Steelers at Chiefs - Week 12 - Record: 4-7
I'm pretty sure it was a first for the Kansas City Chiefs: two back-to-back prime-time television appearances. Check it out, I think it was indeed the only time in our history we've been on Monday night, then Sunday night the next week.
Oh that we'd be good enough to deserve that, and just as importantly to have it happen again like it does all the time for the Patriotses and Steelerses and Giantses and Cowboyses. That ::Sigh:: you heard from me should resound across the galaxy. I can't imagine the next time we'll get even a single prime-time slot.
What to say about this game? Our defense was truly beast in this one, and I am even happy to give at least the smallest of shout-outs to Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson. Oh, they're still not what they should be, but they joined a truly inspired group to stick it to Pittsburgh, who got but a single field goal in the second half.
But our offense? It isn't just lame but sickening. When was the last time we've scored a touchdown? 1932? I think it was in September of that year if I'm not mistaken, just before FDR was elected president. Someone check that for me, but I'm pretty sure it's been that long.
And here's the thing. We aren't even close to scoring a touchdown. I think we've been in the red zone this year about as many times as the poles shift and thousands flock to Antarctica to sunbath. Seriously, whenever we're even in the red zone from any kind of extended drive, I'm ecstatic about our amazing achievement and marvelling at how incredibly impossible it is. How awful is that. That this is what I have to cheer for.
Our defense played the game of their lives last night. Our line stood them up, and they harrassed Roethlisberger mercilessly. Our linebackers were crazed animals out there, Derrick Johnson and Justin Houston in particular were stellar. And our D-backs, Flowers et al, just smothering blankets, that's all, they just suffocated their receivers. What a joy to hear the NBC announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth gush about how great we were playing.
Except that, just like the wretchedly putrid Chiefs luck, the last words from those guys were something along the lines of, "What an awful putrid wretched ugly pathetic pitiful weak horrible [about 57 other negative superlatives here] play that was." That's what fans across the country were left with about the Chiefs. A phenomenal defensive performance poisoned by the impression of Chiefs abject ineptitude.
And it was well deserved. Very well deserved.
For you see, the Chiefs simply cannot win unless everyone plays splendidly. It is unfair, but without a Hall-of-Fame quarterback in there and a coach who gets us over that last hurdle to be a contending NFL franchise, we simply cannot afford to have anyone not play up to speed every down.
Sure enough, this week that guy was Dwayne Bowe.
Virtually every single week all Chiefs fans are singing the praises of this very gifted football player. But last night he did us in.
With a chance to win the game on a last minute drive, he signaled to QB Tyler Palko that he was going to extend his pattern deeper. Palko saw it, threw in that direction, yet Bowe cut his route too shallow. And after the ball was thrown still within his reach, he gave the most piddly effort with a jump that barely got his feet off the ground, he kept his arms down, and he allowed the ball to sail right into the hands of a Steeler defender.
For Bowe fans who protest, Bowe earlier had dropped a pass that was an easy touchdown when he allowed the D-back to dictate the coverage. It was an easily catchable ball that would've allowed him to crawl into the endzone for a touchdown.
This is why without that future Hall-of-Famer at quarterback we can't win anything. Just not going to happen. Sure Palko is a back-up, but it's not going to happen with Cassel in there either. We picked up Kyle Orton after Denver decided to make the Tim Tebow experiment permanent, but is he the answer? Really, look deep in your soul, is he really going to make a difference?
The reason it is so important in this instance is that you need that guy to read those coverages and have such a focused connection with his receivers that he'll have solid completions to them all the way through each touchdown drive. Lots of them, every game. I did like some of what Palko did last night, he was playing gutsy ball, and actually showed some spunk. But he never really got that connection, and even with the Bowe last-play-awfulness, he still threw into quintuple coverage.
So as it stands, we're in the middle of a stretch when we play all four of the "final four" NFL playoff teams from last year (Pit, Chi, NYJ, GB). That's by virtue of being a division winner last year. Yhee.
For what it's worth, maybe, just maybe in April we'll draft high enough and we'll be lucky enough (hahahahahaha) that the next best quarterback will be a guy only a few notches down from Andrew Luck in talent, or even better, the equivalent of Tom Brady talent who our new coach can develop.
Oh that we'd just have that luck. Then maybe we'll get back on prime-time before the next ice age.
_
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Chiefs at Patriots - Week 11 - Record: 4-6
Well, I thought the score would be 45-3, literally, I did think that. Turned out to be only 34-3. Good thing.
Thing is, this was still an extraordinarily painful loss. The Miami loss? That was mostly a surprise, especially for people who after four straight wins thought the Chiefs were all that. The Denver loss? That was just disappointment in a team that allowed the option to beat them.
But this just hurt.
I think some of that was the fact that we actually played New England well in the first quarter. There was actually that tiny bit of hope that we could actually go in there and do something splendid and show our merit for being on Monday Night Football. But after a nice juicy gain by a resurgent Thomas Jones, we got a holding penalty on 7'9" 420-pound tight end Leonard Pope when he was blocking a 3'11" 125-pound New England grunt that looked way more like a hold than it actually was. At the cost of making this much more melodramatic by saying that was the turning point in what was destined to be a blowout anyhow, it went downhill from there.
