Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part VII

Well how about that.

Another red jersey team won a big-4 professional sports team championship.

Last night the Toronto Raptors concluded a 4-2 NBA Finals run against the dynastic Golden State Warriors, sure enough wearing their bright red jerseys. They almost looked like the home team Chiefs out there. This coupled with the Washington Capitals win on the NHL hockey ice last year, and we've got a string of red jersey champions going.

The one for the Chiefs is coming up next!

It is quite obvious the excitement for Chiefs success this season is the most pronounced as it ever has been, and it isn't just because we wear red too. The Raptors demonstrated in this series that they were a very good team. Kawhi Leonard was unstoppable. Their two guards shot the lights out. They also had the length and size in the paint to disrupt the Warriors vaunted passing game.

It looks just as bright for the Chiefs this season. No one can deny that the Chiefs have assembled a very good team, and while anything can happen to a professional sports team in any given game, the likelihood you'll be successful comes with having the goods to begin with. This is why even with properly tempered expectations -- easy, Chiefs fans, easy -- there is no reason we shouldn't be as optimistic as we are.

As for these slow days of early summer, things are indeed looking good, here in recent OTA and minicamp activity. My work colleague came in and shared that the Chiefs are taking care of business, locking up everyone they need to ensure there are no meddlesome contract issues. I did see that they inked kicker Harrison Butker for five years, great move. He is so good he could have slipped away after next year -- why worry about it? Let's keep him. I do know they haven't inked Chris Jones to that hefty long-term deal, but we're all confident Brett will get that done soon.

The main concern, though, is again, the Tyreek Hill situation. He is still prohibited from engaging in any Chiefs activities, and yet the NFL and the Chiefs have got to make a decision soon about his status. Official training camp is just around the corner, and it is imperative Hill be out there for that.

What is so aggravating is that so many things are coming out that indicate that, really, there is no reason to further keep him off the practice field, and no justification for even any penalty. Since the last time we bantered about all of this, it was revealed that not only has the case been closed for some time now, but the police have stated they firmly believe Hill did not injure his child. That is quite an admission. There has also been evidence that Hill's girlfriend is a bit unbalanced, and yeah, while we all wonder why he has still had any relationship with her, having a crazy girlfriend is not a crime. And yes, she is the mother of his child, so the priority here is to see that they are getting the help they need to manage their lives and especially the life of their boy.

There is word that the NFL and the Chiefs are holding out because they want to see what the child services office concludes to resolve their situation, yet I can't help but think of the other reason they are refraining from taking care of business and confidently proclaiming to all that there really is no reason to keep Hill from playing football with the Chiefs this year. It is simply that

The TMZ-presided court of public opinion is one massively ugly bastard.

Really, please. Tell me I'm wrong about this, really. The NFL and the Chiefs are so afraid that if they were to allow Hill on the practice field -- no penalty, no suspension, no anything -- they fear there'll be some number of ding-dong Keith Olbermann-types who'll summarily screech so loudly about how misogynist or insensitive or dismissive or outright criminal the NFL or the Chiefs are, that they believe they may lose some substantial measure of support. Especially because the Chiefs do not have the protections of a big-market, media-darling team, they feel susceptible to the consequences of these rabid virtue signaling pundits seducing so many to believe the Chiefs organization is somehow more evil than anyone else.

For every day the NFL and the Chiefs do not get their top personnel up on that podium to make the announcement regarding their plans for Tyreek and the truth that backs their actions -- extraordinarily confident because again there is nothing he's done for which they can justifiably punish him (again again, sounding like a creep in a phone conversation is simply not a crime) -- for every day they do not stand by Hill, it is another day you wonder how much courage they have to stand up for what is right and true. If they do end up giving him some penalty -- or worse, dismissing him from the team -- it will be very sad, because it will prove that they've bent over backwards to appease those few in the jeering crowd.

We'll see. Still waiting...
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part VI

Couple of quick hits.

Let's get the ugly out of the way first. The Tyreek Hill situation is still in a holding pattern, with only the fact that at this moment Hill is not involved in any Chiefs activities. In the meantime everyone with an interest in the Chiefs or the American professional football world is spitting up their thoughts about it all.

I've seen the ghastliest tomes about how evil the Chiefs are for this. Yes, pundits who think they have an ounce of intelligence or integrity are blaming the Chiefs. Please. How many NFL teams have a few miscreants on them, individuals who'd be just as easily skewered by the court of public opinion if their gruesome peccadillos were put on full display. I'd say, ohhh, every team.

This is not in any way to excuse anything Hill has done or may have done. What we know he has done? Had a viciously nasty conversation with his girlfriend recorded by someone then broadcast by some television station. What may he have done? Wounded his small child, yes, we're all aware of that. But the fact is we don't know that.

These idiot sportswriters spout about how the Chiefs or whoever are so blameworthy when, here's the bottom line: If you commit a crime you should go to prison. The investigators in the Hill incident simply do not have enough evidence to prosecute, so then what? The NFL is not the government. It is an entertainment enterprise seeking to put at least slightly respectable men on a field to throw a ball around. I hear so often how "The NFL must do this" or "The NFL must do that." How about prosecutors just do their jobs, and if there is enough evidence, then let a jury of one's peers decide? Not you, not me, not some bozo who somehow gets to have his brainless plap put on the web, not TMZ, not some NFL PR expert. Let's let presumption of innocence prevail, something we all value.

To protect its image, really, the NFL may do whatever it wants to with Hill. They certainly should suspend him for some time, they could even ban him from the league for life. That's their full prerogative. My preference is that they suspend him and have him make firm commitments to counseling and something measurably positive for him, the mother, and the boy. Give him a chance to demonstrate he can be a decent person and maintain his livelihood in pro football.

Just don't be unjust. Just don't force the Chiefs to cut him so they can be made to look holier-than-any-other-NFL-franchise then watch him zip off to sign with someone else, like what happened with Kareem Hunt. That's just wrong, and for all that I loathe about the NFL, it is looking like they may move towards doing something more reasonable with Hill.

Meanwhile, I haven't put in a post about the draft picks we got. As I'd already noted with a distinctive measure of pessimism, the instant the Chiefs selected Mecole Hardman with their first pick we all knew it was insurance in case the Hill predicament eventually goes really sideways.

By far our best pickup, though, is Juan Thornhill, who was a top-50 prospect dropping to us at 63. He is that fine true-free safety we need to fill the void left by Eric Berry.

Sure enough, as much as I don't want to see this stuff (my fears about an excruciatingly disappointing 1998 rerun) it seems everyone and his uncle are putting the Chiefs at the top of their power rankings. The latest was uber-NFL'er Peter King of SI ranking the Chiefs the best. Yes, I do keep my expectations in check, very much so. ::Pant - pant - pant ...::

But yeah. I can't deny that the excitement of this season is quite enjoyable. It isn't just the anticipation to see what Patrick Mahomes does this year, but it is the enthusiasm over the authentic hopes for a blistering defense that has been completely rebuilt, top-to-bottom. The "rebuilding" part can be scary, but Brett Veach has really done some heavy lifting and brought in some quality players -- Tyrann Mathieu and Frank Clark the headliners. It is interesting that this Chiefs defense looks absolutely nothing like it did just two years ago.

The question is, can they gel? That is the key for any NFL team, you've really got to have guys who've worked together for a bit and have the system down. I'd like to think that being the pros that they are, and under the fine coaching led by Andy Reid and our new very respected D-coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, we should be okay.

Here's to more fun Chiefs preview posts!
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part V

Just a couple days ago I got to write another happy blog post about our delightfully positive Chiefs future.

Now I've got to get a bit more into the therapy. I don't feel real good about what I'd been hearing about this Tyreek Hill situation. My work colleague who knows I like the Chiefs came in and told me yesterday that official government people said they didn't have enough to do anything to Tyreek for child abuse. ::Whew:: breathe a sigh of relief.

