From the FanPosts. Had to Google to get the title.  -Joel

This FanPost started as a reply to hmills' excellent comment here. He wrote,

Running nickel behind Hali-Dorsey-Smith/Edwards-Jackson-Sheffield would look at LOT like the nickel that KC used to run in the early-to-mid ’90s, to very good effect. Personnel groupings like that leave KC with just one ILB on the field.

Yes, it certainly does and that helps us tremendously.  Most of us would agree that inside linebacker was one of our biggest weaknesses on defense last season.  It always seemed that if we somehow stopped (or rather limited) the inside run on first down, we'd give up the shallow curl or the quick slant on 2nd down.  Although we have some inside linebackers who are solid to fantastic in some areas, we lack a complete inside linebacker.

Continue reading this post »

Michael Ash at Warpaint Illustrated wrote a very interesting article about the possibility of us drafting Sanchez at #3 and keeping him - that way, if Cassel was a one-hit wonder, and can't do anything without Randy Moss, we'll have another starting-caliber QB ready to go, and if Cassel is the QBOTF, then we can trade Sanchez next off season and recoup the #1 pick we spent on him.

I'll admit, the reasoning is sound, and it could explain why Pioli isn't in a huge hurry to sign Cassel to a long-term contract...but I'm not sure this is even possible.

Now I know we still have a lot of salary cap room, but if we draft Sanchez at #3, he'll receive a contract larger than Matt Ryan's, regardless of whether he starts or sits on the bench - do we even have enough money to do that?

Michael Ash over at Warpaint Illustrated has written a very good article that makes an interesting case -

There’s no guarantee he’ll succeed outside New England. Cassel may be nothing but a flash in the pan. Maybe he was just the flavor of the month, a one-year wonder, a fluke.

But none of that is news to Pioli. By trading for Cassel when the Chiefs were in position to draft a top-rated quarterback, our new general manager hasn’t wasted any time putting himself in the line of fire.

By pulling the trigger on the trade, Pioli made it clear he believes Cassel is the Chiefs’ best option. Pioli is telling us that Cassel is better than Tyler Thigpen. More importantly, he’s telling us that no matter how good Matt Stafford or Mark Sanchez may turn out to be, Cassel will be better.

Pioli had a chance to draft a QB with a Top Five pick, and barring anything crazy happening in just over a month, he chose against that.

In terms of Pioli’s credibility, trading for Cassel may actually be a riskier move than taking a quarterback in the draft. It sounds silly to say adding a quarterback who’s faced real NFL defenses might be more of a gamble than adding a rookie, but consider everything Pioli has invested in this decision.

If Pioli can’t properly evaluate Cassel, a player he’s been around for the last four years, what does that say about his ability to judge NFL talent? If Cassel struggles at the start of the season, it’ll be no time at all before the usual suspects are out to declare Pioli a fraud and assert that Bill Belichick was the reason for all New England’s success.

While Cassel struggles, what if the one of the rookie quarterbacks starts for his team and plays the way Matt Ryan did last year? Hellfire and brimstone will be falling from the skies in Kansas City in no time.

When Ash puts it the way he does in this article, I see his point about Pioli and the choice of Cassel.  And the more I think about it, the more I get excited

But none of that is news to Pioli either. So considering what he’s putting on the line with this move, how can you not at least be a little excited by the obvious confidence he has in Cassel? Pioli clearly believes Cassel was more than just a lucky system quarterback who was throwing to Randy Moss, and he’s practically staking his reputation on it.

The article also contains a brief discussion of the Broncos' descent into self-destruction, Raider-style (though it was written before Cutler requested a trade) followed by a short analysis of the Chiefs' new veteran leader - Mike Vrabel.

So I am a fan of Aaron Curry...whether or not he is the "once-in-a-decade, can't miss prospect, lovechild of Junior Seau and Derrick Thomas, man among boys" some scouts say he is remains to be seen.  What I do know is that if our scouts, Haley, and Pioli think he is, I'll trust them.  If they think he isn't, so be it.

