Last week, I spent my days at Bolt Beat, Fansided.com’s site for San Diego Chargers’ fans. This week, I continue my perilous journey through the AFC West, toiling in the Colorado stables of Predominantly Orange for a week (as you may have surmised, I’m saving the worst for last. Yes, Raider Fan, I am looking directly at you, and I will see you next week).

My first observation from my week spent ankles deep in the manure of Bronco-land is that Broncos fans are confident. Very, very confident. And why shouldn’t they be? They are coming off of a 13-3 season, and were one play away from the AFC Conference championship game. They have few weaknesses, and upgraded some key positions during free agency and the Draft this year. A couple quotes from Predominantly Orange sum up the confidence of Denver fans:

It’ll be Denver against San Francisco in the Super Bowl and Denver will win it, 33-24.

Denver will romp through the AFC West despite a big improvement from Kansas City.  The Chiefs have a new coach in Andy Reid, a new QB in Alex Smith and a running game second to none.  They will hop over the Chargers and Raiders, but the Broncos will still win the West by at least two games.

Let’s take a look under the hood of the Denver Broncos and see if their whinny is worse than their bite.

Elvis has left the building: While not discussed much of late, I can tell that FaxGate, in which the Broncos lost the services of Elvis Dumervil, still stings. Von Miller may be the best pass rushing outside linebacker in the League. To have Dumervil rushing from the other side gave the Broncos one of the best tandems in all of football. Because of a ridiculously stupid error by Dumervil’s agent, the Broncos now have to rely upon either defensive end Robert Ayers or second year defensive end Derek Wolfe to fill Dumervil’s shoes. Ayers is decent and Wolfe has shown promise, but neither would ever be mistaken for Elvis. To shore up their front line, the Broncs drafted defensive tackle Sylvester Williams from North Carolina with the 28th overall pick this year, and have also signed aging veteran outside linebacker Shaun Phillips, as an insurance policy.

Peyton the Scientist: You may have read several light-hearted stories about the culture of pranking that Peyton Manning has brought to Denver. Predominantly Orange said:

There are two parts this story which are encouraging as a Broncos fan. First of all the camaraderie of the team, including the newly acquired [Wes] Welker. The fun, close-knit environment that I picked up on while watching this prank play out appeared to be similar to the vibe that we felt around that team in the late 1990′s when the Broncos hoisted the Lombardi Trophy twice. Secondly, the precision in which Manning directed the prank clearly showed that this is in fact his team. In addition, there is the vigilance which he approaches aspects outside of football. We  knew this already about Manning, but he seems as determined to create the harmony within the team off the field as the game plan on it. I am guarded about crowning the Broncos anything before the first weekend in February but I am getting THAT feeling again.

Addicts, this little vignette is cause to worry. Manning has his team feeling like a team, which makes the whole greater than the sum of their considerable parts. I only hope the Chiefs are also developing this level of chemistry, like Peyton is.

The return of Alex Gibbs: Who? That’s what I said. But Bronco fans are pretty hyped up to have Gibbs back as a consultant. Gibbs was the Offensive Line Coach from 1995-2003, and is somewhat of a guru of the zone blocking schemes that elevated running backs like Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson and Clinton Portis into the 1,000 yard club. With second round pick Montee Ball coming in, Broncos fans are excited to see the running game of old come back.

The secondary is our first target: Of the Broncos’ few holes, perhaps the biggest was their defensive secondary. Last year, second-year player Chris Harris played cornerback, opposite perennial Pro Bowler Champ Bailey. Harris played well, although his natural position is closer to safety rather than cornerback. The truest sign however, that the Broncos understand that cornerback is the weak link on the team, is what they did in free agency. On just the second day of the free agency period, Denver added Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. They then drafted cornerback Kayvon Webster from South Florida with their third round pick, which some experts deemed a “reach.” As recently as last week, the Broncos were also pursuing free agent Charles Woodson from Green Bay. Neither Rodgers-Cromartie, Webster or Woodson fill this gap. Cornerback remains a big hole for the Broncos.

Barring injuries, the Broncos are going to be a great team once again. But the weak link in the chain remains their secondary. Rodgers-Cromartie was part of the trade that gave the Philadelphia Eagles the “Dream Team” misnomer two years ago. He has struggled with inconsistency.  When the Chiefs play the Broncos, Champ Bailey will be on Dwayne Bowe. Can Rodgers-Cromartie keep up with either Donnie Avery or Jon Baldwin?

If the Chiefs are to beat the Broncos, this matchup may be the decisive factor in winning one against Denver this year. Addicts, what do you think?! Can the Chiefs split the series with the Broncos this year?!

Sometimes, in the never ending quest for excellence, you have to make unspeakable sacrifices. No matter at what personal cost, we, as humans, can sometimes do things we never thought possible, if something that important is at stake. That is why this week, I spent most of my free time on Bolt Beat, our sister site dedicated to, yes, the San Diego Chargers.

Now let me make one thing clear at the onset: Bolt Beat, as part of the FanSided.com family along with Arrowhead Addict, is a great site with smart writing and passionate fans. But being submerged in Charger-world for  a week would make any Addict want to (a) shower; (b) crawl into a deep hole; and (c) get the heck back to Arrowhead Addict.

I decided to spend a week with the blue and yellow because I consider the Chargers our most immediate competition for the playoffs. My way-to-early prediction for next year’s division winners is:

• AFC East: New England Patriots
• AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
• AFC South: Houston Texans
• AFC West: Denver Broncos

For the two wildcard spots, I think the following teams will be in contention:

• Baltimore Ravens
• Indianapolis Colts
• San Diego Chargers
• Kansas City Chiefs

The Ravens are a lock. The Colts will be even better than their surprise 11-5 record last year, but with a much, much tougher schedule. But the Chargers and Chiefs have two games with one another. A sweep by the Chiefs could push us into that 10-6 range that we’ll need to make it into the playoffs, and importantly, could close the door on the Bolts’ postseason hopes.

Here’s what I learned over at Bolt Beat.

New leadership: D.J. Fluker. The Chargers picked right tackle Fluker with the eleventh overall pick in the first round this year. Fluker is absolutely huge – 6’5” and 340 pounds – and could well be a perennial Pro Bowler at right tackle. Fluker also took charge at the rookie mini-camp last week. New Head Coach Mike McCoy said, “When you see kids that come from Alabama, the way they’ve been coached, he really was the leader out there on offense today. It’s great to see that because we need more guys like that. Very vocal. Very positive to everybody. (He) broke the team down at the end, and I didn’t ask him to. I wanted to see who would step up, and he stepped up without hesitation.” Chargers’ fans are ecstatic over Fluker, and with good reason.

Growth potential: wide receivers. Bolts fans are equally excited about their wide receiver corps. First and foremost, Vincent Brown is back this year from a season-ending broken ankle in 2012. He was a promising third round pick in 2011. McCoy said Brown is a “great route runner” and “very disciplined” at his position. Of course, Brown joins starters Danario Alexander and Malcolm Floyd, as well as four hundred year old tight end Antonio Gates (who has that Tony Gonzalez gene. Both those guys can probably play until they’re fifty). To make matters worse for us Addicts, San Diego also picked up running back and pass catcher Danny Woodhead in free agency, whom Bolts fans believe will be the next Darren Sproles. To round out the unit, the Chargers drafted Keenan Allen in the third round this year, although he has first round talent. Allen tore up his knee last year but will be ready for training camp. Needless to say, Charger fans are excited to have this set of weapons to receive passes from quarterback Philip Rivers.

The big worry: left tackle. The San Diego Chargers may have the worst left tackle situation in the National Football League, and that’s no exaggeration. They got skunked in free agency and the draft. This year’s starter may be right tackle King Dunlap. Or it may be Kevin Haslam. Or perhaps Mike Harris. The Bolts Beat is abuzz with desperation about the left tackle hole. The Chargers pushed hard to land Ravens’ left tackle Bryant McKinnie, but McKinnie re-signed with Baltimore. Now they are looking at 31 year-old Max Starks from the Steelers and have even brought in veteran right tackle Winston Justice, formerly of the Colts, for a look.

The Chargers were a decent defensive team last year, and rookie linebacker Manti Te’o will make them even better. They took great steps to upgrade key offensive positions in right tackle and wide receiver, and they still have Philip Rivers, who remains a top ten quarterback. But Chargers’ fans are freaking out about left tackle. I mean FREAKING OUT. Check out some of these posts:

Well, BoltFam, I know this is a delicate topic [left tackle] we´re discussing here and we’re all not too amused about the current situation at this specific position.

Unless the Chargers want to make a trade, it seems like we will be going into the season with King Dunlap as the starting left tackle and Kevin Haslam as the top backup on the left side. SCARY!

Just reading the report off of him [Dunlap], it sounds like he had a couple of AWFUL games. His pass protection is the best part of his game, but the consistency seems to be an issue. At least he won’t get Philip killed? Maybe?

This week, the Chargers hosted free agent (and recent super bowl winner) Left Tackle Bryant McKinnie, only to watch him leave and re-sign with the Baltimore Ravens. Chargers fans have been very concerned about the vacant hole at left tackle. Depth is needed, but San Diego does not have a lot of salary to spend on a coveted or premier left tackle.

It’s gotten so bad, Bolts’ fans are resorting to this:

The San Diego Chargers currently have no permanent solution at the left tackle position. We have King Dunlap, Mike Harris and another undrafted free agent, Nick Becton who will hold down our left tackle position until otherwise noted. Or we can call up two-time Sumo World Champion, Ulambayaryn Byambajav! Byambajav, stands at 6’-1” and 350 pounds of pure meanness! He’s also entered over a hundred sumo competitions and has won nothing less than gold. See, now this guy knows what it means to be a champion!

Hmmm…let’s see, Addicts. Who would be playing over the Chargers’ left tackle. Could that be…Tamba Hali?!!! If it’s Hali vs. Dunlap, I’m taking Hali ten times out of ten. This mismatch means that it just doesn’t matter what the Chargers did at right tackle, with their receiving corps and with their defense. Hali will be in Rivers’ face all day long, forcing sacks, hurries and interceptions. When they bring help over, that means Justin Houston and Dontari Poe get one-on-one coverage, forcing pressure from the Chargers’ right side as well as right up the middle. Gotta love it, Addicts!

Addicts, in a nutshell, I learned during my week in Bolt Beat that the Chargers strengthened key positions and their passing game has the potential to be downright scary, but they have a huge Achilles Heel at left tackle with little prospect of improvement. This week was ugly, it was difficult, sometimes it was downright gross, and yes, it was painful, but hopefully, we now all know a little bit more about one of our enemies. Addicts, what do you think are our chances of sweeping the Chargers this year??!!!

For the Kansas City Chiefs and every other team in the National Football League, the initial casting of the wide net for players is done. Most free agents have been acquired, the Draft is behind us and college free agents have been selected. And like with every team, the next phase of the offseason is now upon us– where the Chiefs take their analysis of each player one step further to determine what their role will be on the 2013 roster.

I believe there are three roster questions that rise above all else this offseason. But first, let’s address the positional battles that I’m not as concerned about, because it’ll simply be a case of “may the best man win.” These battles– at corner, safety, the defensive line, inside linebacker and the offensive line– will be important, but it’s not any more complicated than having talented individuals compete to see who starts.

The likely starters at cornerback will be Brandon Flowers and Sean Smith, and the safety positions will likely be filled by Eric Berry and Dunta Robinson. In nickel packages and backup roles, we have a host of potential players, like rookie Sanders Commings; free agent Husain Abdullah; current backups DeQuan Menzie, Jalil Brown, Tysyn Hartman and Neiko Thorpe; and of course, former starter Kendrick Lewis. To start opposite Flowers and Berry at corner and safety respectively, as well as fill the nickel and backup roles, may the best man win.

Similarly, on our three-man defensive front, we’ve got Dontari Poe locking down the nose tackle and four options for defensive end in Tyson Jackson, free agent Mike DeVito, Allen Bailey and rookie Mike Catapano. I think Jackson and DeVito win out as starters, but again, may the best man win.

There’s another hot positional battle to play opposite Derrick Johnson at inside linebacker – free agent Akeem Jordan versus Alabama rookie Nico Johnson. May the best man win here as well.

My last “may the best man win” positional battle is our entire offensive line. For the first time since the glory days of Will Shields and Brian Waters at guard, John Tait and Willie Roaf at tackle and Casey Wiegmann at center, the Chiefs have the personnel to have a dominant offensive line and better-than-average backups. It looks like the Chiefs are going to lock up Branden Albert for the long-term. Joining Albert will be first pick Eric Fisher, free agent Geoff Schwartz and promising young talent in Jeff Allen, Jon Asamoah, Rodney Hudson and Donald Stephenson. With Albert and Fisher, this could be a unit for the ages.

The competition to start at corner, safety, the defensive line, inside linebacker and the offensive line will be a fight for the players and a great summer topic for us. But the arithmetic is pretty simple: if you outperform your competition, you will start.

These next three offseason questions are much bigger, because they have the potential to be multiplicative in nature, in that if they go bad, they create more than one problem. Not coincidentally, they all revolve around our receiving game. I’ll list them by draft pick:

1.  Jon Baldwin, first pick, 2011 Draft
2.  Dexter McCluster, second pick, 2010 Draft
3.  Tony Moeaki, third pick, 2010 Draft

We’ll start with wide receiver Jon Baldwin, whose off-the-field and on-the-field challenges have been widely documented, including a great post by Nathan Bramwell yesterday. I’d like to focus on his production, relative to his draft position. The Chiefs selected Baldwin in the first round as the 26th overall pick in 2011. As Nathan noted, other receivers who went in the first round were Pro-Bowlers A.J. Green at fourth overall and Julio Jones at seventh overall. Offensive “skill” players drafted after Baldwin included quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick. The 2011 Draft class may be one of the weakest in recent history, but still yet, if Baldwin doesn’t play like a first-rounder this year, then not only are the Chiefs out a starting wide receiver, but the opportunity cost of losing a first-rounder puts the Chiefs at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in the AFC West. That year, the Denver Broncos got a gold mine in Von Miller with the second overall pick and the San Diego Chargers picked a two-year starter in defensive tackle Corey Liuget. Of course, the Oakland Raiders didn’t have a first round pick in 2011, because, well, they are the Oakland Raiders.

Next up: Dexter McCluster. The Chiefs selected McCluster with the fourth pick in the second round in 2010. By way of comparison, in 2010, offensive skill players chosen after McCluster included Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski and Seahawks’ receiver Golden Tate. McCluster has shown flashes of greatness but he’s also suffered injuries and the uncreativity of offensive coordinators on how to make best use of his explosive talents. We saw this year, when we didn’t have one, how valuable a second round pick is. If Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Doug Pederson can’t find a way to maximize McCluster’s talents, then once again, we will have failed to secure a starter and suffered the opportunity cost of losing a second round pick.

Finally, we come to tight end Tony Moeaki. Moeaki, who missed all of 2011 after tearing his ACL, was selected in the third round by the Chiefs in the 2010 Draft. Since he was drafted, Moeaki has 80 receptions for 1,009 yards and four touchdowns. In comparison to other third round tight ends from 2010, the Ravens’ Ed Dickson has 86 catches for 905 yards and six touchdowns, while the Saints’ Jimmy Graham has 215 receptions for 2,658 yards and 25 TD’s. Moeaki has underperformed, because of injury and outputs.

Each of these three players has stiff competition this year. For Baldwin, it comes from free agent acquisition Donnie Avery. For McCluster, it’s Devon Wylie. And Moeaki has free agent pickup and NFL starter Anthony Fasano and promising third rounder Travis Kelce to compete with for starter’s rights. I’m hoping Baldwin, McCluster and Moeaki each win out, because if they do, it shows that they do indeed have the talent to start and second, it’ll make the Chiefs’ initial investments whole.

I think it’s no accident that all three of the biggest potentially multiplicative problems are on the offensive side. In the six seasons since 2006, the Chiefs have had seven offensive coordinators: Mike Solari, Chan Gailey, Todd Haley (pulling double duty as Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator), Charlie Weiss, Bill Muir, Jim Zorn and Brian Daboll. This Chiefs’ offense has been in search of an identify since, arguably, the 2005 season when we went 10-6 under Head Coach Dick Vermeil and Offensive Coordinator Al Saunders (with a hat tip to Charlie Weis, who had the offense humming in 2010!). While the plights of Baldwin, McCluster and Moeaki are all individual position battles, each of them only make sense within a larger, cohesive system. If Pederson can pull that off, then he’ll help these these players find their way to a starting role.

Addicts, those are my top three offseason questions for the Chiefs to answer. What are yours??!!

The Kansas City Chiefs had a great draft. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones selecting players last week. At least two of our divisional rivals also got a lot better.

What does that mean for the AFC West? The past four years of divisional rivalries have been, shall we say, unbalanced, for the Chiefs:

The road to the Super Bowl always begins within the division. If you can dominate your division – three-eighths of your total games – then you increase your chances for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Chiefs have done exactly the opposite over the past four years. In 2012, the Chiefs’ dismal 0-6 divisional record helped the Broncos to a 13-3 record, the number one seed and homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. In 2011, the Chiefs performed the best in this four year cycle, finishing 3-3 in the division and keeping the division-winning Broncos to an 8-8 record and a fourth seed. Even in 2010, when the Chiefs won the division with a 10-6 record, we were 2-4 in the division and ended up as the fourth seed out of four. Finally, in 2009, the Chiefs were 2-4, assisting the Chargers to 13-3 record and a second seed (the Colts had an incredible 14-2 season that year).

Let’s see just how well our AFC West competition improved in the Draft.

The San Diego Chargers had one of the top drafts in the NFL. The Bolts added D.J. Fluker, a right tackle from Alabama, and really found gems in the second and third rounds, stealing linebacker Manti Te’o and then wide receiver Keenan Allen. Because new Head Coach Mike McCoy is an offense and quarterback guru, he instantly makes quarterback Philip Rivers better. The Chargers will be back in top form this year, led by a rejuvenated Rivers, a strengthened offensive line and receiver corps and a much improved defense, patrolled by Te’o.

Across the mountains, John Elway continues to haunt us, but now as Executive Vice President of Football Operations (whatever that means). The Denver Broncos had a smart draft, picking up defensive tackle Sylvester Williams in the first round to help anchor their 4-3 defense, and then getting a great running back in Montee Ball in the second round. I had thought the Broncos would go after Eddie Lacy in the first round, but ended up choosing Ball instead (Lacy went three picks later to the Packers), which may well turn out to be the smarter choice. Ball is a smart and patient runner, a better-than-average blocker and a great receiver out of the backfield.

As for the Oakland Raiders, well, you can tell there is a new regime in place because late night comedians aren’t making jokes about the Raiders this week. New General Manager Reggie McKenzie had a solid draft, recouping their lost second round pick from the horrible Carson Palmer trade. The Raiders selected strong cornerback D.J. Hayden in the first round and a potential star in offensive tackle Menelic Watson in the second round. But the Raiders just have too many holes to fill. McKenzie has the Raiders on the road to respectability though, which does not bode well for the Chiefs in the coming years, but we’ll deal with that in 2015 and 2016.

For the Chargers and Broncos, offense will rule the day, and they will both be high powered units. The Chiefs may have the most balance between the offense and defense among these three teams. But talent-wise, the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos will be quite similar, with few gaps in their starting lineups and depth across the board.

What does that all mean? For the AFC West, parity is coming this year and that’s a good thing. A return to the highly contested, knock-down, drag-out divisional games of the 1990′s will be a welcome sight for the Chiefs, compared to recent history. This year, the Chiefs will blend old and new talent on both sides of the ball with superb coaching from new Head Coach Andy Reid. There’s no way the Broncos run away with the division title again, because we and the Chargers will be right in the thick of things.

With the new and improved Chiefs, I can easily imagine a 10-6 or even 9-7 team winning the division. In fact, that’s what I hope for. That means we’ve kept the Broncos in check and we’ll have the last three games of the season really matter – of the type where you’re glued to your flatscreen TV, checking other scores on your phone, and praying for teams you’ve never thought twice about to win games against our divisional opponents. You know what I mean, Addicts!!!

Who will win the AFC West? Will it be us? We may not know until the last game. But wouldn’t that be a great change, Addicts?! What do you think, Addicts? What will the AFC West look like this year?!!

When the NFL Draft kicks off tonight with the first round, I trust there will be no surprises. The Kansas City Chiefs will select a left tackle with the first overall pick – either Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel or Central Michigan’s Eric Fisher – and I will go to sleep happy, knowing we’ve secured the anchor of our offensive line for the next decade. For the record, I hope and expect that pick to be Joeckel, but honestly, either would be fine.

The real excitement will be Friday’s Day 2, when NFL teams make their second and third round selections. If the Chiefs trade tackle Branden Albert to the Miami Dolphins sometime today, the Chiefs would earn either the 42^nd or 54^th pick in the second round as well as our original 63^rd choice in the third round.

A few weeks ago, I listed a few players who Chiefs General Manager John Dorsey and Head Coach Andy Reid should consider with the second round pick. A key factor is whether they believe that Chiefs wide receiver Jon Baldwin will live up to his first round potential. While Baldwin was a first round rookie in 2011, last year was actually his real rookie season, thanks to a preseason locker room fight with running back and veteran Thomas Jones before the start of the 2011 season that kept him out most of the year. Friday’s pick could easily be the top receiver remaining. Robert Woods from USC and DeAndre Hopkins will likely be off the board by then, but the Chiefs could select Keenan Allen from Cal, Terrance Williams from Baylor or Justin Hunter from Tennessee.

But there are a few other options here as well. I am terrified that the Denver Broncos will get Alabama running back Eddie Lacy with their first pick tonight. If they do, I think the urgency for the Chiefs to fill that open inside linebacker spot in the second round would increase. Both Kevin Minter from LSU and Arthur Brown from Kansas State would be available here, but both would be a reach for the second round.