I didn't know anything about this announcement because as you know I go out of my way to avoid looking at too much Chiefs stuff -- it is just too gut wrenching far too often. Even the Frank Clark acquisition had me feeling that euphoria two days ago, yet yesterday feeling a bit of dejection thinking about when we picked up Chester McGlockton in 1998 after a 13-3 season. I thought "We're going to go undefeated now!" Sure enough we started out splendidly, then slammed into a wall. ::Sigh:: endure more ponderment. Yeah, this year feels different, but I know I can't get too excited. This is the NFL. Right now they're all drafting, building their teams for the future, and the Chiefs haven't got a 1st round pick.

Anyway, after hearing this fine Tyreek Hill quasi-exoneration news, I peeked around today at bit at Chiefs stuff and saw that some television station released a recorded phone conversation between Tyreek and his girl (wife? fiancee?) -- the mother of his 3-year-old boy. The conversation is not flattering, full of vulgarities and vitriol about what happened to the boy and what kind of discipline is or isn't employed.

Apparently the investigators couldn't charge anyone with a crime because they just weren't sure whether Tyreek or his girl did wrong here. Thing is, here we go again with the TMZ-like news organization splashing the "evidence" in everyone's faces so Tyreek may be found guilty in the court of public opinion. It is ugly, just ugly.

I honestly don't think he is long for the Chiefs. I really hope I'm wrong and this is different, but I really feel we're watching yet another Kareem Hunt episode unfold before us, yet again putting the hurt on our team. And yet again I wonder: if what Tyreek Hill was so bad that he's dismissed from the team, will it be so bad that he shouldn't be in pro football again? If so that's perfectly just. Legitimate child abusers should be in prison. Or if what he did isn't so bad, or merely that he can't justifiably be prosecuted even if he's not looking so great here, why can't he just be cool on the Chiefs without all the horrific aspersions blasted from these TMZ operations?

Instead I still wonder: will all this result in yet another fine player being dismissed from the team, then being suspended for a few games by the NFL, then being allowed to sign with some other team? This is what is so unjust. This is just part of the stultifying aggravation the Chiefs Kingdom has all the time with the NFL and whatever other powers that make these kinds of things happen.

The ironically crazy thing is that another bit of nifty Chiefs news came out just now: Patrick Mahomes is the newest coverboy of Madden. This is not surprising, but everyone is naturally thinking about how jinxable that honor is. I don't believe any of that hokum. I do however know how much the NFL et al do do things that derail sustained Chiefs success. I've written tons about it. And I'm not just picking on the NFL. I pick on the Chiefs themselves just as much, or any guilty party even if it's Tyreek, or Kareem, or even Clark.

In fact, just one more thing -- we do pick in the 2nd round tomorrow. I've heard whispers that we're going after one of those fine wide receivers that I'm told could easily drop into our laps. I can't say I don't wonder about why exactly they'd be considering doing that. Hmm.

The extraordinarily extended Chiefs 2019 Preview -- just so much to get into this year.
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part IV

Brett Veach is again making major waves in the Chiefs Kingdom. You can't help but love this guy.

We were stuck there at Pick No. 29 in this year's draft, and what little I've seen it's all, "Will that guy still be there? With this other guy still be there?" Veach has done his due diligence with free agency, picking up critical components of a revamped defense so he's free to take the best player available. Awesome stuff.

Well, today, two days before the first day of the draft, Veach went ahead and snatched the best player available. He traded that No. 1 pick and next year's No. 2 to the Seahawks for standout defensive end Frank Clark.

One of the reasons people have criticized the move is that Clark has a history. Oh wow, is this touchy, what with the Kareem Hunt affair and the still unresolved Tyreek Hill situation. There is so much to all of this, but here's how I look at it.

I look at what Al Davis did. Yes, the reviled Oakland Raiders Al Davis. I'm not even saying any of these Chiefs players are bad in some way, simply because I don't know them -- I'm only hearing it from others. But when Al Davis was in his prime, you know, late 70s, early 80s, he found diamonds in the rough who were, well, very rough. Many Raiders players had reputations, and not as choir boys.

But they were the fiercest competitors who played for a team that embraced them.

And they won three Super Bowls from 1976 to 1983.

I'm all for the Chiefs organization being so respected from top to bottom that supposed rebels can find home and family here. I'm thrilled like crazy to see Brett Veach doing the Al Davis thing, welcoming these guys into the glory of a fine organization and sharing with them how meaningful Kingdom pride is.

I know many are worried we're not going to get that first-round cornerback we need. Eh. I kind of like what we've got in Kendall Fuller, Bashaud Breeland, and Charvarius Ward. We've been retooling that front four to mold new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's 4-3 and make those D-backs' jobs a bit easier.

Not to mention, please, let's give our new kids, now with some fine experience under their belts, a chance to shine. Derrick Nnadi worked his way into a starter last year. Armani Watts was playing somewhat regularly before he was hurt. Dorian O'Daniel showed amazing skill on a number of stops. And nothing has shown that Breeland Speaks can't continue to improve and ultimately be a real gamer.

It was imperative this off-season that Veach do some major, and we all know, major retooling -- this defense will look nothing like it did last year.

The Frank Clark acquisition means yet another extended preview post for a team that Brett Veach at least believes can win it all this year. It is all extraordinarily fun right now, that is for sure.
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part III

Since free agency signings have started in full I thought it'd be worth a good, wholesome, positive post. I do acknowledge that too often I speak of the most troubling aspects of our prospects, but I promise, nothing in this post about the daft NFL, past playoff horrors, or the bane that is free agency on principle.

The irony is that we're looking good with free agency so far this year, and what a joy it is to have Brett Veach in there taking care of business. The future is now, and the best news so far is we snapped up premier safety Tyrann Mathieu to shore up the defense. I was really surprised, not even knowing this guy was available in the mix. I mean I'd heard rumblings of Landon Collins, Earl Thomas, and a handful of other players, but this pick-up -- extraordinarily sweet.

Just a couple days ago we got Carlos Hyde, and wow, that was a very nice surprise too. I'd known he'd been the main back for the 49ers for a while, and it seemed like Veach was fastidiously looking around at the release wire and thrilled to see Hyde there, he jumped all over that. I really like what we've got at running back, especially looking for more good things from Darrel Williams. Now with Hyde in the mix we should be set.

Very sad to see Justin Houston go. It'd be nice if the Chiefs could get him back for way less money, but it's likely another team will take him. Here's to seeing if we can get something good for Dee Ford, or if not to see if Ford can find his place in our new defense. It'll be even better to see Veach masterfully fill out that defense in the draft.

It is awesome to watch Veach do his thing up there.
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part II

Have you and your Chiefs fan cohorts ever talked about which playoff loss was the most painful? Was it either of the worst Dolphins games, '71 or '90? Was it any of those wretched Colts games, '95, '03, '13? How about that horrific Broncos game from '97? Steelers '16? Titans '17? These are the worst, really -- so many of them. 

Do you remember that splendid regular season-nightmare of a postseason Chiefs '90s decade? We were in the playoffs on seven different occasions in those ten years, and won a grand total of three playoff games. We had a better regular season record that decade than the Dallas Cowboys -- the team that originally formed specifically to put a Texas-sized hurt on Lamar Hunt simply for wanting to have a pro football team -- and the Cowboys won three Super Bowls over that time.

No one should ever have to endure a decade like that. It is unlikely any team could, it is really hard to have such good regular season records yet have so many one-and-outs.

Well, the Chiefs are about to have another decade just like that one, again. In case you haven't noticed, so far in this decade we've made the playoffs six times and won a grand total of two playoff games, at this point a worse ratio playoff-appearances-to-playoff wins than in the '90s.

