top next to No. 1 ranked Alabama, with all other teams a bit farther back.

One of the keys to all this is with one of the most widely disparate characteristics of all, and that is quarterback (as it may go without saying). Collin Klein was Superman out there today, not just running for scores but throwing for them with pinpoint accuracy. He is now mentioned as a top top Heisman Trophy candidate.

Meanwhile, Matt Cassel is dead last among NFL quarterbacks in QB rating. The top few guys, people like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are above 100, the benchmark for QB excellence. Cassel is slogging along down there at 66-point-something. Ahem, he's even 33rd. There are only 32 teams in the NFL, the disparity coming because some team certainly has two of its guys in there somehow. Still.

(BTW, the only reason I know about the Cassel rating since I regularly never look at this stuff because it does, as you can easily see from this, drive me crazy, is because I was just doing a bit more Quarterback Project stuff -- just looking around at which QB's are future Hall-of-Famers. As I consider what to do with it you'll get to read it here, definitely.)

But, well, there ya go.

There's K-State.

And there's the KC Chiefs.

Yay for a bye (we can't lose!) and a splendid Wildcats rout of a top-20 team.

"At least there's the Wildcats!"
_

Chiefs at Buccaneers - Week 6 - Record: 1-5

Do you remember what happened the last time we played the Bucs? Back in 2008? I happened to see a replay of the play in the Chiefs Hall of Honor at Arrowhead when I was there last week. It was the very last play on the menu of a video feature there showing the greatest plays in Chiefs history.

On a flea-flicker Mark Bradley threw a long touchdown pass to quarterback Tyler Thigpen. It was a splendidly fun play, and you know something else about that play? It put us up 21-3. Yeah, a big Chiefs lead -- that we later squandered. We lost the game.

Well, that's about it for Chiefs highlights. A nifty play four years ago against the Buccaneers.

I will say that we actually do one thing really well. We actually have a terrific punt team, both kicking and returning. Today Colquitt blasted punts and our down guys pinned them within the 5 a couple of times. Our touchdown on the day was off a blocked punt. Yay!

But that's it. Kinda depressing when the one great Chiefs thing we have -- our punter -- is the exact same thing that was remotely great back in the woeful years of '07-'09.

This team is so miles from being in any playoff contention it isn't even funny. I'm back to hoping that we just don't win many more games so we can truly actually really have a shot at someone like Geno Smith. And ya know?

I just don't think it's going to be that hard to do that.

Top-to-bottom we stank.

I'd like to start at the top with Scott Pioli, who I'd heard during the gamecast was offered a new extension. I know that's going to rile a lot of Chiefs fans, but for me, I'd still like to see what the guy can do. Yes, his two major bonehead moves loom so gargantuously over this team: Taking Tyson Jackson with the third overall pick in the draft and sticking with Matt Cassel for eons and eons and eons of time. Just those moves alone are so huge that I just don't know if his reputation can recover, but that call is still for another day.

Then you've got Romeo Crennel. Sorry but I am getting more and more disillusioned with the guy. Today's offense was spittle, and our defense was worse. There were a few plays in which the ball just bounced their way, but we still looked timid and weak in all facets of the game. Our play-making is getting no separation on defenders at all, and our defense is still looking too much like the "Chinese fire drill" out there.

The stats were extraordinarily ugly, and they just don't stop. They mentioned it again -- forgive me I don't remember, I've lost count anyway, but it is something like 25 or 26 straight games now with no opening drive TD.  We have a turnover differential of something like -15, which after six games is phenomenally abysmal. We've won three games at Arrowhead in the last 13 -- can you even believe that. And how about this gem: The last time any team went this long without ever leading in any game at any point to open the season was in 1983. They didn't mention which team it was, but it must've been some really wretched team.

The key is that we just don't got it at the line on either side of the ball. The D-line has already been a bust. All those high draft picks? Just not getting it done. Their QB Josh Freeman had all day to throw, to wide receivers who just made our guys look silly. In fact, I've always sung the praises of our D-backs, and bless them they played hard out there, but have you noticed that teams with big strong receivers just overpower our guys who are just a bit smaller than they are? We've had that problem with the Chargers forever.