Finally, there’s a decent chance that offensive tackle Terron Armstead from Arkansas Pine-Bluff, offensive guard Kyle Long from Oregon and at least three quarterbacks – Tyler Wilson from Arkansas, Landry Jones from Oklahoma and Mike Glennon from North Carolina State – will still be available when the Chiefs choose second. Honestly though, all three of those quarterbacks are a reach for round two.

All in all, while I’m tempted to want the Chiefs to choose guard Kyle Long, I think the smart choice is wide receiver Justin Hunter with our second round selection on Friday. If Baldwin blooms this year, fantastic. If he does not, we simply do not have a tall, fast, downfield threat, which as we know, results in capping Dwayne Bowe’s effectiveness.

With our third round pick, my vote is for Arthur Brown to compete for the open inside linebacker slot.

So there you have it, Addicts:

Pick #1: Luke Joeckel, left tackle

Pick #2: Justin Hunter, wide receiver

Pick #3: Arthur Brown, inside linebacker

If we end Day Two with these three players, I will be one happy Addict! We will have secured the anchor of our offensive line, made defenses cover Dwayne Bowe AND Justin Hunter and added an aggressive tackler to complete our linebacker corps.

What’s your dream scenario for picks 1, 2 and 3, Addicts?!

With Draft Day almost upon us (finally!!), the raging debate among Kansas City Chiefs fans still revolves around the quarterback position.

Some feel, like I do, that Alex Smith puts us in a position to win the AFC West and then try our luck in the playoffs. It follows, then, that we should draft Luke Joeckel or another positional stud because the QB position is filled for now. Others are convinced that Alex Smith is simply Matt Cassel 2.0, and desperately want the Chiefs to draft Geno Smith, who will go on to a Hall of Fame career and bring multiple Super Bowl wins to Kansas City.

Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing which camp is right. Alex Smith has certainly played like a top ten quarterback these past two years, but his previous six years in the League were mediocre. Geno Smith is, in my opinion, the best quarterback in this Draft class, bar none. But Geno didn’t even make the Big 12 First Team— he lost out to Colin Klein from K-State. And his West Virginia Mountaineers finished the year in the bottom third of the conference with a pedestrian 7-6 record, including 4-5 in the Big 12.

The good news is that both Smiths would do well under Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, who has a penchant for getting the most out of his quarterbacks. Alex Smith’s rejuvenation began when Jim Harbaugh took over to coach the 49ers. With Reid and Offensive Coordinator Doug Pederson, Alex Smith should do the same here, and Geno Smith, if drafted, would flourish under their tutelage as well.

All in all, I have to admit that there is an equal amount of risk for either Smith. Geno has more upside but simply did not lead his team to victory in 2012 and is, in my opinion, being hyped beyond his talent level because he is the best among a weak quarterback class. On the other hand, Alex is a proven top-ten quarterback, but I don’t know if the past two years were a fluke.

But there’s one clear and compelling reason why I think the Chiefs made the right decision with Alex Smith, and why they shouldn’t spend their first round pick on Geno Smith: 2014.

Here’s a short list of the quarterbacks that may well be available in 2014, in my rough order of preference, 365 days out:

1. Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville
2. David Fales, San Jose State
3. Tajh Boyd, Clemson
4. Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M
5. Derek Carr, Fresno State
6. AJ McCarron, Alabama
7. Aaron Murray, Georgia
8. Logan Thomas, Virginia Tech

That’s eight quarterbacks, all of whom are legitimate first rounders, with five or six potentially going in the top half of the first round. While I expect the Chiefs to improve dramatically on their 2-14 record this year, I don’t think we’ll finish 13-3. That means that we will be in a position to take one of these quarterbacks outright, or trade up just a few slots to land a Quarterback of the Future for the Chiefs. If Alex Smith flames out, then we will have a new starter in 2014. If Alex Smith plays at a Pro Bowl level, then we don’t have to rush our 2014 quarterback into action but will have secured our quarterback for the next decade.

Whomever the Chiefs pick this year, whether it’s Luke Joeckel or Eric Fisher at left tackle, or Ezekiel Ansah or Shariff Floyd on the defensive line, or Dion Jordan at linebacker, I believe this pick is much smarter than selecting Geno Smith. Next year is the year to take a quarterback. Picking Geno Smith now makes no sense in the short and long-term. In the short-term, if you are trying to pick a quarterback that gives you the best chance to win in 2013, I would argue that Alex is a better choice than Geno. In the long-term, if we pick Geno now, we’ll lose out on a key positional player that we need in 2013, and will have wasted that pick for an even better option in just twelve months time.

Addicts, we’ve talked a lot about the need for a Quarterback of the Future, and whether or not we should take Geno Smith our first round pick. Where do you stand now, Addicts?!!

I get the feeling that this is one of those moments that Kansas City Chiefs GM John Dorsey and Head Coach Andy Reid love. The fourth quarter of the player personnel game has just begun, with the April 25th Draft constituting the two minute drill.

They have played an almost perfect game thus far, putting the Chiefs in a position to win the offseason.  With hours upon hours of interviews, research, game tape and statistical analysis under their belts, Dorsey and Reid developed a near-perfect game plan and have executed it almost without flaw. Need a quarterback? Grab Alex Smith with the first big quarterback move of any NFL team and get Chase Daniel as a competent backup. Need to lock up Dwayne Bowe? Done. Need another run stopper? Bring in Mike DeVito from the Jets. Need depth at line? Add Geoff Schwartz, who helped Adrian Peterson have a monster year with the Vikings, and franchise Branden Albert. Need more pass receivers? Take Anthony Fasano from the Dolphins and sign speedster Donnie Avery from the Colts. Shore up an average secondary? Bring in Dunta Robinson and Sean Smith. Heck, I even loved the small re-signing of Edgar Jones, whom I’m convinced is going to turn into a stud special teamer.

With the two minute drill almost upon us, let’s do some scenario planning.

Scenario 1: Chiefs take the first pick, a.k.a. “Don’t be an idiot. Draft Joeckel.”

There are few remaining gaps to fill for Dorsey and Reid. The offensive line is atop that list. That’s why if the Chiefs pick first and don’t trade down, I think Luke Joeckel is the guy. The offensive line would have one heck of a competitive preseason then. Rodney Hudson is a lock for center, and I like Jeff Allen, Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz competing for the two guard positions. The Chiefs are then set at tackle, at least theoretically, with Joeckel and Albert in a true competition for left tackle and the “loser” of this competition taking the right tackle spot. Then Donald Stephenson becomes a reliable backup. Final result? A dominant offensive line.

Scenario 2: Chiefs take first pick, Branden Albert gets traded, a.k.a. “Is Baldwin legit?”

If Albert gets traded to the Dolphins or another suitor, then the plan shifts slightly. Under Scenario 2, the Chiefs still take Joeckel, and likely pick up a second round pick and a later draft choice as well. Would Dorsey and Reid be comfortable entering the regular season with either Stephenson or Schwartz starting at right tackle? Would they instead go for another inside linebacker or a wide receiver, or even a quarterback? The pickings are fairly rich if the Chiefs land a pick in the second round. Here’s a sampling (note: some of these may be late first-rounders):

Offensive Tackle

• Terron Armstead, Arkansas Pine-Bluff
• Kyle Long, Oregon

Linebacker

• Alec Ogletree, Georgia
• Manti Te’o, Notre Dame
• Arthur Brown, Kansas State

Wide Receiver

• Robert Woods, USC
• Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech
• Terrance Williams, Baylor
• Justin Hunter, Tennessee
• Markus Wheaton, Oregon State

Quarterback

• Tyler Wilson, Arkansas
• EJ Manuel, Florida State

As many have said, this draft doesn’t have a lot of superstars but it is very deep. If Scenario 2 comes into play, Dorsey and Reid have a wealth of options here. The key question for me in Scenario 2 is whether they believe Jon Baldwin will play to his potential this year. WIth the Thomas Jones-induced hand injury in 2011, last year was essentially Baldwin’s rookie year. The curve for wide receivers, playing with faster corners and more precise routes, is notoriously steep. If Dorsey and Reid think Baldwin can produce, then they can pass on this deep field of wide receivers. If any of those three linebackers are around, the Chiefs should take ‘em. If not, they should grab Terron Armstead and let him compete for the right tackle spot. This year’s quarterback class is shallow. I think the Chiefs should wait until next year to get a quarterback.

Scenario 3: Chiefs trade first pick, a.k.a. “Wishful Thinking”

It’s difficult to guess why a team would trade with the Chiefs for the first pick. If you want a left tackle, you could trade for picks 2-5 and still get Eric Fisher. If you are desperate for a quarterback and want Geno Smith, you can most likely trade with Jacksonville, Oakland or Philadelphia for a reduced cost. But the Draft can be unpredictable. The best chance might be if a team covets Shariff Floyd (DT) or Dion Jordon (DE) so badly that they’ll trade with the Chiefs. In any event, if Dorsey does get a trade offer, he will likely land a mid-first rounder as well as a second rounder. Under this somewhat unlikely scenario – which would be awesome by the way – I think the Chiefs take the best available offensive tackle in the first round, like Lane Johnson from Oklahoma, and then go linebacker in the second round.

Scenario 4: Chiefs lose Albert and trade first pick, a.k.a. “Stupid Plan”

I really hope this scenario doesn’t happen. The Chiefs would then have two holes at tackle, with a mid-first round and two second round picks to fill those gaps. I don’t think that scenario leaves our team in a better situation than we’re in now.

Addicts, what is your ideal scenario, and what moves would you make in that scenario?!

The NFL Draft is exactly three weeks away. More or less, these nine players, listed alphabetically, have been in the mix for the Chiefs’ first pick:

• Ziggy Ansah, DE/LB, BYU
• Eric Fisher, OT, Michigan
• Shariff Floyd, DT, Florida
• Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M
• Jarvis Jones, DE/LB, Georgia
• Dion Jordan, DE/LB, Oregon
• Star Lotulelei, DT, Utah
• Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama
• Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia

Yesterday, Paddy reported that the Chiefs are really considering just three: Joeckel, Fisher and Jordan.

It’s time to make your call. Here’s mine: Luke Joeckel.

Occam’s Razor is often described as “The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.” In other words, the simplest solution is usually the right solution. There are lots of questions remaining before April 25. What’s going to happen to Branden Albert? Will the Chiefs get an offer to trade down? How will Matt Flynn joining the Raiders impact the Chiefs’ draft board? Is Geno Smith a reach at number one, and just how good of a quarterback is he? Are Star Lotulelei and Jarvis Jones healthy?

Drafting Joeckel requires the fewest number of these questions to be answered. More correctly, getting Joeckel requires none of these questions to be answered. By all accounts, he is the most talented, ready-to-play player in the draft. He’s a stud at left tackle. He’s a great character guy and has a tireless work ethic. The guy has started every single game for Texas A&M since joining the team as a true freshman (where he blocked for our very own Cyrus Gray), all the way through his junior year last year. He held down the left side of the offensive line for Ryan Tannehill two years ago, and last year, allowed only one sack while protecting the scrambling Johnny Manziel.

Most analysts call Joeckel a “ten year starter” and perennial Pro Bowler. If there was ever a sure bet with the Draft, Joeckel is it.

With Joeckel, John Dorsey and Andy Reid get their “best available player” and Joeckel fills an immediate and glaring gap on our team at either left or right tackle, depending on what happens to Albert. We get a stone cold lock on pass protection and a road grader for Jamaal Charles.

If you have the chance to draft the next Jonathan Ogden or Willie Roaf, you just do it. Keep it simple, Chiefs. Joeckel should be our guy.

Addicts, the clock is ticking. What do you think?!

The Chiefs have had a tremendous offseason and the upcoming draft promises even more talent for our team. We’ve all talked and read a lot about the approach John Dorsey and Andy Reid have taken to the offseason. Some have suggested that Dorsey and Reid have utilized the “best available player” approach as a rationale for their moves thus far. Others have offered a needs-based philosophy as a potential guide for our offseason moves.

But is it possible that the real driving force behind our offseason maneuvers is what’s happening in Bronco-ville?

Some football thinkers believe that you draft primarily to win the division. I believe in that philosophy. All of our offseason moves need to be focused on one goal – winning the AFC West. With a division win comes potential home field advantage in the playoffs, and then all bets are off on how far you can progress.

Just as the Chiefs have had an incredible offseason, so too have our sworn enemies from Denver. When the Broncs got Wes Welker, I felt physical pain in my body. Now, Peyton has Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and now Welker in the slot. Additionally, the Broncos have the 28th pick in the first round, and there’s a darn good chance they’ll select ‘Bama running back Eddie Lacy. It’s not like Peyton needed more weapons. Now, the Broncos’ offense is fully loaded, and that’s not good for our hopes of winning the AFC West back from Denver.

If you adopt “winning the division” as the main motivator for offseason moves, the Chiefs’ work this winter starts to really come into focus. Demaryius Thomas is 6’3”. Eric Decker is 6’3”. Brandon Flowers and Javier Arenas both stand at 5’9”. Now I believe Flowers can cover anyone. If he sticks on Thomas, then picking up Sean Smith was genius. Smith is also 6’3” and can take on Decker all day long. That leaves the not-so-small matter of covering Wes Welker all over the field, which requires an equally fast and shifty guy. That guy’s name is Javier Arenas. WIth Eric Berry freed up to play centerfield, we may have the right combination to neutralize the Broncos’ receivers.

Peyton has always performed well with a good running back behind him, like when he had Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes with the Colts. The Broncos may be done with either Willis McGahee or Knowshon Moreno. Picking up Lacy wold be a smart move for them, and be fairly bad for the Chiefs. That’s why I think we brought in run-stopping beast Mike DeVito from the Jets, and it may explain why we’re hearing a bit more noise about drafting a defensive player with the first pick. An inside linebacker like Alec Ogletree from Georgia could round out our linebacking corps, or even Manti Te’o if we get an early second round pick in a trade for Brandon Albert.

Bottom line: Dorsey and Reid have made sure our defensive secondary can now match up with the Broncos new and high-powered receiver set. Our linebacker and defensive ends are prepared to stop whatever running backs the Broncos have to offer. All this, in the year when Tamba Hali and Justin Houston will become the best pass-rushing tandem in the league.

Peyton, you may be in trouble.

Addicts, do we have what it takes to stop the Broncos’ high voltage offense?!

Now that the rush of re-signings, cuts and free agency has subsided, the draft is still 4 weeks away and March Madness is upon us, I’ve decided to host my own little tournament. The only entry fee is that you must be an Addict.

Our tournament begins with the Elite Eight, to determine which Chiefs unit will rise above the others to be consistently dominant against the opposition in 2013. I’ve set up the bracket alphabetically. Here’s Round 1:

Elite Eight

• Game 1: Cornerbacks/Safeties vs. Defensive Line
• Game 2: Linebackers vs. Offensive Line
• Game 3: Quarterback vs. Running Backs
• Game 4: Special Teams vs. Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Opposing the Cornerbacks and Safeties is the underdog – our quickly improving defensive line, with Dontari Poe, an improved Tyson Jackson and new run stopper Mike DeVito. If you’re filling out your bracket, this one’s gotta go to the Corners and Safeties. Berry will return to his pre-injury form, Flowers will be recognized as one of the top three corners in the league and Smith and Robinson will be strong upgrades over Arenas and Brown. The only way this game turns into a 5-12 upset is if Poe breaks out this year and we draft one of the many talented defensive ends in the first round, like a Star Lotulelei or a Sharrif Floyd.We start of the Addicts’ March Madness with what, on its surface, looks like a blowout. Our Cornerbacks and Safeties are led by Pro Bowlers Brandon Flowers and Eric Berry, two new Chiefs in Sean Smith and Dunta Robinson and stalwarts Kendrick Lewis, Javier Arenas and Jalil Brown. It’s a pretty polished unit – some are saying we have one of the top two or three defensive backfields in the league.

The second game features our Linebackers against the Offensive Line. This game is the marquee matchup of the first round. With Pro Bowlers Justin Houston, Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson anchoring the Linebacker unit, it doesn’t even matter who our new inside linebacker is going to be – this unit is the favorite to cut down the nets at the end of this tournament. But the Offensive Line may well give the Backers a run for their money. Branden Albert – if he stays – will prove to everyone that he a Pro Bowl-worthy left tackle, and I think Rodney Hudson at center and Jon Asamoah at guard will have breakout years in 2013. With Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson battling it out with free agent Geoff Schwartz, and a real chance we’ll take Luke Joeckel or Eric Fisher in the draft, we may be seeing a resurgence of our offensive line from the 90‘s  – a real road-grading crew in the making. I’m going to go for a light upset here. I think the Chiefs land either Joeckel or Fisher and our Offensive Line ekes out a win against the favorite Linebackers unit.

The third game seems like a foregone conclusion, with our Quarterbacks taking on our Running Backs. Basically, this game features Alex Smith versus Jamaal Charles. I’m a Smith fan, but you gotta give this one to Jamaal. The only question in my mind is whether Shaun Draughn and Cyrus Gray will show a bit more of their capabilities this year.

The fourth and final game of the first round pits our Special Teams unit against the Wide Receivers/Tight Ends. The Special Teams unit has a new coach in Dave Toub, and he’s a master. We re-signed Dustin Colquitt. Ryan Succop has been good to fantastic. We need to figure out who will return kicks and punts for us and really develop him.

The Receivers and Tight Ends feature Dwayne Bowe, the curious Jon Baldwin, speedy new pick up Donnie Avery, Duster McCluster, Devon Wylie, the oft-injured Tony Moeaki and new tight end Anthony Fasano. Bowe and Avery stand out on this unit, with a bunch of question marks.

I’m leaning towards the Special Teams unit winning this one, but it would be because we either move Donnie Avery to return kicks and punts or we bring on a free agent or draft pick who excels in this position. The Chiefs haven’t returned a kick or punt for a touchdown since Duster McCluster did it in the 2010 season opener against the Chargers, forty-seven games ago.

Addicts, my Final Four would look like this:

Final Four

• Game 1: Cornerbacks/Safeties vs. Offensive Line
• Game 2: Running Backs vs. Special Teams

What do you think, Addicts? Who are your Round 1 winners for our best unit and who’s in your Final Four?!

We are just nine weeks removed from the hiring of new General Manager John Dorsey and Head Coach Andy Reid. That means it’s taken me upwards of 63 days to figure out their road map for the new and vastly improved Chiefs. I may be slow but I make up for it in sheer cluelessness.

Dorsey and Reid have been on fire. Local and national sportswriters alike have consistently opined that the Chiefs are having one of the best offseasons of any of the thirty-two teams in the league. What’s even better is that our dynamic duo have added a fair amount of mystery into what we will do with the first pick in the draft, which can only add to our strategic advantage.

I think I’m on to you, John Dorsey and Andy Reid. Here’s my take on what has gone through their minds over these past nine weeks.

Pre-Free Agency

While all of us Addicts were clamoring for Geno Smith, Dorsey and Reid made a plan. They looked at every position on offense, defense and special teams and determined whether our 2012 starters had what it takes to reach the AFC title game in 2013.

They, like us, felt like Matt Cassel’s time was done. So what did Dorsey and Reid do? They identify the very best available quarterback, either in the NFL or in college, who is obtainable. And his name is Alex Smith.

Moving down the roster, Dorsey and Reid felt like Smith needed a consistent target to throw to, so they locked up Dwayne Bowe. Bowe is also the very best available wide receiver, in the NFL or college, who is obtainable. Dorsey and Reid then locked up Branden Albert, who is among the top 5 best left tackles in the NFL or in college who is obtainable. They did the same with Dustin Colquitt, the best punter on the planet.

Then Dorsey and Reid started filling key gaps. They re-signed Tyson Jackson, a decent defensive end against the run and signed Dunta Robinson, who is probably among the top ten obtainable cornerbacks right now. They also cut Eric Winston, who in their estimation, was simply not one of the best available right tackles in the NFL or college right now.

Their plan, in hindsight, is obvious and brilliant. In the pre-free agency period, Dorsey and Reid are filling every available current gap on the roster with the very best players they can re-sign or pick up. Why? So that when free agency begins, they can continue to plug major holes in the roster.

Free Agency

Dorsey and Reid filled a bunch of outstanding gaps when they signed Mike DeVito to play opposite Tyson Jackson, Chase Daniel as a backup quarterback, tight end Anthony Fasano and Donnie Avery, a speedy outside receiver.

The Draft

Here comes the punchline. By filling critical gaps during the pre-free agency period and then during free agency, the Chiefs actually do not have any huge, glaring holes in their lineup. What does that mean? It means that Dorsey and Reid are able to truly pick the very best available players during the draft. They can look for the future hall of famers, as Dorsey recently put it. And it also means that the Chiefs can remain quite open to trade scenarios, which would be prohibitive if they had their sights absolutely set on one player because of a dire positional need.

If the top pick is Luke Joekel, fantastic. Let’s take him. If it’s Dee Milliner or Star Lotulelei, great, let’s take either of them. Dorsey and Reid can assess the best available talent without the bias that a desperate need introduces. When Dorsey said that he might draft Joeckel, he said he’d just put the five best players on the offensive line. There’s a kernel of wisdom in there. If you have the right players, you can adjust the system to meet your star personnel.

I’m more excited for the draft then I’ve ever been, and I think it’s because the Chiefs, for the first time, truly have the freedom to draft the very best available player and are not beholden to one pick. All of the work that Dorsey and Reid have done to fill gaps through re-signing players and picking up discarded ones is now going to pay off. This strategy also keeps the Chiefs in the trade market, because other teams cannot predict what the Chiefs will do.

What Dorsey and Reid have done this offseason is straight up strategic, with perfect execution thus far. What do you think about their approach, Addicts?!

What a week at Arrowhead Lane!

Addicts wanted change, and the Chiefs provided just that. Andy Reid. John Dorsey. Alex Smith. Locking up Dwayne Bowe, Branden Albert and Dustin Colquitt and restructuring Tyson Jackson’s contract. And yesterday’s shocking release of Eric Winston. Not a bad offseason, and we’re not even at free agency and the draft yet.