I think what hurt most was just that this New England team is still so good, and this Kansas City team is still so bad. And I just can't deny that a lot of that is all the delightful St. Patty's luck that drops into the lap of a New England team, and all the wretched Curse of Odin's Revenge misfortune that never fails to afflict the Chiefs.
At the beginning of the game the announcers touted New England's boffo new tight end, some guy named Gronkowski I think -- I don't know because I don't pay any attention to any other team at any other time as much as I can help it. Please note that this was the first time I'd been introduced to this guy, never heard of him before.
But all I could think about was, how come they have him and we don't? How come they still have all kinds of great players leading the Patriots on to playoff appearance after playoff appearance after playoff appearance, and
We just don't?
This hurts because I always think about that game on November 27, 2005. Almost six years ago to the day. We played wonderfully and beat the Patriots, the reigning Super Bowl champs, 26-16. I actually thought -- yes, take a few moments to split some gutstrings laughing, I'll let you -- that this was the turning point. That the transition was ecstatically happening. I mean, that always happens, doesn't it? The poorer teams get the higher picks and the winning teams always have to fall back in the pack, right? That through years of painful awfulness we now earned the right to be in the upper echelon of contenders? Right? Right?
Well, after that game we won again to go 8-4, but then lost two crushing games to Dallas and New York, ended up 10-6, and failed to even make the playoffs. New England, meanwhile, went 4-1, got into the playoffs, and while they didn't get into the Super Bowl they still won a playoff game that year. Two years later they went undefeated while the Chiefs floundered at 4-12. In fact, here's the brutal reality since then, up to date. It is so frighteningly ugly you may want to avert your eyes.
New England's record since that Nov 27 2005 game, including playoffs: 81-26, a winning pct. of .757. They've won 3 of every 4 games they've played. And while they haven't won a Super Bowl in that time, they've still made the playoffs five times, and won five postseason games over that stretch.
Kansas City's record over that same period, including playoffs: 36-63, a winning pct. of .364. That's nearly a clip of losing 2 of every 3 games. Sorry, but that is repulsive. They've made the playoffs twice, and each time they were blown out in their first game.
Getting back to the Patriot's tight end Gronkowski -- this whole thing says a ton. This guy was a beast last night, scoring two touchdowns. I wonder, where did the Patriots draft him? I can't imagine for two seconds they got him high, because the Pats record has been so good, and as such they've had to have drafted low. If that's the case, then could they have drafted him after the 3rd pick in the '09 draft? After the Chiefs used the 3rd pick overall to select the now-completely-invisible Tyson Jackson? This just kills me, it just kills me. It may not have been Gronkowski that year, I just haven't any idea. But what other super-stud players out there ready to make the Chiefs look silly were drafted after Jackson?
Many will say, "Oh you just can't complain with hindsight, it just isn't fair." I respond to that with, Why can't I? Who says I can't? "Oh sure you know now, but there's no way you could know then."
But that's a lot of the point. We should be knowing then. And even so, I've been given to the consideration that the Chiefs have had the worst luck in just not being in the right place in the draft to get what we need. A team like the Patriots, they're in the right place all the time. It is luck, but it is also front office wisdom.
Do the Chiefs have that? I do think we should give Scott Pioli a chance, a guy who worked for a long time in that fine New England front office. But this is precisely why I pay no attention to anything outside of Chiefs games, because these thoughts just drive me insane. To wit: When he was with New England, was Pioli actually in the mix of successful player decision-making, or was it all really just Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, some other Patriot top guy? Or was Pioli just holding their towels and daydreaming about Dancing With the Stars while they were going over team-building strategy?
While I do work really hard to limit my hatred of other teams to the acceptably healthy disdain for the Raiders, I do let my jealousies of teams who continue to be successful at our expense eat me up. As it is, another of those teams is up next week, the Pittsburgh Steelers, supposedly to be played on Sunday night -- yet another primetime showcase for the Chiefs. I say supposedly because NBC could flex us right off that slot, I suppose that would be the merciful thing to do. But that decision would be a clear statement that yet again, the Chiefs are so bad they don't deserve to be in prime time. That hurts. And even if they keep them on the evening airwaves, it's only because they want to showcase the Steelers. ::Sigh::
But yeah, I don't blame them. Who could. It still hurts though.
Yes, our injuries have really clobbered us. But then, that's again just the awful, awful luck of the Chiefs.
BTW, I was at a college basketball game of a friend's son a week ago, and outside the arena in the hall there was a poster that elucidated the factual reality of ACL injuries. Turns out that among the general population they occur at a 60 in 100,000 clip . I did the math and found that this is the same as 3 in 5,000. The NFL has about 1,400 to 1,500 players out there playing on teams in a given year. So that's about one ACL every three years for the entire NFL. Even if you reasonably say that NFL players are more likely to suffer ACL's that the general population, even that doesn't detract from the fact that the Chiefs got hammered by the misfortune of having three of their top players taken out for the year because of it.
