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

Major professional team sports leagues don't like the Royals and the Giants.

Yes, I'm opening this post with a baseball reference, because these two teams have dominated major league baseball postseason play over the past few years. And as a passionate fan of both teams, watching them over that time and getting a feel for how they are considered through it all, I can tell...

The powers-that-be hate it.

In fact, they hate when any team keeps the Dodgers or Yankees from getting into postseason play. Boston teams are always an acceptable alternative, and maybe a handful of others whose players can be showcased as media darlings.

People don't think much about the advantages a team has being one of the most valued. Did you know that the last time there was a baseball playoff run without a Yankees team or a Dodgers team was 1993. Go ahead, look it up. This "failure" was so bad that 1994 was washed out so the major leagues could regroup to ensure the Yankees got back into things and the Dodgers did so often enough.

I also preface this post with all of this because Forbes recently put out its updated list of the most valued franchises in professional sports. Some of the teams are European soccer teams and sorry, that's soccer, it's way over in Europe -- doesn't count.

Sure enough, every team at the top of the list is from a major media market in a metro area with an extraordinarily large population. The No. 1 team is the Dallas Cowboys, but seven of the next nine are -- well -- I'll just name them, in order:

New York Yankees
New England Patriots
New York Knicks
New York Giants
Los Angeles Lakers
New York Jets
Los Angeles Dodgers

Not far behind are the Chicago Bears, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Clippers. A handful of other teams showing up after them on the list are there because they've had recent winning runs that make them a bit popular at the present time.

Here's the thing. Fughedabowd getting any cred if you're a small market, media repulsed team like the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, were listed at 43 overall on the list. At first I thought, woo-hoo! -- We're up there at 43rd! Not bad! (There're 122 major professional sports franchises in North America.) Well, more bad than you think considering that 27 of the 32 NFL teams all appear in the top 50. This means the Chiefs among NFL teams rank at 21st.  Now there really isn't much difference, however, between our value of $1.53 billion and the others in that latter range, so, not much of a big deal.

Tossing the outlier of the Cowboys, there still is quite a difference between that value and that of the Patriots at $3.2 billion. In fact, all these numbers started getting inflated a year ago after Steve Ballmer had to pay the racialist premium on the NBA's Clippers to ensure there was nooo racism among ownership by ponying up $2 billion for a team worth half that. They get more stratospheric the more they realize how much we're all willing to pay for gratification of our aggressions and vicariousnesses.

My point regarding our Chiefs and this season is in light of what's against us through all this is the Chiefs absolutely need that intangible, that major got-it intangible to truly set them apart from other teams. In fact I could express my deep concerns about this from the text of an email I sent to my uncle this week. I thought it'd work here, I'd like to share it with you here, now (a bit proofed and edited):

"Regarding our Chiefs, my main concern is how much this team has it in them to be true contenders--or how little as the case may actually be. I wrote a blog piece two years ago when we played an abysmal game against the Steelers late in the season that essentially cost us the playoffs, and the contrast couldn't be more stark. That is when I discovered there is a reason teams like the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, simply do not lose -- they simply come through in the clutch in the playoffs. When they don't it is because they may not have the talent that particular year or are suffering from injuries, but each of these teams have that extra something that keeps them winning on a consistent basis.

"I called it 'got-it', as in, these teams just have that something deep inside of them, something that courses through them from the top down that makes them win. Last night the Patriots, with a 3rd string quarterback, won a game handily against a Texans team that pasted the Chiefs just a few days before. This just makes me sad, because the Chiefs are an extraordinarily talented team that do win games on their talent, but damn it I just don't think they have nearly enough 'got-it' to win. Alex Smith is a phenomenally gifted, smart, versatile, athletic quarterback, but for cryin' out loud he just doesn't lead his team down the field enough times to win like the contenders do. 