This doesn't just happen.

So again, assuming we're merely a hard-luck tough-breaks snake-bitten NFL franchise: which playoff loss do you consider the most wrenchingly heartbreaking? I've thought about it sometimes, and gone back and forth between this one and that one, and realized something, really.

No, the worst one is always the last one we had.

Always. Every time.

You see, after a bad playoff loss you agonize (mostly unnecessarily) about it over the course the off-season (aren't we used to that), then there is another fine Chiefs regular season (most times) to make you forget about it and you say to yourself, "We've got this this time!" We get to enjoy a spectacular season very much like this past 2018 affair -- definitely one of the best ever, certainly -- then...

The heartbreak.

So yeah, that AFC Championship debacle is now the worst playoff loss we've ever endured. And you know? When you look at the horrific officiating calls impacting our game yet again, I do believe the case can be made objectively it was one of the worst.

I've mentioned that neutral zone penalty on Dee Ford more times than anyone, but I thought about another rotten consequence of that event. I discovered it watching just a couple plays of this new Alliance of American Football thing. I tuned in for a bit doing some down-time channel surfing and sure enough, as the teams lined up for a play one of the defensive linemen was lined up in the neutral zone. The play went off, and as usual, no flag.

So yeah, now guess what? Guess what's going to happen this upcoming NFL season every single time, among the dozens of times I see anyone lined up in the neutral zone, the play continues unabated?

Every single freakin' time I'm going to be going,

"There's another player lined up in the neutral zone -- yep -- there he is, way over the line, annnd, no flag. That's nice." 

Once again I don't care that it's not called. Let the game go on. It just isn't that big a deal. Don't stop the game all the time for that. If anything have the line judges give the players some help. Tell them to scoot back a bit -- I'm sure they do that all the time anyway.

Just don't call it on us costing us a legitimate chance to win the biggest game of the season, one of the biggest in the history of the franchise, when officials themselves like to boast that they are all about not being the ones deciding games. Please.

The NFL's disdain for the Kansas City Chiefs extended into the signing of Kareem Hunt by the Cleveland Browns last week. It was indeed bound to happen, we all know, but it doesn't make it any better. Again, the NFL should have taken care of business back in February of 2018 when there were all those issues they needed to address, and then ensure Hunt do all the apologizing and make all the amends and start all the counseling and all that. Because of the NFL's brazen ineptitude and borderline duplicity the Chiefs were pressured and forced to release a franchise-caliber running back.

Once again, I've shared this before, but it bears repeating: if what Hunt did was so egregious, he should be out of football, permanently. Why isn't he, NFL? You dropped the ball on that one, or better, you dropped the Chiefs. If what Hunt did wasn't so bad, why isn't he still on the Chiefs? Why is he now helping win games for another team? You screwed us there too, NFL.

Taking nothing away from Damien Williams, I think he did great. Taking nothing away from Clark Hunt, I think sending a message that the Kansas City Chiefs organization is a top-notch above-board enterprise instilled a deeper sense of pride in the Kingdom. Taking nothing away from Brett Veach, I think our fine GM, maybe even picking up someone like Le'Veon Bell, will take care of business wonderfully.

But a colleague of mine who's pretty keen to NFL things told me he felt if the Chiefs had Kareem Hunt, we don't lose that AFC Championship game. He may be right. I just think if the NFL didn't have it in for this awesome Kingdom-strong entity The Kansas City Chiefs, that we'd not only be celebrating a Super Bowl Championship right now, but we may very well have at least a couple more trophies in glass cases showcased at Arrowhead.

And I just think, forgive me, uggh, what will happen in 2019 when a rejuvenated 9-7 Browns team comes to face the 15-1 Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional playoff game, and the Browns just go off with Kareem Hunt and... ::shudder:: ...That'll be seven playoff appearances -- again, just as in the 1990s -- yet this time a scant two playoff wins total for the decade of the 2010s.

Why do I write about all this stuff, above and beyond my perhaps, granted, too-obsessive passion for the Chiefs? Why do I continue to put this stuff into my blog when, my word, damn, WE GOT PATRICK MAHOMES DANG-IT! It is because, honestly, I'd love to see a bit more fight from the Kingdom. I'd like to see a bit more than just "Oh well." "Yeah that was ugly but so." "They bested us again wait until next year." "Stop your whining." "We lost so get over it." "Don't complain so much we had a good year." "Don't be such a conspiracy nut."

I'm sorry, but I happened to see New Orleans fans really fight for their team when they got robbed in the NFC Championship game. Banners and signs were up everywhere. There were people urging a boycott. Some were suing the NFL. Many even insisted the commissioner kick in Rule 17, Article 2, Section 1 to simply change the score to reflect what should have been or to replay the game after the point when the foul should have been called.

Sorry, I love the Kingdom, but, ahem, where were all the Chiefs stakeholders doing the same for their team?

Again, I'm not in any way advocating for any special privileges. Don't try to make up for calls (as they did against the Rams in the Super Bowl -- everyone knows that the officials did that!) Just get the calls right, and for that matter help make that happen by putting two officials in the booth with television monitors and original call ability.

How many people in the Kingdom, indeed people who have any interest in the integrity of pro football, are calling for this plain, simple, obvious solution?

::Sigh::

It's time to close this preview -- and yes, this is still a sort of a preview because yet again the one key thing that would keep this now juggernaut of a team from winning next year is, yet again, another crazy-ass stupid NFL-propelled thing that destroys the Chiefs. Will that happen next year?

Well, Patrick Mahomes is indeed one thing that may very well keep that from happening. Awesome. So to add the positive to this post, I was looking up the latest from Jon Bois over at SB Nation, see what he was up to, and I found this.

"Patrick Mahomes was not meant for our stupid little television sets."

It is worth looking at. Check it out -- take your time, savor it -- it is a tremendous amount of fun. Just the idea that a standard-width television is not big enough to capture the size of Mahomes' contribution to pro football excellence. Bois comes up with the most amazing sports things, and yes, he's a Chiefs fan.

So as we get ready for the next delightful agony-eliminating regular season, we can now still revel in the amazing exploits of our future Super Bowl championship field general.
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part I

How awesome is this. How fun it is to legitimately begin previewing the 2019 season merely one day after the 2018 season ends, what with all the authentically exciting hopes and dreams all in the Chiefs Kingdom have for the future. There will certainly be a few more "Season Preview Posts" to come through the year, they're already flying through the cyberwaves from many Kingdom web locations. Why wait until August!

A couple of splendid Chiefs items for now.

First, what a ding-dong operation this NFL is. Everyone everywhere knew the showcase event should have been the Chiefs-Saints in the Super Bowl. Both teams are much more exciting than the Patriots-Rams, and yesterday's dud of a game proved it. The punt-a-thon earned some of the lowest ratings ever, yet this featured two of the largest media-darling markets in the nation. To the Patriots credit, Bill Belichick is a genius defensive game-planner, give him his due. Add to this the Rams offense being so unimaginatively stale -- no wonder the game was pathetic.

The NFL just doesn't get it. The whole tenor of the championship games was to get the Patriots and Rams in the big game, but the NFL is so tone deaf that they even went out of their way, mostly though the influential officiating, to get that Pats-Rams matchup. I know I've beaten this issue to death, but I can't help it.

All they had to do was make the calls the way they should have been made. For both the Saints and the Chiefs. This is why again, I'm hoping like crazy they get those two officials in the booth with monitors to just help get those calls correct, period. Maybe they will do that now, here's to hoping.

