First and foremost: Tony Gonzalez was one of the best Chiefs in franchise history and will go down as the absolute greatest tight end in NFL history ever. Everything he has done for the Chiefs over the years is greatly appreciated. He brought us all so much joy and pride over the years. He always said he wanted to finish his whole career in KC.

However, my all time favorite player Tony Gonzalez “bitched” (yeah, I said it) his way out of KC and indicated that he wanted to go to a Superbowl contender. I was surprised to hear that he OK’d the trade to Atlanta, since I believed at the time, and believe now, that Atlanta was never a serious contender for the Superbowl. Once in Atlanta, Tony immediately began gushing about how the Falcons were one of the best teams he has ever played on, and in fact said that Matt Ryan (who is currently playing lousy) was the best QB he ever played with (cue Trent Green sigh).

Atlanta started off hot and is now faltering. They are currently sitting at number two in their division with a 5-4 record behind New Orleans and their 9-0 record. I am sure that Atlanta will not win the Superbowl. (Do you think Atlanta is going to beat the Vikings, New Orleans, New England, Indianapolis or even Cincy?)

The more Atlanta loses the better second round pick we will receive. So is it wrong to root against the Falcons and Tony? Aren’t you all secretly hoping for an Atlanta collapse? Don’t you want them to miss the playoffs? I am and I do.

It is obvious to me that even if we had Tony Gonzalez on our team this year, we would still suck. I was heartbroken but ok with the trade when it happened, and now even more so. Thus, in hindsight, the trade of Tony for Atlanta’s second round pick was a very, (although bittersweet) smart move for the Chiefs, and it gets better every loss they tally. Am I Right? Who among you are looking at the box score every week hoping for that Atlanta loss? Am I the only one? Is it wrong?

Here you go Randy. According to Vegas, the Steelers are favored to win by 10 (only ten?). The over/under is 40. After 10,000 simulations the average score is Steelers 27.2 vs. Chiefs 13.7, with the Steelers winning 84 percent of those simulations.

Per Accuscore: “The Steelers offense only had 256 yards in their loss to the Bengals. However, the Chiefs are in the bottom 8 in run defense and in the bottom 10 in passing defense. There is only a 12 percent chance that the Chiefs can hold the Steelers offense to under 300 yards. If they can do this the Chiefs have a 35 percent chance (+20 percentage point improvement), but to pull off the upset the Chiefs will also need Jamal Charles to have at least 3 explosive runs and a 5.0 ypc average. If he can do this and the Chiefs allow under 300 yards Kansas City is a 53 percent favorite.”

So Charles just has to average 5.0 ypc and the Chiefs hold the Steelers to under 300 yards?!? No problem? Right?

Here is the Accuscore report:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=291122012

The Chiefs hire hot new offensive mind to his first head coaching job. This past offseason? No, the year was 1983 and the coach in question was John Mackovic. He lasted three years as head coach with one playoff appearance. Why did he fail? Well, the reasons were numerous, but a primary reason was hubris. Hubris is a Greek term for excessive pride and proves to be the downfall of many talented individuals. It’s such a common occurance, the Greeks built a whole library of literature describing these events.

This brings us to our latest young talented offensive mind, Todd Haley. Starting from the “I can win two games with 22 guys off the street” comment and the taking over the offensive coordinator and quarterback coaching roles, hubris has been in good supply. This past game with the Raiders got my attention when the commentators relayed a quote from Haley saying that once he gets ‘his guys’ in, things will be going good. I disliked that quote on a number of levels. First, they are all ‘your guys’. Second, you go to war with the team you have, not the one you wish you had. That is, you make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t. You don’t sit there and ask for tuna.

That quote got the attention of someone else, a commentor over at Arrowhead Pride by the name of ChiefDJ. He wrote an excellent post talking about Todd Haley and what he must do to survive and grow. I can’t add much more to it than what I have said. So take a look at it.  The question I want to raise is this. How long does Todd Haley have to prove himself as a head coach? I am thinking two years, three maximum. What do you think?

KCChiefs.com is reporting that, effective immediately, Dwayne Bowe will serve a four game suspension for “violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances.”

How do you like them apples Addicts?

