Shane Life

In their last 20 games, the Herm Edwards-led Kansas City Chiefs have won once. That’s five percent.

What kind of league has the NFL become where not a single person is held responsible for this type of futility? I really wanted the Bills to score again, just to drive home the point that the Chiefs really are as bad as their 1-19 record reflects.

I don’t want to hear about “promise” and “potential”. Because promise and potential doesn’t get beaten 54-31 in Arrowhead Stadium. There are other words that describe teams that get beaten by that margin at home. But I won’t print those here.

Herm Edwards and Carl Peterson should both be fired. Peterson’s horrid decision-making is finally to the point where it is affecting ticket sales, which is the only reason that he’s been around so long. Clark Hunt can no longer ignore the awfulness of the Chiefs when 20,000+ fans walk out of the stadium halfway through the 3rd quarter (and those were the ones that actually showed up).

But I feel like I’m just repeating myself. It’s really getting old. Not that winning a game would change anything other than just extending the pain of the Herm Edwards era by giving us some smidgen of false hope in a coach who couldn’t effectively coach a Pop Warner team to a championship and a General Manager who should be arrested for theft, larceny and the robbery all the hopes and dreams of Chiefs fans in this city.

But I’ve said this before…it’s nothing new.

Last week, instead of going for overtime, Herm goes for two to win the game. That’s fine. I have no problem with that call.

I do, however, have a problem with NOT going for it on 4th & 2 in Saints territory with 5 minutes left in the game, especially when New Orleans hadn’t had much of a problem controlling the ball. I just don’t get it.

Actually, I do get it. He’s an awful coach. HORRIBLE even. The Saints fan sitting behind me during the game said, “I don’t understand why you guys are running the ball at all. The only thing the Saints can do is defend the run.” Watching the game, I had to agree with him. Thigpen was once again efficient and effective as a passer and would have been even moreso if not for several dropped passes. (I mean, really, D-Bowe…how about you put up TWO hands to catch the ball instead of just the one?)

It’s getting old that I have to keep saying this, but Herm Edwards cannot coach in the NFL. It took a decent offensive coordinator to make this bunch of clowns actually put any semblance of an offense on the field (not Herm’s doing) and yet the Chiefs still have yet to compete in the second half. This is a head coaching problem. I don’t know how many ways I have to say it. Herm is the biggest problem. His philosophies and approach to the game are antiquated and INEFFECTIVE. There’s no doubt that Carl is a larger part of the problem, but let’s be honest: with Herm Edwards, the Chiefs will not return to the playoffs.

Bring on The Chin.

Our defense was supposed to be better.

It’s worse. Lendale White and Chris Johnson are destroying the Chiefs’ defense today.

End of story. Herm cannot say he doesn’t have the horses on defense…he’s had his drafts. Our defense is as bad as it was during the Dick Vermeil era and at least during that period we could score points. I don’t know what Herm has to do to be fired, but if I were the owner, I’d never have hired the guy.

No, I’m not talking about my creativity and lack of blogging.

I’m talking, of course, about the hapless Kansas City Chiefs, who have been held hostage by the almighty dollar and mediocrity, both by the hand of the devil himself, Carl Peterson. Peterson’s dismantling of Lamar Hunt’s prized franchise has been nothing short of criminal, comparable to the way that greedy investment bankers, useless politicians and shady lending practices have led to this horrible economic crisis that we’re in.

Just as with the economic crisis, there’s plenty of blame to go around. It certainly has to start at the top. One of the very first things that Clark Hunt should have done when he assumed the reins of the team after his father’s death is do the one thing his legendary dad couldn’t do - FIRE CARL PETERSON.

Peterson bears more of the blame than anyone. He’s a brilliant businessman, but he’s an absolutely horrible General Manager. Bad drafts, bad trades, mistreatment of players (anyone remember Pro Bowl LEFT TACKLE John Tait?) and just plain greed ($20+ for parking? Really?) are just some examples of Peterson’s abysmal record of management.

Peterson is also responsible for some of the worst coaching hires in the history of the NFL, including our current coach, who has one of the worst offensive minds in all of football. I’d put the coach at Gardner Edgerton High School (who won their game on last Friday night 69-0) in charge of the Chiefs before I’d let Edwards anywhere near a sideline. Edwards had a losing record when he came here and it’s even worse now.

Granted, the players stink. All of them. I feel bad for Tony Gonzalez…it must be impossible to get open with the garbage he has surrounding him (and throwing toward him either). I’d feel worse for him if he weren’t so darn rich. If Peterson had a shred of decency about him, he would have allowed Gonzalez to go seal his first-ballot Hall of Fame status with a team that had a chance to reach the playoffs in the next 5 years, because the Chiefs certainly don’t…not with Peterson and Edwards steering this rudderless ship.

