Bills at Chiefs - Week 14 - Record: 3-10

Remember the days when Arrowhead was the most raucous stadium on the planet? The radio broadcast has been having promos honoring the 50 years of the AFL, and today's was about the Chiefs seminal Monday night game against the Bills back in October 1991 when they stomped them 33-6. There was the DT-led defense and the rumbling touchdowns of the Nigerian Nightmare, but the highlight was the fans who yelled so loud that the noise level reached just 14 decibels below that which is tolerable to the human ear.

Ahh, those were the days.

These days there are a smattering of encouraging cheers, God bless those fans. After our team sucks for a while, however, there are mostly just boos.

We played a Bills team that also sucked, but alas, we suck way worse. The only thing that was really anything to smile about was Jamaal Charles' zipping 76 yard touchdown. In fact he ran for a total of 143 yards, yet I just can't figure why we didn't hand him the ball more considering the Bills poor run defense.

Matt Cassel threw 43 passes when a few more of those really should have been runs.

And that leads to one of the key things I am now starting to believe is plaguing us. It is something I hadn't really been afraid of before in any way, but now I'm starting to get a bit scared. That key issue is--

Matt Cassel.

Now, here's why he should not be any concern at all. The guy looks like a quarterback, he really seems to have the tools required to be a great one. He has shown flashes of brilliance and has made some great decisions, even in situations when he needs to be clutch. He's also very tough, and does things that a leader should do out there.

But here are the things that are starting to scare me. First, and something I think is a serious problem, is that I really believe he throws a very heavy ball. We just have too many dropped passes for a pro football receiving core. Everyone is dropping passes. He is also overthrowing everyone. It makes you shake your head till it almost comes off your body to keep seeing our guys out front and then watch the ball sail beyond their reach.

He has also been making some awful pass decisions. He was picked four times today--granted one was at the end of the game on an attempted hail mary, but still. We all know last year he played for a fine New England team with better receivers and a very fine offensive line, and this year he does have an awful offensive line. I mean, I would not be surprised at all to watch Cassel at some post-game press conference very understandably say, "When we get a better offensive line we'll be able to do a bit more."

But it is starting to become very evident that there is still major stuff Cassel needs to work on. And really, this gets back to the coaching. When is Todd Haley going to get this guy to settle down and stay within himself? When is he going to really coach him on those mechanics, especially getting him to throw a much softer pass? When is he going to see what the limitations are of this team and play the best game with what he's got?

Of course we just have to wait until Pioli can build a decent team with some strong drafts so he's got people he can actually showcase. But then we don't necessarily have to wait for that-- we just need to get the right mix out there and find those gems wherever they are.

There is no question our offensive line has to be a priority, and since I tend to liken our team now to the 1990 Cowboys who were able to go from the pits and build a great team into the 90's (yes, at least I'd like to think we can do that), I looked at their stellar offensive line to see how many first round picks there were. I was amazed at what I found.

None of them were first rounders.

The highest was huge Larry Allen, plucked in the 2nd, and he still went on to a slew of Pro Bowls. Then there was stud Erik Williams, a 3rd rounder. Amazingly, the stalwart left side made up of Mark Tuinei and Nate Newton were not even drafted. They were just found, and developed into those positions. They played like madmen and made the Pro Bowl in however many years they did.

So really, any future success is in the hands of Scott Pioli. That's all it is. Will he do better than other GM's at finding talented players? If he does better, we'll do better. If he doesn't, we'll just wallow around in the muck more and more.

Already the list of needs we have is a mile long. I'm sure I'll take some time to flesh this out a bit more, but with three weeks left all I feel like doing is grouse about what we need.

We need at least two good solid offensive linemen. Maybe more. Today our great red-and-gold hope in that area, Branden Albert, was again far from spectacular and piled up more penalties. Brian Waters is the only guy who is remotely decent and everyone knows how frustrated he is with things.

We need at least two good solid defensive linemen. You'd think they'd be Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey, but Jackson was invisible yet again and Dorsey injured his knee today. Great. You remember this was the real concern with him from day one. That's just great, just great.

We still need that Ray Lewis type presence in the middle of the defense, we so so SO need that. We need a great pursuit guy to compliment him on the outside, and while Tamba Hali has been mildly serviceable, we simply have not been able to overcome the failure of Derrick Johnson to blossom.

And one of the most important things, we need Todd Haley to get off his rear end and really coach this kid Cassel if we actually want to stop embarrassing ourselves out there.
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