Broncos at Chiefs - Week 8 - Game Preview

We are enjoying another prime time affair tomorrow night, the classic Monday Night Football showcase, and because of that I will not be putting up my standard post-game blog post. Sometimes I've blogged during the game since I must get up for work so early, but I'm not crazy about doing that, and we'll be having family over tomorrow night, so I'll simply be posting on the game the following day. If Halloween activities take over on that day and I don't have the time, I'll just do it on Wednesday.

Until then, just a couple thoughts.

The Broncos always play us tough and I don't think by any means this game is a gimme. I noted that we're seven point favorites, and a friend told me the Broncos offense is anemic this year especially after some offensive linemen have suffered injuries keeping them off the field.

We still must score points against their fine defense, and that's precisely what concerns me. I still for-the-life-of-me don't understand why Andy Reid abjectly refuses to move Alex Smith around more, putting in designed plays in which Smith moves -- even deliberate scrambles, sort of a play action with Smith threatening to do things with his running ability while his receivers run specifically drawn routes with that in mind.

How many times does Smith, or any good mobile quarterback for that matter, make something happen from nothing when scrambling out of trouble? Quite a few! Why not have this stuff happen deliberately? I wrote a lot about this a few years ago when we lost a game to the Broncos. I have still yet to see it happen, and oh would it be great to start to see it happen with Smith.

It would be especially helpful since our receiving corps is being pressured to perform with Albert Wilson ailing and Chris Conley out for the season. I do see, however, good things from DeMarcus Robinson and De'Anthony Thomas, so this may not be so bad.

The real concern is our offensive line simply because their pass protection for Smith has been woeful. Contributing to this is having Mitch Morse and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif out for so long. I don't even know if they'll be back for this game, and if they aren't, then we'd better start using Smith's mobility better.

Another thing related to the O-line -- Zach Fulton had better start getting his snaps better. It wasn't just the snap that flew out of the end zone for a safety in that last game, it is him frequently not getting to Smith much more sharply so our plays can get off much more smoothly.

So yeah, we'll see how we do tomorrow night!
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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 7 - Record: 5-2

Another prime-time affair, pretty cool. But I've got to blog now. It is the start of the 4th quarter, and we're up 30-21. I didn't even get to the game until close to halftime because of a work obligation that kept me from seeing what was happening.

My wife told me we'd already had two bad calls go against us. An offensive PI that helped give Oakland a touchdown catch, and a phantom defensive holding call that I imagine helped get them another score. It just makes me think yet again how much these calls will yet again weigh heavily against us at some critical time when we just can't afford it.

Oh well, my focus is just on how well we're doing and enjoy it no matter what.

So far the fun Chiefs things I've seen. Just freeflowing thoughts.

We had a cool blocked field goal by Eric Murray. On our side Harrison Butker is booming field goals in.

There was that spiffy missed interception by their guy allowing Albert Wilson to take the rebound into the end zone. Nice to have that happen after last week's version that happened against us.

Alex Smith is making some terrific throws on finely planned routes.

Our defensive backs are doing a decent job blanketing their receivers. They've got terrific receivers and Carr is always dangerous, and we've done okay.

Kareem Hunt had his standard good long run, and has been pounding the ball well late again.

Andy Reid and his coaching staff have been executing their fine game-managing play-calling matriculating-the-ball-down-the-field program.

There's been some disarray on Oakland's part, with Marshawn Lynch being ejected for shoving a ref and some jawing among their players. Still, this is too good a team to give up on. They've started 2-4 and are desperate. They've just driven down the field with good passing and after they got a nice non-call in the end zone (Eric Murray was pulling on the receiver and it should have been a PI), they get a field goal to make it 30-24.

So yeah, 4th quarter, we have the ball again, and start giving it to Hunt. Still 11:00 left, but this is our quarter. Now Kelce. We play our game and we got this. And there's Hunt again, getting his 100 all-purpose for the game.

Yet, there's another too-powerful-a-bullet pass from Alex to Travis, almost intercepted. Uh. The Raiders do not have an interception all year and Alex hasn't thrown one, but there've been a couple that should've changed that easily. Then Alex throws a beautiful strike to Tyreek for the first.

They also show the Raiders fans frequently, looking pensive. I actually feel for them. They've been had by Mark Davis, Las Vegas, and the taxpayer-fleecing NFL, and they're still loyal. Gotta give them that.

Sure enough, the Raiders blitz, they can't pick it up, and Alex can do nothing with it. Thfxxphthxx. We have to punt. Inside six minutes left and they have the ball inside the ten.

Can our defense hold?

Errck. Where's our pass rush? Carr has all kinds of time back there. But we still stop them! They can't get 1st down, have to punt. Now's the time we need to burn clock, with decent field position.

But eh, we get nothing. That's not good. Another time we can't get a game-closing 1st down. Colquitt's punt and exceptional kick coverage has them back at around their ten again, this time with a little over two minutes left.

Can our defense really hold now?

Nkay they get a huge pass play from Carr to Cooper, but now have a 3rd-&-11 at our 42. We're only up 30-24. :46 left.

Pass from Carr to Roberts incomplete and wouldn't have been enough for a 1st.

4th down.

Errrrgh. They get the 1st down, their huge receiver just out-muscles Eric Murray. Eric Berry is just not there. 

Now :33 left at the Chiefs 30. Carr throws jump ball in end zone incomplete. Our pass rushers are just not getting to Carr. Refs now allow O-linemen to hold like crazy -- huh, wonder why that never benefits the Chiefs. Huh.

I don't have a good feeling about this.

And sure enough with :16 left Carr throws a touchdown pass through two defenders -- they do this goofy two receivers in the exact same area and it ended up being pretty much like a Hail Mary. Whupp, he may be down inside the one-yard line.

I'm telling you.

The Chiefs could have had this game if they didn't just not-truly-take-care-of-business when they had the ball close to midfield and they needed a couple first downs with only a few minutes left.

Too much not-aggressive-enough game-managing at the wrong time.

Sure enough the receiver was down just inside the one.

And they get an obvious PI call against them on a fade route.

:03 left and they have the ball back at the 11.

Here it is...

And there is now a holding call on us on an incomplete pass.

Sorry, that wasn't a hold. Please.

Okay, I'm tired already. This is it. I can't even do this anymore with the blog.

Oakland has one more play with :00 on the clock from the Chiefs 6.

Here it is...

And he bobbled it out of bounds!.. And another holding call on Kansas City. Puh-lease. And it isn't a hold again! Another crappy call! Come on!

They get the touchdown on the next play.

I knew it.

It's a joke. It really is.

Nobody says anything about these holds that are just not. Sorry but no excuses for this. Oakland really had nothing on us, but on anything that was close the call went against us, either those phantom holding calls or the non-holding calls that should've gone against their offensive linemen.

You just gotta have a good game though, and good wild home-town finish.

Ugh.

If anything it's good the Chiefs are being challenged like this. I hope they know what they're up against and rise up to be even better next week.

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Steelers at Chiefs - Week 6 - Record: 5-1

I really didn't think we were going to win this game. I just had a feeling that Steelers thing was going to so brutally impact our game yet again -- just all the goofiness that makes virtually everything we do bad and everything they do good -- at least just enough to get them the win.

Happens every time.

Call it that weird spell that afflicts the Chiefs any time they play the Steelers. You see it in every game they play against them. It was on full display in that playoff game we lost to this team last year. It was all over that critical game in 2014 that effectively knocked us out of the playoff race. That thing just hasn't ended. I actually wonder if it has something to do with the Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley, just desperately doing everything he can to ruthlessly punish the Chiefs however he can with this interminably seething vendetta I'm sure he still has against us.

As far as I see I look at the Steelers getting clobbered by a Jaguars team as they did last week (even though the Jags are pretty good this year), I see them with two losses already, I see a team in disarray with this national anthem confusion, whatever little I catch about the Steelers it is all about a very average team... I don't get it...

They meet the Chiefs and no matter what they become a team of supermen.

Every single time.