As it was, the pitiful ratings for a Super Bowl wasn't just because of the game itself. The NFL doesn't seem to realize that often those large markets are made up of millions of fair-weather fans who have so many other things to do than sit around in front of what was destined to be a bore. Sure it's great to have your team in the Super Bowl every other year for 18 years, but Patriots fans and those tired of seeing them there just don't stay tuned in. Now I don't think for two seconds that reality should have had an impact on influencing the Chiefs to be there, remember, they would have been there anyway if the officiating was just plain genuinely on-the-level.

The Rams for their part have a million fans who simply are not sold on this team since it left Los Angeles twice, once for Anaheim, and then from the area altogether to St. Louis. They only very recently returned, and I'm sure many think they got into the Super Bowl (1) because they lucked out on a non-call that if called would have had them all watching the Saints in the Super Bowl instead, and (2) the NFL angled to get them in to re-sell the team for Angelenos so their spectacularly expensive stadium will pay off, as well as to rake in the future earnings for the NFL from all of that. I think some fans are kinda put off by the reality that the Rams don't care as much about them as they do about the financial largesse the rich-and-powerful will receive from it all.

I'm not saying at all that the fans of either team were apologizing for their participation, by any means, it is just they knew. They still knew. I live in the Los Angeles area myself and I could tell, they knew.

Yes I don't mind confessing I do look at the Chiefs with the thickest ruby-red rose-colored glasses, but I honestly think objectively: the Chiefs are different. The Kingdom is different. You could say people may just start getting on board with it, sensing our team starting to become the media darling so many others have been, seriously considering that we'll finally get our breaks. Perish the thought. I would enjoy the Chiefs having a following as big as a Packers or a Steelers, but I want our wins to come because we've earned them -- do us no favors NFL and your slanted officiating.

Just make the calls right wherever they are made. That's all, just not too much to ask. If anything, sure, we definitely deserve to have that privilege in light of the past history of ridiculously inane postseason incidences far too often related to the exasperating officiating. Don't even refuse to further mess with Chiefs things just because we're the latest ratings inflators.

Just leave us alone. Yes you've got a team here now that'll earn the NFL tons of respect and attention and moola. But leave us be, let us make this happen, we're good to go.

We got this.

I mostly just wanted to share here these two items. This one is about the sheer numbers of those expressing their sentiments through social media what we all knew so well -- Pats-Rams paled in comparison to what we would have enjoyed if it was Mahomes vs. Brees. What a disappointment -- thanks a lot NFL.

Then there was this one, a delightful narrative of the game that should have been. How awesome is this. Savor it slowly -- you can easily see in your mind precisely all the splendor as it would have been. Yes, the author does have the Chiefs losing, but at least they participate in something incredibly amazing that everyone would've immensely cherished.

I can't neglect to include a note about Johnny Robinson getting into the Hall of Fame. Outstanding. Yes, Tony Gonzalez got in too, and that is just as marvelous, but we all knew that was going to happen. Robinson's induction means the Chiefs defense from the '69 championship team now has six Hall-of-Famers enshrined. Six. This rivals the great Packers defense of the '60s, the great Steelers defense of the '70s, and I don't think any others come close.

I have to add that major pro football chronicler and avid Chiefs fan Michael MacCambridge finally gave in and completed his work on those '69 Chiefs. I am so looking forward to its availability in October, right in the middle of the season marking the 50th anniversary of that momentous pro football season.

Real quick, too, was this. From the riveting present, to the glorious past, closing with the inspiring just-recent. Patrick Mahomes getting the MVP award Saturday night. Watching him give his speech, thanking God, acknowledging his teammates, Brett Veach, the organization, the Kingdom, and doing it with that boyish enthusiasm, wow --

That's much of the fun we get to enjoy through this year of wonderful anticipation for 2019.

Let's roll!
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2019 Starts Today - Let's Roll!

Patrick Mahomes and a bunch of Chiefs are playing in the Pro Bowl right now. I'm not watching it, but I know, because my wife had the game on for a bit, that Mahomes threw a touchdown pass. Anthony Sherman even scored a touchdown. Wow.

Kansas City Chiefs players again doing marvelously in the Pro Bowl. Neat.

They're just not doing it in the Super Bowl -- again.

It is, however, a new day for our Kansas City footballers. And I must say I really like how buoyed the Kingdom is about our prospects. They are indeed very bright. I noted that they interviewed Mahomes at some point this past week and while it was tempting to watch, I didn't. I'd bet he said things like "Tom Brady is a fine quarterback I want to be as successful as him someday," and "Our team has a lot of promise we're all excited," and "We're all dedicated to working hard and improving and we'll get there," and "I like being here at the Pro Bowl this is fun." All good fun fine nice terrific things indeed.

I myself have done the standard yearly grieving about the yet-another crazy-ass stupid loss last Sunday, but I must say in speaking with the dozen or so people who know I'm a Chiefs fan it has been way better than at any other time. Everyone knows we've got a franchise-caliber drafted-and-developed quarterback to go with an extraordinarily well-stocked arsenal of weapons, and we all smile when we speak about the Chiefs. That is awesome, and we all know it -- we've all been able to enjoy that.

This is why right now, after the grieving, we can start to enjoy our legitimate Super Bowl potential right now, and truly revel in it for the entire year.

While that is a wonderful thing indeed, I can't neglect to add this one thing, something I wrote about at length at Arrowhead Pride. It is that it'd be really nice if the NFL actually did the one thing that would keep what happened to the Chiefs and what happened to the Saints from happening ever again. That thing is:

Get two officials in the booth with monitors and original play-calling ability including making calls related to penalties.

Thing is, while I do respect the people who honored me by making comments in that piece, not one of them addressed this main idea. Instead I pretty much got the typical, "You lost, deal with it," or "It's just a game," or "Stop being such a downer." This is just a very small sample, but I wonder: where were the thoughts on the solution? What do people think about that? Are there simply too many people who get caught up in the weeds before addressing the problem? Did anyone actually see what I actually said in the piece?

Yes, the truth of the NFL's duplicity, the officiating ineptitude (or even flat-out duplicity itself), and the conspiracy of large market complicity are all veritable realities. Are there just too many who respond by bleating, "Goodell makes lots of money so what're you going to do," and "The calls all even out" (no, they don't, and Chiefs fans know it too well), and "You're just a tin-foil hat-wearing conspiracy nut."

Except that I have offered the solution, it is right there, and it is extraordinarily reasonable. So what do you think? Why aren't more people talking about it? Why aren't more people on board with it? Why isn't the NFL seriously considering it? I'll spell it out again in bold so there is no mistaking it.

Get two officials in the booth with monitors and original play-calling ability including making calls related to penalties.

People may say it will take too long, they'll makes calls on too many things, too many ticky-tack incidents will be addressed, it'll slow the game down. I really don't think so. To be honest I think the only disadvantage is that the on-field refs may feel inadequate and inadvertently miss calls for fear of too often being overturned by guys in the booth.

The problem is that can still happen with the system we have now. How about we make it so we all get the right call? That's the biggest advantage.

It also removes the whole idiotic "red flag" component, when a coach is the one who has to miraculously divine things to make the call. Often an offense will know their receiver may not have actually made a catch, so they rush to the line to run a play before the coach can throw that red flag. This is just plain stupid.

They already have booth reviews of plays in the last two minutes of each half. Please, once again, how about doing it all the time and include all the things they say shouldn't be included, especially penalties.

Yes, right now I'm psyched about this upcoming football season -- every Chiefs fan is. It is truly delightful, it really is, an entire year of enjoying our future Super Bowl prowess, it'll be fun.

But I'm telling you, I'd like it a lot more if I knew Roger Goodell and the NFL, the officials, and the big-market powers-that-be are a lot less likely to derail our definitively legitimate shot at championship glory. If during the Mahomes tenure a team should overcome us any time and they do it fair and square, fine, I'm never against that, more kudos to them.

But let's make it truly fair.