Reid and Dorsey are sending signals that there’s a new sheriff in town. These sheriffs know their football and want to win now. We can disagree on some of the components of their plan, but you gotta love their plan! For starters, they have a plan. And I’m pretty excited about it.

With the signing of Alex Smith, Bowe, Albert and Colquitt, I think most everyone thought our number one pick would be someone other than Luke Joeckel, even though with Joeckel, we’d be getting the best player in this draft and a dominant force for the next decade, perhaps even on the level of Anthony Muñoz, Willie Roaf and Jonathan Ogden. With yesterday’s release of Winston, Joeckel (or Eric Fisher) is very much back in play.

To add more intrigue to the mix, as many have noted recently, our best bet may be to trade down and pick up additional draft choices. Reid and Dorsey want to win now. We already have superstars Jamaal Charles, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Justin Houston, Brandon Flowers, Eric Berry, Bowe, Albert and Colquitt. We have a few players who may be great – Jon Asamoah, Rodney Hudson and Tony Moeaki.  Alex Smith provides us a top ten quarterback. A few extra picks this year and one or two free agency pickups could just about complete this team. We could also pick up the second rounder we gave up in the Smith deal.

A trade for the first pick has happened several times, with the AFC West featured often. In 2001, the Chargers had the first pick in the draft. The Falcons traded their fifth overall pick to San Diego along with a third-round pick that same year, a second rounder in 2002 and kick returner Tim Dwight. In 2005, the Chargers once again had the first overall pick. This time, the New York Giants went for the trade in order to land Eli Manning, and giving San Diego their fourth overall pick (Phillip Rivers), their third-round pick and their first- and fifth-round picks in in 2005.

Let’s assume that Reid and Dorsey already have a plan in place to fill Winston’s slot, either with Donald Stephenson or a free agent. They could be making the calculation that Joeckel will be so wanted that some team will step up to trade with us. A few weeks ago, I offered Chicago or Green Bay as potential trade partners for Joeckel. But there may be another trade-down scenario, because something interesting is happening at the top of the draft board. Jacksonville, picking after the Chiefs, needs a quarterback, defensive end and cornerback. The Raiders, who pick third, need a defensive end and cornerback.  And the Eagles, with the fourth pick, need a cornerback.

Unbelievably, Joeckel may not be a priority for the first four teams in the draft. If Chicago, Green Bay or any other team really wants him, they could get him for cheaper by trading with several teams picking after the Chiefs.

But what about a deal for cornerback Dee Milliner? Already, people are talking about Milliner as a potential pick for the Chiefs. But he’s also a great pick up for Jacksonville, Oakland and the Eagles. Could the Chiefs engineer a trade with one of these teams and drop out of the top pick?

If we drop down one, two or three spots, we can still get one of the many superb defensive ends in the draft, like Ezekiel Ansah from BYU, Bjoern Werner from Florida State, Damontre Moore from Texas A&M, Barkevious Mingo from LSU or Dion Jordan from Oregon. Or we could land Joeckel or Fisher and pick up another draft choice to boot.

To fill our cornerback spot, we probably no longer have the cap space or draft choices to pursue Darrelle Revis, but we can then use the pick we gain in a trade to land someone like Zavier Rhodes from Florida State, Desmond Trufant from Washington or Johnthan Banks from Mississippi State. On the free agent side, there’s also still Sean Smith from the Dolphins, now that it looks like Brent Grimes with the Falcons is no longer available after Atlanta released Dunta Robinson.

Finally, we need one more wide receiver. I wonder if Justin Hunter from Tennessee might still be available at the top of the third round? I also watched a few Texas A&M games last year, and really liked Ryan Swope, who was Johnny Manziel’s favorite target last year. He’d almost certainly be available. Swope ran a 4.34 forty, by the way.

We’ll have many more conversations about whom the Chiefs should pick first if they aren’t able to create a trade. But if we do land a trade and give up the rights to Milliner, I think we go:

1. Defensive end

2. Cornerback

3. Wide receiver

What do you think, Addicts?!

I am pretty pumped about yesterday’s huge news with Alex Smith, and here’s why: in the debate between drafting the best available player versus the best available quarterback, I think history shows that taking the best available player is a better gamble. The Chiefs are now free to do just that.

The Chiefs did the right thing in trading for Smith. To help explain why, let’s take a closer look at past draft classes. With Luke Joeckel widely considered to be the best available player this year, we’ll compare quarterbacks and offensive tackles chosen over the past six years.

First, the quarterbacks. Here are the QB’s who have been drafted in the first three rounds since 2006, sorted by the round they were drafted. I’ve inserted my advanced personal ranking system of Superstar, Game Manager or Horrible next to each QB:

If we assign a score of 1 for each Superstar, a 2 for each Game Manager and a 3 for each Horrible QB, then we have the following averages per round chosen:

First round quarterbacks tend to grade out a bit better than second rounders. No surprise there. What is a little surprising to me is the number of Game Managers and Horrible QB’s that came out of the first round. Some of that is the luck of the draw, but some of that has got to be teams reaching for a quarterback that they so desperately need.

Here’s another list:  left tackles chosen just in the first round since 2006, with my same ranking scale, sorted by their rank:

Once again, let’s assign a score of 1 for each Superstar, a 2 for each Game Manager and a 3 for each Horrible offensive tackle. These first round tackles average a 1.67, which is quite a bit better than the 2.06 that the first round quarterbacks fared.

With my admittedly rudimentary ranking system, the data suggests that teams often reach when they draft a QB in the first round. Of the fifteen first round quarterbacks taken in the last seven years, only four became superstars. That’s just 26%. The exact same percentage turned out horrible. But with left tackles, thirteen of the past twenty-seven left tackles drafted in the first round turned out to be superstars.

That’s why I prefer the “take the best available player” approach. Football is a game of big plays – a quarterback throws a perfect pass, a defensive end sacks the QB or a running back bursts through the line for a long gain. In the hand-to-hand combat that is the NFL, you need superstar players who can make that special play. For those of us who were lucky enough to watch Willie Roaf open gaping holes in the line of scrimmage play after play, we know well that a superstar left tackle can change a game. The same was true of other positions as well, like with Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith. The point is, a true superstar doesn’t have to be a quarterback to be a gamechanger. And bottom line – the allure of a quarterback often leads teams to reach for a first rounder, only to have it end up as a wasted pick.

With Alex Smith now, we have a proven starter who will be an immediate improvement, and who can also help groom a young quarterback that we will most certainly pick up in the draft this year. We don’t yet know if Luke Joeckel will be the best available player. We’ve got eight more weeks of research and learning to do. But whoever it ends up being, I think the Chiefs are better off with Alex Smith and drafting the best available talent with the first pick, then if we would have reached for Geno Smith or another quarterback with the first selection.

Addicts, where do you fall on this debate? Are we better off with Alex Smith and the number one pick, or should we have used our pick on the best available quarterback?!

An opinion that I’ve seen growing in popularity is for the Chiefs to trade our #1 pick so that we can move down in the draft, pick a quarterback at a spot more commensurate with the quality of this year’s quarterback crop, and get three or four more picks in the process. I have to admit – this scenario would be a dream come true. But as in all things, it takes two to Tango.

Let’s take a look at just which team may want to do a deal with us. We’ll start by looking at the trade bait. Here are a few opinions about which players comprise the top five prospects in the draft this year:

As you can see, there’s actually a fair amount of consensus on at least three players:

• Luke Joeckel, OT
• Bjorn Werner, DE
• Chance Warmack, OG

And all but one of the remaining players got multiple mentions.

We can wish for the “trade down” scenario as much as we want, but without a trading partner, all is for naught. Here’s how this might need to go down.

First and foremost, the Chiefs have to believe that they don’t need any of the players on this list for our top pick. For the sake of argument, let’s say that no one stands out that strongly.

Second, let’s look at the potential trade bait. I’m going to take Chance Warmack off the list, because it just doesn’t seem like guard is a position that anyone in their right mind wants to draft with the first pick. I’ll also take Eric Fisher off the list, because if a team wants an offensive tackle, they’ll pick Joeckel. Same thing with Demontre Moore – for a defensive end, a team would just trade up and get Werner. This is not to say that Joeckel is definitely better than Fisher or that Werner is definitely better than Moore. It’s just if a team is going to trade with us, they’ll be pursuing the best available player for a particular position. So here’s who’s left in our hypothetical scenario:

• Luke Joeckel OT
• Bjorn Werner, DE
• Jarvis Jones, OLB
• Dee Milliner, CB

Now let’s look at which teams are so desperate for an offensive tackle, a defensive end, a linebacker or a cornerback that they’d trade with us. I went to the drafttek.com site as well as BleacherReport.com. Both rank each position by the teams that need that position filled. From these two sources, here is the rather short list of the top four positions represented as top picks on our list, and teams that need those positions filled urgently:

For our prospective dance partner, I think we can rule out teams that are truly bad and need multiple players. At this point those teams need more picks, not fewer, in this fairly even draft class. That takes Arizona, Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland and Philadelphia off the table.  Our small list is suddenly much smaller:

The best candidate for us, I think, is a team that meets all of the following criteria:

• A desperate jones to fill that particular position because it is a huge, freaking obvious gap in their team
• A feeling that they are one player away from the [fill in blank: playoffs, division title, conference title, Super Bowl] in 2013
• A plurality of veteran players who only have 1-2 years left to make the big run

Applying this criteria, and especially the second one, we can eliminate St. Louis, Buffalo, Cincinnati and Tampa Bay. our list now goes to this:

Of these five remaining teams, I’m going to axe San Diego. They fit all of the criteria, but there’s no way they’ll pull this trigger with a division rival. I’m also going to take off New Orleans, because Dee Milliner is great, but he’d have to be a Leon Sandcastle or a Darelle Revis to be a cornerback that goes first in the draft. Finally, I’ll remove the New York Giants, because when the Giants pick at 19, there will likely be a few good OLB’s available, or they could get the one they want by jumping up 5-6 slots, rather than 18 slots.

The moral of the story is no surprise. Left tackles are coveted. And so there you have it, my friends. We really have just two teams to trade with this year for our number one pick:

• Chicago
• Green Bay

Right now, Chicago has the 20th pick and the Packers have the 26th pick. My money is on the Packers. With Bryan Bulaga returning from injury at Right Tackle, a truly terrible season by current Left Tackle Marshall Newhouse and Aaron Rodgers in his prime, this trade may make sense for the Pack. The Packers also need a running back and center, but both are readily available through lower picks and free agency. A Luke Joeckel could put the Packers back in the Super Bowl. And I know this escaped none of you, but John Dorsey knows the Pack pretty well.

If we are going to find a willing trade partner, our path to success just may go through Green Bay. What do you think, Addicts? Can Dorsey persuade his old colleagues to trade with us?!

As we get closer and closer to the opening of free agency and the draft, we’ve had great conversations about what our Chiefs should do. There’s definitely been shifting opinions since the regular season ended. Back in December, the almost unanimous perspective was that we ought to draft Geno Smith. Over the past six weeks however, I’ve read on this site more and more strong arguments for the Chiefs to pick someone else, ranging from Luke Joeckel to Dee Milliner to Star Lotulelei. I’ve also read some excellent posts advising us to trade the #1 pick so that we’lll have three picks in the first two rounds. There’s only one thing for sure from the trajectory of opinions thus far  - it’s only going to get more chaotic as we head into April.

As of now, here are my top five positional needs. This list is not necessarily the positions I would draft for however. They are my priorities for our smartest thinking, given the multitude of options.

1. Quarterback: Rest assured, Addicts, our quarterback gap hasn’t changed, regardless of all of the chatter. The question is, what do we do about it? Most of you want Geno Smith – I think I’m in the camp too, as of now. But we saw Tamba Hali arguing this week that Matt Cassel not only deserves one more chance but still has what it takes to be an NFL starter. There’s been more and more conversations about trading for Alex Smith or Nick Foles. And many have argued cogently for either dropping down in the draft or using our second round pick on a QB to keep the value of the player in line with his draft pick. I think all of these options should be kept on the table, with the major factor being Geno’s performance at the Combine and endless tape review of all of these guys. Heck, Tamba’s defense of Cassel reminded me of how teams had given up on Rich Gannon, Trent Green and Kurt Warner, only to see them blossom with another team.

2. Defensive End: This one kind of snuck up on me, lost in the hoopla of our quarterback issue. We literally may not have a starting defensive end on the roster in a month. Barring serious contract renegotiations, most pundits are saying that Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson are gone. Ropati Pitoitua showed promise last year, but I’m not sure if he’s starter material. This draft class is rich in defensive ends.

3. Wide Receiver: I wish, very strongly, that the Chiefs sign Dwayne Bowe. Let’s assume that happens. We still have a major gap here. I think Steve Breaston will come back strong this year, now that the mysterious boycott by Chiefs’ coaches of his playing time is over (does anyone know what that was about, by the way?!). But we need a #2 receiver who is a legitimate threat, along with Bowe. Jon Baldwin isn’t that guy.

4. Cornerback: Brandon Carr, anyone? Javier Arenas is fine in the nickel, but I think we need an upgrade to play opposite Brandon Flowers. Dee Milliner from ‘Bama looks pretty damn good.

5. Mike Linebacker or Safety: If we land a top-notch corner, then I think our next priority is a Mike Linebacker to complete what would be a fearsome foursome of Derrick Johnson on the inside and Tamba Hali and Justin Houston on the outside. If we don’t land a corner, then we go safety, to compete with Kendrick Lewis for a starting role.

You may notice that left tackle is not on my list. That’s because we need to re-sign Branden Albert.

As far as our first pick in the Draft, I’m going to keep this simple, boiling it down to just one factor: If Geno Smith excels at the Combine, he’s our top pick. If he doesn’t, then we go Star Lotulelei and either find a QB in Round Two or pick up Alex Smith. And believe it or not, I think we need to start adding wide receiver into the mix in our conversation about top needs.

Addicts, who’s your top pick now, and what do you think about our receiver dilemma?!

The Super Bowl marks a turning of the page for NFL fans, from 2012 to 2013.

With the Chiefs on the clock, all eyes go to us, because for any NFL fan, it’s all about next year now. It’s crunch time, and after weeks of reading about sports, I think our draft strategy comes down to an epic, philosophical battle about the quarterback positions: do we go for a one year rental vs. do we go for the rookie starter?

Cogent arguments have been put forth on both sides, by many of you. Alex Smith typifies the ultimate rental. He’s efficient and won’t make a lot of mistakes, but he may not win you games in the fourth quarter. Additionally, and unfairly, he would be an ex-Niner coming to 1 Arrowhead Drive, and we’ve seen that movie twice and might not be game for a third viewing. Or, we could prostrate ourselves before the altars of  Geno Smith or Tyler Wilson (or Mike Glennon or Matt Barkley) and hope whomever we choose turns into 2013’s RGIII, Andrew Luck or Russell Wilson.

The expectations for either choice are enormous, but the Chiefs must get this one right. I know it’s not fair to John Dorsey and Andy Reid. They are walking straight into a poisoned well, so they have to get this right the first time.

Much smarter people than me will roll out all of the statistics to prove that either an Alex Smith-type or a Geno Smith-type will secure a Super Bowl bid for our team. That level of analysis is beyond me. I want to get to the root of this issue, which really resides in the philosophy of how you win games.

Nate Silver, who is in the business of statistics and forecasting, had an interesting piece last week on the Super Bowl. Silver compared the twenty best defensive teams to play in a Super Bowl, along with the twenty best offensive teams. He found that the twenty best defensive teams had a 14-6 record in the Super Bowl, whereas the twenty best offensive teams managed just a 10-10 record.

If you believe that “defenses win Super Bowls,” then you’re probably a bit more comfortable with the rent-a-QB approach. That means in the draft, let’s build up our defense to be dominant, so that our offense can score when needed but the defense is the unit that will win games. If you think the Chiefs are one star QB away from winning it all, then you probably want Geno Smith right now because in this new day of the NFL, offensive impact is the path to redemption.

Let’s take a closer look at Silver’s research before we make a decision though. Here are the top twenty defensive teams to ever play in a Super Bowl, along with whether they won or lost and who their quarterback was. I’ve also added a column that is my own personal description of each quarterback, using a rating of superstar, game manager or horrible:

There are some interesting numbers here. Remember, this list represents the top defensive teams to ever play in a Super Bowl. Here’s what we got, in terms of Super Bowl records per type of quarterback:

• 14-6: Top Defensive Teams
• 2-1: Horrible Quarterbacks on the Top Defensive Teams
• 2-3: Game Managers on the Top Defensive Teams
• 10-2: Superstars on the Top Defensive Teams

Clearly, if you have a top defensive team and a superstar quarterback, you will win the Super Bowl. But what’s interesting to me is that you can have a game managing QB or even a horrible QB, and as long as you have a killer D, not only will you improve your chances of getting to the Super Bowl, but you may actually win 50% of them!

Our defense last year was about the 13th best defense in the NFL, depending on who you ask. We know we have talent – perhaps with better coaching, we could have been in the top ten. So here’s the gamble: do we go for the superstar quarterback first, and then use our second and third picks to bolster the defense, or do we go with the rental QB and pick a first rounder who may well vault our defense to number 1 in the league?

For the first time, I’m actually now kind of torn on this question. I’ve been a “draft Geno” guy thus far, but imagine if we go defense and we get Star Lotulelei or Damontre Moore or Barkevious Mingo or Jarvis Jones or Dee Milliner? Last year, I advocated for Luke Kuechly, who just become the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Beefing up our defensive line or adding a killer linebacker or corner may be just what we need to literally have the best defense in the country.

It’s worth thinking about. What do you think, Addicts?!

I wanted to take a break from the action of analyzing potential draft picks and free agents to discuss an important question that is probably lurking in the deep recesses of your mind: what the heck do we do once the Super Bowl ends?

Just a few short weeks ago, we were all in agreement that the end to the 2012 season couldn’t come soon enough. But like many of you, when that final clock hit zero, my thoughts immediately went into worry-mode: how are we to face eight months of nothingness? But then a minor miracle happened. Clark Hunt fired everybody, which had two important outcomes. First, it was a smart personnel move that may result in the fielding of a competitive team in 2013. Second, and not to be understated, it provided us Addicts with something exciting to talk about until training camp starts up again.

As January ends, I thought it might be helpful to lay out a road map of helpful suggestions and key dates until the 2013 preseason starts. We need to start thinking and planning now, so that when the Super Bowl ends, we are prepared. To do otherwise would simply be reckless. God help us all.

January
January was bittersweet. On the one hand, there’s still football. On the other hand, it just plain sucks to watch other teams play football (It’s funny – we all love football so much, but our passion is so inextricably tied to one team). I cannot stress how important it was to have these coaching/general manager openings, for our sanity alone. Thank you, Clark, for helping us get through January.

February
The Super Bowl is this Sunday, or as we know it, the last chance to get drunk when the sun’s still out. Take advantage of it. I don’t even really have a team. The Super Bowl is more like Mardi Gras – a final fling of football hedonism before the dog days of the offseason. If you do the Super Bowl just right, it’ll take you two weeks to recover, which will get you to the NFL Combine, from February 20-26. This is an ESPN and NFL Network godsend, where we can watch players we never heard of engage in things we used to do in kindergarten, like run around cones, jump really high and throw footballs at things.

March
March is the cruelest month, and not just because of the weather. The only things going are the NBA (c’mon guys, at least pretend that you’re trying to play defense) and the NHL (I don’t even understand hockey). There’s college hoops of course, but that means learning a whole bunch of new names, teams and mascots. March is just gonna be difficult. Some of us may not make it. Just being honest here.

April
April is our oasis in the desert. The draft is April 25-27, and since we have the top pick, the first 24 days of April will almost seem like it’s actually football season! We’ll be researching our favorite picks, arguing vociferously and imagining our Chiefs’ run to the Super Bowl with Mr. Right. April will be good, I promise you.

Muly
May, June and July will feel like one, long addict’s withdrawal period – hence, “Muly.” The draft is over. Preseason is upwards of ninety days away. There’s no Olympics. We will all cope with this situation differently. Some of us will start hobbies, reconnect with family and be incredibly productive at work. Others of us rock ourselves to sleep, muttering “Brady Quinn” under our breath. These two types will be the lucky ones. The unfortunate ones among us will become “Lost Souls” – those who are neither successful nor vegetative, and are forced to wander the streets like the living dead (see “Raider fan”). If you become a Lost Soul and you are a season ticket holder, please remember to leave your tickets for a loved one.

August
Pre-season begins. Those of us who survived will just be that much stronger. Phew.

Addicts, if you have any helpful suggestions for how to get through the offseason, please record them here. In the meantime, savor this last Sunday of football, and we’ll continue to poke into every last detail of every last draft pick and free agent in the coming months. We’ll all need as much help as we can get. Go Chiefs!

 

Last week, we took a look at current Chiefs players who are free agents this year. This week, as we continue to work our way towards the draft, let’s look at potential free agent pickups.

Our needs, in approximate order, are:

• Quarterback
• Defensive end
• Wide receiver
• Safety
• Cornerback
• Offensive line depth

Now my theory on free agents is that you are generally looking for a 3-4 year starter, and more often than not, are looking for good value. In other words, it’s rare that you get a superstar through free agency like a Priest Holmes, a Drew Brees or Deion Sanders.

Given our needs, here are a few options for our 2013 Kansas City Chiefs.

At quarterback, there are plenty of potential trade options, including Alex Smith, Matt Flynn and Nick Foles. With free agents, not so much. The top free agent quarterbacks are Joe Flacco, Jason Campbell, Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Moore, Drew Stanton and Seneca Wallace. No thank you. With the exception of Flacco, who will be very unavailable, we should pass here on QB free agents.

At defensive end, the free agent cupboard is almost bare, except for Henry Melton with the Bears. He was a high performing player this year, but may be free if Chicago switches its defense with a new coaching regime in. He’d be a steal and possibly a great replacement for Glenn Dorsey and/or Tyson Jackson, depending on how much Dorsey is going to ask, now that he is a free agent, or whether Jackson would want to restructure his contracts to be more competitive.

