First Half Only

Houston first series.  A couple short passes, the receivers were hit as the caught the ball.  The Chiefs new 3-4 stuffed two straight running plays for -1 yards.  On third and long a nickel back Leggett came on a blitz and sacked Shaub.

Chiefs first series.  Four Larry Johnson runs of 4 yards or less.  Cassel completed a 12 yard pass for a first down, but on the next third down the ball was jarred loose on a would be first down.  The Chiefs punt to the 5 yard line.

Houston second series.  Houston's offensive line kicked into gear and began opening hole for the running game and short passing game.  Schaub is perfect so far 7 for 7, they over comes a first and 20 and a heavy rain to drive down the field.  On third and one from the two, the Texans open a large hole inside the left tackle and easily score.  7-0 Texans.

Chiefs second series.  Jackie Battle makes a strong run on first down but gets blown up on second down for a loss.  Following a motion penalty Cassel dumps off to a running back on third and 11 for a three yard gain.  A short punt gives the Texans great field position at Houston's 43.

Texan's third series.  Three and out, still raining hard and the Houston looks sloppy.  Shaub is done for the night Orlovsky replaces him.  Completes one pass on third and 8 for 6 yards.

Chiefs third series.  Cassel get dumped but throws the ball away as he is hit.  RB - Battle again looks strong on a 9 yard run.  On third and 1 a pass to TE Sean Ryan slips through his hands.  They are going to miss Tony G. on third and short.  Dwayne Bowe is in the dog house and hasn't even made it onto the field yet.

Houston forth series.  Orlovsky is in as QB, throws for a first down, but can't do much until third and 10 and they complete a pass that come up a foot short.  Both passes went to Andre Davis.

Chiefs forth series.  Jackie Battle up the middle for 5 and then 2, on third and 3 Houston bails out a receiver by holding him, while he does a nice volleyball bump off his hands. The next play the ball squirts away from Cassel and Houston recovers at the KC 24

Houston fifth series.  KC get a sack but then gives it all back on a nice 20 pass and to Joel Dressen, a Colorado State product.  A couple short runs and an incomplete, leads to a field goal and a 10-0 Houston lead with under 6 minutes to play in the half.

Kansas City fifth series.  Brody Croyle in at QB, Battle doesn't look near as good on a sweep getting tripped up for a yard.  Bowe finally makes it into the game.  Following a Offensive Line holding call,  Bowe makes a second down catch, but on third down Conner Barwin sacks Croyle, who amazingly isn't hurt.

Houston sixth series under three minutes until the half.  Orlovsky twenty yards pass to Davis. Moats and Slaton make a couple nice runs.  Brandon Flowers, the Chiefs cornerback almost intercepts on second down, and breaks up a would be first down, so Houston kicks another field goal to extend their lead to 13-0

Chiefs sixth series, 1:12 until halftime.  Hurry up offense?  A draw play to Jamal Charles for nothing, two short passes from Croyle and a first down, maybe their third first down of the half.  Bowe stretches out to make another first down on a nice 14 yard catch, but only 17 seconds to go.  Two more drops but on forth and 10 a twelve yard pass to Wright, get them in range for a 48 field goal as time expires.  Houston 13 Kansas City 3

Conclusion - Kansas City manages 103 yard in the first half, almost half of which was on the final drive. 5 first downs, 11:13  time of possession, 2.8 yards per rush.  The defense made some plays and looks pretty good at times, but Houston offensive line was definitely better then KC defensive front seven.

What have the Denver Broncos done this off-season to improve the defensive front seven?  Last year this was the most obvious weakness with the Broncos as they had difficulty stopping both the run and getting sacks. 

Switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 with one less defensive lineman and one additional linebacker might give the impression that the front seven as a whole would get lighter and quicker since linebackers are lighter and quicker than lineman.  Of course a Nose Tackle to clog up the middle would be heavier, so maybe on average there wouldn’t be much difference between last years horrible defense and this years, right MSM?

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I've made an early attempt to think about who is the safest to make the team, who is on the bubble and who must pass others up just to make it.  I've put this in position order QB, RB, WR, OL, DL, LB, S, CB, ST.  A few player DE / LB types I moved to where I think they might fit. 

I'm sure there are several players I'm wrong about, so who would you put in the top 40 (definately on the team)? The next 20 (on the bubble) players and the final 27 (must pass others up to make it to the bubble).

He also did an great deed. Here is a report that he paid for much of the funeral of a high school teammate.

Here is a quote from that article "According to Eisenhower coach Mike Clark, the lion's share of the money was given by ex-Boise State Bronco and current Denver Bronco Ryan Clady. It seems that tragedy often brings out the best in people, and I found the story of ex-players honoring a fallen teammate to be quite inspiring."

who was cut by Tenessee.  An older draft profile is here

I love MHR for the high quality on analysis and opinion, thanks to all.  Draft grades and prospect rating are flawed, but I still search them out.  I may no claim to football smarts, other than as a fan since Little Calvin Jones was diving at everyone's shoes.  This is my first completed post more for fun then serious analysis.