It was like that game we played against them in 2006 when we just got hammered by them, I mean it was a complete and utter obliteration. I swear they had 14 guys on the field while we only had 9. I'm telling you that's what it looked like today. They constantly showed stats that indicate the Steelers are very average -- except when they play us.

And it isn't just the play on the field. It is the absurdity of the calls that go against us, like the touchdown that Demetrius Harris had -- oh he had it, he had the ball and took three clear steps, but the refs just missed it and Andy Reid just had a brain fart refusing to challenge it. Oh, sorry, all scoring plays are reviewed. So we can't even do anything about that. And even if it was too close to overturn, why? When we play the Steelers when does the play ever go in our favor by the inch required?

Look at that almost interception by Phillip Gaines. Are you kidding me? Why did that insanely idiotic play happen against us?

Because it had to do with the notoriously charmed Steelers.

So here's the upshot of this game beyond the curse stuff.

Alex Smith played a very very subpar game. He missed wide open receivers all over the place. A lot of that was the offensive line. He looked intimidated and the thug approach of the Steelers worked -- there were two roughing the passer penalties against them. Get into Alex Smith's head and you can rattle him. Smith was rattled all day.

The Steelers offensive line is very good. It's nice to have a healthy offensive line. Our refusal to have a Ray Lewis-type in the middle of the field really hurts against a team like this. LeVeon Bell had his typical 800 yards rushing against the Chiefs. Our loss of Eric Berry was glaring today -- he is really that big of a factor in shutting down their running game.

Meanwhile on our O-line our loss of Mitch Morse and LDT showed big-time today. Our running game was poor and it is because that make-shift O-line is being exposed. Zach Fulton had not been snapping the ball well and sure enough, first play of the game -- zzzhoop -- into the end zone for a safety.

I'm sorry but I'm tired right now. I have a lot of work and need some rest, and this game was just draining. Forgive me I'm not going to write a whole lot more.

It's probably pretty good that we lost because the pressure of seeing how long we can be undefeated is off. We can know what we need to do and what it takes to be a consistently winning team. As aggravating as all get-out as this all was, I will end on a positive note.

We still have weapons. We will regroup. It was fun to watch DAT make that catch and will his way to the touchdown. What a play by Eric Murray on that Steelers 3rd down late to give us a chance, awesome. Our special teams, Dustin Colquitt and Tyreek Hill and Jehu Chesson, great work. There were other great Chiefs individual efforts today, there were.

Several good things I can talk about with the Chiefs, yeah -- I mean, that we kept it close for so long while they were truly having their way with us on every metaphysical level has to be a good thing.
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Chiefs at Texans - Week 5 - Record: 5-0

It is indeed a wonderful wonderful thing that the Chiefs are being showcased so much on primetime television. I remember back in around 2012 I tried to track how few times we appeared in these kinds of games. I never got a conclusive number over the time period I examined, something like 2006-2012, but the Chiefs definitely did not appear very often.

Understandable. Most of the time they were a bad team in a small market, exceedingly not who the NFL powers-that-be wanted occupying one of the two premium prime-time ultra-revenue-generating slots on a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night.

But since the Andy Reid-Alex Smith era, the Chiefs have actually become good. Really good.

So here we are on national television yet again.

Thing about that is, for the purposes of this weblog endeavor, it is hard to put in a post after the game. I've always just blogged my thoughts about Chiefs game day football after the game -- get the whole overview and put it into words I can share with a few fellow Chiefs fans readers.

But when there are all these primetime games, I simply cannot do that. I work very early the next morning every time there is a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday night primetime game. Huh. The fact I've always been able to blogpost after a game has been because we've rarely had this kind of attention. Now I've got to do more of this. Huh. Kinda nice actually.

Anyway, I thought I'd put down a little of a preview of tonight's game with the Houston Texans -- hey, it's still "Chiefs Game Today," it's just I'm remarking more about it beforehand. Again, I don't follow any of anything else but Chiefs -- although I do confess as I have frequently before, my sports radar still picks up things here and there. But what I know is this.

Last year we played an early game against the Texans in Houston and did pretty miserably -- it was one of our four losses on the year. Alex Smith had a terrible day, much because Houston's defense has been very good -- from what I hear.

I know they've got a solid defensive line, yet another good one this season our offensive line has to address. They have super-DE J.J. Watt, and while I don't know how good he is I can't imagine No. 1 overall pick from a few years ago Jadeveon Clowney isn't really good.

I've also heard brand spankin' new QB Deshaun Watson is doing phenomenally -- this is the guy picked in the draft this year right after the Chiefs snatched Pat Mahomes. The Texans also have that fine WR DeAndre Hopkins. I know of no other weapons they have on offense, but I'm sure they're helping Watson be very good for such a youngster. In fact I also caught that they clobbered the Titans last week, scoring 57 points against them. Wow.

With all this Texans information in mind, I'm just not sure we'll be able to keep up our perfect record, honestly. Yes we have the playmakers -- yes, we've got Smith and Kelce and Hill and now this Hunt kid. But I'm very nervous about our makeshift offensive line holding off their defense. I'm also nervous about a defensive backfield that is playing way over their heads -- no Eric Berry, no Steven Nelson... Will our fine play back there continue? And the pass pressure is muted by not having Dee Ford in there, and I'm wondering why we're not going with the rookies Tanoh Kpassagnon and/or Ukeme Eligwe.

Andy likes to bring in his youngsters gradually, so having a cushy 4-0 record gives him a window not to rush guys, that may be okay.

Thing is this is definitely one of the distinct edges the Chiefs have.

Andy Reid.

It appears he's doing some of the best coaching of his career right now. Really, he's got the game planning going (all the misdirection), the stamina going (the finishing games late), the Alex Smith talent unleashed (the playmaking in the clutch).

Let's see how this all plays out with a few in-game notes as we go.

1st qtr. Chiefs 3-0. We had a nice drive to open the game and got a field goal. They got the ball and moved a bit but we got them to punt. We now have the ball again at about mid-field yet the Texans have thoroughly stuffed Kareem Hunt. They're actually tackling him, doing a good job on the initial push and wrapping him up.

Thing is, J.J. Watt and another of their significant defensive players have been injured and may not return. Watt messed up his knee on a simple rush with little contact. The Houston stadium has that ugly artificial tar-bit-peppered field, which I think should be outlawed. Any artificial turf field just makes it too likely somebody like Watt is going to having something awful to a knee or something.

Aside from our running game being stuffed our passing game is fantastic so far. It isn't just because of those Texans' defenders being absent. Smith has been making terrific connections all game long, converting a number of tough 3rd downs with laser sharp passing.

Halftime. Chiefs 23-7. The Texans' ability to get their running backs deep into the 2nd level is disturbing. They just had a drive in which they got down the field just running the ball right at us. Our D-line isn't doing the job and our linebackers are being stressed. That set up an easy touchdown pass from Watson to Hopkins.

We did get a nice drive that concluded in a Smith-to-West touchdown pass, and have dominated time-of-possession.

On our side of the ball Travis Kelce is having his way out there. Right at the end of the 1st half he made more big plays getting us deep into Houston territory, on one deep catch he got the penalty flag after some Texans D-back did a helmet-to-helmet. He's then had to go into the concussion protocol, though, so that isn't good.

We finished the half with another nice touchdown catch for Charcandrick! This was all him, taking the swing pass at about the 10 and weaving around to get into the end zone.

And how about the Standing-Line-Pointing Play! On one play half of our O-linemen were standing with their fingers pointing at defenders but perfectly still to be set, then the ball is snapped to Smith who swings a pass to Hunt who runs for a 1st down. All Andy Reid...

3rd qtr. Chiefs 23-13. Houston scored another touchdown on some nifty Deshaun Watson improvisation close to the goal line.

Just as the quarter closes here, though, Tyreek Hill makes the play of the game so far when on 3rd-&-16 he catches a bomb from Smith barely getting both feet inside the sideline.