My thoughts for the #3 pick can be summed up in the title of this fanpost.

We all have talked about drafting a LT, and moving the lesser of the two (our #3 or Albert) to RT - great, right?  Bookend tackles for a decade...fantastic.

We have also all talked about  B.J. Raji being the guy we need to man the Nose Tackle position in our 3-4 defense...Oh, but if we switch to a 3-4, what do we do with Dorsey?  Can he play end?  Where do we find more LB's?  etc...

Here is my question for everyone.

Even if we stay in the 4-3 defense, doesn't it make sense to complement Dorsey with Raji?  Wouldn't he be the big guy occupying blockers while Dorsey could shoot into the backfield?

Rather than drafting a LT and moving Albert, who had an outstanding rookie year at LT, I think we would do well to give Dorsey a talented partner inside, and let them wreak havoc...

Thoughts?

While looking for a complete 7 round mock draft, I found this gem from the middle of last season...it's really interesting to see what changed and what stayed the same (this draft assumed the Titans beat the Giants in the Super Bowl)...of course, it has us taking Stafford...it's really interesting to see how the LT rankings have changed (Jason Smith fell to the twenties to TB)

http://profootball.scout.com/2/808466.html

and the people posting comments are not too kind...some of them are hilarious.  I won't be too hard on him, but I had to post this part.

Prisco writes:

Cassel played well when Tom Brady went down in the opener. The most impressive thing was that he improved as the season went along. Cassel threw 21 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions for the season, but had 14 touchdown passes and four interceptions in the final eight games. He also averaged 265 passing yards per game in those final eight games.

Did he get better? Yes. Is it a sign he is a franchise passer? No. It could mean he was a product of a damn good offense, which some scouts insist.

I do like Cassel. I saw him play live twice last season and both times came away impressed. He was accurate, he got rid of the ball and he spun his head, which is a must for NFL quarterbacks.

But I have to ask: Is there that much difference between Cassel and Tyler Thigpen, the Chiefs' starter last year?

Yes, there is a difference.  Cassel had better stats, especially over the last 8 games, and most importantly, he generated those stats in a conventional offense, not the "Arrowspread". 

I'm not throwing Thigpen under the bus, but we all knew he would have to prove himself under center, and he will likely still have that chance.  Depending on Haley's (or Haley/Gailey) offense, Thigpen may or may not have an advantage (i.e. how many "spread" formations will our new offense contain?)

  I was actually surprised that Prisco tried to compare stats, given the fact that Thigpen's success came in a "pad those passing stats" spread offense.  Pro scouts and writers often add the caveat "stats may be inflated by offensive system"...why didn't Prisco consider that when praising Thigpen?

Full Article

And can we still call him "Ratface" if he does become our head coach?

Wendler over at Warpaint Illustrated constructs a good argument that the Chiefs' next head coach should be Mike Shanahan.

If you can get past your division-rivalry bias, you might come to realize just exactly what I did when the Denver Broncos surprisingly axed their longtime head coach last week – Mike Shanahan is exactly what the Kansas City Chiefs need. It couldn’t be a more perfect fit.

Wendler makes two main points in his argument.

1) Shanahan builds great offensive lines/rushing offenses.

Over the last 10 years, the Broncos ranked in the top 10 in rushing offense eight times. That’s significant because they did it without a consistent feature back. Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns, Tatum Bell, Travis Henry, Selvin Young, take your pick. All experienced success in Shanahan’s zone-blocking, cutback scheme.

2) Shanahan can identify and develop talent at the QB position -

Of course there’s more to Shanahan than just ridiculous success with running games. At his heart, as a former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Shanahan is a quarterback guru.

It’s probably not coincidence that Steve Young finally won a Super Bowl after he hooked up with Shanahan. The same can be said for John Elway, who curiously seemed to either go to the Super Bowl or simply win it when Shanahan was his quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator or head coach

Wendler goes on to discuss Shanahan's biggest weakness - a complete lack of anything resembling the ability to construct a defense, or even to pick defensive coaches who can do so.

Thoughts?

