Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Acee, of the North Country Times, is reporting that San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner and GM A.J. Smith will be fired at the end of the 2012 NFL season.

Both men have been on the hot-seat for the last couple of seasons and with 2012 turning out to be another disappointment, it appears ownership is ready to move on.

From Acee:

Not only will head coach Norv Turner be gone at the end of the season, but general manager A.J. Smith will be fired as well, as the Chargers make a monumental break from an era that was arguably the most successful and most disappointing in team history.

Sources said this week that Chargers President Dean Spanos essentially decided at least a month ago that Turner’s time was drawing to a rapid close. Spanos, sources said, has more recently resigned himself to the fact that Smith can’t be kept in the current environment of plummeting performance and fan unrest.

Chargers president Dean Spanos released a statement, refuting Acee’s report.

“There is only one person in this organization who will make those decisions and that’s me, and I haven’t shared my thoughts with anyone.”

He went on to say:

“I will make my evaluations at the end of the season. Anything coming out now – from sources or otherwise – is pure speculation.”

Yeah, right, whatever. I’d be willing to bet my pinky finger but maybe not my thumb, that Turner and Smith are fired the say after the season ends. Spanos had to release this statement because if he didn’t he’d look like a huge a-hole for allowing the coach and GM to finish the season knowing they are lame ducks.

Looks like changes are coming once again to the turbulent AFC West.

Would any of you be interested in Norv as KC’s offensive coordinator next season?

Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

According to a report from Fox Sports, the San Diego Chargers are being investigated by the NFL for using “stickum,” a sticky substance used to aid receivers in “catching” the football.

This, from Jay Glazer:

“NFL Security has already begun investigation as SD equipment man was hiding illegal sticky substance and giving to players. Line judge saw it and had it confiscated and sent to Broncos and league.”

This is bad, bad news for the Chargers. Players used to use stickum all the time back in the day. Everyone used it. Receivers, lineman. It was all over everything. They slathered on so much of the stuff, it was all over everything.

The NFL wisely banned such practices in 1981.

If the NFL finds the Chargers guilty, there will likely be some type of penalty, which could include the loss of draft picks depending on how serious the NFL considers the situation to be.

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

The first week of the 2012 NFL season is in the books and the AFC West race is now starting to take shape.

The West is a very different division than it was in 2011. Tim Tebow is gone. Carson Palmer will have his first full year at QB for the Raiders. The Chiefs have a multitude of new faces, as do the Chargers.

Let’s take a quick look at the standings and see how each team fared in Week 1.

Denver Broncos 1-0
San Diego Chargers 1-0
Kansas City Chiefs 0-1
Oakland Raiders 0-1

The Broncos and Chargers jump out to an early lead. The Raiders took the biggest blow of opening week because their loss came against a division rival, which could come back to haunt them in a tie-breaker later.

The Chiefs got walloped by injuries and the Atlanta offense. The only good thing to come out of the weekend for KC was that their first loss was to an NFC team.

The Broncos looked pretty good on both sides of the ball. Peyton Manning looked more than capable of running the offense and Dennver’s defense did a nice job of closing the deal, though their secondary struggled to stop the Steelers on third and long.

The Chargers handled the Raiders on Monday Night Football, 22-14. The SD offense had some trouble finding the endzone but kicker Nate Kaeding kept them ahead by nailing all five of his field goal attempts.

The Raiders struggled to get things going on offense. Oakland fumbled the ball four times, losing only one.

Next week in the AFC West:

-The Chiefs will travel to Buffalo to take on the 0-1 Bills.

-The Chargers will host the 0-1 Titans.

-The Broncos will travel to Atlanta to take on the 1-0 Falcons on Monday Night Football.

-The Raiders will travel to Miami to take on the 0-1 Dolphins.

How do you think this week will shake out in the AFC West?

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

The Jackie Battle era is officially over in Kansas City as the former backup running back has signed with the San Diego Chargers.

Battle was allowed to test the free agent waters this offseason and despite being fairly productive in 2011, the season in which he saw his first significant playing time, the Chiefs never showed much interest (publicly anyway) of re-signing Battle.

Battle spend most of his time in KC as a backup and it looks like he didn’t do enough last season to convince any NFL team that he was starting material. He’ll join incumbent starter Ryan Matthews and an aging Ronnie Brown in San Diego.

Battle should be a solid pickup for the Chargers. Brown is old and Matthews has injury issues. Battle sports good size and he is deceptively fast. He can block and also contribute on special teams.

The Chiefs gave Battle the rock 149 times last season and he produced 597 yards (4-ypc) and two TDs. He also added nine receptions for 68 yards. He is 28 and will turn 29 in October.

What do you think Addicts? Are you sorry to see Battle go to the Bolts? The signing of Peyton Hillis kind of made Battle the odd man out in the KC backfield. Charles is coming back. McCluster likely isn’t going anywhere and the team drafted Cyrus Gray. Still. it will be hard to see Jackie on the other side.

John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

NFL.com is counting down the top 20 games of the 2011 NFL season and the Kansas City Chiefs have made the list for the second time.

Coming in at #16 on the list is the Monday Night Football clash between the Chiefs and Chargers on Halloween. Also called “The Monday Night Miracle” by many, the Chiefs won the game in overtime after a fumbled snap gave them new life late in the 4th quarter.

Here is what NFL.com had to say about the contest:

Why this game is No. 16: Just because a game has a ton of turnovers and penalties doesn’t mean it’s an unenjoyably game to watch. This is the one slot in our Top 20 for the quirkiness of pro football: Twenty-one combined penalties, eight turnovers and a meaty overtime period gave this game the perfect amount of awkwardness and back-and-forth drama to merit its inclusion. It was also perfectly appropriate for Halloween.