So we're deep in Houston territory as the 4th opens, still a ball game, and while I must say our offensive proficiency is really really good tonight especially with the pass, our defense is being not-as-stout as it should be. Our D-line isn't getting the push it needs and our linebackers aren't a shut-down unit tonight. Our D-backs are holding their own but Houston hasn't been throwing the ball down the field and they haven't even had the ball a whole lot to begin with.

Notice we did not score at all in that quarter. A lot of that? Travis Kelce has not returned. This is definitely a concern.

End of the game. Chiefs 42-34. This was too close until...

Andy Reid and Tyreek Hill happened.

When it got toooo close at 26-20, Andy Reid turned on the jet sweep stuff and it all finished up with a nice De'Anthony Thomas sweep touchdown.

Then our defense put up their standard 4th quarter resilience forcing Houston to punt, right to Tyreek Hill who made the first tackler miss and after that --

See ya!

Really, the thing that got us all these points was our offensive line giving Alex Smith splendid pass protection so he could perform his marvels. Tonight was a showcase night for us all to behold the real talents Smith has when he has the fine coaching, the exceptionally skilled players around him, and the time to make things happen behind the line.

To our defense's credit, Houston's touchdowns came with amazing plays made in spite of fine coverage. One of their touchdowns was a bomb that Hopkins snatched in the end zone with our safety Ron Parker swatting it away only to have it drop right back into his hands.

Finally, when are the injuries going to end. More Texans went down, and we even lost Chris Conley to an ugly looking calf injury on a Texans on-side kick recovery in which, yes again on this turf, no one laid a hand on him.

So yeah, with a lot of other issues I have with the NFL, you can add my deep desire that they get rid of this turf thing, everywhere. They even said at the very end of game that Justin Houston has some kind of calf injury.

Good thing we're 5-0 because our schedule doesn't get any easier. I like it, but I'm concerned about our injuries to all these Chiefs players... really, to all the NFL players. I know there are other factors besides the turf, but there are things that can be done.

It can be made right, it can.
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Chiefs Current Circumstances - October 2017

I just have to add this brief post because I was thinking of something kind of weird. It isn't totally weird, but just one of those weird thoughts that I have to put in a special Chiefs Game Today blog post.

If you've been one of my readers, of whom I am always extraordinarily appreciative, you may know that I was born near Kansas City where many of my closest relatives have resided and still do reside, but I grew up in the San Francisco area. I still reside in California.

My favorite team of all my sports teams is the Kansas City Chiefs, but my second is the San Francisco Giants.

Tonight was this year's rendition of the National League Wild Card Game (won by the Diamondbacks), but last year this game was won by the Giants on the merits of a thrilling 9th inning home run. This was quite the illusion, however, as we promptly fell to the Cubs in the NLDS, sadly a better reflection of our ferocious 2nd-half-of-the-season collapse.

This year was a continuation of that collapse.

My Giants finished with the worst record in the major leagues. Yeah -- uh-huh, just three years from their third World Championship in five years...

The Giants are the worst team in the major leagues.

I bring this up because, um, ahem, um...

Guess which team right now is being lauded as the unanimous best team in the NFL?

Did you guess, ohhh...

The Kansas City Chiefs?

Right now the Chiefs are the talk of everyone, everywhere. They're 4-0, the only remaining undefeated team in an NFL that has seen the craziest game results in a long time. And it isn't just because they've lucked into a handful of wins. As you Chiefs followers know...

Alex Smith has been having not only a career year but an MVP caliber year. Their rookie running back Kareem Hunt has been obliterating the record books. Travis Kelce is playing in his prime. Tyreek Hill has been used effectively, and while he has yet to make any major spectacular plays, defenses know he could and he has been messing them up with just the possibility.

Our defense has been phenomenal in light of Eric Berry's loss. They have picked it up big-time, being stout on the line and smothering in the defensive backfield. All of this is especially pronounced in the 2nd halves of games, even 4th quarters, when they step it up and outlast opponents.

Andy Reid is doing his best genius play calling yet. The overall coaching has been superlative. And they have been doing it against teams that so far have been considered the better quality teams in the NFL.

We do have some weaknesses -- I think the most pronounced is on the offensive line, but that unit too is coming through when needed. We play a fine Texans team this Sunday in Houston, I really think that'll be a true test. Can we keep up this extraordinary run? Are we for real? There is still a lot of football left, I know.

But the point is this Chiefs team is actually pretty good.

Indeed, in the opinion of many, quite justified, the Chiefs are the very best team in the NFL.

Except that, what does that have to do with the pathetic Giants?

Well, here it is. In this post right here. Go ahead, click these words.

Go back to my post of October 29, 2012, just five years ago. Yeah, that's the weird thing.

Back five years ago, October 2012, the Giants were on their way to a World Series title -- the best team in major league baseball.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs? Do you remember 2012?

It -- was -- abominable.

The Chiefs were, at that time, really, the worst team in the NFL.

How weird.

What a switch.

I found this kind of weird too. See, the Giants had the worst record in major league baseball this year, finishing with 98 losses. They were indeed the worst team in the majors, but they shared that distinction with another team. Did you happen to catch which major league team also had 98 losses?

The team they played in the World Series that year, the Detroit Tigers.

Sports is very weird. Things can be really good, then be really bad. Sure enough this is precisely why I'm just enjoying this Chiefs run right now.

It is a lot of fun.
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Redskins at Chiefs - Week 4 - Record: 4-0

I'm going to blog post this game during the game. I regularly don't do this, but sometimes I do. I work early tomorrow morning, and while these primetime games are wonderful, they do go late even for me here on the west coast.

As of now we're getting our butts whupped. We really are. Last week I wrote about how inadequate I feel our offensive line has been, and tonight they're proving it more. Injuries aren't helping, already Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is out with some serious leg injury, and we already don't have Mitch Morse. I'd even seen that Eric Fisher was iffy for tonight's game.

Bottom line, we're getting smeared up and down the field by both their lines.

On offense? Ha. Kareem Hunt had a nice run, Travis Kelce has had a couple of nice receptions, but that's it. We're almost to the end of the first half and we have zilch. Zero. The main reason is Alex Smith YET AGAIN looks harried hurried and harassed back there on every single play. He has no time to let things progress, and for someone who's had issues with that before, this isn't helping... offensive line...

Washington's defense is faster, stronger, and easily reading everything we do.

Funny though, they just flashed a stat saying the Chiefs have a 7.5 average run-after-catch, highest in the NFL. Thing is half of that is Kareem Hunt's run-after-catch for a touchdown against the Patriots. I'm exaggerating, of course, but all we've had are those couple of big plays. Yes, I like big plays that get us wins as they have in the first three games so far. But as I've always said, I get nervous when we have to rely on big plays.

We may have to do that tonight, with some chance still to win since we're only down 10-0 with about three minutes left in the first half.

And whaddya know. We're moving the football. When Alex Smith has at least some time he can make nice connections, like right there to Chris Conley to take it to their 17. We should get at least a field goal to get on the board, with a brand new spankin' kicker in a guy with the name Harrison Butker, picked up when we just flat-out released injured Cairo Santos so we won't have to pay him millions of dollars next year.

We won't be able to see him kick a FG now, only a PAT, because Smith finally got a big pass play to Kelce for the touchdown! Very nice.

Chiefs have the ball again, and oh -- gutsy play by Alex Smith to scramble down into Redskins territory with about half-a-minute left. Why don't they use his legs more often?! All the times I see him go down in the backfield I wonder, why can't they arrange a play specifically to draw the defense into the middle of the backfield and he just takes off around the edge. Make that a design? Huh Andy Reid? How about it?

Now Butker is in for the FG. And he barely misses it. That's nice. Something like a 40-yarder. It looked really good, but as it always seems for the Chiefs, it may look good but still misses.

At halftime here I just have to point this out. I'd noted a while ago that the Chiefs have only lost once to Washington, ever -- in 1983, the year the Redskins went to the Super Bowl. All the other games the Chiefs have played against the Redskins they've won, all eight of them, many of them against those good Redskins teams. I'd wondered, is there any other head-to-head matchup that has been more lopsided? I looked and looked, and couldn't find one until I saw that the Patriots have the same record against the Ravens, 8-1. I should add that the Patriots are also 7-0 against the Jaguars, but the Jaguars are an expansion team and the Patriots have been dominant for years.

