Earning Their Arrowheads
Another week and another win for the Kansas City Chiefs. Good teams find a way to win and the Chiefs are showing the league that they are well on their way to being a good team. How good they get this season will hinge on how quickly they improve as the season goes on. Thus far, Todd Haley’s squad has shown heart and toughness as they have given themselves a two game head start.
As we do every week, lets take a look at five players I feel are earning their arrowheads.
1. Brandon Flowers
Brandon Flowers turned in his second solid performance in as many weeks. He continues to impress with his coverage skills as well as in run defense. Flowers is becoming a complete player by not only shutting down his own man but by coming up to help when the ball is ran to his side. He made a couple of nice first down saving tackles against the Browns.
As a coverage man, Flowers locked down Cleveland’s wideouts and picked off a Seneca Wallace pass that he returned for a touchdown. Todd Haley has been preaching that his younger players need to take the next step in their development. Flowers appears to be right on schedule.
2. Tony Moeaki
The rookie tight end is quickly making Chiefs forget about the team’s last TE named Tony. Moeaki has quickly become Matt Cassel’s favorite target. Cassel threw 10 balls in Moeaki’s direction on Sunday and the rookie reeled in 5 receptions for 58 yards.
Moeaki has all the tools to be a special player. He is a very good blocker and displays excellent hands and balance. If he stays healthy the Chiefs could very well have a All-Pro player on their hands.
3. Glenn Dorsey, Ron Edwards and Shawn Smith
These guys are a unit and they did a heck of a job on Sunday. Smith in particular was key. The Browns repeatedly avoided Dorsey’s side and ran right at Smith. The backup DE did a fantastic job filling in for the injured Tyson Jackson, racking up 5 tackles.
The entire line played well, plugging up their gaps and allowing Derrick Johnson and Jovan Belcher to come up and make plays. Johnson and Belcher each had 7 tackles to go along with 5 from Smith, 3 from Edwards and 2 from Dorsey. That is 24 tackles from the key players in a run defense that only surrendered 73 yards on 26 attempts for as 2.8 yards per carry average.
The Browns have a very big and aggressive offensive line. The Chiefs front 7 did a fantastic job.
4. Tamba Hali
No sacks and no tackles. Why is he earning his arrowhead? You have to have watched the game to understand. Like a shutdown corner, Tamba Hali doesn’t have to put up big numbers to make a big impact. The Browns for the most part completely avoided Hali and Dorsey in the running game. In the passing game, Hali was consistently getting pressure and was responsible for drawing a couple of key holding penalties. Teams have to game plan for Hali and that is allowing his teammates to make plays and forcing the opposition in to making mistakes.
5. Thomas Jones
While I still strongly disagree with the carry distribution, I can’t argue with Jones’ effectiveness. He wasn’t pretty and his yards per carry concerns me but all Thomas Jones showed up when it matter and moved the chains. Like the Chiefs, he isn’t pretty but he gets the job done. The Chiefs are extremely fortunate to have him.
Alright Addicts. Those are my 5. Who are your 5 players earning their arrowheads?