Wide receiver is pretty interesting in terms of free agents. We know from experience that rookies take a long time to develop. This year, Mike Wallace from the Steelers and Greg Jennings from the Packers are free agents. I’m inclined toward Jennings, for some veteran, championship-caliber production and leadership. Plus, I kinda like those Old Spice commercials. Oh, and Jennings is fast. Real fast.

At safety, I think we go after Ed Reed. Okay, I know, Reed hasn’t performed well in the postseason. But his leadership would really help out this Chiefs team as we go from a loser mentality to a championship mentality. Plus, can you imagine Berry and Reed in the same defense? Berry would learn so much, and Reed would raise everyone’s level of play. Reed would be like Mike Vrabel but able to run still. Not a bad combination.

The cornerback position is pretty thin with this year’s free agents. If Atlanta decides to release Brent Grimes, I think we go after him. Grimes was good enough to go the Pro Bowl in 2010. Ironically, he suffered a season ending Achilles tendon injury against the Chiefs in early 2012, but he’d be a welcome addition to our depleted secondary (I will always call our secondary “depleted” until we truly make up for the loss of Brandon Carr).

Overall, my free agency pickups would be, in order of priority:

1. Ed Reed, safety: veteran leadership and a win-now attitude or critical for our Chiefs.
2. Greg Jennings, wide receiver: Bowe and Jennings – I’m salivating already.
3. Brent Grimes, cornerback: Grimes would be what Routt was supposed to be.

Who do you think we should pick up in free agency, Addicts?!!

We have 14 weeks until we pick the first college player chosen in this year’s NFL Draft. If you’re John Dorsey, our new GM, you’ve got a heck of a lot to research and consider until then. Let’s help him out by looking at our free agent priorities for 2013. Following is a list of all our current free agents, divided into three handy categories:

Top Priority: Re-Sign Now!

• Dwayne Bowe, WR: Any NFL offense worth its salt needs two high performing receivers. RIght now, we only have one and I’m just not confident that Jon Baldwin is going to flip the switch. There’s just no justification in letting Bowe go. SIgn the man.
• Dustin Colquitt, P: I wouldn’t have any other punter in the league. Sign him.
• Brandon Albert, LT: This one might be controversial, especially with Luke Joechel from Texas A&M available in the draft. But Albert has become one of the best left tackles in the game, and is a veteran on a pretty young line, especially with Lilja retiring. I think we keep Brandon.
• Edgar Jones, LB: Jones was a stud on kick coverage.

Cheap Dates: Re-Sign at your Leisure!

• Ropati Pitoitua, DE: Pitoitua played great as a backup. I’d keep him.
• Abram Elam, S: After Berry, we have serious gaps in safety, and we always need depth at safety. Elam is fine as a backup, just not as a starter.
• Thomas Gafford, C: Gafford rarely screws up the long snap. He’s a keeper.
• Russ Hochstein, G: Hochstein filled in admirably and is a smart veteran who can play multiple positions. Dude has three Super Bowl rings!
• Brandon Siler, LB: Siler played well as a starter in the last game.
• Shaun Smith, DT: Just for humor alone, let’s keep Dirty Man Smith.

It’s Time To Go: Release Them Now!

• Glenn Dorsey, DE: I think for the size of the contract, we let Dorsey go. He has been decent, but not what we hoped when we drafted him with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 draft. Plus, with the hiring of John Dorsey, we can’t have two Dorseys on the team. Thanks for the memories, Glenn and we wish you well.
• Peyton Hillis, RB: Wow, what a disappointment. See ya.
• Travis Daniels, S: I dare anyone to argue that we should keep Daniels.
• Steve Manieri, TE: What? He’s still on the team?
• Bryan Mattison, C: There are always a few players, each year, whom I read about, and say to myself, you know, I follow this team so religiously, so how come I’ve never heard of this guy?
• Kyle McCarthy, CB: See Mattison, Bryan.
• Jake O’Connell, TE: It’s like Tony Gonzalez cursed our tight end position when he left.
• Brady Quinn, QB: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
• Martin Rucker, TE: See O’Connell, Jake.
• Leon WIlliams, LB: See McCarthy, Kyle.

We all know that QB is our number one gap. Based on our free agency situation alone however, we have at least two other major gaps to be put on on GM Dorsey’s pate. At defensive end, with Glenn Dorsey potentially gone and the enigmatic and inconsistent Tyson Jackson, we need a new anchor on the D-line. At safety. Kendrick Lewis just isn’t physical enough and is prone to injury, and Elam is no better than a backup.

John Dorsey has his work cut out for him. Free agency movement may cause big holes at defensive end and safety for us, and we have existing gaps at the QB, wide receiver, guard and cornerback position. Dorsey is known as a scout’s scout. I’m looking forward to how he handles these gaps through the draft and free agency.

Addicts, what do you think are our free agent priorities?!!

Last week, I posted my reservations about hiring Andy Reid. A lot of good that did! Despite all of my focused and repeated ESP messages, Clark Hunt pulled off a major coup for our Chiefs!

I hope upon hope that Reid proves me wrong and brings back that perennial playoff feeling back to Kansas City. A key issue that will go along way towards our climb back to the top of the NFL, and one that is now consuming our attention and imagination, is what offensive and defensive mindset Reid will bring to town, and related, what assistant coaches he will call upon to lead us to victory (and thankfully, there’s been no talk of Reid pulling double duty as a coordinator and coach!).

In the great debate between “the system” and “the players,” I’m a firm believer in the players. As Reid selects offensive and defensive coordinators, I hope Reid will pick coordinators who will align their respective systems to fit the strengths of our best players. I’ve never understood coaches who believe their system is the best one, regardless of who their talent is. If you have Tamba Hali, use the defense that best allows him to rush the quarterback. If you have Jamaal Charles, design an offense to let him run free. To do otherwise strikes me as either egotistical or lazy. If there was a magical defense, whether it’s the 3-4, the 4-3, the Tampa 2 or the Wide 9, then every team would be using it.

Another way to tackle this issue is to analyze the ease of adaption. That is, can players or coaches more easily adapt to a new scheme?

Here again, I’d side with making coaches adapt. Players do best when their play is instinctual, born from years, not months, of practice. Malcolm Gladwell writes about a common trait of true experts, regardless of their field – they have each acquired over 10,000 hours of effort in their chosen craft.

That’s about 4 years of work at 8 hours a day. Players, in the heat of a battle, have a fraction of a second to make a decision. Coaches make game plans well in advance of the season and even during a game, they have 20-40 seconds to make adjustments. Players are the ones that need to act instinctually, not coaches, so ideally, you want a system that is intuitive for players and not new.

To be clear, I’m not arguing to keep players in a bad system just because that’s what they’ve been in before. I am arguing though, that a coach’s real gift is to pick a system and a set of coordinators and assistant coaches that can maximize the strengths of our superstars and minimize having players learn something new. Our playmakers, give or take a few, are:

Offense

• Jamaal Charles
• Dwayne Bowe (Please Clark, just re-sign Bowe. We’ve seen this story before – A.J. Smith letting Vincent Jackson go in San Diego, or the Broncos letting Brandon Marshall go, or, oh yeah, Pioli letting Tony Gonzales walk)
• Brandon Albert

Defense

• Tamba Hali
• Derrick Johnson
• Brandon Flowers
• Justin Houston

I’ll leave the decision on which particular systems best match our playmakers to those with a higher football IQ than me. So Addicts, what do you think are the best offensive and defensive systems to maximize the talents of our playmakers?!!!

From a purely public relations and marketing perspective, Clark Hunt gets an A+ since Sunday’s season-ending debacle against the Broncos. What better way to make us Addicts forget the bitter taste of another blow-out loss and perhaps the worst season in franchise history than the undeniable excitement of firings and hirings?

I’m as guilty as anyone. Since Romeo got the ax, I literally haven’t had one thought about gaining just eight first downs and 119 yards while giving up 4 sacks, 32 first downs, 488 yards and 38 points. I’ve only thought once about not leading for eight straight games and having the two of the four lowest rated quarterbacks in the NFL.

Every hour, there are no tweets, rumors and posts about Clark’s hiring plans, with mostly glowing reports about his “take the bull by the horns” approach and his shafting of Scott Pioli. The latest news that has most Chiefs fans abuzz is the prospect of hiring Andy Reid.

I’m opposed to Andy Reid coming to the Chiefs.

I get all the good things being said about Reid: his overall record, his work with Donovan McNabb and his postseason success. I also get all the bad things being said about Reid. He mismanaged the team. His record of late with quarterbacks is a disaster. He has horrendous time management skills. The truth is, any coach worthy of serious consideration will have a track record of both positive and negative characteristics and accomplishments. I do believe Reid is a great coach, but I don’t think he’s the right coach for the Chiefs.

I’m a big fan of the win/loss record as the ultimate metric for a head coach. Reid’s is quite good: 140-102, over 14 seasons (including the postseason). But if you dissect Reid’s record, a different pattern emerges. Let’s take a look at Reid’s cumulative win-loss percentage at different points in his career:

• 58%: fourteen year career
• 52%: past five years
• 45%: past three years
• 38%: past two years
• 25%: past year

Clearly (to me at least), Reid’s prowess as a head coach is declining. Nate Silver makes explicit this phenomenon that we all implicitly know so well in The Signal and the Noise, citing baseball genius Bill James, who first posited this theory:

By looking at statistics for thousands of players, James had discovered that the typical player continues to improve until he is in his late twenties, at which point his skills usually begin to atrophy, especially once he reaches his midthirties. This gave James one of his most important inventions: the aging curve.

Silver then adds a critical lesson that Clark would be wise to pay attention to:

The notion of the aging curve would have been extremely valuable to any team that had read James’s work. Under baseball’s contract rules, players do not become free agents until fairly late in their careers: after they’ve played at least six full major league seasons….Since the typical rookie reaches the big leagues at twenty-three or twenty-four years old, he might not become a free agent until he is thirty – just after his window of peak performance has eclipsed. Teams were paying premium dollars for free agents on the assumption that they would replicate in their thirties the production they had exhibited in their twenties; in fact, it usually declined…

This paragraph could have been written about Andy Reid.

Desperation is generally not a good frame of mind to make major decisions. Clark Hunt always looks calm, but you know he’s boiling up inside. Four years ago, he inherited one of the most storied franchises in the history of sports, from the man who practically invented the NFL, who, oh yeah, was his dad. And what has Clarkie done? He’s created a team characterized by change and chaos. That ups the ante considerably on this coaching and GM decision. There is literally zero room for error. I find myself thinking about the 1994 baseball strike. It was a colossal mistake and one that took decades to recover from. If Clark hires another disastrous coach (or GM), it may take years for this team to recover.

Enter Andy Reid. For a person who is desperate, Andy Reid probably looks pretty good. He’s got a track record, the respect of his peers and is the definition of a “safe pick.” But he’s not the right pick for our Chiefs. We know from when Haley was hired that we need to make this decision soon, so the head coach can get a head start on hiring assistant coaches and getting ready for the Combine and the Draft. But that doesn’t mean we need to make the choice now. Let’s do a proper vetting and find a coach who is on the upswing of his career, so we can ensure stability for years to come and a return to the Chiefs that we know and that we want.

What do you think, Addicts? Do you like Reid? And if not, who would you advise?

I hope all of you Addicts had a relaxing and fun holiday! This is the second greatest week of the year – not much work to do (hopefully) and lots of good food and family. The only week that is better for us Addicts is the week before the first regular season game – now that’s what it feels like to be a kid on Christmas morning!

Alas, we do have one final game to play before we can put this hideous season behind us, plan for the draft and then let hope spring eternal, once again.

After gaining 507 total yards and scoring just 13 points last week (how is that even possible?), we truly have seen it all this season. So with literally nothing left to play for and with just about a zero chance of beating Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos this Sunday, here are a few fun things I’d like to see in this last game. It’s my short-term Christmas wish list for the Chiefs.

Show me your emergency quarterback! Remember when Romeo pulled that now-classic chess move on the entire NFL, by refusing to reveal who is emergency quarterback was? Well, the season is just about over, and frankly, I don’t think the Broncos give a donkey’s ass (I know that is redundant) who our fourth quarterback is. So for my first Christmas gift, I hope Brady Quinn, Matt Cassel and Ricky Stanzi play a little joke on Romeo and all lay down early. Quinn gets the first series, because really, we now know everything we need to know about Quinn. He’s a great guy, a great teammate and a pretty decent third string quarterback. Cassel gets a series, just because he’s a great guy as well, and some teams may want a last look at him in case they need a backup quarterback next year. Stanzi plays the rest of the first half. I mean really, we need to see if Stanzi has what it takes to be our long-term third string quarterback, given his prowess in wearing a headset and making secret but important markings on a clipboard (memo for off-season blog post: could Quinn v. Stanzi for third string QB be one of the best position battles of the 2013 pre-season?) After all three QB’s fake an injury, Romeo’s hand will be forced. Who is our secret weapon?! Addicts want to know! My money’s on the human Swiss Army knife, Dexter McCluster, or perhaps Steve Manieri, who is slowly and quietly learning every position on the offense (you know, like a restaurant manager will do – one stint at each job, from busboy to dishwasher to line cook to chef).

DiMarco’s DiNow! Patrick DiMarco is having a great showing at fullback, opening up gaping holes for Jamaal Charles. We need to expand his role, to take advantage of his terrific blocking skills. Here’s my second Christmas gift request: I want Brian Daboll to line up DiMarco out wide, with Jon Baldwin right behind him. That way, DiMarco can block whoever is defending Baldwin, in advance of Baldwin running his route. This may literally be the only way for Baldwin to get open. As a corollary gift, Daboll should just go ahead and put the technology from that classic Christmas gift, the remote controlled airplane, right into the football. This little tweak should solve Quinn’s downfield accuracy problem.

Bring back Mike Vrabel! Wait, what? Mike Vrabel?! Yes! I’m serious. Vrabel shares the record for the most career sacks of Peyton Manning, with ten. Vrabel is now the defensive line coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes, but because of their past transgressions, the Buckeyes are ineligible for any bowl games. In other words, Vrabel is available! I’d say sign him to a ten day contract and let him do his magic on Manning. And if you go way back into your memory banks, you’ll recall that Vrabel would sometimes line up as tight end for the Chiefs, where we are particularly thin right now. This move makes total sense. Mike Vrabel, you’re our only hope. Pioli, sign the man.

Addicts, our long, lonely and demoralizing season is almost behind us. What would you like to see in this final game of the Pioli-Crennel era?! Happy New Year, Addicts!

“I’ll do what I can to help y’all. But, the game’s out there, and it’s play or get played. That simple.”

Omar Little, The Wire

Do yourself a favor. Over the holidays, when you can’t move because you’ve eaten too much food and you’re sick of watching obscure college bowl games, go watch all five seasons of The Wire. Every now and again, an Addict drops a classic reference from The Wire. Really, all of life’s lessons can be constructed from this series, perhaps the best series of all time.

Omar Little, the iconoclastic hero of The Wire, is a master of “the game.” And I think the Chiefs can learn a little something from him. Omar was the consummate player – in it to win it and with an extraordinary knowledge of the rules, so he could subvert them to his own advantage. In other words, Omar always won, because he knew the value of a player. Let’s be clear as well: by “player,” we’re not talking about average starters and backups. We’re talking about the playmakers.

Against the Raiders, we saw what happened when one of our players – Dwayne Bowe – was out of the lineup. Now granted, the Chiefs underwhelmed us in many ways. But there’s no denying the impact that a player can have on the game.

In our Chiefs’ history, we’ve seen the consistent power of one player over and over again. Derrick Thomas. Neil Smith. Priest Holmes. Derrick Johnson. Tamba Hali. Jamaal Charles.

Now more than ever, I’m all in for this year’s draft. And by that, I mean let’s get two dominant players – like two first rounders.

I covered some of this information last week, but it bears repeating. Here are our last 6 first round picks:

• 2012: Dontari Poe
• 2011: Jonathan Baldwin
• 2010: Eric Berry
• 2009: Tyson Jackson
• 2008: Glenn Dorsey and Brandon Albert
• 2009: Dwayne Bowe

Of these seven picks, four are whom I would consider a player, like Omar Little: Berry, Dorsey, Albert and Bowe. Poe may be there in two years, to boot. That means 57% of our first round picks are players.

Here’s who else we drafted after the first round, each year:

• 2012: Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson, Devon Wylie, DeQuan Menzie, Cyrus Gray, Justin Long, Junior Hemingway.
• 2011: Rodney Hudson, Justin Houston, Allen Bailey, Jalil Brown, Ricky Stanzi, Gabe Miller, Jerrell Powe, Shane Bannon
• 2010: Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Jon Asamoah, Tony Moeki, Kendrick Lewis, Cameron Sheffeld
• 2009: Alex Magee, Donald Washington, Colin Brown, Quinten Lawrence, Javarris Williams, Jake O’Connell, Ryan Succop
• 2008: Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles, Brad Cottam, DaJuan Morgan, Will Franklin, Brandon Carr, Barry Richardson, Kevin Robinson, Brian Johnston, Mike Merritt
• 2007: Turk McBride, DeMarcus Tyler, Kolby Smith, Justin Medlock, Herbert Taylor, Michael Allan

Of these non-first rounders, five of them fall into the player camp: Houston, Succop, Flowers, Charles and Brandon Carr. That’s just 11% of the 44 picks that fell after the first round. Perhaps more importantly, for those that argue about depth, fully 48% of these draft picks, by my count, are not even on the Chiefs’ roster anymore. In other words, post-first round is a total crapshoot.

Bottom line: players tend to come in the first round. Now, this comes as no surprise. But the value proposition for first rounders versus those that come later seems to me to now be a no-brainer, even when you factor in salary. Playmakers make the difference between wins and losses. Backups, “depth” players and practice teamers are necessary, but these picks, when they start, define 2-12 teams.

Come April, let’s draft two real players, even if it means mortgaging the rest of our draft picks. Our payoff will be higher and we can always find depth through free agency or undrafted players. Without playmakers, we are fodder for those who have playmakers. It’s that simple.

What say you, Addicts?! Are you with Omar or not?!!

At 2-11, we have just three games left, including this Sunday’s divisional game against the gross and disgusting Oakland Raiders. Last week against the Browns, the Chiefs had another one of those horrible trifectas – bad defense, atrocious offense and horrible special teams play. In short, we had the same type of game that we’ve become quite accustomed to this year.

After going to Oakland, we have Indy at home and Denver away. Suffice it to say that we could end this year at 2-14, or 3-13 at best. Either way, there’s a great chance that we’ll have the first or second draft pick next year. We’ve all had a great time debating draft picks these past weeks. As the season moves to a painful close, I wanted to offer an unusual draft idea.

First, let’s consider our draft needs.

On offense: quarterback. Easy. But it’s also worth noting here that the Chiefs have actually done an admirable job building an offensive line with decent depth. Next year, we’ll have Rodney Hudson back, with Asamoah and Lilja at guards and Albert and Winston at tackles. And, we’ll have Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson pushing the vets for starting positions. At tight end and running back, we’re fine. And at wide receiver, we need to re-sign Bowe, and we’ll give Baldwin one more year (and then that’s it, Jon).

On special teams, there are no huge needs that would warrant a first or second round draft pick.

On defense, here’s where it gets more interesting. I’m pretty happy with our front three of Dontari Poe, Glenn Dorsey, and yes, Tyson Jackson, who has had an incredible resurgence now that he gets to play every down under Gary Gibbs’ scheme. Our linebacking core is one step from true greatness, with Derrick Johnson, Justin Houston and Tamba Hali filling three of four slots. Our secondary is anchored by Flowers and Eric Berry, but we have major gaps with Kendrick Lewis often hurt and the other cornerback slot still a question mark. Arenas has done a great job since Routt got the boot, but I’m not convinced he’s the long-term answer there, and whether he is or not, we need more depth in the secondary at both the corner and safety positions.

Second, let’s consider something we haven’t much talked about. I remember reading last year that we had the first or second youngest team in the league. With a couple decent drafts of late, that stat has just stayed in my brain. But here’s an interesting list of our biggest superstars:

• Dwayne Bowe: going into his seventh season
• Jamaal Charles: going into his sixth season
• Brandon Flowers: going into his sixth season
• Tamba Hali: going into eighth season
• Derrick Johnson: going into his ninth season

While our team’s average age may be young, our top playmakers are not so. They are in their prime and they are darn good, so we can’t afford any more years of rebuilding. We have to strike now.

In the draft, here’s five potential first rounders that match up well with our major holes – quarterback, linebacker and secondary:

• Manti Te’o, linebacker, Notre Dame
• Dee Milliner, cornerback, Alabama
• Geno Smith, quarterback, West Virginia
• Matt Barkley, quarterback, USC
• Mike Glennon, quarterback, North Carolina State

Te’o plays inside linebacker, the exact gap the Chiefs need to fill. Milliner could play opposite Flowers and lend much needed depth to the secondary. Either Smith, Barkley or Glennon could fill our QB gap. I’d love to add at least two of these players – like Te’o and one of the QB’s. I mean, wouldn’t that be nice? Two first rounders that meet our gaps perfectly, and who might just be two key ingredients to turn this 2012 team into something special in 2013 (along with a new GM and coach, of course).

And here’s the unusual idea: given that the Chiefs don’t have a huge number of gaps and that we have a very young team that will continue to develop, should we actually try to draft two of these five players?