Our O-line was non-existent today. The Buccaneers front seven spent more time in our backfield than our quarterback's rear end did.

And then there's the quarterback. I could say they should keep Brady Quinn in there, and he did decently (hey, he threw to the tight ends! Yay!) but at this point it really doesn't matter. Go ahead, put Matt Cassel back in. Heck, put Brian Daboll in. Put in the guy from the stands who waves around the cotton candy palette. Who cares.

Quarterback Project, people.

It just won't matter until we get that guy.

So much of what we can do relies on having That Guy -- note: IN CAPS.

Even on defense it makes a major difference because the best QB's control the tempo of the game giving the defense the chance to rest and get a rhythm.

If we get That Guy in the draft next year, and he does what he should do, then Clark could pay Scott a trillion dollars a year for the next 57 years and it won't be enough.

So yeah, from now on -- until we can actually get him and watch him win Super Bowls for us -- That Guy will henceforth be known in its proper noun form, with the caps.

It's the only hope we got.
_

Ravens at Chiefs - The Final Word(s)

So much was obviously eventful Sunday that I've got to take one last Chiefs Game Today post to pack it all in. My first visit to Arrowhead since 1987 coinciding with the major news story about a few embarrassing Chiefs fans spouting off was at the top of the list. But I did want to get a few other things down, and in the interest of brevity I'll preface each with some of the considered opening lines I thought I'd use for the single post I was hoping to write, and then provide the key thoughts in each.

"Bring back the replacement refs!" One of the most prominent features of this game was the absolutely wretched calls by the refs. I always knew that bringing back the regulars would mean much more of what they are so good at, overofficiating. Some of the most egregious calls, of course, went against us, and they really did cost us the game. Oh there were a lot of things we were responsible for, definitely, but here was the ugly:

- The non-pass-interference call against Jon Baldwin. Late in the game he was totally mugged on a sideline route that clearly worked against him trying to grab the pass. Thing is, I believe if Cassel had thrown the ball better, it would've been an easier call for the official to make.

- The touchdown pass from Quinn to Bowe nullified because it was interpreted that Dexter McCluster picked Bowe's defender. It looked to me like McCluster was just running his route. The refs called that against us once earlier in the game, too, but never mind that the Falcons did that exact same thing to us in the first game but the referees seemed to not mind much then.

- The non-fumble by Joe Flacco when he was still moving forward. Yes I know it could be considered that he was "in the grasp," and I'm great with that rule designed to protect the quarterback, but the fact is it is never called. It just never is. If he wasn't "in the grasp," then why did the refs blow the whistle? Ahh, yes, forgot, they're the regular refs.

"300 games without a playoff win" My cousin living near Kansas City put up a great Reddit piece about who our starting QB's have been since we last won a playoff game. It is a splendid augmentation to The Quarterback Project, but the other notable thing was that streak of games-sans-a-playoff-win. Well, Sunday's game was the 300th in the streak.

It was funny, during the game announcer Mitch Holthus was honored for working his 300th Chiefs game. "Guh?" I said to myself. I'm sure his streak didn't start with the Buffalo playoff loss in 1994 and instead included lots of exhibition games. But still, I couldn't help but think that Holthus' ancestors had to have first built their homes on the sacred burial grounds of the American Indians before Arrowhead was built there.

"The Unimaginarium of Romeo Crennel" Throughout the game I was going crazy wondering why our head coach doesn't mix it up. It was Charles right, Draughn left, Draughn right, Charles left. How about some play action that would've easily frozen the Ravens defense? Come on Romeo! Or come on Brian Daboll our offensive coordinator! What's with you?!! The worst was the end of a terrific drive in the middle of the first half when we got into Ravens territory only to see Shaun Draughn carry the ball three straight times. Errrrck...

