ANYONE SEE A CHIEFS' WIN ON THE HORIZON?
My good buddy Chuck, who's been on the sidelines at Arrowhead for well over 20 years, said the best sign at yesterday's game was "We want progress, not a process". Absolutely right from a fans perspective. Can we see improvement in the 1st 4 games? Tell me where I'm wrong, but I haven't seen it. Before the season began, I had their record at 1-3 for the 1st four games. I thought they could've beaten the Raiders, which they should have, that's the game that bothers me the most, they were playing an inferior team in Arrowhead. The let the worst quarterback in the league beat them. Plus, they mis-managed the clock so badly before the 1st half, I thought Herm Edwards was back haunting our sideline.
In four games the Chiefs have been out gained by 530 yards. They have surrendered 13 sacks in 4 games, which works out to 52 over 16 games. Our 3-4 defense has 5 sacks, which could total 20, which would be double of last season's all-time worst in league history. Hardly Ravenesque or Steeler-like.
The Patriots gave up 48 sacks in '08, the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers surrendered 49 sacks, so that stat could be somewhat misleading. Matt Cassel won 10 games behind a line that gave up 48 sacks. The obvious difference is in the skill position players. He had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Ben Watson & Kevin Faulk. Kevin Faulk is one of the best 3rd down backs in history with over 7,000 yards combined rushing & receiving & 28 TD's. Cassel now has Dwayne Bowe, Bobby Wade, Sean Ryan & Jammal Charles. See the problem? The disparity of talent I've been talking about since I started this blog is the reason this team isn't competitive.
I've said since the beginning here, the Chiefs have 18-20 NFL quality players & that was before Tony Gonzalez was traded & Todd Haley benched Derrick Johnson. When your team is out gunned by such a wide margin, it's all hands on deck. Derrick Johnson should be playing. If Pioli/Haley aren't happy with him, let him go after the season, he's in a contract year, don't resign him. But give your team the best chance to be competitive, he should be playing. If Jammal Charles can stay on the field, there's no reason Derrick Johnson can't play. Charles fumbles, he fumbled at Texas, he fumbled in preseason, he fumbled in the regular season last year & he fumbled on the opening kickoff yesterday, giving the Giants a short field for their first touchdown. And Derrick Johnson can't get on the field? I'm not in the Jason Whitlock/black helicopter crowd who believes the new regime is more about ego than football. My boy Chuck is starting to lean this way too, he's seen & heard a lot on that sideline. But I'm starting to see more things like this Jammal Charles/Derrick Johnson issue that really should concern Chiefs fans.
Whatever happened to "imposing our will on the defense"? The Chiefs had 5 snaps inside the 5-yard line yesterday in the 4th quarter. They passed from the shotgun formation in 4 of them. Larry Johnson, who showed some spark yesterday, got one attempt to run it in. I'd rather they didn't score. It would have been better to see them line up & try to "impose their will on the defense" by running it in. It could have been a confidence builder for the entire offense. The score didn't matter, we were already beat, is padding Matt Cassel's meager stats more important than boosting the confidence of the entire offense?
Our LSU connection made almost zero impact again yesterday. Dwayne Bowe had one catch for 11 yards. But he dropped 2 passes as well. Tyson Jackson & Glenn Dorsey were once again absent from the tackle chart. If you watched the game you were able to catch a glimpse of both one time each. Three first round draft picks, all making little or no impact on their team. How on earth does Tim Krumrie keep his job as defensive line coach? He yells & swears a lot like Todd Haley, so maybe that's it, a kinship of cussers. His line, for the third year in a row, is awful. The guy we passed on, Seattle's Aaron Curry, had 7 tackles yesterday, but no sacks for the 1st time this season. He was, after all, trying to get to Peyton Manning, a guy who just doesn't get sacked.
One more note, the "helmet to helmet contact" personal foul that was called on Jarrad Page, was absolutely a bad call. I know they're trying to minimize concussions & spinal chord injuries, but it was plainly a terrible call. His shoulder went directly into Steve Smith's chest, any helmet to helmet contact was incidental & after the initial blow was delivered. The NFL markets hits like Page put on Smith yesterday, so stop flagging defenders for things you thought you saw. This is one of the reasons ball carriers break tackles, defenders are somewhat gun shy to deliver a 'decleating blow' for fear of penalties & fines.
