Todd Haley stuck to his guns and stayed with the Parcells philosophy — (paraphrasing) “if you don’t go for it on fourth and short from anywhere reasonable on the field you are a chickensh**.” Instead of calling another boneheaded quarterback sneak or pounding it up the middle with smallish running backs and a mediocre line, Haley made a brilliant call. He called a halfback toss, hoping his fastest player would get to the edge and beat the Raiders defense in a foot race. Boy did Jamaal Charles ever. This run might be the highlight of the season so far, and the call won our Chiefs the game.

Check out the video, complete with a few funny speech bubbles compliments of Zach…

Yes LJNFL. What does that mean? Larry Johnson Not For Long in the NFL. I feel iI reflect the thoughts of most Chiefs fans when I say to Larry, GOOD RIDDANCE. Frankly, Dick Vermiel, who objected to Carl’s drafting of Larry, had it right when he told L.J. to take off the diapers. Larry acted like a spoiled petulant child throughout his tenure in K.C. and was the beneficiary of a great offensive line in his statistically successful years.

L.J. searching for a new home reminded me of other Chiefs who have found new homes. I reviewed the rosters of the other NFL teams searching out former Chiefs. Here are my results:

Todd Collins QB Washington
Benny Sapp DB Minnesota
Ty Law CB Denver
Vonnie Holiday DE Denver
Casey Wiegmann C Denver
Tony Gonzalez TE Atlanta
Scot Fujita LB New Orleans
Ryan Sims DT Tampa Bay
Tank Tyler DE Carolina
Jared Allen DE Minnesota
Turk McBride DE Detroit
Kris Wilson TE San Diego
Tyler Thigpen QB Miami
Keyaron Fox LB Pittsburgh

One thing stands out. Where are the offensive lineman we have drafted or signed?

While some people point out our failures to adequately re-stock our defensive line, everyone has forgotten we have failed miserably to put emphasis on our offensive line in the draft.As a result our run game has been non-existent and pass protection iffy at best. Without an adequate offensive line you cannot control the line of scrimmage and expose your defense to quick “three and outs.” I suggest that during next year’s draft and free agency period significant attention be turned to these areas if our franchise is to make an about face!

My good friend and game partner Jen surprised me with a signed Matt Cassel print that she won at a silent auction last night. It was donated to the charity  by the Chiefs organization itself.

I get to pick it up when we go fishing this morning and its fair to say I’m extremely excited about the gift.

As she told me about the photo, we discussed the future of Matt, we both think its pretty bright.

I then began to wonder what my family  at AA thinks about that young man. Here is your opportunity to let the world know.

The questions:

1. Is Matt Cassel the franchise quarterback in KC for years to come?

2. Will he make it through the rebuilding process healthy?

3. Is he destined for greatness or the Damon Huard home for retired back-ups?

It is Raiders week. I always love Raiders week, usually because we are always favored to win. Not this year. Currently, Vegas odds have the Chiefs as 1.5 to 2.5 point underdogs. The over under is 36.5 to 37.5 points. They are again predicting a close game. Accuscore, after 10,000 simulations, is predicting an even closer game with the Chiefs winning by .2 points!!! (Chiefs 17.0 vs. Raiders 16.8).

Per Accuscore: “The Chiefs statistically dominated the earlier match-up vs the Raiders but lost because of costly turnovers. This is expected to be a close game with the Raiders just 53 percent favorites winning by less than an average of 1 point. In games this close turnover margin is the key. If Matt Cassell throws no more than 1 INT the Chiefs are the 52 percent favorite, but if he throws 2 or more the Raiders are the heavy 75 percent favorite. The Chiefs defense is dead-last in INTs at just 3 in 8 games. Even the INT prone JaMarcus Russell only has a 50 percent chance of throwing an INT. This has a lot to do with the Raiders offense looking to stick with the run. If the Raiders average over 4.5 ypc they are 68 percent favorites, but if they are held under 4 ypc the Chiefs are the 56 percent favorite.”

Take a look:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/intel?gameId=291115013

What do you think? How are we going to win this game?

With regards to the KC Chiefs, the media use the word “rebuilding” quite often. However, lets be honest, we are not in a rebuilding mode. We are absolutely still in a demolition mode. How can you say you are rebuilding when there is so much more to be torn down?

Let me give you an analogy: I recently underwent a remodeling project (true story). I started with one contractor (Herm Edwards; he wasn’t actually the contractor for my project but you get the drift) who did some demolition and some rebuilding but encountered some major problems, and I ultimately had to let him go (end of 2008 season). I hired a new contractor (Haley/Pioli) who indicated that the old contractor had made quite a few mistakes, but the new contractor could change a few things and work with what the earlier contractor had done so that the earlier work wasn’t a total loss (beginning of 2009 season). The new contractor started the new project and realized after some considerable work (1-7), that he could not just change a few things, and actually could not work with what the other contractor did (totally wasted 2009 season). He had to demo everything and start over (upcoming 2010 season). Catch my drift?