Here’s a list of the value of NFL draft picks:

• Round 1, 1^st pick: 3,000 points
• Round 2, 1^st pick: 580 points
• Round 3, 1^st pick: 265 points
• Round 4, 1^st pick: 112 points
• Round 5, 1^st pick: 43 points
• Round 6, 1^st pick: 27 points
• Round 7, 1^st pick: 14.2 points

Let’s say we have the number two pick, and then we trade for, let’s say, the 13^th pick in the draft to take our second first rounder. That third rounder is worth 1,150 points. Essentially, we’d have to give up every other draft pick in 2013, and maybe even a mid-range pick in 2014. To give you a sense of the types of players we’re talking about, here are the last three years’ worth of picks taken in Round 2 or later:

• 2012: Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson, Devon Wylie, DeQuan Menzie, Cyrus Gray, Justin Long, Junior Hemingway.
• 2011: Rodney Hudson, Justin Houston, Allen Baiey, Jalil Brown, Ricky Stanzi, Gabe Miller, Jerrell Powe, Shane Bannon
• 2010: Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Jon Asamoah, Tony Moeki, Kendrick Lewis, Cameron Sheffeld

If we get the quarterback we most want and another immediate starter (someone like another Derrick Johnson or Tamba Hali!), combined with the pretty decent supporting cast we already have (and a new coach and GM), we might have enough to take best advantage of our current class of superstars. The time to win is actually shorter than I had thought – I think we might want to consider this move. What do you think, Addicts? Would it be worth it to go all in and score two first-rounders this year?

As trying a week as it was for the Chiefs’ coaches, players and fans, it’s nothing compared to what the families of Kasandra Perkins and Jovan Belcher are going through, and worst of all, it’s nothing compared to the impact on baby Zoey, whose life has been altered tragically and forever. Belcher’s inexplicable and horrible act has set in motion a series of tidal waves that will change the course of families, friends, players, coaches and perhaps even this Chiefs franchise and the NFL.

This NFL season has been different to me, not because of how the Chiefs are doing, but because serious issues have dominated football news that aren’t about wins and losses or touchdowns and interceptions. This whole year has been marked by two health-related issues – the mental illness that numerous retired players now face, made stark by the suicide of Junior Seau, and perhaps related, the game-changing focus on concussions.

The murder of Perkins and orphaning of an infant by a football player is perhaps the third chapter in the book of the 2012 NFL season, and this book may change football forever. This book is about the culture of violence in America and in the sport today.

As fans, I know firsthand that the quickest way to stop a party is to talk about what’s wrong with the sport. To talk about concussions, mental illness, violence, domestic violence and guns is guaranteed to create uncomfortable silences, make enemies and turn ordinary human beings into soapbox pundits. So if you want to stop reading now, I won’t blame you.

But this year is the first I can remember in my forty years of being a diehard Chiefs fan that, in my quieter moments, has me questioning the game itself. Chapter one in this book was written when I read about Junior Seau this summer. I had what psychologists call cognitive dissonance – a feeling of discomfort that’s hard to pin down, when two conflicting feelings are in your brain at the same time. That cognitive dissonance is because we love football. We wouldn’t devote the hundreds of hours of time, mental energy and passion to our Chiefs if we didn’t. But I also have a little voice in my head saying, “the very thing I get enjoyment out of – the big hits, the on-the-field violence – may well be causing some serious, long-term issues for those providing that enjoyment to me.”

To be brutally honest, most times, I just turn that voice off whenever it rears its head. But this year, that voice keeps sounding off, a little bit louder each time. And while I didn’t appreciate Eric Winston’s infamous comments about Booing-gate, what stayed in my memory was when he said, “We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Colosseum.”

Chapter two of this book is about concussions. Now, I really really dislike Roger Goodell, but if I am honest with myself, I have to give him props for the NFL’s aggressive effort this year to prevent and monitor concussions. I know you’ve seen what I’ve seen – more penalties and a more rigorous procedure for players who have a concussion before they can get back on the field. We’ve also seen fans, players and pundits saying Goodell is just protecting the owners from lawsuits, that Goodell has gone too far and that he’s a hypocrite because he also wants to create an 18-game season. All of those things probably have a bit of truth to them. But if you blow away the fog, the fact remains: attempting to reduce concussions in this already violent game is a good thing, and it’s better to err on the side of aggressive action on this issue because the task at hand is extraordinary. We’re not talking about creating easy tweaks to the game, like instant replay and new pass interference rules. We’re talking about the culture of the game, which is more dominant than any other single characteristic in defining how the game is played, and what is left of the players when this is all over.

The Perkins murder has added the third chapter to this book on the culture of violence, and this chapter is about guns. As happens often when high profile murders take place, a strident debate has already broken out about guns. All of us have heard the arguments on both sides of this gun issue so much we probably know them by heart, so let’s not re-hash them all here. I see it a lot like the concussion debate: there’s a lot of fog and a lot of agendas that have nothing to do with player safety. To me, it’s pretty simple and not very political: there are too many guns in America and when you add lots of guns to an already violent culture, more bad things happen.

This book that is being written about the 2012 NFL season is about saying out loud that the NFL has some serious, serious issues that threaten the future of this multi-billion dollar industry, and these issues are all related to the culture of violence that seems to be increasing in America and on the field.

Baby Zoey – the smallest in stature but the biggest victim here – is going to need all the help she can get and more, to one day comprehend what happened on December 1, 2012 and to learn, grow and, we all hope, succeed in her life in unimaginable and wonderful ways. Perhaps she will learn what we hope is true – that humans can be incredibly resilient, loving and generous, and even in ways that can overcome the heinous acts we are also capable of committing. Perhaps we will all think a new thought we haven’t had before about mental illness, concussions, violence, domestic violence and guns and the role we each may play in this culture of violence. There aren’t any right answers here at all, except that we must learn something new from this experience, or we will have failed as human beings to have empathy, to learn and to progress.

This Sunday, our Chiefs will play the Browns. This week is the toughest week for the Chiefs – funerals, time alone trying to make sense of what happened, and all the while, keeping their heads down and doing the work of playing football. The Chiefs will find a way to get through it, and as fans, we will support them, wonder how they are doing and go on with our own lives and jobs. And we will keep Zoey in our thoughts and prayers, with hope that she will succeed against the odds, growing up in this culture of violence that seems to be escalating, not diminishing.

With a 1-10 record, there’s not much left to cheer for, except for the macabre – hoping for heads to roll, specifically Pioli’s and Crennel’s. The only silver lining is that because of our consistently extreme ineptitude, we now control our own destiny for the top pick in the draft.

Anyone want a quarterback?

Here’s an alphabetical list of some of the top QB prospects, with “best available player” rankings from a smattering of sources, all reputable:

• Matt Barkley, USC: 3, 4, 17, 18, 23
• Landry Jones, Oklahoma: 13, 69
• Colin Klein, Kansas State: 7, 291
• Geno Smith, West Virginia: 3, 5, 9, 10, 15, 24
• Logan Thomas, Virginia Tech: 8
• Tyler Wilson, Arkansas, 13, 22, 27, 44

As you can see, opinions are all over the map at this early stage, and there’s a lot to be sorted out over the coming months. The notable thing here though is that no one is projecting a QB as the first or second best player. That means if and when the Chiefs draft first, we’ll either have to trade down a few slots or overpay the quarterback we so desperately need.

We find ourselves in that uncomfortable purgatory of:

A. Wanting to win because that’s who we are as fans;

B. Wanting to lose so we retain the first pick; and

C. Wanting to win just a little bit, so maybe we get the 2^nd or 3^rd pick, not the 1^st pick.

Last week, I was definite on the C Train – let’s just win one or two games so we drop down a tad in the draft, where most of the quarterbacks will be. Now I’m not so sure. First of all, winning “one or two more games” rolls off the tongue easily, but that’s going to be near impossible for this team. Second, let’s factor in our competition.

Here are the teams that could use a quarterback. I’ve divided them into two camps: those that may have a quarterback they could live with, but would take a QB in the first round if it was just the right person at just the right position. We’ll call this group the “Can’t Live with Sanchez, But We Paid Him So Much” group. The second camp are the teams that are 200%, full-on desperate for a QB and need to draft one now or there will be a revolution in their home towns. We’ll call this group the “Clark-Hunt-Kind-of-Desperation” group. Here’s where I think teams are, with their draft order if the season were to end today (Oh Dear Lord, please make the season end today):

“Can’t Live with Sanchez, But We Paid Him So Much” Camp

• 3^rd Pick: Philadelphia Eagles
• 4^th Pick: Oakland Raiders
• 5^th Pick: Cleveland Browns
• 8^th Pick: Buffalo Bills
• 12^th Pick: New York Jets

“Clark-Hunt-Kind-of-Desperation” Camp

• 1^st Pick: Kansas City Chiefs
• 2^nd Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars
• 11^th Pick: Arizona Cardinals

One observation before we get into the analysis here – this preseason, I was definitely in the camp of “great defense + killer running game + game-managing quarterback = deep run into the playoffs.” Looking at this list above, it’s so striking how that formula just doesn’t work anymore. Eight of the twelve worst teams in the league are terrible largely because they have a terrible quarterback.

Looking at this list, I’m moving to the A Train – we need the top pick in the draft. The top five teams in the draft all could use a quarterback, and two of them, desperately so. We have to control our own destiny here, or we may end up with the 2^nd or 3^rd best QB prospect in a year in which quarterbacks are not highly rated. I’d rather have our Chiefs in that top position, even if we end up overpaying, because bottom line: we need a quarterback. I’ll trust our new general manager and coach – whoever those guys are – to do the research and draft the right guy.

Does that mean we purposefully lose games from here on out? Of course not. But having the first pick takes a bit of the hurt off of what may happen over the next five games.

What draft pick do you want, Addicts, and who’s your quarterback of choice?!

We are all thankful for so many things – families, friends, colleagues, our health, the lives we have in this country and those who defend our freedoms, our faiths – the list goes one and on.

But this post is about our beloved Chiefs. Here’s what I think we have to be thankful for:

• Derrick Johnson: DJ is in his prime. He is consistently awesome and clearly a respected leader on this team. Thank you, DJ.
• Tamba Hali and Justin Houston: We have one of the most exciting pass rush tandems in the league. I expect even bigger things in 2013.
• Dontari Poe: Dontari, you rocked it this rookie season. You are fast, strong and aggressive. Keep up the progress – you will be special in this league.
• Brandon Albert: the one consistency on our O-Line. I think Brandon is the top priority for next year’s contract negotiations.
• Jamaal Charles: Still the man.
• Brandon Flowers: In addition to being a premier cornerback in the league, Flowers remains a great tackler, which I love about him.
• Dustin Colquitt: Colquitt just keeps booming great field position kicks, game after game.

And, that’s about it. For those eight players, thank you. Thank you for putting forth your full effort this year, and for producing for every moment you were on the field. This group of eight – that a general manager could really build a team around! – fits the mold of what the Kansas City Chiefs used to be. We had prideful, tough men on and a dominant running game. We had players who didn’t make excuses but put their noses to the grindstone and made plays all day long. That’s who these eight players are.

This offseason, I think literally everyone else’s role is up for grabs, except for a handful of players who get a one-year injury pass, like Rodney Hudson, Tony Moeaki and Eric Berry. And of course, the top of the expendable list includes our general manager and the entire coaching staff.

Clark, it’s time to clean house. This last Bengals game was the straw that broke the already broken camel’s back. We were uncompetitive, uninspired and an utter embarrassment. From the first minute, we literally had no chance to win the game. And to me, the responsibility for that travesty starts with the coach. Pioli’s ineptitude is matched only by Romeo Crennel’s incompetence. Our team has talent. Motivation, technique and game planning separate the great teams from the atrocious teams. We have none of those things.

The first thing I’d do is fire Romeo, and I’d do it now. Romeo just cannot get this team ready to play. The offensive and defensive units are out of sync, with no imagination, no creativity and no impact. Let’s put in an interim coach – it doesn’t matter who – just put someone else in. Maurice Carthon? Great. Jim Zorn? Wonderful. Emmit Smith? Why not? We need a change. We need a jolt. No matter what our draft order is next year, we just do not want to end the season at 1-15 and carry a 13 game losing streak into the 2013 season. Additionally, having the first pick in the draft is shaping up to be just about the exact wrong pick this year to select a quarterback. So how about we win a few games and drop down a few slots, so we don’t have to give up so much to draft a QB and ruin our future as well?

This Sunday, the Broncos come to town. Clark, you’ve already seen what Arrowhead looks like when it’s half-empty. What other motivation do you need to make a change?

Addicts, let’s all give thanks today – the fact that we all have time to talk football each week is just one reason we should all be thankful. But for the love of crispy turkey skin, Clark, can you help us out here?!!!

Addicts, what players are you most thankful for? Happy Turkey Day everyone!!

I have a slightly different and probably wildly unpopular take on the excessive celebration penalty against the Chiefs’ defense in Monday night’s loss to the Steelers.

First, it was a strategy, not a one-off event. But more on that later.

Let me start by saying, sure, it was stupid. It hurt the team, gave the ball back to the Steelers and was entirely preventable. And I know it seems grossly inappropriate when we were 1-7 at the time. But, I LOVED seeing our Chiefs have some swagger and attitude again, and it was entirely fitting that this effort was started by the defense. Because the defense was playing LIGHTS OUT (and yes, I’m looking at you, Derrick Johnson!) and we seemed to have finally woken up from our 2012 slumber. Of course, we still lost on – surprise! – a turnover, but seeing the defense dominate a very good Steelers team was refreshing (it’s amazing what a full-time Defensive Coordinator can do! I wonder if other teams know about this neat trick!).

Swagger and attitude are exactly what’s been missing from our team, especially in the once-imposing confines of Arrowhead Stadium (well, in addition to a good quarterback, having a lead, a stout passing defense, coaching and other minor details).

In honor of the merciful conclusion of one hell of an endless political season, this Chiefs’ season is best summarized by the memorable words of Admiral James Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate in the 1992 Presidential election. Asked for his opening statement in the Vice Presidential debate, Stockdale uttered the line that would make him famous: “Who am I? Why am I here?”

Despite being one of the most highly decorated, experienced and respected officers in U.S. Naval history, Stockdale was hopelessly out of sorts for that debate, and really, for the entire campaign, because he was a military man (read: normal) and not a candidate. This Chiefs team is no different. We came in with high hopes, but now are defined primarily by what we are not. We are not disciplined. We are not competitive. We are not angry, nor proud. And we are not well-coached (“Um, I don’t know why Jamaal only had five carries”). Without good coaching, we are as ill-equipped to compete as Stockdale was.

But I digress. What makes the defense’s celebration even more interesting is that it may have been a message from the players that Romeo has officially lost this team. We’ve already heard that Flowers wants out. We had the mysterious tweet from De’Quan Menzie after Romeo fired himself as Defensive Coordinator and Routt was released, saying, “change is good.” Crennel clearly had no idea of the defensive unit’s plan to celebrate – and this was his unit. Conversely, the defense had to know that this celebratory behavior would rub Romeo the wrong way. Was this a case of the defense expressing some quite strong opinions and independence from this coaching staff?

The celebration strategy – which may have even extended to the offense with Bowe’s taunting at the goal line – was clearly premeditated. Chiefs’ players may be coming closer together, in defiance of their own coaches. While some may think we are on the way towards a Lord of the Flies situation or an inmates-controlling-the-asylum situation, I disagree. In our unique case, the coaches are the problem here, not the players. I think this whole celebration development is a good thing, and perhaps the best thing we’ve seen all season. The players are coming together and re-learning the swagger and attitude you need to win in the NFL.

But will swagger overcome our coaching deficiencies? Of course not. However, the Steelers game showed that attitude can get us a bit closer to where we want to be. Up next: the Cincinnati Bengals, at Arrowhead. These are not your father’s Bengals. They just dominated the Super Bowl champions last Sunday, beating the Giants 31-13. Andy Dalton and wide receiving A.J. Green are the real deal.

I hope the Chiefs come out with even more attitude against Cincinnati. We may lose because of poor coaching, but we sure as hell shouldn’t lose because of being too laid back and controlled. Talking trash, rubbing people’s faces in it a bit – these tactics force you to back it up. And if that’s the motivation we need (because God knows the coaches aren’t providing that motivation to the players), then I’d say let’s do it. Addicts, we’ve got nothing to lose. But what do you think?!

After the Thursday Night Thrashing at the hands of the San Diego Chargers, we expected some big changes. Addicts everywhere have been clamoring for Clark to pull Pioli and can Crennel. Instead, we had nothing but an eerie silence, like the prelude to a horrific axe murderer jumping out of the shadows in a cheap horror flick. Well, that’s until Monday. With the signing of Shaun Smith (at the very least, I know this brought a smile to every Addict’s face!), the surprise release of Stanford Routt (whoa) and promoting Gary Gibbs to Defensive Coordinator (finally!), the Chiefs’ front office finally is making some moves.

We are an incredible four games out of first place with only eight games played, and we’ve got a road game against a Steelers team riding high after a gutsy win over the Giants. And speaking of cheap horror flicks, we’ve now got to face the NFL’s version of Jason from Friday the 13^th – our very own Todd Haley – dressed in filthy rags with that permanent mask of a scowl on his face. Haley, like Crennel, is a great coach for one side of the ball, but a terrible coach of the whole team. True to form, Haley has the Steelers’ offense on a roll and just like Jason, he’ll be looking for revenge. To make matters worse, the Steelers’ defense is first in the league in yards allowed, first in pass defense and seventh against the run. Haley knows our roster inside and out and understands our players’ tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. He is also burning like a bat out of hell to stick it to Pioli and Hunt. And his craziness will further incite the already feisty defense, all under the bright lights of Monday Night Football.

For Clark Hunt and our beloved Chiefs, something has gotta give, and that something has got to be more than just a few player transactions and a change in coaching that we’ve all been calling for since the second week of the season. In other words, we can’t do the same things over and over again and expect different results, and in particular, with a second straight week of national attention and potential ridicule.

Crennel will have had 10 days to get his team ready (although this luxury didn’t help so much during the bye week). Aside from the litany of obvious changes that we need – stop the turnovers, run the ball more, stop giving up big plays and try leading a ballgame for once, here are some additional changes that I think need to be made if we are to have a prayer of defeating the Steelers.

Copy Haley’s Dink and Dunk Offense: I think we go to the spread offense with Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston, and McCluster all lined up wide and Jamaal Charles as the sole running back. Let Cassel work out of the shotgun with no more than two reads, and hit our receivers for 3-5 yard gains, in the hopes that every now and again, we get a long run after the catch. That might open up a few lanes for Charles as well. Cassel has actually been scrambling pretty well too – that should essentially be his third read, for this year’s team.

Blitz Roethlisberger: Our secondary is so porous that Roethlisberger and Haley will likely just pick us apart. Given the choice between adding an extra coverage player or adding a blitzer, I’d go with a blitzer. Let’s at least put some pressure on Big Ben, rather than let him stand back there all day and pick apart our defense. Let me put it another way: where would you rather see Travis Daniels – knifing in from the secondary or back in coverage?

When in field goal range, go for it on fourth down: Let’s face it. The chances of us winning this game are slim to none. If we ever make it into field goal range against the NFL’s toughest defense, then I think we need to use four downs to matriculate that ball, because we’re not going to beat the Steelers with field goals. We need to give ourselves every opportunity to score touchdowns because I think getting past their 30 yard line is going to be a rare occurrence.

Let Wylie Wun: Whether Arenas starts at cornerback or not, Wylie should take on all weturn duties, both for punting and kickoffs. Wylie can wun weally fast and we need a spawk in the weturn game. Wylie will wun weal good. I pwomise.

Addicts, under the bright lights of Monday Night and aside from the obvious and cosmetic fixes, what do you think our Chiefs need to do to give ourselves a shot at winning?!!

First of all, a heartfelt shout-out to all of our friends on the East Coast. We’re sending our thoughts and prayers. Now to this week’s post.

* * *

For literally centuries, philosophers and scientists have debated the outcome of an immovable object meeting an irresistible force. Tonight, we will see this classic paradox played out in our own unique, AFC-West-way when the Chiefs play the Chargers.

The Chargers’ offense stinks. They haven’t scored a touchdown in six quarters. Our friends at Bolt Beat are just as despondent as we are. Here are two lines from some of this week’s posts there – sound familiar?

“Ok, it has been two days since the worst Chargers game I have ever seen.”

“I am really at a loss for the words that could possibly convey how the Chargers played yesterday against the Browns. Awful, terrible, lethargic…”

Not to be outdone, the Chiefs’ offense is historically bad. We’ve scored one touchdown this entire month. We are approaching a notorious and dismal record of incompetence: we are on pace to smash the forty-seven year old record for turnover differential. The NFL record is -30; we are at -18, with just 44% of our games played thus far. The second worst team this year is the Cowboys – and we are seven turnovers ahead of them. The Texans and Steelers have less than seven turnovers each in total this year. And lest we forget our “defense” (technically, “defense” means “the act of defending against attack, danger, or injury,” so I use the term loosely here), recall that we are ranked 29^th in points per game allowed and have more holes than Scott Pioli’s draft day record.

So here we have it: the vomit that is the Chargers’ offense taking on the “big play” defense of the Chiefs (“big play” of course, referring to the plays we give up, not create). All I can say is, misery loves company.

The classic response to the immovable object/irresistible force question is that there will be a monumental unleashing of energy. That obviously won’t happen here tonight. We may see the exact opposite of that – an incredible, sucking up of energy – a black hole of utter failure. The only logical outcome is a scoreless four quarters, and then both teams fumbling and bumbling through 15 painful minutes, ending in a completely unsatisfying zero-zero tie. There may be ten, fifteen turnovers. There may not be a single completed pass. The refs may change the rules and award points based on first downs.

But – and here comes the surprising plot twist – someone’s gotta win this game (well, except for that tie scenario), so why can’t that be us this week?

I think Daboll was onto something in that Ravens game. Run. Run. And run again. Maybe if we simplify everything, players can just focus on execution. The same applies to the defense. Create man-on-man, one-on-one battles. No wide receiver picks or trick plays. Just line up and create the situations that force one of ours against one of theirs. This Chiefs team is the most undisciplined I can recollect in my 30+ years being a fan. But I also believe that our players have pride and won’t quit. So let’s let the players pin their ears back and just play, and get the coaches out of the way. It’s not like they’ve done a whole heck of a lot to help us win games thus far.

Simplify. Execute. Get the coaches out of the way. Addicts, what say you about tonight?!

If you’re in a funk, there’s no better situation to break out of it than the one we face this Sunday: the Raiders at Arrowhead.

