The Chiefs Fooled Me

[...] Check out the quote from our Arrowhead Addict friends: Its been a lot of fun pretending we were a good team these last two months. I’ve enjoyed that. As it turns out, we’re not that good. – Arrowhead Addict [...]

[...] The Chiefs Fooled Me | Arrowhead Addict | A Kansas City Chiefs blog [...]

Well said and well written. I'm afraid our expectations were set a bit too high due to our 3-0 start. I'm afraid it was just a mirage however I am thankful that the team is relevant again. Here's to a soft schedule and hopefully a strong finish to this season.

can't we all just get along?

@happiocupcakeo, I totally agree! I feel like everyone has overlooked that aspect of the game. We really missed those guys this Sunday, I really hope we have them back for the Arizona game! That kind of a boost in our secondary along with the return of DEX gives us REALLY good odds.

I get on this site every day for real. dedicated chief fan. When i hear u talking like a damn idiot, it gets to me. at first u were a proud fan and i had alot of respect for this site. You let me down. Stay strong dummy. I hate this write up, try again.. love whitefeather

Look for of all. The guy that wrote this, at first i wanted to do alittle bit of cursing at u. then i thought about it, this is what i got. Ur a fake @ss chief fan. Get off the band wagon, go on and get on another. You dont deserve to be a chief fan. Your a damn fool.

Well, a shellacking really puts people in a foul mood, doesn't it? The Chiefs were overrated by many, who now see average/mediocrity settling in. But fortunately, we still have our friendly schedule. And like Matt says, we have a chance to see meaningful games in December, if we can somehow get a win over the Cardinals. With luck, we could even win 3 in a row (Cardinals, Seahawks and Broncos) to go to 8 and 4, then hold on while we beg for a win against the Chargers, Rams or Titans. Wouldn't it be great if we are 9 and 6, with the finale against the Raiders for a playoff spot (and a very short playoff run)? I doubt it, but how about a little optimism on a day when everyone seems in such a foul mood? BONUS: I heard Herm on 810 this morning. He is a good listen on the radio. Unfortunately, I missed his analysis of the Chiefs game. But I heard two points for your entertainment: (1) he loudly proclaimed he was doing a "Big Ten" game this week, explaining he was going to Syracuse to broadcast Syracuse versus UConn; and (2) he said that he used to coach the defensive backs in Hail Mary situations so that there was only one "jumper" with the rest blocking off the potential receivers who might catch a tipped ball -- on the one hand, Herm was a D Back for 12 years or so, a D Bank coach for years and a head coach for more, so he must know how the play is coached -- but I can't remeber ever seeing the play defended where there was only one defensive jumper. But then, when do D Backs ever seem to do what they are told - I remember Arenas this year after we miraculously beat the Chargers on the goal line stop to win the game - when asked what was said in the huddle, he said, "man, it's not a time for talkin, it's a time to make plays." DOUBLE BONUS HERM: HE PREDICTED A CHIEFS WIN THIS WEEK USING THE GROUND GAME AND THE 12TH MAN AT ARROWHEAD. HERM'S THE MAN.

wow everybody calm down! Sunday was a mirage on Denvers part. Take away a couple crazy touchdown catches that the denver receivers will NEVER make again and the freak fumble return. Add the couple easy interceptions that we dropped (which has been plaguing us all season) and its a completely different ball game that we win pretty easily. We are good. all of our loses are pretty much our fault. - Indy game - missed field goal and dropped TD by bowe = the ten points we lost by. - Texans game - our defense collapses and they score 21 in the 4th with the last td coming down to the wire. they wouldnt be able to that again if that game was played 100 more times. - Raiders game. our defense played great. they gave up only one touchdown to the 6th highest scoring team in the NFL. they win on a kick return. watching the return replays, it shouldnt even have happened. we gave the game away. the broncos game was the only game where we were actually got beat and even that was flukish due the above reasons.

