Random Thoughts

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It’s been awhile since I have posted. My internet access has been spotty, but it has resolved for the next two months. Let’s see what has happened and where we currently stand.

King Carl gets the job done and the accolades are…….. few and far between. Ask your how many first round picks are holding out. It’s not a huge deal, but CP will retire someday as an underrated GM.

Jabba the Whitless is doing his best sky is falling routine, claiming the Chiefs will be lucky to win four games. Jabba is basically a two-note pony. He either dumps on the Chiefs and/or complains about race. Perhaps Jabba feels it’s his job to balance out our next columnist.

“Sunny” Bob Gretz. The man who is the personal stenographer to King Carl has started his own website complete with a blog from River Falls. It’s a great source of information. However, you have to be prepared to filter out Bob’s Arrowhead colored glasses and read between the lines. Bob has been pumping up the offense. Recently, he commented that “Offense actually didn’t look too bad in the practice work. In 40 plays of team work, they had a positive result 16 times, including one stretch where they had five good plays in six snaps.” Are you Serious Bob? 60% of your offensive plays results in no gain or a loss of yardage and you call that not too bad? If that’s acceptable, maybe Jabba is onto something, perish the thought.

StephenH brought us his thoughts on the Dorsey/Albert injuries. I think that StephenH is a very good contributor to AA. Of all the contributors, he is the closest to me in terms of viewpoint. However, this time, we disagree. I am not too concerned about Dorsey. All that does is put his knee on my radar. I hope this does not become a chronic problem like Tamba‘s knee was last year. The Albert injury really hurts us and I don’t see how Stephen can paper over it. The plan is for Albert to be the cornerstone LT for the next decade and a major building block of the O-Line. This injury really sets back his development and sets the Chiefs back. Will it cost us games in the regular season? Honestly, no one knows. However, it will not help. As far as writing the season off? I did that at the end of last season. Hope springs eternal, but I do not expect to be in the playoffs this year. IMO, 8-8 would be a major accomplishment.

For all the people hyping our D, I am starting to get concerned. We have some hope in the secondary, but the linebackers might be a bigger problem than I suspected. Nap Harris is not doing well. Notice the coverage of Pat Thomas is not flattering. It’s not WOW! look at Pat Thomas. It seems to be more along the lines of Nap Harris going downhill fast. This is not a good sign. Linebacker might be jumping up on our list of needs. Also, it looks like Pat Surtain might be at the end of his career. On a good note, we may have a find in Carr.

Have at it Addicts! Any surprises/disappointments so far? Who are you excited about?

Merlin

Scott

*lot more talent. Oops.

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Double D: Good points. I tend to be an optimist too. I'm not sure about 9 wins, but anything is possible. A couple of things to add:

1. A lot of our losses last year were not by much. If the offense and kicking game can improve marginally and the D can maintain status quo that could cause a swing in the W/L column.

2. We appear to have a fairly easy schedule this year.

3. I heard a great point the other day about the level of talent on the team compared to last year - Svitek. He started for us last year. Now he's fighting down in the third string for a job. That's a good indicator that we've got a lost more talent on the line with this go around.

I have to disagree with you guys on Gretz. His new site has a MUCH different tone than his stuff on the team site. He seems much more objective and realistic when he can write whatever he wants (you know they probably have a big say in what he writes over at the mothership).

Here's a question that was posted to him:

"How much better is Croyle this year as compared to last year?"

And his answer:

"Croyle is better this year because he’s strong, he’s smarter, the offense is more designed to his skills and abilities to move in the pocket and he’s just better because of the experience of starting six games last year. Now, whether he’s improved enough to be the long-term starter he will have to show on the field. But yes, he’s more advanced this year."

I think he holds back on the optimism across the board in his site. It's actually a good read. Not what I expected from him.

SEANBCOOL

Yeah I believe I mentioned Linebackers as an area we could beef up a couple months ago as well. Actually, I'm pretty sure me and Adam argued about it. :-D

However, I'm OK with our situation for now, as long as we're looking into it by next offseason.

Double D

If we could play well enough last year to be 9-5-2 at halftime, then we're clearly not as far away from success as some would lead us to believe.

I expect this offense to be better because of what I consider several "givens."