For most of us Addicts, we are mightily pissed. In slightly more scientific terms, our anger is directly proportional to the difference between our preseason expectations and the reality of our season thus far. The bye week did little to assuage the mountain of resentment that is building in Chiefs nation.

Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli should consider this Sunday as their final exam. The questions are easy and have been handed out weeks in advance. There are no trick questions here. If Crennel and Pioli pass, then we will know, as fans, that not all is lost. If they fail, then Clark Hunt needs to fire them immediately. Here are my final exam questions:

Can the Chiefs score on their first drive? Enough is enough. As we’ve heard for the past six weeks, we haven’t scored on our first drive since the old AFL days. Brian Daboll better take this personally. I really don’t care that Quinn is at quarterback this Sunday. This team must score on its first drive, period. I don’t care how we do it either –a 99 yard run by Jamaal, an eighteen play drive consisting of nothing but draw plays and fake punts or hell, even a direct snap to Shaun Draughn who hits a sprinting Brady Quinn down the sideline. Bottom line: the Chiefs must score on their first drive.

Can the Chiefs lead for significant parts of this game? From the opening drive to the final gun, the Chiefs must be competitive. The Raiders are 2-4, but for this final exam, it doesn’t matter who we are playing, because every Chiefs player on that field and every coach on that sideline and every general manager looking down from the box should be performing for their professional life.

Can the Chiefs’ secondary not get burned? And by burned, I mean giving up a big play because of a communication breakdown or an assignment completely missed. These types of big plays have destroyed the Chiefs this year. No more. Not one. Kendrick Lewis and Eric Berry need to get their mojo back, and now. We are six games in. No more excuses.

Can the Chiefs go an entire game without turning the ball over, even once? For some teams, having zero turnovers is semi-normal. For us, we can’t even imagine a game with no turnovers. It is literally unfathomable to go turnover free. You mean some teams play an entire sixty minutes without a bounced pass being lofted into the air for others to grab? This Sunday, we need a zero tolerance policy for turnovers.

Can the Chiefs have fewer than two penalties? And even these two penalties should be widely disputed by us Addicts, because the refs made bad calls. Eric Winston, we’re talking to you here.

Can the Chiefs win? If there ever were a must-win game, than this is it. If we somehow lose to the Raiders, than we will see faithful fans and Addicts alike flee this sinking ship, and fast, filling our Sundays with all the stuff we were saving up to do in January.

Each of these exam questions may seem impossible to accomplish for our Chiefs, but many teams routinely achieve these results. Our expectations have fallen so much in six games that we can’t even imagine success.

Let’s see what you got, Romeo and Scott. You’ve had two weeks to prepare for this game – to scout, to gameplan, to teach – to coach.

Addicts, what are your exam questions for Sunday?!

The Chiefs have gotten blown out in four of their six games this year, including three in a row at home. Against Tampa Bay, which was one of the worst teams in the league, our most valuable players were Shaun Draughn and Edgar Jones for the blocked punt/interception – our only touchdown in eight quarters. We are unprepared. We commit turnovers and penalties with abandon, which means we lack discipline. Our defense gives up big plays with regularity and our offense looks like a body controlled by seven different people. Halftime adjustments are nonexistent. Players are playing well below their potential. Just incredibly, there’s the factoid that we are all probably most sick of: we’ve never led in a game this year. The product that Hunt, Pioli and Crennel have put on the field just stinks.

We’ve all spent hours talking about how bad the Chiefs are and what we’d do to fix our beloved team. Well, here’s our chance. We have 10 games left, including five divisional games, starting in a week and a half against the Raiders. We aren’t mathematically eliminated from the divisional title and a playoff berth by a long shot, but we are, very possibly, the very worst team in the NFL. If you had absolute control of this team, and your butt was on the line, what would you do from here on out?

Here are a three of my ideas, if I was the decider. I’d love to hear yours – concrete, real, actionable ideas for right now, not for the offseason, to help us win games. Because this team is in desperate need of real answers.

Promote Gary Gibbs to Defensive Coordinator. It’s clear to me that the Chiefs are woefully unprepared on defense and unable to make any halftime adjustments worth noting. Crennel is a defensive mastermind. I still believe that. But there’s no way one person can serve as head coach and a lead coordinator on such a crappy team that is so obviously in need of more discipline, professionalism and straight up coaching. I know many of you want to flat out get rid of Crennel but finding a head coach midway through the season is near impossible unless you hire from within, and I just don’t know if we have that replacement in-house. This dual role for Crennel is not working. Let’s at least fix that.

Open up the offensive playbook. Daboll’s playcalling criteria and Romeo’s gameplan have focused on (a) not getting blown out; and (b) playing not to lose. That has gotten us to a 1-5 record and four absolute, unadulterated blowouts. With the talent in this league, we are not going to win any games by rushing 40-50 times a game with no passing threat. Worst case scenario? We pass more and throw a few more interceptions, padding our league-leading turnover differential. Any offensive playcalling that creates predictability is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. My sub-recommendation here: bring Breaston back. Breaston has been nonexistent, with just four catches for 44 yards this entire season. With all the troubles with balls bouncing of our receivers’ hands, Breaston’s as reliable a receiver as we’ve got.

Let the players play. Coaches aside, the players need to make some plays. I think the coaches need to draw up simplified plans that emphasize one-on-one matchups, whether that is for wide receivers, tackles, cornerbacks or defensive ends. Let’s simplify the game plans and let nothing stand between our players and embarrassment but their own pride. No set of clever schemes are going to save this team. It’ll just be players making plays, or not.

Addicts, this is as low as the Chiefs have been. What remedies would you administer, if you were in charge, right now?

Don’t look now, but I think the Chiefs are about to turn the corner.

[pause for throwing of things, pulling of hair and muttering of profanities]

Yes, that’s right. Progress. Ok, I admit, from the angst that Chiefs Nation is going through this week, it might be hard to fathom that we are actually headed in the right direction. But I do have evidence!

First and foremost: our defense is clearly finding their groove. Check out this table of total yards given up by the defense thus far:

Check out those last three games – that is some serious progress, especially because New Orleans is ranked 4^th in the league in total yards, Baltimore is 7^th and San Diego is 18^th. Anyone watching knows that our playmakers – and in particular, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Brandon Flowers and Justin Houston – are starting to make plays and our secondary is finally showing some semblance of cohesion.

Did I mention that we are now second in the entire NFL in rushing, averaging 5.2 yards per carry and 180 yards per game? That means that Jamaal Charles is back and the offensive line has a newly found pride and are taking it out on our opponents. Even on special teams, I have to give a shout out to Terrance Copper, picking up where Jalil Brown left off last week. Copper had the heads up return after the Ravens tried to knock a punt back into the field of play, and he had a timely and smart strip for a fumble, with my season-long special teams hero, Edgar Jones, recovering.

I know, I know, the Ravens game also showed us where we are most assuredly not making progress. These areas of disaster are well documented – Cassel’s inaccuracy and decision-making; the truly incredulous number of turnovers we’ve had; horrendous, untimely and undisciplined penalties; and uh, interesting play calling choices. But think about it – with a predictable and one-dimensional offense, playing our third string defensive end (way to go, Allen Bailey!) and still without Kendrick Lewis and Peyton Hillis, we lost to the Ravens by just three points.

This week was dramatic. The days leading up to the game were full of quarterback controversy and upper management talk, and literally seconds after the game, the airwaves were filled with now national headlines on how we Chiefs fans are a crazy, bloodthirsty and vile crowd. With the air already full of anti-Cassel rhetoric, the game itself turned into a series of mini-justifications for why Cassel should go, such that every play was viewed through that lens. Now don’t get me wrong – I agree that it’s Quinn time. But the anti-Cassel fervor may have masked what otherwise would have been viewed as a success, relative to this dismal season – staying within three points of a very, very good Ravens team. And, importantly, playing with heart. This team did not give up, even after momentum and spirit-crushing penalties and turnovers. That’s hopefully a sign of things to come.

Now before any of you go crazy on me, let me say for the record: this year has sucked. If we don’t win in Tampa Bay, then nevermind – the data points I’m picking out are random and not a trend indicating progress. Only time will tell, but at the end of the day, I still believe defenses can carry you to victory, if paired with a moderately functioning offense and a kick-ass special teams.

But as tough as this Ravens game was, I was heartened, and I was heartened because I think we just may have a very special defense this year. What do you think, Addicts? Do we have something to build on? Can our defense rise to the occasion, become gamechangers and lead us to an AFC West title (or at least a damn wild card?!)?!!

Make no mistake, not all was sucky in last Sunday’s debacle against the Chargers. Ropati Pitoitua was a monster with two sacks and a couple of tackles for loss. Jalil Brown again downed a punt inside the 5, caused a punt return penalty against San Diego because of outstanding coverage and performed admirably in the secondary, filling in for Brandon Flowers for a series. Edgar Jones once again had a great stick on kick return coverage. Even Jovan Belcher showed up, stuffing the run on a 3^rd and 1 and playing aggressively all day long.

But so what. Because we got our asses handed to us on Sunday.

There’s a few things very wrong with our team. Here’s a list of my top five, in reverse order of urgency, as well as remedies the Chiefs can implement over the next 12 games:

5.  Jon Baldwin: Dude isn’t a factor. After a monster pre-season, he’s been AWOL. Assuredly, Baldwin has been victim to Cassel’s tunnel vision and passes that are in danger of hitting the Mars Rover, but he’s also just not been that open.

Remedy: Throw Baldwin the ball more and let him make the athletic plays we drafted him for. We have to learn if Baldwin is for real. And more importantly, other teams need to know that he’s a serious weapon.

4.  Offensive Line Pride: Between Winston’s false starts, holding calls up and down the line and inconsistency throughout, the Chiefs’ O-Line needs to gather together and make a pledge. Either they are going to carry this offense on their shoulders, or they are going to go through the motions for the next 12 games.

Remedy: Get nasty. Bring in Casey Weigmann for some leadership and pride. I don’t care if Weigmann plays a snap, but he can instill some pride of ownership into this unit.

3.  Defensive Secondary: What the hell. I have not seen a unit so disjointed, so without communication, in a long time.

Remedy: Bring back Sabby! Just kidding. Ferreals, pile on Pioli for letting Brandon Carr go. That was a disaster, kinda like letting Tony Gonzales go. I’m not sure what the fix is here: are the players surprised by what they are seeing on the field? Is there a Haley-like headset-play-calling communication gap? Let’s see if this unit can settle down when Kendrick Lewis returns, hopefully this week against the Ravens.

2.  Quarterback: Has anyone noticed that Matt Cassel is, um, not playing so good? I’ve really enjoyed reading the blogs this week, because they are spot on. In summary, (a) Cassel is a liability; and (b) he’s the best quarterback on the roster, by far. I heard during the gamecast that Cassel trained with the same trainer that has been working with Tom Brady and Alex Smith. Brady and Smith seem to be doing pretty ok. What happened to Matt?

Remedy: I think we play Cassel for at least the first half against the Ravens. Consider it a final audition. If he performs well, then fantastic. If he underperforms again, pull him, and put in Brady Quinn. Might as well see if Quinn has anything left. If Cassel continues to play like he played against the Chargers, then we’re well on our way to a 4-12 or 5-11 season, and we’ll need to know whether Quinn can continue being a backup, or if he and Cassel are both trade bait as backup quarterbacks for other teams.

1.  Coaching and Overall Preparedness: Remember in elementary school when your school would have tornado drills to prepare you for emergencies? If the Chiefs were running those drills, we’d all panic and probably be dead by now. There are very little signs of preparedness. That means things like having some knowledge of what to expect from opponents. That means throwing in wrinkles into schemes that actually catch other teams by surprise. That means having a game plan that at least works a little, rather than resulting in three score deficits after ten minutes of play. We are just. Not. Prepared. To. Play.

This one falls squarely on Romeo. Our defense is playing well below our talent level, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what you want. My guess is that the pressures and daily maintenance of being head coach are simply preventing Crennel from doing what he does best: creating winning defensive schemes. The defensive game plan going in is just wrong (single-cover Gates? Are you kidding?!) and while halftime adjustments have been decent, it’s just not enough to overcome double digit deficits after two quarters. In a word, our defense is a joke, and it’s not because of talent. Week in and week out, we are going up against the most creative offensive minds in the business, and we are just not up to the task right now.

Remedy: There’s a reason that the norm in the NFL is to have a head coach, an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator, represented in three human bodies. The demands of winning an NFL game are just too much and too complicated to combine these duties into two people. We all hate Josh McDaniel, but that guy is an offensive genius. Imagine game-planning against him with literally half the number of hours and mental energy each week. It’s just not smart. Look, I applauded the hiring of Romeo as much as anyone, and I still have hope that he can be a decent head coach. But no one can do two NFL senior level jobs at once. Haley tried it, with miserable results. Crennel has tried it, with equally horrendous outcomes. I’d even let Crennel pick the job he wants – head coach or defensive coordinator. Just pick ONE. Then hire the other, ASAP.

Sorry for the harsh thoughts here, Addicts, but we are pissed off and need some answers! What remedies do the Chiefs need most, Addicts?!!!!

Put the sharp knives away.

If ever there were a statement game, a game to show some old-fashioned toughness, last week’s was it. Down 18 points, 20 minutes to play… well, you know the story. A lot of great articles have been written about last Sunday (isn’t it so great reading all the blogs after a win?!!!), with many of them focused on how this game was make-or-break. I couldn’t agree more.

Underneath his cool demeanor, Romeo knew what was at stake. We almost had a full on mutiny prior to Sunday, with sportswriters, bloggers, fans and commentators, all after Pioli’s head, Romeo’s head, Cassel’s head and more, with many, myself included, questioning the character of this team.

But Romeo had his troops ready to play. The performances by Kansas City’s stars were astounding. But, not to take anything away from them, we knew that if the Chiefs were going to rebound, it would have to come from Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Eric Berry, Brandon Flowers and of course, Justin Houston. Even KC’s offensive line—Albert, Asamoah, Lilja, Winston and newbie Jeff Allen—got a lot of well-deserved kudos in the press. Each of them delivered.

But here’s few places where we weren’t expecting real toughness, which means, to me, Romeo had the entire team, from top to bottom, ready to go:

Jalil Brown: Jalil was about to be a goat of this game, with that holding penalty that negated Javier Arenas’ nifty return deep into Saints territory in the fourth quarter. But that jaw-dropping, perfectly executed leap into the end zone, with the pirouette in the air and the gentle toss of the ball back into the field of play on Colquitt’s punt had such impeccable grace, timing and impact. Jalil could have hung his head in shame or tried too hard to overcome his holding penalty, as might be expected from a second year player. Instead, he did what champions do: he came back and made an aggressive, game-changing play with the game on the line.

Edgar Jones: Yes, that’s right, Edgar freaking Jones! Edgar was a beast on the kickoff team, taking his 262 pounds barreling through the Saints return team blockers twice for key sticks on Darren Sproles. Dude is a linebacker. I sure as heck wouldn’t want to see him coming at me at full speed. It looked like he was running about a 4.3 forty out there. He was fired up after each blast too; LOVE THAT on special teams!

Powe, and to a lesser extent, Poe: Both held their ground and consistently jammed up the middle of the line. They were the essence of toughness – slogging through the hand-to-hand combat every down.

Dwayne Bowe: OK, I know this post is supposed to be about some of our lesser known players, but Bowe took a hard fall after Cassel sent one about 5 feet over his head. After shaking the cobwebs off, he ran back to the huddle, forcibly waving Terrance Copper back to the sidelines. Bowe wasn’t about to come out in the fourth quarter.

Stanford Routt: That was a big time interception against the NFL’s top quarterback. And nice moves running that ball back, Stanford! Welcome to Kansas City. We love you.

Sunday, we’ve got the Chargers, who just got humiliated (like us) last week against the Falcons. I think we do more of the same: keep the game plan simple, and show the Chargers who’s boss. Run right at them—they gave up 119 yards rushing to Michael Turner and the Falcons last week and there’s no reason we can’t do the same, and more.

On defense, let’s all hope the Chiefs defense has finally turned the corner. With Houston’s game tape, we may see double coverage on both Hali and Houston, opening up space for another unsung hero to step forward. Let’s bring back sour-faced, pouting Philip Rivers! And for you, Edgar Jones, let’s see more of that pad-popping special teams play!

Addicts, who will be this week’s unsuspecting hero who shows true KC toughness?!!

The sharp knives are out.

With the Chiefs’ back-to-back embarrassments, there is good reason to start pointing fingers. We could talk about Eric Winston, after a stellar game one, getting multiple holding penalties and blocking like a spaghetti strainer. We could talk about Eric Berry, the leader of a porous and confused secondary that once again made a hero out of a clearly mediocre Ryan Fitzpatrick. We could talk about Jamaal Charles (did he really have six carries for three yards?) or Peyton Hillis and his buzz-killing fumble. We could talk about Tyson Jackson, Glenn Dorsey and Dontari Poe getting blown off the line, freeing up massive running lanes. We could talk about our truly laughable special teams return coverage, which may literally be the worst in the entire league. We could also spend hours looking at the coaching staff. The Chiefs look unprepared and tentative and without a true identity to hang their hats on.

The Chiefs are playing like a disembodied marionette, with no connection between their disparate, lifeless parts. We had the same length of preseason as the Falcons and Bills, but those teams both look in mid-season form while we are struggling in literally every phase of the game. And let’s not even talk about the Chargers, who look scary good and are already separating themselves from the rest of the AFC West.

What’s missing from the Chiefs, and uncharacteristically I might add, is plain old toughness. We need Brian Waters-type nastiness out of Hudson, Lilja, Albert, Winston and Asamoah. We need Brandon Flowers to get his swagger back. We need Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry saying nobody is going to gain yardage on us. We need Baldwin, Bowe and Breaston blocking all the way downfield, fighting cornerbacks for the ball and winning those hand-to-hand battles.

Did you see last week when McCluster got nailed after catching a ball over the middle? He got right back up, and you could see that he was telling everyone on the Bills, “you call that a hit? You gotta bring more than that.” That’s what we need. Did you see Matt Cassel diving head first into the endzone? We need more of that too. Where’s the chest-thumping? Where’s the attitude?

How do you produce this toughness? At this level, when each player is fairly dominant physically, toughness is all attitude. And it starts on our offensive and defensive lines. I want to see dive plays up the middle with our tackles and guards blowing back the Saints line, already suffering from a poor run defense. On defense, I want to see Derrick Johnson charging in behind Poe, Jackson and Dorsey, stuffing running backs behind the line of scrimmage and getting in Drew Brees’ face. And this toughness needs to extend to our special teams coverage units. We need to blow up a few returners, plain and simple.

This week, the Chiefs go up against the New Orleans Saints, who are also 0-2 and will be defending their honor on their home court. To be brutally honest, I’m not expecting us to win this game. Our defense is just horrible right now, and the Saints just have too many offensive weapons. I hope and pray that I am wrong, and will be doing my part, yelling at the TV, to spur the Chiefs on to victory. But what I really want to see is that competitive fire back. There is absolutely no reason, with the talent that we have, that teams should be blowing us out.

If it takes a game where we simplify our offense, defense and special teams and just show some toughness again, then so be it. Because it’s time for the Chiefs to toughen up. If we don’t do that now, we have little hope for 2012. Addicts, what do you think is needed to turn this ship around, and fast?

I really like the 24-hour rule that pros and coaches have: don’t celebrate or dwell on a game for longer than 24 hours. My dwelling on the season opener ended Monday afternoon. It was painful, but I’m over it, and am now focused on the Bills like a hungry diner staring at a plate full of ribs.

I mean the Chiefs. I mean the Bills. I mean the Chiefs.

As it turns out, the Bills are the Chiefs’ doppleganger, and this Sunday’s game will be like playing against ourselves while looking in a mirror. To wit:

Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Cassel are twins separated at birth. Both run hot and cold. Both have even been called “Jekyll and Hyde” by various members of the local and national press. In Week 1, Fitzpatrick went 18-32 for 195 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. But check this out:

• First half: 80 yards, two interceptions, 38.9 passer rating
• Second half: 115 yards, three touchdowns

Now who does that remind you of? Cassel could do no wrong in the first half of the Falcons game. The second half was the return of Mr. Hyde, including that woeful cross-field interception. I would still take Cassel over Fitzpatrick any day of the week, but the streakiness is real.

Need more evidence?

Let’s look at the rushing attack. Although Fred Jackson injured his knee, C.J. Spiller ran for 169 yards. The Chiefs are also built for the run and ran for 152 yards against the Falcons. Between Jackson/Spiller and Jamaal/Peyton, both teams understand their core strength.

Dominant pass rusher? The Bills are built around new acquisition Mario Williams. We have Tamba Hali of course. Williams, honestly, played like crap last Sunday; Tamba didn’t play at all. Both defenses suffered immeasurably and neither had a go-to #2 rusher to get the job done with any consistency.

On special teams, the young Bills team surrendered a punt return for a touchdown against the Jets. The Chiefs gave up a 77-yard kickoff return because two rookies couldn’t keep their lane.

I could go on and on. In a nutshell, the Chiefs and Bills are way more alike then different. Both have quarterbacks that run hot and cold. Both have defenses with great potential on paper, but get blown out more often than we think they ought to. Both have stellar running games but can’t seem to maintain the complementary passing game needed to win. Both teams have young, and sometimes undisciplined players. And both teams are maddeningly frustrating to diehard fans!

So what do we do about this situation–essentially playing ourselves–on Sunday? Both teams have similar strengths and weaknesses. Both teams will be fired up for redemption. Left to their own devices, the Chiefs and the Bills would probably draw up similar game plans coming into this Sunday’s contest. But in chess, if you continue to mirror your opponent’s exact move, you will get checkmated quickly.

So what will be the new wrinkle, the variation in the plan that creates one victor out of two very similar teams?