What will happen if the Chiefs dominate Arizona this Sunday? I think there will be a lot of posts of the Chiefs getting back on track. It seems like if we win a couple of games we are locks for the playoffs. Then we lose a couple of games and there is no way in hell we are making the playoffs. I am trying to convince myself that I need to sit back and see how this season will end up. I think that it is going to be an exciting ending that is going to come down to the last game of the year.

I'm sorry, but I have to defend Matt Cassel. As the rabid fans that many of us are, I think we get in this unrealistic mindset that there's a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or *gasp* Phillip Rivers waiting around the corner, whether by free agency or in the draft. And those three QBs and the other above average QBs (Big Ben or Drew Brees)aren't going to be on the trading block anytime soon. Why? Because a franchise quarterback is rare. And this just in: WE WON'T DRAFT A QB IN THE FIRST 2-3 ROUNDS OF THE 2011 DRAFT EITHER. Won't happen. Cassel is the guy, like it or not, and quite frankly, he's good. Sure, he's not the franchise QB we're all drooling for. But good grief folks, 16 TDs versus 4 INTs after 9 games? That ratio BEATS your Peyton Manning and Drew Brees stats. Brady is the only one with better numbers, and not by much. If Cassel was out there playing like Elvis Grbac and we had a backup on the bench like Rich Gannon, I would be right there with you. But this isn't the case. You put Croyle in and he'll last you until mid-way through the 2nd quarter and then shatter his ACL. Thus, bringing back Matt Cassel. We need to be behind Cassel as the QB. We have FAR greater concerns on this team than Cassel.

I thought Underworld was actually above average.

I think the last 3 games are more a testament to how important Dexter McCluster, Kendrick Lewis, and Jon McGraw are than they are an indication that the Chiefs are pretenders.

Didn't have me fooled on the fast 3-0 start. Look, we have the easiest schedule this year and we are only 5-4. Can anyone look at the remaining 7 games and circle a guaranteed win. I think that we go 3-4 from here and end up at 8-8. Not bad considering that we only won 4 games last year. Reality is sitting in right now and the Chiefs have shown just how much further they need to improve to be a playoff team. Even at 3-0 we all knew that if we made the playoffs it would be because of how bad everyone else was in the AFC West, not because of how good the Chiefs are.

As the official driver of the AA Matt Cassel Bandwagon, I'd like to address a couple things regarding both Matt and Patrick's (very well written) posts. Even from my seat here on the bandwagon I could see that Cassel DID contribute to the Chiefs getting down 35-0. Yes, only the fumble return for the TD was his direct doing, but when an opposing offense comes out and shoves the ball down your defense's throat the offense needs to come out and move the ball, pick up first downs, give the D time to regroup, and answer with points of their own if you want to stay in the game. Cassel, as the leader of the offense did not do that to start the game. He struggled to convert third downs again (not that the playcalling or run game helped him any). He does deserve some, far from all, but some of the blame, as do most players and coaches on the team. That having been said I was proud of how he fought back. Yes, his stats were inflated because of the "don't give up the long ball" defense that Denver was playing. However, not all QBs would of put up numbers like Cassel did yesterday. Arizona and Carolina have been outscored by more points then anyone else in the league (even Buffalo) and their QBs still stink on ice, so Cassel shouldn't get zero credit for what he did either. My position on him remains unchanged. Cassel is not a great or terrible NFL QB. He has his moments but also deserves some criticism at times. I don't feel like Matt or Patrick were out of line in their takes even if mine might be slightly different (not that they were looking for my approval).

Man oh man...everyone needs to grab a beer, joint, a tug, or whatever your vice is and chill out...I don't ever remember one person saying we were guarnteed the playoffs and majority said we would be .500. We are on our way everyone should be happy about the improvement this year. So everybody should sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride as we figure out how good this team really is... Big Matt are you throwing in the towel on the playoffs? What will our record be from here on out? You seem to know this team is no good so I'd like to hear some predictions. I just called Patrick a tool and anyone who blogs about the Chiefs is, including me. Patrick is just a mega tool because he gloats in a Chiefs lost and runs an entire website plus writers that are obsessed with Nick Wrights opinions which suck. At the beginning of the season this was easily my go to site for Chiefs information and now its a distant second.