Want further evidence? Here it is:

Needs Demolition
LT: Blow this position up! Branden Albert is struggling. Maybe he should be moved to Left Guard next year. The position he played so well in college it got him drafted in the first round. A True LT should be drafted with our top pick.
LG: Blow this position up! Waters skills are eroding. He should be moved to Center and let Albert take his spot.
C: Blow this position up! Move Waters here or get completely new personnel
RG: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel. Nothing worth salvaging.
RT: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel.
TE: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel. Nothing worth salvaging.
WR: Partial Tear Down: Bowe Stays, Long for depth, Wade for depth, let everyone else go, including soon to be 32 year old Chambers.
FB: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel.
NT: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel. Nothing worth salvaging
LB: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel. Yes, all the LBs must go. Even Tamba; who is playing his heart out, but still not getting it done.
S: Blow this position up! Need completely new personnel. Our safety’s suck, Do I need I say more?

Offensive Coordinator: Need one
Defensive Coordinator: Need new one

The only positions worth keeping and building on are: QB (Cassel); DE (Dorsey, Jackson); CB (Flowers, Carr); K (Succop); and P (Colquitt). Our Special Teams Coach can stay.

Any thoughts?

We are officially at the half-way point of the Chiefs’ season. The last quarter did see us pull off a much needed win. The win against an imploding Redskins team was ugly, but we’ll take any win at this point. The Dallas game was a highlight, but the blowout loss to Jacksonville was a lowlight. Yes, the Jacksonville game was a blowout, I don’t care what the final score was. We got debacled by a below average team. Two quick touchdowns late against a defense playing soft doesn’t change that.

What have we learned about the Chiefs so far? Well, the positives include Tyson Jackson growing as a player, Jovan Belcher looking to be a steal as an undrafted rookie, solid corner play and an offensive line that sucks just a bit less than before and LJ exploded and is now looking for work. The offensive line comment is certainly a relative statement. Negatives? Well, that’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The offensive line can’t create consistent holes for running, our safety play has been poor, something most of us didn’t expect. We can’t get into a rhythm on offense and the defense keeps getting burned by big plays. You know you suck on defense when you hear this comment about an opposing player: “He had a season high game today, against the Chiefs”. That and watching highlights of other players burning our defense is enough to make me sick.

At the mid-point of the season, I expected us to have two wins. Well, if you took the under, you won. How does the next quarter look? Well, we start off with our most winnable game, a trip to the Black Hole to play Undead Al, Fatmarcus and Cable the woman beater. One of the best things I can say about Todd Haley (and I am running low on good things to say about him) is that his teams haven’t quit on him. This is an important game and close to a must win. Tough coaching without positive results has a short shelf life. After that game, it gets much harder. We host the Steelers then travel to play a Charger team that seems to have developed a pattern of coming on late in the season. It would be a major upset to win either one of those games. Then, we host the Broncos. That could turn out to be an interesting game. I don’t buy the Broncos as a good team and I think they are reverting to form. However, they are better than we are. If we are going to see a big upset, this would be the most likely game.

Since we are in the second half of another lost season, we can start looking at draft position. Right now, we would draft second overall in front of everyone but the Rams. Missouri might be the “Show Me’ state, but all it can show the NFL is how to suck better than any other state. There is great, there is good, there is bad, there is pathetic….. and then there is NFL teams in Missouri.

For draft position, it would be good to escape the trap of a top five pick and the huge dollars attached to it. If we assume a slightly optimistic prediction of four wins, that should be enough to land in that 6-12 range of picks. It all starts with a win against the Raiders.

For the upcoming quarter, one win is expected, two is over expectations. That’s my take on it, how do you see the Chiefs at the mid-point?

I know this is a bit off the mark, but the Pro Shop at the Chiefs web site has absolutely nothing on sale. Take a look:

http://www.chiefsproshoponline.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=101

Hmmm. The team is struggling at 1-7, and yet the pro shop has decided to charge the full $80 price for replica jerseys (They probably pay $less than $10 for them). I assume that the pro shop does NOT have merchandise flying off the shelves at this point in time. When the team does well I am sure there is a direct correlation to high sales; since their are so many bandwagoners. The law of supply and demand would dictate that they should lower their prices to move Chiefs product. Not only that, but in order to drum up some team pride and spirit, give the real Chief fans a break and let them buy some merchandise at a lower price especially when the chips are down.

Any thoughts, or am I just a cheap bastard?