It won’t be on offense. For both teams, their best defense is a good offense. That means both the Bills and the Chiefs will try to win the time of possession battle. Against the Falcons, we held the ball for 32 minutes and the Falcons for 28. We need an even greater margin, and nix the turnovers. And both teams will try to keep defenses off balance, in order to create more opportunities for the quarterbacks. Daboll did a great job of playcalling through two quarters against the Falcons. His use of McCluster and Moeaki was superb, and you gotta love seeing Cassel take the occasional medium-length pass every now and again.

It won’t be defense, either. Hali and Mario Williams will have similar games and both units will try to contain, not stop, the opposing offenses.

I think the twist this Sunday may involve special teams play, and more specifically, the return game. Which special teams unit will have the discipline to stay in their lane? Which unit will break one free for a touchdown? With two such evenly matched teams, this game rides on the shoulders of our kickoff and punt units, on both sides of the ball. Javier Arenas, Andy Studebaker, Terrance Copper–this game is all about you!

What’s do you think, Addicts? What will be the unusual variation that puts the Chiefs over the top this week?!!!

It’s amazing, really, that we survived the offseason.

Some of you-–the lucky ones–actually like baseball and have had months of sports-related distractions. Others of you, like me, who would rather re-live our first junior high school dance than watch baseball, survived by stringing together a desperate list of last straws in sports. We found a team to root for in the NBA playoffs, learned to love/hate LeBron, tried to get into hockey, even tried watching billiards on ESPN on Saturday afternoons.  And let’s all thank God right now for the Olympics. That at least, took up a solid two weeks of pretty decent sports-related drama in what was otherwise thirty-three weeks of nothingness.

As Addicts, we helped each other during this difficult time. We prognosticated. We whined. We spent more weeks talking about the draft then most normal people spend raising their children. We even debated whether or not the Pro Bowl should exist (for the record, “no,” and “who cares”). And yes, on more than one occasion, we turned on each other in posts and comments, just like those crazy little kids did in Lord of the Flies. That’s what happens without football.

Now, as we prepare ourselves to make our heroic return this Sunday, it is time to focus. We have trained hard this offseason, in preparation for this home opener. So without further ado, I present my top five signs to watch for to prove that the Chiefs are crushing the Falcons. If you see any of these things happening, then it’s a lock: the Chiefs are crushing the Falcons!

#5. Romeo’s got his team PUMPED! In the sideline huddle before the special teams takes the field for the kick-off, Romeo is spotted crouched down right in the middle, yelling “whose house? OUR house? Whose house? OUR house!!!” The Chiefs’ players are momentarily stunned, seeing Coach so fired up. But Stanford Routt, who played under Tom Cable and therefore thinks that coaches acting all crazy is actually perfectly normal, doesn’t skip a beat and joins in heartily, bringing the rest of the Chiefs along.

#4. The Chiefs win the kickoff and defer. Succop kicks it 9 yards deep and the Falcons returner, Jacquizz Rodgers, decides to take it out. Poor Jacquizz. The Chiefs special teams unit looks like the forest scene from House of Flying Daggers. Terrance Copper comes knifing through the Falcons unit like a blade through a forest of gently swaying bamboo trees, and spears Rodgers at the 8 yard line so hard you can see the impression of his shoulder pad come bulging out of Rodgers’ back.

#3. On 3^rd and nine, on their first series, Matt Ryan drops back to pass. Justin Houston has just Michael-Phelped Falcons right tackle Tyson Clabo with a swim move so fast it would have won gold. Just as he’s about to flatten Ryan for his first sack of the season, here comes Javier Arenas on a corner blitz, literally flying through the air. To make up for Tamba’s one game suspension, Crennel is throwing in some special blitz packages. In this one, Arenas starts 15 yards deep, then just as the offense is breaking their huddle, he sprints ten yards even deeper into the secondary before starting a giant arc until he’s running at subsonic speed but from the opposite side from where he lined up. As Ryan snaps the ball, Arenas launches himself at the line of scrimmage. He quickly picks up the jet stream so he flattens out, arms at his side, like Superman when he goes into bullet-flying mode. He sees Ryan fleeing Houston, hones in and nails Ryan in the chest for a safety. Ryan looks like he may cry.

#2. On the Chiefs’ first possession, the O-line is feeling nasty. They bump some Falcons defenders just walking to the first huddle. First play: Albert absolutely crushes All-Pro Falcons defensive end John Abrahamson. Sensing a big run, Falcons linebacker Akeem Dent tries to slow Albert down. With just a slight twist of his shoulder, Albert transfers 10 tons of chi that sends Dent flying, learned from Grandmaster Joe Kim’s martial arts training. Hillis trucks through for 14 yards. Second play: Charles runs behind Eric Winston, who has just blown a hole so big that Charles slows up, so that Ryan Lilja can come over all the way from his left guard position to play fullback for a play (Lilja, postgame: “Yeah, Jamaal and I talked about that. I’ve always wanted to be a running back, so we just kinda figured out a signal: when Jamaal tugs twice on his facemask and gives me the old Chiefs wolfpack sign, I know to come on over.”) Just to prove a point, the Chiefs proceed to run the ball 12 straight times, culminating in the “welcome back, Jamaal” 12-yard lightning bolt run into the end zone.

#1. And the top reason that the Chiefs will crush the Falcons: at halftime, with the Chiefs up 24-0, Tony Gonzales walks over to the fifty-yard line, retires, then spends the rest of the game rooting for the Chiefs on the red-and-gold sideline!

Addicts, how ready are YOU for Sunday?!! Let’s go Chiefs!!!!

I’m done thinking, talking, analyzing and yelling over our two preseason blowouts. I’m also done reading too much into these blow-outs, if for no other reason than to try to enjoy the last days of summer.

It’s time to turn the page. We’ve got the Packers at Lambeau, tonight. This is the fourth and final game before the season opener against the Falcons. The Packers are also 1-2 this preseason, but unlike the Chiefs, the Packers aren’t rebuilding – they are Super Bowl contenders. Our players have much more to prove tonight, both individually and as a team. But rather than go position-by-position and compare who needs to do what, I think there’s a larger point here.

The Chiefs need to play some good, old fashioned team football. That is, we need to play as one unit, not as an offense and defense; nor as receivers and rushers; nor as lineman, linebackers and defensive backs. We need to play as one organism, united in purpose. We’ve seen it before – when the offense fumbles, the defense gets a sack or a stuff. When the defense gives up a score, the offensive line takes it personally and shepherds the Chiefs on a grind-it-out, 80-yard drive. When we fall behind, the special teams unit comes up with a big return or block. And in the best of all possible worlds, the offense, defense and special teams continuously build off one another, creating a rolling momentum.

In the preseason, with so many positional battles, I find myself getting caught up in the individual competitions – who’s going to make the cut, who’s going to start. It makes me lose sight of how football games are won: as a team, with each player acting as a piston and a catalyst to build contagious momentum and high performance. I guess they now call that “complementary football.” But it’s really just working together, for common purpose.

Has Romeo Crennel and his staff been using the preseason to build this level of teamwork, in addition to testing and vetting individual players? Is there evidence that the Chiefs are acting and thinking more like one unit? Amidst all of the personnel experiments and try-outs, perhaps the Chiefs’ coaching staff have been working on chemistry – making sure players, packages and units trust one another and stay in their lanes.

What are the indicators of success here? I can think of three, in particular. First, players in different units rise to the occasion. We need to see big plays in response to bad plays. Second, how is momentum being carried from offense to defense to special teams and back again?

And finally, can you see leaders step up in key moments to keep the team focused? In previous posts, I’ve referred to Shane Battier’s little-known nickname when he played for the Houston Rockets: Lego. He was given this nickname because when he was on the court, he made all the other pieces fit together. A Lego can be a player like Eric Berry or Matt Cassel or a coach, doing the work behind the scenes to bring focus and unity of purpose to the team.

What do you think, Addicts? Have you seen signs that the Chiefs’ level of teamwork will be where it needs to be for the September 9^th kickoff against the Falcons? I’ll be watching for signs of that tonite – let me know what you see!

Many NFL writers mock fans for the emotional rollercoaster we put ourselves on during the preseason, when a meaningless win sends us soaring and a meaningless loss has us down in the dumps. Well, guilty as charged. My emotional state and overall work productivity is way down this week compared to last, after our hapless loss to the Rams followed by the excitement of Bowe returning, only to plummet again because of the Tamba incident.

I don’t really care if the experts think the preseason is meaningless. Starters are playing against starters for a quarter, and grown men, fighting for a livelihood, are playing against other grown men playing for the same thing. Both teams are using vanilla playbooks, both teams are worried about injuries and both teams are testing new players. But at this level of performance, that desire to compete and win should be paramount, and that is reflected in the final score.

So yes, I’m bummed by the loss and the Tamba incident. But even so, sitting here halfway through the preseason, the Chiefs are still sitting pretty compared to the rest of the AFC West. Here are a few reasons why.

Divisional Quarterback Comparison

In the first two games, Phillip Rivers has thrown three interceptions and Carson Palmer has thrown two. Palmer had just a miserable second game, going 13-24 for just 107 yards. Even Peyton, who we have to assume will be the best QB in the division, has thrown three interceptions this year, including two in the red zone. What about Cassel? How about 18-24, 209 yards, a touchdown and zero picks? Way to go, Mattie! In all seriousness, Cassel looks to be in 2010 form.

Team Rushing

Clearly, the Chiefs want to run the ball this year. And we’re off to great start. We are sixth in the AFC in rushing this preseason, averaging 4.0 yards per carry. Our Western Division counterparts? The Raiders are ninth, The Broncos are eleventh and the Chargers are fifteenth with just 2.2 yards per carry. Anyone who’s seen a Chiefs game this year doesn’t need statistics to prove the point though. Charles is looking fast, Hillis truly is a beast and the offensive line-– left and right side-– are opening up holes that would make Will Shields proud.

Wide Receivers

Thank God Dwayne Bowe is back! Now Daboll has all of his chess pieces in place. With Bowe, Baldwin and Breaston, our receivers easily top the division. The Raiders’ unit is a bit banged up: Denarius Moore has hamstring issues, Darrius Heyward-Bey has a slight shoulder injury and Jacoby Ford has a sprained foot. The Chargers unfortunately, just lost Vincent Brown for perhaps the entire year with a broken ankle. The Broncos receivers will likely be good, especially with Manning throwing to them. But at least right now, Manning seems to be going first to Brandon Stokely and Jacob Tamme, his old, and older, teammates. The fact that Manning has three interceptions shows that he just hasn’t developed timing yet with Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas. I hope you’re noticing too that I haven’t even discussed our tight end triple threat and Dexter McCluster in this section!

Pass Rush

Granted, the defense just played horribly last week. But compare the pass rush you’ve seen in these first two preseason games with all of last year. Tamba is as ferocious as ever (I know, I know, the suspension is a killer!). And Justin Houston is living up to the preseason hype. He’s been a monster as a rusher. Easily, we have the best pair of rushers in the division.

Derrick Johnson

The man is a beast. Opponents may start punting on third and short.

What do you think, Addicts? How are we stacking up in the AFC West thus far?

This Saturday, August 18, the Chiefs tee up episode two of the proving ground. Traveling to the St. Louis Rams for the annual Governor’s Cup, we’ll get a bit more clarity on some key positional battles.

I just watched the Chiefs-Cardinals game on the NFL Network’s Preseason Live package (as an aside, I love this package. On the condensed view, you get to see the entire game in just thirty minutes, which is just perfect for a preseason game!).

Here’s what I see as the key positional battles as we creep closer to the first major release of players on August 27, when we go from a roster of 90 players down to 75, on our way to 53 by August 31.

Linebacker

In 2011, the Chiefs kept eight linebackers. For 2012, we have four slotted in for sure: Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston and yes, I’m putting Jevon Belcher in the “for sure” camp. Assuming we keep eight backers again, that leaves four slots for:

• Cory Greenwood
• Edgar Jones
• Cameron Sheffield
• Brandon Siler
• Andy Studebaker

Who’s the odd linebacker out? Greenwood, Sheffield and Jones played well in game one. Studebaker is a known, and loved commodity. He almost got another interception against the Cardinals. He’s not the fastest, not the strongest and doesn’t have the best moves, but he’s got that nose for the football and he is a monster on special teams. Siler played sparingly but he was brought in for a good reason before his injury last year. I think this might be a race between Jones (sixth year) and Greenwood (third year) for the last linebacker slot. We’ll see how they all fare in game two.

Cornerback

Last year, the Chiefs kept five cornerbacks. This year, four are a lock: Brandon Flowers, Stanford Routt, Javier Arenas (who doubles as a returner) and Jalil Brown, whose size and athleticism just can’t be ignored. That leaves four players fighting for one spot:

• Travis Daniels
• DeQuan Menzie
• Jacques Reeves
• Donald Washington

This year, the Chiefs may keep six cornerbacks, since Arenas could be primarily viewed as a returner. I hope they do. Daniels is a proven, fairly reliable corner who can also play safety. Menzie, I think, has great potential, coming from that great Alabama defensive tradition. Reeves played a decent game against the Cardinals, but unfortunately, I think he and Washington are out.

Running Back

This one isn’t as controversial as you may think. We have five running backs who all should contribute. Jamaal Charles and Peyton Hillis or a lock of course. That leaves Shaun Draughn who was so impressive against the Cards, Cyrus Gray, and our only true fullback, Shane Bannon. Luckily, last year, the Chiefs kept five running backs. I hope all five stay.

Tight End

Steve Maneri. Who would’ve thought?! Last year, the Chiefs kept three tight ends. Sorry, Jake O’Connell.

Wide Receiver

This one is difficult. Last year, the Chiefs kept six wide receivers, although they classified Dexter as a running back. This year, McCluster is clearly a receiver. So, assuming Bowe plays, we have four locks: Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston and McCluster. That leaves just two slots for:

• Josh Bellamy
• Terrance Copper
• Junior Hemingway
• Jeremy Horne
• Zeke Markshausen
• Jamar Newsome
• Devon Wylie

I think Wylie makes the final 53 for sure. That leaves one slot left. Newsome was targeted six times in game one, with just two catches. Bellamy was 0 for 3. Copper has shown flashes but just hasn’t proven himself over the years. Horne has had a decent camp, and we haven’t heard much from Hemingway. Markshausen has also been pretty quiet.

I’m torn here, Addicts. This is a tough one. Do we assign two receivers to the practice squad, and keep Copper or Horne? Do we test out Markshausen, who has shown flashes in the past, and Hemingway, who has a bit of upside?

I think game two will be a big test for the wide receivers. This position is the most difficult to whittle down, followed by linebacker. What do you think, Addicts? Which positional competition will be most highlighted in game two?!

Quick trivia questions, Addicts: First, what do Justin Houston, Tony Moeaki and Ryan Succup have in common?

And second, which of the following Chiefs belong with the group above: Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson, Devon Wylie, De’Quan Menzie, Cyrus Gray or Junior Hemingway?

On the first question, you have likely surmised that each player is a starter, and you may have also have remembered that none of them were first round picks. But all of them were, in my opinion, the best diamonds-in-the-rough for each of Pioli’s draft seasons (acknowledging that, in 2009, Pioli was essentially a recipient of the previous regime’s scouting reports).

I love the draft for so many reasons, but first among them is watching non-first rounders really shine in their rookie season: my definition of a diamond in the rough. To succeed, to be an impact player in your first year-– and not a first rounder-– is testament to each player’s personal drive, preparation and athleticism, and to the smarts of the entire Kansas City Chiefs’ scouting department.

Briefly, the diamonds in the rough for the first three years of the Pioli were, in my opinion:

• 2009: The Chiefs selected Tyson Jackson first. But the diamond in the rough was clearly Mr. Irrelevant, Ryan Succup, who was great in 2009 and has locked down our placekicking duties for years to come.

• 2010: Moeaki was a third rounder for the Chiefs in 2010, the year we got Eric Berry with the number one pick. He immediately impacted our offense, which was still suffering from the post-Tony Gonzales tight end malaise. Who can forget his one-handed touchdown grab against the Forty-Niners, too!

• 2011: Houston was the third round pick of last year’s draft (Jonathan Baldwin went first). He didn’t see the field much in the first half of the season, but we all know how he came on late in the season and is now most fans’ pick for the breakout player of the year for the Chiefs in 2012. Houston provided one of the most gratifying performances of the year, with 1.5 sacks of Tim Tebow. In fact, watching Houston run down Tebow play after play was a precious moment.

Now we come to the harder of the two questions: which 2012, non-first round rookie will be an immediate impact player in 2012 and earn diamond-in-the-rough honors this year?

As a reminder, after Dontari Poe was selected, the Chiefs selected:

2. Jeff Allen, OG

3. Donald Stephenson, OT

4. Devon Wylie, WR

5. De’Quan Menzie, Safety

6. Cyrus Gray, RB

7. Junior Hemingway, WR

Diamonds in the rough have to perform in year one. So Jeff Allen, who I think will be a stud guard in 2013 and for years to come, probably won’t make the cut for an immediate impact player. Stephenson, who doesn’t have as much upside as Allen, is in the same boat, backing up Brandon Albert and Eric Winston this year. Hemingway may find his way onto special teams perhaps, but I don’t expect him to be a top performer this year.

That leaves three darn good players: Devon Wylie, De’Quan Menzie and Cyrus Gray.

All three will see some playing time this year. But I think Wylie gets the edge. I think Brian Daboll will employ Wylie creatively this year, and often, to take advantage of his amazing quicks. Menzie will be good but just may not make it on the field as much. Gray may fall into the same camp. If Bowe is a no-show, then Wylie will be an even more enticing target for Cassel’s short passing game and Daboll’s gameplans. I would love to see Wylie catch fire this year. He could lead the team in yards after the catch, turning five-yard passes into 15 and 20 yard gains, making nickel backs crazy trying to cover him.

Who do you think will be the 2012 diamond in the rough rookie, Addicts?

The reports out of OTA’s and training camp are unanimous – Jon Baldwin is poised to have a breakout year. He’s been described as “a monster” who hasn’t dropped a pass yet. Observers are saying his chemistry with Cassel is real after an off-season of workouts together.

This is great news. I love Baldwin. I agree heartily that 2012 will be huge for the second year player, and one worthy of a first round pick. And given how hard Baldwin has worked for the past year and a half, in the face of adversity with the Thomas Jones incident and the lack of an offseason last year, he deserves all the accolades he’s earned thus far.

To make things even rosier for us Chiefs fans, we have all of our offensive playmakers back – Charles and Moeaki look to be in pre-ACL form, Breaston looks as sharp than ever, McCluster looks as fast as ever, and we’ve added Peyton Hillis as well as promising backups Devon Wylie, Cyrus Gray, Josh Bellamy, Junior Hemingway and more.

The icing on the cake is Brian Daboll, who is chomping at the bit with all of these high performance chess pieces to put into his diabolical schemes. He is reportedly a wizard game planner with an aggressive, attacking style.

So why am I not exceedingly happy about our offense?

It’s because I can imagine what the new Jon Baldwin would be with Dwayne Bowe on the field. Remember Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin? Remember Jerry Rice and John Taylor? Remember Lynn Swann and John Stallworth? Remember Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne? That’s what Baldwin and Bowe can become.

Without Bowe, Baldwin gets the #1 cornerback on him at all times, as well as the double team. With Bowe on the field, Baldwin likely gets the #2 cornerback on him at all times. In real terms, that means instead of Champ Bailey (I know, he’s getting older, but Champ is still damn good) on Baldwin, Baldwin can terrorize Tracy Porter or a new rookie starter for the Broncos. When we play the Raiders, whose secondary will have two completely new cornerbacks, Baldwin will just destroy their #2 cornerback, with Bowe on the field.

I do not want to take anything away from Breaston and the crop of new young receivers we have. But Dwayne Bowe is a known, dominant force. Defenses must game plan around him. At least for the first half of the season, when opponents won’t have as much scouting on Baldwin, Baldwin will eat up these #2 cornerbacks. And then what will defensive coordinators do during halftime? Move the #1 corner to Baldwin? Take the double team from Bowe? Let’s hope they do, because then the Bowe Show moves to the second half!

In my many years of being an Addict, we finally have an offense that is near perfect on paper. It reminds of the Vermeil years. I cannot tell you how disappointed I will be, after all these years, if we do not get all the chess pieces on the board so that we can realize our full offensive potential, because of a contract dispute.

I’m not going to get into whose fault it is that Bowe isn’t in camp. The rules are complicated and each side has their own rationale and interests to protect. I’m just saying, put the man on the field. It’s no surprise that some national pundits are saying the Chiefs may be a surprise Super Bowl contender. Without Bowe, those predictions fall empty.

It’s truly these types of things – character, leadership, getting all of your guys signed up and on the field – that separate the teams that go deep into the playoffs, and those whose seasons end on December 30.

Addicts, how important do you think it is to have Bowe back, or are we fine without him?

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”

- Albert Einstein

The scheduling rules in the NFL demand that each division team plays similar opponents each year. On paper at least, there is no advantage offered by the schedule.

But one consistent theme throughout Crown Noise has been how, in the NFL, the intangibles – things like leadership, chain of command and character – are the difference makers between champions and everyone else. Another big intangible is timing. And time may not be on our side for the 2012 season.

Our home opener is against the Atlanta Falcons. Now no team wants to be away for someone else’s home opener, when the fans and players are as pumped up as can be. But with KC-favorite Tony Gonzalez coming back to town, the Falcons will get a slightly warmer reception than say the Chargers did in 2010.

The real timing issues come in the last part of the season however. We get the Browns in week 14, after Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson have had a chance to really gel. As a comparison, the Browns play the Chargers in Week 8 and the Raiders in Week 14. Only the Broncos come after us, at Week 16.

With the Indianapolis Colts, it’s even worse. Andrew Luck gets 15 weeks to prepare before we face him in Week 16. Luck is going to be a great quarterback – I would have much preferred we get him in the first few weeks of the season (the Colts do not play any of the other AFC West teams this year).

But the timing conundrum is most severe when looking at the Peyton Manning-led Broncos. Oakland sees Manning in Week 4, when the entire Broncos team will still be learning to adjust to Manning’s cadence, line of scrimmage changes and sharper passes. The Raiders then see Manning again in Week 14. The Chargers get Manning in Weeks 6 and 11.