LJ has officially signed with the Bengals, and will face us in Cincinnati on Dec 27th. Marv Lewis has said that LJ will not disrupt the current roster and none of the current RB’s will be displaced. Though not a big deal for us the Dec. 27th game would  be a key win for the Bengals.

Several questions come to mind.

1. Will LJ help the Bengals or disrupt a 7-2 teams bid for post season?

2. Is Marv’s statement coach speak or is LJ really going to sit on the sidelines?

3. Was this Bengal move a genuine desire to use LJ as a backup  or a chess move to keep him from division rivals?

Well, we won and I feel so warm and fuzzy inside. Hardly! Man we are a bad team. The Chiefs are just plain bad all around. We need a serious influx of serious skill.

If you have been a fan of this site, you know that the whole entire offseason we will be talking about the draft. Since I don’t follow college football, I can add no real insight. (Seriously if I followed college football and the NFL, I would get absolutely nothing done, that is why I only obsess over the Chiefs and the NFL). So I am not going to talk about the upcoming draft projections and talent. But what I do want to talk about, (yes halfway through the season), is Free Agency: Specifically upcoming free agents at the following positions: OL, TE, DT, LB, FS/SS.

The Chiefs are in bad need of talent at these positions and have little patience to wait for a “draft gem” to develop. Caveat: I know it is early, and some of these guys will never hit the free agent market (tags), but I am including everyone in a contract year.

Here are the upcoming free agents at the OL position:
Jahri Evans, New Orleans Saints (26)
Logan Mankins, New England Patriots (27)
Marcus McNeill, San Diego Chargers (25)
Daryn Colledge, Green Bay Packers (27)
Jared Gaither, Baltimore Ravens (23) – Restricted FA
Winston Justice, Philadelphia Eagles (24)
Kevin Mawae, Tennessee Titans (38)
Chad Clifton, Green Bay Packers (33)
Mike Gandy, Arizona Cardinals (30)
Eugene Amano, Tennessee Titans (27)
David Baas, San Francisco 49ers (27)
Khalif Barnes, Oakland Raiders (27)
Alex Barron, St. Louis Rams (26)
Mike Brisiel, Houston Texans (26)
Jeromey Clary, San Diego Chargers (25) – Restricted FA
Nick Cole, Philadelphia Eagles (25)
Willie Colon, Pittsburgh Steelers (26)
Ryan Cook, Minnesota Vikings (26)
Tyson Clabo, Atlanta Falcons (28)
Harvey Dahl, Atlanta Falcons (28)
Cornell Green, Oakland Raiders (33)
Rex Hadnot, Cleveland Browns (27)
Ben Hamilton, Denver Broncos (32)
Justin Hartwig, Pittsburgh Steelers (30)
Stephon Heyer, Washington Redskins (25) – Restricted FA
Richie Incognito, St. Louis Rams (26)
Jon Jansen, Washington Redskins (33)
Charlie Johnson, Indianapolis Colts (25)
Nick Kaczur, New England Patriots (30)
Chris Kuper, Denver Broncos (26)
Deuce Lutui, Arizona Cardinals (26)
Stephen Neal, New England Patriots (32)
Rudy Niswanger, Kansas City Chiefs (26)
Donald Penn, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26)
Chester Pitts, Houston Texans (30)
Manuel Ramirez, Detroit Lions (26) – Restricted FA
Rob Sims, Seattle Seahawks (25)
Chris Spencer, Seattle Seahawks (27)
Jason Spitz, Green Bay Packers (26)
Adam Terry, Baltimore Ravens (27)
Jeremy Trueblood, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26)
Bobbie Williams, Cincinnati Bengals (32)
Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens (24)
Outlook: Good. As you can see, there may be a lot of good free agents at the O-line positions. Any names pop out at you? I see a bunch. I really doubt that Niswanger stays, unless he is content on being a back up Center. Here are a few of the names that I like: Jahri Evans, Logan Mankins, Daryn Colledge, Willie Colon, Deuce Lutui, Jeremy Trueblood, Rob Sims, Chris Spencer, and Jason Spitz. I think all of these players are “gettable”. (Scott Pioli Please Save This List!) What do you think? Can we save a draft pick here?