"Sure I liked the San Diego game. But let's face it, the Chargers defense was exhausted in the second half. Last year when we won a lot of games in a row we played teams that for the most part were pathetic. We won the playoff game largely because the Texans quarterback was a joke. In 2013 we won a bunch of games in a row against teams that, if you noticed, were using their 2nd or 3rd string quarterbacks. Then we do things like hammer New England in 2014 and Denver last year on the road. What gives?

"Apparently our defensive backfield is our greatest weakness. What's with that? For so long it was a strength, and then suddenly it isn't? This is what drives me crazy, how do we keep losing our strengths? And how do the 'got-it' teams continue to win through their weaknesses? When, WHEN will the Chiefs have enough 'got-it'?

"That is really the issue. When I start seeing us do amazing things against teams at full strength, then I'll know. Otherwise I'll continue to be as sad as Chiefs fans have been for some time."

Here is my uncle's brief response, I don't think he'd mind if I share it:

"We just don't have the winning tradition, like we had in the early glory days. And I hate to say it, I felt Marty Schottenheimer was starting to bring it back with his insistence on, 'Defend Arrowhead' mantra. But I really don't think it has been revised. The teams you mention have the tradition we will win period."

Yes, it'd be nice to have the tradition, the talent, the leadership, certainly the "got-it", and definitely the having all that for years on end. But ultimately the issue with relation to this post so far is that this is hard to take advantage of those things when so many powerful people ravish themselves getting the power and money from this whole major professional team sports enterprise. It's as if we need double the amount of those things needed to overcome that.

Of course, really, that is one thing that makes this Chiefs fandom that much more valuable. We know we're up against it, and rooting for our team to do what it takes is more fun than rooting for the teams who get all the helpful establishment cred. It is what makes rooting for a Kansas City team that much more meaningful -- how splendid to see the tough, gutsy Royals beat the all-that New York Mets in the World Series last year.

Which brings us to today's game. 

Now just so you know, the New York Jets is not a New York team I dislike. I actually like them. They are old-AFL. They are Joe Namath. They are that underdog team that beat the vaunted Colts in Super Bowl III. They've also had a tough run of it even being a large market team, joining the Chiefs (with their small market) in never appearing in a Super Bowl since their respective splendid championship runs in '68 and '69.

What did this game look like for us with respect to all those items we'd like to see on a regular basis?

Well, for one thing, we got tons of breaks. We grabbed eight turnovers at the expense of a fumbly, intercepty Jets team. Their QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the red zone, six altogether after throwing only 15 all of last season. Two of the endzone picks were tipped -- wow did we get lucky. Another turnover was a fumble recovery on a kick coverage that went right into the hands of Demetrius Harris who then had wide open field to score.

 

On the other hand, we used our talent to stretch the field, yes. Travis Kelce was terrific. Jeremy Maclin started to get a bit more untracked. Chris Conley and Tyreek Hill made fine catches for good yardage at critical times. Alex Smith was once referred to by announcer Mitch Holthus as "the fighter pilot not ejecting" when staying in the pocket to complete a fine pass -- how great was that! And Spencer Ware was a wrecking ball out there -- very nice.

Thing is, we had all kinds of issues with the game of inches.

That's one of those key things that shows we've got the got-it, it really is. And the game of inches was a bitch for us today.

In the middle of the second half at some point, with the Chiefs up 17-3, we had that great talent-laden drive that ended with a fantastic Spencer Ware power run into the end zone... except...

Upon further review, Ware fumbled it into the endzone just as he was stretching the ball to the pylon. In fact, it was crazy, he barely barely barely lost the handle. It wasn't even an inch but a nanometer of his finger. No touchdown, still 17-3, Jets have the ball at the 20. New York took it all the way down to the Chiefs red zone but we did get one of those interceptions.

How about this one? Another episode of decent ball movement in the next series, and we get a 4th-and-1 at about the Jets 40. That's where you just have to go for it. We do, and Ware pounds it up the middle, only to be short by another of those inches. Jets get it back, they storm down, and we get another of those interceptions.

Whew, whew, whew.

