Miami Massacre
Wow, that was one extremely ugly performance. There is nothing like getting bitch slapped by a one win team to send everyone to a Jim Jones inspired chug of Kool-Aid. After the dust clears, let’s examine the remains for some clues. To wit, what have we learned?
We are headed for a no win season if the Offensive Line plays like that. I don’t expect us to be that bad on the line again, but there will be those days where we can’t do much on Offense with our line play. For the game, I gave the line a ‘F’ and the rest of the offense a grade of incomplete.
The D-Line got tossed around, but it was not as bad the offensive line performance. Except for DJ, our linebackers look pedestrian. Flowers and Carr keep growing. This may be one of the more exciting developments if this trend continues.
Savage is locking up a spot on this roster. At this point, I expect him to make the team returning both punts and kickoffs as well as the occasional run.
Sippio looks like a man waiting to get cut. It appears that his heart is no longer in the game. Maybe he can help Sams move out.
Now, let me pose some reader questions for discussion. Keep in mind we have a lot of cap room.
What do we do about D-Mac? He does not look comfortable at RT. It appears his knees will not hold up over the course of a season and there are rumors that he is unhappy. Do we keep him around and hope he plays better and/or is not a disruptive force in the locker room? I am starting to wonder if cutting him might be the best long term solution.
Nap Harris continues to be absent. We look real shallow at LB. Can we afford to cut him? This is one area of the team that I am starting to expect us to bring in some young player(s) another team cuts. I expect Harris to be on the team, but this may be his last year in Red and Gold.
Will we be looking for a new kicker? This is the hardest question to answer. No one really seems to have stood out. Do we have another year of the kicker carousel? I would not be surprised to see one of our kickers cut in the first countdown and another kicker brought in to compete.
OK Addicts, it’s your turn. How do you answer these questions?
Merlin
I have no problem in cutting Harris and D Mac. I really didn’t think Barry Richardson or Herb Taylor played that poorly last night. One of them can step in and at least do what D Mac did last night. D Mac was just watching as Brodie was going to the ground. And bring in Jay Feely.
August 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pmyeah touchy feeley needs a call from carl
August 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pmcut mac
hope napper can at least help out some
Keep McIntosh as a reserve – possibly as a guard which is where a lot of people think he should be playing anyway.
I’d also like to cut Nap, but given how bad the LB corp has played the last few weeks (except for DJ), Naps so so play from a year ago would be a big improvement. I was especially disappointed in Pat Thomas’s play last night.
I still like Barth. Yeah he missed a 46 yarder against ARZ, but it hit the upright and hes got a strong leg. I’d rather take my lumps with a kid like him, then sign a creaky vet or keep Novak. Novak has bounced around and looked good at some stops and no so good at others. I think given the youth of our team we should gp with the higher upside and younger Barth.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:19 pmMiami Massacre…lol
The Cocaine Cowboys might as well have sprayed us with machine guns.
Nap needs to be cut. He’s a rotten apple and a waste of money. Let’s cut our losses and send a message. Great breakdown, Merlin.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pmI have to agree with you totally about D-Mac, and even if he’s not being a pissant in the locker room, he’s certainly a sourpuss setting a real bad example of how to be a pro. I say hold onto him while keeping an eye on the waiver wire for a younger guy with a couple years experience who can take his place. Maybe snag a guy someone is trying to sneak onto their practice squad. Either way I think this is his last shot in KC unless he suddenly developes some motivation and brings it to work.
On the other hand, I think the line will be a LOT better when Albert comes back and they move Herb over to RT to replace DMac in the starting lineup. We just have NO depth there at the moment.
I’m not all that worried about the D in general – I think a big part of the problem with our linebackers is Gunner is still experimenting with how he wants to play the line and the backers together. It’s pretty clear we have so much more talent on D than we’ve had in quite some time that we also have OPTIONS we haven’t had before, and perhaps we have the ability to do things other than Tampa 2… unfortunately, that’s what we recruited LB talent to do… so it’s going to take some time for it all to come together from all standpoints: Scheme, coaching, and execution.
Until we get our exact scheme all planned out, and give the LB’s a chance to fit into that plan… it’s hard to really judge what we have there. Still, I think the D is going to be a top ten unit by the end of this year – and the sooner Gunner figures out where we’re going to get pressure on the QB from, the sooner they’ll come into their own.
Like Maine_Chief I like Barth too. And every Pro Bowl kicker in the league has missed kicks from plus 40. At least Barth can kickoff into the endzone. He certainly cannot be worse than Tynes or the guys we had last year… and unlike any of them, he at least has a shot to grow into more than he is now.
As bad as last night was, I will reserve judgement until we’ve seen more.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:34 pmI dont even think we should keep d-mac as a backup anything, just cut him already. He was never as good as he was supposed to be. Everyone said he was such a mauler at run blocking, but hes not. Herb taylor should definitely replace him.
We should also cut napolean harris as well. Hes turing into another kendrell bell for the chiefs. Sure were shallow at LB, but once the cuts start happening, we should just sign one from someone else. Anyone!
this is what herm said a couple days ago when asked about what kicker hes gonna keep:
August 24th, 2008 at 4:49 pmEDWARDS: “Yeah. The guy that kicks the best. That’s who it is. You got a scoop.”
So I dont think were gonna sign another kicker, but I hope we keep barth.
Nice post Merlin. good breakdown and interesting questions.
August 24th, 2008 at 7:28 pmI agree Savage should be our returner with the occasional role at rb/slot receiver.
Sippio looked lost back receiving kicks. didn’t do much blocking for Savage either.
Never have been a fan of D-Mac. we should cut our losses there.
Ditto with Nap. Harris unless he suddenly gets healthy and improves his play.