I did, however, find there is one head-to-head record that is even better. The Jets are 10-1 against the Buccaneers. Turns out the Bucs simply cannot beat the Jets for some reason.

As of now, the Patriots against the Ravens and the Chiefs against the Redskins are the second best won-loss records in head-to-head matchups in NFL history.

The Chiefs' vs. Redskins record in on the line now. So far we've skated through the first half only down 10-7. I don't know how. The Redskins have easily outplayed us in every facet of the game, especially on the line. It has actually taken Alex Smith's activity late in the half to keep us in this game. When he's had time he's thrown the ball well and scrambled beautifully.

Chiefs are now moving down the field to start the second half, Alex and Kareem playing well. Thing is, that stout Redskins defense is hurting. They've already had a couple key guys injured, including their studly D-back Josh Norman.

And what a play for the touchdown! From their one yard line Alex Smith with the read-option, faking everyone out -- I even thought it was going to Kareem Hunt and Smith walks into the end zone. Butker drills the PAT and he does look good except for the barely missed FG -- he's been booming kickoffs.

Will our standard 2nd-half surge carry us to the win tonight?

Nkay, back and forth a bit, with the Chiefs doing the standard Chiefs things. Since the 1st quarter the Chiefs offense has had the ball for most of the time.

Smith is throwing nice passes enough but getting sacked some more. Kareem Hunt is being phenomenal with the run, he's got to have 100 on the ground by now, or close to it. Add to that a nifty Andy Reid weird play that works great: Kelce in the wildcat running for a 1st down.

With about five minutes left we get the ball deep into Redskins territory but can't get the TD. Butker comes in for a 32-yarder and now we're ahead 20-17.

Will our standard late-4th-quarter surge carry us to the win tonight?

AND WOW. The Redskins had it. They had the touchdown catch to put them up with under a minute left. Receiver in the end zone with the ball in his hands, and he can't hang on to it. So they tie it with the field goal, it's now 20-20.

We get the ball with :47 left.

Redskin defenders are still coming off the field injured, what's with that?

Can we matriculate the ball down the field to get a game-winning FG with a brand spankin' new kicker. Aaagh!

And Albert Wilson with the medium deep-ball sideline catch on a pass from scrambling Alex Smith! How nice is that! Yet another big play to get us a chance at the win! And Albert Wilson! How about that -- he's caught everything thrown his way tonight.

Now we're into Washington territory with :33 left.

Will it come down to Harrison Butker?...

And it does.

Here he is, 43-yard attempt. They signed this kid on Tuesday. Does he have ice in his veins?

He does drill his first attempt, right down the middle, but the Redskins called timeout a nanosecond before the snap.

Now the snap ----- the hold -----

AND HE GOT IT. Right down the middle.

We're up 23-20.

:04 left. They have it at their 25. Rarely rarely rarely has a team done the whole lateral-lateral-lateral play to win a game late -- I think it was successful only once in NFL history. Will it happen here? Errrrrghhh...

And they try it, Washington lateraling it everywhere, until Justin Houston picks up one of the errant laterals and takes it into the end zone. How goofy. We win 29-20. The announcers just said the Chiefs were 7 point favorites, so they cover the spread.

And so we take care of business again. We get the job done late.

Speaking of late, I've got to get to bed. An entertaining game for sure, and a Chiefs win to boot. Literally, to boot.

Now four weeks into the regular season, guess what?

The Chiefs are the only undefeated team in the NFL!

As heart-wrenching as these games are, definitely enjoying it so far.
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Chiefs at Chargers - Week 3 - Record: 3-0

I saw something from the 538-to-win people, you know, they're the ones who can predict election outcomes and a bunch of other things (even though they really whiffed on the Trump win last November) -- they took a survey of I-don't-know-who-or-how-many, but they found that the Chiefs were the least disliked team in the NFL. On the list of most disliked teams, the Chiefs were at the very bottom, No. 32.

At first glance that's, hey, cool! Very few people dislike us! The fewest of any team! That has to be good! Woo-hoo!

But then, we're not particularly liked either. On the list of most liked teams, we were near the bottom, not last, but close to the bottom. Still. It is as if we embody the essence of the Oscar Wilde quote: "Worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

The Chiefs are just there. You can't dislike them, but, that's because they're so stuck in that middle-America podunk little middle-of-nowhere smallish-size nondescript city perception. As you know Kansas City is light years from being nondescript or meaningless. It's just, Kansas City doesn't have a New York Times ubercasting network to govern what people are supposed to think about things.

Already the world is shifting into ultra-crazy mode, especially with this media-generated racialist war exploding out of control. The NBA's Golden State Warriors talk about not going to the White House for its championship celebratory recognition, and Donald Trump tweets "Well you're not invited anyway so nyaah." So the entire sports world including the NFL rages against that mean racist Trump.

Colin Kaepernick starts separating himself from the allegiance-to-the-flag activities that open every NFL game, others join him in support of the racialist spasms that define today's raging culture war, and when Trump recently urges the NFL to fire those guys, they now amp up their rage so the New York Times suckling media outlets can showcase the folly for the most spectacular virtue signaling there can be.

As a result, at least it appears to be a result, the NFL is floundering. People complain about a lot of things, and some of it is legitimate. In my view the speed and force of the game causing more likelihood of brain injuries among the players is one of those things, and some day when I have time I'll include my thoughts about that in a post.

But the culture war now comes roaring into the game in a big way. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't have a clue about what to do, for the entirety of his tenure, what is it now, ten years? He's been worthless. He simply has not shown the leadership required to make sure the game doesn't suffer from all this internecine virulence. Now that it's getting worse, he'll still bumble and stumble about addressing it, miserably failing to move things to a point where what is truly just and righteous prevails.

Meanwhile the Chiefs are in the middle of this meandering morass all the while starting off the season well, yet again firing out to a 3-0 record.

Today we started off hot, scoring two touchdowns in about 3.87 seconds, then simply slogged through the rest of the game before Kareem Hunt found a crease to score a close-out touchdown late.

At the end of the game the announcers crowed about the Chiefs having now won 25 of their last 29 regular season games. Yes, you could justifiably say we do some things very well. They are indeed all the things we've talked about for the past several years of Andy Reid-Alex Smith football. All Chiefs fans know them too well.

But as the scoreboard said "17-10" for what seemed like about 14 hours of this game, I couldn't help but see a number of things that bother me about this Chiefs team.

- Our pass protection. Again our O-line is simply not giving Alex Smith enough time. I'm sure I see opponent quarterbacks have far more time than we do, I'm sure of it. I mean, on one play late, Melvin Ingram, one of the best pass rushing linebackers in the league, sacked Alex Smith, and on the replay it showed the most feeble attempt to even block him. Please. Please please please.

- Our run blocking. This should be our best quality on the O-line, but it was still iffy. Yes we've got Kareem Hunt back there, and those times we can get a small seam and he can do magic. Maybe I'm expecting too much -- and I have a right to, I'm a fan -- but watching the Chargers running game early they were able to blast out for huge gains regularly. This relates to the next inadequacy:

- Our linebackers. Where were they on those gains? To their credit they had to have made adjustments because they did keep the Chargers to zero points after they got 10 in the 2nd quarter, but in my view there were a number of other reasons for that, one of which was that Philip Rivers was just off today. There were throws he'd always make that today were just crap. Maybe he has lost a step, this is his 14th year in the NFL.

- Penalties. Holy moly, how many more penalties can we get? At one point in the 4th quarter they said we'd had 111 yards in penalties. And there were more after that, I'm sure, including a Phillip Gaines PI at the goal line with less than half-a-minute left in the game. It's awesome we are so aggressive, but can we juuuust dial it back a bit and still play well?

These things concern me. They are all major issues, major, and while you may think I'm a little melodramatically overblown with any one or two of them, I just don't think a good Andy Reid talking-to will solve them.

On the other hand, there are some awesome things about this team.