We got so many of the nice bounces, but we so majorly benefit from them only because we're not up 31-3 already. It's still a close game at this time, and without the nice picks it's easily 17-17.

Then there are the bad calls against the Chiefs -- mmmmmm I'm telling ya. At a critical point Phillip Gaines was called for pass interference when the ball was not remotely catchable. In a later series Fitzpatrick threw a pass that should have been an illegal touching penalty against a Jets offensive lineman, but the officials just blew the call. Ergh ergh ergh.

Thing is, with just under five minutes left in the game, Fitzpatrick threw, yes, another interception.

And this leads to the one thing that you have got to heap loads of credit upon -- our defense. The Jets moved the ball all over the place pushing pushing pushing against our defensive guys, and yet we held. It is easy to say we got lots of breaks -- and we did, yes, in droves.

But the defense had something to do with that. And the stamina -- they were out on the field for 10-play drives in the second half over and over and over again. All of it capped by the wonderful, splendid, fantabulous

Pick-six by Derrick Johnson.

Our defense won this game. Even though they kept saying the Jets don't give up sacks, we had so much pressure on Fitzpatrick, both at the D-line and with our D-backfield stunts, that he threw six interceptions. That's big-time defense.

The offense was actually good enough to win it, it really was, but the inches game hurt us. And so, we're back to the beginning of this post...

Can we finish with the gravitas that a contending team has in droves?

Can we do that all the time, when we just KNOW this team has got it?

And we can show it in a reprieve game next Sunday against the Steelers, at Pittsburgh, on national television, Sunday Night Game of the Week, 5:30 pm (PST, for me, out here on the west coast).

Do we got it?

__

(Quick note about the font in this post. I have no idea why Blogger can't make consistent fonts throughout, but I've discovered that if I cut and paste something like those email passages, Blogger can't cope with keeping fonts the same consistency, and wrestling with it only does so much. I just can't seem to make the fonts consistent, no matter how much I tell it to, and what you see above has taken me literally about 20 attempts to get as good as it looks here. So yeah, there ya go, for what it's worth. This is as good as I'm going to get it with my limited computer abilities. At least the Chiefs won, there's that.)
__

Chiefs at Texans - Week 2 - Record: 1-1

That's Chiefs football. Chris Jones gets a hand on a late field goal attempt, partially blocking it, but it goes in anyway. Blocking it would have given us a chance, down only seven with three minutes left -- but yeah, the ball barely makes it over the crossbar. That gives them the 10-point lead.

Then Tyreek Hill, who's been the only real player on the day, takes the kickoff to the house, butttttttt...

Holding call against us.

That's Chiefs football.

So we go down to defeat 19-12, you mean it was that close? (Cairo Santos got one last FG with a minute left.)

The good news? The Texans defensive line had their way with us. Um... why is that good news? It is simply we didn't have our two starting guards because of injury, and I was hoping hoping hoping our backups, decent Zach Fulton and Jah Reid would be good.

They weren't. None of them were. Our O-line today was worthless. It's nice to think that a "stable" offensive line means a good one. I'm still not giving up on these guys, but the offense was a total mess today.

Missed receivers, critical drops, errant passes, and sack after sack after sack, penalty after penalty after penalty -- mistake after mistake after mistake.

The last time we lost a regular season game was last October against Minnesota. Wow, it's been nice since then. Thing is, this game was more like the Cincinnati game, remember that one? We could just never get untracked, kicking a lot of field goals -- Santos had four FG's in this one -- still losing.

More good news is the play of Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West. Those guys are actually doing pretty well. Our running game is fine, really. Then there's our special teams, and damnnn, Tyreek Hill. Very nice. Santos, punter Dustin Colquitt, our kick coverage team, they were the only thing worth anything.

Well, our defense did show up a few times, that's fine. Marcus Peters had a couple picks, that was nice.

But our passing game -- ::whimper::

Our receivers were nowhere. Jeremy Maclin was flustered. Chris Conley was non-existent. Albert Wilson was a non-factor. Reminded me of The Wide Receiver Project, and that's a very, very ugly thing, trust me.

