Michael Hickey-US PRESSWIRE

According to Jason Kersey of  newsok.com, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Kelly Gregg plans to retire this offseason.

Gregg hasn’t announced it yet, but he plans to retire after a long NFL career. He spent 11 seasons as a defensive lineman with the Baltimore Ravens. Gregg played his last year with the Kansas City Chiefs.

This was expected. Gregg is 35 years old and has been playing nose tackle, generally considered to be one of the most demanding positions in football, for a number of years now. He has 551 career tackles and 20.5 sacks.

The Chiefs have put off finding a long-term solution at nose tackle since Scott Pioli arrived. It would appear that this offseason is the time to finally get that done.

Then again, I’ve said that about the last three offseasons.

If you’ve been a Big Matt reader for long, you probably know I think Todd Haley’s “quarter of the season” concept is, for lack of a better word, dumb.   It’s not that I think it’s doing any harm, but I still cringe every time I hear him reference it.  I had thought this was something he’d talk about in his first year, and then grow out of.  I mean, breaking a season into quarters when the games come every week?  What is that supposed to accomplish?  It is, at best, a pointless exercise.

But hey, if Haley is going to bring this team back from the abyss, I’ll play along.  Because I don’t care that we’re playing awful teams here, three wins in a row is something I never thought I’d see from this team after those first two games.  And really, no matter how bad Kyle Boller is, going into Oakland and shutting them out is awesome.  Much-needed revenge, after last season.  So fine, we’re 2-0 in the second quarter of the season.  Or, the “4-game season” as Haley now likes to call it.  Bring on game 3.  I am now participating in this system.

The best part about this winning streak is that the players will be gaining confidence regardless of who the opponent was.  Do you think when Kendrick Lewis scampered into the end zone he was thinking, “Yeah, but this was against the worst quarterback in the NFL”?  No way!  He was feelin’ it, and rightfully so.  I would imagine the post-game celebration was jubilant, and I seriously doubt anyone was referencing how bad Oakland’s QB situation is right now.

“Justice is blind,” as the saying goes.  Well, I think confidence is blind as well.  Winning feels awesome, no matter whom you beat*.  These Chiefs have won three in a row, they’re fired up, and they’re heading back home with a chance to stake a claim on the division lead.  That’s what matters most about this winning streak, not who we played.

*I played in a gigantic rooftop washers tournament over the summer.  My partner and I, after an early loss, went on a crazy tear to win the thing (double elimination).  7 straight games, or some such.  Most of these were against people who hadn’t played nearly as much washers as I have.  Some were even against guy-girl teams (always doomed to struggle in competitive washers).  Did that matter to me?  Hell no.  I felt like a washers god out there.  Struttin’ around, mocking my opponents, bowing like a Japanese sensei every time I put one in the cup.  I was confident that whomever I played next, I would be able to beat.  That’s what a winning streak, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, can do for you.  And yes, this is the closest comp I could come up with from my own life.

Now we go home thinking we can beat a team that’s had a stranglehold on the division for a long time.  Maybe the Chargers are better than us.  But we’re at home, and we think we can beat them.  That alone gives us a fighting chance.  Such a quick turnaround.  De NFL be crazy, mon.

game notes after le jump (more…)

Yeah, Kelly Gregg played out of his mind Sunday.

Each and every week we take you Inside the Numbers of the previous Chiefs game by breaking down the team’s significant grades from Pro Football Focus.

We’ve been doing this for a while but just in case you are new, PFF grades every player on every play of every game all season long. They assign players a grade for each play, from -2.0 (the worst) to +2.0 (the best). Keep in mind that to get a positive grade, a player has to do something extra or more than he is expected to do. To get a negative grade, a player has to fail at his assigned task. Thus, most players grade at a 0.0 for each play. Only when they do something good or bad, do they get a + or -. This is why PFF is a really great barometer for measuring how good a player is because it measures consistency.You might remember a player for making one big play and thus conclude that he had a great game. But what about the other 60 or 70 plays? That is where PFF comes in.

How did Tyson Jackson follow up on his solid effort a week ago? How good was Jackie Battle?

Let’s go Inside the Numbers!

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Houston showed up in preseason. Now he needs to show up against the Lions.

Matt Cassel

The entire team is playing like garbage and that isn’t putting Matt Cassel in a very good position to succeed. That being said, the dude has to step up. The line play may be inconsistent and the running game non-existent but he has enough weapons at his disposal now, Moeaki or no Moeaki, that he should be getting the job done. He’s missing wide-open receivers in favor of check-downs and passes to the flat.