Will the NFL do that? I don't know, as it is it seems that as everyone is quite excited about the Chiefs next year, could it be possible that the Chiefs are themselves becoming, ::gulp:: a media darling themselves? Sure it's justified when you've got a quarterback like the one we have. But I don't even want any of that to unduly influence or affect what we do legitimately on the football field to win.

Are Chiefs fans as passionate about that, as much as the Saints fans were justifiably livid about the call that went against them? Seems to me New Orleans really went to the mat over their blown call -- but I heard barely anything about the blown call against the Chiefs. It seemed it was all just, "Well I think Dee Ford was offside so, oh well." I'd even heard some Saints fans of some stature ask Roger Goodell to employ Rule 17 Section 2 Article 1 allowing the commissioner to change the game outcome. That, by the way, would be dumb-- the game is done, bad call and all. But what if Goodell actually did that?

Would he have then changed the outcome of the Chiefs game as well?

As much as that'd be cool for Chiefs things -- no. What's done is done.

Thing is...

Are there enough in the Chiefs Kingdom -- indeed throughout the professional football world -- to stand up for our team and what is right and fair for every team in the future?

We can, right now, by insisting the new Chiefs/Saints Officiating Reform Procedure be implemented for 2019.

Get those officials in the booth and doing what's right and correct on the field.

On the other hand... Yes! I do agree! Let's have a Chiefs squad that is so phenomenally good we scorch through the postseason in 2019! No worries about any officiating! Leave no doubt! Let's do that! So for next season and beyond...

Let's roll!
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Patriots at Chiefs - AFC Championship Game

Thank you, Lord, for this team.

Thank you, Lord, for the season that this has been.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with enjoying the Chiefs Kingdom like we've been able to this year.

That's it. It really is. I do feel a great measure of gratitude right now, very richly so. I'm reveling in everything God has blessed us to enjoy with the team right now, and every member of the Kingdom really should be as well.

It does seem, however, like the Lord somehow, someway does favor the Patriots because of all the crazy ways they pull out wins. Taking nothing away from this team, they are indeed a phenomenally coached, finely disciplined, exceptionally skilled team.

But ya know? It can't be denied.

That crazy-ass stupid thing did happen to us in this game.

As I've said a million times before, against the Patriots the only way we were going to win is for that thing not to happen. I could point out how in one of the key Patriots touchdown drives, Chris Jones was called for a roughing the passer call when it totally wasn't, giving the Patriots new life. I could point out how on the same drive their receiver was gifted a pass reception that was unquestionably a very favorable interpretation for the Patriots. There may be one you can think of that was particularly notable.

But the key crazy-ass stupid thing to happen to us was when Charvarius Ward intercepted a Tom Brady pass to seal the game. We won. We had this game won right there. We run out the clock, it's all good!

Except Dee Ford was offside.

Now he may have been legitimately offside, I'm not against the call, even though I see guys just about that much offside all the time, and it is just never called. As legitimate as it may have been...

It doesn't make it any less the exact kind of crazy-ass stupid thing that gets the Patriots win after win after win after win after win after win after win in the postseason.

Another one was simply losing the coin toss in overtime. I thought a while back after winning the first, like, nine I think, coin tosses to start the season, that... well... The Patriots won this one and sure enough, just like they did in the Super Bowl two years ago, they stormed right down the field to score the game-winning touchdown. Thuh end.

And then you've got, yes, yet again for the Super Bowl, a big-market media-darling team against another big-market media-darling team. Hmm, Boston vs. Los Angeles, didn't we see this once before, like in October? Hmm. Not going to go into all the conspiracy stuff right now. Yeah, I still see it, feel the effects of it very deeply. (Oh, and how about that blatant non-call in the Saints-Rams game that essentially handed the game to the Rams, you know the one, everyone saw it -- umm, except the refs. What was it that I've been saying about adding two officials in the booth with the capacity to make calls to the field? Huh?...)

Here's the thing, though, don't lose sight of this.

We've got a real future.

Not going to review it, but just look at this last post from the Colts game.

Of course a lot of it is Patrick Mahomes, but this very tough loss is actually a very good thing for him. He learned a lot, very early. I don't know how much of an impact it would have made, but he ran himself out of a field goal late in the 1st half and we got no points. Would we have won 34-31 in regulation? Don't know.

But now he knows, and he is such a gamer, he is chompin' at the bit to be back out there right now.

And it isn't just Patrick, it's the entire Kingdom. Don't worry, Brett will be taking care of business and getting those key additions -- that is a very good thing to look forward to.

So yeah, I'm ready for next year already.

In the meantime, just remember.

The Royals' Lorenzo Cain still ripped a double into the gap clearing the bases in the 12th inning of Game Five to put the Royals up 7-2 to ensure the World Series.

Sporting KC's Jimmy Nielsen still resolutely protected our goal to help win the shoot-out for the MLS Championship.

And Willie Lanier still intercepted Joe Kapp to gloriously, wonderfully, delightfully seal the Super Bowl win.

I must add that my dad still caught pitches from flamethrowing Jim Golden in high school to capture the 1953 Kansas state baseball championship.

We're still champions.

Sometime, at some point in the next few years the Chiefs will be making it known more firmly in bright red and gold, they will.

That Lamar Hunt trophy is as good as ours.

Another Lombardi trophy will soon occupy a prominent place at Arrowhead Stadium.

Let's roll!
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Chiefs Playoff Preview - AFC Championship Game

I'm going to put in a relatively brief entry as a preview of our matchup against the New England Patriots this Sunday. It won't be long only because there is only so much to say about this game. I'm sorry if you're expecting a rabidly in-depth analysis of this or that matchup or this or that hitherto unknown factor that'll just get us that win.

I still consider the number one factor in us winning this game is the total absence of the terrifically awful ding-dong thing happening to our team. This requirement is doubled, tripled, quadrupled or more simply because of the absolute charmed way the Patriots have streamed through postseason after postseason ravenously devouring anything the other team may do to give up the game.

The very little that I've read and heard people say about this affair is that the Chiefs are favored and justifiably so. I too believe, from what I've seen, that the Chiefs are the more talented team, but remember, the Patriots are coached and quarterbacked by two of the very best ever, and are both right now scouring all things Chiefs to exploit any advantage they can get.

And they will, for sure. So here's to Andy Reid and his staff countering that with their own ingenious game plan, and they are very capable of that.

A few days ago they were saying it'll be 0 degrees after a couple days of heavy snow. The latest weather report, however, has got temps up in the 20s, still sunny. I'd like to think that'll help the Chiefs explosive offense. I was thinking about Mahomes frequent longer pass ducks from the game Saturday, and thinking it was probably a very good thing.

It made us take our time matriculating the ball down the field before scoring touchdowns. If we get those long sustained drives on Sunday, we'll be keeping Brady off the field like we did Andrew Luck, and our defense will be more rested. I do think having our defense off the field for long periods of time kept our guys fresh to play as exceptionally well as they did in the divisional game.

I saw very briefly that Eric Berry had a full practice today. Wow, if he could play that'd just be phenomenal. When the Chiefs defeated the Patriots in the season opener last year, Berry completely shut down Rob Gronkowski. Late in that game he had his Achilles tear. Remember recently, too, Berry was so instrumental to throttling the Chargers offense when he played the first half of that game on December 13. Here's to that rest he's had since then having him out there playing full throttle for the duration this Sunday.

Other than that, yeah. It is simple, once again.

Can the crazy-ass stupid thing not happen to us, can we consistently play to our strengths throughout the game, and can we exhibit enough got-it to match a team that always has a sickening abundance of it?

If those three things happen, we'll win.