And the turnovers. What a mess. It was just a mess, that's all.

It was simple. There is no question.

The Texans did not beat the Chiefs.

The Chiefs beat the Chiefs.

I still wonder, can this team really be an elite team? Can we have that got-it enough to be contenders? I mean it was nowhere today -- so disappointing. This is not a steady, strong team right now, I'm sorry.

Again, let's see what happens. Let's see if our O-line can be back to respectable. Let's see if our passing game can get back on track and Alex Smith can get back to not getting back to mistrusting his arm and his receivers.
___

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

Well whaddya know.

Very nice comeback.

Down 27-10 in the 4th quarter, how about that...

The Chiefs meant business and got the job done.

10 play, 70+ yard drive in overtime, capped by an Alex Smith option touchdown run, to win a game that was utterly, totally lost.

Yes, this is one of the greatest comebacks in Chiefs history.

Yes yes yes yes yes...

Our defense recovered from its sluggishness the first three quarters. Alex Smith finally finally finally decided to trust his arm and throw the football down the field. Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West were the heart of our team, running with focused ferocity.

That pass Smith made to Ware on the sideline in overtime is evidence enough. Smith can do the job. Can he just have confidence in himself to do it?

This was a tale of two games, really. It was the game of the 4th quarter, of the never-give-up final-10-regular-season-games-of-last-season team, and the game of the first three quarters, the one of the five-of-the-first-six-games-of-last-season choking flailing team.

Here's the story of the first three quarters of Chiefs football, really, transcribed as I was watching what looked like a train wreck. Everything written here between the *** marks was put down during the 3rd quarter when I was watching a listless uncompetitive team:

***

One thing you really need to have happen in order to be a truly Super Bowl contending team, no matter how good you are, is to enjoy your strengths staying strong and your weaknesses becoming strengths.

For the Chiefs this year, it is looking like the reverse.

Right out of the gate our weaknesses are very huge and unwieldy, and our strengths seem to be made of balsa wood. Shall we review?

A strength? Our resourceful quarterback and more experienced slate of wide receivers. When behind 14-3, then 21-3, then... can Alex Smith really be a class quarterback? Thing is, I'd thought these wide-outs would help him out, but they were non-existent after the first few catches of the game. This team will go nowhere unless they can stretch the field, and yeah, not being able to do so has been a weakness of ours for, um, how many eons?

A weakness? Our run defense. How long ago did I say we need a Ray Lewis type there to do his work. Well, he's not there again in a big way. Wide open lanes for their runners to slash into, just a great big void of any red and gold to stop them. And this makes a QB like Philip Rivers that much better. That's just a nightmare for any opponent, making Rivers better than he already is.

A strength? Our offensive line, stable and now including super stud tackle Mitchell Schwartz. Alas, we gave up critical sacks and could not get our runners untracked. Not crisp, not clean, and just not strong.

A weakness? Our defensive backs. Marcus Peters just had a nightmare of a game. Yes he was up against Keenan Allen who was schooling us before he was injured, but still. John Dorsey went all out and picked up three draft-pick D-backs, will they step it up? Right now that is a lot to ask for. As it is, today Rivers just carved us up like he used to.

A strength? Field position and time of possession. This has been completely reversed today. Colquitt was not great punting, the Chargers had amazing field position and Rivers -- well, you know. Last year in one of our games we did fantastic at keeping Rivers off the field, but today he's been out there all day, even once running 10 yards to pick up 1st down. Hey, hey Chiefs D-line? That's embarrassing.

A weakness? Getting some clutch 3rd down conversions. I saw the graphic, last year the Chiefs were 19th in the NFL in 3rd down conversion rating. Ugh. Today we were worse. Of course we were, that's the theme of this post, isn't it? And another thing related to this, something I've seen for some time. Alex Smith simply cannot beat a blitz. I don't know why teams don't just blitz every down! In one of those last drives Smith got blitzed and he escaped it! Yet he couldn't complete a pass -- where were the should've-been-wide-open receivers?!