Again, I am trying to sell tickets for my parents.

2 Tickets - Section 112, 17 rows back and about 6 seats into the endzone from the tunnel PLUS two designer Wolfpack bracelets so you can use the "Elite" entrance and avoid the stinky masses =) (and you can go to the Pavilion after the game - Great place to get autographs and admire all the players' cars)

Half price - $84 for both tickets.

If you're interested - post an e-mail address (and a real name) and I will send it to my parents so they can contact you.

My parents have season tickets and are trying to sell their two tickets, plus wolfpack bracelets (to get into the Pavilion and use the "special" entrance) to the Chargers game 21 December.  The seats are I think 19 rows back about 6 seats into the endzone from the tunnel. They are asking for face value ($168 for both tickets).  If anyone is interested, please e-mail me at marleysdaddy@gmail.com and I will pass your e-mail address on to my parents.

Thanks, and thank you Chiefs for beating the Raiders!

I just hopped over to our SBN Raiders counterpart, silverandblackpride, and saw that the front page still contained an article from 2 weeks ago.  I want to thank everyone for the hard work and time all contributors put in to make this site what it is.  Some days, so many things go on the front page that all of that days posts won't fit.  This is truly the best source of Chiefs info on the series of tubes.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

"See" you all on Monday =)

Several weeks ago, the Chiefs apparently figured out the the "Run it up Niswanger's Butt" offensive strategy wasn't going to lead them anywhere.  That coupled with the loss of 2 QB's in the same game led to the change to the spread offense.  Since then, even though we are still losing, I think all of us will admit that the offense is playing much better, scoring points on solid defenses, and most importantly, turning red zone trips into TD's rather than FG's so short even Novak could make two-thirds of them.

That being said, shouldn't we consider a similar drastic change on defense?  Our pass rush is HORRIBLE because we do not have a line dominant enough to consistently generate pressure on their own.  Yesterday, I think we blizted Edwards 3 times.  In the games where we blizted consistently (meaning more than one time per every 3 series =) ), we generated good pressure (forcing both Cutler and Favre to throw interceptions).  Why don't we change to man coverage the majority of the time, and blitz?  Yes, it puts Flowers and Carr on islands, but I'll tell you, I haven't seen them out of position very often (Carr especially seems to always be stride-for-stride with his guy, even on deep routes).  I'm willing to risk a big completion or two for a chance at sacking the QB or forcing him to make a poor decision.  Thoughts?

Walterfootball.com's mock draft has us finishing just behind the Lions in the "FIght for Number One".  As of today, Brian Orakpo is our choice at number 2.

Kansas City Chiefs: Brian Orakpo, DE, Texas
If you're not a Chiefs fan, chances are you won't know this. OK, guess how many sacks Kansas City's defense has as a whole this season.

Fifteen? Way off. Ten? Nope. Four? No, that was last week's total!

The Chiefs have six sacks on the year! Six freaking sacks! They foolishly traded away Jared Allen prior to the 2008 Draft, while moving Tamba Hali to right end failed miserably. Hali, now back at left end, needs a dominant pass-rusher across from him to once again play at his 2007 level.

That man can be Brian Orakpo. Through nine games, Orakpo has 13.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks, as he's established himself as the premier defensive end in this draft class. Kansas City's young defense would greatly benefit from having him rushing the opposing quarterback.

Offensive line is the only other option now that Tyler Thigpen has emerged as a stud quarterback.

Then we pick Brandon Spikes at number 35

Kansas City Chiefs: Brandon Spikes, ILB, Florida
Napoleon Harris was Kansas City's middle linebacker when the season began. That failed miserably, as Harris was cut a few weeks ago. Pat Thomas took Harris' spot, and based on Kansas City's defensive rankings - click here for accurate NFL Run, Pass Defensive Rankings - it hasn't exactly worked out too well.

and Derrick Williams at 63

Kansas City Chiefs: Derrick Williams, WR, Penn State
If Tyler Thigpen keeps improving and proves to be Kansas City's quarterback of the future, he'll need another receiver to throw to besides Dwayne Bowe. Bowe and Derrick Williams would be an awesome receiver combination, assuming the latter pans out.

