Blogs

Analyzing Danny Parkins' "Five Chiefs We Can Least Afford to Lose"

By Stephen DeMeo

Is Matt Cassel the most important cog in the Chief machine?

As we head into the preseason tonight, which can be both productive and destructive, Danny Parkins decided to look into the latter and examine who we can least afford to lose in this preseason and beyond. Let's take a look and offer some analysis:

1. Matt Cassel (QB): Is Cassel the best player on the team? No. But his value to this club cannot be understated and Parkins is spot on with this one. The Chiefs do not possess a backup at this time who could be put in a pressure situation with confidence off the bench. Will Stanzi be that guy down the road? Most likely. But right now we are looking at Tyler Palko as our backup and quite frankly while he knows the system very well, he exudes no confidence out on the practice field or in game situations. Without Cassel in the lineup, it would be almost impossible for the Chiefs to win a game over the course of four quarters. Palko panics, throws some ill-advised floaters and to be honest wasn't even a "great" QB during his time in college at Pitt. It's very difficult to envision a more valuable player to the Chiefs than

Writers, Bloggers needed

By Michael Scheuerman

Chiefs Center back for another year.

Create an account on Chiefscoalition.com and login.  There will be a link "Submit a story" located at the bottom of the website.  You can submit your writings this way.  We will review your submission and if it meets the websites standards we will post and promote it.  With your account you will have your own section with all your writings.  Your blog will have a listing to all your accepted submissions and bodies of work.  Feel free to e-mail questions to mescheuerman@chiefscoalition.com or on twitter @chiefscoalition.

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Back to Football!!!

By Ryan S. Hall

Football is here!

You can’t refresh your twitter feed fast enough to digest the dizzying pace of free agent signings. With such a short window before training camp starts, some teams are throwing around ridiculous sums of money at players that frankly do not deserve it (see: Tavaris Jackson, Olindo Mare, Doug Free and Eric Weddle, among others).

Here in Kansas City though, all seems rather quiet. So far their free agent “splash” has consisted of re-signing 38-year old center Casey Weigmann, Special Teams “ace” Terrance Copper and reserve cornerback Travis Daniels to one year contracts. When you account for the six or seven faceless undrafted free agents, it’s clear that Scott Pioli is once again planning to use a shrewd evaluation of talent rather than high profile signings in order to improve his team.

While there have been a few rumors regarding the likes of Steve Breaston and Aubrayo Franklin, nothing looks eminent. That being said, the Chiefs find themselves in a very unique position. With young talent ready to blossom at many key positions, adding veteran players may only slow their development. Kansas City does have an advantage over most of their opposition: patience.

Patience is what landed

Chiefs face tough Ravens team

By Ryan S. Hall

Charles needs to have a big game

Allow me to quote Mitch Holthus: “We cannot play to their reputation.” He was of course referring to the Baltimore Ravens, one of the most successful franchises in the NFL over the last decade. Before Mitch’s words sank in, I cringed every time I thought about guys like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. It’s hard not to be fearful of a defense that has never conceded a 100-yard rusher in the playoffs. Then I took a deep breath, did a little research and began to feel much better about the Chiefs’ upcoming opponent… but first, the bad news.

At 12-4, the Ravens are not your average Wild Card team. Their four losses were by a total of only 16 points, with no game yielding worse than a five-point defeat. Three of their four losses came at the hands of some of the league’s stiffest competition:  New England, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

In terms of experience, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have participated in almost as many playoff games as the whole of the Kansas City Chiefs roster. If you somehow needed more proof of the Ravens’ excellence, consider the fact that Baltimore has 42 players on their roster with postseason

Raiders destroy playoff bound Chiefs

By Ryan S. Hall

Casell sacked 7 times on Sunday.

Yesterday’s loss at Arrowhead Stadium may have been the worst I’ve witnessed in all my years as a Chiefs fan. For a moment there, I actually began to wonder if the NFL could change a rule or two and allow the Oakland Raiders to advance to the playoffs in our stead.

Kansas City allowed 7 sacks and Matt Cassel tossed two interceptions. The Chiefs ran 72 plays for 201 net yards of offense… I’m not even going to dignify that by doing the math. Oakland was clearly the better team, even following the Chiefs’ only touchdown that tied the score at 10 with 8:02 left in the third quarter. Fourteen game minutes later, the score was 31-10 Oakland.

For the first time all season, the Chiefs looked completely inept. At least in San Diego the Chiefs had a few excuses for looking so terrible. Yesterday was a home game that yielded the largest crowd at Arrowhead this season sans the home opener on Monday Night Football. The crowd was charged and the team was coming off their most complete win to date.

So… honestly, what happened?

I’m sure the majority of Chiefs fans want to point blame at Charlie Weis…

Chiefs still have work to do before the playoffs.

By Ryan S. Hall

Chiefs win AFC WEST

For those of you unable to resist the urge, consider this your final opportunity to congratulate the Chiefs on winning the AFC West.