So then, if there are, oh, ten players on each team who are really pretty good, Pro-Bowl type players, then, lessee... And we know that it's about 3 in 5,000 chance that it'll happen to anyone anywhere anyhey... Annnnd that means that the average for getting an ACL for any of those ten players on any given team is, like, one every sixty years or so... Annnd the Chiefs themselves have about ten reasonably decent players, among them Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry, and Tony Moeaki... So that means for the Chiefs, having your team ripped apart by ACL injuries to your top guys is 3 in 10 while for everyone else the average is 3 in 5,000...
Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.
Last night one of the announcers said something very profound, and that is just that even with the injuries, these guys are still NFL players, highly paid and expected to perform. Problem: you just can't do that against a team that has all the luck and skill to keep a team going strong, while your team is floundering in misfortune and inability to cope with it.
That's the New England problem, and why even though we knew what was coming, it still hurt like hell.
_
Well, I thought the score would be 45-3, literally, I did think that. Turned out to be only 34-3. Good thing.
Thing is, this was still an extraordinarily painful loss. The Miami loss? That was mostly a surprise, especially for people who after four straight wins thought the Chiefs were all that. The Denver loss? That was just disappointment in a team that allowed the option to beat them.
But this just hurt.
I think some of that was the fact that we actually played New England well in the first quarter. There was actually that tiny bit of hope that we could actually go in there and do something splendid and show our merit for being on Monday Night Football. But after a nice juicy gain by a resurgent Thomas Jones, we got a holding penalty on 7'9" 420-pound tight end Leonard Pope when he was blocking a 3'11" 125-pound New England grunt that looked way more like a hold than it actually was. At the cost of making this much more melodramatic by saying that was the turning point in what was destined to be a blowout anyhow, it went downhill from there.
I think what hurt most was just that this New England team is still so good, and this Kansas City team is still so bad. And I just can't deny that a lot of that is all the delightful St. Patty's luck that drops into the lap of a New England team, and all the wretched Curse of Odin's Revenge misfortune that never fails to afflict the Chiefs.
At the beginning of the game the announcers touted New England's boffo new tight end, some guy named Gronkowski I think -- I don't know because I don't pay any attention to any other team at any other time as much as I can help it. Please note that this was the first time I'd been introduced to this guy, never heard of him before.
But all I could think about was, how come they have him and we don't? How come they still have all kinds of great players leading the Patriots on to playoff appearance after playoff appearance after playoff appearance, and
We just don't?
This hurts because I always think about that game on November 27, 2005. Almost six years ago to the day. We played wonderfully and beat the Patriots, the reigning Super Bowl champs, 26-16. I actually thought -- yes, take a few moments to split some gutstrings laughing, I'll let you -- that this was the turning point. That the transition was ecstatically happening. I mean, that always happens, doesn't it? The poorer teams get the higher picks and the winning teams always have to fall back in the pack, right? That through years of painful awfulness we now earned the right to be in the upper echelon of contenders? Right? Right?
Well, after that game we won again to go 8-4, but then lost two crushing games to Dallas and New York, ended up 10-6, and failed to even make the playoffs. New England, meanwhile, went 4-1, got into the playoffs, and while they didn't get into the Super Bowl they still won a playoff game that year. Two years later they went undefeated while the Chiefs floundered at 4-12. In fact, here's the brutal reality since then, up to date. It is so frighteningly ugly you may want to avert your eyes.
New England's record since that Nov 27 2005 game, including playoffs: 81-26, a winning pct. of .757. They've won 3 of every 4 games they've played. And while they haven't won a Super Bowl in that time, they've still made the playoffs five times, and won five postseason games over that stretch.
Kansas City's record over that same period, including playoffs: 36-63, a winning pct. of .364. That's nearly a clip of losing 2 of every 3 games. Sorry, but that is repulsive. They've made the playoffs twice, and each time they were blown out in their first game.
Getting back to the Patriot's tight end Gronkowski -- this whole thing says a ton. This guy was a beast last night, scoring two touchdowns. I wonder, where did the Patriots draft him? I can't imagine for two seconds they got him high, because the Pats record has been so good, and as such they've had to have drafted low. If that's the case, then could they have drafted him after the 3rd pick in the '09 draft? After the Chiefs used the 3rd pick overall to select the now-completely-invisible Tyson Jackson? This just kills me, it just kills me. It may not have been Gronkowski that year, I just haven't any idea. But what other super-stud players out there ready to make the Chiefs look silly were drafted after Jackson?
Many will say, "Oh you just can't complain with hindsight, it just isn't fair." I respond to that with, Why can't I? Who says I can't? "Oh sure you know now, but there's no way you could know then."
But that's a lot of the point. We should be knowing then. And even so, I've been given to the consideration that the Chiefs have had the worst luck in just not being in the right place in the draft to get what we need. A team like the Patriots, they're in the right place all the time. It is luck, but it is also front office wisdom.
Do the Chiefs have that? I do think we should give Scott Pioli a chance, a guy who worked for a long time in that fine New England front office. But this is precisely why I pay no attention to anything outside of Chiefs games, because these thoughts just drive me insane. To wit: When he was with New England, was Pioli actually in the mix of successful player decision-making, or was it all really just Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, some other Patriot top guy? Or was Pioli just holding their towels and daydreaming about Dancing With the Stars while they were going over team-building strategy?
