Chiefs at Raiders - Week 9 - Record: 5-3

I could say all kinds of things about the awful officiating crew covering today's game. We had some rotten calls against us, such as the completely meaningless holding call against Andy Studebaker that cost us three points. But the fact is we got some of those rotten calls to help us out. (We weren't even hurt by their total brainlock about what Chiefs down it was before our first touchdown.) This is what is really saddest: that the only reason we were actually in this game is that we benefitted from them.

Add to that this Raiders team was hopelessly abysmal in the first half, and still there is truly no reason we deserve to win this game. Both sides of their line were better than ours, and that alone made up for the fact that most of their play was completely inept. But they were a spirited team that got the job done when they had to. All I can think about is that third and long play from midfield just before the end of regulation with us up 20-17. We had a sure sack that we overran, then Brandon Flowers set up for an easy pick but he got bumped out of the way (very legally) by a more acquisitive receiver who snatched it from him. Next play, game-tying FG.

We'd beaten the Raiders seven straight in Oakland, and I just knew we couldn't keep that streak alive. This was as much the sports gods just making everything work for the Raiders when it had to as it was the Chiefs just not finishing -- yet again.

Yes, the Chiefs did finish last week against Buffalo, but we shouldn't have had either of these games be as close as they were.

Today Dwayne Bowe dropped another pass. Even Tony Moeaki dropped a pass. We had two or three dropped interceptions. Two long Javier Arenas runbacks -- one of them a touchdown -- were brought back by penalties. Our running game only got untracked in the second half. We still had far too many 3rd-and-1's that we just couldn't convert. We didn't have a single good, solid, significant drive that we could proudly say the mix of our playcalling and execution got the job done. Not a one.

And probably the most important factor in this mix is Matt Cassel. Is there a single Chiefs fan who isn't driven absolutely crazy by this guy? I'm in a complete schizophrenic state in trying to figure him out. He is a true gamer, a vicious competitor who you want leading the charge. But then he does things like float an idiotic duck into the end zone that gets easily picked off at the most inopportune time, with less than a minute left in the first half and a chance to get at least a field goal and go up 13-0.

Yes, there were a lot of stupid things that happened in the Raiders favor today, but you know? There were just as many for the Chiefs that kept us in the game.

We have a talented team. If we want a contending team our in-game minds had better be much more focused.
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Bills at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 5-2

Throughout the entire game I was sure this was going to be another one of those typically stupid losses we'd have to suffer at the hands of the Bills. Remember the latest ones? Last year when we couldn't get just one more touchdown and lost 16-10? The year before when the Bills put up a 50+ spot on us? A few years before that, in 2005, when we were true contenders and had one of the most wretched games we could ever play, flopping 14-3?

This was shaping into yet another one. Late in the 4th quarter Mike Vrabel misses getting a clutch fumble by the partially removed mole on his elbow. Then the Bills receiver gets a slant pass and he does get into endzone by what was left of his mostly removed mole on the elbow. Aaaaaagh!

And how many times did we come up a yard short to get a first down. I have truly lost the remaining hair I had in my head.

Amazingly the Bills-game stupidness that has so ravenously infected us went in our favor when the Bills kicker lined a long game-winning field goal through in overtime, but he did it just after the Chiefs called a timeout. He missed his next try.

Now, let me ask you. Is Todd Haley driving you as crazy as he is me? I think I am now officially sick of his vaunted four-down play calling strategy. He really really really really should have been kicking a field goal waaaaaaaaay earlier in the game when it would've been a chip-shot for Succop but instead, well, he didn't go for the FG. You know what happened. He went for it. We failed. We had to sweat out a full overtime before we could win it.

I'm also wondering where the heck our passing game was today. Yes, I know Charles and Jones continue to run over everyone. Our offensive line with a young Jon Asamoah replacing the injured Ryan Lilja was terrific today. But if we are that good with our running game which should open things up big-time for the passing game, then, ahem...

Where is the passing game?

Tony Moeaki caught three big passes, two of them to set up the game-winning FG, but he had only three. Bowe caught three for a grand total of 16 yards. Our leading receiver was Jamaal Charles yet even then Cassel woefully missed him on a long pass when he had his guy beat. Come on, guys, where are all our receivers? You know, the guys who spread out at the far ends of the line and jet out on the snap and run crisp routes and get open kind of down the field a bit? Oh, and yes, for the Chiefs especially: and they securely draw the passed ball gently into their sure hands?

And so yes, I'm back to being really concerned about Matt Cassel. In overtime we were at midfield on third down and Cassel had decent pass protection when he just didn't throw the ball. He then slipped out of the pocket with plenty of time to throw it again--and still didn't throw it. He tucked it in and ran in an obviously futile attempt to get to the first down hash.

So yeah, both Haley and Cassel have already made me lose all my hair. That we did end up winning with some very-late-in-overtime clutch play may enable me to grow some of it back before the next game, but what'll happen next week when we play in Oakland. The Raiders are a much improved team and we've won seven straight there.

If we don't find our passing game, do you really think we're going to keep that up?
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Jaguars at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 4-2

I have to open this post straight away with something that I want to say loud and clear is one of the main reasons we are playing so well. For the past four or five years I've been pulling my hair out about this facet of our game, and this year I am so pleased that I get to sing its praises. What a joy it is to say without equivocation that

It is back.

You know what I'm talking about.

The Kansas City Chiefs --

Offensive Line Is Back.

All you had to do was watch that early run by Thomas Jones that set up our first TD. A 70-yard romp that was split open by confident linemen moving people out with steady profeciency. Our running game ground out 236 yards today, again Jones and Charles popping for six and seven yards each carry. So right outta the gate a very high five to (from left to right)...

Branden Albert
Brian Waters
Casey Wiegmann
Ryan Lilja
Barry Richardson

Not only are these guys opening up those nifty holes for our backs, but they are doing a spot-on job of protecting our quarterback. Cassel was 13 for 18 today, which doesn't seem like much but most of those completions were critical in keeping drives alive or even going for touchdowns, and our running game is doing so well that he didn't have to throw a lot.

And how about getting some of those ball control drives. The Chiefs are now hitting on all the cylindars needed to have wholesomely sustained drives -- yes, wholesomely, not a word used too often in this instance but wholesome because those drives allow our defense to rest and keep a rhythm out on the field.

In the first half it looked like the awful second half in the Texans game was just continuing. The Jaguars would get the ball and just ram it down the field on us. But in the second half the offense got good at burning up clock and getting good yardage, allowing the defense to rejuvenate itself. After the Jags made it close in the third, 21-20, we didn't allow them to get another point. We shut down their go-to back, the very talented Maurice Jones-Drew, even before our extended lead took him completely out of the game.

We also didn't allow a couple of questionable pass interference calls from an overofficiating crew rattle us. And hey! Even though it was a gift, Eric Berry got his first NFL pick and put on a show running it back some 30 yards to put the nail in the coffin.

And we can't not say something about another phenomenal game from Dwayne Bowe. His fantasy league owners have got to be loving this guy a lot, especially after he dropped one of their touchdown passes in the Colts game. His first touchdown today was a terrific comeback to an underthrown ball from Cassel, followed by a number of splendid juke moves to get around Jag backs to scamper into the end zone. His second was vintage Bowe, a fantastic leaping grab and toe-touch to stay in-bounds for the score.

A couple of times I wondered what was going on down there with Todd Haley. One time he eschewed the field goal that at the time would've put us up by 11 but instead did his going-for-it-on-4th-down thing again, and this time it failed. He also called a couple of weird timeouts in early in the second half -- if this had been close at the end we'd've had only one.

But to give Haley credit, there are a number of stats that just show we are building into a really solid team, and much of that is because of his deft architecture.

The Chiefs are capitalizing on their turnovers, scoring on just about every one, while keeping the other team from scoring when they get the ball from us. We are also doing great at minimizing the loss plays -- I think I'd heard the Chiefs are one of the top teams in fewest loss yardage plays. Cassel's only been sacked a few times this year, which is again a testament to the awesome job -- oh what a joy it is to say that -- the awesome job our offensive line has been doing.

Every once in a while I'll see or hear some stat that is just so fun to hear, you know, the kind of stat that is indicative of a team playing really well. I can't remember them all, but it is really fun to hear them.

This is a very fun team to be rooting for right now
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Chiefs at Texans - Week 6 - Record: 3-2

Hello, Chiefs' young hearty defense.

Welcome to the NFL.

For four-and-a-half games this year, we had all reveled in our stalwart Chiefs defensive exploits. Both Brandons covering receivers like shrink wrap. Our swift linebackers eagerly devouring runners. Our resolute D-line standing people up. The whole bunch never allowing more than two touchdowns in any game.

But then they face a never-say-die excellent offensive machine.

Houston torched these guys for four touchdowns in four final possessions, making our D-guys look like a Pop Warner B-team. This was an awful loss, a win that the Chiefs had in the bag until Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels and their valiantly persevering offense made them look silly.