- Kareem Hunt. Is it possible just to get him the ball every single time we run an offensive play? Really. With the exception of Hunt, Tyreek Hill and, believe it or not, Albert Wilson, the rest of the Chiefs offense was invisible. And again, not to belabor the point, but the O-line is partly to blame. Alex Smith just can't get untracked more routinely. Travis Kelce, for one, was nowhere today. But Kareem Hunt was just phenomenal, again. The kid powers, weaves, dances, and has terrific vision.

- Our pass coverage in the D-backfield. I really believe that we are missing Eric Berry, I do. For the overall purpose of pressuring the opponent's offense, Berry is just a factor that is missing right now. But these guys are playing their hearts out to make up for it. Terrance Mitchell had two picks and harassed their receivers constantly. He wasn't perfect, but I'll take it. Marcus Peters was All-Pro. Daniel Sorensen was all over the field. There's someone I'm not mentioning I'm sure, but it was very satisfactory today.

- Our tackling. Have you noticed that as far as our defensive technique, we're pretty danged good? We rarely miss tackles. The tackling is very sure, and if we can't make the solid hit we're regularly stopping people by grabbing ankles and holding on. And there's always help, no one is giving up on the play. Defensive Coordinator Bob Sutton has really taught these guys to play fundamentally sound defense, and over the course of a game that really pays off.

- Special teams. One of our strengths was still true today. Colquitt punted well and Santos had a field goal right after getting creamed on a field goal attempt. Our coverage team did splendidly keeping the Chargers far from their end of the field, but once we did foolishly try that snap-to-Albert Wilson fake-punt run that got snuffed. Our defense did hold keeping it from hurting us.

- The big plays. I've always been nervous about our reliance on the big play. You can't always count on it. Thing is, everyone says how good the Chiefs are at it. Maybe there's a reason. Maybe there's something we've got that makes us more likely to get them. Maybe it can be coached and developed and perfected. Today there were the interceptions. The key stops. That sack by Justin Houston late when it was still a one-score game. The bursting blistering touchdown from Hunt to seal it. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing for a team that needs a little more recognition, that needs to climb up the list of most liked teams a bit more.

This is a nice win for a team that, while it does have a lot of work to do, does seem to have what it takes to get the job done.

Maybe in a world distracted by the idiocy of the culture, and even though they're dismissed as whatever by most of the NFL-watching world, the Chiefs can continue to authentically be a team that deserves to be considered one of the best.

That's pretty cool right now.
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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 2-0

I did not like this game at all. I just didn't. It was waaay too nerve-racking.

We're up 27-13 with 0:14 left in the game. The Eagles are in the red zone and I'm thinking, "Nkay, touchdown pass, on-sides kick recovery, Hail Mary pass completion for the touchdown. I'm sure of it. They'll get 14 points in 14 seconds. Only the Chiefs."

And sure enough, they get the touchdown, our vaunted special teams bungles the kick return and they get an easy on-sides kick recovery, and their QB Carson Wentz throws a perfect floating strike into the middle of the endzone with all four of their tall lanky receivers ready to swallow it up. That's until Eric Murray's lone flailing hand shoots high up from the crowd to bat it away. Whew...

(Eric Murray -- life-saver -- if you remember there was that extraordinarily dorky play at the end of the first half when Terrence Mitchell misplayed an interception right into the hands of their tight end who went racing for the endzone. Murray was left all alone to make a touchdown-saving tackle. WHEW...)

I already don't have any hair on my head, so then I had to have lost hair on other parts of my body. Okay, way too much information about the near heart seizure we all were about to suffer, but yeah, this game was indeed really aggravating.

Yes I must say it was really fun to watch Superman Travis Kelce fly across the goal line on that amazingly spiffy shovel-pass play. It was really fun to watch our defense step it up in the 4th quarter featuring another Superman flight by Daniel Sorensen to thwart a Wentz pass attempt. Then there was Superman Justin Houston deflecting thrown footballs off his head (allowing Chris Jones to make an interception). Then there was Superman Kareem Hunt powering his way across the goal line to put us up by those two scores late in the 4th quarter.

We have a team of Supermen, really.

Because that's what it took for us to win this game against the Eagles good quarterback, tough defensive front, and phenomenal offensive line. Thing is, even against that line our D-line registered six sacks and umpteen QB pressures.

But it took the efforts of our special talents at the specialty positions to ultimately take care of business, because for most of the game our O-line and Alex Smith were miserable. This was not a fun game to watch, it just wasn't.

The number of times Smith reverted to his looking, looking, looking and not throwing the ball to receivers he can make completions to and then just getting sacked was just mind-numbing. Again again again he is doing this. But then, at a crucial point in that last touchdown drive he steps back and fires a fantastic throw to Chris Conley down the sideline for a big gain. GUHHH? Why doesn't he have the confidence to make that throw more often?!!

In the end it was those big plays from our studly Superman players -- and Kareem Hunt, I mean, wow...

The crazy thing is that Alex Smith was 21 for 28. Huh. That's actually pretty good. And a couple times he scrambled or ran for important yardage. Huh. We can all go back to that old saw about how he actually managed the game well in light of the 57 times he was sacked, yeah, I guess. I guess we can say this game was a lot like a 2013 game in which we win by a few points because he just controlled things well. Okay.

Really, I shouldn't complain. Seeing Hunt do his thing -- that's better than before. Seeing receivers like Conley and Tyreek Hill out there making plays -- that's better. Seeing our defensive front anchored by people like Jones and Houston playing pretty well against a good O-line -- that's better. Seeing our D-backs hold their own in an Eric Berry-less defense, that's actually not bad at all. I mean, Eric Murray -- heroically rescuing us Chiefs fans from certain football obsession death on a number of occasions today!

So while this was a bit exasperating, we got the win and there are things we can be pleased about. It may look daunting, but when you have a team of Supermen, it'll all turn out fine in the end!
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 1 - Record: 1-0 - Part II

A lot of things to mention about this one, so let's roll. Here are my impressions in no particular order.

Eric Berry. Didn't this happen before? Berry being lost for the season in the very first game? Yeah, back in 2011, when he got smeared by some Bills blocker messing up his knee. This year it was his Achilles, and that same injury took Derrick Johnson out for the year in the first game of the season in 2014!

What is it with the Achilles? How on earth does that happen? Berry was just dancing around on the field covering Rob Gronkowski like he had all night and ::pop!:: there goes the Achilles.

The interesting thing is that in 2011, after a slow 0-3 start, the Chiefs won a few games and toughed out a 7-9 record with a pretty horrible team (we also lost Jamaal Charles early in the season), largely because our defense was not that bad and very well conditioned actually. That was one of the few good things about Todd Haley, he had our team in shape.

What will happen this year? Everyone is stunned about the Berry thing, but we do have some depth and Berry is a very strong leader in the clubhouse, that won't go away.

The offensive line. Everyone was raving about Alex Smith and Kareem Hunt and well they should. Smith was 28-35 with tons of yardage on long accurate strikes to receivers breaking open and four touchdown passes on the night. Awesome, truly awesome. I do think having Pat Mahomes right there knowing he'll be taking over some day is getting Smith to step up his game, I really think that's some of it.

Then there's Kareem Hunt, who had 148 yards rushing and a truckload more on pass receptions. It was the greatest debut performance by a running back in NFL history. Sensational, truly sensational.

But really. Taking nothing away from Smith and Hunt, it was made possible by the terrific play of our offensive line. This was and always has been a major concern of mine. This year people were saying we're good there, we're good, don't worry -- but I've still wondered.

Tonight? I was blown away, simply because Alex Smith actually had time. I mean, please, it was like night and day. You know, you do: the times we watch Alex Smith step back and get creamed in the pocket, is, well, legion. You know! Meanwhile the times we watch the opposing quarterback step back in the pocket and look around, fry an egg, read a book, take a nap before waking up and throwing the ball downfield for an easy pass completion... Errgh!

Tonight it was splendidly wonderfully gloriously different.

Alex Smith had time to go through his progressions.