From www.nfl.com (share this quote)

The game was a bit on the sloppy side but it will go down as one of my all-time favorite Chiefs games. It joins the Halloween game from 2010, when the Chiefs beat the Bills in overtime as the clock expired as one of my most terrifying Halloweens ever. Thank goodness there will be no Chiefs Halloween game this season. I’m not sure I could take.

This game had it all. The costumes, Baldwin’s TD catch, Rivers fumbling the snap, Cassel’s OT drive and Succop’s game-winning kick. There was also the all-red socks that some of the players wore that garnered them fines from the league for breaking uniform policies. They looked great and it was worth it, especially since it wasn’t my money paying the fines! The cherry on the sundae was the KC secondary sporting scream masks at the end of the game. The Chiefs came into the game with plans to leave winners and they made damn sure it happened.

It was a truly frightening night for Philip Rivers. It was also KC’s second straight victory over the Dolts on Monday Night Football. The rivals will meet again this season in prime time. Let’s hope the Chiefs make it three-for-three.

Mwhu-hahahahahahaha!

This week, I went back to watching the Chiefs’ 2011 game tape. While I had been primarily focused on losses to examine areas the Chiefs needed to improve, I had been saving one particular game as a snack somewhere down the road.

Beating the undefeated Packers was great. Stuffing the Donkeys to force them to enter the playoffs on a three-game losing streak made me happy. But, nothing could compare to the emotions I felt when watching our team rise from the grave in Week 8 on Monday Night Football to take the division lead against the San Diego Chargers.

Triumphant Zombie Chiefs they were. It was the exact midpoint of the season and it looked like the Chiefs were about to shake off their crap injury luck and humiliating start and go back to being the AFC Champs that they were.

For starters, what made the game great was that it was one of the rare times that it was absolutely clear that all Chiefs fans believed. Arrowhead has always been one of the loudest, most inhospitable places to play for visiting teams, but our fans took it to a new level that night. Even watching it on TV from tens of thousands of miles away, I could see the difference. After playing like the worst team in the sport for the first two and a half games of the season, the Chiefs had brought themselves to a place where they had to play a game against a rival on national television at home for the division lead. On Halloween. There is simply no better setup than that.

I also had forgotten previously just how good the Chiefs-Chargers rivalry is. Of course, I personally despise the Raiders and even the Broncos much more vehemently, but that comes mostly out of the irrational, non-competitive parts of my brain. Now, with a hall-o-fame QB at the helm in Denver, all the focus has been on them and the race to beat them out for the 2012 title. But, in all that talk, it is forgotten that the Chiefs and the Chargers have together won seven of the last nine division championships. That means that Oakland and Denver together have shared just 22 percent of the division titles over the last nine years. It’s anyone’s guess how strong the Chargers will be this year, but one thing is clear: for the last decade, KC and SD have owned the title.

Unfortunately, although KC had achieved an impressive three-game winning streak to get them to that game, that place in time, the offense indeed did play most of the game like the undead. The Chargers far outgained the Chiefs, and the difference in the game came down to capitalizing on San Diego mistakes. Still, there was some magic in the air in Arrowhead on Halloween. Dark magic.

First off, Tamba Hali didn’t just play like a man possessed. He was a man possessed. Whatever evil spirit took hold of him was just toying with the Chargers’ offensive tackles all game. He forced more than half a dozen penalties, had two sacks, a timely forced fumble, and overall terrorized the bejesus out of San Diego blockers.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Cassel hit some really pretty passes.

Despite all of that, the Chiefs played a really poor middle part of the game. A signature of the Todd Haley era, the offense constantly struggled to get plays and substitutions in on time. This led to a comedy of errors at the end of the first half, in which the Chargers were on the run but KC was just far too discombobulated to do anything right. Eventually, everyone just scratched their heads and kicked a field goal. By the end of the game, the color commentators were repeatedly using the phrase “Poor Matt Cassel” as our beleaguered QB was having to basically organize the bloody mess himself.

John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Although I didn’t know this when I watched the game live, when McGraw went out down with an injury and Donald Washington went in to replace him, this spelled doom for the Chiefs. This time around, I knew automatically that this would be the turning point. Sure enough, San Diego came from 10 points behind to tie the Chiefs in the second half. After being totally ineffective in the passing game in the first half, once there was only one competent Chiefs safety on the field, SD hit big play after big play to drag themselves back into the game.

The game was also largely a microcosm of Jonathan Baldwin’s rookie year. He hauled in the catch of his NFL career (thus far) — a beautiful deep pass for a TD — but he also committed several mental errors. He dropped two balls, both of which hit him in the hands, and the second one bounced off of his breadbasket and into the arms of a San Diego defender for an interception. It was a Jekyll and Hyde game for what has so far been a Jekyll and Hyde receiver.

As much as Hali was playing out of his mind, when the Chargers were able to neutralize his pass rush (usually through unnoticed penalties), Rivers was as comfortable as if he had returned to his mother’s womb. Houston had not yet arrived to the scene.

And, while I am all for getting Houston to develop and mature into a legit pass-rushing threat, I am still not convinced that is what he is just yet. Three of his 5.5 sacks in 2011 came against the Bears – a bad quarterback behind a bad offensive line (seriously, Caleb Hanie finished with a worse 2011 passer rating than Tyler Palko).

