Shane Life

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.

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*)

It’s a sad day in the NFL. One of the greatest living NFL quarterbacks is calling it quits.

Brett Favre has been a long-time favorite of mine (and everyone’s, I think). He always played with the tenacity of someone who left everything on the field at all times. He also happened to wear my favorite number. I was so pleased to see him so successful last year with such a young team and I’m glad that he’s retiring having won a Super Bowl.

Favre one of those figures in the NFL that you know will be remembered for many years to come. He’s also one of the only NFL players ever to be a significant plot point in a Farrelly Brothers movie.

Woogie: “What is Brett Favre doing here?”

Favre: “I’m in town to play the Dolphins, ya dumbass.”

Favre was a full-fledged gunslinger in a game that has become too much about finesse and contracts and not enough about heart. It was fitting that Favre played much of his career in Green Bay, arguably the most blue-collar of all NFL cities. I’m sad to see him go, but at least he goes out with dignity, on his own terms, rather than because of ongoing injuries (see: Trent Green).

Favre is the kind of guy that you wish kids would look up to rather than Eminems and Kobe Bryants of the world. Favre is everything we want our idols to be. He’ll be missed.

Trent Green has been cut by the Dolphins.

All-around nice guy quarterback Trent Green has been sacked by the Miami Dolphins as a part of Tony “Little Tuna” Soprano’s new rebuilding plan. This leaves the door wide open for King Carl to re-sign Trent Green and allow him to retire as a Chief. I loved Trent Green when he was in Kansas City and I thought it was tough to watch him go the way he did. But football is a business and I couldn’t see his place with the team anymore. It was hard to argue with the trade, although I wish that it would have been handled by the Chiefs’ front office better (yeah right).

Trent Green is a class act, but it would be difficult for him to get over the way he was treated by the Chiefs during the Miami debacle. If Carl were gone, it would be really cool to bring him back to KC as a quarterbacks assistant coach to help Brodie Croyle along as a pro. The likelihood of that happening is about the same as TKC’s likelihood to have a date on Valentine’s Day.

But as Chiefs fans, what do we have left to cling to but these whims? It’s not like our team is any good…

Tonight marks the start of the Fantasy Football…errr…I mean FOOTBALL season. My team is OK, but not great. A lot will depend on the results of the season (as it always does), but it is about standard for having the 7th pick in a 12-man draft. We’ll see how it pans out, but here’s my roster (starters are in bold):

QBs:
Drew Brees, New Orleans
Brett Favre, Green Bay

WRs:
Jerrico Cotchery, New York Jets
Marques Colston, New Orleans
Dennis Northcutt, Jacksonville
Joe Horn, Atlanta

RBs:
Shaun Alexander, Seattle (My #1 Pick)
Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, Tampa Bay
Michael Turner, San Diego
Lamont Jordan, Oakland

TEs:
Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City
Desmond Clark, Chicago

K:
John Kasay, Carolina

We’ll see how the season turns out. I picked up Turner on the off chance that LaDanian Tomlinson gets injured. While it took everything in my power to pick up Jordan because I hate Oakland so much. My receivers suck pretty bad. I’m quite aware of that. But Brees is going to put up big numbers. I always said that San Diego made a mistake getting rid of him for Rivers. Brees is a top tier quarterback, undersized but undervalued - all the guy does is win. And pass for lots of yards and touchdowns

Which is really what fantasy season is all about.

So I’ve maintained relative quiet during the whole Michael Vick dogfighting debacle. Today, CNN announced that Vick would (as predicted by most) plead guilty to felony conspiracy charges that resulted from a federal dogfighting investigation this summer.

There are so many things that I would like to say about this case - how disgusted I am by the evidence I’ve heard, the way that it just shows how broken our system is that people have the ability to plea bargain to shorten their time in jail, essentially showing that you can, in fact buy favorable judgment. It all makes me want to puke. In the interest of not ranting and raving without facts, I’ll keep this short, but I’ll say this:

I hope the NFL bans him for life and that the judge (who is reported to be pretty tough) gives him the maximum sentence.

One thing is certain - it has certainly changed the way I view my most hated teams in the NFL. The order of the most hated now goes:

3. Denver Broncos
2. Oakland Raiders
1. Whoever pays Michael Vick’s salary

Cruelty to animals is awful and there are studies that show that it leads to more violence, possibly toward human beings. Not only that, but the way in which the dogs are treated is reflected then upon the breed. I have a friend who has bred Pit Bulls for a while. He brought his stud over to our house one day, a beautiful blue dog named Geno (at right). And while Geno was certainly fierce-looking (and his head was bigger than mine), the dog was one of the most well-behaved, sweetest animals I’ve met.

My brother has posted about this before. Pit Bulls are a very misunderstood and extremely mistreated breed of dogs. The answer is not to ban them in cities, but to have harsher fines and prison terms for those that mistreat them. You have to eliminate the cycle. Punishing Vick to the fullest extent of the law is a start. Allowing him and his co-defendants to plea bargain down to a lesser punishment isn’t justice…it’s business. And it sucks.

Since all other sports in Kansas City suck, I thought I would drop some Chiefs on you.

Matt Mosely’s ESPN.com column today poses the question, what trades would you suggest if teams ever still traded?

My beloved Chiefs are facing a bit of a crossroads this summer. They have issues with three of their 5 biggest stars: Larry Johnson, Jared Allen and Trent Green this off-season?

I know that they want to dump Green now that Huard is locked up. At least it was reported that way in the Kansas City Star. LJ’s contract is coming up and he wants a lot of money. He deserves it. Allen served jail time this off-season and will probably sit out 4 games to start the season. He WANTS to be traded since the Chiefs won’t give him the long-term deal he wants.

It got me thinking, where could the 3 of them go and what could the Chiefs possibly get in return? (This is of course assuming that Carl Peterson actually THINKS through his off-season acquisitions rather than listening to “all the buzz”. See: Kendrell Bell.)

Here’s what I think:

Green for Plummer and a 3rd rounder. Fitting to acquire the guy who couldn’t beat anyone but the Chiefs and has maybe the worst attitude possible to replace a upstanding (albeit aging) guy like Green who wants to start, but probably will be relegated to “best backup” next year. This is a longshot…I think Plummer wants to compete for a starting job, but with the money we’ve already given Huard…I don’t know if it is a competition.

Allen for Ricky Williams and a 2nd rounder. Allen would be an incredible complement in Miami to Jason Taylor. Miami doesn’t need Williams. They don’t want him. They’d be glad to be rid of him. We could use him so we could do this:

LJ to Cleveland or Tampa for their first round pick, with which we could select Calvin Johnson, easily the best player in the draft, who would immediately make an impact on the crappy receiving corps the Chiefs have continued to stick with through the past disappointing years.

Is it even possible? Probably not even close. We can dream though…