While I do work really hard to limit my hatred of other teams to the acceptably healthy disdain for the Raiders, I do let my jealousies of teams who continue to be successful at our expense eat me up. As it is, another of those teams is up next week, the Pittsburgh Steelers, supposedly to be played on Sunday night -- yet another primetime showcase for the Chiefs. I say supposedly because NBC could flex us right off that slot, I suppose that would be the merciful thing to do. But that decision would be a clear statement that yet again, the Chiefs are so bad they don't deserve to be in prime time. That hurts. And even if they keep them on the evening airwaves, it's only because they want to showcase the Steelers. ::Sigh::
But yeah, I don't blame them. Who could. It still hurts though.
Yes, our injuries have really clobbered us. But then, that's again just the awful, awful luck of the Chiefs.
BTW, I was at a college basketball game of a friend's son a week ago, and outside the arena in the hall there was a poster that elucidated the factual reality of ACL injuries. Turns out that among the general population they occur at a 60 in 100,000 clip . I did the math and found that this is the same as 3 in 5,000. The NFL has about 1,400 to 1,500 players out there playing on teams in a given year. So that's about one ACL every three years for the entire NFL. Even if you reasonably say that NFL players are more likely to suffer ACL's that the general population, even that doesn't detract from the fact that the Chiefs got hammered by the misfortune of having three of their top players taken out for the year because of it.
So then, if there are, oh, ten players on each team who are really pretty good, Pro-Bowl type players, then, lessee... And we know that it's about 3 in 5,000 chance that it'll happen to anyone anywhere anyhey... Annnnd that means that the average for getting an ACL for any of those ten players on any given team is, like, one every sixty years or so... Annnd the Chiefs themselves have about ten reasonably decent players, among them Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry, and Tony Moeaki... So that means for the Chiefs, having your team ripped apart by ACL injuries to your top guys is 3 in 10 while for everyone else the average is 3 in 5,000...
Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch.
Last night one of the announcers said something very profound, and that is just that even with the injuries, these guys are still NFL players, highly paid and expected to perform. Problem: you just can't do that against a team that has all the luck and skill to keep a team going strong, while your team is floundering in misfortune and inability to cope with it.
That's the New England problem, and why even though we knew what was coming, it still hurt like hell.
_
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Broncos at Chiefs - Week 10 - Record: 4-5
The agonizingly woeful ignominy of being anything related to the Chiefs -- player, fan, doesn't matter -- was highlighted in brilliant blazing colors across the sky by this wretchedly profound irony:
First, rookie Chiefs wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin made probably the most amazing catch of the century, when on a long pass he reached both arms around the defender, grabbed the ball behind the defender's back, and held on for the catch as he fell to the ground clutching the ball all the way. Big, big, big time play in a game that was still close and was in desperate need of a good Chiefs score to make it interesting.
Instead the play was called back, for even though the Broncos guy committed pass interference, Steve Breaston was called for illegal formation -- he wasn't off the line enough. Never mind that this call is never made in the NFL -- never ever never ever ever ever. And I know, in all the NFL games I've seen I'll watch right there on the screen receivers who should be a bit more off the line, right there on the line and they are never flagged for it. And here we are. Only the Chiefs.
Anyway, the penalties offset, and the play had to be done over again.
Only only only only only the Chiefs.
And that's not even the irony. Here's the thing that makes this so ironic.
The Broncos offense completed two passes.
Two passes.
Two passes the entire game. And one of them was pass that traveled about a yard and the receiver took it about 12 yards more.
It was the second pass that killed us, a 60-something yard TD bomb in the 4th quarter that made the score 17-7 Denver. Party over.
Two passes, party over.
Only the Chiefs.
What the Broncos did was run all over us, even after their two top backs were injured early and did not return.
Now, did you get that? Denver did not have their top two running backs, and they still ran all over us -- even using the option. Did you get that? Their offense ran the option about half the time, and were reasonably successful with it. Did you get THAT? An NFL team was able to run the option against an NFL defense. That only happens in a fantasy world.
Unless, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs defense is a fantasy defense, which I am beginning to believe that it is. As in, this team just does not have a real defense.
I've said this a hundred times before, and I really hope that ten years from now when we may actually be a playoff contender I just won't have to say it again, but here goes:
The reason we haven't had any sustained playoff action in the past several years, and we won't for the next several, is two reasons. Let's just share them again so we all know it, and perhaps Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli will know it and they'll do everything they can to avoid it. And amazingly, it has very little to do with Todd Haley!
Okay, okay, here're the two. No surprise because it's so obvious:
1. We have simply refused, in the worstest of all worst ways, to draft and develop a quarterback who'll be solid enough for years to give us the chance to truly compete in this league. Matt Cassel was awful again today, and yes, I'm joining the chorus of Chiefs fans who are starting to call for Tyler Palko to start and Ricky Stanzi to get snaps to see if he'll indeed be the next Tom Brady. Let's get going Chiefs management. Don't futz around anymore with this trying to pick off the shelf some QB from other team's reject pile. Yes yes yes we had fun with a fine people like Trent Green, but please -- this is just not the way to build a championship team. It isn't isn't isn't so stop it already.