This brings me to my next disturbing realization while watching this game. Like our match against the Packers, in this game, San Diego was playing like absolute dogcrap 80 percent of the time. They had nine penalties in the first half, they turned over the ball four times and missed an easy field goal. Given all of that, the Chiefs should have beaten them by 20. Instead, we beat them by a field goal in overtime.

In part, this is just how the Chiefs play. We keep every game close and work to go the extra mile by the end of the game. But that won’t cut it in the playoffs. Playoff teams beat their opponents into submission when they have the chance and are able to run their offense like a machine. While I have no doubt the Chiefs will be able to secure the division title again in 2012, this roster still has yet to prove that it can be dominant.

That is why I think it is important to remember the Zombie Chiefs and remember where we are coming from. We are not just coming off of an off year that was plagued with injures. No. We were a dead team that clawed its way back into the division race as ugly as it was, and played with every ounce of its potential to come within a single blocked field goal of the postseason again.

We need to remember that hunger of a zombie team that had been written off by the league. We need to remember what it was like to be the fans of a team standing behind the walls of the Alamo on Halloween, defending its title like champs when everyone expected it to fold. I know there has been a lot of gloating and optimism among myself and others on this site for all of the shrewd offseason additions and the swift recovery of our wounded stars. But, if we are going to take this team’s destiny to its full potential, we need to remember where we came from.

The 2012 season for me is just a continuation of our rise from the grave. The media can talk about Peyton Manning all they want. Tamba will be feeding on his brain and JC will be dancing in his end zone before long. To steal a motto from the Greyjoys, “What is dead can never die.” Long live the Zombie Chiefs!

The San Diego Chargers have decided to bring back head coach Norv Turner and GM AJ Smith despite yet another disappointing season.

I know that this is an important issue to Chargers fans so I stopped by Bolt Beat, FanSided’s Chargers site to see how the fans over there were taking the news.

Yeah. They’re not taking it well:

Disgusting. I’ve been a fan since the late 70s when Fouts ended his holdout. This team does its best to drive fans away. I rarely get the sense that this franchise does whatever it takes to win a championship. I don’t know how fans can continue to support a team that has less interest in winning than they do. Anyway, this is how ownership repays fan loyalty. At least Gene Klein had ambition!

What do we have to look forward to? Another year of frustration! I hope that everyone who wanted to see Norv and AJ go show the Spanos family their feelings by refusing to buy tickets to the games. It will mean more blackouts but then we’ll get to see some good football in their place!

Head over to Bolt Beat and offer your condolences. Be nice though. Imagine if Pioli had brought back Herm.

According to Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, former Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Bill Cowher has already interviewed with high-ranking officials in San Diego to become the next head coach of the Chargers.

I was told this week by an in-the-know source with intimate knowledge of the San Diego sports scene that Cowher already had “an interview’’ with high-ranking people inside the Chargers organization who were gauging his interest and that he expressed his interest in the job should Norv Turner be fired.

There have been conflicting reports about Cowher’s plans now for some time. He has said publicly that he enjoys working in TV and that he has no plans to return to coaching at this time. However, potential coaches often say things like that to avoid creating a media frenzy.

Some have Cowher pegged as a candidate to land in New York should a vacancy open up with the Giants.

As for the Chiefs, Cowher has a past in KC but most believe that he will want power over personnel decisions, something Scott Pioli is unlikely to give him.

One thing is for sure, I’d rather Cowher not land in the AFC West, or the AFC for that matter. The Giants sound like a good fit to me.

I would like to open today’s post with a brief statement. This will just take a moment…

I TOLD YOU SO.

Sure, I’m not usually the type of person to say, “I told you so,” precisely because when I make a rare prediction, it usually turns out not to be so. But six weeks ago today, I posted the following:

The Kansas City Chiefs will beat the Green Bay Packers.

That’s right. You read it here first…

The Chiefs will beat the Packers. How do I know this? The same way I am able to evaluate every other question raised during this up-and-down Chiefs season: I have no idea. But they will. And the Packers may very well be 13-0 by the time they visit Arrowhead on December 18… They may even be resting some starters. In any event, I don’t expect the Chiefs will be playing the spoiler in terms of Green Bay’s cruise back to the playoffs. But at least [the Packers] will leave here feeling rotten.

Perhaps you infer from my giddiness that I did not have the most confidence in my own prediction. Like I said, I don’t often get these things right. Clearly, the Kyle Orton Era in Kansas City has indeed lasted more than one minute, and now the discussion is whether it should and/or will last more than one season.

I won’t say I expected Sunday’s shocker, but I felt it was really possible, a gut feeling loosely supported by historical data. I had been thinking back to the Chiefs’ triumph over the then-reigning-champion Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009—a year in which KC only won three other games—which led me to do a little research. I found that, since 1979, the Chiefs had been 6-2 (now 7-2) at home against defending Super Bowl champs. So there.

But I certainly didn’t predict that by the time this game arrived the Chiefs would have lost their starting quarterback and then ditched their head coach—the two major developments that made the difference in this upset. This changes everything. Or, rather, everything has changed. From the first drive forward on Sunday, this felt like a new team (with the same, but improved defense).

I’ll let others continue the discussion about what these new circumstances on the sidelines and behind center might mean for the Chiefs into 2012 and beyond. For now, I just care about next week and the week after that. That’s right. I’m feeling overly optimistic again.*

*It’s sorta, like, my thing.

So I will double down and offer one more “bold” prediction: The Chiefs will win the AFC West.

