Monday, December 15. 2008 is going to be a day Chiefs fans will remember. Carl Peterson was the Kansas City Chiefs General Manager, CEO and President. Owner Clark Hunt and Peterson both agreed that it is best for the team to find a new general manager. Peterson resigned this afternoon. Chiefs fans in Kansas City and across the world are happy. The Chiefs have only won two games since November of 2007. After yesterday’s embarrassing loss, I could not imagine anyone keeping their job. The fact that the GM is gone means that others could get the hammer as well. For now, it’s important that Peterson is gone.
When Peterson arrived in Kansas City, the Chiefs were hitting rock bottom. Peterson brought in Marty Schottenheimer with him as Peterson and Schottenheimer were successful in creating one of the best teams in the NFL during the 90’s. Peterson brought in many great players such as Marcus Allen, Derrick Thomas, Will Shields, Joe Montana and many others. Despite the Chiefs best run was in 1993 when they made a run to the AFC Championship, football fans in Kansas City started watching the Chiefs after the improvement. Arrowhead Stadium held a packed house every home game. It was all because of the “King.” “King” Carl.
Today, that is no longer the story. It turned into the 70’s and 80’s for Chiefs fans. Arrowhead Stadium slowly hosted half empty games and players were unsatisfied with Peterson’s act and left the team. It was a 15 year run of no playoff wins for Kansas City. Point fingers to the man who turned this franchise around. He stopped trying. After the Chiefs made the playoffs seven of the first nine years of his era, he raised ticket prices and fans slowly realized that Peterson is destroying the team. Peterson paid Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson both a lot of money, he disrespected Tony Richardson, Trent Green and Jared Allen.
For the past four years, Chiefs fans have been praying for Carl Peterson to be fired. God bless Clark Hunt. A very classy man who I have a lot of respect for, however, he would have never done this. He had a very close relationship with Peterson and was always soft. Clark Hunt is not his father and it was his choice.
Clark Hunt announced today that the reason this happened today was because other teams will be searching for a GM also. He wants to begin the search now so he doesn’t fall behind. A new GM means that there will be a new head coach and other changes will be required. Hunt wants to get a head start on that now before any other team and I support Hunt’s decision.
Herm Edwards now knows he has to worry about his job security. He just won’t admit it in front of the media. Expect many changes out at Arrowhead Stadium. Assuming the Chiefs finish the season with two wins, there is a reason to smile today. Thank you Carl for the memories and turning this team around. Good luck!
Kansas City snapped it's 12 game losing streak back in September against the Denver Broncos at home. Larry Johnson tore the Broncos defense apart and deserves a lot of credit for that game. However, if I had to pick an MVP, I would have to pick the entire Chiefs defense from that game. Turk McBride forced a fumble on the first offensive play for the Broncos (recovered by Brandon Carr.) Derrick Johnson forced a fumble (recovered by Brandon Flowers.) Derrick Johnson and Brandon Carr both got themselves an interception. The Chiefs won the turnover battle 4-1. They also limited the Broncos to only one touchdown on the day and forcing the Broncos to kick field goals when they got to the redzone. A lot of the young players on defense now have some experience under their belt and need to do the same thing back in week four to be able to pull a win on the road, giving the Chiefs a 2-0 record over the Broncos. The Broncos have a -11 turnover ratio while Kansas City is 23rd in take-aways.
Season: 100-88
Last week: 8-8
WAS @ BAL--BAL
JAX @ CHI--CHI
MIN @ DET--MIN
HOU @ GB--HOU
CIN @ IND--IND
ATL @ NO--ATL
PHI @ NYG--NYG
CLE @ TEN--TEN
MIA @ BUF--MIA
KC @ DEN--KC
NYJ @ SF--NYJ
STL @ ARI--STL
DAL @ PIT--PIT
NE @ SEA---SEA
TB @ CAR--CAR
I am sorry for the lack of posting. I have recently been dealing with personal issues, now I am dealing with laptop issues. No fun, and keep in mind, I am not getting paid for this as I am a student and a broadcaster as well and hopefully interning at Metro Sports soon.
