Chiefs vs. Packers: Five Players To Watch
The Kansas City Chiefs will begin a new era this Sunday when they try to be the first team in a year to defeat the Green Bay Packers.
The Chiefs will attempt this tall task with a new QB and a new head coach. Let’s take a look at five players to watch in this weekends game.
Kyle Orton
Orton is going to get the start according to interim head coach Romeo Crennel. He’ll be the most competent QB to lead the KC offense since Matt Cassel went down to injury in a game against the Denver Broncos. Orton has been injured but should have had some time to develop a bit of chemistry with his receivers this week in practice. He’ll also have a much greater knowledge of the playbook. Reports out of practice are that Orton’s spirals look good so his injured finger may not give him too much trouble. He’ll be evaluated as the week goes on. If he has a setback, rookie Ricky Stanzi will get the start.
Can Orton revive the KC passing attack? It looks like we’re finally going to find out.
Romeo Crennel
Crennel isn’t a player but along with Kyle Orton, he’s going to be the most interesting person to watch in this game. Crennel has gone on the record saying he won’t make too many drastic changes this season but let’s not kid ourselves. Crennel is a different man than Todd Haley and even if the plays are the same, the QB will be different and the way in which Crennel approaches the game plan is sure to be drastically different than Todd Haley. Crennel likely has his own thoughts about which running backs should be carrying the ball the most and which players should be getting time at other positions.
Romeo has said that he wants to be a head coach again. We’ll get to see what life under Romeo might be like starting Sunday.
Justin Houston
The Justin Houston sack train kept on rolling last week. The rookie made a big mistake in coverage that cost the Chiefs on defense but Houston is still clearly trending in the right direction. He’ll get a chance to make a major impact this week by going after the very mobile Aaron Rodgers. The Green Bay Qb is dangerous all the time but he is particularly nasty when he is on the run. Houston needs to help Tamba Hali bracket the Green Bay QB and keep him in the pocket. This will be a great test for KC’s blossoming pass rush.
Dwayne Bowe
Bowe is trying to earn a new contract but he hasn’t been doing himself any favors. He dropped a sure garbage time TD catch from Tyler Palko last week. Then again, the KC QB play has been so bad that Bowe may have gotten bored waiting for a decent ball to be thrown to him. Throughout the Palko experiment, Bowe has still been consistently reeling in balls and yards at a nice clip which leads me to believe he could find the end zone with Orton under center.
He’ll need to if he wants to get paid this offseason because right now his stock is lower than it was at the end of last season.
Barry Richardson
Will Romeo bench the worthless piece of crap and give Mims or Maneri a try? We can only hope that we’ll be watching Richardson on the bench. Unfortunately Crennel may not want to shake up the offensive line too much with Orton getting his first start in a while. Still, a situation worth monitoring.