Emmitt Smiff Has A Few More Words For The Rest Of The Cowboys

I'm a huge fan of my colleague Peter King, of course. But when I saw that he picked the Kansas City Chiefs to go 8-8, I was wondering if maybe a virus had hijacked his computer. The Chiefs went 2-14 last year, traded away (by far) their best offensive weapon (Tony Gonzalez), paid a lot of money for a quarterback who before last year had not started since high school, had what pretty much everyone called an uninspiring draft and then signed an all-star team from 2002 (WR Bobby Engram, LB Mike Vrabel -- they have since released WR Amani Toomer and LB Zach Thomas). Their offensive line is in shambles. They fired their offensive coordinator during the last week of training camp.
That's not to say they can't go 8-8. This is the NFL, and crazy stuff happens. What I'm saying is that if the Chiefs get within three games of 8-8, I'm buying Peter a nice watch or an espresso maker or something because that would be one heck of a pick.

Rather than go looking for talent elsewhere, the Chiefs kept it familiar by signing six rookies and one first-year player who had been part of the team’s preseason roster. The practice squad consists of the following players.

CB Jackie Bates
TE Tom Crabtree
DE Dion Gales
G Darryl Harris
RB Javarris Williams
WR Rodney Wright

If there were any doubts that the Chiefs have reached a desperate stage in improving their wide receiver group, the signing on Monday of Ashley Lelie should end those.

Gut feeling: I believe in the defense, which is totally sold on coordinator Ron Rivera's schemes and the teaching of the Rivera staff. If Philip Rivers gets protected well, and the Tomlinson/Darren Sproles/Jacob Hester (the big back who hurts you when he hits you) combo platter stays mostly healthy, no team will come within four games of the Chargers in the AFC West.

Chiefs coach Todd Haley has made it clear, again and again, that conditioning is a priority. It's a basic element of success, he believes, and it clears the way for coaches to emphasize more important and advanced issues during the relatively brief three weeks of training camp.
So when a likely starter fails the conditioning test, it's a tough thing to deal with. Defensive end Glenn Dorsey admitted Friday that he was among the handful of players who didn't pass the test.
"Close," he said after a long pause. "I've still got a ways to go."

If I was taking the conditioning test . . .
I'd pass. Without breaking a sweat (but only because it's more like September up here in Wisconsin).
If I was taking the test, I would also be taking it seriously. Todd Haley has drawn a clear line here and it appears he's serious about enforcing it.
That doesn't mean he would cut, say, Derrick Johnson or Matt Cassel if they failed to run their three 300-yard shuttles in the alloted time (but they won't fail). But he might extract a price in a different way. As for lesser players, he might cut them if they fail.
So I'd take care of business and not bother to find out, even though Haley can't cut me.

I call bullshit.

Re: guest columnists for the next four Mondays: We'll start with Trent Green coming off the bench next Monday to spell me. Enjoy this wise man of football.

The Kansas City Chiefs waived LS Thomas Gafford, WR C.J. Jones, DT T.J. Jackson and LB Darrell Robertson on Friday. Gafford played in nine games as Kansas City’s long snapper in 2008, while Jackson saw duty in four games for the Chiefs a year ago.