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.

His lack of a statement regarding the truth behind Larry’s situation is disgusting.

I was listening to Nick Wright from What’s Wright on 610 this evening and he really was laying into Larry and the whole front office for continuing to stand by a guy who has been anything but stand-up. This is now Johnson’s fourth altercation in which his opponent was a woman.

Where are all the men in these clubs? Why hasn’t someone stood up to Johnson’s mistreatment of women and knocked him out. It’s not like he’d be easy to knock down…just look at how he breaks tackles these days. You’d just have to tap him on his glass jaw and he’d fall over.

It’s time for the Chiefs organization to make a stand. Larry Johnson’s price tag doesn’t equal his production and it certainly isn’t worth the trouble. The season is lost anyway…we might as well reclaim some of our character in the process. Johnson should go. It’s an insult to the loyal female fans at Arrowhead that we continue to put up with his diva-like antics.

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.

This weekend, we headed up to Council Bluffs to visit Alli’s family. On Saturday, I spent the morning with Tyson and Ashley taking engagement pictures, which took us on a tour of Council Bluffs to places I hadn’t seen before, including the bridge pictured above, The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge.

The bridge opened at the end of September and was built by Kansas City’s own HNTB for about $22 million. I was wondering what cities in their right mind would pay for such a bridge when my father-in-law informed me that the reason it was named for Bob Kerrey was because he had acquired about $18 million of that “wasteful pork barrel spending” from the government to help pay for it.

The bridge spans over 3,000 feet of the Missouri River and is an impressive structure that connects Omaha to Council Bluffs. The lights were donated by the Gallup organization, who have a training facility at the end of the Omaha side.

I’d love to see cool stuff like this start showing up in Kansas City. Omaha is a little ahead of the game when it comes to the development of their downtown and if Kansas City doesn’t get its act together soon, they’ll soon be sorely losing out when it comes to big events (case in point - the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials were in the Qwest Center in Omaha earlier this year).

If you’re ever in the area, you should check it out.

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.

On the heels of David Cook, the Kansas City area has another reality show star in position to win their own show on HGTV. Jennifer Bertrand of Olathe (represent!) solidified herself in the final of HGTV’s Design Star against Matt Locke of Colorado Springs.

For the past several weeks, Bertrand and Locke have competed in numerous interior design challenges on HGTV’s version of American Idol. Since the Food Network and HGTV are on constant rotation in our house, we’ve been keeping tabs on the hometown girl. Next Sunday, she’ll compete for her own show on HGTV.

Of all the contestants, I’m glad it’s come down to Bertrand and Locke. While I imagine the producers would have liked the “I want my mommy” guy to go a little further, I’m glad that the two I picked from the very beginning as my favorites are in the final. This way, even if the hometown girl doesn’t win (as I’m sure many of those who are jealous of other Kansas Citians’ success might hope for), I can be glad because the other guy is good too (whereas if David Archuleta would have beat David Cook on American Idol, I’d have been pretty annoyed).

In the same way that heavy voting from the Midwest helped David Cook emerge victorious on Idol, let’s help Jennifer Bertrand continue Kansas City’s dominance of reality show contests! At the very least, maybe this blog post will encourage her to come do some work in our house for free…

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.

Via kottke comes this fantastic study done by the folks at Gelf Magazine, who used a football game analyzing software to rank the NFL coaches by who called the worst plays.

Guess what? Herm Edwards was near the bottom of the barrel. Now, granted, the New York Giants were ranked #31 on the list, but there’s only one thing that needs to be said here and I’m sorely lacking of my uppercase red letters like Tony, but I’ll try:

Herm Edwards must go.

The study found that the Chiefs lost 1.02 games because of poor play-calling. There will be people out there who will blame it on Mike Solari, but he is a scapegoat for Herm Edwards’ failures. It also found that during critical times during the game, the times when the head coach should be most involved, that the Chiefs were wrong ALMOST 62 PERCENT OF THE TIME.

We would be better off just allowing Brodie Croyle to call plays in critical situations. a 2/3 failure rate by our head coach is completely unacceptable.

Still, I can’t wait for the NFL draft.