That was huge, really really huge. We've always been told Smith is one of the smartest quarterbacks there is, and I've always wondered, well, how come he's really crappy at seeing those receivers break open for optimum pass completions???

A lot of it was answered tonight.

The offensive line finally gave him plenty of time to do that. Sure there were a few times he tucked it and tried to scramble away. Sure the New England defensive front played more poorly than I think a lot of people thought. Sure the whole Patriot defense looked already defeated in the 4th quarter when our offense put a 21-spot on the board.

But give credit to that offensive line for making this all happen.

Justin Houston. Justin Houston just being on the field and 100% healthy got Tom Brady scared (see my last post). If Tom Brady played scared, think about what will happen with other quarterbacks. Our defensive line was especially resilient even though I think it was a bit more soft than I wanted to see. It held strong however when it counted most, notably on two critical 4th down-and-inches stops.

Andy Reid. Just a quick shout-out to one particular thing I know we all liked really really a-lot.

The two-minute drill just before the end of the 1st half.

How great was it to see us take the ball a long way down the field with just over two minutes left to score a touchdown bringing the score from 17-7 down to just 17-14 down. It was methodical, it was mistake-free, it was robust, it was imaginative.

Oh that we might see that happen more this year, especially at the end of close postseason games to get wins.

The Patriots fans. I have no animosity towards the Patriots at all, I really don't. I know lots of people do because they're the NFL equivalent of the "super team". But if you can legitimately build a fine professional sports franchise then you should benefit from your success, more power to you. Of course, I am and always have been a big fan of the Golden State Warriors, the NBA's version of the Patriots. I'm great if they win the next 57 titles.

But then, I do want the Chiefs to be a super team also, but they must earn it, and I'm great with that. All that said, I must say that through the 4th quarter it was kind of fun to hear the silence in Gillette Stadium, behold the stunned looks on the faces of those Patriots fans, and listen to the announcers tell of how much the place resembled a morgue. It gave you a chance to enjoy the only thing you could hear, all the whoops and hollers of the Chiefs players when they scored all those touchdowns putting the game out of reach.

But then this is the curse of winning. It is indeed an odd thing. Except for the instance when they actually consummate the season and win the actual title, whenever the Warriors win a regular season game I confess it is kind of, eh, they won again, whatever. When they lose it's, Whuhh?! Are you kidding me? When the Chiefs win like they did Thursday night, it is thrilling! We weren't supposed to win.

Having a very difficult history in the postseason? Hey, right now that's great for Chiefs fans because the wins are that much more gratifying. It's devastating for Patriots fans! Right now. I'd rather be a Chiefs fan.

I'm sure there are a number of other items related to this game, this is great for now. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, and I do believe too much is made of the Patriots loss when again, they were still ahead at the start of the 4th quarter. It isn't as if they're suddenly a bad team.

And the Chiefs are not suddenly a juggernaut. They play in the very tough AFC West and we have the schedule of a division-winning team.

But it is easy to like what we saw Thursday night, and we'll see if they can get decent play from Berry's replacement and continue the vibrant enthusiasm that carried them to this win.
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 1 - Record: 1-0 - Part I

Tom Brady flinched.

You simply could not miss it. In the middle of the 2nd quarter or whenever it was, at a point when the game was still close and New England playing well enough, Tom Brady went back to pass, stood in the pocket, had plenty of time, and

He flinched.

He hunched over with a jerk, just for a second, when he heard the footsteps before straightening up again, then threw some pass -- I don't even know what happened with it, it may have been a touchdown for all I know -- but damn.

Tom Brady was scared.

Everyone saw it, right there on national television on the showcase NFL opener.

Sure enough, even behind 27-21 as the 4th quarter began, the Chiefs turned it on and took down the most dominant team of the modern day at their place.

There is so much to write about regarding this game, Kareem Hunt, wow, Alex Smith, wow, Eric Berry, wow, our overall resilience throughout the game, wow, so many other things, but I simply have to plug in a Part II later because it is late at night now and I still have work early tomorrow morning.

Anyway, whoa-hoo, what a night.
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Chiefs 2017 Preview - The "Let It Be" Post

The Chiefs will not make it to the Super Bowl this year.

I've decided that my life will be much better if I jettison something that has been a thread running through my Chiefs fan life and my Chiefs blogging here:

I expect the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl OR ELSE!

Well, how far has that gotten me? Every time I see a past year's highlight of the Chiefs doing great things all I can think is "Oh, yeah, that was the year we lost to ___ in the playoffs, so what of it?" It has gotten to the point where I cannot appreciate the great things they do, like all the wonderful plays they had last year on the way to a division title, which included sweeping all their division opponents (Den, Oak, SD).

See, that's pretty awesome. I've decided I'm going to revel in Chiefs achievements by the moment, and let it be. Very nice.

Now I understand most Chiefs fans -- or any wise mature fan for that matter -- do that anyway, I got that. And I understand everybody wants their team to win it all, there's nothing wrong with that, I got that too. I'm ohh-kay, thanks for your concern.

But the letting it be regular season approach applies most strikingly because this is the Chiefs -- one of four teams existing since the merger in 1970 to have never appeared in a Super Bowl (Jets, Lions, Browns the others). Sure they'd won the Super Bowl the season just previous to that, that's cool.

Still. This is a team that simply cannot win once it gets into the postseason. Every time they make an appearance they notoriously go through a kryptonite portal when all their weaknesses get amplified and strengths disappear. Yeah, you know. 

And they're the reverse of clutch. Sure we beat the Texans in '15 -- finally a playoff win! But we beat them 30-0 -- not complaining mind you. But since our Super Bowl win in '69 we've played ten postseason games decided by a touchdown or less and lost eight of them (the wins: Oak '91 Pit '93), including the last six such games in a row -- here they are for all the ugliness: Pit '16 (by 2) NE '15 (by 7) Ind '13 (by 1) Ind '03 (by 7) Den '97 (by 4) Ind '95 (by 3).

It is pretty standard that for a Chiefs fan to watch a close postseason game it requires experiencing maddening heart-ripping disconsolation. You know, Chiefs fan, you know.

Oh Dave WHY do you start a post about the most promising team in Chiefs history with this?

It is because I don't think this team is the most promising in Chiefs history. We all know that team is a couple years away when FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY we will have a drafted and developed quarterback running the show. You do know that this upcoming September 13 will be the 30th anniversary of the Chiefs last win from a D&D QB -- THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. All the NFL openers for this year will have been played by that date and guess what, most of the teams that won will have won with a quarterback they drafted and developed as most all of them have for the past 30 years for any game they won.

(Here's a link to the Jon Bois piece from three years ago that graphically demonstrates this abomination. I wonder what it looks like now, updated? Please note, it isn't any different for the Chiefs.) (And for those of you who don't know why this is so meaningful, who haven't beheld The Quarterback Project, here is a link to that.)

Of course a couple years from now we'll be looking for great things from D&soon-to-be-D'ed Pat Mahomes, who has looked spectacular through his crazy rawness in preseason games. But for now, we're going with non-Chiefs-D&D Alex Smith, who is famously the third winningest regular season quarterback over the past four Andy Reid years.

Yes, there are people clamoring for Pat Mahomes to start right now. Wrong wrong wrong move. He still has a ton to learn and he's been playing mostly against second string exhibition game squads. I do think he's up to learning, that's awesome, we all have seen he catches on fast and has got the tools and, you know what? -- He's shown he's got good decision-making instincts. Every Chiefs fan is excited for Pat Mahomes.

Meanwhile the love-hate relationship continues for Alex Smith. You know what it's like. 

Love - He's really smart and manages the game extraordinarily well. Hate - He won't or even can't throw the ball down the field (aren't you salivating over a good refined Pat Mahomes regularly throwing to Tyreek Hill? Ahhhhh... [note the drool at the side of my mouth]) 

Love - He proficiently executes a complicated Andy Reid offensive scheme. Hate - He loses track of receivers breaking wide-open way too often. 

Love - He's mobile as all get-out and opens things up with his legs. Hate - He doesn't go through his progressions well enough to avoid getting sacked. 