(more…)

Now that recent Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley has been “relieved of his duties” (and, presumably, his salary), it’s time to dust off that resume. This is a tough time to be looking for employment, and prospects are especially grim for a man whose primary job skills are his ability and tendency to yell at quarterbacks and NFL officials (honestly, the only place an NFL coach can get hired right now is Coors Light). Fortunately, it seems that Haley has already been busy revising the top part of his resume to reflect his hard-earned experience as a member of the Chiefs organization. Let’s take a look!

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Kansas City Chiefs tackle Barry Richardson is, according to Pro Football Focus and the eyes of thousands of KC fans across the world, the absolute worst tackle playing football in the NFL today.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ coaching staff, however, seems to think Richardson is just fine.

In a move that will likely keep philosophers busy for decades, the Chiefs decided to up and cut Jared Gaither last week. Other than getting into the game for a couple of multiple tackle sets, goal-line plays and quick injury fill-ins, the Chiefs never put Gaither on the field to take significant snaps at either tackle position.

But more on Gaither later.

For now, it is time someone took the Chiefs to task on Barry Richardson.

(more…)

From Acee:

Chargers President Dean Spanos, according to those around the team and around the league, feels he has “no choice” but to go in another direction at head coach and that Turner will be fired at season’s end.

Sources close to Spanos say the boss is still grappling with whether to fire Smith. But league sources familiar with Spanos’ thinking contend the GM will almost certainly be fired due to the owner’s concern over the maelstrom that has taken hold of the fan base, essentially demanding the owner lop off the top of his football operation management

The AFC West seems to be in a constant state of flux. John Fox in Denver and Hue Jackson in Oakland are both safe this year but there is a good chance both Turner and Todd Haley could be gone when the 2012 season kicks off.

What do you think will happen to the Chargers if they get a new coach?

Go ahead, laugh it up Chuckles. We'll see who's laughing when you wake up and find one of these assholes asleep on your couch.

According to the San Diego Tribune, an 81-year old woman living in Pacific Beach, California woke this morning to find a strange man in a San Diego Chargers Jersey passed out on her couch.

As you can imagine, the women was shocked to find that not only do Chargers fans exist, there was a drunk one on her freaking couch. The man was arrested and charged with being drunk in public.

Before we rush to judgement here, I think we should try to consider how this man may have ended up in a stranger’s house, asleep on their couch.

My first thought was that maybe he got stabbed at the game.

Then again, perhaps the man was just drunk and distraught after the Chargers dropped their fourth straight game on Thursday night. I mean, would you want to go out in public in a powder blue Chargers jersey?

Update: We’re now hearing from a source that the man in question was indeed Philip Rivers. According to our source, he returned home from the game last night to find his wife had changed the locks on the front door. Reporters are on hand, however Mrs. Rivers has yet to emerge from the Rivers compound. Carson Palmer was seen leaving the residence earlier this morning but he had no comment for reporters.

A man was stabbed outside the stadium after the Oakland Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers last night on Thursday Night Football.

Are we really surprised? Why is it that everywhere Raiders fans go, people get stabbed? I’m just saying.

The victim is apparently OK and is not cooperating with the police. You know, cause why would you want to the cops to get the guy who STABBED YOU IN THE GUT.

Sigh. As you can see from the video, this isn’t the first time this has happened.

Chances are, it won’t be the last.

The Kansas City Chiefs may have got their backsides handed to them by the winless Miami Dolphins today but the Tim Tebow led Broncos beat Carson Palmer and the Raiders and the Packers defeated the Chargers.

And that means the Chiefs are still in first place in the AFC West.

If you were looking for a silver lining, there it is.

The Raiders, Chiefs and Chargers now all stand at 4-4, while the Broncos move to 3-5.

Sure, the Chiefs missed a golden opportunity to seize sole control of first place but important thing is that the AFC West race is still wide open. Eventually, one team is going to step up and take it. After everything I’ve seen so fat this season from the AFC West teams, I’d say the Chiefs have just as good a shot at it as anyone else.

Today sucked but this thing ain’t over Addicts. Not by a long shot.

Red Tribe Cinema has put together another one of their fantastic KC Chiefs highlight videos. This one should help you get pumped up for tomorrow’s game.

Note: There is some strong language at the very end, if you are bothered by that sort of thing. It’s clean through all the game highlights though.

The Kansas City Chiefs have brought their season back from the dead by rattling off four straight wins after an 0-3 start. At 4-3, the Chiefs are tied for the division lead with 10 games to play.

Despite the team’s recent success, winning the AFC West is still going to be a tough task. Looking ahead at KC’s schedule and the schedules of the rest of the teams in the division, I believe 10 wins will likely be enough to snag the AFC West crown. If that is the case, we can easily break down what the Chiefs must do the rest of the way to repeat as division champs.

And we’ll do just that, after the jump.

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Monday nights are usually when I sit down, reflect on what the Kansas City Chiefs did or didn’t do over the weekend just past, and pull something out of my ass together for my Tuesday post. But on this particular Monday night, it so happens I was a bit distracted by something rather compelling that I was watching on television. I only had time to jot down some observations during breaks in the action as it unfolded. So consider these my Quick Slants. Some of them are even football-related…

• Hey, nice graveyard rendition of Danse Macabre by the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City during the MNF intro (my friend Kristin was the Zombie bassist on the left).
• Not a big fan of all those not-so-terrible white towels. The idea was lame enough at Busch Stadium during the World Series and it’s no more impressive at Arrowhead. What? Is everyone surrendering? Or just waving their tighty-whities in the air? Hard to tell.
• Is that a five-inch Herm Edwards screaming at a couple of clueless tools to “ice down those Coors Lights, baby?” Finally—a coaching job worthy of Herm’s stature.
• Lamest Halloween costume seen in the crowd: Zach Galifianakis’s “Alan” with beard, sunglasses, and strap-on baby (with sunglasses) from The Hangover. Soooo 2009. (And there’s no good reason to remind Chiefs fans of 2009.)
• Did I hear that right about Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann? 10,502 snaps in a row? I wonder if that statistic about a routine, seemingly mundane element of the game will take on more significance later…
• Newest addition to Todd Haley’s nasty-as-he-wants-to-be ensemble: Navy undershirt with some kind of emblem that resembles either a grease stain or maybe a patch of sweat.