Of course you can't deny that some of their timidity was because they just have no confidence in their passer, and if that's the case, then again, what is Matt Cassel doing in there? It is funny (just one more word on the Matt Cassel incident) at the rental car place before the game I was talking Chiefs with the guy there, and the Brady-replacing-Bledsoe thing came up and I mentioned, "But come on, do we have to have Cassel get injured to get someone who can't be any worse in there?" Yes, when Cassel was on the turf I did think about that, and after praying for our quarterback I also thought "Shame on the Chiefs management for actually letting it come to this."

But then that's why the sentiment is quite pronounced to fire Scott Pioli. I'm going to have to get back to him in another post.

"The Red and Gold Tailgating and Hall of Honor Extravaganza" I have to conclude with mention of the whole Arrowhead experience.

I knew the tailgating would be extraordinary, but I didn't know how thoroughly wall-to-wall it was. I mean you simply could not walk anywhere in the parking lot without swimming through an ocean of tailgaters. It was a lot of fun mixing it up with a lot of them. And all the Chiefs-mobiles and teepees and crazy outfits -- it was a blast!

Then there was the Hall of Honor. How great was that. Just seeing this state-of-the art Chiefs museum was incredible. I don't know how many other stadiums have such a place for their teams, but this was special for a number of reasons.

First, the Super Bowl Trophy was there. Getting my picture next to it was one of my top goals for the day. And I did!

Second, there was a whole exhibit about the AFL. How awesome was that! In respect to all the teams the Chiefs played against in the historic league they had helmets and artifacts from those teams prominently on display. Yes -- gulp -- even the Raiders were featured! Now that's class.

And third, this one was about the Chiefs. All their great players and games and historic events were showcased. And it was just beautifully done.

I must also add that I was able to enjoy getting nachos way high up in Arrowhead's new addition on the west side of the stadium, and got to behold the city and the state of Kansas on this gorgeous sunny day through brilliant picture windows stretching from floor to ceiling.

There is no question Chiefs fans have it made. No matter what they think of the quarterback or the management or anything else Chiefs, they are very privileged to gloriously benefit from a Chiefs organization that does think tremendously highly of them.

Thank you Eric Winston and anyone else who sticks up for the Chiefs, for your principled resolve. Maybe some who don't know that true Chiefs commitment and devotion will see it and appreciate it.

(Oh, yeah! And one last thing! Michael MacCambridge's much-anticipated biogaphy on Lamar Hunt just came out -- appropriately for such a time as this! I haven't got it yet but will soon!)
_

Ravens at Chiefs - The Game Continues

I can't help but continue this ongoing blog post in response to the events of Sunday. I've rarely ever done more than one blog post per game, just offering my humble take, getting it all down and then done. Sometimes the take is a bit more elaborate than others, other times it is briefer, even terse. But this is a special circumstance, not just because I was at the game in person, but because of the apparently much wider attention this game has received.

As you know I go out of my way to deliberately avoid giving attention to any sports news other than what happens during that three hour time span on Sunday. I do this in large part to keep my sanity. Because of that I've not seen or heard anything about those events.

And yet my Chiefs radar can't help but pick up, from a couple of random sources, that the injured Cassel vs. the irate fans rhubarb has indeed ascended to national news coverage.

I love Chiefs coverage in the national news. That's awesome. But this...

This is just the worst.

That a smattering of idiots who cheer an unconscious Matt Cassel can captivate the mainstream media who'll only use this to try to show what an idiotic place all of Kansas City is. That's simply what I'm thinking is happening.

Now again, I don't know a thing about what's being shared out there -- in a very profound sense I really don't want to know. I did catch that one of our offensive linemen (the people who shared this with me did not know who it was) gave quite a tongue-lashing to those idiot fans, as well he should. Good for him. And good for him to have a platform to stand up for his teammate.

But here's the thing. And this is an honest question from an inquisitive fan who just doesn't know -- and in a sense is in the best position to sincerely ask the question:

Who are the people who are the ones being interpreted to be there at the business end of the lashing?

Was this lineman (okay okay, I looked it up just now...) Was Eric Winston perceived as having at it with those particular fans?