2. The defensive linemen who we've selected in the highest rounds of draft after draft after draft have simply refused, in the worstest of all worst ways, to play like they should. Should we again go over the list of all the Junior Siavii's and Eric Downing's and Eddie Freeman's there are? Remember Ryan Sims, picked sixth overall (2002). Add to that Glenn Dorsey, fifth overall (2008), and Tyson Jackson, third overall (2009) (Third. Third. I'm going to cry right now...) That's the reason Denver's third-string backs ran all over us today, and we haven't the faintest of chances to do anything for the next few years -- there's no one there up front to tackle anybody!
Even more depressing is that, really, to give Denver credit, their O-line was outstanding, and is one of the youngest in the NFL. Great. So a division rival will now have one of the best O-lines in the league for years upon years to come. And our defense is, well....
Only any good in a fantasy world.
::Whimper::
_
The agonizingly woeful ignominy of being anything related to the Chiefs -- player, fan, doesn't matter -- was highlighted in brilliant blazing colors across the sky by this wretchedly profound irony:
Instead the play was called back, for even though the Broncos guy committed pass interference, Steve Breaston was called for illegal formation -- he wasn't off the line enough. Never mind that this call is never made in the NFL -- never ever never ever ever ever. And I know, in all the NFL games I've seen I'll watch right there on the screen receivers who should be a bit more off the line, right there on the line and they are never flagged for it. And here we are. Only the Chiefs.
Anyway, the penalties offset, and the play had to be done over again.
Only only only only only the Chiefs.
And that's not even the irony. Here's the thing that makes this so ironic.
The Broncos offense completed two passes.
Two passes.
Two passes the entire game. And one of them was pass that traveled about a yard and the receiver took it about 12 yards more.
It was the second pass that killed us, a 60-something yard TD bomb in the 4th quarter that made the score 17-7 Denver. Party over.
Two passes, party over.
Only the Chiefs.
What the Broncos did was run all over us, even after their two top backs were injured early and did not return.
Now, did you get that? Denver did not have their top two running backs, and they still ran all over us -- even using the option. Did you get that? Their offense ran the option about half the time, and were reasonably successful with it. Did you get THAT? An NFL team was able to run the option against an NFL defense. That only happens in a fantasy world.
Unless, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs defense is a fantasy defense, which I am beginning to believe that it is. As in, this team just does not have a real defense.
I've said this a hundred times before, and I really hope that ten years from now when we may actually be a playoff contender I just won't have to say it again, but here goes:
The reason we haven't had any sustained playoff action in the past several years, and we won't for the next several, is two reasons. Let's just share them again so we all know it, and perhaps Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli will know it and they'll do everything they can to avoid it. And amazingly, it has very little to do with Todd Haley!
Okay, okay, here're the two. No surprise because it's so obvious:
1. We have simply refused, in the worstest of all worst ways, to draft and develop a quarterback who'll be solid enough for years to give us the chance to truly compete in this league. Matt Cassel was awful again today, and yes, I'm joining the chorus of Chiefs fans who are starting to call for Tyler Palko to start and Ricky Stanzi to get snaps to see if he'll indeed be the next Tom Brady. Let's get going Chiefs management. Don't futz around anymore with this trying to pick off the shelf some QB from other team's reject pile. Yes yes yes we had fun with a fine people like Trent Green, but please -- this is just not the way to build a championship team. It isn't isn't isn't so stop it already.
2. The defensive linemen who we've selected in the highest rounds of draft after draft after draft have simply refused, in the worstest of all worst ways, to play like they should. Should we again go over the list of all the Junior Siavii's and Eric Downing's and Eddie Freeman's there are? Remember Ryan Sims, picked sixth overall (2002). Add to that Glenn Dorsey, fifth overall (2008), and Tyson Jackson, third overall (2009) (Third. Third. I'm going to cry right now...) That's the reason Denver's third-string backs ran all over us today, and we haven't the faintest of chances to do anything for the next few years -- there's no one there up front to tackle anybody!
Even more depressing is that, really, to give Denver credit, their O-line was outstanding, and is one of the youngest in the NFL. Great. So a division rival will now have one of the best O-lines in the league for years upon years to come. And our defense is, well....
Only any good in a fantasy world.
::Whimper::
_
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Dolphins at Chiefs - Week 9 - Record: 4-4
Ahh, it is actually a good feeling to know that things are back to the way they should be. Isn't it?
The Chiefs defense: vanilla pudding. The opponent's offense: a chain saw.
The Chiefs offense: a spitwad. The opponent's defense: a reinforced concrete wall.
The fun times could only last so long. Last Monday night we beat a poorly coached, injury-depleted Chargers team and then only barely when we just played tougher than they did and we got an extraordinarily timely fumble recovery.
The three wins before that were close games against a very bad Minnesota team, a very very bad Indianapolis team, and an Oakland team who found themselves very abruptly without a quarterback or their star running back.
This game showed us what kind of team we really are.
But don't be sad! Be glad! These kind of games are the truth clarifying events that will hopefully get things to happen for some kind of playoff contention activity to happen around, oh, say 2015 -- if we're lucky.
Since it is the halfway point for us, let's review quickly the five keys to the season I shared before the first game, and see where the Chiefs are for each.
No. 1: Todd Haley has to be a big-time big-game head coach. Many think that his work at getting the Chiefs to 4-3 after the 0-3 start is remarkable. Nah, I just think they've played weak teams and they've gotten breaks. Don't get me wrong, I've loved seeing them win. I always do no matter what.