Here are the upcoming free agents at the TE position:
Owen Daniels, Houston Texans (26)
Tony Scheffler, Denver Broncos (26)
Alge Crumpler, Tennessee Titans (31)
Anthony Fasano, Miami Dolphins (25)
Daniel Fells, St. Louis Rams (25)
Jeff King, Carolina Panthers (26)
David Martin, Miami Dolphins (30)
Randy McMichael, St. Louis Rams (30)
Billy Miller, New Orleans Saints (32)
Leonard Pope, Arizona Cardinals (25)
Bo Scaife, Tennessee Titans (28)
Derek Schouman, Buffalo Bills (24)
Alex Smith, New England Patriots (27)
L.J. Smith, Baltimore Ravens (29)
Matt Spaeth, Pittsburgh Steelers (24)
Ben Watson, New England Patriots (28)

Outlook: Bad. As you can see, we are going to have to draft our TE talent. The free agency pool is limited, and the top names of Owens, Fasano and Scheffler will not be allowed to hit free agency. Matt Spaeth may be worth a look see. Round two to four, maybe?

Here are the upcoming free agents at the DT position:
Vince Wilfork, New England Patriots (27)
Richard Seymour, Oakland Raiders (29)
Casey Hampton, Pittsburgh Steelers (31)
Ryan Pickett, Green Bay Packers (29)
Johnny Jolly, Green Bay Packers (26)
Tony Brown, Tennessee Titans (28)
Kendrick Clancy, New Orleans Saints (31)
Barry Cofield, New York Giants (25)
Jason Ferguson, Miami Dolphins (34)
Aubrayo Franklin, San Francisco 49ers (29)
Kedric Golston, Washington Redskins (26)
Tank Johnson, Cincinnati Bengals (27)
Travis Johnson, San Diego Chargers (27)
Fred Robbins, New York Giants (32)
Clifton Ryan, St. Louis Rams (25)
Tank Tyler, Carolina Panthers (24) – Restricted FA
Outlook: So-so to Bad. Remember, we need a 3-4 nose tackle. Unfortunately Vince Wilfork will be tagged, he is going nowhere. Hampton could be a possibility, but it looks like we are going to have to draft a big strong fast fat guy. Rounds one through three, maybe?

Here are the upcoming free agents at the LB position:
Barrett Ruud, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26)
Shawne Merriman, San Diego Chargers (25)
Karlos Dansby, Arizona Cardinals (28)
DeMeco Ryans, Houston Texans (25)
Thomas Davis, Carolina Panthers (26)
Kirk Morrison, Oakland Raiders (27)
Thomas Howard, Oakland Raiders (26)
D’Qwell Jackson, Cleveland Browns (25)
Antwan Barnes, Baltimore Ravens (24) – Restricted FA
Bertrand Berry, Arizona Cardinals (34)
Chase Blackburn, New York Giants (26)
Gary Brackett, Indianapolis Colts (29)
Tedy Bruschi, New England Patriots (36)
Keith Bulluck, Tennessee Titans (32)
Brandon Chillar, Green Bay Packers (26)
Danny Clark, New York Giants (32)
Angelo Crowell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (28)
Keith Ellison, Buffalo Bills (25)
Larry Foote, Detroit Lions (29)
Scott Fujita, New Orleans Saints (30)
Omar Gaither, Philadelphia Eagles (25)
Chris Gocong, Philadelphia Eagles (25)
Clint Ingram, Jacksonville Jaguars (26)
Rashad Jeanty, Cincinnati Bengals (26)
Derrick Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs (26)
Akeem Jordan, Philadelphia Eagles (24) – Restricted FA
Cato June, Houston Texans (29)
Rocky McIntosh, Washington Redskins (26)
Matt Roth, Miami Dolphins (26)
Jason Taylor, Miami Dolphins (35)
Zach Thomas, Kansas City Chiefs (36)
Pisa Tinoisamoa, Chicago Bears (28)
Stephen Tulloch, Tennessee Titans (24)
Mike Vrabel, Kansas City Chiefs (34)
Outlook: Good. There are a couple of good linebackers we may want to bring in from the above list. Merriman anyone? Wouldn’t he love to stick it to AJ Smith twice a year for not extending him? He is a 3-4 linebacker. It takes more than one year to get back to full strength with knee injuries, right? Karlos Dansby, Demarco Ryans (unlikely), Barret Ruud, Thomas Howard, Larry Foote, Omar Gaither, and Rocky McIntosh; we could strike gold here couldn’t we? Can we save a draft pick here?