We’ve seen Cassel play well. His game against the Titans last season was fantastic. The Chiefs need that Matt Cassel to show up and pull them out of this funk. He’s the only one that can do it. Jamaal Charles, remarkable as he is, isn’t going to be able to get much going if teams don’t fear Cassel. If Matt can’t step up and make defenses pay by making accurate passes and smart reads over the middle of the field, the Chiefs are in for a long season.

And they’ll be in the market for a new QB.

Jim Zorn, I’m looking at you.

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From KCChiefs.com:

Ayodele (6-1, 339) played in 22 games at Emporia State, recording 107 tackles (47 solo), 9.0 tackles for loss (-30.0 yards), 3.5 sacks (-20.0 yards), three QB pressures, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He also played collegiately at Tennessee State. Ayodele was a first-team All-First Coast selection at Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Fla.

There were some reports yesterday at training camp that NT Anthony Toribio went down with an injury. This move could be a reaction to that.

If Toribio is going to miss some time then this signing makes sense. Otherwise the Chiefs would be left with only presumed starter Kelly Gregg and rookie Jerrell Powe.

Note: Even though this camp report if from Friday’s practice (the one that was so humid and caused a lot of players to struggle) I feel I’ve included a lot of material that hasn’t been included in previous camp reports.

Well Chiefs fans, the first pre-season game is now less then a week away. I was faced with a tough choice this week. My birthday is Monday and I had two options for my gift this year, a new ipod or a road trip to St. Joe to spend a day at training camp on Friday. As a true addict, you can guess which option I picked (not to mention that the title of this post should have given it away). Now I have a couple of confessions. I had never been to training camp before. Several years ago I went to an open practice at arrowhead but that’s about it. So I’m going to approach this from two different angles. The first will be for those that have never gone to camp before so that you have some idea what its like and maybe even help you out if you’re considering going. Second, I’ll try to give you some insight into what I saw on the field at camp.

It can be a little overwhelming to try and keep tabs on everything that is going on so I decided to focus a lot of my time on the offensive and defensive lines. I did this for a few different reasons. First, it is the area where I’m most concerned and wanted to see how they looked. Second, when they aren’t tackling the lines are the only place you get to see actual contact going on that closest resembles actual game play. Finally, several of the players I was most excited to get a look at were in these groups. As an added bonus, I found that the masses tend to follow the skill players around so its easier to get a look at the big guys.

I’ll give a break down of a few players that I spent some time watching specifically. Some of these I set out to watch and a couple others just caught my attention. Among them are Jerrell Powe, Kelly Gregg, Allen Bailey, Tyson Jackson, Rodney Hudson, and David Mims.

One last confession, I named my column the Armchair Addict for a reason. I’m a true armchair quarterback. I do not claim to be an expert on the proper technique for offensive and defensive linemen. So these opinions are those of one fan who watched one day of practice. If nothing else, I got some pretty good pictures.

So come along to training camp with me after the break.

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For me the preseason games are an opportunity to see Arrowhead in a different light. The pace is slow. The traffic is light. The hurried walk to the stadium is a casual stroll. Your not in a rush because there isn’t anything to miss. Many fans stay an hour and go home. Others arrive just before its over. Many never even go into the stadium they must mill about on the parking lot, having found that strolling around a warm August night is more entertaining that watching the game.

 In the starting lineup, the secondary is the strength of the Chiefs defense. Berry, Lewis, Flowers and Carr have the potential to be as effective as the awesome secondary of Cherry, Burruss, Lewis and Ross. That unit was the best secondary unit the Chiefs have ever fielded. Will the current group be as good? I don’t know, but they could. Depth is a bit of an issue, but the starting lineup is good.

An external juxtaposition of the internal dichotomy within Ladner, Victor’s musings over redemption for an adversary turned consort, and the first half of a quid pro quo dialogue between Big Matt and Lyle after this rather verbose and sesquipedalian transitional sentence…

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Before I delve into the title subject matter, I want to first say a few words about our remaining rookie holdout. There are now only 4 unsigned rookies in the league, 3 of them of 1st rounders. Guess which one of those 4 was not a 1st round pick?

Justin, dude, are you freaking high? Probably shouldn’t answer that, huh? You were a 3rd round pick for reasons that nobody but yourself are to blame. Own up to it, live with it, move on; you are, without question, not making life any better for yourself by following the course you are on.

At this point, there is no acceptable explanation for Justin Houston’s hold out unless he’s not ready, physically, mentally, and/or emotionally, to play football in the NFL. If that is the problem, then I really have to start questioning whether this is a guy I still want on my team. If that’s not the problem, then he is just hurting himself as a result of some very flawed reasoning. Rookie salaries are now more slotted than ever and given where he was taken in the 3rd round, there can be no financial aspect to this deal that is worth quibbling over.

Honestly, I’m beginning to feel both sorry and embarrassed for Scott Pioli about this pick.

Kelly “Queequeg” Gregg after the bounce.