And here's the thing. We all like that Todd Haley is ambitious with his play calling. He has made this team a fun team to watch.

But he really needs to know how to finish by just flat-out getting the job done.

There was simply no excuse, no excuse in the universe for him to pass on 3rd and 2 with two minutes left, needed just one first down to really put the Texans on their heels. We'd been running all over these guys, gaining 6 or 7 yards a pop, and we throw a pitifully incomplete pass to bring up a 4th down and running no time off the clock. This gave their stellar offense tons of time to continue to roll over us.

There was simply no way we could have let them back in it.

Yes, there are all kinds of great things to say about our Chiefs performance today. Our 3rd down conversion rate was a wonderful surprise. I mean, really, we've been justifiably ripping the passing game, but today it was great. When we get our passing game and our pass defense together we'll be a genuinely contending team.

Yes, I do question if we are true contenders. We have so much promise -- hey, for the first time in years our offensive line is something that we can be extraordinarily proud of -- Charles and Jones each got nearly 100 yards again. And Dwayne Bowe had another of his games when he shows us how great he can be.

But the most positive thing about this game may just be that we lost so horribly. Maybe this is the wake-up these young kids need to have to know that in the NFL you can't just waltz right over people.
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Chiefs at Colts - Week 5 - Record: 3-1

Ya know? Really. We do have a pretty darn good team. Before the game I was really thinking, as I'm sure many were, that we'd get our comeuppance in Indy. Here is this young team facing the great Peyton Manning and the vaunted Indianapolis offensive machine, and they'll really know what the NFL is like.

We didn't win, but we held our own. Our defense really clamped down on that Colt offense, and only bent a bit too much when allowing a touchdown with a scant minute left. Our running game still churned out good yardage keeping solid drives going.

But then...

There is that passing game.

And the one pile of refuse that I was really hoping was finally taken to the dump and left there once and for all: dropped passes.

It is also still obvious we are not getting our routes run out crisply, Matt Cassel is just not getting the ball where he needs to as often as he must, and come on -- those dropped passes. What is this? You just can't have guys dropping passes in the NFL. You just can't. I'd like to think we are contenders, I really would, and looking at a lot of the positives today I think it's very reasonable to think so.

But this passing game does indeed cause me great concern.

I mean, on the one hand you do have those instances when a Chris Chambers runs a nice route underneath and follows it with a nice run to get a clutch first down at the end of the half. But on the other hand you get Dwayne Bowe getting just open enough at the side of the end zone to haul in what was nicely becoming his patented TD grab, but he drops it. Come on. We've got Chris Chambers and Dwayne Bowe as our top receivers. These guys should be studs. But then...

On one hand you've got Tony Moeaki making nice grabs for good yardage. But on that other hand you've got too many blown opportunities where our passing deficiencies really kill us, like the time we had a fourth down and Cassel just threw the ball into a crowd at the goal line.

Next week it is Houston who looks very good this year, from the little that I've picked up.

Back to the drawing board for Charlie and the passing game guys.
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49ers at Chiefs - Week 3 - Record: 3-0

Is this team fun or what?

For all the crazy Chiefs gymnastics out there that made Arrowhead -- err, 'scuze me, the NEW Arrowhead -- the place to be Sunday, I will tell you that the most satisfying thing was simply that

We got our first long sustained drive to result in a touchdown.

This offense is showing promise. Now yes, everything fell into place in this game. That just won't happen every game. We also benefitted from some spectacular big plays, so let's just get right into them.

- A phenomenal interception by Brandon Flowers -- the tip, the bounce off the foot, then into his hands while lying flat on his back.

- The screen pass to Dexter McCluster -- this guy in the open field is unbelievable. And the flyyy-ing into the end zone. How great is this! This is not even to mention his scintillating punt returns to set up great field position.

- The flea flicker out of that wildcat formation. Thomas Jones to Dexter McCluster to Matt Cassel coming from the wide receiver position. And Bowe with the nifty catch in the end zone -- too much!

- The one handed grab in the back of the end zone by Tony Moeaki. Please know that no Chiefs fan will every say "Tony who?" when it comes to Tony Gonzalez -- in fact he had a nice TD of his own for Atlanta today I found myself cheering for -- but is our new Tony great or what?!

I always glow about good Chiefs things in my classroom, and last week one of my students mentioned that we are getting great work from our rookies. No kidding. And we haven't even heard much from Eric Berry yet. Thing is, he is still part of a defense that thoroughly shut down San Francisco. Frank Gore, nothing until the second the last play of the game when it was meaningless. Victor Davis, one catch on the day. Alex Smith, every other pass an incompletion and he was constantly pressured. In fact I'm pretty sure we are already getting close to the number of sacks we had all of the season two years ago.

And our offense really shined today. Yes, again, those big plays were a part of it, but Haley is coaching this team to have a tremendous amount of confidence in their athletic abilities. He's really taking advantage of it. The key is our running game. Jones and Charles each had over 90 yards, and that tandem is gelling wonderfully. The Chiefs offense had 16 -- count 'em -- 16 plays of ten yards or more. What a splendid change from all those three-and-outs we've suffered through for years.

That means, yes, finally, we can give a rousing cheer for the offensive line! Hurray! Ahhhh... Not since the Willie Roaf Will Shields days can we do that. This new guy Ryan Lilja, what an addition. Brian Waters is still a stud. Branden Albert coming into his own. And how sweet is it to have Casey Weigmann back anchoring the line and standing people up.

All around, just a wonderful day for the Chiefs.

3-0 baby!

Bye week next week, so we can relish this for an extra week! We got Indy the week after, at Indy, so we'll see then if we're really for real. For now...

This was just pure fun.
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Chiefs at Browns - Week 2 - Record: 2-0

How sweet that is, to write "2-0" there at the beginning of a "Chiefs Game Today" blog post.

I will tell you that I'm still out here visiting my mother who has been in the hospital, that is why my post of last week was so abbreviated. I will say she is doing much better, and I have a minute to share some Chiefs oriented thoughts for this week.

I will say, however, that when I wanted to get over an watch this one at the local sports bar, I was completely occupied in being with my mom at one of the more significant junctions in her recovery, so I only caught snippets here and there. I did catch the highlight reel, as I must sometimes do, and caught some of the vital statistics, so I can offer a bit of a take.

I am extraordinarily impressed with our defense, which is the one thing that I didn't see much of at all. What I did see was Eric Berry chomping majorly on a play-fake allowing the Browns to go up top and get a long TD pass. At that moment I thought, "Wow does this rookie have a lot to learn." Apparently he learned quick because the Browns did not score a point for the rest of the game. Oh how I wanted to see that!

The offense did much better as well. Not only did Cassel engineer drives to get us field goals a number of times, but he made those clutch third down completions to keep the defense off the field enough to be rested to shut down the Browns offense. Oh oh oh how I wanted to see that!

Thing is, we did not score an offensive touchdown today. Yes, I did see Brandon Flowers' beautiful come-back-on-the-ball interception and TD return, but that's just another big play that helped get us a win. We absolutely must have sustained touchdown drives on a regular basis if we hope to be contenders. Two games so far -- zero sustained offensive drives resulting in touchdowns.

The fact that they mixed Jones and Charles up is a great thing, but that passing game has to click even better for us to get those drives. It was good to see the improvement after that wretched passing day against San Diego, but we still have a long way to go.
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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 1 - Record: 1-0

The Chiefs are vibrantly important, certainly, but there are other things that rival and indeed surpass the Chiefs. Major stuff happening now precludes me from putting down the typically vast amount of Dave take on the Chiefs even with our inspired New-Arrowhead play Monday night.

With that in mind, here are the bullet takes of my myriad thoughts:

- Exhileration. A big-play Chiefs win on national television was definitely fun.

- D.J. That's two games in a row now that Derrick Johnson has been a beast on defense. (Remember last year's final game in Denver?) How great would it be for him to be coming into his own.

- The Dee. The whole defense was stellar. They all were beasts out there, really clamping down on a strong San Diego offense. That last minute stop was simply splendid.

- The passing game. Yeah, what passing game. It was shameful to say the least. Matt Cassel and his receivers should be apologizing profusely to the defense for never getting a first down to give them a rest in the second half. (I mean, really, did they even get a first down in the second half?)

- Dexter. Let's hope Haley can finally figure out how to use this guy.

- Injuries. Good to hear Tyson Jackson will be okay. I know Brandon Flowers was down but back up again, I just don't know what his situation is though.

There are a few other scintillating things I could punch in here as well, but I've got to move out. Next week should be better. Look to see you then.
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Chiefs 2010 Preview - The New Arrowhead Era Begins!