1. Chan Gailey
2. Improved blocking
3. Healthy LJ + speed/quality of #2 RB
4. Croyle's ability & development
5. QB mobility & audibles
6. Bowe + Gonz

The combination of Niswanger, Waters and Albert will make this year's left side solid - not premier, just solid. The right side concerns me more and it probably won't be as solid as the left side but it still should be better than what we had last year so long as they remain healthy and continue to play together. Age, injuries and instability on the OL killed us last year; while you can't predict injuries, it seems to me the circumstances and personnel are significantly different and far more favorable this go around. Also, do not underestimate the need for and importance of "respect" as a motivating factor.

Now for the "ifs." If Brad Cottam is able to block and catch, we're a lot better. If we have a real blocking FB, we're a lot better. If our #2 RB can block, we're a lot better. If we have a blocking FB/RB than can also catch, we're a lot better.

Point is, we don't need all these ifs to be "a lot" better, we just need one of them to happen. There's also a couple of lesser ifs that can help. Namely, if Devard Darling and the play of our #3 WR is better than what we had last year, we're better off overall.

I similarly expect the defense to be better because of several "givens."

1. Ongoing rebuilding & improvement under Herm
2. Gunther as LB coach
3. Krumrie as DL coach
4. Flowers over Law
5. Good competition/depth at nearly all positions
6. 2nd and 3rd year players hitting their stride.

Consider the defense we had when Herm arrived and the defense we have now. Every year it's gotten better under his regime. Is there any valid reason for believing this trend won't continue?

Last year's defense showed it could play damn well for at least the first 2 quarters of most every game. It needs to do better but let's also be fair and honest. The biggest problem faced by last year's defense was lack of production from the offense. Once teams would get ahead they quickly figured out that they could beat us down with the run because they clearly didn't have to respect our offense.

As far as the backers go, I just want to state for the record that I voiced concern about that unit several months ago when just about everybody else seemed convinced it was the only part of our D that didn't need fixing. Well, it looks like the coaches may have had concerns similar to mine. Why else would Gunther have taken on the added role of LB position coach? Damn good thing too.

As far as who ends up at Mike and whether or not they're good enough to get it done, I say we all need to just sit back and take a collective big breath. Seriously, we're not even 2 weeks into training camp yet.

Don't get me wrong, this team right now is nowhere near ready to compete with the elites. Nonetheless, I can also see how this team could very well be at that point by season's end. With our talent and the schedule we have, 9 wins is totally feasible.

Call it KoolAid laced homerism all you want, I just don't buy into all the negativity. An injury-riddled 4-12 season does not automatically beget another 4-12 season and on and on, ad infinitum. You pessimists can live in the past all you want.

Color me hopeful, Color me real,
Color me bold in red and gold. 8)

Adam

Crane, you know we are on the same page. As for the rookies getting hurt, I think it's just bad luck. None of our other eight million rookies got injured. Young players have to play, so what are you going to do?

Crane

Merlin-

Nice to see someone posting that isn't totally Pollyanna on KC this year. Mark my words, those of you who are seeing what you want to see will be disappointed. I too, think Albert will eventually be studly, but missing camp will hurt...I would have liked us to work on our line above all else in FA this year and we didn't try very hard to sign Faine or anyone else that could have given Brodie Foil (because how he is crumpled into a ball) some time to win a game perhaps. You guys that hate on my "negativity"; go for it. I would sub "negativity" for "realistic expectations" based on last year's line, their performance and the lack of any real additions aside from rookies. The Pats signing Welbourn caused me to raise an eyebrow too. Did we suffer another under-performing free agent? Also wondering what your thoughts are on these injuries suffered by our big picks? Would it have been better to hold them out a little bit, make them sweat for a little less scratch...then put more pressure on them instead of beating them up early in camp?

schefers1983

We have improved in all the areas of our team. I think 8-8 is a realistic goal. Herm's usually pretty honest about injuries, and it seems like he's not overty concerned about this. Is it devastating? Yes, will it set us back? Yes. Will Albert still be at stud LT...I think so. Your telling me three weeks being out is going to turn the guy into a bust? It's hard for me to believe

kcchiefsfan56

im so excited to see how croyle performs i really believe he will be a solid starting quaterback cause the passing offense revolves around his strengths but we'll see.....

GO CHIEFS!!

Merlin, great to have you back. I totally agree with you on Gretz, aka King Carl's court jester. Not a big fan. And if that hurts the Chiefs' POV of A.A., then oh well. At least one of the sites prides itself on its honestly.