Oh, and by the way, I have to add this. On Sunday night right after the game -- and yeah, we got the prime-time game, how about that -- a "Super Wolf Blood Moon" will rise over Arrowhead and be seen by the rest of the western hemisphere. I wrote a brief fanpost about it at Arrowhead Pride, and one of the writers there wrote a longer piece that included a note about how some societies have considered such a celestial phenomenon a sign of profound transformation.

Yeah, that's it.

Could it be the mantle of domination in the AFC is transferred from one team to the other this Sunday?

Go Chiefs!
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Colts at Chiefs - Divisional Playoff Game - The Take, Part II

Nkay here we go with the fine things about our game yesterday, going from left to right as we matriculate the ball down the field, in the way they line up. If you want more of my immediate overall impressions, please visit my previous post from this morning.

Running back. We all wondered just how much the NFL hosed us by mismanaging the Kareem Hunt incident, but I think this team got better after that. It convinced many that this was a team built on principle, that we weren't going to be a part of any of that, and it moved the team to work that much harder at addressing it. Veach had already done a terrific job of picking up both Damien and Darrel Williams, who were both terrific yesterday.

Of course much of the kudos goes to Damien for piling up 154 all-purpose yards, 129 on the ground. When we needed to grind clock he did splendidly, but he was clutch throughout the game.

Quarterback. We can still point out all kinds of great things about Patrick Mahomes, and even though he didn't have a touchdown pass the way he managed the offense was exceptional. For whatever you may say about Alex Smith's past failures to get us to the promised land, he was instrumental in shaping this kid, because let's be honest, he looked very Smithian out there just plain managing things. You so need that from a signal-caller.

Of course you have to give credit to his leadership ability. You can really see it out there, the team just responds when he's at the wheel. In the middle of the drive that got us our 3rd TD, Mahomes got crunched and came up limping. A loud gasp from the Kingdom could be heard across the country. But he stayed in, played hard, and scored that eventual touchdown himself. We heard nothing else about it -- I still wonder for next week: What's with the knee? Still, on our last touchdown with a few minutes left, Darrel Williams was being stood up at the one-yard line when guess who came from out of nowhere to make the final push to get him into the end zone?

I was a bit concerned about his inability to throw the long pass, he was just off, and some of his passes were real ducks. It might have been the cold, though it wasn't that cold, just a bit snowy which fortunately wasn't a factor at all. The weather for next Sunday, as of now, is sunny but cold.

I must add though that the play of the game was that sidearm sling around the lineman to Kelce who reached down and snatched it out of the air for 16 yards. It was just another of those "Did I just see that or what?" plays that we thrill to every time we watch him play. What a great time to be a Chiefs fan.

Tight end. What more can you say about Travis? Some will say he is the key guy on the other end of those throws, and as we marched to a 24-7 halftime lead, Kelce was indeed the main cog.

I have to add that to me, it seemed he was truly comfortable performing in a big game -- in playoff action before he just seemed to be nervous out there and not his regular season self. He's grown and matured and that makes a big difference.

Wide receivers. Sammy Watkins, wow what a big deal it is to have him back. In the few plays he had you could tell he is truly a factor. Yes we see Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce seeming to get all the looks, but one reason is because Watkins demands so much attention.

When Watkins does get the call he is amazing. One play occurred on the very first drive, when Mahomes hit him in stride and after a really nice juke ended up with a 30+ yard gain.

Offensive line. Solid. That's all you can say about it. We all know how well Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz have been playing, and having Mitch Morse back steadily at center is terrific, but special plaudits have to go to our guards Cam Erving and Andrew Wylie who both had to come in and fill holes and have really done a terrific job. They are so instrumental to Mahomes getting the protection he needs and Williams to have the running lanes to chew up yardage.

Defensive line. This new kid Derrick Nnadi anchored a defense that everyone is raving about, and rightly so. I can boast a bit that I knew on paper this defense was better than what we'd seen and better than the substance of all the vitriol spewed at defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. Meanwhile just back to Nnadi, another defensive play of the game was his explosive solo backfield stuff of a Colts run, one of a number of key stops that kept the Indy offense out of sorts the entire game.

Then there was Chris Jones, who batted down three Andrew Luck passes, and it seemed more like 17 of them. This Colts offensive line was supposed to crush us, but apparently our defensive scheme was to get those hands up. Jones was a Darryl Dawkins out there just pushing that line back with his big body and still able to leap swatting everything out of the air.

Pass rushers. Justin Houston. Dee Ford. Two All-Pros. The big question was would these guys be able to beat the vaunted Colts offensive line? Well, that question was answered in a big way. Three sacks. A strip and a fumble recovery -- which came at just the most opportune time because two plays before we'd fumbled the ball to the Colts at our own 20. What a play.

Andrew Luck was the least sacked quarterback this season, so the major battle here was between our sackers and their sack-stoppers. In this contest, the Chiefs won.

Run defense. I addressed this a bit in my previous post, because it was such a critical aspect of this game. Again, the punditry thought the Colts could easily run the ball against us, but as I'd mentioned before, I just thought Hitchens and Ragland were better than that. Of course it wasn't all them, but give them credit. Otherwise our safeties played better and we didn't even have Eric Berry out there. Oh my if we could get him back for next week...

Defensive backfield. Even without Berry and questionable talent at safety, our pure coverage guys are actually pretty good. Kendall Fuller and Steven Nelson are underrated yet get the job done. Throw in the mix this new kid, Charvarius Ward, who as I'd also mentioned before thought showed he's got something even when he got torched against Seattle. All that really made life miserable for Andrew Luck. You could tell most of the time when he was trying to pass he'd get frustrated, or even outright sacked, and much of that was the smothering defense by our cover guys.

Ward, by the way, had four pass defenses. He was also in on tackles all over the place.

Special teams. This was a wild one for this unit. The ugliest moment of the game for us was that one failure to pick up that rusher allowing him to block a Dustin Colquitt punt resulting in a Colts touchdown. Naturally every Chiefs fan was going, "Uh-oh, here we go again."

Later however Colquitt got a booming punt off when we needed it, the ball downed at the Colts five-yard line, but lo and behold, he was ran into, five yard penalty, Chiefs first down. One of the great things about this game was that we chewed up so much clock with drives that Colquitt was rarely used.

Harrison Butker, our kicker, was perfect -- 4-for-4 on PATs and a FG -- so nice considered the kicking game has been such a nightmare for us in playoffs past. The ironic thing is that Adam Vinatieri, the Colts kicker and notoriously good playoff performer, missed a PAT and, believe it or not, had his only FG attempt bonk off the upright. How about that.

Fans. We don't give the Arrowhead faithful enough credit for helping make life difficult for the opponent. Often it is instrumental that the opposing offense will move offsides or get a delay of game call because of the crowd noise. That didn't happen once yesterday, but one thing that did happen was the number of offsides calls that went against the Colts defensive front, there must have been four or five of them. While it was the defense that shot themselves in the foot, they had to have known they were in hostile territory to make them so jumpy.

Thing is, it was so nice to watch the fans there at Arrowhead finally smiling and high-fiving as the clock wound down. It was neat seeing Twitter-posted footage of the patrons of Big Charlie's Saloon in Philly having their loyalty rewarded with a fine Chiefs playoff win.

Coaching, front office, ownership. Yes, these three things must be mentioned because these are the places where it all starts. Andy Reid, Brett Veach, Clark Hunt. This win is indeed a testament to the hard work of these three "players" and the people who work directly for them.

What can you say about Andy Reid. Just steady, smart, and some have been saying that for once in a playoff game he played to win for the duration -- meaning he didn't stop going for it after getting a big lead. We went for it on 4th down three times if I'm not mistaken, and made it each time.

Another key advantage for us was our time of possession on offense. We were able to keep Luck and company off the field for long periods of time -- credit both Reid and Mahomes for making that happen.