I'll change this pick if Mark Bradley keeps up his torrid pace. Given his history, I just don't trust him for now.

1) Could people who know more than I do list the strengths and weaknesses of these guys?

2) What do people think about these choices?

3) If Bradley pans out as a solid #2, who would you like to see us pick in Round 3 in this scenario?

1) Apparently Edwards had a 2 PM press conference to talk about Goodell and LJ.  Has anyone heard anything about it?

2) I thought I'd share an insider's story about LJ.  My coworker does some DJ'ing on the side, and one of his buddies DJ's in the P& L District.  Here is my coworker's e-mail to me

 

He (LJ) went up to dj at one of the clubs. Gave him a song list and told the dj to play it. The dj said he cant because the club already has a play list.

LJ threw down $500 and told the dj to play his list. The dj tells LJ that his job isn’t worth $500. LJ goes to the bar, buys a bottle of champagne with the $500. goes back to the dj booth and pours the champagne all over the equipment, trashing $10,000 worth of gear. LJ says something to the effect of “here’s your $500 and your job”….

 

LJ and his bodyguards get kicked out and then is permanently banned by the P&L business association.

 

That’s why he’s always in the Plaza…

Now it is hearsay, but I believe my coworker.  Take it with a grain of salt if you wish.

So if Croyle is truly done for the season, then he is done as the Chiefs' QB of the future.  We will likely be drafting a QB fairly high in the first round, or possibly trading a high pick for a young QB wo is already in the league (though I can't see us going for anyone much older than 26 - we need 6 solid seasons out of our next guy).

Croyle is aparently made of wet toilet paper.  People say he was injury prone in college.  He did blow out two ACL's in college, but came back from both of them.  I think that showed that he had the ability to recover from serious injuries - call it "toughness".  But here is what I think the Chiefs may have overlooked.

Although his two season ending injuries were accidents that can hit anyone, mush of his career in which he DID play, he was behind a line that looked a lot like our line last year (I don't include this year, because I actually think we are slightly less horrible at pass protection this year).  I think that although his recovery from his two knee injuries was imoressive, it might have overshadowed the punishment he took that was consistent, but not enough to knock him out of a game.  I think Croyle may not have had the physical durability to take that on a weekly basis.

Either that, or Croyle was always made of tissue paper, and just lucked out from the time he was 14 until now =)

After several questionable calls which encouraged the Donkeys to victory, the officals attempted to nudge Denver that way again.  When I watched the DVR'ed game on Sunday evening, I didn't really notice it.  And when I skimmed through it again last night, I fast-forwarded right through it because I knew the outcome.

The play to which I am referring is the pass from Cutler to Stokely on the 4 yard line with 2:26 remaining in the game.  The pass was ruled incomplete.

And that is donkey#@%$...

He securely caught the ball away from his body with both hands, grasped t tightly and then as he began turning towards the endzone, began tucking the ball into the normal carrying position.  At this point, Pollard came in and punched the ball out...it is not as if Stokely were tentatively holding onto the ball and a hit from Pollard jarred it loose.

So did Stokely "make a football move"?  Two officials initially thought so...the two close referees that Stokely was facing ruled it a fumble which the Chiefs recovered.  The back judge, who was behind Stokely then came in and signaled 'no catch' (remember, he was the one who saw red and a big 49 where the ball was supposed to be).

Even if one could question the subjective term "football move", he got two feet down, a fact that went unnoticed by Dan "I can't see over my moustache" Dierdorf.  It was pretty freakin' ovious.  Stokely caught the ball with both hands out in front of him and hopped a little right when he caught it.  Then his right foot comes down (1) , he starts turning, his left foot comes down (2) , he turns some more, and then just before his right foot touches again (3), Pollard hit the ball with his left hand.

My complaints

1 - Had the play occured 30 seconds later it would have been ruled a fumble.

2 - The two referees who had the best view ruled it a fumble.  Why not go with them and let DEN challenge it if they want to?

