Thank God Huard's Done

This is what we've been waiting for. This is the 16 week preseason I talked about. It is something that needs to happen for this organization to grow. It is needed to answer pressing questions, and so far this season Damon Huard has stood in the way. The insatiable desire to win now has prevented this preseason unit from really reaching its potential. The Chiefs are a young, inexeperienced subpar team. But with Huard at the helm -which is what we had with the Brodie Croyle experiment officially done- this team would remain subpar with no growth or development.

Now Thigpen's the man. Now he can go out, take his lumps and maybe become the QB of the future. "But we'll get embarrassed!" sayz Joe the Chiefs fan. Well, in case you've been living underneath a rock -and many of us wish we had- you might've noticed that we are passed the stage of embarrasment, and all but a handful have reached subtle apathy. We are down, just kick me and go away, Sunday. But with Thigpen (man, I wish his name were Pigpen) we might have the quaterback of the future, even if it is a 1% chance. It will finally be a complete unit developing together. With Huard, there's a 0% chance. Sure he gave us the best chance to win now, but why? To get a lower draft pick? All he did was kept our offense unit in a vacume waiting to gel. Now there's no waiting. Thigpen's the man. And we can get down to finishing this very expensive preseason.....

Enjoy the 16 game Preseason

Last Sunday Chiefs fans –if there are any left by the looks of the home opener. For shame! But that’s another column- were treated to what one might confuse as a hundred monkeys in a hundred football uniforms. It was hard to understand exactly what was going on. Why did Damon Huard get pulled? Injury to his head? Shoulders? Knees? Toes? Knees? Toes? Or wha-happened to LJ after the third quarter? Or who was that short black dude under center at seemingly random intervals?
We are being laid witness to the mysticism of the Great Herm Edwards Experiment. He did not have an opportunity to do this with the Jets because Purcells left behind a solid foundation, but it is what he feels is his destiny; to build a team from the ground up. Not simply developing a quarterback, or revitalizing a defense, or finding a kicker, or rebuilding the o-line. No, this is doing it all; blowing up the whole goddamn thing and starting over. It doesn’t matter if it works or doesn't work, everything is treated equal in Herm’s eyes: out with the old, in with the young.
Fair enough, but among the many drawbacks, one GLARING is that you don’t know what works…so you try different things, which results in the Pop Warner marathon we witnessed on Sunday. You run what’s-his-name and you line up whozits under center. You make a walk-on the captain of the defense. You take your career long left tackle, make him the right tackle, draft a guard and put him at left tackle. You set your QB depth chart with two characters destined for practice squads with other teams.
Well, I for one am not going to fight the wackiness any more, but embrace it. I will back Herm’s choice to start Thigpen until Brodie returns, then start him again when Brodie gets hurt three plays later. I am going to support Herm’s decision to systematically pull any player over the ripe age of 26 to infuse his college squad. It is clear now we are not playing for 2008. This is a 19 game preseason for the Chiefs and, like when the Chiefs pummled the Rams’ third team, they are rearin to lose ugly.
Alright, I can handle playing for the future. It sure beats the hell out of playing for this present team. But if that’s the case the Chiefs organization needs to pull the trigger on a few things.
1) Trade Larry Johnson. The team is overflowing with Herm Edwards runningbacks. He can’t cut or pass block or stop whinning about not seeing himself in the Chiefs’ future, so let’s fullfill the prophecey. Certainly there is another blockbuster, Jarred Allen-esk trade out there that will allow the Chiefs to once again load their draft stock. At least one, if not two, first round picks. Draft picks and identifying talent are where Edwards thrives –not coaching. The Chiefs need to exploit his talent by getting him more draft picks, and Larry is the way to do it.
2) FULLY commit. Edwards was saying some garbage today about starting Huard if Thigpen doesn’t work out. I don’t want to hear that. Edwards needs to quit toying with his own plan and see it through. Doesn’t work out? Of course it’s not going to work out! He was bound for the practice squad! But you make your bed, baby, you sleep in it. If Edwards is going to grace us with this sick experiment, he better stick with it an let the kid develop into something…or nothin’.
3) Make a deal with the fans. We aren’t stupid. We see that the season has already been thrown away by Herm and his staff. We know this is just one long tryout period. So why not show us fans a little love? Make tickets for the rest of the year $5.00. This will not only begin a much needed relationship tune up between the fans and the front office, it will fill the seats and give Arrowhead –or soon the Stadium Formally Known As Arrowhead- back its home field swagger. From what I heard, openning day at The K beat last Sunday in attendance. That is really really sad. A home openner against the hated Raiders, and it looked like a Tampa baseball game. This needs to be fixed and it begins with the Chiefs front office not charging one over prime for a substandard project.

This is a period where we as Chiefs fans need to circle the wagons. Our football team stinks because of youth, not lack of talent. No experience has a big impact. This team will need another season to develop. Once this talent pool does begin to build on their field experience, look out; this might just be crazy enough to work. I am willing to give up on this season, but not this team. As long as Edwards fully commits to his plan, I am going to hop on board for no other reason than what choice do I have? Edwards is our captain. To the football gods be damned.

Should The Chiefs Go Big D?

Ok, the glaring need to fix the offensive line is too big to ignore. I get that. The Chiefs complete corrosion of their big men has made the team into a perrinial joke. But is it really going to lead to the teams future?

It's very easy to grab up a premiere O-lineman; Jake Long of Michigan being the obvious choice. This draft class is so rich of guards and tackles, and surely the chiefs can use their enormous cap room on a proven, ready-to-go left tackle in free agency; they better because their move to franchise Jarred and save their already huge cap room will make no sense otherwise.

Has it been so long that we Chiefs fans have forgotten what makes this team exciting? Did Dick Vermiel's circus freaks corrupt us that much? What made us contenders? It certainly wasn't our high flying offense. We need to get back to the days of Derrick Thomas, Niel Smith, and Saleamua. We need to have a feared Deron Cherry, Dale Carter, Kevin Ross and James Hasty. This is what makes the Chiefs great: a feared defense.

Yea, We've made great strides to build a respectable defense. The D was great, but the team's losing ways became an infectious disease that clapsed the team. But if we can add some serious man power to our D, wouldn't that offset a mediocre O? How can we pass up a space eater like Sedric Ellis or -God forbid, if he's available- Glen Dorsey. I've seen some draft projections that Aquib Talib slips to the second round. And even after all that there's a good chance some highly rated offensive lineman are available.

Look, I understand the need for us to fix our offense, and that begins with our offensive line. just believe we are making the wrong move by trying to make our offense great again. Make our offense acceptable. Make our defense feared and dominant, and that will present opportunity for the Chiefs to once again dominate the AFC West.

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.

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?