(more…)

As if the Chiefs beating the Chargers last night wasn’t awesome enough, Philip Rivers gave us this hilarious gem after he fumbled the game away.

Rivers is clearly saying “worst day ever.”

Worst day ever? I dunno. I had a pretty good day. Maybe it was only a bad day for whiny QBs and head coaches with creepy-looking neck skin.

I could watch this all day. Big props to Andy Studebaker for diving in there and digging out the ball.

There is also a lot of hilarious stuff happening in this video. I shall list them below.

Paddy’s List Of Awesome Things Happening In This Video

1. Rivers fumbling the snap

2. Rivers’ legs squirming in the pile as a bunch of heavy men fall on top of his head

3. Andy Studebaker diving on top of the pile and digging through at least three people to find the ball

4. #48 Reshard Langford literally grabbing Studebaker and plucking him from the pile once Studi yelled that he had the ball

More after the jump:

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The Kansas City Chiefs scored a crucial victory last night over the San Diego Chargers, and they now find themselves back atop of the AFC West standings.

The Chiefs started the 2010 season with a win over the Chargers on Monday Night Football. Todd Haley’s team never looked back, and they remained in first place for the rest of the season and secured the AFC West Championship.

This season KC started in an 0-3 hole and for a while it looked like a repeat as division champs was impossible.

Only nobody told the Chiefs that.

We’ll review the new AFC West standings after the jump.

(more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs scored a huge victory over the Chargers last night, thanks in large part to a big effort by RB Jackie Battle late in the game.

Have a look at this shot of Battle’s TD. A thing of beauty.

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The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers 23-20 in overtime last night in what is being called the Monday Night Miracle.

After the game, the KC defense got into the Halloween spirit and busted out their costumes.

You’ve gotta love it!

The Kansas City Chiefs just beat the San Diego Chargers in overtime in what will have to go down in history as the Monday Night Miracle game.

The game was over. The Chargers were running out the clock. The game was tied. They were in FG range. The Chiefs had no time outs.

And then the Chargers fumbled the snap.

And Andy Studebaker emerged with the ball.

The Chargers won the toss. The Chiefs stopped them on a three and out thanks to a Tamba Hali strip sack.

The Chiefs got the ball back. They drove down field. They ran with Battle. He powered them.

And Ryan Succopp kicked a Monday Night Miracle.

Chiefs 23, Chargers 20.

We’ll have more tomorrow, but for now it is time to celebrate!

It’s here. Zombie Chiefs vs. the San Diego Chargers.

Join us in the comments of this post to talk about the game live! Don’t miss out on the commentary from the AA staff and other readers.

Join the conversation!

Here is the damage:

Inactives: 13 Stanzi, 30 Brown, 68 Maneri, 83 Urban, 88 Becht, 90 Bair, 95 Powe

No real surprises here.

This also means Kendrick Lewis, who was probable, will play this evening. That means not counting the guys on IR, the Chiefs will be at full strength.

Here are the inactives for San Diego:

Inactive :Tolbert (hamstring), Stuckey (groin), Dielman (concussion), Castillo (leg), SP (foot), Hayes (not ready), OG (no room)

Just a reminder to join us right here for our live game chat during Monday Night Football. If the Chiefs can take care of business tonight against the San Diego Chargers, they will be in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC West.

More importantly, Todd Haley will have to grow his epic beard for another week.

Go Chiefs! We’ll see you about 15 minutes before kickoff.

The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers will be squaring off in just a few hours so that means it is time for the Arrowhead Addict staff to go on the record with our predictions for tonight’s game.

Let’s do it.

Patrick Allen

Chiefs 27, Chargers 24

I have a weird feeling Jackie Battle is going to go bananas tonight and run all over the Chargers.

Come on! You can’t pick against the Zombie Chiefs at Arrowhead on Halloween!

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After the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football, the atmosphere in the locker room was electric. They may not have known it yet but great things were in store for the Chiefs.

The dark days were over.

It all came down to this. The Kansas City Chiefs were up 21-14 and the Chargers were threatening, trying to send the game to over time. The young Kansas City defense needed to come up with a big stop or Monday Night Magic could have turned into Monday Night Heartbreak.

The Chiefs didn’t disappoint.

The general consensus around NFL circles last season was that those “spunky upstart” Kansas City Chiefs stole the AFC West from the much more talented San Diego Chargers, thanks to KC’s easy schedule and a few games that SD gave away on special teams. The Chargers backed up that opinion in SD last season when they completely obliterated the Cassel-less Chiefs. Even during last season’s Monday Night Football win, the Chargers defense held the Chiefs offense in check for much of the game. The Chargers ended the season ranked #1 in the NFL in both total offense and total defense. So it was no surprise when most NFL experts picked the Chargers to regain their “rightful” place at the top of the AFC West this season.