3 - I am not sure if you can challenge an incomplete pass ruling.  But if you can, why the hell did we not challenge that call?

Okay, I'm done ranting...and curse you DVR with your frame by frame slow mo!

I don't know if it is the wisdom we gained by being a week older, or that coupled with another loss to another bad team, but almost everyone here seems much calmer after the loss to the Falcons than we were last Monday after losing to the Raiders.  Maybe we were a little deluded after playing the Patriots so closely in Week One.  Now reality has set in, and for the most part, we all appear to have accepted the fact that the Chiefs are a rather poor football team at this time.  (Certainly, the volume of flaming has diminished greatly when comparing today to last week). So, fellow AP posters, let's keep the discussions respectful and productive, and let's all get ready for the Donkeys! 

Chiefs 24 - Donkeys 21

(hey, even when being level-headed and rational, Kool-Aid still tastes delicious, right?)

Over at Warpaint Illustrated C.E. Wendler crafted a clever article in the style of our favorite Hutt, Jabba Whitlock.  Here is a taste...

I mentioned Gunther Cunningham earlier, but here’s the real kicker – Gunther may have Brady’s number, too. The last time Cunningham ran into Brady, it was no contest. Somehow, Gunther came up with a defensive gameplan that made Brady look like Jake Plummer. And this was in 2005, when the Chiefs were still giving up huge gobs of points every other week.

Seriously, you remember that day. Gunther put a defense that included Eric Hicks, Eric Warfield, Kendrell Bell, Lional Dalton and Sammy Knight on the field against your offense. They hit Brady, confused him, and he threw four interceptions. Greg Wesley, who’s sitting on his couch combing his dreadlocks right about now, somehow snagged three of them.

And you can read it in it's hilarious entirety here.

Brandon Carr appears to be adjusting to the NFL much more quickly than I had expected for a guy coming from Division II - now I know Grand Valley State is consistently among the top D-II teams, and that Carr might have ended up at UM or MSU instead, but I still thought he would take a season of playing nickel to get used to covering NFL caliber receivers, something he didn't have to do week in week out in college.  I have been really impressed with the young guy.  That INT in the endzone was a thing of beauty.   And then, yesterday in practice

CB Brandon Carr won a jump ball with WR Dewayne Bowe for the third INT.

Bowe is certainly no slouch in the jump ball department - he won several of those against very good CB's last season, so this, i think, is good news for us, and less than good news for Surtain.  However, Surtain can still benefit us greatly playing nickel-back 9the position, not the ass-hat band =) ) in a zone defense...he is smart and can hang back and maybe grab a few picks playing the zone in the middle of the field.

Before anyone freaks out, let me say this "Hell no."  But another rebuilding franchise has decided to go with the veteran who doesn't fit their long term plans

Out in the desert, the Cardinals are going to go with veteran Kurt Warner over youngster Matt Leinart, who had an especially bad performance against the Raiders, hitting only four of 12 p asses for 24 yards and three interceptions.

And we thought Croyle looked bad in some pre-season games?   Leinart was picked 75 slots higher than Croyle in 2006, and I can't believe the Cardinals are not starting him...how in the hell do they expect their #10 overall pick to get any better holding the clipboard for Kurt Warner?  I don't get it, but I am sure glad we aren't doing the same thing, and we don't have a young Top Ten draft pick QB.

In last night's pre-season game, which of the 8 draft picks which saw playing time impressed you guys the most?  I am having a hard time deciding.

Brad Cottam appears to have put to rest questions of his receiving ability - I missed a bit of the game, but I didn't see him drop a pass that headed his way.  He is a huge upgrade over Jason Dunn in that category.  Having two pass-catching threats covered by LB's in 2-TE sets will be very helpful for our quick passing game.

Jamaal Charles looked good running the ball, and showed some nice moves to gain yards after making the catch.

Of course, Will Franklin's catch on 3rd and 14 was impressive.