But I haven't changed my mind. Todd Haley needs to get fired. Today we played an 0-7 team with a back-up quarterback and we simply did not know what the heck to do on both sides of the ball. It wasn't just a matter of us not having the players. We didn't execute plays, we didn't tackle, we didn't cover receivers, we didn't hit our marks. We yet again had too many stupid stupid stupid penalties, and we just plain looked stupid out there. The snap that Dustin Colquitt did not put down for Ryan Succop to kick the field goal was just a graphic reflection of what this team looked like. And I'm sorry, but the "But they were tired after playing on Monday Night" excuse just does not hold water for a second.
It is Todd Haley's doing.
He may be a great rah-rah guy, but this team is still a train wreck. Just wait until we play New England. Pittsburgh. New York. Green Bay. In fact the only team we play without a winning record the rest of the way is Denver.
Chance it'll happen: 75%. The 25% chance it didn't happen is pretty evident now.
No. 2: Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson really need to start playing like the top draft picks they were. This is another huge disappointment. That these guys have not played like they should've up to now is just too telling. It does not take this long for guys who should be better to show they can really do it.
Dorsey is just too slow for the NFL game, and Jackson can't see the field with the vision a D-lineman needs to have at this level. Far, far too often Dorsey just can't get enough of a push to disrupt the opponent's passing game, and far, far too often Jackson lets a runner slip past him when he should be coming off his block to make the hit.
Chance it'll happen: 55%. No surprise that the 45% it wouldn't happen has materialized. This is one of the more crushing situations because these guys were drafted so, so high. Yet again more highly drafted Chiefs D-linemen just turning into busts.
No. 3: We must absorb the loss of Brian Waters on the O-line. This is probably the one area I'd actually give to the Chiefs. Jon Asamoah has actually done decently, and the fact that Jackie Battle has been a wonderful surprise in replacing Jamaal Charles has been testament to that fact. Our O-line has actually been okay at supporting the run, and today's poor sack day I think was more Matt Cassel just not throwing the ball than the failure of the line.
Chance it'll happen: 80%. I don't think we're better, just about as good. We could be much better, and maybe we would with Waters. But I still think we've done pretty well considering.
No. 4: Matt Cassel has got to show Hall-of-Fame characteristics as a signal-caller. Not. Waaay not. Today was a classic example. Sorry, but the "He just had a bad day" excuse doesn't cut it. He just has too many of these days. Not all the time, I agree. Sometimes he's really good, I know.
But we will not win anything with him in there.
Today he showed that he just doesn't have enough confidence in himself to fire the ball in the creases and seams where it just needs to be thrown. Contending-team quarterbacks regularly throw the ball into those places only they can throw, amazing everyone. Matt Cassel just does not do that much. He's a gamer, he's a leader, he's a competitor -- all that, awesome, he has Pro Bowl qualities in those areas.
Today was an unmitigated disaster of a day for Cassel, but it just revealed that we have got to get ready to put the ball into someone else's hands.
Will that be the next best quarterback after Andrew Luck who we can snatch up in the draft? Will that be Ricky Stanzi whom a good QB-developing coach not-Todd-Haley will turn into a Hall-of-Famer? It definitely must be one of those two options if we hope to be a true contender within the next ten years.
Chance it'll happen: 30%. Definitely the right call here. Very little chance that it would happen, and it didn't.
No. 5: Wide receivers must step it up, a lot. This is definitely one area of success, big-time. Mostly just because of the Chiefs pick-up of Steve Breaston. What a find. The guy has been a stud out there. One of the brighest areas of otherwise woeful Chiefsitude this year.
A shout-out can also be made for Jonathan Baldwin, who looks like a fantastic player, although he really showed his rookie-ness out there today. On one play Cassel, to his credit, threw a strike to Baldwin in the endzone, but he simply turned the wrong way. Once he gets on track, he will be a fantastic target for our new QB next year.
And Bowe. He was simply awesome again today.
Chances it'll happen: 65%. This is definitely a happenin.' Breaston is a vet, but could he be around for a few more years when we gel with Bowe and Baldwin? Funny, I didn't know this, but he's been around the same number of years as Bowe, five. Can both these guys be around for a No. 1 QB pick or developed-Ricky-Stanzi Super Bowl run in a few years?
Oh that'd be sweet.
For now, brutal reality.
_
Ahh, it is actually a good feeling to know that things are back to the way they should be. Isn't it?
The Chiefs defense: vanilla pudding. The opponent's offense: a chain saw.
The Chiefs offense: a spitwad. The opponent's defense: a reinforced concrete wall.
The fun times could only last so long. Last Monday night we beat a poorly coached, injury-depleted Chargers team and then only barely when we just played tougher than they did and we got an extraordinarily timely fumble recovery.
The three wins before that were close games against a very bad Minnesota team, a very very bad Indianapolis team, and an Oakland team who found themselves very abruptly without a quarterback or their star running back.
This game showed us what kind of team we really are.
But don't be sad! Be glad! These kind of games are the truth clarifying events that will hopefully get things to happen for some kind of playoff contention activity to happen around, oh, say 2015 -- if we're lucky.