Despite KC’s recent resurgence, most NFL experts and fans still feel the same way about both teams. The Chargers are still the sometimes under-performing juggernaut and the Chiefs are still the team that everyone is waiting to lose so they can say “See? I told you they weren’t for real.”

So the only way for KC to win this game is by luck or if the Chargers give it away, right? I mean there is no way that the Chiefs could actually go head-to-head with the much more talented Chargers and come out on top if the Chargers bring their “A game,” could they?

I’m here to tell you that that’s exactly what KC can do tonight. Especially when KC has the ball. I’ll explain after the jump.

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We’re taking a trip down memory lane today by periodically reliving the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the San Diego Chargers last season on Monday Night Football.

Up next is Dexter McCluster’s punt return for a touchdown. The Chiefs were up 14-7 at the time. It would be the last points the Chiefs would score in that game. It would be the last points they needed to score.

Will Dexter be able to come up big again tonight?

We continue to revisit last year’s Monday Night Magic game and this time we get to watch Jamaal Charles’ fantastic 56-yard touchdown run.

The run pulled the Chiefs even with the Chargers tying things up at 7-7.

Jamaal won’t be able to help the Chiefs tonight but perhaps Jackie Battle will be able to pull off a stunning run of his own. Here’s hoping.

The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers are squaring off on Monday Night Football for the second straight year tonight. Last year the Chiefs pulled off a stunning upset that propelled the team to the top of the AFC West, where they would remain for the rest of the season.

The Chiefs are hoping for a repeat performance tonight.

I was in attendance at last year’s game. It was an experience I’ll never forget. When I watch the video above, I still get chills. Hopefully it will help you get pumped up for this evening’s contest. Enjoy!

The San Diego Chargers are banged up heading into their crucial division matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football.

San Diego released their injury report and there are a few key names that will be missing from action on Monday night.

Here is the damage:

Out: DE Luis Castillo, G Kris Dielman, LB Shaun Phillips

Doubtful: RB Michael Tolbert

Questionable: WR Malcom Floyd, S Darrell Stuckey

Probable: TE Antonio Gates, RB Jacob Hester, RB Ryan Mathews, T Marcus McNeill, C-G Scott Mruczkowski

For the Chiefs, the news is much better.

Probable: S Kendrick Lewis

More after the jump.
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Another great highlight video from Red Tribe Cinema to get you pumped up for Chiefs vs. Chargers on Monday Night Football.

Enjoy!

Back in week three when the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the San Diego Chargers, most fans thought the season was over.  Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry had both just blown out their ACLs, the team had just been blown out by a million points in two games, and things just were not looking good for the boys in red and yellow.  It appeared that the 2011 season had arrived in the ER with a flat line.

Every aspect of those first two games showed an obvious lack of discipline and execution, with no hope for improvement.  When that happens, it’s not the players. It’s the coaching.  Todd Haley seemed as if he couldn’t control his locker room or his team on the field.

Then Nick Wright reported rumors that Scott Pioli would have fired head coach Todd Haley had the Chiefs lost to the Indianapolis Colts in week 5.  The fans, and players alike, were no longer drinking the Pioli/Haley Kool-Aid.  It was at this point when I wrote my “Is the Raiders Game a Must Win for Todd Haley?” article.

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courtesy yardbarker.com

Now that we’ve discussed the five keys to a Kansas City Chiefs victory over the San Diego Chargers, it is time to single out five players we think can help put the hammer down on the Lightening Dolts.

Here are five players to watch this Monday night.

Jackie Battle

Can the Battle-Axe make it a hat trick? Battle will look to produce his third strong outing against the Chargers. San Diego has had difficulty stopping the run and KC currently ranks 7^th in the league in that category. If the Chiefs can pound away at the Chargers defense with Battle, they could find themselves tied for first place in the AFC West.

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Two of the analysts picked the Chiefs to win the game. Matt Millen, however, did not.

Why?

“It really is because they can’t run the football right now,” said Millen.

The only problem with Millen’s statement is the fact that it is entirely untrue. The Kansas City Chiefs rank 7th in the league in rushing yards per-game with 129.3.

So…yeah…they can only run the ball better than 25 other teams. They’re awful at it.

I guess Millen is going to try to ruin the NFLN’s coverage much the same way he ruined the Detroit Lions.

Millen also picked the Chiefs to lose to the Raiders last week so let’s hope he keeps his streak alive.

Never miss a chance to get your fix. Follow Arrowhead Addict on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers will square off in a battle of good vs. evil Monday Night on Halloween.

To help get you ready to face the wicked Chargers, we’ve gone Inside the Enemy Camp with Ernie Padon, Senior Editor of Bolt Beat, FanSided’s San Diego Chargers site. Ernie runs the best Chargers site around and he provided me with some inside insight into the lightening dolts.

Be sure to check out Bolt Beat throughout the weekend and Monday for enough Chargers news and views to make you vomit.

Now let’s go Inside the Enemy Camp with Bolt Beat.

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The Kansas City Chiefs will host the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium on Halloween Night for Monday Night Football in what is being dubbed (by me) the “Monday Night Nightmare.”

Hopefully the nightmare will belong to the Chargers. Here are my five keys to victory for Kansas City.

-Romeo, Oh Romeo

The sexiest defensive coordinator in the league needs to keep doing his thing this week. The Chiefs D appeared shell-shocked after losing Eric Berry but since then, save for one unfocused held against the juggernaut Colts, the KC D has been solid.