Brett Veach had already done a lot of the heavy lifting just taking care of business assembling this fine team, we'd all noticed this from Day One of the 2018 season. Kudos to him for always being on top of things and getting the job done.

And Clark Hunt. Of course I'd written tons about what may have been anything Hunt that has impacted the horrific Chiefs playoff experiences, but this win could not have come without his lasting positive contribution to the ball club in the number of ways he's done that. It is awesome that every time the Chiefs come into the locker room after a game they put raised hands together and shout "Fam!" That feeling of family is real and permeates the organization, and much of that has to come from Clark's leadership.

Bottom line in all this is something that is joyously delightful, it really is: The Kansas City Chiefs finally defeated a genuinely good NFL team with a genuinely good quarterback in a playoff game. I say that because, no disrespect, the previous four playoff wins we'd had since our Super Bowl in 1970 were all against teams that had so many issues there is no way we could've lost. Those four wins... compared to 16 losses over that time.

Yeah.

This time we defeated a team that genuinely could have beat us. Really.

Finally.

Thing is, some may say, "What about your conspiracy theories now Dave, after this win? You'd always said the NFL and the officiating and a number of other things have always been against us?"

Well, excuse me, but I still feel that way. Please, this isn't done yet. As I write this that Patriots-Chargers game is winding down and the Patriots are clobbering the Chargers. So here you go: Next week you'll see a game at Arrowhead that will feature the podunk little midwestern cow-town Kansas City cheering on a team that has had every disadvantage afforded them materialize on the football field in any postseason action, facing off against the eastern elite establishment charmed big-market media-darling Patriots from the Boston metropolitan area, probably the most favored sports mecca in the world (Boston's professional sports teams together have the highest title winning percentage of any area in the nation).

Now don't get me wrong. The Patriots win because Tom Brady and Bill Belichick together are pro football geniuses, avatars, powerhouses, whatever superlative word you can use -- not denying them that stature at all. But as everyone with eyes who watches this team on the field knows, this is a team that is filled to the brim with a history of benefitting from crazy-ass lucky plays and "fortuitous" officiating calls.

Let's just see what happens next week.

Let's just see if what the Chiefs do to overcome all that is good enough.

As I mentioned in my post right after the game yesterday, one of the most wonderful things I saw on the Arrowhead Stadium football field was a distinct preponderance of

Got-it.

Yes, very much so, we will need every ounce of it we have to win next week.

Here's to watching it happen again.
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Colts at Chiefs - Divisional Playoff Game - The Take, Part I

Stevie Wonder has a song, you know it: "For once in my life there is someone who needs me..."

Well, that's the theme of this Chiefs victory yesterday. Indeed a number of things could be slotted there in for us, like, "For once in my life we actually beat the Colts in a playoff game..." That's cool, it's all good.

But the two I'm singing about right now are the two key things that for once in our lives did not horrifically plague the Chiefs in a playoff game.

For once that crazy-ass stupid thing did not happen, that thing that is so mind-numbingly huge that an otherwise decent effort by our reasonably decent team simply cannot produce a win in a first playoff game. I mean really, I was convinced that avoiding that thing was the main reason we had any chance to win.

There were a few opportunities for that thing to happen, certainly. A good clean pass defense by Jordan Lucas was considered a PI by the announcers, but it just wasn't. Even though he had his back turned as the ball arrived, Lucas didn't touch the receiver until after it bounced off his shoulder, and he didn't impede his vision. And glory be, the refs didn't call it. On Tyreek's long winding touchdown run for our second score, some said Demetrius Harris held the Colt's D-back. Upon further review, he barely grabbed his jersey and made a clean block. Not only not a hold but a good non-call by the official.

There were a handful of other opportunities for the crazy-ass stupid thing to happen, and maybe we'll talk about them as we go here, but that thing's absence in the game was wonderfully helped by the officials pleasantly avoiding being involved making it happen. Indeed throughout the game I was nervously waiting for that to happen, muttering often "No that wasn't a hold. No that wasn't a PI... Whew, good they didn't call it..."

I was even committed to waiting until the 4th quarter to see about anything no matter what the score -- that's always been the time when the worst happens. In this game I took a snapshot of the start of that quarter. You see it there, look close. We were up 24-7, we had the ball at midfield, it was 1st-&-10. If the crazy-ass stupid thing was going to happen in this game, it would definitely go down as one of the worst ever, hey, we've had so many. My cousin even texted us at about that time remarking he wasn't counting on anything after that 38-10 lead we had against the Colts a number of years ago. I don't think there was a Chiefs fan anywhere who wasn't.

I confess I did get nervous at this point because the score at halftime was, yes, the exact same 24-7. That means we hadn't scored at all in the 3rd quarter, and last year if you remember against the Titans we didn't score a single point in the 2nd half which really cost us the game. We did eventually score another touchdown late in the quarter to make the final score 31-13.

That second thing you could put into the second half of the "For once in my life..." lyric is that for once, our consistent strengths didn't vanish and our legitimate weaknesses didn't metastasize once we stepped on that playoff game field. In fact, FOR ONCE our strengths were a bit more amplified ::joy!:: and our weaknesses dissipated ::happy happy joy joy!!!::

Sure enough the one weakness I thought would kill us, something I discovered was echoed throughout the sports commentary world during the week, was our run defense. As I mentioned I paid attention to nothing anyone said during the week about this game, but listening to the announcers it was clear everyone thought the Colts were going to run the ball all over us. But on the very first Colts play from scrimmage their fine back was dumped for a three-yard loss. Sure they could have come back from that, but they didn't. That very first play sort of set the tone for the Colts offense throughout the game, and they even admitted they were frustrated not being able to get into any kind of rhythm.

A great big kudos then to Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland, who we all knew had it in them.

For once in our lives we actually got to enjoy our team play well in a playoff game when they actually truly really SHOULD have played well.

There are a whole lot of things I'd like to put down in this entry, but I simply can't sit at a computer screen for too long at a time. I've got some time today, so later when I feel the itch, I'll pound out some more here -- thanks for reading. I'd kind of like to address each part of our game through the lineup, because each part of it requires some delightful measure of attention.

For now however, I do want to close this post with this extraordinarily notable thing.

Remember back, if you will, to that January day in 2004, Colts at Chiefs, January 11 to be exact -- trust me, it isn't so bad now when you know you've finally exacted that sweet revenge, and we're all so familiar with it anyway it doesn't matter... But remember one of the most distressing things about that game?

We ---- simply ---- could NOT stop them on 3rd down. Couldn't, wouldn't -- I distinctly remember almost shaking my head right off my body. "The No-Punt Game" they always call it. Ergggh.

Well guess what happened yesterday. It was almost as if our defense had The Jedi Force in them somehow to so thoroughly avenge that debacle that, yes, you know it...

The Colts were 0-9 on third down yesterday.

Among all the fine numbered Chiefs things yesterday, that was the best, it really was. Check it out.

Oh-and-nine. Nine times the Colts faced a 3rd down, and every single time they failed to get a 1st down. Call it poetic justice of some sort, because that is just too rich. Of course, people fail to realize that even though our defense was much maligned throughout the season, we were actually, if you can believe it -- we were actually pretty good making 3rd down stops. We really were, consistently throughout the year -- the numbers bore it out.

So yeah, what fun that was -- our good team that was legitimately good through the year actually did the good things in a game to actually win a well-played, well-executed pro football playoff game.

For once in our lives...

(Don't forget, more to come! This is too much fun!...)
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Colts at Chiefs - Divisional Playoff Game

Kansas City will host an AFC Championship Game!

I've been watching the game with family, then we're heading off to other family events a bit later. I won't have time to do an immediate postgame post today, but tomorrow! I'm excited about spilling my heart into the blog about all the great things about this game!

One thing stands out that I just want to write now.