With all of this roster movement this team has done, they still haven't got the 22 guys off the street who can win 2 games. I see 3 possibilities to win 2 games, at Oakland, Buffalo & Cleveland. Tighten those chin straps Chiefs' fans, this isn't going to be easy, this isn't going to be fun to watch.
In four games the Chiefs have been out gained by 530 yards. They have surrendered 13 sacks in 4 games, which works out to 52 over 16 games. Our 3-4 defense has 5 sacks, which could total 20, which would be double of last season's all-time worst in league history. Hardly Ravenesque or Steeler-like.
The Patriots gave up 48 sacks in '08, the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers surrendered 49 sacks, so that stat could be somewhat misleading. Matt Cassel won 10 games behind a line that gave up 48 sacks. The obvious difference is in the skill position players. He had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Ben Watson & Kevin Faulk. Kevin Faulk is one of the best 3rd down backs in history with over 7,000 yards combined rushing & receiving & 28 TD's. Cassel now has Dwayne Bowe, Bobby Wade, Sean Ryan & Jammal Charles. See the problem? The disparity of talent I've been talking about since I started this blog is the reason this team isn't competitive.
I've said since the beginning here, the Chiefs have 18-20 NFL quality players & that was before Tony Gonzalez was traded & Todd Haley benched Derrick Johnson. When your team is out gunned by such a wide margin, it's all hands on deck. Derrick Johnson should be playing. If Pioli/Haley aren't happy with him, let him go after the season, he's in a contract year, don't resign him. But give your team the best chance to be competitive, he should be playing. If Jammal Charles can stay on the field, there's no reason Derrick Johnson can't play. Charles fumbles, he fumbled at Texas, he fumbled in preseason, he fumbled in the regular season last year & he fumbled on the opening kickoff yesterday, giving the Giants a short field for their first touchdown. And Derrick Johnson can't get on the field? I'm not in the Jason Whitlock/black helicopter crowd who believes the new regime is more about ego than football. My boy Chuck is starting to lean this way too, he's seen & heard a lot on that sideline. But I'm starting to see more things like this Jammal Charles/Derrick Johnson issue that really should concern Chiefs fans.
Whatever happened to "imposing our will on the defense"? The Chiefs had 5 snaps inside the 5-yard line yesterday in the 4th quarter. They passed from the shotgun formation in 4 of them. Larry Johnson, who showed some spark yesterday, got one attempt to run it in. I'd rather they didn't score. It would have been better to see them line up & try to "impose their will on the defense" by running it in. It could have been a confidence builder for the entire offense. The score didn't matter, we were already beat, is padding Matt Cassel's meager stats more important than boosting the confidence of the entire offense?
Our LSU connection made almost zero impact again yesterday. Dwayne Bowe had one catch for 11 yards. But he dropped 2 passes as well. Tyson Jackson & Glenn Dorsey were once again absent from the tackle chart. If you watched the game you were able to catch a glimpse of both one time each. Three first round draft picks, all making little or no impact on their team. How on earth does Tim Krumrie keep his job as defensive line coach? He yells & swears a lot like Todd Haley, so maybe that's it, a kinship of cussers. His line, for the third year in a row, is awful. The guy we passed on, Seattle's Aaron Curry, had 7 tackles yesterday, but no sacks for the 1st time this season. He was, after all, trying to get to Peyton Manning, a guy who just doesn't get sacked.
One more note, the "helmet to helmet contact" personal foul that was called on Jarrad Page, was absolutely a bad call. I know they're trying to minimize concussions & spinal chord injuries, but it was plainly a terrible call. His shoulder went directly into Steve Smith's chest, any helmet to helmet contact was incidental & after the initial blow was delivered. The NFL markets hits like Page put on Smith yesterday, so stop flagging defenders for things you thought you saw. This is one of the reasons ball carriers break tackles, defenders are somewhat gun shy to deliver a 'decleating blow' for fear of penalties & fines.
With all of this roster movement this team has done, they still haven't got the 22 guys off the street who can win 2 games. I see 3 possibilities to win 2 games, at Oakland, Buffalo & Cleveland. Tighten those chin straps Chiefs' fans, this isn't going to be easy, this isn't going to be fun to watch.
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