I truly had hope (if not somewhat misguided) that we might see something new with Chan Gailey running the offense, but I’m convinced that even Al Saunders couldn’t make these fools look good.

And it stinks, because I was really hoping for an 0-16 season. 1-15 might be attainable, though. And that would certainly seal the deal for the #1 pick. It might even be enough to get both Peterson and Edwards out of town (and hopefully in the case of Edwards, out of the NFL forever…I wouldn’t wish that guy on any other team, except maybe the Raiders).

I’ve put this off as long as possible, but I can’t keep it in any longer.

Herm Edwards must go.

I’ve said this before, I know. And if you would have told me that the Chiefs would lose 17-10 in week one at the Patriots, I would have taken it. Unfortunately, I - like many other Chiefs fans - saw the sorry excuse for a game.

Listening to the post-game interviews was like listening to Fox News or MSNBC after a big speech by one of the presidential candidates…you could predict exactly what everyone was saying and none of it really meant anything.

Look. It’s unfortunate that the NFL’s MVP was lost for the year, but the person that I feel worst for in that situation is Bernard Pollard. Brady will be fine, but Pollard is going to be demonized for the rest of his career (think Rodney Harrison-Trent Green, but 100x worse) for a clean, hard-working play.

I can’t believe that no one has said anything about how Moss caught the ball on the play that Brady was injured on and then promptly fumbled it away. Moss, who didn’t see the play, thought it was dirty, but he “doesn’t even know how to play dirty.” (BTW, read the comments on the link…they are hilarious.)

The other travesty in this game besides Brady’s injury was Herm Edwards’ inability to come up with any sort of gameplan at all. This is a game the Chiefs should have won. They got the Patriots to turn the ball over and they did not have to play against Brady, yet their offense was just as boring as normal (and don’t blame it on Brody…the Chiefs receivers sucked yesterday). Where was all this great innovation that Chan Gailey was going to bring to the Chiefs offense? I suppose it doesn’t matter when your head coach is a MORON.

Really…4 chances to go 5 yards at the end of the game…D-Bowe drops, so you go back to him instead of the greatest tight end in history or your multimillion dollar running back?

Will someone please tell me how this man is still an NFL coach? Career record is still an abysmal 54-64.

Other thoughts?

• Huard is not - I repeat NOT - an upgrade. He is HORRIBLE. I could have made that throw to Darling. THAT’S how open he was.
• That supposedly upgraded run defense? Not so much. Dorsey was not in on a single play.
• Jamal Charles should start for the Chiefs. That guys is FAST.
• BJ Sams is not Dante Hall.
• Tony Gonzalez and D-Bowe are our only receivers worth anything. And D-Bowe dropped WAY too many balls to get 3 at the end of the game.
• The CBS Scene…DUMB.

So the coverage is probably better over at Arrowhead Pride, but I thought I’d give my thoughts. Earlier in the week, I predicted:

• Offensive line: 3-4 players
• Wide receiver: 2 players
• Corner/Safety: 2-3 players
• Running Backs: 2 players (1 fullback, 1 running back)
• Defensive line: 2-3 players
• Quarterback: 1 player (perhaps Michigan’s Chad Henne in a later round, if he falls)

The Chiefs ended up taking:

Offensive line: 3 players (counting the final TE as a lineman, since he looks to be the second coming of Jason Dunn)

Receivers: 3 players (2 receivers, 1 TE)

Corner/Safety: 3 players (2 corners, 1 safety)

Running Backs: 1 player

Defensive line: 2 players (although most significant was #5 overall Glenn Dorsey, who looks like a beast)

Quarterback: 0 players (not a massive surprise because all the good guys were gone and they have that Thigpen kid as well)

I didn’t expect the Chiefs to pick 2 tight ends. It seems that Carl Peterson can’t stay away from them. I’m assuming that they are a “best athlete at the pick” type of thing, but we’ll see.

When I saw the breakdown today (I didn’t watch all 8 hours of the draft today, what with church and all), I wasn’t all too thrilled, but as I look closer, it seems like Carl and Herm did the best they could - the best of the last several drafts for sure. Here are my quick-hit thoughts of all the picks.

Rd 1 / Pick 5 - Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU

The belle of the ball. Beast. Will compliment Tank Tyler and free up Tamba Hali to run freely. I foresee the Chiefs moving Turk McBride to the edge for some games next season as a possible Jared Allen replacement.

1 / 15 - Branden Albert, OG, Virginia

I hope Albert turns out to be the stud tackle that everyone thinks he’s going to be. Even if he ends up being the next Will Shields, that’s a big win for us.

2 / 4 (35) - Brandon Flowers, CB, Virginia Tech

The best part of his ESPN.com overview: “he plays far bigger than his size indicates and faster than his 40 time suggest.” We need a stud corner to replace the crappy age we have out there now.