Since I've been doing this blog for a few years, and each year I've assembled at least a handful of thoughts about our beloved team before the season starts, I thought this year shouldn't be any different. I do forewarn you, I've paid the teensiest attention to any Chiefs off-season activity. The only nibbles are those that my Chiefs radar just can't help but pick up wherever however.

Why then should you read any further? Because I believe I have the most unadulterated persepective about what I think about this team. My thoughts are not unduly colored by the highs and lows of things Chiefs personnel have done in the off-season, things that would make a rich and full projection of Chiefs future success haplessly distorted.

Oh, I will include some of those things I've discovered here and there, I can't help but. I will emphasize, however, that this is all about game day analysis. I just want to see, hear, and know of what goes on out there on the field.

For instance I did see very short parts of the Green Bay exhibition game. I never pay any attention to pre-season because that always presents the most warped picture of how a team will do in the regular season. I saw that we got two quick scores (yay!) but then did diddly the rest of the way (boo!) I noted that we beat a Green Bay team that I'd learned had clocked Indianapolis (yay!) but I also saw we did it to a Packers team that didn't even play their starting QB (boo!) Really, what can you tell from that?

So here is the reality of our prospects this season, as I see it.

We do have very strong people at key positions. My son told me he'd completed his fantasy draft and picked up Jamaal Charles, who'd been widely ranked in the 15th to 20th spot of all fantasy players. That's great. I was also initially disappointed that we'd gotten a DB, Eric Berry, with our very first very high draft pick this year. I thought our D-backfield was one of our strengths, but I'm getting word that this guy is a true game changer and simply could not be passed up.

I also know that everyone is excited that we've got all the parts in place front office and coaching-wise. Scott Pioli is taking no prisoners in building a fine team. Todd Haley is fully utilizing the very high learning curve and was able to bring on board top former Patriots coaches to make that horsepower in the Chiefs engine really go.

What really has to happen in real life real regular-season real play starting right at the gun on Sept 13th are two key things. To me these are the real keys of real everything. They are simply

1. Our very very very highly drafted defensive linemen simply have to dominate the line of scrimmage. You know who I'm talking about. This is the year Glenn Dorsey must finally shake off any remnant of knee trouble and anchors the defense right at the snap of every play. Tyson Jackson looks like a monster on that line but he's really got to have much much more than a gentle shove against the opponent's lineman.

2. Matt Cassel has to show that he's the real deal. As last year wound down (I think I wrote about this in a blog post), my uncle sent me a very troubling report from an observer noting that the offensive line problems may simply not be with the line but with the quarterback. I'd mentioned that I was concerned that Cassel was throwing a heavy ball, but the further concern was that he just wasn't getting rid of the ball in time. When you and your receivers aren't in sync, that makes the whole offense lethally sluggish. Charlie Weis has really got to have the Bill Walsh touch with this guy for us to have a shot.

Those are my main concerns, and they are not insignificant. For the first time in a long time I'm really not so worried about the offensive line, because I know it was one of Pioli's off-season priorities, and it did pick it up a bit at the end of last season.

The other major item to address is the biggest Chiefs deal of the off season, really. That would be the major renovation of Arrowhead stadium. I hear it's spectacular, but the most important thing is that maybe this "New Arrowhead" will bring a completely new wave of luck for our Chiefs.

As if we need reminding, since Arrowhead opened in 1972, the Chiefs have played a grand total of five post-season games there.

Five.

38 years of Chiefs professional football games, and Chiefs players have been blessed to step on the Arrowhead turf to do playoff battle a teensy-weensy five times.

Oh, and they've won two of them.

In 1991 defeating the Raiders 10-6, and in 1993 defeating the Steelers 27-24.

Thuh end. That's it.

So yeah, a brand spankin' new NEW NEW Arrowhead can't come any sooner.

This brings up the most important factor in the entire mix, really. That would be the owner, Clark Hunt. One thing I happened to see was a link on Yahoo for a page ranking NFL team owners. It was Friday, but I didn't look at it, though I was really tempted.

To be honest I can't see how Clark can't rank highly. He has given so much to make sure Arrowhead remains one of the premier sites to see NFL football. In what I've seen he's gone above and beyond to proudly carry on his dad's legacy. And that's one of the reasons I didn't look at what Yahoo pundits thought about NFL owners.

I think he should rank reasonably well, but I'd just be ticked off if he didn't. I'd be even more ticked off if he had a poor ranking for good reasons which I just don't know about. This kind of scenario is precisely why for these kinds of things, ignorance is the sweetest bliss. It is why you'll only hear from me again after September 13.

It simply does my heart no good to presume things. I only need to know what's happening on the field.

And this year that means our boys take the field in a new Arrowhead with a few years under our belts of what I see is a new, committed, experienced, group of managers, coaches, and players.

See you next week!
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Chiefs Highlights Extravaganza!

I would never write a Chiefs entry this early in the season, and while I'm sure the Chiefs are right in the middle of a certainly quite intense training camp this entry has nothing to do with that. All I care about is the Chiefs actually winning actual football games on the way to an actual championship.

But I still love the Chiefs and seeing them out there on the football field working for that win, even if those exploits are on video tape. Of course this includes a deep abiding enjoyment of great Chiefs history (however much that may be, and while it isn't vast it isn't insigificant either). Because I love all that NFL Films stuff, I had to put up a blog post to announce my discovery of a phenomenal new resource for Chiefs wonderfulness.

The website hulu.com has a link to videos provided by the NFL Network, who has quite deftly made a page for each NFL team. That means, yes, glory of all glories, there is a Chiefs page! You can go right to it, right now even! Look over to the right on this page, and the link is right there among the other links, titled "Chiefs Glory on Hulu." If that is too laborious, here it is right here in these very words, click them, go ahead! And get right to the menu of Chiefs shows the NFL has made available for you to enjoy.

Among the highlights there include the special feature about the Chiefs training camp of '07, Hard Knocks, an acclaimed documentary series about how tough it is to make an NFL team. What a deal that our team was featured as prominently as it was (even though we did kind of suck that year, if you remember losing our last nine straight games).

The very best, however, are all the items from the bountifully formidable early Chiefs years -- the Super Bowl win, the Hank Stram feature -- ahh, it can't get any better than that.

So consider this a free public service of your dutiful Chiefs game day blogger! Check it out and enjoy!
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The AFL Teams Doing Nothing in the Super Bowl Yet Again

Two notable things have happened this year in the world of NFL football. One is something that has been going on all year long--the 50-year commemoration since the AFL began. All right, way to go, yeah-heh, love the old AFL and all that cool high-octane offense stuff, yay AFL! This is not to mention that Chiefs main guy Lamar Hunt started the whole thing. Awright!

The second thing happened yesterday.

When the New York Jets lost to the Indianapolis Colts, my main thought was, "Hmm, that's the NFL's revenge right there." What I was referring to was the exact same match-up in Super Bowl III, the one in which the upstart Jets and their Joe Namath swagger defeated the powerful Baltimore Colts, a game widely considered the seminal game in NFL history. The idea: The AFL showed it could play with the big boys.

Then I thought about it. Have you thought about it? Has anyone thought about it?

That second thing: Yet again an AFL team has failed to get into the Super Bowl.

Yes, I used the words "yet again." This year's match-up will feature the very-much-not-old-AFL Colts versus the always NFL-NFC Saints.

I thought about it for a while, and I did the mental gymnastics to go back and look at all those good ol' AFL teams and their success in Super Bowls past. I discovered something pretty amazing. In Super Bowls, AFL teams have actually, really, truly, splendiferously

Sucked.

So I took the time to really do the math. And here it is, with each AFL team featured in an order with some semblence of meaning. You'll see it as we go. (Simple point of fact: by AFL, I mean the American Football League teams, most of them starting out in 1960 with two more added later in the decade. The league was absorbed into the NFL in 1970 with all of them becoming the AFC with the addition of three old-NFL teams. The NFC consisted of all the other teams and both conferences together became the NFL.)

10. Chargers. Super Bowl record: 0-1. In the one Super Bowl they got into they got crushed by the 49ers. Countless times they've had fine teams, but each and every time stumbled in the playoffs.

9. Titans/Oilers. 0-1. The Oilers had the first two AFL titles but, alas, the Super Bowl was not played back then. Since then the team, like the Chargers, had fine teams but just couldn't get into the big game at all. (Do you think of that complete collapse against the eventual Super Bowl participants, the Bills, in like, 92 or 93? I always do.) The Titans made it in 2000 only to have Kevin Dyson come up an inch short of the goal line giving the Rams the win.

8. Bengals. 0-2. The only post-season success the Bengals have ever really had was in three of their many AFL/AFC years. One of them was a one-win-but-then-out, the other two they went the distance, right into the big game, only to face the 49ers each time. Each game was relatively close, but the Niners prevailed both times.

7. Bills. 0-4. Four straight trips to the Super Bowl, four straight defeats. The first was that narrow loss to the Giants on the Scott Norwood last-second FG miss, but the next three were utter debacles at the hands of the Redskins and Cowboys.

