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

It's true that we never even should have been in this game at all. But the best thing about this was that we actually were in it and that was only because of one thing.

We actually had some ganas.

I don't know about you, but I really did sense the impact of the new Pioli-Haley regime out there. Looking at everything about this game (such as a teeny ten first downs for us and over thirty for them) you know these Chiefs had no business being on the same field with those guys. Our offensive line continues to be thoroughly inept--same old story, no holes for our runners and no time for our passers. Our defense is just not up to stopping quality offenses no matter how tired our own offense made them.

But we still got some fine big plays from Jon McGraw and his great punt block and scrambling touchdown, Derrick Johnson and his fine interception and run, and Ryan Succop and his 53 yard field goal. Hey, isn't it great we have a field goal kicker named "Suck up"? Okay, I'm sure every Chiefs fan has already blabbed about that to death. In fact if we want him not to suck maybe it's best we don't mention it. We so need a kicker to not suck for once.

Anyway, kudos to Pioli and Haley for actually doing things to get us to a point when we'll actually win a few games sometime soon. Since this was the first real Chiefs exposure I've had since December, I noted for the first time that Pioli picked up veterans like Mike Goff and Ikechuku Ndukwe for the O-line. Our O-line still has a reeeeeally long way to go, but at least he's looking to do something about it.

Haley is also instilling a no-nonsense business-like approach to the game, challenging some guys who should be way better to actually be the better they're supposed to be.

All of this resulted in a game we were stunningly in all the way up until the middle of the fourth quarter when our still-workin'-on-it defense was just too damn tired to do anything. Baltimore had the ball for 40 minutes of the game. Even Pittsburgh's steel curtain would melt if they had to be out there for that long.

I've always hated hated hated moral victories, but this was about as good as any. It's a fantastic first step for an inspired team and the Pioli & Haley building program.
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