3 / 10 (73) - Jamaal Charles, RB, Texas

Backup plan in case Larry Johnson doesn’t recover from his foot thing? Maybe. Charles was a good player on a decent Texas team. He’s no Ricky Williams or Priest Holmes, but he could be decent enough to take more of the load off Larry.

3 / 13 (76) - Brad Cottam, TE, Tennessee

This guy is big. 6′ 7″ 270 lbs. He sounds better than Kris Wilson.

3 / 19 (82) - Dajuan Morgan, S, NC State

I suppose the Chiefs need some depth at safety, but this guy will sit behind Pollard and Page. Special teams, here he comes.

4 / 6 (105) - William Franklin, WR, Missouri

As much as I hate the Chiefs drafting players from Missouri, their receivers are good. And we need depth at receiver. I hoped that we would take one earlier.

5 / 5 (140) - Brandon Carr, CB, Grand Valley St.

A corner from a no-name school. This guy is going to be Carl’s gem of the draft.

6 / 4 (170) - Barry Richardson, OT, Clemson

I don’t like that the line on this guy was “not mean enough”, but tackles…hey, we need lots. Maybe Herm can put some mean into him.

6 / 16 (182) - Kevin Robinson, WR, Utah St.

Yay. Another receiver that won’t make the team.

7 / 3 (210) - Brian Johnson, DE, Gardner Webb

This guy gets props for going to “Gardner Webb”, which is just south of Olathe. No wait, that’s Gardner.

7 / 32 (239) - Mike Merritt, TE, Central Florida

He’s listed as a tight end, but they’re saying that he’s probably more of a guard or a 3rd tackle type guy. “Very slow and lacks athleticism.” Sounds like they drafted me.

There are too many guys on the second day that we’ll need to see in pre-season to properly evaluate. What should be noted is that KCChiefs.com is one of the worst team sites in the NFL. Stuff is hard to find, the user experience sucks, and it just looks like it came straight out of Penn Valley Community College Web Design 101…FROM 1995.

KC firm VML…you should be ASHAMED at the horror that is your nested tables and excessive use of…what is that? REALPLAYER? The Chiefs took a step backwards when they abandoned the Happy Cog design that Zeldman did for them. I suppose that’s par for the course and just another example of where the front office’s heads are at.

So, the NFL Draft really snuck up on me this year. Now that the Jared Allen deal is done, we can take a look at where the Chiefs need help. The Chiefs own a league-high 13 picks in the draft this weekend, including 6 in the first 3 rounds (#5 and #17 in 1st round, a second round pick, and 3 3rd round picks).

For a team that is “going young” you have to see this as a good thing. Unfortunately for Kansas City fans, we’ve been burned by the Junior Siaviis and Sylvester Morrises of the past years and so every draft is approached with less than high hopes.

Let’s take a look at the Chiefs’ biggest needs:

Offensive line

This is a no-brainer. Our offensive line is abysmal. The hope is that Damion McIntosh will get healthy this year and resume his tackle position, but I get the feeling he’d rather be on the right side. As much as they’d like to though, the Chiefs can’t afford to have a guy like Will Svitek still manning Brodie Croyle’s weak side. I forsee the Chiefs going with a left tackle with their #5 pick, probably Ryan Clady of Boise State (even though he allegedly only got a 14 on the Wonderlic test). The #17 pick they acquired from Minnesota does give them some flexibility though. They could go with Matt Ryan, the QB from Boston College that everyone loves, and then hope one of the other projected 1st round offensive lineman falls into their laps at 17 (maybe Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams or Pitt’s Jeff Otah). I still think that they’ll go with either Clady or Virginia guard Branden Albert, whom many are saying is going to be a tackle in the NFL. I’d also see them picking up a couple more folks in later rounds, maybe

Cornerback

Face it - Ty Law and Patrick Surtain are bad. They used to be good, but they aren’t anymore. They are slow, they rarely make plays and they cannot compensate for the youth that the Chiefs have at safety. We need a shutdown corner to replace Ty Law so Bennie Sapp can finally enter the starting lineup in Surtain’s place, putting Surtain into the nickelback position. I’m starting to wonder whether Kansas’ Aqib Talib could fall to 17, since most have him as a top 3 corner in the draft. I imagine there are those that think his reefer tokeage might be a problem. Keeping him close to his dealer friends at KU might cause issues. But it would be fun to have a hometown guy to root for. There are several corners in the draft. I think that if the Chiefs don’t take Ryan in the first round, they’ll go lineman and corner with their #5 and #17.