6. Jets. 1-0. Oooo! Wow! Jets legitimize the AFL! Wowwie wow-wow! But, that was way way way back in 1969, it was their only appearance ever. That's, oh, lessee, 40 years ago.

5. Chiefs. 1-1. The Chiefs win over the heavily favored Vikings the very next year was just as important as the Jets win because it proved it was not a fluke. In fact to the not-surprise of those who knew, the Chiefs were an exceptionally good team, and coach Hank Stram's game plan in the big game was one of the most ingenious ever. But as has been attested to in this blog, the Chiefs have pretty much shlurped ever since, at least as far as doing anything Super Bowl-wise.

4. Dolphins. 2-3. Yes, that's right, a 2-3 record. You'da thought that with the Dolphins so dominant in the early 70's they'da had 57 straight Super Bowl victories. But the year right after their undefeated season they beat the Vikings for a two-fer, and then after that, nada. Even Dan Marino's team got into only one, and in that one they got clobbered by those 49ers.

3. Raiders. 3-2. This team could easily be considered the best among the AFL teams in Super Bowl play. Their three wins were all convincing efforts, but the last of those was 26 years ago. (And, it really should be noted that the two Raiders losses were themselves convincing. This team has never been in a close Super Bowl contest.)

2. Broncos. 2-4. Put here at number two because their Super Bowl wins were some of the more recent among the AFLers. We still can't forget that the four losses that occurred before them were all some of the most embarrassing shellackings in Super Bowl history. Indeed the last of those four was a 55-10 slaughterhouse special at the hands of those, yet again, 49ers--the most lopsided loss ever in the history of the event.

1. Patriots. 3-3. Listed here as first because they've had the most recent wins among AFLers, three of four from 2002 to 2005. But before that, they too were generally pathetic up until they got there for the first time in 1986 whereupon, yes, they got mauled by the Bears in the second most lopsided score ever in a Super Bowl. While taking nothing away from the fine play of this team during their Super Bowl run, they did win each of those early 00's games, each one of them, by only a field goal. And need we say anything about the one game just a couple of years ago which they were supposed to win more than any other in Super Bowl history, the one in which they went in undefeated and then let the Giants squeak away with the win?

Now, is this pathetic or what? Really, look upon the horror, if you dare...

An overall 12-21 record in Super Bowls for this bunch encompassing the entirety of all of the 43 Super Bowls played so far (with no chance this year to improve on even that putridity). Only two of the ten have a winning record (the Jets and Raiders), six have a losing record. (Hey, at least the Chiefs are even. Whee.)

AFLers have a miserable five wins since the Raiders won in 1984. Just so you know, that's 26 years in all-- only five wins. And those by only two of the ten. Right after that 1984 win, by the way, AFL teams went on an eleven-game losing streak. Eleven straight, all lost by not just AFC teams but Ay-eff-ehl teams, every one of the them, six different teams in all.

And how about this one: If we say, for these purposes, a blowout is any victory of 13 or more points. Sure there could be argument about what really makes a blowout, but 13 would qualify as a good whupping. There have been 15 such losses by AFL teams, to only six of AFL teams over NFL/NFC teams. That means for every one time an AFL team really put it to their Super Bowl opponent, there have been three times that an AFL team has been blasted.

Wow. This is just amazing, the irony of all the celebrating about the AFL's beginning and all, and we're in the Super Bowl week with not an AFL team to be found. How about this thing called "The Super Bowl," the very term itself coined by none other than AFL founder Lamar Hunt.

All this tells me is that an AFL team is really really due to kick some Super Bowl butt, like, oh...

Hey! The Kansas City Chiefs! They're one of those teams! It's gotta be them!

Next year, it's the Revenge of the AFL! It can only be the Chiefs! The spirit of Lamar Hunt lives on!

Awright!
_

Chiefs Doing Nothing in the Post-Season Yet Again

This blog is wholly about addressing games the Kansas City Chiefs play and only those games. I do nothing but look at the games. With some few exceptions (like this one) I make only one post a week--the one regarding what happened in the game of the day.

But since this is playoff time and I should be writing about our Chiefs playoff games (but am not, thank you Carl Peterson) I wanted to blog a bit about the very sad history of Chiefs playoff activity. I have no delusions that this may be considered one great big whining session, but oh well. For one, it's my blog, and for two, I know the Chiefs must win games with wise front office decisions, deft tactical leadership, and plain flat-out on-the-field excellence.

But if luck is a component in the mix, then over the many years the Chiefs have had very little of it.

So you may call it what you want, but henceforth this shall officially be my year-end bitch session, and I've got the statistical goods to back it up.

For one thing, I updated the latest Kansas City playoff drought numbers, a statistical nightmare I put together and posted on my blog at the end of last year. This year it was no better. There it is, KC's football and baseball teams still sucking and reaching a 40-year combined team playoff drought. It is updated right up to the present moment with today's NFL playoff action included. Annnnd, there we are there at the top, us Kansas Citians. Next up is Cincy at 33. Then Houston at 22. Then Detroit at 21.

Everyone else, every single stinkin' other city--20 of the 24 in all-- with a playoff drought fully half of Kansas City's, or less.

See, I happen to be kind of a Royals fan, too, and it was as if the sports gods watched Bret Saberhagen leap for joy putting away the last Cardinals batter in Game 7 of the 1985 World Series and said, "This just cannot be. The Royals winning the championship? Especially after a gift call from an umpire the day before and all the things we did to hose them through the 70's no matter how good they were? We'll never let that happen again."

Now I don't attribute the Royals suckitude since then solely to supernatural forces. It has a ton to do with the fact that major league baseball itself knows it would die should anything like the sustained success that the teeny tiny market Royals had through the 70's happen again. I made some notes in a post from last year about how exactly it is that the Royals cannot win, and it is here (right after last year's playoff drought list).

But let's talk Chiefs futility.

One thing I did was get a feel of how the team did versus the key teams they must do well against, namely those teams in the rest of the AFC West, the Broncos, the Chargers, and the Raiders. Indeed since this is the 50th anniversary of the AFL, it is worth a look at this classic divisional set-up and how things have gone through the five decades.

First, let's look at division titles. The Raiders have 16, the Chargers 15, the Broncos 10, and the Chiefs 6. (The Dallas Texans don't count because that's not Kansas City, and the Seattle Seahawks had a few in there when they were in the AFC West.) Then I looked at how many playoff games were won after winning a division title. Here's that list: the Raiders 18, the Broncos 13, the Chargers 9, and the Chiefs 3.

Now, just look at that. Fifty years, and a puny 6 division titles for the Chiefs. FIFTY YEARS OF AFL/AFC EXISTITUDE, and a pitifully putrid 3 playoff victories coming off a division title.

Now yes, the Chiefs did win a few playoff games as a wild-card, and yes they did win the Super Bowl coming out of being a wild-card in 1969. For that I am bountifully grateful that we had such a phenomenally great team like Hank Stram's Chiefs and we could blow away teams as a great team like that should. At least for that one beautiful, glorious, splendidly marvelous year.

But again, the sports gods...

"What? The Chiefs? They can't win anymore, they're in such a teeny tiny market, and they didn't really deserve it because they didn't even win their division, so we'll just have to hose them for the rest of eternity..."

So then, what about the whole divisional title thing? Just FYI, here are those titles, and here are those playoff wins. Don't worry, it won't take up much blog space--whew, good thing... The titles: 66, 71, 93, 95, 97, and 03. The wins: against Buffalo in 66, against Pittsburgh and then right after that against Houston in 93.

Thaht's it. Thah end.

In only two years of the entirety of this 50-year thing we're all celebrating right now, two of fifty, a whopping four percent of the time did we have a year in which we won our division then went on to win at least one playoff game. There it is, those years again: 1966 and 1993.

You'da thought we'da had more in that 90's decade, but lest you forget that once we breathed playoff air we choked nearly every time. We now have the current on-going record for consecutive playoff losses. Yes, uh-huh. We do. When I saw that stat just after the Colts loss after the 06 season I was stunned. Thinking back to that glorious win over the Oilers in January of 94 I just never woulda thought. But yep, right there, the Chiefs have a record six-game playoff losing streak and counting, meaning if they get in again and lose, then they'll be the sole holders of that distinction. (Seattle had six in a row a while back until they won, and Dallas also shared the record but their six game streak ended last week when they beat Philly. For the record, those six in the Chiefs ledger: Buf 93 season, Mia 94, Ind 95, Den 97, Ind 03, Ind 06.)

I still shake my head.

But wait. There's more.

Just this week I thought, hmm, on this year of the 50th anniversary of AFL/AFC wonderfulness--the whole of which commenced, I might add, by the intrepid catalysm of Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt--I would  look at total playoff victories through the fifty by all the original AFL teams. Total, meaning all of them, all wild-card, divisional, conference, Super Bowl, all of it. Well, let's look at that shall we, and for our weaker Chiefs fan brethren, you may want to look away.

