As I made the long trip back to good old West Virginia last Monday from Florida, a thought occurred to me- What am I going to do to get my Chiefs fix for the next month? Now we have a solid month of pretty much nothing happening with the Kansas City Chiefs except maybe a small roster move, adding a player many of us have never heard of anyway. Come on Training Camp…come on!
Well, about the only thing me or any other fan of the NFL can do this time of the year is dream a little about the potential your team might have going into this season. We have seen just enough of the Chiefs draft pick’s during mini camps to wet our collective whistles. Just enough to get us fired up for another season and put the past behind us (we forgive you guys…except for you Ty Law).
We can hope. We can all hope that Brodie Croyle is going to be able to play in this league and be a productive player not necessarily a super star but a player that is consistent and wins games. This is one of the more interesting stories in all the NFL this year. Brodie was given the reigns after the draft in April when the Chiefs did not take a quarterback on the first day to challenge Croyle for the starter’s spot. I believe Brodie breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when Atlanta chose Matt Ryan instead of Glenn Dorsey-and then Brodie went to work. All indications are Brodie is producing well in all the OTA’s, and Chiefs coach Herm Edwards is also quick to point out that he is just in shorts and a tee shirt with no pass rush. The Chiefs were unable to stop the down four of the opposing teams defensive line last year let alone their pass rush, which brings me to my second thing to do this time of year.
Pray. A Chiefs fan can pray that the offensive line will not let young Brodie get killed before he even has a chance. We can pray they will actually be able to open a legitimate hole for LJ or whoever else is running the ball out of the backfield. The only face in the same position on the offensive line this year will be Brian Waters, he is is still going to be at left guard. Damion McIntosh will be moved from left tackle to right and the three remaining spots will have someone new in them. That is 100% fine by me! I think they will be better as a unit, I mean let’s face it, they honestly can’t be much worse-right….RIGHT?
The final thing I would suggest for you to do is believe. Believe that Herman Edwards knows what he is doing. Now, I’m not asking you to go out on a limb and believe “the Chiefs” know what they are doing, because that would include Carl Peterson and I’m not going to ask you to make that kind of sacrafice. How could I? I am asking you to believe in the coach and his staff. If he believes in Brodie and thinks he is going to be a player that can lead this team to victory, then you should too. If Herm believes the changes made along the offensive line are the right ones that will allow the Chiefs to win, then you should too. Herm has made some pretty good draft picks since becoming the head coach, and CP has bought into what Herm is doing and that is very important since he has the final say.
Believe Chiefs fans that this year can and will be different.
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So:
Dream, hope, pray, and believe. With an emphasis on praying maybe? Sounds about right.
Nice article. Though it is a shame that there won’t be much news for a little while. Just not enough going on. I want more football
In the meantime, who’s gonna volunteer to put together Royals Addict?
Yeah, I know…that’s about as encouraging as I could get, right now anyway. Maybe if the OLine shows it can stay healthy during training camp they can become a cohesive unit. But yeah, in the mean time you might want to say a couple prayers.
steven:
So, should I mark you down as an optimist?
When I’m not busy dreaming, hoping, praying & believing, I’ll be watching for news of 1st round signings.
Last season was an anomaly. I don’t care what the experts say, this season will go much better and the team will be a lot exciting to watch. Don’t be shocked when KC stuns the denizens of Foxborough.
a lot “more” exciting
O, man. Thelaundryhat is still making fun of the chiefs, but this time they are making fun of us fans. Look what was said in there recent post– …”is not as bad as the disgusting Chiefs fans…”
Why they do this???
Damn. If you think the Best Bros. are cynical on Arrowhead Addict, I can’t imagine what Royals Addict would be like. Geez…
Nice article, Steven! Enjoyed it and agreed with almost all of it. Although it would probably take divine intervention and the voice of God for me to believe in Brodie
The Landry Hat just wants our traffic. Let ‘em hate!
The Chiefs as a whole will almost certainly have a better season than last year… I think Chan Gailey alone fixes a big chunk of the problem. The O-line is also better. I still think Herb Taylor is going to be one of the starters on the line, I don’t know what I like about him – I just do. If he ended up at RG I’d be pretty stoked.
And TLH isn’t worth the time it takes to go over there, log in, and type something out. We’ve already handled them before, so let’s get someone new, Patriot’s fans anyone? Shouldn’t be too hard to topple a couple dozen bandwagon fans in a matter of moments. One word.. Eli.
HAHAHA, jared lorenzen was released, maybe we should pick him up, he can also serve as a fullback, did you guys see the video of him makin a downfield block for droughns, the big man has some wheels, lol
A breath of fresh cool air Steven! And I think you’re right on all counts. The Oline is going to be younger, more athletic and I believe more motivated – add in they will not be hamstrung by shoddy play calling, the new young bruisers in the two tight end sets, as well as a healthy M1A1 Johnson blowing holes thru opposing LB’s… we should definately be able to run the ball as well as two years ago.
I think overall team speed on the offense (actually all thru the team) is the best we’ve seen in a looooong time. Mark my words, Will Franklin is going to impress, and may well develop into a star in this league. That man was MONEY everytime they needed him in big games at Mizzou. With Bowe garnering all the attention on the other side, Franklin could have a great rookie season.
As to your comments on the D… again, you’re right on the money. Even with the loss of Jared, across the board the line is younger, more talented, and I think more committed than Jared ever was to making the whole defense a top notch group. Jared’s 15 sack season was an abberation for one big reason: our secondary was so slow and ill suited to play the cover two, folks threw on us more than they will this year – and this gave Jared more chances than he will get in a more balanced defense. And I agree JA feasted on what Hali was serving up to him. Boone/Dorsey should be able to set the table for Tamba… and as he has better feet than JA, the sack total will be just fine.
Finally, if the offense can average 4 or 5 more first downs per game, the defense will get 12-15 minutes of rest per game… that just HAS to make a difference in how well the D performs. They will be fresher and opponents will get fewer downs to rack up yards/1st downs/points. Don’t be surprized if this years D can crack the Top Ten.
GO CHIEFS!!!
…12-15 minutes MORE rest per game…
CSMQ- I actually had a thought about Svitek becoming a fullback in the redzone, haha. A la the Fridge, he’s a big old boy, and has slow feet, but once you get him moving, you ain’t gonna stop him. Let Larry or Jamaal or whoever it is latch onto the back of his belt, and just keep on a-truckin’. Yeehaw! Aahhahaha.
And Curt, I think you’re absolutely right, one of the little looked at things that’ll happen this year is our offense, being better, (especially being able to run better) will eat away more clock. If our D isn’t on the field for 40 minutes of a game, then we for sure have a top 10 D in the league, IMO. The best D’s I’ve seen were ones that swarm to the ball, and are physical up front, and also able to tackle well. A few years ago I would’ve said we were 0/3 on those. We didn’t swarm, we had Ryan Sims up front, enough said on that, and we couldn’t tackle PeeWee players.. Last year we did good, but this year we will do better.
For example:
the Bears swarm to the ball like no other team. It’s a really scary/impressive thing to watch. If you haven’t seen a bears game in the past couple years, check a couple out this season. If the first guy doesn’t take the ball-carrier down there are 2 or 3 or 4 more guys waiting to.
That’s how I want our defense to play.