I'm now concerned about that list of players I posted in my preview post, the one about the draft picks we'd had from 2012 to 2014. I'm concerned that I just didn't see the playmakers I'd love to have seen. Yeah, Travis Kelce was there, and De'Anthony Thomas -- and while Thomas was inactive today his "heir apparent" Tyreek Hill had a nice touchdown today.

But still, where are our playmakers?

Where where where?

I think too -- not that there isn't a Chiefs fan who doesn't think this -- that not having Justin Houston out there is just a very very very bad thing. Our pass rush -- another of those weaknesses -- was completely non-existent. Rivers had all day to pass. So Justin Houston isn't there. Where is anyone else? The Chargers pass rush got the job done. We were worse than milquetoast.

Our entire defense was worse than milquetoast. It seems with our offense can still be decent, but the key question is now...

Will we make the adjustments?

Ahem, can we make the adjustments?

I'd really like the think that there is genuine hope for this season because of our experience last year when we agonized over the first six weeks -- not unlike the experience of this game today -- and then thrilled to the Chiefs splendid reversal.

So, do we have genuine strengths or are they all illusions? I mean, really, are those strengths we just know we have on our offense just the result of looking at them with rose-colored glasses -- really? Do our intractable weaknesses simply mean this will be yet another lost season?

Really, this was a game we should've easily won, against a considered mediocre team, at home... What's with this?

***

Then there was the 4th quarter and overtime.

Now I left all those thoughts I had about our first three quarters there, left them all there because they are still concerns. They still are.

What happened when this team woke up?

Well, again, Alex Smith decided he wanted to play like he wanted to. That's key. One thing he did was started throwing to Travis Kelce. What a difference that made. And he reintroduced himself to Jeremy Maclin. Dang it Alex, trust your receivers. Maclin, I mean, wow. Add to that our O-line picking it up, albeit against a tiring Chargers D-line.

Another factor was that stamina. My son told me early in the game the Chiefs were deeper and would outlast the Chargers. That happened. We just looked sharper, faster, quicker from the end of the 3rd quarter on. Melvin Gordon was practically invisible in the second half.

You have to admit that the Chargers' loss of Keenan Allen was crushing. The Chargers had their way with us when he was in there. After he was lost the Chargers just slogged too much.

And how about winning the toss in overtime. Keep Rivers off the field and let our momentum carry us through overtime. That was critical too. Other fortuitous things like that 17-yard Chargers punt that put us in great field position for the game-tying score was terrific.

One thing we can take with us is that the Chiefs DO NOT GIVE UP.

How about that strength?

It is good to be a Chiefs fan today.
_

Chiefs Preview 2016

13-14-15.

Those are the numbers. Yes, 13-14-15. These are the numbers that should be the key to the fine Chiefs success everyone is expecting from Kansas City's professional football franchise this year.

If you haven't already got the idea here, these numbers represent the past three seasons of Chiefs football. Even though we have only one playoff win in that time, in each of those three years the Chiefs have had a winning season. Not just average 8-8 type seasons but winning seasons. The worst of them, 2014, we went 9-7 because of critical injuries on our defense suffered in the very first game (Derrick Johnson probably being the most damaging) and just a few crucial breakdowns in games we should have won (San Francisco and Arizona the two that stand out).

What this tells me is that over the past three years Clark Hunt, John Dorsey, and Andy Reid have been successful at building a quality football team, and it appears they are ready to take the next step into the elevated genuine Super Bowl contender class. While I have kept myself from seeing a thing from previews and predictions from the pundits who do these things, I have heard in the distance references to the Chiefs as a team being ranked pretty highly.

Yes, I can't deny that I am with all the other Chiefs fans in being extraordinarily excited about this season. What I believe is a telling indicator of how well a team should play is to look at their drafting from two years before the season. It is those players who should be forming the core of the talent of any football team. So I did, I looked, and here's the list of all those players drafted from 2012 to 2014. They are listed by order of overall draft selection irrespective of which year's draft it was.

