Earning Their Arrowheads

The Kansas City Chiefs are playing some pretty good  football right now and as a result they have many players that are earning their Arrowheads.

We like to recognize those players going above and beyond the average each week here on Arrowhead Addict. This post is normally earlier in the week but we ran up against some technical issues yesterday that kept this post from going up.

With our last word on the Jaguars game before we hit the Bills full force, here are the Chiefs that earned their Arrowheads Sunday.

Matt Cassel

I have got to give Cassel some love here. The last two games he has been getting the job done, pure and simple. It isn’t just that he is taking good care of the football but I have actually seen his accuracy improve from the beginning of the season. Early on, I wasn’t seeing any improvement over his play from 2009. The last two games however, Cassel has looked sure of himself in the pocket, he is getting the ball out before the pressure can get to him and he is, for the most part, making pretty accurate throws.

The Chiefs are bringing Cassel along and he is showing that he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet. Hopefully he continues to improve but last week against Jacksonville at least, 72.2% completion percentage and his two touchdowns were more than enough to earn his arrowhead.

Thomas Jones/Jamaal Charles

Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles are the heart of the Chiefs offense. Without them the 2010 Chiefs offense would be the 2009 Chiefs offense and we all know how that worked out.

What impresses me most about both of these backs is how calm they remain throughout the course of the game. Early on against the Jaguars, Jones had it going and Charles was getting stuffed on almost every play. The Chiefs kept giving Charles the ball and rather than get frustrated, Charles kept grinding and he eventually got going. We’ve seem Jones have rough patches as well and he never gets rattled.

The value of the Chiefs running game is that if one of these guys isn’t getting it done, the other usually is.

Dwayne Bowe

What a great couple of bounce back games for D-Bowe. I know a lot of people were on him about his drops in the Colts game and he deserved some criticism but keep in mind that the Chiefs offense is still developing. This is not the same offense the Chiefs ran most of last year. KC was behind so much in 2009 they threw the ball like crazy trying to come back. This offense is a run first, ground and pound unit. This is an opportunistic passing game. It revolves around keeping the defense honest, taking the occasional big shot and taking care of the football.

Bowe and everyone else is still settling in to this system but Dwayne, like Cassel is showing improvement and for that alone, he gets an Arrowhead.

Eric Berry

Berry is a rookie. He has played more snaps than any rookie on the team. He is being asked to do a big job and he has gotten burned a lot in the passing game.

Yet he is also helping immensely in the run defense. Berry is growing and getting his first career interception Sunday was hopefully a sign of things to come. Eric gets an arrowhead this week.

Jovan Belcher

Another player that I continue to honor because most folks outside of KC don’t even know he is. If you want to know why the Chiefs run D is so improved look no further than Belcher. He led the team in tackles last week with 7 and had 40 on the year. He is on pace for 106 tackles.

Shaun “Perv” Smith

Perv has straight up gotten it done at DE for the Chiefs. He isn’t much of a pass rusher but boy has he helped the run defense. Perv also had 7 tackles against the Jags.

Derrick Johnson

DJ isn’t having a pro bowl season yet but he is darn close. He has 49 tackles, 1 forced fumble and a pick six. His interception last week was the turning point of the game. DJ, enjoy your arrowhead.

Javier Arenas

2 forced fumbles on Sunday. This kid is coming along nicely.

Tamba Hali

6 sacks. A billion pressures. Tamba is a beast and is the best pass rushing OLB in the league.

Those are my arrowheads. There were a lot this week but I am sure I left someone out. Who do you think is earning their arrowheads?