Since it is the halfway point for us, let's review quickly the five keys to the season I shared before the first game, and see where the Chiefs are for each.
No. 1: Todd Haley has to be a big-time big-game head coach. Many think that his work at getting the Chiefs to 4-3 after the 0-3 start is remarkable. Nah, I just think they've played weak teams and they've gotten breaks. Don't get me wrong, I've loved seeing them win. I always do no matter what.
But I haven't changed my mind. Todd Haley needs to get fired. Today we played an 0-7 team with a back-up quarterback and we simply did not know what the heck to do on both sides of the ball. It wasn't just a matter of us not having the players. We didn't execute plays, we didn't tackle, we didn't cover receivers, we didn't hit our marks. We yet again had too many stupid stupid stupid penalties, and we just plain looked stupid out there. The snap that Dustin Colquitt did not put down for Ryan Succop to kick the field goal was just a graphic reflection of what this team looked like. And I'm sorry, but the "But they were tired after playing on Monday Night" excuse just does not hold water for a second.
It is Todd Haley's doing.
He may be a great rah-rah guy, but this team is still a train wreck. Just wait until we play New England. Pittsburgh. New York. Green Bay. In fact the only team we play without a winning record the rest of the way is Denver.
Chance it'll happen: 75%. The 25% chance it didn't happen is pretty evident now.
No. 2: Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson really need to start playing like the top draft picks they were. This is another huge disappointment. That these guys have not played like they should've up to now is just too telling. It does not take this long for guys who should be better to show they can really do it.
Dorsey is just too slow for the NFL game, and Jackson can't see the field with the vision a D-lineman needs to have at this level. Far, far too often Dorsey just can't get enough of a push to disrupt the opponent's passing game, and far, far too often Jackson lets a runner slip past him when he should be coming off his block to make the hit.
Chance it'll happen: 55%. No surprise that the 45% it wouldn't happen has materialized. This is one of the more crushing situations because these guys were drafted so, so high. Yet again more highly drafted Chiefs D-linemen just turning into busts.
No. 3: We must absorb the loss of Brian Waters on the O-line. This is probably the one area I'd actually give to the Chiefs. Jon Asamoah has actually done decently, and the fact that Jackie Battle has been a wonderful surprise in replacing Jamaal Charles has been testament to that fact. Our O-line has actually been okay at supporting the run, and today's poor sack day I think was more Matt Cassel just not throwing the ball than the failure of the line.
Chance it'll happen: 80%. I don't think we're better, just about as good. We could be much better, and maybe we would with Waters. But I still think we've done pretty well considering.
No. 4: Matt Cassel has got to show Hall-of-Fame characteristics as a signal-caller. Not. Waaay not. Today was a classic example. Sorry, but the "He just had a bad day" excuse doesn't cut it. He just has too many of these days. Not all the time, I agree. Sometimes he's really good, I know.
But we will not win anything with him in there.
Today he showed that he just doesn't have enough confidence in himself to fire the ball in the creases and seams where it just needs to be thrown. Contending-team quarterbacks regularly throw the ball into those places only they can throw, amazing everyone. Matt Cassel just does not do that much. He's a gamer, he's a leader, he's a competitor -- all that, awesome, he has Pro Bowl qualities in those areas.
Today was an unmitigated disaster of a day for Cassel, but it just revealed that we have got to get ready to put the ball into someone else's hands.
Will that be the next best quarterback after Andrew Luck who we can snatch up in the draft? Will that be Ricky Stanzi whom a good QB-developing coach not-Todd-Haley will turn into a Hall-of-Famer? It definitely must be one of those two options if we hope to be a true contender within the next ten years.
Chance it'll happen: 30%. Definitely the right call here. Very little chance that it would happen, and it didn't.
No. 5: Wide receivers must step it up, a lot. This is definitely one area of success, big-time. Mostly just because of the Chiefs pick-up of Steve Breaston. What a find. The guy has been a stud out there. One of the brighest areas of otherwise woeful Chiefsitude this year.
A shout-out can also be made for Jonathan Baldwin, who looks like a fantastic player, although he really showed his rookie-ness out there today. On one play Cassel, to his credit, threw a strike to Baldwin in the endzone, but he simply turned the wrong way. Once he gets on track, he will be a fantastic target for our new QB next year.
And Bowe. He was simply awesome again today.
Chances it'll happen: 65%. This is definitely a happenin.' Breaston is a vet, but could he be around for a few more years when we gel with Bowe and Baldwin? Funny, I didn't know this, but he's been around the same number of years as Bowe, five. Can both these guys be around for a No. 1 QB pick or developed-Ricky-Stanzi Super Bowl run in a few years?
Oh that'd be sweet.
For now, brutal reality.
_
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Chargers at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 4-3
Awright! We got another Monday night game! We're earning some respect! Awright!!!
Not.
Please know that I was thrilled that we got a primetime affair. But I just happen to be cynical Missouri-style, which means my attitude carries with it a great deal of grit. We still don't get showcased nearly as much as the Packers or Steelers, Cowboys or Patriots. These teams get something like 57 primetime games a year.
"Oh but you're a small market team that hasn't won playoff stuff a lot..."
So what. I do know that we must showcase a fine team to get in a big show like MNF, so that's cool. I'm with you. But here's another thing that steams me. We do get our one Monday Night slot, yet the powers-that-be give it to us on...