Or was all of this attention made to look like all Chiefs fans are a bunch of brainless cretins?

I'm not even trying to say I'm all Mr. Ultracongenialspecialdude. But I will say that Sunday I met a whole bunch of people much like many Kansas Citians I know who love the Chiefs, cheer the Chiefs, and actually have some modicum of liking for each Chiefs player out there trying to do the very best he can including Matt Cassel.

Those fans cheering Cassel's misfortune are only linked to us by similar red and gold attire. It'd be nice if they grew up, and I'd love to have a gentle but firm word with them too. Not just about their idiocy but about any antagonism they'd have to Winston calling them out. Sorry, but take it as it's meant and get a clue. None of us want Cassel starting at quarterback. All of us want Pioli to admit he made a mistake and get over it.

But at the least all of them are still doing their job as they know best to win games for the Chiefs.

Just looking at this game I really do feel this could be a special game for the Chiefs as a team. I think the players and coaches could see this as a critical rallying point.

Regarding the game, seeing that they did actually play very well against a very good team in spite of those ugly ref calls.

And regarding the Cassel thing, seeing that they notice waaay more Chiefs fans mature and dignified enough to know better and who do really care deeply about how all of them do. And not just as players but as people.

And regarding this AFC West, come on, this thing is still up for grabs, people!

More to come in my next "Ravens at Chiefs" post!
_

Ravens at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 1-4

I am so eager to put up that full rich post and I'm going crazy not being able to. As you know yesterday I was privileged to enjoy the transcendant experience of being at Arrowhead to watch my favorite team play football. I so much want to put in the time and energy it takes to blog on it all, and I will. But my workload right now is so numbingly oppressive that I won't be able to get to it all in right away.

So with the intention of making this a well-merited two-parter, I can take a quick moment to get right to the one issue that even some of my students mentioned today, and I'm sure most Kansas Citians were intensely conversing about at some length.

The Matt Cassel incident.

With a few minutes left of game time, the Chiefs were around midfield, down 9-3, when Cassel was laid out flat on the turf. Immediately something happened that I actually figured was going to happen when he just didn't get up.

Chiefs fans were going to cheer.

And far too many did.

There really weren't a lot of them who did, but enough did to make a good dent in the air. I must say that at that moment I instinctively shouted with some reasonable volume, "No cheering!" I shouted it a couple of times, and mentioned to the gentlemen in front of me, "Yes, we all know we need a new quarterback, but you don't cheer here." They fully agreed, and I know most Chiefs fans did.

What is so disappointing is that people watching the game around the country heard that and thought about Chiefs fans as a bunch of louts. And ya know? Some are. It was disappointing to see that a few people I was in the stands with were drunk swearing pukes whose only redeeming quality is that they had red and gold on. That was sad.

But I also know that most Chiefs fans are pretty decent people who don't want to see anyone get injured, they enjoy seeing a good game, and they do really care about every Chiefs player no matter who they are.

Yes we do need a new, better quarterback. Brady Quinn did come in and lead us to a game-winning, stupid-ref-call-nullifying touchdown (more on that next time). Before the game a plane flew around the stadium with a banner reading "WE DESERVE BETTER: FIRE PIOLI, BENCH CASSEL."

Every Chiefs fan knows what the deal is with Matt Cassel.

It just takes quite a bit more maturity to behave in such a way that football or even the Chiefs do not take precedence over civility, dignity, and respect for human beings. And I believe most Chiefs fans do behave that way, and it was an honor to watch our team work as hard as they did to play well in a game they really should've won.

More on that next time with a deeper analysis of the team effects of the whole Cassel situation!

I can't wait!
_

Ravens at Chiefs - Posting Soon!

This was the game! The one I was able to see in person! At Arrowhead! Wow!!!

Thing is, I arrived home here in California late last night, went right to bed, got up this morning and am now in the middle of a full day's work. But I want to offer a full rich blog post about it all!