But the Chiefs don’t play our two games against Manning until Weeks 12 and 17, leaving Manning and his teammates plenty of time to work out their new kinks.

These are tough breaks, time-wise, for our Chiefs. How do we adjust, so that we can use the intangible of time to our best advantage?

One way is to have our scouting team, coaches and players pour over game tape even more vigilantly during the heart of the season. For these late season games where timing is working against us, we can turn the tables on time by conducting more research on these teams than they conduct on us, to try to put time to our advantage. Perhaps we identify tells of Andrew Luck or his lineman, after 15 weeks of studying every detail of their play. Perhaps we see Manning’s young receivers’ weaknesses or Manning’s play-calling tendencies just a bit more clearly.

Another way to make time our friend in these late season games is conditioning. The Chiefs of late have been one of the best-conditioned teams around. With our smash-mouth running game and relentless linebackers, we must be in better shape than each of our late season opponents are, in order to put time on our side.

And lastly, Daboll and Crennel can save their new schemes, trick plays and unusual formations for later in the season, once scouting teams get used to a certain amount of predictability out of the Chiefs.

The differences between winning and losing are so small in the NFL. Addicts, do you think the Chiefs can turn a timing weakness into a timing strength?!!

Do not enter the battle unless you know you are going to win.

- Sun Tzu

Training Camp opens July 28^th in St. Joe. Now we begin the hard work that will ultimately determine who the Chiefs will be in 2012. Our success or failure will be determined by things like how well the players and coaches internalize the playbook; who wins critical position battles; what sort of shape the players are in; and which players make the cut. As Sun Tzu says, the determinant of winning is what happens before you step onto the battlefield.

A lot of posts this summer have been devoted to the position battles, and for good reason. There are key questions, like who the #2 quarterback will be; who will emerge as our slot receiver; whether Jevon Belcher will beat out Brandon Siler at weakside linebacker; and whether Jeff Allen will push Ryan Lilja at left guard. Each of those questions will come out of the wash in the coming weeks.

I want to delve into three other critical puzzles from training camp that need to be solved. These puzzles may well play a decisive role in whether the Chiefs compete for the AFC Championship or not. All of these puzzles revolve around chemistry and leadership, which I maintain are the critical difference makers between championship teams and well, teams like the Chiefs who have fielded over the years. My top three puzzles that need solving from this year’s training camp are:

Offensive Leadership: We lost some key locker room leaders in Casey Wiegmann and Thomas Jones. During practice, team meetings, on the sidelines and in the huddle, who will emerge as leaders on offense? Who will be the players that motivate others, hold players accountable for sloppy play or misbehavior and bring out the best in each Chief? Will it be Matt Cassel? Past reports have shown Cassel to be a commander in the huddle, a gym rat off the field and a fiery competitor on the field. Might it be Ryan Lilja or Brandon Albert? Could it be Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston or Jamaal Charles? Every championship team has a universally respected, veteran leader or two that takes charge and puts the team on his shoulders. It is unclear to me right now who that leader will be on the offensive side, although we have several great candidates.

Defensive Identity: We are absolutely loaded with talent on the defensive side. From two lockdown corners to two outside linebackers who can both rush to a new tank in the middle of our defense in Dontari Poe to perhaps the soon-to-be best field general in the league in Eric Berry we have all the ingredients we need to win. But what will the identity of this 2012 Chiefs defense be? Romeo is famous for his bend-but-don’t-break defenses. But to get us to the next level (multiple playoff wins in 2012), we need something more than bend-but-don’t-break. I wonder what Crennel will have in mind after seeing what’s he got in training camp? Will we be the Monsters of the Midway or the Steel Curtain? Will we have the intimidating toughness of the Ray Lewis-led Ravens? Will we have the big play potential of Troy Polamalu’s Steelers? What will emerge as the overall character of this defense? Whatever it is won’t be known by just looking at the quality of the personnel. Our defensive character will emerge as a unit, not just emanating from one or two individuals.

Chain of Command: Collectively, we cringed every time the Chiefs got a delay of game penalty last year because Todd Haley and his strange system of offensive playcalling just could not get the plays onto the field in time. That complete breakdown in communications was indicative of a larger collapse in the chain of command on the coaching side. For whatever reason, there was disunity within the coaching staff, resulting in frayed relationships, delay of game penalties and perhaps even faulty game-planning. It’s time for Romeo to institute teachings from his military background and years of coaching experience, while re-forging the Chiefs coaching staff into one, seamless unit.

Of these three potential puzzles, I think the most important one to solve is the chain of command among the coaching staff. Team sports (and, in fact, most successful enterprises) need strong leadership and an equally strong and clear chain of command. Then players can maximize their abilities within that framework and play with reckless abandon.

As training camp blends into the pre-season, let’s keep an eye out for the coaching chain of command. Without it, we’ll be just another regular season team. Addicts, what do you think is the top puzzle to solve coming out of training camp?

Dear Scott,

Congratulations on a truly tremendous off-season!

When you were hired in early 2009, Chiefs fans were ready to give you an A+, just because you weren’t named Carl Peterson.

You got to work immediately, making life exciting again for us Chiefs fanatics. You brought in Todd Haley, Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel. But then your first draft – without the benefit of your own draft people and virtually no prep time – was a mixed bag. You got us Tyson Jackson and Ryan Succup, but then you also got us Alex Magee, Donald Washington, Colin Brown, Quinten Lawrence, Javarris Williams and Jake O’Donnell. Not exactly a bunch of household names there.

That first year was rough– Haley came in late, you had a lot of roster changes, and 4-12 was an improvement of exactly two games from the Peterson regime. But we were patient. We gave you an “Incomplete” grade because year one wasn’t really your year – it was a transition year for all of us. The only real downer was that you let Tony Gonzalez go. We know it made financial sense, but that move hurt on the field, in the locker room and in the hearts of Chiefs fans everywhere. And Gonzalez still has another year to go, making four seasons that he’s playing at a high level after having left Arrowhead.

But Scott, you rebounded quickly. The next offseason, in 2010, was stellar. We started to see what you can do with a full year and a full staff. You brought in Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crennel, as well as free agents Casey Wiegmann, Ryan Lilja and Thomas Jones. Your draft class just absolutely kicked ass. You gave us Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas, Jon Asamoah, Tony Moeaki, Kendrick Lewis (in the fifth round!!!) and Cameron Sheffield. With these new stars, and a bunch of Herm’s playmakers, we won the AFC West! You definitely earned an A+ for 2010.

The 2011 offseason was another winner – perhaps even another A+ year. In addition to free agents Steve Breaston and Brandon Siler (whom we’re all excited to see this year), you drafted Jonathan Baldwin, Rodney Hudson, Justin Houston, Allen Bailey, Jalil Brown, Ricky Stanzi, linebacker Gabe Miller, Jerrell Powe and Shane Bannon. Baldwin, Hudson and Houston could well be stars in the making and Brown, Powe and Bannon are poised to make important contributions this year.

Now, with three full years under our belts, I gotta say Scott, you’ve really kicked some ass. You have built an incredibly strong and elite core of players on offense and defense, with a great kicker and punter to boot. The coaching staff seems stable, with high quality, high character guys like Crennel, Maurice Carthon, Brian Daboll, Emmit Thomas, Jim Zorn and others.

It really seems like we have all of the ingredients we need to play deep into the playoffs and be considered one of the top 10, upper echelon teams in the NFL. Now when was the last time the Chiefs could say that?

Scott, you have proven to have a keen ability to be frugal, but spend at the right moments. You paid big bucks for Cassel. You locked up Tamba and Derrick Johnson.

There’s just one thing left to do to make sure what you’ve built flourishes– with care, amidst criticism, and with lots of research and plain old hard work. And that is to not make the Gonzalez mistake again with Dwayne Bowe. So Scott, please sign the man to a long-term deal. For the offense, Bowe is the key that makes all the other pieces work. He creates a match-up nightmare for any corner, which then requires safety help, which means every other facet of the offense works. Baldwin gets open. Breaston gets open. Moeaki, McCluster and Wylie get open. Charles and Hillis, once through the line, run crazy. And for Cassel, Bowe provides a comfortable, high reward, go-to receiver– the one piece of consistency after about seventeen offensive coordinators for Cassel.

So Scott, let’s continue this A+ performance into 2012-13. All you have to do is sign Bowe to a long-term deal. Then we’ll see you at the AFC Championship game.

Sincerely,

Miles Yi

This week, we remember all the freedoms that have been won through blood, sweat and tears, from true American patriots. America’s history is full of these patriots and their stories. Paul Revere’s ride, the Underground Railroad, Iwo Jima, the Civil Rights Movement – the list goes on and on. And within each story, is a hero. Or more accurately, a set of heroes.

What better Chiefs topic for Independence Day then, to think about who the heroes will be of our 2012 season?! And in true American fashion, each choice below is a team of heroes. What do you think, Addicts? Which of these hero teams will be recognized not just by us Addicts, but by pundits nationally as the real difference-maker this season? Here are a few choices:

• Brandon Albert and Eric Winston: With the addition of Winston, we immediately have one of the best tackle tandems in the league. Albert + Winston may be greater than the sum of these two players, because having both sides of the line being viable options for our ground game adds unpredictability to the playcalling, providing a critical advantage for Daboll and the Chiefs offense.

• Jamaal Charles and Peyton Hillis: There are a lot of blog posts on naming this new duo. Whatever the winning name is, these guys are going to bring Arrowhead to their feet! What better feeling is there then when that fourth quarter starts, and you can just tell that our running backs are in the groove and the defense is helpless to stop the lightning quick Charles and the surprisingly swift and bone crushing Hillis?!

• Jonathan Baldwin, Dwayne Bowe and Matt Cassel: With Baldwin poised to show his potential, we may well be talking about a potent QB-Receiver package. We may not be in that echelon of Montana-Rice-John Taylor or Manning-Harrison-Garcon or Bradshaw-Swann-Stallworth, but can we be on a par Eli Manning-Hakim Nicks-Victor Cruz? And perhaps better than Roethlisberger-Wallace or Schaub-Andre Johnson, both of which are lacking a stellar second receiver?

• Brandon Flowers, Stanford Routt and Eric Berry: While we all miss Brandon Carr, Routt should step in smoothly and pick up where Carr left off. With these three titans of the defensive backfield building chemistry each day this summer, we may have one of the most consistent and big play secondaries in the country.

• Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson and Belcher/Siler: While the fourth linebacking starter is a question, this foursome will be dominant. We have two Pro Bowlers in Hali and Johnson, and Houston may well be one this year as well. This team may actually emerge as the best linebacking corps in the entire league.

• Dexter McCluster and Devon Wylie: This one’s a longshot. But with Daboll’s diabolical scheming, can our two smart, speedy playmakers actually become a hot topic among league pundits because of their big play ability and unpredictable versatility? We may see their names in both offensive and special teams highlights. And imagine having them both on the field for special circumstances – that scenario could reduce a defensive coordinator to tears.

We have six possibilities for a nationally recognized team of heroes for the 2012 Chiefs. The obvious choice for a winner is our linebacker corps, and I do indeed believe they’ll be nationally recognized. But as a bonus, I’m going to pick one more team of heroes that I believe will achieve national recognition – Baldwin-Bowe-Cassel. This offense, and Bowe and Cassel in particular, have something to prove this year. The Chiefs’ offense has been ridiculed for years, and Bowe, Cassel and even Baldwin have taken their fair share of criticism, some warranted and some not. I think they come out with some major attitude this year and prove themselves play after play, quarter by quarter, game by game.

What do you think, Addicts? What team of Chiefs heroes will bring national recognition to Kansas City?

Last week, Sports Illustrated writer Tom Mantzouranis suggested that our very own Chiefs are Super Bowl contenders.

Well damn!

We all are hoping and praying that Tom is right. In the meantime, here are a few make-or-break factors standing between us and our lifelong dreams.

1.  Home field advantage throughout the playoffs

You’d be hard pressed to argue that the Chiefs can make it to the Super Bowl without home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That means not only winning the West, but winning it in dominant fashion so our record outpaces that of the other division winners. Last week, I suggested that the Chiefs can go 10-6, with a huge win over the Ravens. To earn home field advantage through the playoffs, I think the benchmark is at minimum, 12-4. How do we get there?

Last year, the AFC West was the second worst division, measured by total games won by all teams in the division. Here’s how the AFC played out last year:

• North: 37 wins
• East: 35 wins
• West: 31 wins
• South: 26 wins

But on closer inspection, it may only have been Peyton Manning’s injury that prevented the West from being the worst division. The Colts went an astonishing 2-14 last year. It’s reasonable to conclude that the Chiefs may be playing in the worst division in the AFC right now, which is certainly good for our home field possibilities, should we win our division.

Of course, there’s no way to get to 12-4 without at least 2 sweeps of our three AFC West rivals – Denver, San Diego and Oakland. Of these, my money would be on sweeping San Diego and Oakland. Oakland always seems to bite us each year, and they have a GM and new coach now that don’t mess around. But we are a smarter, more disciplined and more talented team. We can take the Raiders this year. With San Diego, we are getting a team in decline. Their talent is aging, and we seem to have had their number more than in years past. With the Broncos, I just can’t imagine beating Peyton twice in one year. Which leads me to…

2.  The Broncos need to fall flat

For us to get to 12-4 and win the West, the Broncos need to fall a bit flat under Peyton. If we can keep them to 10-6 or 9-7, then we’re good. Peyton, even at 36 years old, will perform at a high level. But will he have the surrounding cast to succeed? A key player for the Broncos, other than Peyton, will be Von Miller. Will he become a dominant, disruptive linebacker that can inspire his defense and give the ball back to Peyton?

3.  Big Plays under pressure

Clearly, to get to 12-4, the Chiefs will need to make big plays when it matters most. Who needs to step up to get us to the Super Bowl? On offense, the easy choices are Cassel, Charles, Bowe, Baldwin and Hillis. They will be our playmakers. But I think the secret to winning 12 games is, overall, not to need big plays. We need a steamroller for an offensive line, one that keeps the lanes open for Charles and Hillis, protects Cassel and demoralizes our opponents.

On defense, while Crennel is famous for his bend-but-don’t-break defenses, I think here is where we need big plays every single game. With Hali, Johnson, Houston and Flowers, we need 2-3 big defensive plays per game that change momentum, cause turnovers and force offenses into one-dimensional playmaking.

3.  Consistent Coaching

To win consistently, week after week, the coaching has to be superb. Not average – superb. There are play-calling, game management and game-time adjustments – and for special teams teams too. There is excellent preparation, scouting and planning in advance of each game. There is injury and wear-and-tear management. Like the players, the coaches cannot take one single minute off.

4.  Win three big games

We all know that every game is big. But we’ll need three, larger-than-life games if we are to make it to the Super Bowl. Last week, I hypothesized that to get to 10-6 in the regular season, the Ravens game would be the make-or-break game for the Chiefs. Now, as we look towards what it would take to get us to the Super Bowl, we’ll need one more big game in the regular season – my choice is at the Chargers – and one more in the playoffs, when the Patriots or Texans come to town for the AFC Conference Championship game! We will likely be underdogs for both – but these are the games that separate champions from contenders.

So Addicts, those are my benchmarks on the way to the Super Bowl. Which of these tests will we pass, and which will we fail?

Paddy had a short post and poll a few weeks back that got me thinking. He asked where the Chiefs would stand heading into the Week 7 bye. As many have noted, we have a killer schedule through the first six games. To win the West, I’m guessing we have to go 10-6 overall. Can we do it? Here’s the schedule:

Pre-Bye

1.  Falcons

2.  At Bills

3.  At Saints

4.  Chargers

5.  Ravens

6.  At Tampa

After the bye, it eases up a bit:

Post-Bye

7.  Raiders

8.  At Chargers

9.  At Steelers

10. Bengals

11.  Broncos

12.  Panthers

13.  At Browns

14.  At Raiders

15.  Colts

16.  At Broncos

Let’s start with the Post-Bye schedule, games 7-16. I think we have a good shot at going 6-4, with the following wins and losses:

Wins (6)

1.  Raiders

2.  Bengals

3.  Broncos

4.  Panthers

5.  At Browns

6.  Colts

Losses (4)

1.  At Chargers

2.  At Steelers

3.  At Raiders (ugh)

4.  At Broncos (ugh ugh)

I’m no math wiz, but if we go 6-4 after the bye, we’ll need to go 4-2 before the bye. I figure we will beat the Falcons in the home opener, we take the Chargers at home and we beat the Bucs at Tampa. But I would say chances are against us at the Saints and I think we lose to the Bills away as well.

Here’s where I’m going. The key game for our season may be Week 5, at home, against the Ravens. This game may be the one that determines whether we win the West or not. This game may be the difference between 9-7 and a potential Wild Card with lots of tie-breakers and things beyond our control, and 10-6 with our destiny in our own hands.

Both the Chiefs and the Ravens may well enter Week 5 with a 3-1 record, with the Ravens winning at home against the Bengals and Browns and at the Eagles, but sustaining a home loss to the Patriots.

Fortunately, there’s a lot going for us in this game. Terrell Suggs will likely miss this early season game, still in recovery from a torn Achilles tendon. Suggs is a five-time Pro Bowler and just a monster linebacker. If we’re really lucky, Ed Reed, the Ravens’ Pro Bowl safety, may retire, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Unfortunately, most NFL rankings have the Ravens as the sixth or seventh best team in the NFL. And last year, the Ravens were the tenth best team in the NFL on the road, with a record of 4-4 in away games. Their mental toughness is legendary. Alas, football is a physical game as well as mental, and the Ravens have a great running game, led by Ray Rice, and a feared defense led by Ray Lewis, Reed and Haloti Ngata. But they also have a few weaknesses, which the Chiefs will need to exploit to win this critical game.

First, the Ravens have an aging Bryant McKinnie at left tackle, and their left guard is a second year, new starter named Jah Reid. The Chiefs need to attack that left side of the Ravens early and often and collapse the line repeatedly. Dontari Poe, Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey need to shut down the running game and force Flacco to pass. On offense, I think this game will be about Jonathan Baldwin. The Raven’s defense, while aging, is still terrific against the run. Lardarius Webb, who is turning into one of the better corners in the league, will undoubtedly cover Dwayne Bowe, leaving second year corner Jimmy Smith on second year receiver Baldwin. If Baldwin can have a breakout game here, the Chiefs line and running game will be able to exploit the the Ravens for some long runs.

It is exactly these types of games– home against a tough opponent –that the Chiefs will need to win this year, if they are to have the type of season we are all excited for. We need to bring back the old Arrowhead magic, winning almost all of our home games even against the AFC’s best, to turn the Chiefs into a Super Bowl contender.

The Houston Texans have made that turn recently from a team with great potential to a real winner. Can the Chiefs make that same turn in 2012?

Here’s my question for Addicts everywhere: in these first six games, what is the pivotal game, that one game where we will say, “that was the turning point?”

Each Chiefs player is well into the season. OTA’s, training camp, year-round conditioning, injury recovery, studying the playbook– for each player, football is a year-round job, with continuous improvement, both physically and mentally, being the goal of each day.

For us Addicts, not so much. Yes, we read all the blogs, both locally and nationally, and jump on every chance to stay tuned into every detail of the Chiefs. That’s why we are Addicts.

But here’s a chance to reveal a bit of your personal practice. A time to show us just how dedicated you are. An opportunity to tell us how you prepare to be the best Addict you can be.

I want to know: what is your pre-game ritual? And this post is particularly focused on those of you, like me, who for whatever reason, can’t make it to Arrowhead on Sundays. Yes, this is for all of you who do the quiet, unglamorous preparation in your homes– whatever city you live in– to give you the best possible ability every Sunday to send helpful ESP rays through the ethers to the Chiefs, and equally as devastating evil rays to our opponents.

My ritual has been fairly consistent in my adult years. But I’m always eager to improve my practice, and what better fountain of wisdom is there than you Addicts out there!

Here’s are the components of my Sunday morning preparation:

Clothes: As a rule, I don my official Chiefs Jersey with my name on the back. If we have a losing streak, I’ll occasionally put on my throwback, long-sleeve Chiefs t-shirt. A must-have are my two Chiefs wristbands. If i happen to be out of town for business, my gear comes with me.

Technology: In addition to the television equipped with Direct TV (a must-have since I don’t live in Kansas City anymore), I always watch games with my laptop next to me as well. On my browser, I’ll have open (a) kcchiefs.com to check out the Chiefs roster and stats when needed; (b) espn.com to monitor AFC West scores; (c) espn.com’s Gamecast to watch real-time statistics on the Chiefs game; and (d) arrowheadaddict.com of course, for the live chat! Finally, I’ll also have my cellphone, to text my acquaintances who are Raiders fans, every time the Raiders jump offsides.

Food: Where I live, the Chiefs usually come on at 11am. That means that on Saturday, I do groceries and make sure I have a bountiful supply of adult beverages, since there are no booze sales before 12pm on Sundays. I usually go for a long run on Sunday mornings, primarily to earn some calories for what’s about to come. When I get back, around 9:30am, I’ll take a quick shower, put on my Chiefs gear, and start the morning with a special Chiefs beverage of my choice. Then I’ll cook something like burgers and fries or a homemade pizza. And I always have barbecue potato chips (see below). I’ll cook food so as to eat right at halftime, like the rest of Americans who live in the Mountain time zone.

Location: Living room, four strides from the kitchen.

Superstitions: I always have barbecue potato chips in homage to KC barbecue, my aforementioned Chiefs wristbands and jersey and I have to sit at the same end of the couch each week. Also, I always start my TV’s volume at 13 for reasons that I don’t even understand.

Company: I love watching the Chiefs alone. There, I said it. Am I weird in this regard? When I get to go to Arrowhead, I love the crowds and the energy. But at home, in my living room, I love going solo because it just takes that much focus and attention. But be honest, Addicts, is this antisocial and abnormal?

Ok Addicts, give me your best practices, weird or not! I’m eager to learn so that we can all become more effective Addicts!