This has been one of the critical components of our success and no one is talking about it.
Well, I wouldn't say no one, because Veach's name has come up a few times. But to be honest with you, I knew this team would be special way back when he went to the microphone there in the spring of 2018 shortly after signing Anthony Hitchens and Sammy Watkins. When you watched him and listened to him,
You just knew.
You could just tell he was someone who had a deep sense of what made a good football team. You could tell he had something of, well, a great deal of that got-it in his soul to lead the front office and make the crucial decisions required to form a championship club.
Sure enough, one of the things that made him exceptional was his ability to see in Patrick Mahomes what others did not see. It wasn't that there weren't some who saw it too, but, ahem, there were far too many who didn't, and Veach had the powerful insight to pick it up enough to convince Andy and then-GM John Dorsey to hitch up some draft picks and send them off to get him.
I've got this Chiefs blog to write a lot about all things Chiefs, but there are a lot of sites that do much more and do them much better than this one. I'd like to think that my focus is on the history, but also on the future. By the future I don't mean "Who-we-gonna-get-in-the-next-draft?" What I mean is, do we have the organizational skill and the front office got-it to make the best decisions?
And damn.
Do we have it in Brett Veach et al. And please, all the same amount of credit to Clark too, please don't get me wrong about him. It does indeed all start with him, and his strong insight and commitment to excellence was instrumental in getting Veach up here to do his thing.
Any time there was a hole, however small, he filled it. Any time there was a weakness, he addressed it. And he did it summarily with extreme prejudice. How amazing it was the Terrell Suggs came in for us at the opportune time -- don't think he hasn't had an impact out there.
And even guys he already had and stuck with. Think about Daniel Sorensen and how valuable he's been. Before the season started everyone was screaming for his head -- too big a cap hit! But when Juan Thornhill was injured for the duration of the postseason, everyone talked about whether it would be Armani Watts or Kendall Fuller stepping in. Well, ahem, it has been Sorensen and he has been terrific.
Oh, and how about the Steve Spagnuolo hire? Another score. Finding the guy who'd genuinely get the most from what the players offer, make the best in-season and in-game adjustments, and above all earn the respect of everyone on the defensive corps, it is like night-and-day from last year.
Sure all Veach's moves haven't been the best, but if it doesn't work, he fixes it, and most times he's dead-to-rights when it comes to getting it good. You know what else? Everyone talks about how young Patrick Mahomes is and that we'll have him for a long time. Do you know how young Brett Veach is? Really, as the youngest GM in the NFL -- and he's doing all this? -- that's just as significant for an extraordinarily promising Chiefs future.
It is appropriate then here to confess that I am so glad the Chiefs don't listen to me. Oh yeah I like writing here but you do know that most of what I put down is just part of the therapy. Thanks for being in my group. "Hi my name is David," and this one particular confession is how ticked off I was that Clark fired John Dorsey those however many years ago. After we started to win big after that 2012 horror show, maybe the contrast just made Dorsey look a little bit better than he was. He did do very good things, but hey, look what happened to him this year.
He was fired from the Browns. It did seem like he was turning his Browns team into a juggernaut what with drafting Baker Mayfield and picking up Odell Beckham Jr. and snatching up Kareem Hunt. But wow -- the Browns stank this year.
Again, maybe, just maybe, Clark has a lot more business savvy than we give him credit for.
There is so much more to address in all of this. So much to share about this amazing time in the Chiefs Kingdom. I will add this one thing.
The last game we lost was eight games ago, that ugly beast back in November to the Titans, that game when we were comfortably ahead 29-20 late but just collapsed. Thing about that game is it was necessary. It was necessary because our team needed a hard, swift kick in the pants to just get more disciplined.
To take care of business.
Thing is, we've been doing it. We've been focused and resilient and vocal about being persistent to a fault. I did see a piece online where the writer mentioned that one reason the Ravens were bounced from the playoffs so early was they didn't have any of that because the season was too easy for them, and when they were suddenly down to the Titans they didn't really know what to do.
So yeah, in that regular season Titans game, it was actually very good to get a harrowing visit from a few of the Four Horsemen of the Football Apocalypse. It's about learning, it's about growing, it's about looking to your teammates and depending on each and every one of them to help you get off the turf and make the next play with even more ferocity.
In fact I must say I did finish that post with these words:
"Here's to seeing these afflictions just making our players, and Reid himself, stronger and better as we finish the regular season and maybe even watch them make that stout playoff run we've always been hoping they'd have."
Oh my, have they ever.
What is cool about this one is the number.
Nah. The number is
LIV.
What does that look like to you? Yeah, me too.
LIVE.
How much does this team make the Kingdom live.
It is awesome.
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Photograph of Brett Veach is from The Athletic accompanying a piece by Nate Taylor, thank you. Of Mike Pennel from Jim Berry at the official Chiefs site, thank you.
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