IT'LL BE RIGHT HERE SHORTLY!
_

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

I think CBS Sports is trying to murder me. At one point in the game today the telecast showed that the Chiefs were No. 1 in offense in the entire NFL. I don't know about you but my laughter just about killed me. Arrest those guys for assault and battery!

But then I looked at each game and it makes perfect sense.

Atlanta: We play great in the first half piling up lots of offense keeping up with a very good team, then in an instant we're down by a ton at which point we can get tons more offense during garbage time.

Buffalo: We get down 28-3 so there's lots of time for great gobs of garbage-time offensive production.

New Orleans: We keep the Saints within striking distance when for the last quarter-and-a-half our offense explodes, part of it a blazing 91-yard TD run from Jamaal.

San Diego: We move down the field only to cough up the ball a bunch of times allowing the Chargers to run away with it early. Lots of garbage-time offense to get today.

Yeah, I'd bet after this one we still have the best offense in the NFL yardage-wise, and yes, my sides still hurt from the laughter I'm still experiencing.

I mean, here's why it is so hilarious.

We have not led any game at any point during the course of any game this season.

Sure we won the Saints game, but that was only at the very end with an overtime field goal.

Let's just face it, we just haven't had it in us to be in games. We have talented players out there, but too often we're messed up somehow, or just playing flat -- I mean our offense had to come alive again in the second half when it was just too little too late. Jamaal Charles was beast again, but he fumbled twice to contribute to the six turnovers we had on the day. I wonder how many times in history a team has won while turning it over six times. I don't think it has been very often, if ever.

That point about just being too messed up too often needs some comment. I'm just watching our offensive line wilt when they could be doing great, which they do often enough. I'm watching our defense have critical breakdowns at inopportune times, when they have quite often shined so brightly. I'm watching our pass rush have nothing in them to start games, but then wear down opponents later -- when it's pretty much over.

And the most messed up thing of all, I'm still watching Matt Cassel out there.

I'm just beside myself wondering why Pioli and Crennel don't just get with it and put Quinn in there knowing that Cassel will never get us anywhere. Sure Quinn may suck, but we'd never know unless we try. Sure there may even be a 97% chance he'll suck, but there's a 99.999999% chance Cassel will never get us to the promised land. Or even try Stanzi. Or Alex Tanney Trick Shot Quarterback -- please, I'm really not making fun.

Every week I see the quarterback on the other team and just get really, really jealous. Last week it was Drew Brees, today it was Philip Rivers, next week it's ::massive gulp:: Joe Flacco.

It is mind-numbing how much I want other teams and their fans preparing to face our quarterback to feel what all of us Chiefs fans have to feel just about every week. That those Chiefs have got that one guy they drafted high and developed skillfully and that no matter what happens those Chiefs will be in that game because that guy is talented and resourceful and will get it done.

Just to add to the misery, do you know how many times in history any other fan has indeed had to sweat through the week because their team was about to have to face our studly drafted and developed quarterback? Do you know how many times that has happened, EVER?

Zero, that's how many. Zero, zero, zero, for all of infinity through the past of anything Chiefs or pro football or anything. The cruel truth is here, in The Quarterback Project, something I've showcased for months now.

I mean my goodness, if we had that guy with this team? Can't you just see it? We have good players out there! But that one guy who has got to matriculate that ball down the field when all else seems lost is himself lost, and no amount of fine play from everyone else is going to make that any different. Please, I've said it a million times before, I like Matt Cassel because he's a gamer and sometimes he is surprisingly resourceful, but the fact is he's just not very good. I'm convinced this is something just about every Chiefs fan discovered long ago.

In fact during today's telecast it was mentioned that in the off-season Cassel did indeed spend a lot of time with some hifalutin quarterback skills guru, the same one Tom Brady and other top passers see -- please, be gentle, ahem, you know, my laughter reflexes, very sensitive right now...

Come on, Scott, Romeo, even Clark -- can't you get this: you just aren't going to be able to wave a magic wand over him and make him any better. Stop being fooled by the Chiefs No. 1 ranked garbage-time offense and let's just try something else until we can maybe, perhaps, splendidly get that position to draft and develop the guy. (Oh that we'd have kept Kyle Orton who was another one we could've at least tried -- ergh, sorry, still just thinking, pointless now, but still...)