Love - He makes splendidly amazing throws in tight windows. Hate - He makes inexplicably wretched throws to wide open receivers. 

Love - He gets those quick wide-out screens going to our playmakers and they get pretty decent yardage from them. Hate - Because he can't throw the ball down the field we must run those plays far too frequently anyway, which keeps defenses crowding the line, limiting what our offense can do.

Are there more? You can probably think of a few, and no matter what there's one thing about them -- they drive you crazy. Crazy great one moment, then crazy soul-crushing the next.

Now, yeah, I know. Every team has quarterbacks like that. No, nah, they don't. Yes we can be very fortunate we've got Alex Smith, and please don't get me wrong, I do believe Smith's abilities can get us to the promised land. But there is always that thought that one time in the postseason something stupid is going to happen that'll kill us.

It's happened far too often. Whether it's Alex Smith doing something that messes us up or any typically stupid thing happens to mess us up, it's just going to happen.

At least that's the attitude. No, it isn't defeatist, it isn't fatalistic, and I'm not even going to spout that it's realistic to cover myself trying to make my skepticism more noble or anything, all I'm saying is my approach to this year is merely to enjoy what we do regular season, that's all. Just let Chiefs good things be. And I am wildly hoping that I am so wrong wrong wrong about the regular season-beyond -- please join in my rooting for me to be wrong.

As it is, what are the realistic expectation for the Chiefs 2017? Let's just look at each unit for a bit and see how Super Bowl possible each one is. While I am tempering my expectations, let's just go for broke and look at the possibilities, why not.

Quarterback. Somewhat Super Bowl possible, but then I've already elaborated on that above.

Running back. Not really Super Bowl possible. We lost Spencer Ware to injury and we cut C.J. Spiller. Everyone's thinking about how great it will be to give rookie Kareem Hunt the ball, and sure I'd love to see spectacular things from him, but, well, I have my doubts. I think the Chiefs can do some things here with De'Anthony Thomas. Last year they had Tyreek Hill run plays from the backfield and it was okay actually, they just can't get away with it too much.

Tight end. Really Super Bowl possible. Travis Kelce says it all.

Wide receivers. Mildly Super Bowl possible. That's mainly because of Tyreek, but really, still, what have other teams specifically planned for covering him when the rest of the receiving corps is just not that overwhelming? We cut Jeremy Maclin, Chris Conley is okay and in real need of a break-out year (which we're all hoping happens, for sure). I have no idea why we continue to keep Albert Wilson, he just drops too many passes. Let's hope Demarcus Robinson steps up this year or rookie Jehu Chesson shines for us.

Offensive line. Barely Super Bowl possible. I've heard that this unit is pretty good, but I'm sorry I just don't think so. It was painfully exposed in the Seattle pre-season game, and I know Seattle has a terrific defensive front, but what kind of teams do you think we're going to play in the postseason? We have serious questions at guard especially, and we even had to trade for a tackle just before the season started. They are decent with run blocking but still too inadequate for pass protection against teams with strong pass rushers -- huh, kinda like Denver, Oakland, and San Diego.

Defensive line. Pretty Super Bowl possible. This appears to be one of our strengths. We got a fine replacement for Dontari Poe in Bennie Logan. Chris Jones is a monster and we all can't wait to see him get untracked. We've got guys who can stand up lineman, and this new kid with the eye-chart name, Tanoh Kpassagnon is incredible.

Inside linebackers. Mildly Super Bowl possible. I think people are overrating our linebacking core, also. Derrick Johnson is a legend in Chiefs football, but this will be his 13th year in the league -- for a defensive player that's a lot and he's already had two season-ending achilles injuries. We've shuffled guys around trying to find the right mix. I will say Ramik Wilson has progressed, and this other new kid we drafted, another eye-chart name, Ukeme Eligwe -- he's been earning rave reviews, let's hope he can transfuse himself well into NFL play real quick.

Pass rushers. Somewhat Super Bowl possible. Just because of a healthy Justin Houston here. It'd be much more Super Bowl possible if Tamba Hali could regain his form, but he's already starting the season on the PUP list. Dee Ford still needs to prove himself, that's kind of sad but I'm great with seeing if this'll be a breakout year for him. Until he shows it we'll just have to accept where we're at with this group.

Cornerbacks. Somewhat Super Bowl possible, but again for this unit it is only because we do have a phenomenal play-maker out there, Marcus Peters. I like Steven Nelson a lot, but we've got to have a healthy Terrance Mitchell and we've got to get more consistent play from Phillip Gaines.

Safeties. Mildly Super Bowl possible. You may be saying, "Aagh! What about Eric Berry?" Yeah, I really like Eric Berry, I really do, I've said that a million times and I do mean that. He was rated the 13th best overall player among the NFL Network's top 100 as voted on by the players -- very cool. But I've got to see Berry really truly actually beat a good quarterback in a playoff game before I have any postseason confidence in the guy, sorry. And our other safeties? Daniel Sorenson, Ron Parker -- serviceable, that's fine, but really Super Bowl possible?

Special teams. Extraordinarily Super Bowl possible. This is one area that is genuinely fantastic. It earns raves from everyone everywhere and it deserves it. And it isn't just the great Tyreek Hill returns and the return game overall, but our coverage game is solid, Dustin Colquitt is a great punter (let's hope he holds up because he's in his 13th year!) and Cairo Santos is one of the most reliable kickers in the league. I know, it doesn't seem like it, but he is.

Thing is, the special teams alone won't get us to the Super Bowl. Honestly, this team overall is an upper-mid-level team with a realistically modest chance to go deep in the playoffs. I truly believe they are that kind of a team, I do, and while I never look at any preseason prediction stuff, I have heard the Chiefs are these days have routinely ranked in the upper half of any power rankings list.

That's cool, because for now, I'm just going to enjoy each game as it is -- the Super Bowl doesn't even count as far as I'm concerned.

I do like these Chiefs, so I'm just going to let it be. It'll be fun.

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The Clark Hunt Factor

I was going to title this post "The John Dorsey Factor", but really, it is all about Clark. After the extraordinarily unceremonious firing of John Dorsey everyone has been completely flummoxed. How on earth could we be losing one of the best things to happen to the Chiefs -- we had a really really really good general manager!

I did take a moment to peek around the web at some of the things people were saying about it. Indeed some were justifiably upset -- has Clark lost his mind?! -- others offered some reasons why.

The most reasonable among them was something a number of people mentioned, and something I didn't consider but that I did think about a couple of times before. Two particular players stand out as symbols of John Dorsey's dismissal.

Jeremy Maclin and Eric Berry.

Berry was intensely wooed by the Chiefs and for good reason. He's a fine safety and a phenomenal human being who inspired the entire sports world with his courageous battle not only against cancer but for returning and play football for the Kansas City Chiefs. He had a great regular season last year, making a number of game-changing stops and interceptions, all of which showed up on every highlight reel there could be.

Thing is, Dorsey signed him to a whoppingly huge contract extension the length of which goes way beyond the standard playing years of most defensive players -- especially one who has had a major life-threatening illness. Does Berry deserve it? I don't think many would say he's not one of the best defensive players in the game and a model of strength and character. I've always loved Eric Berry. Not many football fans haven't.

But that much money? And, please, I've mentioned this before, Berry has really pretty much been very subpar in the playoffs. He did do well in the Texans playoff game, but against Brian Hoyer. Otherwise, in order: Joe Flacco, Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger have all torched Berry. Sure all of those QB's are great and Berry needs his defenders to help around him, but in each one of those games Berry himself was responsible for key breakdowns. We wouldn't have won the Baltimore game, but the Indianapolis, New England, and Pittsburgh games were all close and Berry's failures definitely contributed to those losses.

Jeremy Maclin was also signed for a gargantuan contract and every Chiefs fan was thrilled. And every Chiefs fan thoroughly appreciates everything Maclin did, I mean he did do some amazing things for us on the football field. But let's face it, was he worth that much money? He was injured frequently -- no fault of his, yes, I understand, but even when healthy, was he so much of a game-changer that he was worth that much?