Here's the list.

1. Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders (25)
2. Boston/New England Patriots (21)
3. Denver Broncos (17)
4. Buffalo Bills (14)
4. Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans (14)
6. Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers (10)
7. New York Titans/Jets (10)
8. Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs (8)

You must note that the Chiefs-not-Texans have only had seven playoff wins in the fifty years. And to think that there have been times when I've actually been kind of sad the Raiders have themselves sucked so thoroughly these past several years (BTW, this year they set an NFL record for seven straight seasons with at least 11 losses--are you sad?), or even thought those who thought the Chiefs should not have beaten the Raiders in the 1969 conference championship game might have a point. Or that since we've pretty much had our way with them for some time (for practically all of the 90's and most of the 00's) that somehow it is their turn...

Somebody, please whack me in the head with a two-by-four, I give you permission.

What really makes me crazy is that I look at all of this just knowing in the very depths of my soul that we are so, so due for at least a teeny tiny bit of success, yet I also know that the sports gods will just do something to hose us and of course, yes, this is precisely why I spend zero time looking at any Chiefs item outside of actual gametime. I only end up going and getting my hopes up and then another Christmas Day 1971 happens. Or a Lin Elliot bricking three FG attempts happens. Or an Elvis Grbac thoroughly ignoring his outlet back for an easy game-winning TD happens. Or a young Peyton Manning converting on 57 third-downs happens.

I dunno. Sure this blog post is just one massive vent. At this point it's really all I have. Until next September when I can see if Scott Pioli has put together a team that can actually do great things for a long, long period of time. See if Todd Haley has taken those parts and assembled them deftly. For everything I have in me as a Chiefs fan I wholly expect them to, I really do.

So until September when maybe, just maybe the Kansas City Chiefs can begin to be the dominant team of the second half of the AFL/AFC Century.
_

Chiefs at Broncos - Week 17 - Record: 4-12

Can you believe it? In Denver, meaningless game for us, do-or-die-and-need-help meaningful for them, and we come in there

And pummel them.

Jamaal Charles has officially made us completely forget Larry Johnson. He zoomed off for 259, not only the highest rushing total in Chiefs history but one of the top performances by anyone in NFL history. Derrick Johnson, our stunningly athletic one-time star defender-- this year just floating around here and there-- goes to the bank twice with interception returns.

This game was sweet from the beginning because for once, for once it looked like we were all about getting the job done from play one. When I watched the very first play from scrimmage I could swear I was looking at that beautiful Steve DeBerg play-action --remember that?-- sure enough it was Matt Cassel using Charles to draw up the defense then firing a perfect strike to Terrance Copper for 50. Bam. Then another BAM. Bam, bam and in four plays we got a touchdown, amazingly, the first one all season from the first offensive drive of a game.

We got the job done.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that a single game does not a team make. Okay, sober time now, we're now officially in the off-season so let's be candid. This has been the worst period of play the Kansas City Chiefs have ever endured. Worse than those miserable mid-70's years, worse than the lean John Mackovic years (he never had a team with fewer than six wins), even worse than the ridiculously awful Frank Gansz years (even he managed to get four wins in each of his years). Since that glorious last day of 2006 when we miraculously shot into the playoffs, we've played a total of 48 regular season games and have won ten of them. Do the math. That's 38 big huge smackin' losses.

You'd think that with all of this we'd have a losing franchise record, but we actually have a winning record overall (385-358-12). There are a couple of reasons for this. One, the Chiefs were bad-ass good in the 60's and 90's. Yes, all around the mediocrity in our history, we had those two wonderful decades. And two, the Chiefs were never really very bad in any year. I know that's hard to believe even with our beloved Frank Gansz in the mix there, but it is interesting that in our worst years we've only been very average, never a 1-15 record or even anything close to it outside of 2008. That's nothing to cheer about, yes, but still...

This is why I bring up this last spate of Chiefs play--these past three years of horror. Taken together they indeed represent the worst times the Chiefs have ever experienced. Last year we set a record for least number of sacks. This year (for all intents and purposes because it isn't an official record, but close enough) we settled in with the teams who had record dropped passes, around 50 on the season. Our defense was ranked dead last in the NFL. And what cannot be quantified is our abject failure to get any meaningful push on either side of the ball-- arguably the most important part of the game.

But, ain't no way I'm ending the last blog entry of the season that way. I only do so to amplify the stakes here. The fact is, there is that hope.

And it is very real.

I'm not just whistling in the dark. There are some very positive things going on. Two plays in particular that just made me proud to be a Chiefs fan, because they just did so well blocking. Jamaal Charles' first touchdown was just a five-yard scamper, but the blocking made me think about what we had in 2003 when Priest Holmes so splendidly danced through the line. And the first of Derrick Johnson's interceptions was taken back with the help of phenomenal blocking by his defensive cohorts.

With all the accolades I have to mention our kickers, yes our kickers. Ryan Succop tied a record for FG percentage by a rookie--how awesome it was to see him bang through just about every shot he had. And Dustin Colquitt nearly got to a record for most punts inside the 20 in a season. That is great.

Today the Chiefs were gelling and making things happen as a team--oh how sweet...getting the job done. That this happened there in Denver, our first win there since 2000, extraordinarily sweet. We put up a whoppin' 44 there today, the most in their yard since 1966. Sweet sweet sweet. This game was a complete and utter joy to behold.

Now it's on to April and the beacoup load of draft picks to keep building on this. What a fantastic way to go into the offseason. Oh please know this is by no means the best it can be...

I eagerly await the the last game of the regular season when it is way way better than this, when we actually move on to the playoffs.

If we can build on this, and there is every reason to believe we can, it'll happen.

I confess, I confess with an overflow of the most heartbreaking memories that there have been many times when things looked bright for us, and later things went very, very badly. I so very well know this may be one of those times. Many of the pieces are indeed in place, particularly in the front office, that make the hope real, and while sometime later it could all end very badly yet again, I can only close this season with the thought--especially after this final game of '09--

That at least there is that very bright hope for now.

It is very good indeed.
_

Chiefs at Bengals - Week 16 - Record: 3-12

We have dropped so many passes this year that I think Tim Castille had to make up for all of them by making an amazing catch in the end zone while being brutally sandwiched between three Bengal defenders. I don't think Castille's had any other passes thrown his way all year. If we've needed anyone to catch any balls, why don't we just throw to Castille every play?

Anyway, our defense stepped it up big-time today after their stunningly putrid performance last week, actually containing a good Bengals team and holding the game close until the last quarter when punter Colquitt and downer Quinten Lawrence pinned them at their own 2. The Bengals even ran a play in which they lost a yard, so with 2nd and 11 from their own half-yard line, you know what happened? Of course you do...

The Chiefs couldn't finish.

Yet again.

The Bengals drove the length of the field to score the game-winning TD, burning up most of the rest of the clock.

Matt Cassel still had a full two minutes to show he's a big-time clutch performer, but after a couple of decent gains, he threw an interception to end it. Well, live and learn. Good thing he's doing that now and not when we're actual contenders and we'd really need it.

He also threw another interception that technically was an overthrow to Dwayne Bowe, but it really gnaws on me to watch a great talent like Bowe just not get up to get that one. He really could have. This is precisely one of the things that gets me about this team. It just doesn't have that whole feel of being a solid "get the job done" team. Do you feel that way?

Just make the tackle. Just catch the damn pass. No matter what. Get the job done.

The contending teams do this. They look like they'll make the play they need to make no matter what. Far too often the Chiefs look like they're just trying. That's dandy. Trying. Cool.

But how about we get the job done.

Oh, and Larry Johnson didn't hurt us, mostly because the go-to back they've had all year was doing just fine. Again, we did much better stopping their guy, and our now-solid go-to guy got another 100+ rushing.

With that in mind, I thought now is as good a time as any to share my ratings for our key players. With only one more game after this, might as well get right to it. They are classified as follows.

1. Untouchable. These guys we keep no matter what.

2. Touchable but with the right price. Should keep but if an offer comes up... Placement in this category does not mean I do not like these guys. It's just, hey, it's all about the Chiefs. If an offer comes up...

3. Okay, but if we can fill their spot, then...

4. Moderately serviceable, keep if we absolutely can't fill their spot.

5. Will not miss them.

So here goes:

Untouchables: Brandon Flowers. Yep, that's it. One guy. Pathetic, I know. But at least Flowers is here. What a phenomenal talent this guy is, and he's only just learning. Today he wrecked his shoulder big-time and was back out on the field in the next defensive series. Every Chiefs fan should love this guy.

