I don't know enough to say anything definitive.  Half of my overall impressions don't stand up to later film study.  Here are some observations from the Patriots game, mostly from the KC defensive side, but one biggie from the offensive side.

Continue reading this post »

A decisive victory by the Dolphins.  What are the biggest issues?  What do you find most glaring?  I'll kick it off by hitting a few lowlights.

Continue reading this post »

... then it's a real scoop for Wright, because I ain't seein' this anywhere else, right now.

But it couldn't come at a better time.  KC is in the same spot SF was when we met them, last year.  Most were still optimistic about a young and talented team, led by a loud and eccentric HOF-player-turned-HC.  Lucky for the Chiefs, they're led by a coach who is, by turns laconic like Belichick and a sarcastic smart-ass like Bill Parcells.

This game is truly make-or-break for KC.  But some factors are in their favor.  The Vikes are beatable.  The KC D will hold up their end.  And if Nick Wright's right, Baldwin will get a chance to strut his stuff.  If the offense can find SOME kind of spark, this game is Baldwinnable.

Sorry.  No pics or polls - just prose.

Continue reading this post »

It sucks having to wait until Saturday night to watch the game.  One of the benefits is going into the game knowing what others have said, so I can make a complementary (Two 'e's and no 'i's, when it is what is not.) 'Post, meaning I can say what others haven't.

So with this in mind, I begin very ambitiously with a play-by-play, which I quickly abandon for some comments that relate to my slant.  If you see something you already read, I apologize.  If you glean something new, I'm pleased.

Continue reading this post »

Whenever I think of KC's agile offensive line facing some of the NFL's behemoth defensive lines, I keep coming back in my mind to Alexander the Great and the Battle of Hydaspes. (See nifty slide show.) The use of lateral mobility against a stronger, but less agile foe is the most persistent and decisive feature of both the river crossing and the main battle on the other side. The battle on the other side relates more directly to football, although the crossing itself was the real attention-getter for history, and bears discussing, as well.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts. -Chris

We'll see what we'll see, here.  After following all 4 of the quarterly threads, now I get to actually see the game, and take some notes while I'm at it.  This is one situation where I freakin' HATE bein' sawed-off - whence the term "elf" is thrown around.  Remember that illustrated version of The Hobbit?  Remember the picture of the wood elf king?  All legs and the short trunk?  Heh.  That's me.  Makes it tough to see over my laptop screen, while I'm watching the game. 

Let's see, now.  This Air Desk is pretty nimble.  How about I kinda scoot the easy chair around a little, like so,   Now, slide the desk around.  Oops.  It's snaggin' on the end table.  Unggh.  Huuhh!  Friggin' thing!  Tilt.  Don't MAKE me get up!  Now.  Is turning sideways like this going to give me a neck cramp?  Hey! I never noticed, but this Air Desk, with its flat metal pedestal catches it when I knock the cherry off my cigarette when I'm moving furniture from a sitting position. Here goes.

Continue reading this post »

A fellow blogger is a person with whom your only introduction is electronic.  But it's one thing to hook up when your only common ground is Lord of the Rings and "Gee, your picture is cute, and I'm a blue-eyed non-smoker."

Heh.  Met up with Ups at the Greeley Blues Festival, so of course, we found food, beer, and sat and argued politics for 2 or 3 hours.  Pretty much got the same guy I'd argued with here on AP, along pretty much the same lines.

We both want the same things, but I'm more of a basic freedoms guy, whereas Ups is an idealist, always pointing out where we could do things better  than we currently do them.  I'm the ignorant philosopher, and Ups is the informed idealist.  My kind of drinkin' buddy!

We misconnected, because of the sign "Customers Only" when it came time to empty our bladders.

Continue reading this post »

What the heck. It's Memorial Day Week, and I'm all the time thinking about old battles whenever I think about football. One battle that I think is especially instructive is the Battle of Chourigui, the first tank-on-tank engagement between U.S. and Germany.  It's usually included in the larger Battle of Kasserine Pass, when the U.S. 1st Army was on its (in)famous Run to Tunis, in late 1942. For an account of these early engagements, and the lessons it teaches, I suggest Battle at Kasserine Pass, a master's thesis on the battle, by Maj. Mark T. Calhoun, in 2003. Good reading.

Up to this point, and for a good while after, German forces were considered invincible in the field, with much the same mystique as Napoleon, in an earlier century. German equipment, training, and close coordination of air, armor and infantry, were a potent combination (helped, no doubt from lessons learned in Spain and Poland). And yet, they weren't invincible, as many seemed to think.

