AA Kool-Aid Cooler: Super Bowl Fallout and the Kansas City Chiefs

Yum, it tastes like red sparkles.

Courtesy of Tony Rangel

The Super Bowl was the hot topic around water coolers this morning and we’re no different at Arrowhead Addict. While we don’t have an actual water cooler at AA, we do have a metaphorical Kool-Aid one, thanks to the wonder of email. Here’s a taste of some of the Kool-Aid we were drinking this morning.

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Stacy Smith: I hope all is well with the staff today.

I’m in particularly good spirits after seeing our division rival get destroyed. It’s a small sacrifice to have Manning return to the division for another 2-3 seasons, but well worth it.

Down go Elway and Manning in one fell swoop, the two quarterbacks I hate most in NFL history. Ahhh, the good life.

Jason Seibel: It was quite entertaining.

Ladner Morse: I’m right there with you. The bigger the drubbing became, the more I wanted to watch.

Ben Nielsen: Here’s to hoping that when the Chiefs make the Super Bowl next year they don’t lose 43-8.

Damian “Double D” Nelson: Man, what a beat down. I think Pete Carroll may have just re-invented the NFL.

Natasha Sims: Last night’s defense was dazzling. In fact, that’s the only thing I’ll remember about the game.

Keith “Merlin” Halpin: Personally, I was mixed on this Super Bowl. Peyton losing yet again in the playoffs does make me smile. However, the idea of Pete Carroll winning does turn my stomach. I don’t like to see scumbags like him rewarded.

Lyle Graverson: I just kept thinking about how many Super Bowl losers have struggled the next season. Here’s to hoping Seattle broke Denver’s spirit!

Seibel: I really think this could be Brett Favre all over again. Brett had the best year of his career and a team built to win the Super Bowl, fell just short, and then came back for one more run and finished at the bottom.

Morse: I think you may be right on. I can see many other teams “dominating” the Broncos with good defense next year. Their offensive line is so bad. The end may come for Manning because his body is broken. Man, he looked old in this game!

Patrick Allen: If Manning comes back and doesn’t decline, don’t be surprised if Denver is right back in the Super Bowl next year. Let us not forget how thoroughly they whooped everybody they played this season. I don’t think there is a defense in the AFC that can stop them unless they have a really bad day. Patriots? Nope. Chiefs? Not with Sutton running the show.

Denver might get out-scored but I still think they are easily the best team in the AFC.

The good news is, I think if they run up against the Seahawks or the 49ers in the Super Bowl, I think they’ll lose again.

Smith: Things change quickly. I think the Broncos will continue to be one of the best in the AFC, but I don’t think they’ll be as dominant in 2014. Coordinators adjust far too well in this league.

Nielsen: If there is a defense that could make that turn it would be the Chiefs, right? I understand the Bob Sutton argument but injuries and personnel (Kendrick Lewis, Dunta Robinson, no pass rushing defensive ends) had a lot to do with the second half defensive struggles.

Allen: I think they should have seriously considered firing Sutton. I am sorry but it is nearly impossible to give up a lead that big in the playoff game. If the Chiefs merely played prevent D the rest of the way, they probably would have won the game by two touchdowns. To allow a team to score that many points that fast is unconscionable.

The players the Chiefs have on defense are pretty dang good. Sutton couldn’t figure out how to adjust the entire second half of the year and that concerns me.

Smith: I think that would’ve been reactionary and scapegoating. We stink at free safety and aren’t good enough at corner to survive without a swarming pass rush. I wouldn’t fire Sutton, but I would hire a defensive version of Brad Childress to help him. A guy with stronger X’s and O’s and the kind of defensive imagination that can continue to make good use of all that defensive talent.

Allen: What I saw in the Seahawks defense that I don’t in the KC defense is intelligence. Those guys were making the right decisions on every single play last night. It was remarkable. The KC defense plays aggressive too, they are just wrong way too often and they get smoked. I don’t know that Seattle’s players are smarter than ours but they certainly seemed like it. Maybe that is coaching.

Morse: Seahawks defense was much more than “intelligence.” They had so much speed that it made me think that this game could not be chalked up as just a “bad game” for Denver’s offense. The Seahawks’ whole team made me think that if they played this game 10 times, the outcome would be the same nine times… at least.

Double D: I think part of what we witnessed from Seattle’s defense was simply the added adrenaline of the game. Nonetheless, the Seahawks put on masterful clinic about how to counter the Peyton Manning’s of the NFL. Given the NFL’s rule-making predisposition in favor of the passing game, I’m pretty sure every team sat up and took notice.