Touchable but with the right price: Matt Cassel, Dwayne Bowe, Ryan Succop, Dustin Colquitt. Yeah, pathetic that only two regularly playing guys show up here. And even so, you'd think Cassel and Bowe would be untouchable, but damn it, Bowe just too often doesn't make the play he can make when he must, and damn it I'm just not yet convinced Cassel is going to be Super Bowl calibur. Any team that wants to actually win the Super Bowl some day must have a QB who is nothing other than a future Hall-of-Famer, or very close to it. (See this post for more.) On the other hand it is great we have both our kicking specialists very solid for a long time to come.

Okay, but if we can fill their spot, then... Chris Chambers, Brian Waters, Jamaal Charles, Mike Vrabel, Brandon Carr. Waters is a perenniel All-Pro stuck on a very weak O-line, but he's complained too much about the Chiefs. Must of it is wholly justified, but still. Chambers and Vrabel have been terrific pick-ups, and I like them both a lot, but if they're not going to be super vets in the next few years their spots will simply have to be filled. Charles needs to give me a full season before I consider him more highly.

Moderately serviceable, keep if we absolutely cannot fill that spot: Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson, Branden Albert, Tamba Hali. Look at this list. All guys on the line, the most important part of the game. Don't win the line, don't win the game. And Dorsey and Jackson are only this high because they were our really really high picks the last two years and they damn well better be a billion times better than they've been.

Will not miss them: Everyone else, which sadly is way too many of our players. Exceptions to this may certainly include people like Wallace Gilberry who has actually made a few sacks this year (you mean we've actually sacked guys this year???), and Quinten Lawrence who's still young and may have decent service in him we haven't seen yet. I don't know the potential of these guys or any of the guys the Chiefs themselves are high on that I can't see from the behind the sidelines. Other exceptions include injured guys like Jarrad Page who may certainly come back and prove they should be in one of the higher categories.

Again, the key, the key of all the keys, is whether Scott and Todd can really look at those guys and see if they will be rock-star players or just guys to replace because they won't ultimately be all about, yes, here it is again...

Wait for it--

Get the job done.
_

Browns at Chiefs - Week 15 - Record: 3-11

How wretchedly woeful is this, as I listen to the Arrowhead fan boos reign down on the Chiefs and their loss to an equally pathetic Browns team.

Len Dawson said it best when at one point he very simply and very plainly said something he'd been saying all year. "Where was the defensive line and the linebackers?"

Here were the un-eye-popping stats for their go-to back of the game, some previously unknown guy named Jerome Harrison. 88 carries for 301 yards in 13 games. Last year he had 246 rushing yards total.

This one game: 34 carries for 286 yards, the third highest rushing total in NFL history.

There are a number of other woefully wretchedly woeful things I could mention: Our special teams finally got beat bad, letting their go-to return guy torch us for two touchdowns. The Browns had scored 158 points all year, they put 41 up against us today. A team put 40+ points against us for a third game in the last four.

And yet again yet again yet again--our dropped passes.

Last week I brought up the idea that Matt Cassel might be throwing a heavy ball. I realize I was too severe. Much of the problem is that we just have a bunch of receivers with bad hands. Even Dwayne Bowe returning after his four game suspension dropped passes. Today Cassel demonstrated he's got what it takes, nothing different than what we all know about him, and that with some time, coaching, an O-line, and receivers without butter on their fingers he can't help but get even better.

Otherwise, what's new. Just another woefully wretched woefully embarrassing experience.

Thank goodness that there is some hope. There's Cassel. There are our fine cornerback Brandons, Flowers and Carr. Our fine kicker is so young that we can count on him being around for a while, at a point when we'll actually have a pretty good team. Our fine punter was still (with the exception of one shank) booming punts again today. Jamaal Charles with his trick shoulder and all is getting us to believe he may actually be an above-average back.

And our fine industrious GM has his nine draft picks in the first six rounds in April.

Right now it is really bad, but there's every reason to believe this is the worst it will be. It can only get better. Maybe not this year, that's a given, but there is real hope.
_

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.
_

Broncos at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 3-9

Well, at least they weren't wearing those old AFL uniforms today. I really thought they would, the game being Denver-KC, but they didn't. Actually, that's really too bad because right now, we really could use another team's uniform to hide behind.

We stink. What's new. Our offense stinks--I don't really know if I've ever seen any pro team in any single game flat-out drop as many passes as our guys did in this one. Our defense stinks--I don't really know if I've ever seen any pro team allow the opponent to just run over a defense like we let Denver do to us today.

Thank you Carl Peterson.

But instead of ragging all over this team like I get sick of doing every stinkin' week of the season, it is really time to just reflect on something that, ironically, Carl Peterson did do that was really great.

He drafted Derrick Thomas.

Today was Derrick Thomas day at Arrowhead, and at least there was that. And how great is that. Got his number retired and all kinds of other things happening to honor one of the greatest Chiefs ever, indeed one of the greatest players in all of NFL history.

As much as I abhor what Peterson did to our current team, I could not help but be blown away when watching his presentation speech for Thomas' Hall-of-Fame entrance back in August. Peterson not only did great, lauding Thomas with the deepest respect, but regaled the audience with a narrative about a career that I never knew was as stratospheric as it was.

Really, as much as credit as should justifiably be awarded all the Chiefs players of the 90's, Peterson minced no words: the wonderful success of the Chiefs during that time was due more to Thomas than any other player.

I remember it all myself. I think I just sort of took it for granted that we got turnover after turnover after turnover, and that we did so with a designed Thomas-led lightning attack. Back then it was not like today's Chiefs, who only get a turnover to keep a 44-13 score from being 51-10.

Thomas did it so we could win football games.

It was indeed crushing when he passed away in 2000, as if he was destined to play just during those 90's. You couldn't help but wonder why the good ones have to go like that, and go so soon.

So in a season that's just one great big miserable practice session for our beloved team, how great is it to see all the accolades go to a Chief among Chiefs.
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Chiefs at Chargers - Week 12 - Record: 3-8

Yet another blowout at the hands of the Chargers. Right now this is a team we just can't do squat against, amplified by the fact that every game we just seem to have a bunch of really stupid things happening to us that undercut our efforts even more. Today it was uncharacteristically bad shotgun snaps from our center, a fumble after a long run by our halfback, and Matt Cassel (who seems to be particularly cursed by the Chargers) throwing an interception off of a lineman's helmet and losing a ball he was about to pass right into the hands of a blitzing safety.

Let's face it, the Chargers have the offense we wish we could have. Taking nothing away from our up-and-coming guys like Cassel, the Chargers simply have better backs (LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the best ever), taller faster wide-outs (our small corners played their hearts out against these guys but still couldn't stop them), a more experienced savvy quarterback (one of the best in the league right now), and a line that--well, any line is better than ours. I mean, we should compare their O-line with our D-line, and it just wasn't even funny. They just shoved us all over the place.

To be honest, our soft defense is really concerning me. Yes, let's give Tyson Jackson another year. Okay, let's give Glenn Dorsey yet another year. I'm just afraid of how many years we have to give these guys. Our D-backs are holding their own especially since we lost Jarrad Page and Maurice Leggett for the year.

All I think about is how those past awful drafts of Carl Peterson has murdered us. I know I know I know it's all about Scott Pioli now, I know. I'm great with that. But the whole draft thing just highlights the stark contrast between a team like the Chargers and ours now. Do you know that we had only three guys that we drafted playing regularly in our offense today. Just three guys. Here they are, don't need much space to put 'em in: Branden Albert, Jamaal Charles, and Brad Cottam. And really, Albert is still very green, Charles is fast but still hasn't proven to me he's a go-to guy, and Cottam is not much more than a 3rd string guy.

Three guys.

That's pathetic. And, really, in that sense, it is a testament to how brilliant Pioli has been in putting any remotely decent NFL offense out on the field to begin with.

Oh, and yeah, I haven't mentioned Larry Johnson, but I can't refuse to point out that for Cincinnati today, he ran for over 100. Sorry all you Larry Johnson un-fans, but they guy is still a stud and was run outta town by a bunch of politically correct thugs who can't see what our offensive line is really like. Oh, and I caught this also, about another supposed former Chiefs miscreant. Jared Allen leads the league in sacks over there with Minnesota. He's got 11. The Chiefs I think had 10 all of last year.

I must say there were two terrific things about this game. One, our special teams are really playing well. Yes it is tiring to have to keep speaking about how great our punter is, but our kick coverage has also really been good in this year when so many kicks are being returned for TD's. It was nice to see our coverage guys stuff Darren Sproles. Kicker Ryan Succop only put through two conversions today, but this guy is solid and looks like he'll be here for a while, something we haven't been able to enjoy since Nick Lowery (with humble apologies to Pete Stoyanovich, but he was pretty much passing through).

And the second great thing is we weren't wearing those silly Texans helmets. I know it's all "AFL 50 Years" and all, but they already did the throwback uniforms back in the '94 season, and it was indeed wonderful then, for a year. After a while it just gets old. I have to say I'd be very very happy to never see the Texans thing again. And hey, the team is not even really wearing the old Texans uniforms.