Someone you didn’t mention was Darling. I didn’t see anything from him that would warrant keeping him. I would rather see Price and maybe another of the rookies win places on the team.
give them a shot with the first team at least till Franklin gets healthy.
As far as the kicker, I would go with Barth for the better kickoffs unless we can bring in someone better.
Hopefully Albert is well by the regular season. I liked Barry Robinson at rt also. Maybe with some more practice there in the Rams game he will get a little more comfortable there. And Taylor can play almost anywhere along the line.
I really wasn’t too fond of the play-calling either; but hopefully Chan was just keeping it REAL vanilla till the regular season. Don’t want to see a lot more of those 3 yard passes on a 3rd and long.
Maybe this will be a wake-up call for everyone on the team. Looking forward to a good rebound next Thursday.
our O line was dreadful at times and some, namely D-Mac, didn’t look real interested in trying to move the ball. Getting them motivated might be the only thing needed and hopefully when Albert is back things will improve. They’re making me lose the will to live.
August 24th, 2008 at 8:54 pmWarning: Long Post Ahead!
I definetly disagree on most fronts people are talking about here. As the announcers, coaching staff, and most of us have said, Barry Richardson could grow into a good tackle in this league. He’s got the run-blocking part down, but needs to work on his pass protection. He needs a bit of time to develop. I say we keep D-Mac for this season (and despite him probably being too injury-prone to finish the season, just listen.) We have a bye week what, Week 6? Let D-Mac start until then (unless of course he gets hurt) and give Barry some actual competition, actual mentoring from an experienced veteran, albeit a mediocre one.
After the bye, we see how well Richardson can handle the RT spot. He should do better than expected, especially if Herb Taylor is put back at RG where he was this off-season. Better RG play makes the RT better. Instead of having to do it all on his own beside Adrian Freakin’ Why-hasn’t-he-been-cut-yet? Jones, he can lean a little bit on Herbie, if needed. If we cut Damion now, we have nothing to fall back on except Svitek, basically, and from all the talk about Route 71 or whatever it was, I doubt anyone wants that to happen.
As for Napoleon, I was the first one to say he should be canned, in the offseason. Of course I thought Donnie would be full health, and Demorrio would be ready to go. Napoleon is simply making too much money to be a backup, but if he can play, he’s a so-so starter, which is more than we have right now, sorry to say. I think we should keep him this year, and look into drafting a 2nd-3rd round LB next year to pull a Lofa Tatupa and sit in the Mike LB spot, with 2 solid contributors in Derrick Johnson and Demorrio Williams around him. With guys like Wes Daucus starting, we NEED Napoleon.
As for the Kickers, I’ve only seen one decent kick-off from either one, although most of the field goals were nice. However, I still mantain we should trade for Olindo Mare. He’s into his 30’s, I believe, but hell, Morton was in his 40’s and still kicking. Vinatieri is in his 30’s, as is Vanderjagt. Good kicker? He’s definetly solid. And he can kick it past the goal line, on a more consistent basis than Barth or Novak. Also, we have the cap room to go after a guy like that. From all the things I’ve read, they’re looking to can him, as they drafted a K and really liked what he did this off-season. We could get him cheaply (via trade) or just wait until he’s gone (if that is indeed the case) and throw some green his way. I don’t mind spending money on a kicker, a good one at least. They’re solid investments, and as I’ve stressed, Herm’s systematic way of winning games is a good idea on paper, but we don’t have the kickers (IMHO) to get the job done.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:35 pmwe will see the kicker we should’ve signed from free agency on thursday!
sign feely or keep barth, it makes sense considering the youth movement
August 24th, 2008 at 10:47 pmI dont think we can afford to cut any LB’s. barring getting a player off waivers we need to leave that sleeping horse lie. Something tells me we will have high draft picks next year and Herm will have free reign without CP looking over his shoulder.
D-Mac needs to lose the starting roll, and maybe a job. Wait on Phat Albert to get on the LT, move Herb to the other side and lets see what he can do. Berry Richardson will work his way in there soon enough. Something tells me with our injuries it may be sooner then later.
Kicker? Keep Barth, he looks good enough.
We need to stay out of the F/A market and keep our cap down. In 2010 there will not be a cap any longer. If we have our players signed and are paying out $30 mil less then other teams a season then we can stay competetive against larger market teams.
That being said. As mentioned before, our D that is supposed to be one of teh top 10-15 is doing nothing. No blitzing, nothing spectacular. Are we hiding something here? I am hoping they are not looking at the Rams, but at the Patriots.
One last note, and shoot me if you want to, but I say keep Croyle in there. We are developing a QB, and this takes time. If the kid fails us we will be in a great spot to get one next year (and the 2009 QB draft class is looking GOOD.) We can get quality talent in the 2nd round even.
August 24th, 2008 at 11:36 pmHello…anyone miss me?
I missed most of the game but I have a few thoughts i guess…
Keep 77 for now as has been said and get Herbie or Barry worked into that spot with eventually both ending up on the right side…
I have no idea what happened to Harris since last season, it must be a mental thing because his job was up for competition after he led the team in tackles. He seemed a little upset about that, but it is certainly just part of the game.
I do like being reminded that our D has been doing absolutely nothing flashy thus far and we have much to look forward to.
Dorsey didnt look great, but much better than most rookies in their first major game situations, so I am quite optimistic.
I think we will be very active in waivers…
Also, dont really count on 2010 being uncapped, it is set as that now due to the CBA being renogotiated, but by the time it comes around it likely won’t be that way, and if it is it won’t be nearly as exotic as everyone is trying to make it…
August 25th, 2008 at 1:03 amI am not counting on 2010 being uncapped, but I see the Chiefs hedging their bets against it happening. With this much cap space we can SERIOUSLY compete in the F/A market next offseason.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:28 am