Wide Receiver

Dwayne Bowe was a rousing success. The dude is amazing. With the departure of Eddie Kennison, it would be great to have another option besides Bowe and Tony Gonzalez. I’d love to see Bobby Sippio get more snaps, but a team that is in rebuilding mode is going to go young. Jeff Webb is a strong 3rd receiver, but I think that we need a viable #2 option, preferably someone with some serious wheels. The draft is pretty weak with star receivers this year (not like last year, which had Calvin Johnson and Dwayne Bowe), but it’s possible that the Chiefs could get someone like Eddie Royal from Virginia Tech to fill that slot.

Other positions

The Chiefs need depth at the above positions more than anything, but they also need a viable fullback. I loved Boomer Grigsby’s fire, but he’s gone. The Chiefs have 2 fullbacks on the roster that I’ve never heard of, so I look for them to try and get a mid-round blocking back, perhaps on day two. The Chiefs could also use some depth on the defensive line. Tank Tyler has been a good pick, but needs to keep his weight down. Turk McBride hasn’t been great, but I look for those two to have better seasons after being in the league for a year. Tamba Hali will have a breakout year and I think that (Chiefs Defensive Line Coach) Tim Krumrie may move him to the strong side where Allen was, although he probably is stronger at the weak side since he does not possess the physical strength that Allen did - he was more of a speed rusher. Past that, we’ll see.

Breakdown

Here’s how I see the Chiefs 13 picks breaking down:

• Offensive line: 3-4 players
• Wide receiver: 2 players
• Corner/Safety: 2-3 players
• Running Backs: 2 players (1 fullback, 1 running back)
• Defensive line: 2-3 players
• Quarterback: 1 player (perhaps Michigan’s Chad Henne in a later round, if he falls)

So there are my thoughts. What are yours? I love watching the draft. I’m signing up for text alerts today.

The scuttlebutt around the media is that the Chiefs are considering trading away the NFL’s 2007 leader in sacks. To be honest, I’m surprised that it’s taken this long for the rumors to start. Allen has long been tired of the front office (as we all are) and wants to be paid what he is worth. He has well out-performed his initial draft position and contract and stands to make a chunk of change next year as the Chiefs franchise player.

Unfortunately, the Chiefs have about 15 players on their roster right now. After the off-season cuts and very little free agency action, the Chiefs are desperately short of players. Draft picks are at a premium for Herm and Carl and so you have to understand their logic in dangling a very attractive player who doesn’t really want to be in Kansas City anyway.

I really like Jared Allen. I like how hard he plays and I think that he has elevated the play of the defensive players around him. Keep in mind that he led the NFL in sacks last year while still missing the first two games. Now, granted, he deserved the suspension, but he proved that he’d cleaned up his act by performing at a very high level on a terrible, terrible team.

I guess I can see both sides of the argument here. Allen doesn’t like the front office and wants to get paid, so he wants out. The Chiefs have painted themselves into a corner where they need TONS of draft picks so they’re making the best out of a bad situation (which they put themselves in, but what else is new?). I don’t know if anything will happen before next weekend’s draft, but we’ll see. As much as I’d love to see Allen at Arrowhead again next year, this situation may be beyond repair.

Even for football geniuses like Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards. (*tongue inserted firmly in cheek*)

Herm Edwards’ is not a good coach. I’ve said it since last December…he should not be the Chiefs coach. His theory on the game is antiquated and frankly, just doesn’t work.

His strategy is based upon having a good enough defense to keep the team in games, but the problem is that the way that he and Mike Solari call plays, the Chiefs have to have the league’s #1 defense, which at last check was 13.2 points allowed per game by the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s right…that’s the ONLY scenario that works for the Chiefs, who are averaging a 3rd-from-last in the league 14.9 points per game on offense.

Herm and Carl Peterson continue to find washed-up kickers to blame for the Chiefs’ problems, but they never look in a mirror and think to themselves, “Maybe I’m the one doing something wrong.” I’ll give props to Mike Solari who at least took some of the blame this week for the abysmal offensive performance. I’ve got good money that says that he was put up to that by Edwards and Peterson, who cannot take blame themselves.

Herm Edwards is a mediocre coach at best.  He has taken teams built by other coaches to the playoffs, but his regular season record speaks for itself - 52 wins, 55 losses. When you play to win games by 3 points, that’s what your record will be. And when you hire a coach that believes you can go to the playoffs winning games by 3 points, the General Manager should be held responsible for breaking the streak of home sellouts at 147 games, which probably will happen before the end of the season.

Clark Hunt needs to do what his dad couldn’t - fire Carl Peterson. Shake things up. If Chiefs ownership was really committed to winning instead of making money, they would have done it 10 years ago (3 years after his initial “5-year plan”). Loyalty is good to an extent, but when it loyalty is more important than on-the-field success, there’s a problem. Here’s hoping the Chiefs fix that problem. And soon.