Merlin’s Magic: Week 13
It was nice to see the Chiefs pull a win out against the Raiders. Thigpen bounced back and showed some poise. Tony G was the ultimate pro, the defense showed some heart and LJ drove the final nail in the coffin. It was a very positive development to see us take the ball with under three minutes to go in the game and run out the clock. Thigpen was lucky, very lucky with some of his throws. He made some horrible, head up his ass decisions lofting wounded duck throws in Tony’s area. We are very lucky we didn’t pay for those throws. Right now, he is locked onto Tony G tighter than Whitlock holding onto the last rib at a family reunion. As he develops as a QB, he needs to start spreading the ball around. Will he have the confidence to hit an open Will Franklin in a critical spot rather than forcing the ball to a covered Tony G? That is something I will be keeping an eye on as Thigpen develops.
For those Addicts out there that hate Herm, I present to you Norv Turner, coach of the San Diego Chargers. If you think Herm ruins teams, well, he takes a back seat to Norv. He took a talented team with a long window of opportunity and coached them into the toilet. Thinking about Norv and watching Tommy the Cable guy try to coach the Raiders, a thought occurred to me. We might actually have the second best coach in the AFC West.
Draft Watch…
Wins are definitely bittersweet as we have fallen into a three way tie for positions 3-5 with Seattle and St. Louis. All of us have a .523 strength of schedule. Who knows what Denver team we will face. The one that lost to the Raiders or the one who beat the Jets. San Diego could be winnable and the Bengals game is very winnable. This is going to be a very interesting December.
Recent Posts...
That Sproles Talk I Promised by Adam Best
Carl's Goodbye Press Conference by Eric Crane
Beer, Brats And Cheese Kurds, But NO CHIEFS by This Old Chief
Addict Angles: Hawkeyes Fan Talks Ferentz by Adam Best
Wasting Time by Steven
I would say Herm is third best, but that doesn’t say much. When Cable coached at University of Idaho, his career record was 11-35. He was a terrible coach of a WAC school, how the hell is that suddenly going to translate into success as an NFL coach. Being a Washington State alum during Cable’s time at Idaho, I had to make sure it was the same guy, because he was a laughingstock when he left. I think it’s a joke he even got a gig as a position coach in the NFL. I can’t believe he is suddenly running an NFL team. I’m sorry, I think Norv has the edge on Herm, but Cable is a whole other level of suck.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:41 pmit the dam cover 2 thats killing us! Dam you cover 2!
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pmI like us to win vs the Chargers and the Bungals. I’d say everything else is a wash. Plus. I’m going to be at the Chargers game, so we better win dammit
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 pmId like us to win the rest of the games this year I dont think a high draft pick is a big deal. What a screwed up division we have. Oh well with our current skill levels its a good one to be in.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:32 amYea, I think we will win 2 more, Cincy and pull off at least one of the others…That will more us down a little in the draft but it is not as important as it could have been…
With Detroit winless and looking to stay that way and Quarterback a bigger concern there than ever before I look for them to take the best QB available out of the gate. Followed by some lineman and likely Adam’s man-crush (Crabtree). I think it will drop us down to the 5-7 range which will be ideal for best MLB on the board…This is of course hinging on the performance of DJ at MLB…
I think that if DJ does well at MLB it will push us to likely either trade down from there which is much more realistic than if we were in the top 3 or to take the best DE or OL available…Waiting to replace the OLB with Cushing in the 2nd, possibly (shoutout to MasterBlaster, lol). I could definately see DJ excelling in this position and personally think Gunther is a moron for not trying him out there sooner. He played the position in college, he is the fastest guy (speed for coverage) and they want him to step up and be a leader well that is the leadership position on a defense.
I don’t see us winning this week barring a break down in Denver’s offense like we saw in our first meeting but I certainly think OUR offense should move the ball well again. I want to return to balance and have LJ run down their throat. Somebody needs to tell Larry he looks fat or that he is Shaun Alexander-ing it out there to get him fired up…
December 4th, 2008 at 10:00 amI am sorry but Herm is without a doubt the worst coach in the AFC West, bar none. We are 2-10, last place, with 2 wins in the last 22 games. What else is there to say? All you Herm guys who proclaim him to be a “good” coach will have to wait until he actually does something positive before you can claim he is anything other than the worst coach in the AFC West and possibly in the whole NFL.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:14 amI would not rule out the possibility that Detroit might opt to go the free agency route for their next QB. Matt Cassel maybe?
As far as AFC West teams go, if the Chiefs finish this season strong and the rest of the teams in the division continue to struggle, then I think a fair argument could be made that Kansas City has the look of a team on the ascendency with San Diego and Denver going the opposite way - especially SD.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:29 amDouble D,
I would love it if we would win out the rest of the season. I would especially love it if we beat Denver on Sunday. I think the Chiefs and Herm Edwards have made some progress and I am hoping we continue to see some progress on both offense and defense. These last four games will go a long way toward determining a lot of things including whether on not the Chiefs could be considered a truly ascending team.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:10 amhonestly I hope we win all the rest of our games so we could justify taking Rey Maualuga with or first pick. If were at 3 we couldn’t justify taking Maualuga thats too high for him, it would be a bit of a reach not to mention the chiefs would catch all kinds of crap if he wasn’t rookie of the year material instantly.