We had enough got-it to take care of business.

How sweet how sweet how sweet was that.
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Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part VI

Over the past couple of weeks I've been posting a series of Chiefs playoff preview entries when originally I'd only planned to write one simple one with one simple item that is the one simple factor in a decent Chiefs playoff run:

Not have an insipidly ridiculously crazy-ass thing happen to the Chiefs in a playoff game.

Really, that's it.

Otherwise, all this is therapy. That's really why I'm posting so much. Just to share with you thoughts about all things Chiefs Kingdom that help make it bearable, maybe even somewhat enjoyable.

You should know I've watched, read, or looked at absolutely nothing about anything Chiefs much less their playoff preparation or anything like it since the Raiders game. Sometimes, yes I confess, I have cheated and peeked at Arrowhead Pride or Bleacher Report's Chiefs page, two of the best by the way, but I haven't for some time and don't plan to. I did happen to see that some fans are vocally eager to have yet another shot at the dastardly Colts, and I did see that Mahomes confidently mentioned that this is a "new generation" -- and I only came across those things by accident.

But that's it. Why look at any of it? If they say we should win and offer up all kinds of fine reasons why, but then we then don't -- what a disappointment. If they say we'll struggle because of this or that, and we do and can't pull out the win-- what good is that.

So I'm blissfully ignorant.

Otherwise with all I have seen and do know from our extraordinary season, I've come to a place where right now I'm very content. And I will be very content even if the Chiefs lose Saturday. There are a number of reasons for this.

For one, I've rediscovered and embraced all the other wonderful things in life that make Chiefs things not as important. Oh I like the Chiefs and I like amazing Chiefs playoff wins, don't get me wrong. But as I've shared before my expectations are at about zero. We've been so horrifically burned so many times before there is no way to keep from considering it happening again.

Maybe all the crushing one-&-outs of the past are good for the soul today. It just doesn't hurt as much when it happens again. I mean, really, how many more times can we see graphic after graphic on the television screen showing how painfully NFL-record-breaking the Chiefs are in their various playoff failures before any more just don't mean that much.

So yeah, I'm content now, will be Sunday... and will be overjoyed if they actually win.

Another reason is I can enjoy this week in and of itself. We're in the conversation. We're being talked about. Everybody is marveling about Patrick Mahomes, and he's got an arrowhead on his helmet. We've got a very good team -- and yeah I think our defense is better than people give it credit for -- and we've got a number of intangibles that give us a solid chance to win, considering you-know-what doesn't happen. Just reveling in us being there this week is a very good thing.

There is also what lies beyond this season, and while much of that is the bright future we have with Mahomes at the helm of this offense, I'm just as much encouraged by what we can enthusiastically anticipate from our fine GM Brett Veach. Because we've already got that first-round pick QB we can now comfortably use our first pick to add a nice piece to our defense, or snatch a particularly good player who drops through the draft and Veach reliably covets. So yeah, here's to building that championship defense, building building building on the overall foundation.

Here's yet another reason for comfortably enjoying Chiefs wellness right now.

You may know from previous posts I'm a fan of a few other professional sports teams, one of which is the baseball San Francisco Giants. In the mid-2000s I was resigned to the idea that my baseball team would never win a World Series. They never had since 1958 when they started playing in San Francisco, never, even though many times they had an exceptionally fine ballclub. I figured it was just too daunting to win a division series, then a league series, then a World Series. Fughedabouditt.

Then came 2010.

The team's GM Brian Sabean brought together what was justifiably considered a band of misfits, assembling a team led by a dynamo rookie catcher, deep pitching staff, and genius maneuvering field manager. We first defeated a fine Braves team, then a strong Phillies team, and in the World Series made a heavily favored Rangers team look like Little Leaguers.

Well how about that.

The crazy thing is we actually went on to win two more World Series over the following few years.

Point being, I just don't know what will happen. Yeah, I confess, I'm so convinced the worst will happen. But ya know. It doesn't have to. Again, if it does, we have a phenomenally bright future -- I'm already looking forward to 2020, 2021...

It's all good. No matter what

It's all good.
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Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part V

If I'd had my druthers I'd watch no football until next Saturday at 1:35 PST. But I am among beloved family members who like having NFL playoff games on, so, well, there ya go.

I'm here now having to endure this Eagles-Bears game, and sure enough I happened upon them showing a shot of Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy together there on the television, split screen. Uhh. Yeah. Both previous offensive coordinators under Andy Reid with the Chiefs. That's rich.

A bit later they showed all kinds of graphics about how amazingly awesomely amazing Nick Foles was in the postseason last year. Yeah, the Chiefs backup quarterback the year before, he finished last season tearing up the field there winning the Super Bowl for the Eagles.

Thing is Nick Foles was never going to be the long-term answer for the Chiefs, and neither was Alex Smith for that matter, which moved us to pick up Patrick Mahomes -- so it's worked out for the Chiefs good. In fact at one point in this game the Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky tossed a fine sidearm pass and as the announcers crowed about it, I thought, that's Patrick Mahomes, uh-huh. Sure enough, right after that the announcers added, "That was like Patrick Mahomes there."

How fun is that.

For now.

You see, yesterday I had to drudge through the Colts defeating the Texans, which meant we all couldn't help but feel that deja-vu all over again.

The Chiefs are hosting the Colts next Sunday.

Yes, yes it did make me think of that New Years Eve day back in 1994 when the Colts beat the Chargers and the Chiefs would get the Colts at Arrowhead to move on the conference title game. And please, it wasn't just the kicker everyone wishes they could forget -- Marty had a miserable day calling plays, Steve Bono did horribly, Marcus Allen was underwhelming, and the temperature was 800 degrees below zero.

Then there was that first weekend of 2004, when the Colts beat the Broncos to move on -- yes, to play the Chiefs at Arrowhead. The Colts were about to face one of the greatest offenses in the history of the game -- in fact I'd seen a thing the NFL Network put out that showed the three year period of 2001-2003 was the greatest by any running back in NFL history. Priest Holmes. You remember him, his phenomenal exploits. Thing is, in that divisional playoff game our defense just could not make a single 3rd down stop, ever, and we had to agonize through yet another one-&-out.

So yeah, it was agonizing yesterday, watching the Colts and their fine offensive line do in the Texans. The Chiefs do have a fine pass rush with Justin Houston, Dee Ford, and Chris Jones. We do have decent cover guys in Kendall Fuller, Steve Nelson, and believe it or not Charvarius Ward, and a perennial All-Pro safety Eric Berry who can bring it all together nice and tight.

So yeah, can our fine pass rush actually help us win against a team that does very well against the pass rush?

Maybe, but again, the game turns on one, single thing. Once again:

Will the Chiefs avoid suffering through that insane, stupid, crazy-ass thing that happens every time they take the football field past Week 17?

That is really the key, and because yesterday's events evoked the trauma of previous Colts-oriented experiences, I just don't have much confidence, I don't. That's okay though, because for one, I can keep my expectations to the most minimum level they must be, and for two, I don't have to have that confidence. Hey, I'm just a piddle little nobody blogger, what difference does it make what I think about our chances. I'm just holding zero expectations for the therapy -- thanks for joining me in this group therapy session, really.

So yeah, I don't have to have any confidence. I do like that many Chiefs fans are saying they do, many of them enthusiastic about finally taking down the Colts this weekend. That's nice. But it doesn't matter whether they have it or I don't. It just matters that

The Chiefs do.

And from what I've gathered, they are brimming with confidence. That's very cool. When Patrick Mahomes was asked, "So what do you think about the notoriously horrific Chiefs playoff game past?" he replied, "This is a new generation."

I love this guy.

Here's to hoping that confidence turns into the major got-it required to actually get this team to the conference title game in Kansas City for the first time ever.
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