Most pundits think that the Chiefs had a great draft, and the Broncos fall somewhere in the middle or worse.  Of course the Chiefs had six picks in the top 82 and made their seventh before most of us had ever tried to pronounce Lichtenstiger early in the 4th round.  KC finished with twelve picks to Denver's nine.

Pro Football Weekly grades the prospects before the draft  giving most first round picks a grade between 6.0 and 7.0, most of the rest of the players drafted fall into the 5.0 to 5.9 range.  SI.com does a similar grading, but their scores are lower mostly in the 3.0 to 3.9 range. 

This is a look at how Denver and  KC 's picks compare. I’ve matched up as best as I could each teams picks at the same or similar position.

Team - Pick          Name                                 Position         Grade 1            Grade 2

Den 1-12         Clady, Ryan                 OT       PFW 6.3          SI 4.24

KC 1-15          Albert, Branden            G        PFW 6.4          SI 3.92

I’m tempted to give the Broncos a slight advantage (probably my bias), but also because Denver drafted a pure OLT while KC drafted a OG that they may convert to a OT.  OLT has higher value, but both are top 15 picks.

Advantage: Even

KC 1-5            Dorsey, Glenn              DT       7          4.42

Den 5-148       Powell, Carlton             DT       5.15     3.5

Clearly there is no comparison, Dorsey has bad knees and will be out of the league in a couple years, and Powell will be an anchor on the line for a decade.

Advantage: KC

Den 2-42         Royal, Eddie                 WR      5.65     3.67

KC 4-105        Franklin, William           WR     5.39     3.62

KC 6-182        Robinson, Kevin           WR      5.09     3.06

Of the three, Royal is the highest rated by both PFW and SI.

Advantage: Denver

KC 2-35          Flowers, Brandon         CB       5.95     3.85

Den 4-119       Williams, Jack               CB       5.23     3.52

An interesting side note Royal and Flowers know each other very well from daily match-ups at VaTech. Flowers is a fierce hitter and a quality corner, he is not the fastest, but still…
Advantage: KC

KC 3-73          Charles, Jamaal            RB        5.55     3.82

Den 5-139       Torain, Ryan                 RB       5.12     3.37

The scores say the Charles is the better back, those who follow the Big 12 know Jamaal is a fumbler.  I expect that Torain ends up being the more productive back.  Why did KC draft two running backs in the third round? Is Larry Johnson ever going to be the same since his foot injury and swollen wallet?

Advantage: Denver

KC 3-82          Morgan, DaJuan           RB       5.85     3.79

Den 7-227       Hillis, Peyton                FB        5.23     3.49

I love the Hillis pick and the many facets he brings, but to be fair I have to give the …
Advantage to KC

Den 6-183       Larsen, Spencer           ILB       5.2       3.38

KC 7-210        Johnston, Brian            DE        4.8       3.49

Both may or may not make their teams, probably practice squad types. PFW likes Larsen, SI rates Johnston higher. It’s difficult to compare a backup Mike and a long shot DE

Advantage: Even

Den 4-108       Lichtensteiger, Kory     C          5.3       3.37

KC 6-170        Richardson, Barry         OT      5.2       3.41

Once again a split decision, both are youthful depth types.  I pick K-Lic, due to the history of Bronco development of the OL from deep in the draft.

Advantage: Denver

KC 5-140        Carr, Brandon              CB       4.9       3.27

Den 7-220       Barrett, Josh                 SS        5.37     3.73

Barrett is a nice pickup for the seventh round and is given higher scores.

Advantage: Denver

KC 3 76          Cottam, Brad               TE        5.55     3.63
KC 7 239        Merritt, Mike                TE        4.3       N/A (2.8)

Tony G’s days are numbered but he’s not very worried about these two, Cottam has been injured more then all of Denver's picks combined.  Merritt  stock is so low SI didn’t give him a grade, so I gave him a 2.8.  Denver didn’t draft a TE so I must give the slight …

Advantage to KC

 So in summary,

OT - Even

DT – KC

WR - Denver

CB - KC

RB - Denver

RB/FB - KC

DE/LB - Even

C/OT - Denver

DB - Denver

TE – KC

Finally I took all the scores and divided by the number of picks for each team to get an average score for the teams draft grade.  The results …

Denver - PFW 5.39 and SI 3.59          KC - PFW 5.49 and SI 3.59

KC wins by a only tenth of a point!  KC looks like they have 3 of the best 4 with Dorsey, Albert and Flowers, but Denver had a much more solid second day to catch up statistically.