Here are the upcoming free agents at the FS/SS position:
O.J. Atogwe, St. Louis Rams (28)
Nick Collins, Green Bay Packers (26)
Antoine Bethea, Indianapolis Colts (25)
Darren Sharper, New Orleans Saints (33)
Will Allen, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (27)
Atari Bigby, Green Bay Packers (27)
Tyvon Branch, Oakland Raiders (22)
C.C. Brown, New York Giants (26)
Daniel Bullocks, Detroit Lions (26)
Josh Bullocks, Chicago Bears (26)
Tyrone Carter, Pittsburgh Steelers (33)
Ryan Clark, Pittsburgh Steelers (29)
Hiram Eugene, Oakland Raiders (28)
Roman Harper, New Orleans Saints (26)
Sean Jones, Philadelphia Eagles (27)
Dawan Landry, Baltimore Ravens (26)
Danieal Manning, Chicago Bears (27)
Jarrad Page, Kansas City Chiefs (25)
Brodney Pool, Cleveland Browns (25)
Mark Roman, San Francisco 49ers (32)
Gerald Sensabaugh, Dallas Cowboys (26)
Roy Williams, Cincinnati Bengals (29)
Outlook: So-so. Atogwe, Collins, Bethea, Branch, Landry, could all be possibilities. However, it looks like we will have to dip into the draft. Safeties take a long time to develop (awareness) so we could be in some trouble.

In sum, we will not need to use our top three draft picks on O-lineman if we can pluck a one or two of the free agent offensive lineman that come available. We need to draft the best player available with our “soon to be” top five pick, then a big fat NT, then a good TE, then safety. Two Free agent O-lineman and Two Free agent LBs named above will help save that day in April. What do you think?

ESPN’s Michael Smith indicates LJ is on his way to Bengals HQ with the intent to sign with that organization. That would be a very interesting turn of events since we play the Bengals at Cincinnati on Dec. 27th.

TWITTER UPDATES: Bengals Coach Marv Lewis indicates that LJ will not step on any other RB’s current roster positions, so LJ will likely be the fourth running back.

Anyone bored enough to go through my old posts will soon form the impression that I’m not a football expert. I freely admit that! But since I joined the AA staff I find my knowledge increasing on a daily basis. I think we all hope you feel that way too.

  I’ve always thought there were plenty of AA members like me, more of a checker player than chess expert when it comes to our beloved Chiefs.With that thought in mind, I would like to post the impressions of the Oakland game from a guy who does not pay too much attention to stats.

1. Through the first half, the Chiefs appeared to be playing much worse than Oakland. There seemed to be know earthly chance the Chiefs could win this. I was shocked at the score at half time, I felt the Chiefs played much worse than the half time score reflected.

2. I’m back to my Herm Edwards years when it comes to pass compeletion confidence. When Matt throws a long pass, I always feel like the ball has a snowballs chance in hell of being caught. If by chance the ball is caught, I don’t see much yardage after the completion.

3. The running game seemed much better and certainly more enjoyable to watch with Larry Johnson gone. The “RB Committee”. Those little guys really seem faster and have an ability to squirt through holes that big Larry just didnt have anymore and really never did.  Larry is designed for an offensive line that can create holes. We need rb’s that can find holes.

4. Unlike the Herm Edwards years, I feel that when we are going for three points we are probably going to make it. I think the kicking overall is vastly improved since the Herm Edwards years. I normally wear my Cassel, Bowe, and yes my Dorsey in colder weather. I would wear a Succop jersey if I could find one reasonably priced.

5. I dont feel that our defense is as good as it was the last couple of years in the first half, I see vast improvements in our defense in the second half.

6. The Steelers loss to the Bengals and the HAHHAHAH Denver loss to the Niners makes me think there are more winnable games than I previously thought for the rest of the season.

Again these are thoughts of a person who has no idea how the stats support these impressions, I’d love to hear what every0ne thinks and what the actual stats reflect.

What do you think Addicts?