Eric Fisher (1-13)
Dontari Poe (11-12)
Dee Ford (23-14)
Jeff Allen (44-12)
Travis Kelce (63-13)
Donald Stephenson (74-12)
Phillip Gaines (87-14)
Knile Davis (96-13)
Nico Johnson (99-13)
Devon Wylie (107-12)
De'Anthony Thomas (124-14)
Sanders Commings (134-13)
DeQuan Menzie (146-12)
Aaron Murray (163-14)
Eric Kush (170-13)
Cyrus Gray (182-12)
Zach Fulton (193-14)
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (200-14)
Braden Wilson (204-13)
Mike Catapano (207-13)
Jerome Long (218-12)
Junior Hemingway (238-12)

There they are, all of them. It is obvious that Scott Pioli's last draft was pretty much a bust, the only player worth anything Dontari Poe. Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson were okay, but they're gone.

The key guys from Dorsey's first two runs, however, are definitely big-time players (in bold above): Eric Fisher, Travis Kelce, Phillip Gaines, De'Anthony Thomas, Zach Fulton, and Laurent Duverney-Tardif.

I understand Gaines still has to be healthy and Thomas has to prove he can last a whole season for them to be fully big-time. As I think about it, you could probably also put Knile Davis in there, but as fast a runner as he is he struggles to find his blocks.

I also note that this does not seem like as many players as it should be. Do other NFL teams have a three year period with this number of authentically promising draft potentialities that is like this? Better? Worse? I don't know. It does seem like there should be more impact players in that mix.

Here's what I see from all this, however. It is that Dorsey means business when it comes to shaping a full roster. He seems to have a keen sense of what to do to get the right players when he must. I mean, tell me, didn't you see this rigor missing with the Pioli's and the Peterson's of the past several years? I sure did. Dorsey's been showing that he not only has the industry but the insight and insistence to be a top notch GM.

To make up for those missing players from that draft he's gotten decent free agents, like Justin March and Albert Wilson. He's also got some studs playing for us both from last year's and this year's draft. From last year Marcus Peters, Mitch Morse, and Chris Conley; from this year Chris Jones, Parker Ehinger, and Tyreek Hill.

Nkay, so, what does it look like for the Chiefs in specific areas? First, the concerns.

Pass rush. With Justin Houston missing the first half of the season, if not more, this is a huge concern. Dee Ford has just not shown he's the guy to get it done off the edge (note that I did not mention him among the big-timers from the 12-13-14 drafts). With the possibility that Tamba Hali may slow a bit because of age, this is even more of an issue. Here's my thought, just a crazy idea from a random blogger: How about moving to a 4-3 and putting Chris Jones on the line? This may give Ford a bit more flexibility about where he can rush, and I did hear somewhere that Ford is improving his run defense.

Run defense. Sure enough, I wonder if we have the linebacking strength outside of D.J. to stop the run. The Chiefs really struggled in this area against Los Angeles and Seattle in the preseason. We won't have Josh Mauga all season, we've just waived Ramik Wilson -- this does not bode well. On the other hand, I think back to the Minnesota game from last year. Yes, it was the last of the losses from that excruciating start to the season last year putting us at 1-5, but do you remember that we stuffed Adrian Peterson cold that day? He could go nowhere. On the other other hand, a colleague at work mentioned (I sometimes get these kinds of unsolicited notices, so, oh well) that the Chiefs said their main concern was their safeties. Yes, there is Eric Berry, but will Ron Parker be as decent as he was last year? And who do we have beyond that without stalwarts like the now-retired Husain Abdullah?