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note: This is the first in a recurring series between Lyle Graverson and myself, wherein we debate various aspects of this team we’re all obsessed with.  Lyle and I rarely have the same take on anything, but both like to consider ourselves reasonable men.  We’ll let you Addicts be the judge of that.  I think its safe to say TIDL just became a big Graverson supporter.   

We’ve heard this song, seen this film, and danced this dance before.  After scintillating us all with the early addition of Steve Breaston*, the Chiefs have lost two fan favorites (or at least AA favorites) along the d-line, passed on the Aubrayo Franklin sweepstakes, and released arguably their best offensive lineman.  Most, if not all of these moves were designed to save money.  This is how Clark Hunt’s Chiefs play the offseason game.

*Our giddiness over Breaston, a guy who has averaged 700 yards and 2 touchdowns the last two years, is its own kind of evidence as to just how free-agent starved Kansas City has been.  I mean, I literally jumped for joy when I read about that signing. 

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the way the Chiefs approached free agency would be very telling.  Here’s what I said about the over-the-hill intangible all-stars the Chiefs had signed the past few free agencies:

What I’m hoping is that those guys were brought in just to buy time.  We certainly don’t need players like that anymore (we probably never did).  But what Todd Haley has proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is that he will start those guys every game and praise the job they’re doing no matter how badly they play.  We must depend on Pioli here.  He simply cannot give Haley any more old, broken toys to play with.

This is what bothers me about the Kelly Gregg signing.  It isn’t that I dislike Gregg.  There were times a few years ago when I thought to myself, “Man, it’d be nice to at least have a guy like Kelly Gregg.”  But Gregg will be 35 next season, and the team that has had a front-row seat for the past decade just cut him (despite having a young nose tackle that could seemingly use some mentoring).  If it looks like a Vrabel, and smells like a Vrabel, and leads like a Vrabel…

I’m not losing sight of the Breaston signing.  He’s this year’s Ryan Lilja, a solid player who will make our offense better.  The Chiefs got him at a reasonable price, also like Lilja.  But you’ve got to wonder why every player the Chiefs get these days is at a reasonable price.  Is it because Pioli is a genius, or because he isn’t allowed to go after anyone that could break the bank?  Is it a coincidence that every halfway pricey player isn’t part of the right 53?

more after le jump:

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Here is what he had to say about Gregg:

A lot of Baltimore fans were upset when they released Derrick Mason, Todd Heap, Kelly Gregg, and Willis McGahee earlier this week. To be honest, I wasn’t. They’ve all showed their age as of late and I think their best years are behind them.

Kelly Gregg is one of those guys that will do what he needs to do, but you won’t hear his name for any spectacular plays. He’s a space eater, that’s his job. He has a few years of solid football left but don’t expect him to put up mind blowing numbers. His age is a big concern but his veteran prowess is something to look forward to. Given the youth on the Chiefs defense, Gregg will help take younger players under his wings and teach them the ropes (Jerrell Powe).

More from Riley after the jump.

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The Kansas City Chiefs let a younger Ron Edwards leave in free agency and instead signed veteran Kelly Greg to a one-year deal.

But was it the right move?

I decided to look at the stats and grades over at Pro Football Focus to find out just how they viewed Gregg’s play last year and how it compared to what Ron Edwards did for the Chiefs.I will also compare him the man most KC fans wanted the Chiefs to sign to play NT, Aubrayo Franklin.

The results  after the jump. (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs got their nose tackle.

It just isn’t the one everyone was expecting.

The National Football Post is reporting the team has agreed to a one-year deal with former Baltimore Raven Kelly Gregg.

Gregg is 6-0′ and 320 pounds but he is also 34 years old. His signing seems to indicated that the Chiefs will not pursue popular free agent Aubrayo Franklin from the San Fransisco 49ers.

I’ve given this some thought and I don’t like the move a whole lot. I see what the Chiefs are probably thinking. The signing probably indicates that they have a little more faith in Jerrell Powe than we might have thought. Like bringing back Casey Wiegmann, signing Gregg for a year eneables them to have a solid veteran presence and a guy who can teach Powe the position. After all, Gregg has been a pretty good nose tackle for a while now.

My problem with the signing is that Gregg is 34. He had 38 tackles last year and 0 sacks. Ron Edwards is 32 and had 26 tackles and 2 sacks.

Gregg might be a little bit better at Edwards at stuffing the run but at his advanced age, there probably isn’t much difference in the two. It really isn’t fair to base your opinion on a nose tackle on stats alone because a big part of the job is opening up holes and making room for the linebackers to make plays. The Ravens still had a pretty good defense last year so maybe there is more left in Gregg’s tank than I think.

What do you think Addicts? Is Gregg an upgrade or a lateral move?