Comments on: The Where's The Beef Campaign

By: Crane

Crane — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:04:55 +0000

I’m getting this thing to 100 comments come hell or high water. I never said anyone is stupid, and its totally my perogative if I want to call conpiracy or King Carl or whatever else. If fans of ArrowHead Addict want the "Jay and Jon" Chiefs homer show…you guys can get together on Skype and talk all you want about how everyone is ovverreacting and paint a hopeful picture for another 10-6 no playoff season. Adam and Zach can post it and we’ll watch the 3 comments from Scott, Tim and George Bush that agree with you and be done with it. When you read my stuff from now on, have your mom pack a grain of salt in your sack lunch.

By: jay

jay — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:41:14 +0000

A couple points. 1. Adam, you guys are acting as if none of our young guys can step up in any of those open positions. A lot of times all a guy needs is a shot, we have plenty of guys who haven’t gotten a shot. So I don’t agree that there are that many spots to fill. 2. The salary floor is 100 Mil, so this idea that we are somehow saving 30-40 Mil this year by being cheap is wrong. The cap is 116 Mil, so at most we’re saving 16 Mil. After signing Allen and a top 5 Draft pick it will be even less. Also, there is absolutely no correlation between spending and winning in the NFL, the only place that is seen is MLB and that is because of differences of 100 Mil in some cases, but even then the Yankees haven’t won the series in a long time, even they are being much more frugal this year because that strategy hasn’t produced in recent years. 3. If we had acquired two or three of the better free agents that were available this year, which was likely doable for the Chiefs, we still wouldn’t be a guaranteed contender. After adding another year of good solid draftees and fielding a team, we can get those guys next year that can put us over the top. Why spend a ton on guys that won’t get you a superbowl this year no matter what, why not wait till next year, finish refurbishing the stadium and get one or two that really can get you there. 4. Great comments Jon.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:08:34 +0000

Jon, great points. I’m not sold on our young guys, but agree on the L.J.-Kolby argument. Also remember that L.J. played three of his games against Jacksonville, Minnesota and San Diego, the three teams who are the most stacked at defensive tackle.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:48:48 +0000

Scott, it should come as no surprise that Kolby Smith came in and had a 100+ and an 80+ yard game in the games that Niswanger started. There are many that would contend that the running game improved because Kolby was better than LJ. I don’t think "they" could be more wrong. The run blocking improved markedly and they were opening up huge lanes in the running game that LJ was never fortunate enough to have seen. Niswanger was a huge part of that. When he fell to injury, Kolby just didn’t look the same. What I like about Niswanger is that he can play guard or center, so we can be flexible in how we address the offensive line. So when we’re talking about improving our offensive line, here’s what I would say: first, based on what we have right now… our run blocking was miles ahead to close the season of where it was to begin the season. If LJ ran behind the line Kolby did, he would have run for well over 1,000 yards. Secondly, Chan Gailey will get a lot more out of the o-line, mostly because he’s a far superior playcaller. So there’s an argument that the o-line as is is much better than it was in 2007. And there’s still room to improve. The Chiefs can bring in 2-3 starters through the draft. They can probably find a few value veteran picks after June 1st. What I like the most is that, unlike prior years, the Chiefs are going to put the best player on the field. So often, we’ve seen the Chiefs pick up a veteran and immediately put him in the starting lineup not because he earned the spot, but because he was the "safe pick." That’s why I have no problem passing on guys like Hartwig. Apart from Faneca and maybe Faine, the entire free agent class was extremely average (Hartwig was absolutely destroyed when facing quality defensive tackles–a huge downgrade from Wiegmann). I’m not naive to believe the Chiefs’ o-line problems will be solved. But I think there’s a lot of reason to believe they’ll be significantly better. We have to stop believing that we will build an o-line with 5 pro bowlers. It’s not going to happen. Niswanger and McIntosh are serviceable enough until we find somebody better (Niswanger having the upside to be a solid starter, I believe). That leaves two open gaps. We bring in 2-3 draft picks, compete them up against Herb Taylor, and 2-3 veteran June 1st cuts, and then you put the best 5 linemen on the field. If none of them pan out in 2008, then you look again in 2009 and suffer no cap consequence to cut any of the chumps, whereas you have to keep guys like Hartwig on your roster to continue to suck for you. By the end of the offseason, I believe the Chiefs will have 7 or 8 players competing for 2-3 spots–I’m cool with that. I don’t know if this approach will work. But I do know that while teams like Oakland and Detroit spent wrecklessly in free agency, Tennessee and Tampa were criticized by the media for doing absolutely nothing and now look… Oakland/Detroit still suck and Tennessee/Tampa are now playoff teams.