Chiefs’ Best Front Seven: Stairway To Heaven
By Laddie Morse
Chiefs’ Best Front Seven: Stairway To Heaven
The best front seven in football belongs to the Chiefs.
There’s no more waiting, the off season is off and the season, “pre” though it be, is on. And… drum roll please… it’s time to crank up the volume! In some music circles, determining which is the greatest rock song of all time is hotly debated and songs like “Hotel California” and “Stairway to Heaven” often come up in the conversation. In NFL circles, the question of who has the best front seven is hotly debated too and when I compare the the Kansas City Chiefs group to the league’s top teams…
“Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.”
Stairway to Heaven, ~Led Zeppelin, 1971
When you posit the defensive fronts in the game today, both the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers could easily lay claim to the best and most disruptive gaggle of gridiron girth around. However, the Kansas City Chiefs will be nipping on their heels in 2014 and in years to come. In fact, the Chiefs best front seven could carry them far into the playoffs, assuming the absence of injuries. They’re just that good. While there are questions at all the other position groups on the roster, the Chiefs have a defensive front seven that could carry them to the top. All the way to the top, this year.
Yes, the offensive line has it’s issues. Of course, Alex Smith, Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe will do their damage but is there anyone else at QB, RB and more importantly WR, who can become a consistent and dynamic playmaker? Ifs, abound. The Chiefs defensive backfield is in major transition and challenge number one will be coping with the fact that this collection of CB citizens has barely reached the drinking age. The Chiefs have these same “experience” issues all over their line-up. Safety supreme, Mr. Eric Berry, has reached elite status but his cohorts in the defensive backfield will have to rely heavily upon his game time gifts for guidance. The Chiefs special teams has lost both of their primary return men and there may even be a new place kicker on the roster a month from now with a legitimate challenge coming from, the Lou Groza Award winner in 2012, Cairo Santos (we’ll have to consult a capologist but I believe there’s a chance the Chiefs could save a little cap room by replacing Ryan Succop with someone like Santos).
It’s obvious that there are copious opportunities amongst the starters for the youngsters to step in and step up. And, they’ll have to do just that if the Chiefs want to improve their chances to succeed this season.
However, I’m convinced the Chiefs have the best front seven and that they’re… a lock to shock… the hard in hard rock… the capital stock… the life saving insulin shot… a biological clock… an electrical shock… the space walk… the road block… the big talk… a vapor lock… pick-poc-n’ the sack-jock… titanium in the hard knock… the chopping block… double stubble at 5 o’clock… the cock of the glock… a flock at mach… and… the ad-hoc interlocking cinder block wall.
“All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.
All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”
Another Brick in the Wall, ~Pink Floyd, 1979
I’m likely going to be more excited to see the best front seven in football take the field than the offense. That’s just how good the best front seven in the league is going to be this year. So, let’s take a look at the reasons for my hippie-dippy-hyper-diaper-optimism.
Inside and Out
The Chiefs will have the best front seven mostly because they will be solid on the inside, as well as the outside, in their position groups. On the inside it all begins with defensive nose tackle.
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