Thursday, December 20, 2007

Say What You Will, Herm's Our Man

Everywhere I go there seems to be a new knock on Herm Edwards. "The man won't take chances", then he does take a chance, and it's "the man makes stupid calls". "His offense is too boring" then he let's it fly, and it's "He has no gameplan."
Alright, as it were, I concure w/ many of these knocks on Herm. It would seem that he and his bedfellow Solari have no gameplan. It's as if they are too busy watching Hogan's Heros reruns during the week to bother looking at opposing team's film. Then on game day they're scrambling to make something make sense, which looks a little like this: Run, run, punt...punt, run, drop....groan, groan, groan,....punt, kick, miss.
There is absolutely no philosophy here. And what really gets me is that the man bows to pressure faster than Nancy Palosi's Congress. The moment there's criticism of his system, he calls plays that are way out of character, apparently from some inherent fear of not being liked by the gals and fellas. Well, there is certainly a lot we can find to flaw this coach.
I would like to point out what this man does so great for THIS team RIGHT NOW. He can spot talent. Jarred Page, Kolby Smith, Dwayne Bowe; if there is any method to his maddness it's this: you build winning teams through the draft. We can confirm this just by looking at, what I like to call, the failed Redskin Maniacle, where a team tries to duplicate the New York Yankees by throwing money in the free agency frenzie and comes out like the New York Yankees as total disappointments. I mean the free agent move has turned out to be so disaterous, that their best draft pick winds up dead (no offense, Taylor family). My point is that though Herm may have no game, or game plan, he certainly has a nose for talent and I don't care what coach or system you have, you ain't got talent and you got nothin'.....just ask Nick Saben.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Jared Allen Owes Carl Peterson His Life.


As we wait for this miserable season to end, one bright spot can be trained right on one Jared Allen. Mr. Allen, a fourth round pick from Idaho State (and another mark for my "Stay the Hell Away from the Top 10" arguement; him and Jarred Page...heck, maybe we should just keep drafting guys name Jar(r)ed, but I digress) is sure to earn his way into the Pro Bowl this year as one of the leagues most dominating defensive ends. His never-ending motor coupled w/ athleticism, enthiusiasm, and a sense of leadership has made him both a fan and league favorite. Everyone new he was special after he tied Derrick Thomas for most sacks in the league, but things could have turned out quite different.

Though Jarred has been an exceptional talent, a place among the elite seemed to just elude him. He wasn't a big man, but his love for Schlits tallboys was making him bigger. He loved being a clown, and seemed to draw a lot of attention from it, but he appeared to have hit a wall with his production, and was beginning to look like just a plain clown. Then last year the man scored two DUI arrests in one year, not an easy feat; one you really have to work at.

I got a DUI once and had to attend some AA meetings. My sponsor told me that he drove drunk over 5,000 times and was finally caught. So when you are arrested multiple times for DUI's, you can imagine how many times you get away w/ it.

This was the wake up call for Allen, but he didn't want to go that route. Instead, he demanded a contract extension. King Carl, being the shrewd used car salesman he is, would have non of it, but offered him a payraise to $2.5 mil; not a bad jump from his original $350K salary (man, I'd love to get paid $350K). Allen didn't like Carl's response. He wanted to get paid the big boy dollars w/out acting like a big boy. Instead he kicked and screamed and yelled and cried and threatened to move and insulted the organization in the press and did everything an amatuer athlete would do, but Carl wouldn't budge.

King Carl's like me. I've worked in Title I middle schools that make East LA look like America, I've seen it all. Likewise, Carl wasn't going to let anything like this sway him. He stood his ground. After Jared wore himself out w/ his tantrum and took a nap, he awoke w/ a fresh sense of purpose.

Amidst a period when getting suspended was all the rage in the NFL, Allen bucked the trend. He quit drinking, spent more time at the club, cleaned himself up, lost weight, threw Boomer Grigsby out of his house (he's now staying on LJ's couch)and ran for office.....well, not yet, but you can see the direction he's taking as he embraces the role as a leader. No longer would he use his funny antics for evil purposes, just for the good of the (Chiefs) nation; see: racing-striped mullet and roping cattle....I don't blame him for holding on to his Boss Hog Caddy.

The League recognized his efforts and awarded him back two of his suspended games. For all of you "Let's Lose them Allers", you can see what a mistake this was. His new physique made him unblockable. He will only get better and has now demanded the repect of other teams. With Colts' Dwight Freeney now out of the way, Jared Allen has positioned himself as the top defensive lineman in the league. Things could have been quite different......just ask Jaron Rush.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Losing for a Higher Draft Pick = Loser


I want to settle anyones fears out there who may be suspect to the Chiefs' motives. After watching, what I have dubbed, the "Mile High Prison Rape", it would not be too out of line to suspect the team is making a run for the gutter. With Jason Whitlock leading the way, there is a steadily growing camp who believe we are gunning to play the Jets in the season finally as the "Number 3 Bowl." Though watching Patrick Surtain roll out the (Chief) red carpet and get the hell out of the way for the Bronco's number one receiver and only offensive threat (to the rest of the NFL, anyway; the Chiefs still need to account for their sixth string back)can be easily interpreted as "they're packing it in early for a higher draft pick", I'm here to tell you that ain't going to happen; not intentially, anyway.

Among the most obvious reasons is though they have already stolen the ticket holders' money w/ Pop Warner football at big boy prices, it would be incomprehensible for the organization to further steal from their loyal (or sucker) supporters by charging them for 16 games and only playing 12 (they've already stolen one game from us by not showing up in Denver.) If it's the case, for shame Hunt, Jr. At this point, we don't know you as well as we knew your father, so though I will give you the benefit of the doubt, you do not get a pass.

More logically, however, one would just have to look at our draft picks of the past decade (1997 - 2007) to see that if the Chiefs know anything, they will stay the hell out of the top 10.
Top Ten Picks: Ryan Sims
Mid Picks: Tony Gonzalez, John Tait, Larry Johnson, Derrick Johnson, D-Bowe.

Sure this is a bit skewed b/c I've left out the busts, but drafting is not a perfect science, and you can agree we've had some great successes drafting in the mids. The Chiefs have not been this low since the 80's, so the past ten years only gives us one top ten (bust), so we're batting 0.000 in that catagory. (compare that to our sweet 0.625 avg. for the later). So the numbers don't lie. And if that doesn't convince you, go back and look at all the top tens for the past ten years, and how many are still making an inpact; I'm looking at you Ryan Lief.

You'll have to do it your self, though. I'm not going to do it, what do I look like a stat geek?