Well, just a personal heads-up. I'm getting the chance to go to the game next week against Baltimore. I'm attending a conference that is in Kansas City and have a chance to be at the New Arrowhead on Sunday! So my blog next week will certainly include some about my experience. I won't be posting until Monday or at least shortly after that depending on how recovered I am from the whirlwind weekend.

Looking forward to cheering on Our Boys with all the local Chiefs fans there!
_

Chiefs at Saints - Week 3 - Record: 1-2

My nefarious desire to see the Chiefs finish 0-16 was unceremoniously obliterated today, and the main culprits were:

- Jamaal Charles.

- The offensive line and its second half pass protection.

- Justin Houston.

- A rabidly reinvigorated defense in the second half.

- Ryan Succop.

- Our leaping and lunging receivers. (So dedicated that Dexter McCluster went out after one such grab.)

- (Gulp) Matt Cassel (but only because of his grittiness)

I do want people to read my blog, but after last week's post I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if readers think I really don't want the Chiefs to win. What a puke." Well, yeah, I guess no amount of explanation can effectively convey what it would take for us to satisfy our exceedingly desperate need for a fine drafted and developed quarterback.

But I never, ever root against the Chiefs. And today was a splendid example of why a Chiefs fan should be proud of this team. For even though I'd really really really really really like to be waaaaaaaaaaay in the mix of winning this year's version of the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes, it's a good thing Chiefs players, coaches, and whoever else actually gets out there and does the Chiefs playing aren't reading my blog.

They still want to win.

And today they simply wouldn't be denied.

It was 24-6 late in the third quarter. Even with visions of 0-16 still dancing in my head I couldn't say I wasn't disappointed, for all the obviously typical reasons. Here we were with still no touchdown scored -- typical. While Drew Brees was busy throwing his typical laser strikes, Matt Cassel was throwing his typical ducks -- yet another game we get to be jealous of another team's quarterback. Our vaunted off-season pick-up Peyton Hillis dropped a pass and then vanished forever -- with no word on what happened: injury? And the injuries -- our good-looking new center went down bad, McCluster with the shoulder thing again -- erghh.

All that typical Chiefs pukiness... Until we showed that we just wouldn't be denied.

And ya know? It's not enough to not give up.

Ya know?...

We actually started looking really good.

Was it the Saints just looking bad? I mean yeah, the Saints defense is just not very good. And their receivers were dropping balls -- I think Jimmy Graham had two right in his hands. And they do seem to be aimless out there, suffering from the effects of the whole head-hunting penalty thing.

But you can't deny that we were making clutch plays left and right and just not stopping doing that. For an entire quarter and some change, we looked like a good, healthy, never-say-die team!

The gutsy fourth-and-one call to get a first down when our defense was really playing well anyway. Cassel about to bungle it again in the backfield when he couldn't find a receiver but then resourcefully curling back around and finding Jon Baldwin for that clutch first down on 3rd-and-10. Justin Houston just mowing down Saints linemen to really mess with Brees. And that incredible downed-punt where the Chiefs cover guy Jalil Brown leapt into the end zone to drop the ball on the Saints 4 yard line. You could just hear the wind being taken out of the Superdome crowd at that point.

Yes, we still only got one touchdown -- a thing-of-beauty Chiefs-record 91-yard burst from Charles. And I'm still going to be screaming for Brady Quinn or Ricky Stanzi or anybody for cryin' out loud if Cassel keeps refusing to find his targets.

But wow. We have a fine running back. We have fine wide receivers. We can have an effective offensive line. We have a resiliant pass rush. We have tenacious D-backs. We have a kicker who was right-down-the-middle on every field goal he tried today, a Chiefs record six altogether.

So today, nothing but good things for this thrilling affair. Sure there'll be another game when I can get back to justifiably shredding bad Chiefs things, but today, it's all good.
_