Finishing. Believe it or not, this Chiefs team has done a decent job of finishing games, but that is mostly because they've built modest leads and held. Except, remember last season's Chicago game? We didn't do that. Notable among our successes here was the Cleveland game, but we were facing a very flustered Johnny Manziel who is pretty much now out of football. The key question is how we do when we're six points down with two minutes left and the ball on our own 30. Can we win that ballgame, really, can we? All true Super Bowl contenders do, they just do. I'm going to be very concerned if we don't and all we've got is lots of 'splaining we feel we have to do. Seems like the Chiefs brass in the past have always done far too much 'splaining and not enough crowing about clutch wins.

Okay, enough of the concerns, now to the encouragements.

Offensive line. Last year it was a Chinese fire drill on the O-line. There were, what, 4,293 different O-line combinations? This year it seems we're set. The key question mark is how well Parker Ehinger can hold that left guard spot as a rookie. But dang, getting Mitchell Schwartz at right tackle is a John Dorsey coup. Zach Fulton and Jah Reid are terrific back-ups. The key is the protection they've got to give Alex Smith. I really really really don't want to see Smith ditch his progressions all the time and I think a stronger line will really help with that.

Wide receiver. Damn, how great is it to have a full slate of wide-outs who actually, truly, genuinely look decent for once. Remember the Chiefs wide receiver history? I didn't think so, too ugly, yes. Maclin, Conley, Wilson all look terrific, and everyone is raving about this new kid, Tyreek Hill. I was also one of those who really didn't want the Chiefs to give up on De'Anthony Thomas, and I'm glad they didn't. The Chiefs are high on rookie DeMarcus Robinson, too, enough to trade away Rod Streater the free agent they'd just signed over the summer.

Field position and time of possession. Lest we forget the Chiefs bread and butter. The Chiefs special teams is clearly on the front lines of making these two things happen, but keep in mind that all those people who blab that the Chiefs aren't exciting enough don't get the Chiefs. Andy Reid is ruthlessly methodical, it's one of the things that make him such a good coach. We'll start a series at midfield -- great! -- but then it takes nine plays for us to score -- that's our game. The advantage is it wears down the defense, and I think it is one of the most significant factors that make it so we can hold on to games like we've done these past three years.

Obviously there are other positives like our running backs, and other not-so-positives like our somewhat poor 3rd down conversion ability (yes I too am hoping we don't have to watch Alex try to run for a 3rd down every other time we need one). Questions too, like how effective will Jamaal Charles be when he comes back, and how will two offensive coordinators work?

All of this does have a distinctively different twist to it all, don't you think? Have you discovered that we're raving about our explosive offense, but expressing most of our concerns about our very real potential defensive liabilities? This is why it is refreshing to see our leadership being unabashed about addressing our key needs -- yes Dorsey drafted three defensive backs this year, but at least he means business up there to get the best we can get down here.

I have to close with this very fun reminder about games of note over the past three years -- remember the number? 13-14-15. At some point in those seasons the Chiefs destroyed the eventual Super Bowl winner twice (in 2014 it was New England, 2015 Denver), I mean we pasted them -- and each time we forced to the bench their future Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks (Brady and Manning). Who has ever done that? Also in 2014 we defeated the previous Super Bowl winner, Seattle.

It is said that if you can do something really really well -- and handling all these fine teams as we did was something done really really well -- then you can do it again. I see the Chiefs having a tremendous amount of self-confidence this year that starts with the fine work Clark, John, and Andy have been doing.

There is no way that can't pay off in a major way. Maybe this year will be the year in which the only number that counts is 51.

As in Super Bowl 51.

And it does look like they're going back to the roman numeral thing.

So yeah, looking at Super Bowl LI. That's a fine number.
_

2016 Chiefs Season Preview Note

Yes! My Chiefs season preview is on the way! I do want to post one this weekend so readers can get a feel for what I'm thinking well before our opener next Sunday, but I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to get to it. Even today, a casual Saturday, has been booked, a lot of that is just putting in some much needed resting -- my work is exhausting! I really want to put a decent effort into my writing. We've also been having computer issues at home here, so, well, there ya go.

But enough of my whining. I'm chompin' and chompin' to get writing!

It'll be up soon!
__