That is primarily thanks to Romeo Crennel and his knack for confusing QB’s. What Crennel has been able to do with a group of safeties made up of Kendrick Lewis, Jon McGraw, Donald Washington and “Shabby” Sabby Piscitellie is nothing short of remarkable. Lewis is the best of the group but he is no Eric Berry. Crennel has found a way to maximize what each player does well and he’s gotten them on the field in situations where they are most likely to succeed.

Crennel is greatly aided by the talent he still has on the corners in Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr. Since he can trust them to be on an island more often than not, he’s able to make up for shortcomings in other areas.

Crennel is a master at disguising his coverages to confuse and frustrate QBs. He did it to Peyton Manning for years and he has had success doing the same against Philip Rivers. The Chargers QB is struggling a bit this season. If Crennel has his way, those struggles will continue Sunday.

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The San Diego Chargers got more bad news today on the injury front as Pro Bowl guard Kris Dielman apparently suffered a seizure while on a plane. He will not be able to play Monday, according to Marty Caswell of XX1090 Sports Radio.

Meanwhile, John Clayton of ESPN is reporting that both Mike Tolbert (hand) and Malcolm Floyd (hip) both sat out practice again for the Chargers.

As for the Chiefs, only Kendrick Lewis was listed on today’s injury report. Lewis is listed as being limited with an ankle injury.

We wish Kris Dielman a quick recovery.

Earlier this week we told you of a report that San Diego Chargers left tackle Marcus Mcneill was unlikely to play Monday because of a neck injury but now there is a conflicting report from Kevin Acee.

According to Acee, Mcneill is now expected to play Monday.

The extra 24 hours of rest is likely going to be a benefit to the Chargers who are hurting in a number of areas. RB Mike Tolbert is battling a hamstring injury and WR Malcom Floyd has a hip injury. Neither player practiced on Wednesday.

The other big news coming from the Chargers’ camp is that the team is expected to bench former first-round pick Antoine Cason in favor of rookie Marcus Gilchrist. Cason got burned for three touchdowns vs the Jets last week, prompting San Diego to make the change. While the team hasn’t made an official announcement on who will start, Gilchrist has been taking snaps with the first team.

Gilchrist is a promising prospect, but I expect the Chiefs, with their veteran wide receivers, will be looking to take advantage of the inexperienced rookie come Monday night.

One site you definitely want to check out this week is Bolt Beat, FanSided’s Chargers site. Ernie, the editor over there, runs one of the best Chargers sites out there. He’s got a nice writeup of why the Chiefs might beat his team this week.

Please Tamba, when you get to Philip, just lay him down lightly and don’t hurt him! Marcus McNeill might not participate in the game because of an injury and that will be a TOUGH assignment for Brandyn Dombrowski to pick up. Dombro vs Hali! Philip better get that ball out quick or we will be talking about some fumbles on Tuesday.

From boltbeat.com (share this quote)

Check out more from Bolt Beat.

McNiel is dealing with a sprained neck, and Chargers coach Norv Turner told the North County Times that McNiel is expected to miss Monday’s game. While McNiel still could play if he improves, it is not looking good.

We are also hearing a report that San Diego OLB Larry English has a broken foot. This comes from San Diego Tribune beat reporter Kevin Acee. English, a 2009 first-round pick, has not been starting for the Chargers. He did, however, record two sacks in a game against the Dolphins this year. He also recorded 1.5 sacks against the Chiefs last December.

Obviously McNiel is the big fish here. Should he not be able to go, the Chiefs will have a much better shot at getting to Philip Rivers.

“This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature… It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.”

— St. Clement of Alexandria, circa 180

After the Kansas City Chiefs came back from 17 down to notch their first-ever win in Indianapolis two weeks ago, Head Coach Todd Haley declared to the world (or, at least, to a glaringly lit room full of sports reporters) that he would ne’er desecrate his symbol of manhood so long as his team continued to reap victories on the football field. “As long as we’re winnin’, I’m not shavin’,” he said of his decision, supposedly made during the game in San Diego.

I’ll be honest—I didn’t really believe Haley at the time; it seemed like this could be another one of his, you know, jokes.* But when he emerged before Sunday’s game against the Raiders, it was clear: the man ain’t shavin’. Nor, it would appear, is he bathing, at least not effectively, or changing or washing his nasty off-red cap and hooded velvet man-blouse, which over the last few weeks has turned from a dark gray to a splotchy black.

*Like the one time two times he put Jamaal Charles behind Thomas Jones on the depth chart. That was hilarious!

But the accoutrements of genius will always look like signs of madness to the unqualified eye, just as credit and blame are often a function of who’s doing the assigning. In the last several days, some of Haley’s decisions over the past couple of years—such as who to bench, and when—have inspired a few rounds of the passionate, highly confrontational, and only vaguely mean-spirited debate that the devotees of this site can take pride in. But aside from the effect of Haley’s direct interventions in the playing time of LJ, DJ, and JC, for example, let’s look at the coach’s repertoire of general-purpose motivational devices:

• Dividing the season into “manageable” quarters
• Liberal use of obscenities
• Yelling at players
• Starting sideline fights with quarterback, receivers, and/or others as needed
• Turning routine post-game handshakes into newsworthy morsels for the media
• Introducing bean-bag games—the kind normally played by senior citizens or drunken tailgaters*—into the locker room

And now…

• Not shaving, bathing, or doing laundry

*Or drunken senior citizens, who may or may not be tailgating

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The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders today to move themselves to 3-3 on the season and in doing so, set up a potentially epic Monday Night Football showdown with the San Diego Chargers on Halloween Night.

The Chiefs needed a few things to go right Sunday for this to happen and all of them did.Here is the breakdown.

-Chiefs win, move to 3-3.