As per Todd Haley’s approach the entire season, we’re going to continue to steady our focus on one game at a time. The demolition of the Tennessee Titans, coupled with Cincinnati’s belated Christmas gift made for one hell of an afternoon… but that should be the end of it. 86 all talk of the playoffs, my friends – despite the guaranteed home contest.

“Our focus isn’t going to change,” Coach Haley said Tuesday. “It’s all part of staying in the present tense and understanding the task at hand. We have a big (game) this week.”

If it were any other week during any other season, this game would be circled on the calendar of every Chiefs fan nationwide. Before Sunday’s developments, it likely was. Its Raider week and wrapping-up the division early is no reason to relax, even as fans.

The Chiefs are too young, too unproven and too fragile to kick-up their heels for this final regular season contest. This week is paramount in terms of rhythm for a constantly developing football team. There are

Another must win game for the Chiefs

By Ryan S. Hall

Chiefs could not stop the Titans running game last time.

As far as evil twins go, the Chiefs may have found theirs in the Tennessee Titans. Their blueprints border on plagiarism; both are built on run-first principles, play-action passing and a stout defense. Despite their similarities in gameplan and talent, the key differences that fall in Kansas City’s favor are the Quarterback position and team discipline.

At first glance, Tennessee is simply a bad football team. While designed in a comparable fashion to the Chiefs, the Titans are not only prone to mistakes (-4 turnover margin, 29th in penalties), they’re wildly unpredictable. After starting the season 5-2, the Titans lost six games in a row. Last week’s win over the Houston Texans had more to do with pride than actually being a solid football team.

The Titans are 1-2 against the AFC West this year, with very mixed results. In week one, they manhandled the Raiders and looked like one of the best teams in the NFL. Yet in week four, the Broncos came to Nashville and pulled-out a 26-20 win in what were arguably the most embarrassing final two minutes for any team this season... including the Giants’ melt-down last week.

So, what Titans team will show-up on

Chiefs take care of business at Arrowhead East

By Ryan S. Hall

Kendrick Lewis had 2 interceptions on Sunday

Some said he couldn’t do it, others that he shouldn’t… but six carries, 17 yards, three sacks, 35 heart attacks, one tomahawk chop and tens of thousands of new believers later, a hero is born.

While his stat-line wasn’t legendary, it was the leadership and vigor Matt Cassel displayed on Sunday that got the Chiefs’ engine revving. Maybe it was the competition, maybe just the setting; regardless, one thing is certain: the Chiefs were a completely different football team on Sunday as they improved to 9-5 overall and finished the year 4-0 against the NFC West.

As expected, Cassel lifted an offense that needed to find its rhythm. The running backs combined for another 200-plus yard rushing day, thanks mainly to 62 tough yards by Jones* and an 80-yard scamper by Charles. Hell, there was even a Chris Chambers sighting (3 catches, 42 yards).

In the five previous road contests, the Chiefs were allowing an average of 32 points a game. If not for a late touchdown drive, the Rams would have been limited to two field goals on their first two possessions. The defense only surrendered one first down over a two-quarter stretch and stayed disciplined throughout the

Must win game for both teams

By Ryan S. Hall

Chiefs need to win in all three phases this week

The Governor's Cup isn't the only prize in play this Sunday as the Chiefs and Rams set to square off in St. Louis; for the first time since 2002 these teams will meet in the regular season with major playoff implications on the line.

Last weekend both the Chiefs and Rams played on the road and were dominated by their competition, losing by a combined score of 62-13. While the Chiefs engaged in one of the most disappointing offensive performances in team history due to the loss of Matt Cassel, the Rams' savvy young QB Sam Bradford proved he actually can make rookie mistakes, throwing two interceptions in the red zone. This week's injury report should improve for both teams as each expect to get back key players in Matt Cassel and Ronald Bartell.

Sunday's game is the final road test for the Chiefs, a team that has struggled mightily when away from Arrowhead Stadium. Consider it fortunate for Kansas City however that the Rams have already lost two home games and the Edward Jones Dome is typically a 50/50 split of Red and Navy.

Interestingly enough, Thursday night's game should mount considerable pressure on one of these two

Raising The Bar

By Ryan S. Hall

The Chiefs best player needs to get more touches

After yesterday’s embarrassment at the hands of the division rival Chargers, feel free to choose your favorite cliché: it’s just one game, the numbers don’t tell the whole story, don’t count your eggs before they hatch. There's any number of explanations (excuses) for the Chiefs’ abysmal performance, with the cardinal reason being the absence of their Quarterback/leader/newfound savior Matt Cassel. While it’s difficult to blame such a disturbing result on just one player, Brodie Croyle might actually deserve the criticism… more on that later*.

One thing is certain, however - yesterday wasn’t the first time the Chiefs have thrown away a golden opportunity to distance themselves from the rest of the AFC West.

The Chiefs have lost all three road games within the division. What seems most disturbing is that each one has become progressively lopsided in favor of their opponent. Adding insult, their home wins against San Diego and Denver were fortunate to say the least.

Take a closer look and you’ll find there is no denying that the AFC West has brought out the worst in the Chiefs. By the numbers, they’ve been outscored, out gained and out possessed by significant figures.

How do we begin