But next week we get Denver. Again, if they've got those goofy horses on their heads, I could (if they absolutely must) tolerate another Texans helmet just to see that.
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Steelers at Chiefs - Week 11 - Record: 3-7

I don't think there is any question this win was one of the greatest regular season wins in Chiefs history. We've been so bad, and yet today we defeated the world champs with a new GM and coach working their asses off to get us back into NFL contention. No question. This one means a lot no matter what has happened or will happen.

Thing is, this one had connections with a whole lot of other Chiefs-Steelers games. Here we go...

Old game: 1986, last regular season game. Remember that one? The Chiefs take on the Steelers at home and get into the playoffs for the first time in 15 years on the strength of three fabulous special teams touchdowns.

This game: Jamaal Charles opens the affair with a spectacular kick-off return for touchdown, and Ryan Succop wins it with an overtime field goal. Our punter Dustin Colquitt has been fantastic and our kick coverage has been stifling. Our special teams does it again to Pittsburgh.

Old game: 1993, first playoff game. Remember that one? Again at home against the Steelers, we're down 24-17 late when Joe Montana hits Tim Barnett in the back of the endzone to send the game into OT when Nick Lowery ends it with a field goal. 27-24 final in OT.

This game: Was this a carbon copy of that game or what? Down 24-17 late, Matt Cassell hits Jamaal Charles swirling out of the backfield to tie, then OT, then the game-winning FG. 27-24 final in OT.

Old game: 2006, middle of regular season, we play the then also world champ Steelers in Pittsburgh. We get slaughtered. I don't even think we moved the ball a yard, and when they got it they scored a touchdown instantly. It was embarrassing.

This game: Let's face it, the Steelers still outplayed us up and down the yard. Their running game was way better, their passing game was way better, their defense was way better. But then...

Old game: 2009 Super Bowl, Pittsburgh vs. Arizona. Sure it wasn't the Chiefs, but remember, the Cardinals offensive coordinator for that game was Todd Haley. He made the Pittsburgh defense look silly, and Arizona should have won the game except for that very last play of the first half. Remember it? Kurt Warner throws a very ill-advised pass at the Pittsburgh one yard line that is intercepted and run all the way back for a touchdown. Instant 14 point swing. That really meant the game right there.

This game: The Steelers are up 17-14 and threatening again when Ben Roethlisberger was pressured and threw a pass right into the hands of Andy Studebaker, who ran like no linebacker I've ever seen zooming right down the field only to be grabbed from behind all the way down at the Pittsburgh seven. We kick a tying field goal--bam, instant 10 point swing. That was the difference in this game, taking advantage of the few big plays just like Pittsburgh did against Arizona and against Seattle in their '05 Super Bowl win as well. Ahh, turned the tables on those guys--very nice.

Old game: Any 2000's playoff game between the Patriots and Steelers. Scott Pioli was working for the Patriots front office helping build their team.

This game: Now Pioli is with the Chiefs and doing all he can to put guys who can play out on the field. His grade so far is an A+. Sure a lot of these guys are picked off the reject pile, but he's done phenomenally so far. Think of Chris Chambers for one. Remember when this guy was a stud for Miami? Now he's magically on our team and he came up with two utterly clutch catches yesterday, the latter one being all him snagging Cassel's short pass and streaking well into field goal range in OT.

I caught this interesting fact during the game. It testifies to why the Steelers are world champs and the Chiefs are struggling. The Chiefs have no one on their roster from the 01-04 drafts. No one. The Steelers have seven. The reason this is an encouraging stat is that we no longer have Carl Peterson mailing it in, we have Scott Pioli working diligently to make sure we've got the best team we can get. Right now just starting out that means finding small gems in a mountain range of shale. The Chris Chambers, the Andy Studebakers.

I can't wait until he starts finding them in the draft.

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited right now. I still do know we gave up five sacks, I still do know we let Roethlisberger pick us apart all afternoon, yeah yeah. Same ol' same ol.'

But today we played with heart and desire and steeled (or I should say chiefed) determination. We were down any number of times but we got back up and got the clutch big play. (Oh I can't neglect to say how fun it was to watch Derrick Johnson sack Roethlisberger and a lineman together in one tackle--how great was that!)

Everyone on the team was playing like a winner no matter what. It's there, it was so great to see--it's there. Next up is just putting it with the talent.

Very sweet.
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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 10 - Record: 2-7

So much stuff is banging around in my head about everything Chiefs right now that I think I'll just splat it out here in a very simple "Good thing bad thing" format. I dunno, I'm just all over the place right now. Forgive me.

Good thing: We've now won seven straight games at the Oakland Coliseum, and I heard some radio guy say that's the longest streak of any team over any other team at their place in the NFL right now. Yay!

Bad thing: The Raiders are so inept they keep handing us these wins. Hey, I'm am waaay not complaining. But watching these games all I see is the Raiders looking purely awful, so I can't really say how much of this is Kansas City's goodness as it may be. Both of their recent skill posititon high picks, QB JaMarcus Russell and WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, just played miserably, however much this elated me and every Chiefs fan everywhere. Thing is I just want to beat them because we're beating a good team ourselves because we're really good.

Good thing: Jamaal Charles had a 100 yard game that included a nice pinball machine run for a touchdown.

Bad thing: Well, bad things: One, we got our first rushing touchdown of the season here in game nine, two, Charles is prone to fumble (sure enough he did fumble it over to the Raiders right after I found out we're doing great in not-losing fumbles on the year, something like tied for best in the NFL) and three, we don't have Larry Johnson.

I should add my what-will-most-likely-be final two cents about the Larry Johnson thing. Let me just say I'm not pleased with it. I'm not pleased with it because he was basically run outta town on a rail. Again, as I've said before, I'm not a fan or a not-fan. I just want Larry Johnson to score touchdowns for my team. This is not to say I don't care about him and his character. I do.

But I just think his release was the result of what a whole bunch of people thought about his character than what it was. Sorry, but that stinks. I very much chafe at the blatant holier-than-thou attitude by media toadies and fans alike who seem to pick and choose what kinds of things to revile and make unjustified claims about this or that thing, and the target gets caught up in the whirlwind.

In this light I'm sick of the way many speak about these issues, offering a choice that goes something like this: "Which would you rather have, a questionable character guy whose got great talent, or a stellar character guy with average talent?" How many stick their chest out and sanctimoniously say they'd take the latter?

Yeah, right.

So, I will always respect whatever decision Clark and Scott and Todd make for the team's sake, in whatever whirlwind conditions there are, but I can't say I think it's justified.

Good thing: The offensive line seemed to play inspired ball today. They're still far from great, but I really liked things like how Brian Waters caught up to that fumble that ended up deep in Raider territory.

Bad thing: What in blazes was Todd Haley thinking not kicking that field goal late in the third quarter? What was he thinking? I just didn't catch it--somebody tell me because I am completely at a loss. It would've been a chip-shot for Succop. Are we just getting too good at fourth down conversions that Haley thinks we're somehow going to make all of them? By not kicking it we gave the Raiders a chance to win it with a touchdown late, and they almost did if they didn't screw it up themselves.

The only thing is that maybe Haley will be really learning from all this for when it'll actually count.

Good thing: We get the Steelers next week who themselves are coming off an awful loss against the Bengals. I say this is a good thing because this will be a decent test of whether or not we're making some progress.

Bad thing: Saw that Jarrod Page was put on the season-ending injury list, so our D-backfield is still in bad shape. It was nice to see Mike Brown make those clutch interceptions, but still...

Good thing: We're at home for Pittsburgh.

Bad thing: Please please tell me we won't be wearing those Texans helmets again. Once is fine, but let's just be the Chiefs, awright? I know that they are actually great for when we're playing dreadfully and not have to actually be thought of as the Chiefs. I don't think we'll be wearing them next week, but I have a baaaaad feeling we'll see them again for Denver. Ugh.

Actually, I'll be okay with that if Bronco players wear their AFL helmets with the goofy cartoonish horse and the oversized hooves looking like it is being sucked right into a good Kansas tornado.

Yeah, I know, I don't think they will because they didn't have those helmets in 1960. The only thing is, the Raiders today weren't wearing their helmets from 1960, which featured the entire surface completely black.

Good thing: It looks like this year we won't match our record for fewest sacks! I know we've been getting at least a handful of them, we got one or two today I know. From what I'm hearing, anyway, Glenn Dorsey is improving. If the learning curve is nice and steady let's hope that applies to our other very young linemen.

Bad thing: We're still not getting that push, standing guys up, and firmly closing holes. Too much time for QB's and too much space for runners. Again, let's hope these guys are good learners.

It'll be most important when we're actually contenders.

And hey, we can actually beat good teams because we're actually good.

Ahh, that'd be a very good thing.
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Chiefs at Jaguars - Week 9 - Record: 1-7

There were two basic reasons we lost this game.