I was less happy with our defensive draft picks - I thought Flowers and Carr gave a little too much cushion in the Cover 2, though I understand they didn't want Hester to get behind them in their first ever NFL game.  I did see Morgan make a few plays in run support, and he made a nice tackle on the RB on a safety blitz around the left side of our line.

What do you guys think?

I am not old enough to remember this ( a few of you may be) but Jonathan Rand has a great article about a pre-season game between the Chiefs and Bears on 23 August 1967.  He writes

For Chiefs fans who are gray around the temples, tonight’s game against the Bears in Chicago should bring back memories of one of the most important pre-season games ever played. Actually, it may have been the only important pre-season game ever played.

The game was the first game the Chiefs played after the NFL-AFL merger (also the first game after we were creamed in Super Bowl I), and the Bears came into Municipal Stadium looking to again prove that former AFL teams were no match for the NFL teams.  They were led by Halas, who vehemently opposed the merger, even going as far as to offer teams to Hunt and Ryan.  We played our starters the whole game and beat the Bears 66-24.  I thought it was a well-written article, a great look back at history, and another reminder of how indebted we Chiefs fans and the whole sport of American Football are to the great Lamar Hunt.

Check it out at the mothership

From the mothership...

A Little Bit of History Repeating:
An adept Tar Heel and Connor Barth fan reminded us that: K Connor Barth kicked against KR Devin Hester when Barth was at UNC and Hester was at the University of Miami. It was October 30, 2004, a historic game for University of North Carolina in Kenan Stadium. Barth’s directional kickoffs held Hester to no significant returns, and the true freshman won the game for UNC, beating Miami (Top 5 ranked team) when he booted a 42-yard field goal with three seconds left on the clock. The kick made the inside spread of Sports Illustrated the next week.
-A Huge Connor Barth and UNC Fan

I hope Barth can still aim those kickoffs...I would be a shame if he lost the battle with Novak because Hester embarrassed us tomorrow night.

The kind mothership also posted a link so you could watch Barth win it

I know some of you are not fans of Bob Gretz due to his "Carl Peterson is the greatest GM in the NFL" Syndrome ;) but I thought he handled this Raiders fan very well

AL DAVIS says:

Bob, How will these KC fans feel when the Chiefs are 0-2 going to Atlanta? How will these KC fans feel when the Chiefs are 0-12 going to Denver on Pearl Harbor day?

They will probably feel the same way the Raiders fans will feel after they leave Arrowhead 0-2 on the season. I love a little give-and-take between fans, but how could a Raiders fan talk any trash after the way his team has played the last few years

Jonathan Rand over at the mothership had an interesting article about coaching in which he made this statement -

Any team in the league would be a lot more successful with the worst coaches and best players than with the best coaches and worst players.

I disagree, and here is why.  A few years ago the Patriots suffered a ridiculous string of injuries, something like 27 starters had missed 3 or more games over the course of the season (of course, not all at the same time).  Notice that this means that some back-ups became starters, and then were injured - something like our RB situation last season.   And yet they were still successful with a LOT of 2nd and 3rd string guys on the field (I can't remember exactly which season it was, so I don't know if they won the Super Bowl that year, but they won their division.)  Contrast this with the Raiders, who in the five years since losing the Super Bowl, have made the acquisition of talented players a priority - and we all know how that has turned out <chuckles>  Obviously, the Patriots had some great players, even when s bunch of back-ups were forced to play, but I have to believe some of their success is due to fantastic coaching of moderately talented players.  What does everybody think?

In the preview of the Donkeys, the mothership missed an absolutely hilarious typo

Added to the roster were free agent receivers Keary Colbert from Carolina (32 catches for 332 yards and no touchdowns), Darrell Jackson from San Francisco (46-497-3) and former Chiefs receiver Samie Parker (2-298-2).

Apparently, in addition to the amazing skills of dropping every other pass, never showing us his blazing speed, and kneeling down to end the game, Samie Parker managed to find a way to turn his two receptions into TD's AND run more than the length of the football field on at least one of those.

On a serious note, the preview isn't too shabby (check it out) and I really hope that Parker doesn't play for the Donkeys like Kennison did for us after leaving Denver.