How many of you fans, if I told you before the season we would have been 5-2 going into the raiders game or even 5-3 going into the denver game or for arguments sake told you we would have possibly gone 8-8 on the season. I would have probably been laughed out of the room. Its to bad the successes the team have made make some people think the losing latley is the end of the world. We are fortunate to have the season that were having with the rookies stepping up big. We have had afew injuries lately that have hurt us. WE ARE A YOUNG TEAM The future is bright for our franchise

if Paddy didn't catch it on another blog - I did let hem know he was right. I have never in my life felt so confident in the Chiefs going into a game than I did Sunday. I think the Chiefs just showed me what they showed you. We have a good young team that can contend for the playoffs, but probably not yet. It will be fun to see some meaningful December football, and even more exciting to see how the Chiefs respond to the loses to Denver and Oakland when they come to Arrowhead.

Well, lots of reactions, but I am not ready to say the sky is falling. We looked horrible. So bad that after the 1st series on defense and offense I told the other folk in the room we were going to get blown out in the game. You could just tell we did not have the game plan we needed. I lay the loss not on Cassel, not on the defense, it was on the entire coaching staff. We obviously were not prepared for the Bronco's and that is their job. Still, it was a game. A very important one, but that's over with. We are neither better nor worse as a team than we were before that game. We have some improved talent, but need more. The difference was this time we just got outsmarted and then outplayed. Maybe we won't recover and go into a full tailspin. I doubt it. I think we will do what I thought. Show real and meaningful progress this year over last year, but not we are not the frog the Princess kissed. In real life it takes time to transform. We will end up pretty darn good this year all things taken into account. In the off season, I think it is realistic to believe we add more talent and make some strides forward. Depending on how that goes, we could be a more solid team next year. I'll be yelling just as hard for us next week (yea I admit it I yell watching our games even on TV). Keep it in perspective guys, I know it was horrible Sunday, but I'll bet you that will be an anomally. I expect us to be competitive in the rest of our games and to win at least as many as we lose. If we win the division, that is gravy, and over-achieving based on the roster. Keep your chin up guys, we will still kick some butt this year!

I agreed with Paddy

To respond to TIDL: I wasn't trying to say it is Cassel's fault for this loss. I was just stating that he wasn't as good as his stats may look. All of the Chiefs homers blast any fan who criticizes the team after a win, so we should at least get to air our criticisms after a loss. There were so many things wrong in this game that ultimately the blame goes on the coaches. Haley got out-coached by one of the worst coaches in the league. That is disappointing.

I agreed with Patrick's pick. However, I am still so disappointed and let down by this team. Although we had no pass rush, I can't stop thinking about our secondary! They looked like they had no idea what they were doing! I personally do blame our secondary for our loss, and feel that we could have at least made a game out of it if it wasn't for Price and Washington. THEY NEED TO BE RELEASED NOW.

Pass rush and a dominate NT fixes all our problems on D. I can catch a pass in front of Carr or Flowers with 5-6 second to run around.

Hmmmmm? Sigh, ugh! I hate football.

I'm with you Big Matt. The Chiefs fooled me into believing they were more than what they really are - a subaverage team still in the process of rebuilding. I don't see how we make the playoffs considering we have no depth and the fact that much of regular rotation has never played more than 10 or 11 games in a season (I'm talking about our rooks). After starting out 5-2, I expected us to come away with at least one road win against a division rival - now I have to seriously question whether we will even be able to manage more than one home win against a division rival. The formula for beating the Chiefs has become painfully obvious. Stack the box on defense and force Cassel to beat you. On offense, exploit the poor coverage skills of the Chiefs LBs and Safeties and that will open up the run.