I think this explains a lot.....

Yup, that's our leader, Matty C, not able to see a WIDE OPEN RECEIVER. Seriously Matt, there wasn't anyone near you and you still made a poor decision to throw into what was basically double coverage. Hell, you make that pass, it might go for a TD since nobody was within 10-15 yards of him. I understand QBs miss guys from time to time, but not when there's absolutely ZERO pressure on them. I promise you that 98% of NFL QBs make the correct read on this play. The other 2% are named JaMarcus Russel and Brodie Croyle.

0-3 Chiefs: Two Rants

Thanks to the NFL Lockout and pure laziness, I haven't posted in awhile. Not that anyone noticed, since nobody reads this thing anyway. But, I felt I needed to address a few things that I've seen other bloggers and twitter folks discuss and 140 characters isn't enough to get the point across.

1st Rant: Todd Haley's job security


There have been a lot of people calling for Haley's job this year and I don't quite understand it. He took a very average team to the playoffs last year and people want him fired after an 0-3 start this season? What has he done that's so bad to lose his job? Absolutely nothing, that's what. It's complete bullshit to blame this shithole of a start on the coaching staff. The Bills are 3-0 and are scoring 30+ points per game. They just beat the mighty Patriots. Plus you have to account for a little team letdown that week after Eric Berry went down with an injury. The same goes with the Lions game. We looked pretty decent until Charles went down, then it all spiraled down the shitter like a huge turd. Remember when we knocked Tom Brady out for the season against the Patriots in 2008? They barely beat us (17-10) that year and we only won 2 games all season, while the Patriots went on to win 11 and narrowly missed the playoffs. Had we been remotely decent that year, and not been stopped on 4th and goal from the 5 with under a minute left, we would have won that game. And in my opinion, it's due to the post-Brady letdown they suffered. Any athlete who has played with a great player and lost them during the course of the game knows how hard it is to get your focus back. You're constantly thinking about how badly that player is hurt, if that guy is going to come back, who is going to step up and take charge. It's almost like knowing your best friend was in a terrible car accident, but you're stuck at work and can't leave. You're there, but not really there. Listen, we're not bad because of Haley and the coaching staff. Hell, if Todd pulls out a 5-win season without three of our top guys, he's a coaching genius. We're bad because we've been screwed over by injuries, we've faced two very good teams and for the reason I'll discuss at #2 which cost us the 3rd game.


2nd Rant: Matt Cassel


I hopped on the Matt Cassel bandwagon right after the Chiefs traded for him and Mike Vrabel back in 2009. I so badly wanted the Chiefs to have a QB that wasn't shitty that I forced myself to blindly allow Cassel's mental miscues, poor throws and bad game management. I chalked it up to him being in a new system and not having much time in the pocket to throw down-field. I was dead wrong, however. Matt Cassel is terrible. He can't throw a pass 40 yards down the field without a running start and even then it's a lame duck pass that has no accuracy. It's gotten to the point where the coaches don't even trust him to throw a pass over 6 yards unless they absolutely have to. Which, in turn, allows the defense to stack the box with 8 guys, forcing Cassel to beat them through the air. Something he just can't do. There's a reason why he never started a game in college and never did in the NFL until Brady went down. It's because he isn't a starting QB. Had Brady not gotten hurt, Cassel would still be the backup in New England, never sniffing the field except late in pre-season games.
Now, I don't really want us to #suckforluck, because I'm tired of cheering for a loser and I just can't be happy rooting for the Chiefs to lose. Nevertheless, "sucking for Luck" may be the best thing for this franchise in the long run. As of today, there are ZERO starting QBs in the NFL I'd pass on to take Cassel. And no, I didn't forget about Tarvaris Jackson. He can at least run and has a somewhat strong arm. We've seen the high point of Cassel. That was last year and in 2008. That's as good as he'll ever be. Actually, I'm not even going to count 2008 because he was on the Patriots. A team that with Brady, probably would have gone 14-2 or 13-3 and made the playoffs. The only reason why Cassel did so well in 2010 was due to the running game being so amazing all season. That allowed more one-on-one coverage and the quick slants were open thanks to the linebackers sneaking up to stop Charles and Jones. But, Week 17 last year was when it all turned for the worse. That week Oakland stopped the run and Cassel couldn't do anything. Then the Ravens did the same. Now the movie is on loop for the first 3 games this year:
1) Force the Chiefs to pass
2) Put pressure on Cassel so he gets flustered and makes bad decisions
3) Win the game

- ACF

2011 First Round Pick

Jonathan Baldwin - WR - Pitt

Who is this guy? Baldwin is an athletic freak and finally brings the Chiefs another WR to help out Dwayne Bowe. He has great ball skills and an amazing 42-inch vertical. His 6'4" frame is in the Pioli mold, but his character issues don't seem to fit. Despite being on the Big-East All-Academic team in the fall and reportedly being a hard worker in the weight room, he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor indecent assault, summary harassment and summary disorderly conduct. However, all charges were dismissed. He also has attitude issues and was a distraction to his team in the fall. Hopefully the other high quality characters we have on the roster, combined with how Haley runs the team will get Baldwin in line to really showcase his abilities and help the team.