Now I've always been wary of huge signings and free agency, so it is reasonable for someone to think my perspective influenced by looking at things through crap-colored glasses. But you have to remember, we're talking about how much money a Jeremy Maclin is making against how much any other given player is making and what those players are doing on the football field.

Was Maclin doing more than any other given wide receiver getting paid the same or less?

Will Berry do what he's been doing for each of the next six years? And do his expected job well enough to beat the better quarterbacks in the playoffs? -- After all, really, that's what he's getting paid for.

The point is it does look a lot like John Dorsey had too many dollar signs swimming along his retina.

The counterargument, and it is a good one, is ya gotta pay to win. Dorsey was simply thinking in terms of getting winning players on the field and realizing you've got to pay them -- we needed Jeremy Maclin at the time and he took care of business. That was a very very good thing.

The problem with that is that there is a salary cap, and the reason everyone is saying "Dorsey didn't manage the cap well." And it wasn't just Maclin or Berry, though those are the most glaring examples. This is one of those nuanced aspects of general manager leadership, how do you convince a player to play for money that is just right for him, enough to keep him as a key component of your team?

Fortunately John had drafted phenomenally well. It'd be nice to see a Demarcus Robinson step in a fill Maclin's shoes. But then, this brings up a thought I had since seeing all this come down yesterday.

At the same exact time of the Dorsey firing, Andy Reid got a nice contract extension. How about that -- contract extension for Andy, pink slip for John. I'm wondering. Could it be true that the makeup of the Chiefs team is more Reid than Dorsey?

This is why this is all about Clark.

Could it be that Clark knew the team was mostly Reid's handiwork and not Dorsey's? Could it be?

I don't know, and I'm just not going to look around the web to see what some are saying to find out. Thing is, it'll all come out over the next several years. Will we all, Chiefs players especially, fully understand the reasons behind it and be on board with Chiefs success because Clark did actually do the right thing? That'll come from what we see on the field, ultimately.

You know, a few posts ago when I was pondering Chiefs blessings, I remarked about how John Dorsey was rumored to be cleaning house, and how good that made me feel. Let's get some people in there who will actually win the playoff games we should be winning!

Sure enough, the first major casualty of this semi-quasi-house-cleaning was John Dorsey himself.

Again, to switch to the rose-tinted glasses with frames inlaid with little Super Bowl trophies, let's hope we can get that general manager who can do the nuanced thing, the most important of which is to put players on the field who will pull out those clutch playoff wins.
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Now What? I Was Getting Used to Thinking the Chiefs Were Really Doing Things Where They Could Actually Win

Just picked up the news that the guy who has been most responsible for the Chiefs splendid revitalization was fired.

John Dorsey is gone.

What the ----?...

Details are still coming in, and there seems to be all kinds of conjecture about what happened. It seemed Dorsey had dispelled the considerations that he'd bolt to Green Bay -- good. It appeared he'd pulled off another spectacular draft, snatching up a quarterback everyone knew was going to be groomed for success a few years out -- good, this means John's planning to be around.

Now this.

Sorry, but this is crushing for the Chiefs. We can try to put a nice coat of the sweetest vanilla frosting over this, but it is still a rotting heap of sewage. You absolutely have to have a guy like Dorsey at the top making wise personnel decisions every single day, not just on draft days.

Sure we can hope for the best from a new GM coming in, that's fine, it's all we got right now anyway, really, so there's that. But what about the stability of a franchise that just dumped one of the very best, most respected GM's in the game? Are we really going to get someone who is just as good as John?

::Sigh::

As it is we have to really hope that Clark had a really really good reason for this that everyone will really really really understand was justified.

Really.

Because if the wholly reasonable justification and the widespread certain assurance among everyone isn't there, I truly fear for our beloved franchise, I really do. Call me melodramatic, but I've seen too much sports stuff and seen too much the critical importance of having stable and skillful front office people driving team success.

Again, here's hoping there's a reason and that we're better for it.

Right now though, it's pretty much just mourning.
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The 2017 Season Foremath (or, if you must, The Draft Aftermath)

It's easy to progress through the Chiefs draft ramifications with a post titled "The Draft Aftermath", but really, since this blog enterprise is only about game day activities, it really should be "The Season Foremath". It could even be "The Draft Foremath" because what transpired for the Kansas City Chiefs over the course of the draft was already established.

Long before last week's developments, Clark Hunt got serious about Chiefs winning by plugging in John Dorsey and Andy Reid to run things.

Those two in turn have been fastidiously building a stout, reputable organization of winning professional football in a number of ways. It has paid off with four straight winning seasons and a roster that is considered one of the deepest in the game. This has enabled Dorsey and Company to prosecute this draft like no other Chiefs brain trust ever has. A plethora of draft picks were deftly parlayed into higher picks to get stronger talent available at the top.

Now I didn't watch any of it, I never do. Again, I can't handle listening to the television commentators speak about how splendid some guy taken by another team is going to be, and then speak about how neato our guy is going to be, getting our hopes all up and later discovering he's a bust. Percy Snow, anybody?

But that was then, this is now.

John Dorsey knows what he's got, both in his coaching staff and in his own ability to find guys who can play. And while I didn't watch any of it or volitionally look at any of it except for a few peeks at Patrick Mahomes -- I couldn't help it! -- my radar picked up some and my friends and family told me about some.

Here's who I know we got, in the order of being drafted. Sorry, I don't know names, except for that first guy. A couple of them I saw were delightfully unusual, but let's just say I'm looking forward to them becoming households names, then all of us can really know them. And sorry, I don't even know who else we may have gotten last week, not even sure we had any other picks left after these guys. But these guys alone are just fine. So yeah, here they are.

QB, DE, RB, WR, LB.

That first one is that Texas Tech guy my brother said we should avoid, but I had to peek at what they said is so great about him. (Hey, a Chiefs quarterback first-round pick, yowza!) Great arm, great mobility, great confidence. Thing is aside from any of the other things that may be not-so-good, the big question is is he a good decision-maker? That's the most important thing of all, and every Chiefs fan is eager to see what Reid can do with him and trust that John did enough of his homework to trade up to No. 10 overall to get him.

Whatever the case, I trust John. Don't give a rip about the expense (a 3rd this year and our ::gulp:: No. 1 next year), if this guy will take us to the promised land this deal was pretty cheap actually.

I think I saw that the DE is 6'7", something like that? To firm up the D-line with a pick that high -- I like it. (Update: my brother just texted me saying he saw this guy play in person when Villanova played his team, James Madison. Said he was freakishly athletic. We'll take it.)

We traded up to get the running back too, and I've been getting the idea running backs are too costly in the first couple rounds, but are at a premium there in the 3rd. If this rule holds, we scored big here too. The WR we got had a terrific year in 2015 but not in 2016 -- those guys can be real finds because I'd always heard if you can see a guy do something amazing once he can do it again. A work colleague told me about this LB -- he said he is a big, fast, phenomenally relentless guy who comes from a small college, a factor that may have scared away other takers.

I don't know about you, but John and these five guys, all of them not only solid but filling needs -- add them to the team we already have -- I'm great with that.

I was also informed a little while ago that the Chiefs open the NFL season against the Patriots in Foxboro on national television, Thursday Night Football. I'd been told that we should be afraid, be very afraid. Eh, no doubt the Patriots are a historically great team, but I really like John and Andy.

And that we're picked to play in the inaugural showcase game of the season, against the Super Bowl champs? Some people must be noticing too.

There is no question every Chiefs fan is thrilled beyond ecstasy that a Chiefs GM would actually have not only the ferocious ganas to trade up so brazenly on draft days, but to back it up with a record of getting the best players in the draft and outside of it.

All of the culminates in another of the most important items in "The Season Foremath". I happened to catch that getting Mahomes to run the offense over the course of the next several years may be a major indicator that Dorsey and Reid are here to stay for a while.

Oh that that would happen.

That means this not only comprises "The Season Foremath", but the "The Chiefs Dynasty Foremath".

I can't wait until September 7th.
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