Halloween.
Gimme a break and a half.
I'm frustrated because that's a night when I usually have serious family obligations. I do have small children. So yeah, because of travelling and events happening, I essentially was able to catch only two parts of the game.
The first was delightful to watch. Think it was around the end of the first quarter, start of the second. I caught our defense playing with a pretty decent measure of team speed. I mean contending-team-like team speed! Surprise! The line was really firing out after Philip Rivers! Our linebackers were really mixing things up! And our D-backfield was smothering receivers as they are splendidly prone to do! When we got the ball shortly thereafter, here were the plays I saw, in order:
1. Jackie Battle pounding forward for a couple.
2. Matt Cassel squirting out of the pocket and hustling close to a first down (and without doing that weinie slide thing).
3. Le'ron McClain catching a floater and hanging on even after getting illegally hammered by a San Diego defender.
4. Cassel holding on in the pocket then firing a deep strike to finally-out-there-playing well Jonathan Baldwin -- touchdown!
After participating in more family-oriented items, I returned to see that we were holding on to a 20-12 lead. Except that, aagh, sure enough Philip Rivers was there, yet again carving us up like Thanksgiving turkey (wait, that holiday is still down the way a bit).
But carving us up he was. Our D-linemen were breaking through but he was just zipping away from them. We must've had 57 D-backs in coverage and he still threaded the needle. Yeah, yeah, I had no hair left. They get the TD by an inch. They get the two-point conversion by an inch. I'm thinkin' yet again, they're going to break our hearts.
The despair turned deeper when we got nuthin', punted, and allowed Rivers to start carving away again. He got them all the way down to the KC 15 with mere seconds left -- enough time for one more play then the agonizing field goal.
One more play for good measure, which...
Rivers phumbled (the way a top mainstream news site wrote it) right into the Chiefs eager clutches.
OT, a Chargers three-and-out, a stout Chiefs drive, and a Succup FG made it a great Chiefs night. Except that ergh, we had to listen to it on the radio driving home, called by the pukiest sycophantic Chargers announcers. I was almost more glad we won to stick to those guys than just that we got the job done.
So we're now in first place because Todd Haley won't shave his beard. It had better do for the Chiefs what Brian Wilson's beard did for the San Francisco Giants last year, that's all I can say.
_
Awright! We got another Monday night game! We're earning some respect! Awright!!!
Not.
Please know that I was thrilled that we got a primetime affair. But I just happen to be cynical Missouri-style, which means my attitude carries with it a great deal of grit. We still don't get showcased nearly as much as the Packers or Steelers, Cowboys or Patriots. These teams get something like 57 primetime games a year.
"Oh but you're a small market team that hasn't won playoff stuff a lot..."
So what. I do know that we must showcase a fine team to get in a big show like MNF, so that's cool. I'm with you. But here's another thing that steams me. We do get our one Monday Night slot, yet the powers-that-be give it to us on...
Halloween.
Gimme a break and a half.
I'm frustrated because that's a night when I usually have serious family obligations. I do have small children. So yeah, because of travelling and events happening, I essentially was able to catch only two parts of the game.
The first was delightful to watch. Think it was around the end of the first quarter, start of the second. I caught our defense playing with a pretty decent measure of team speed. I mean contending-team-like team speed! Surprise! The line was really firing out after Philip Rivers! Our linebackers were really mixing things up! And our D-backfield was smothering receivers as they are splendidly prone to do! When we got the ball shortly thereafter, here were the plays I saw, in order:
1. Jackie Battle pounding forward for a couple.
2. Matt Cassel squirting out of the pocket and hustling close to a first down (and without doing that weinie slide thing).
3. Le'ron McClain catching a floater and hanging on even after getting illegally hammered by a San Diego defender.
4. Cassel holding on in the pocket then firing a deep strike to finally-out-there-playing well Jonathan Baldwin -- touchdown!
After participating in more family-oriented items, I returned to see that we were holding on to a 20-12 lead. Except that, aagh, sure enough Philip Rivers was there, yet again carving us up like Thanksgiving turkey (wait, that holiday is still down the way a bit).
But carving us up he was. Our D-linemen were breaking through but he was just zipping away from them. We must've had 57 D-backs in coverage and he still threaded the needle. Yeah, yeah, I had no hair left. They get the TD by an inch. They get the two-point conversion by an inch. I'm thinkin' yet again, they're going to break our hearts.
The despair turned deeper when we got nuthin', punted, and allowed Rivers to start carving away again. He got them all the way down to the KC 15 with mere seconds left -- enough time for one more play then the agonizing field goal.
One more play for good measure, which...
Rivers phumbled (the way a top mainstream news site wrote it) right into the Chiefs eager clutches.
OT, a Chargers three-and-out, a stout Chiefs drive, and a Succup FG made it a great Chiefs night. Except that ergh, we had to listen to it on the radio driving home, called by the pukiest sycophantic Chargers announcers. I was almost more glad we won to stick to those guys than just that we got the job done.
So we're now in first place because Todd Haley won't shave his beard. It had better do for the Chiefs what Brian Wilson's beard did for the San Francisco Giants last year, that's all I can say.
_
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