How is he going to help us?  Getting some help for D-Bowe was a priority in the draft, but I didn't expect it to come this early. However, without the character issues Baldwin may have been a much higher selection in the first round. Remember how far Randy Moss dropped because of character issues? And how did that turn out (mostly)? Moss was even the 2nd WR taken that year, behind the forgettable Kevin Dyson from Utah. I'm not saying he'll be Randy Moss, I'm just saying..... Moving on, Baldwin is a big, physical guy who should fit really well in our offense that needs a big play-maker opposite Bowe, and someone who can dominate the one on one coverage defenses will be showing us due to our superior running game. His 4.49 speed will be a huge help due to our high number of short passes that require yards after the catch. Combine him with Bowe and Moeaki in the red-zone, and defenses are really going to have to worry about who is going to get the ball. This draft pick gives Cassel 3 guys who can jump for some of his errant passes. 

Kansas City Chiefs 2011 Schedule

Arrowhead hosts MNF rematch with San Diego on Halloween Night; NBC Sunday Night Football visits Kansas City for first time as the Steelers roll into town. @New England is the second MNF game on November 21st.

Chiefs Land Four Primetime Games In 2011

I'll go into what I think our record could be this year in a post following the draft, but off the top of my head I believe we could go 9-7, with a majority of those wins coming in the 1st half of the season. The 2nd half of the season looks absolutely brutal. If we win there, we're legit.

PLAYOFFS!! Chiefs Vs Ravens

"This is going to be a tough football game," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said to the Baltimore Sun. "There's a reason these guys have the record they have. There's a reason they won their division. There's a reason they got a home game. It's really a tough place to play. Historically in the playoffs, it's been an incredibly tough place to play. So, we've got our hands full."

"Historically in the playoffs, it's been an incredibly tough place to play"? Really? That's a tough thing to gauge, John. When the game is played on Sunday, it will have been 17 years and 1 day since the last home playoff win for the Chiefs. A lot's changed since then. For example: The Houston Oilers were still a team. The Seahawks were still in the AFC and the Jacksonville Jaguars didn't even exist. So, here's what I think: Home field advantage isn't going to come into play much this week. Why? Obvious reasons, that's why. The Ravens are a veteran team. They know how to deal with a loud crowd rooting against them and they've done it numerous times over the past few years in the playoffs. Arrowhead magic just won't matter. Sure, it'll pump up the Chiefs hearing 70,000 people cheering for them, but that's about it. It's not going to rattle the Ravens. They won at Pittsburgh this year and that place is about as close to Arrowhead as you can get.

What's going to come into play?

1) Ray freaking Rice. If the Chiefs give up more than 125 yards on the ground to Rice, or 150 total rushing yards to the Ravens, they might as well just give up because they're not going to win. The problem with Rice, however, is that he's great in the passing game as well, with over 500 rec yards on the season. Our best bet is going to be shadowing Rice all day with a linebacker in rushing situations and someone line Javier Arenas in passing situations. Make Flacco beat us. I trust our corners and safeties more than our DLine and most of our Linebackers.

2) The Ravens run defense. Yes, this is about as obvious as I can get. The Ravens are going to shut down the run game. That's a fact. So we'd better have a backup plan in place that doesn't include Cassel getting sacked or knocked down every play like he was against Oakland. Also, it's getting pretty obvious that when Thomas Jones is in the game we're going to attempt to run it up the middle. If the Chiefs do that against the Ravens, he'll end up with 8 carries for 10 yards.

3) Pressuring Flacco. If we don't get to Flacco, we aren't going to win. When the Ravens beat the Chiefs in 2009, Flacco threw for over 300 yards and 3 TDs. He had all freaking day to throw. Romeo is going to need to mix up the blitz packages and the like to keep Flacco from sitting back there and picking us apart. Tamba Hali is the main key to this. Also, if Wallace Gilberry, Glenn Dorsey and whoever else wants to get in on it, that's perfectly fine with me.

4) Chiefs Special Teams. Our special teams really hasn't done anything spectacular since Week 1. Sure, were a few decent run backs, but nothing huge. We need something huge this week. A PR ran back for a TD. A KR ran back to get us instantly into FG range. A blocked kick. Anything that gets the crowd into it more and fires the team up. Special Teams can do that. Just as long as Jon McGraw or DeMorrio Williams doesn't get called for a block in the back.

Here's an interesting fact: The Chiefs have dropped six consecutive postseason games. With a loss to the Ravens this weekend, Kansas City will set a new NFL record for most consecutive postseason losses. The Chiefs currently share the mark with six other teams.

We'd better fucking win.


- ACF