1. Our two starting safeties were injured. With a young, learning, and not-yet-quite-really-strong defense you just cannot afford that. Big plays by the Jaguar offense were once again our undoing. Their go-to back is a phenomenal All-Pro, and he stood this defense up practically all by himself.

2. We still have a really crappy offensive line. Still. Still still still still STILL.

Note that none of the factors had anything to do with Larry Johnson.

Now I don't know all the things about what he said or what happened, but I got some ideas from the comments in and around the game today. From my perspective I'm neither for or against Johnson. Yes I want him to behave, but from what I see a lot of his "misbehavior" is the result of the wrath so many have against him. Quite frankly, if he's ticked off at the Chiefs, I understand. I'm ticked off at the Chiefs too. This is besides the fact that he's really not a bad guy.

But I also think he should keep his feelings in the appropriate place. As Joe Chiefsblogger I can say just about anything. But he's a player on the team and his words carry a zillion times more weight. What I think he should be doing is leaving his vitriol behind because its quite justified object, Carl Peterson, is long gone. He should be giving his new GM and coach a chance--they've given him a chance and Clark's paying him buku bucks. I think he knows that, and he has apologized for the umpteenth time. Fine.

On the other other other hand, what about whether to keep him or trade him? Again, I don't know. If he had an offensive line I think he'd be just as great as he was in '05 and '06. Everyone knows this and anyone who doesn't is in serious denial. So don't blame Larry. But I will say if we can get a first round draft pick for him and that huge salary, I'd definitely make that deal.

Meanwhile, it was cool to see a fine receiver like just-signed Chris Chambers nab two clutch TD's in the last minutes during our frantic blitz to come back. A nifty on-sides kick recovery, a spiffy two-point conversion to get to within a field goal late--good fun in a game we just weren't in for the reasons mentioned above.
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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 1-6

It was kinda cool to turn on the TV and see the Chargers playing that spunky little high school team from Texas. I couldn't tell where in Texas the team was from, but they all had figures on their helmets that were shaped like the state of Texas, so I knew they were from Texas.

But wow, to hold an NFL team like the Chargers to a mere 37-7 win was amazing! Did you watch those high schoolers play such gritty football? It was inspiring!

Just how hard those high school receivers tried to catch the ball all those times just before they dropped it. Just how much their runners strained to get at least a few yards with an understandably way overmatched high school offensive line. Just how well their high school quarterback did, only throwing three interceptions. Hey, one of his receivers actually made a terrific catch for their one touchdown! Maybe the Chiefs can keep an eye on this "Bowe" guy and consider drafting him in a few years.

And the defense, wow! Their defense backs were actually playing pretty close to the Charger receivers before they made all those catches for big yards and touchdowns! Only a few times did they look completely lost out there at the snap, such as when Darren Sproles caught that screen pass and ran 50 yards for a touchdown, but what do you expect from such an inexperienced high school team?

I know the Chargers have to get a good practice game in, but I think they went a bit too far when that rusher easily slid though the line to block the punt then easily jump on it in the end zone. That was just a bit too cruel. Come on, give these kids a break, huh?

It is a good thing the Chiefs had a bye this week and...

Wait, you mean...

The Chiefs bye is next week?

Then who did the Chiefs play today?...
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Chiefs at Redskins - Week 6 - Record: 1-5

Woo-hoo! Even as a Chiefs fan, every Sunday can't be contemptible. It was starting to look like the whole Chiefs thing was just one long long existence of hopeless agony, and after going 2-28 over the last two years this consideration was certainly not unjustified.

But we got a fantastic win today! It wasn't pretty, we still have tons and tons and tons to do to get to be a contender in the NFL, but today was very very sweet. Beating them at their place even! All the good stuff (for once, a number of pretty good things!)...

Larry Johnson getting just enough push from his line at opportune times to ramble for over 80 yards. Not the standard 100 we'd gotten from him regularly when we actually had an O-line, but very nice for today.

Dwayne Bowe did get the 100-yard game, in receiving, making some very nice grabs and runs.

Special teams getting a super blocked punt, very opportunistic.

Our defense! Awright! Holding the 'Skins to just two field goals! Yes you could say the 'Skins beat themselves by playing so miserably--we came in as the 32nd ranked defense in the NFL. Ouch. But we'll take it! It's a great shot in the arm for a team that has been heeding the Haley call and working so hard. I mean, how about that safety from Tamba Hali? And hey, lookitthat, Glenn Dorsey is actually really starting to be a real presence on the D-line!

And what can you say about Ryan Succop. I can say it is about damn crackin' time we got a kicker who we can actually know will make a field goal when he's supposed to. I mean, come on, am I right? Are you like all Chiefs fans who for years have hated to endure the utter awfulness of sweating out every single score we try to get with a kick? Aaagh! Sure I could be whistling to soon, but the guy was terrific today, four-for-four with two of them beyond 40. Awesome.

That's it, that's it. Only great things about our boys this week, and forgive me if I forget some things. A sweet wonderful switch from all the despair of weeks past.
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Cowboys at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 0-5

We can't even pretend to be a team from Dallas to get a win.

It was neat to see the throwback uniforms, the Chiefs version what it was. All they did, really, was change the helmet by replacing the "KC" arrowhead with an outline of the state of Texas and a star where Dallas is located. It was fun to hear the talk about how back in the early sixties the Cowboys would not play the Texans because it was considered that the Texans were the better team.

It was also sweet to hear how Scott Pioli is right now doing much of what the Cowboys did in the early 90's. Back then Dallas was a pathetic mess--sounds quite familiar doesn't it?--and Jimmy Johnson came in with his oversized toolbox and really started messin' with things. I am so hoping the same results will eventuate for the Chiefs.

As for today, no one can say the team is not playing with great desire.

They just aren't playing with much talent.

I'd give the benefit of the doubt to some of our specialists, but, what's killing us is our line on both sides. Same old song and dance. Matt Cassel played wonderfully, but he was still scrambling around behind a line that just couldn't protect him. Larry Johnson looked like a statue out there because he simply can't go anywhere. Not a single O-lineman can stand anybody up, so, every running play--bam, instant statue.

Even though we took Dallas to overtime, this defense made a nobody wideout, Miles Austin, look like a superstar by utterly failing to make easy tackles. This is besides the fact that this very average Cowboy team helped us out tons with fortuitous turnovers and convenient penalties.

So yeah, loss 28 of 30 games now.

But yeah, if we can snag three Super Bowl championships or so in the next few years after this prolonged torment of abject destitution, I'll be fine.
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Giants at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 0-4

Even though we have such a bad team, I still shake my head after each of these losses wondering how this could be. Oh I do know why it is, and his initials are Carl Peterson. But I just think here on the occasion of our 27th loss in the last 29 games, I just think wondering just how this state of affairs can be when just a bit more than a mere 10 years ago we were in the class of the NFL.

Tonight in the other room my wife happens to have the Pittsburgh-San Diego game on, and I think about Pittsburgh being a team from such a small market, like Kansas City, but I just feel very jealous that they can have a prime-time showcase every other week while we must wallow in a sea of 12 noon central games. Today's game was actually broadcast nationally but that was only because we were playing the Giants, one of the best teams in the league.

For as much as our trooping trooper team ("They played like troopers out there yay!") gave the Giants a good run, it looked like the Giants were just treating this like a practice game. I can't say it enough, I love my Chiefs, every one of them, all the time. But I can't help but share what I see here.

I will mention our good things. Brandon Flowers, what a terrific cover guy. Mike Vrabel, nice to have him and see how New England has been so dominant because they've had players like him. Bobby Wade helped make our receivers look like a solid strength of our team with a fabulous play sweeping under a pass for a diving TD. And yet again, Dustin Colquitt is one of the best punters in the league. I'm sure I could name a few others.

But our line on both sides of the ball is still just mince meat. Our offensive line actually showed some ability today, a little. One thing that would help is for Todd Haley to stop running plays like that little QB hold-the-ball thingie then hand-off to Johnson. That went nowhere all 57 times it was run. I'm exaggerating of course, but it seemed like it was that much and I think the only time the fans really booed was when they saw that play for the 57th time.

Haley is just trying to be too fancy out there when he needs to get these guys going with the basics first. When we were down on the one-yard line we didn't send Johnson over the top once. Even with our O-line it's worth at least one try.

Meanwhile the overall Kansas City sports patheticness just keeps steamin' along. The regular major league baseball season ended today with the cross-parking-lot neighbor Royals finishing in the cellar of the AL Central for the umpteenth year in however many utterly forgettable years. Barring a miracle of all miracles for the Chiefs this year, it'll be a combined 40 team-years without an NFL playoff win or MLB playoff appearance for a big league pro sports Kansas City team. That's the largest of any other municipality by far. (The next up is Cincinnati with 32.)

Sigh.
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