There were many valuable lessons offered from this first engagement, and some of them were actually learned by American command.  Others, not so much. Maybe you'll find this entertaining or even instructive.  I know when I'm thinking about football, that phrases such as "The Right 53" always come to mind.  So does the saying "There's more 'n one way to skin a cat," which I throw around a lot.

Folks have a habit of always taking the wrong lessons from the facts before them. This is something that occupies my thoughts quite a bit, wondering when I'm guilty of such and how to get through to others when maybe I think they are. There's a lot goes into a football team.

Continue reading this post »

From the FanPosts -Joel

The title says it all. I just thought I'd put together a page that had the whole draft on it, loaded quickly, and gave key particulars in one place, that I could put on Chiefs on HarryzAims.com , so I'd have it at my fingertips. One of my projects for the summer is to put together quick links to stuff I want to find in a hurry. I hope you don't mind. This stuff, below might be handy when you want to look at the vitals of one of the 2011 draft picks.

Some of the links are to Scouting Reports on WalterFootball. Some are just links to vitals on NFLdraftscout.com. Hope you don't mind. Feel free to chime in on anything, but I'm mainly just sharing a quick page that I'll be using and adding to, for my own purposes. If you like the direction I'm going, give me a heads-up, and I'll peck away at it, trying to put useful stuff in quick and easy reach.

Continue reading this post »

Think the white 'n' red color scheme is mere coincidence?

I think not.

Continue reading this post »

Wow.  You actually put some work into this one, hmills.

More than one source expected New England to bring up the rear in the AFC East in 2001 ( Time.com, Sports Illustrated, ...).  To everyone's surprise, they won the division, with an 11-5 record

According to Official New England Patriots Bio of Pioli, their success was largely the product of "(t)he depth and versatility of the clubs that Pioli and Belichick ... assembled."  It's hard to point to anybody that took those teams on his shoulders, although Brady got the spotlight.  Gee, that sounds like what's happening in KC.

Continue reading this post »

Sorry for this flurry, guys.  Just clearing the decks after finals (except for that gal who missed the Final due to a car wreck).  This post was begun when Jackson rejoined the squad after the knee thing.  Wonder how much is still valid, but it's worth talking about, a few games later...

For all our excitement about KC's defensive turnaround this season, they've been under-strength on the D-Line since partway through Game 1, when Jackson went down.  I'm wondering if he starts, and I'm wondering what kind of 3- and 4-man rush the Chiefs will be mustering with him in the lineup.

Continue reading this post »

A Viking wore long hair as a dare to his opponent.  NFL players also wear long hair, apparently to look bad-ass.  That long hair is a handle for the enemy to grab, as soldiers have known from the beginning of soldiering.

Continue reading this post »

Why does everyone automatically think Lilja will be playing right guard?  He's built like a LG and he's a long-time starting LG.  Is it likely KC sees Lilja and Waters as a 1-2 punch at LG?  What about the perceived lack of depth at offensive tackle?  If Albert gets hurt (and let's hope not), is there anyone to step in?  I'll take my usual, outside-the-box (to the point of total idiocy) angles, wherever possible (and the possibilities are nearly endless), in the following.

In ALL this, I'd just like to point out to EVERYone that ALL of our questions about the O-Line are revolving around a significantly more talented and better-conditioned group of players than the group we had last year, at this time, when Goff and McIntosh were our best two guys on the right side!  In other words, through all the verbiage, we really have every reason to expect better things outta the gate and down the stretch. 

The roster, she do keep on churnin'.

Continue reading this post »

We now have a plethora of DBs. Who stays? Who leaves?

Author's note:  I tried to pick up all the spares.  Jarrad Page doesn't show up on the KC roster, still, but could grab him from a general player search on nfl.com.

Continue reading this post »

Here we make some general observations and draw some modest conclusions.  The main observation is that speed in the d-backfield has changed significantly, with emphasis on football IQ.  This was definitely a need, but what about NT?  What about OT?  What about ILB?

Some will be livid that NT and ILB were not directly addressed.

How will things play out in the wake of this kind of draft?

Continue reading this post »

Probably going to get a bit wordy for a mere FanShot, though I considered it...   Just been watching some of the combine, off and on, this past week, thinking about the various drills and what they might or might not say about a player.  The more those guys on NFLN talk, the more I see how man-love can emerge from the combine and it plays into the hands of a smart GM.

Continue reading this post »

Some observations. More of an extended comment. But I make enough extended comments, I'm entitled to a Post, once a month or so.

Continue reading this post »