-Raiders loss moves them to 4-3. Oakland will be idle next week.

-San Diego loses to the Jets, falls to 4-2.

-Broncos narrowly beat the crappy Dolphins. Nobody cares because the Broncos suck.

Next week, the Chiefs will face the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night Football. A Kansas City win would drop the Chargers to 4-3 and move the Chiefs to 4-3. The Raiders would still be 4-3 but they won’t be playing. The Chiefs will have a tie-breaker over the Raiders based on today’s victory.

That means a KC victory on Halloween would tie the Chiefs with the Chargers for first place in the AFC West.

Bet you didn’t see that one coming after KC’s 0-3 start. I know I didn’t.

Next week will be crucial for the Chiefs. Should they lose to the Chargers, they will lose the tie-breaker at the end of the year if the teams finish with the same record.

Could be a spooky Halloween at Arrowhead Stadium!

I’m not much of an NBA fan*, so upon hearing the latest news of that league’s lockout—Commissioner David Stern has cancelled the first two weeks of the NBA season—all I could think was this: Ah, if only those first two weeks of the NFL season had never happened! The Chiefs would now be 2-1, the only blemish a loss at San Diego (expected) by the score of 20-17 (quite closer than expected). The team would still have a healthy Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles (assuming they wouldn’t have been injured in Weeks Three, Four, or Five). And Todd Haley would probably not be desperate enough to pledge to go unshaven (and to continue wearing velour hoodies and dirty sweat pants) so long as the Chiefs keep winning.

*I don’t know—watching monster-sized millionaires smash into each other on a football field doesn’t seem nearly as ridiculous as watching full-grown multi-millionaires scurry around in shorts on a squeaky court.

It’s so hard to analyze this team right now. The Chiefs seem both better and worse than their 2-3 record. Over the course of five weeks, they have laid down and died, and then fought back when it made no sense for them to have any fight left. And hindsight, as it does, has changed the context, too. While there’s no excuse for the embarrassments of the first two weeks, the two L’s on the schedule—against the only team New England hasn’t been able to beat this year and a team no one has been able to beat—aren’t looking as bad. The two wins, meanwhile, came against teams that were winless at the time, but both were real victories, requiring comebacks and last stands.

So the team may not be hopeless, but still doesn’t inspire much hope. Plus, even the “Suck for Luck” dream is dead, as the Chiefs are now in line behind or alongside 10 other teams—including the Eagles and Falcons!—for that first draft pick. As Lyle put it plainly in his post yesterday, “the odds of the Chiefs getting the #1 overall pick are about as likely as the Chiefs winning the division at this point.” And that, frankly, is depressing. This team seems destined for mediocrity of the mediocre kind: Four wins? Five wins? Maybe six? The Chiefs still don’t have an identity and it’s hard to imagine exactly what identity will emerge. I can see this team losing to Denver and then beating the Patriots or Packers. I really can.

So…it’s probably just as well that we are heading into the bye week, that curious once-a-year (per team) phenomenon that the NFL introduced in 1990 (according to Wikipedia), in order to extend the season by a week and “provide time for teams to rest” (according to nflbyeweek.com*). Perhaps we should all take a rest, too, some time to clear our heads and clear the slate.

*Yes, that’s real: there is an entire web site—one page—dedicated solely to a listing of NFL teams’ byes by week. It is brought to you by the same people who created whatdayoftheweekisitwhereyoulive.org and clickheretoseeawebpage.net.

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For the past two days, much has been made* of the second-quarter sideline exchange/argument/tiff/spat/discussion/hissy/fight between the Kansas City Chiefs’ once-Pro-Bowl quarterback and their once-Coach-of-the-Year runner-up. With about five minutes left in the half and the Chiefs trailing the also-winless Minnesota Vikings 7-3, Matt Cassel appeared to quickly bail out on a broken screen play. And Todd Haley appeared nonplussed about it, a sentiment he then appeared to share with his quarterback as the TV cameras zoomed in.

*When has this not been the case? We spend all day, every day, thinking, talking, and writing about what happens during three hours of game action once a week. Making much is what we do.

This fifteen seconds of infamy has been posted, reposted, played, and replayed dozens of times on the blogosphere since Sunday, without any real revelation as to what exactly took place.* All that we know—or so we’ve been told by others who are also making much of this—is that it seems like Cassel and the Chiefs were different, much more fired-up, after this one outburst of emotion. And they put together enough of a second-half effort to get their first win in 2011 (the year, not just the season).

*However, this clip does reveal a couple of interesting developments on the fashion front: First, Cassel manages to get his sideline hat onto his head properly in one single, swift motion. Considering recent history, a good sign! Also, after swinging way too far towards the lying-around-the-house-in-the-wife’s-old-sweatshirt-on-laundry-day look two weeks ago and rebounding hard with a comfortable-yet-commanding dark fleece in San Diego, Haley seems to be splitting the difference now, with a gray-sweatsuit-and-dingy-old-hat ensemble that looks more like what you might wear working in the yard while listening to the game. We may need to start a Haley Style Watch to keep him in line.     

Cassel himself would later thank his coach for the “open dialogue.” But what was really said? It’s not very easy to read lips, but here are a couple possible snippets…

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The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West in 2010, but if they hope to repeat as division champs, they’ll have to play from behind.

With the first quarter of the season in the books, the division race is still wide open.

Let’s take a look at the race:

San Diego Chargers 3-1

Oakland Raiders 2-2

Kansas City Chiefs 1-3

Denver Broncos 1-3

We’ll review how the rest of the division fared on Sunday after the jump.

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