Also I believe that if we were to have a number three or four pick Sam Bradford or Matt Strafford would fall to us and Herm, under all the pressure that’s being pressed on him concerning the QB position, would jump all over a top tier QB early in the draft. I want to see Thigpen for another year I think we can game plan to make him effective.
Also if Maualuga is too out of question at 5 or 6 I’d like to see Brian Orapako complete our D line, we just need one more piece on our D line so we can start building around it on the defensive side of the ball, just like the Giants
December 4th, 2008 at 1:34 pmThe article’s logic simply states that Herm is the second best coach by default. In essence, he is one of the best worst coaches in the league.
December 4th, 2008 at 1:44 pmIf we win the rest of our games that will probably put us at 7-9 somewhere around there maybe 10, IF DJ works at MLB and Orapko is gone, I think that we could take an OLB in the first round, with the name of Aaron Curry, he is ranked higher than Cushing and is Number 1 on Mel Kipers Big Board, has a build of Derrick Johnson, and is pretty darn fast. He is 6′ 3″ 247 pounds runs a 4-6 40 last year he had 4 picks and took 3 back for touchdowns. I think i need to see him play but to say that he is at the top of most draft boards above Cushing is very good
December 4th, 2008 at 1:54 pmYes, he might be the second best coach in the AFC West, but he also might be the third worst coach in the NFL.
If we take a linebacker with our first-round pick I am going to lose my effin’ mind. Adam Bomb will possess Arrowhead Adam once and for all.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:58 pmYou know before boxing turned into the sewer it is today I was a big fan. The best during that period was Mike Tyson but I was a bigger fan of Tommy Morrison. Tommy wasnt going to win the title, everyone knew that, but most of the fights I watched him fight were more entertaining and exciting that the Tyson fights. Had he won the title I would have been on top of the world with him, but he never did that was ok with me too. Most of the fun was watching him get his ass kicked one night and totally KICKING ass the next. If you dont understand this logic you are going to be one frustrated Chiefs fan.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:48 pmD Line first pick, D Line first pick, D Line first pick, I can’t emphasize enough, on record pace for fewest sacks, that’s all that needs to be said.
Also Adam or anyone else, after your comment, I want an article on ranking Herm among all NFL coaches. I’ll make one easy, Cable is definitely no. 32 after his trick play.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:52 pmI agree with you thebryman. We should look for a D lineman or maybe an end for our first pick. Dorsey and the rest of the line could use the help. We get no pressure up the middle. Opposing QBs have too much time to do whatever they want. Thank God J.R. didn’t know what he wanted to do most of the time.
Comparing Thiggy to J.R. is interesting though, to say he didn’t do much better than J.R. could be seen as a good thing. Considering where he came from, his time as a starter compared to J.R., and thier production these last few weeks tells me we might have something with Thigpen. Talk about getting some bang for your buck!
Having the second best coach in a division where 3 of the 4 teams are in the bottom quarter of the league is a quasi-compliment at best. I feel that we are more than just a player or two away from being something special. I feel that our current coaching staff doesn’t truly know how to “play to win the game”. Blowing a 21 point lead to a sub .500 team speaks directly to that. We don’t seem to know how to capitalize on things that are working for us. At one point we lead the league in take aways and at the same time had the least sack in the league. What does this say to you?
December 4th, 2008 at 9:55 pmIs it weird that I think Herm is gonna let loose once he has the talent to do so? Maybe he’s only been conservative because he’s afraid that our O line cant pass block for crap, and our QB is young and rattled more often under pressure. Maybe the third down draws runs and QB boots are a result of Herm knowing that with the Blitz packages that teams like to bring on short third downs would ultimately lead to a sack air-go less opportunity to continue the drive?
Honestly I think Herm knows his stuff and if we end up firing him who are we gonna use to replace him? Chan as an interim? He’s good as a coordinator, but thats where he belongs. We all know Cower is way out of our ball park, he wants to work with talent, which we are still working on. Spagnolo? I doubt he’d jet from the to-be-super-bowl-champion Giants (we all know they’re gnna repeat) for a team thats out of the playoff picture for a few more years.
Facing facts, the NFL has an extreme shortage on quality head coaches and Herm is perfect for this team. He’s really good with young players and what’s our team composed of? He’s pieced together a solid draft for us this year with a no nonsense trade ethic that kept all of our picks in the talent heavy deep ‘08 class rather than the top heavy no depth draft of ‘09. Once Herm has some elite talent to work with you’ll see him work and all his critics now will be saying “I LOVE HERM”
Think about the talent he brought in from the lackluster free agent market. Upstart Mark Bradley, Maurice Leggett, and Connor Barth, al young talents that will be aroud for years
December 5th, 2008 at 5:16 am