As far as the Chiefs picking up a victory, good for them! About time! I also think Chiefs fans need to consider giving Tom Cable a thank you card. He designed two great plays, and it's only considered great if your a Chiefs fan. On 4th and 10 on a fake field goal attempt, the plan was for the holder to throw the ball backwards to a huge and slow kicker and make him get a first down. What a wonderful idea! Even better, the ball was poorly thrown causing a fumble picked up by Maurice Legget taking it back for a touchdown. On 4th and 2, the Raiders decided to go for all the marbles by throwing the ball into the endzone. The pass is over thrown, turnover on downs! The Raiders had to thank Tyler Thigpen because the only time Oakland was able to score a touchdown was by intercepting a pass from Thigpen. The interception was taken back all the way to the one yard line, setting up a one-play touchdown run.
Speaking of Tyler Thigpen, he did not play such a good game as he threw many bad passes throughout the beggining of the game. Thigpen did have a successful second half helping the Chiefs score a touchdown and get into field goal range to pick up the win. Let's hope the Chiefs can pick up some impressive wins.
Tonight's prediction:
OAK @ SD -- SD
The Chiefs took a beating from the Raiders when they traveled to Kansas City for the home opener in Arrowhead. 300 rushing yards on Kansas City's defense. The defense had to play because the old Tyler Thigpen was awful in that game. Multiple three and outs and poor passes. Thigpen has improved ever since that game, but the question remains: Can this defense stop Oakland's powerful running game on the road? The Chiefs have won five straight games at Oakland, but history doesn't matter.
Last week: 11-5
Season: 92-80
SF @ BUF -- BUF
BAL @ CIN -- CIN
NO @ TB -- NO
NYG @ WAS -- NYG
MIA @ STL -- STL
IND @ CLE -- IND
CAR @ GB -- GB
ATL @ SD -- SD
DEN @ NYJ -- NYJ
PIT @ NE -- PIT
KC @ OAK -- OAK
CHI @ MIN -- MIN
JAC @ HOU -- HOU
So I asked myself this morning a question in which many people would struggle finding the answer to. What are Kansas City Chiefs fans thankful in the year of 2008? The best draft? No! Beating the Broncos? No! Cheap ticket prices? Yes! Looks like thats the only thing we can be thankful for this Thanksgiving as Chiefs fans. On a more serious note, I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving games
TEN @ DET--TEN
SEA @ DAL--DAL
ARI @ PHI--ARI
The Kansas City Chiefs have now lost their eighth straight game on the season. Also making it 19 losses in the last 20 games. Herm Edwards, Carl Peterson and Gunther Cunningham somehow maintain to keep their jobs. As much as I love Cunningham as a coach, it seems like he's not the good defensive coach he once was. It could be because of the lack of talent, however, giving over 400 total yards four times in the last five games and giving up 54 points to a struggling Buffalo Bills offense, is unacceptable. I realize the Chiefs defense had to go take over the field because of the turnovers, but I don't think this defense cannot allow 54 points. Most points allowed in Chiefs history.
Herm Edwards goes for two against the Chargers, he gambles on fourth down early in the game, but he punts on fourth and two with ten minutes left, giving Drew Brees, one of the hottest quarterbacks in the league today, a chance to run out the clock and possibly put points on the board. He did exactly that. Enough with the “positive losses” or “moral victories.” This team has lost 18 of their last 19 games. Is there really a positive loss in the last 18 games? There might be improvement, but who cares about improvement when you’ve only won one game in the past 19 games. Yes, there have been injuries, but look at the Chargers and the Colts last year. They had to deal with injuries all year and they were still in the top three in the NFL last year. Like Gonzalez said, “it’s getting old.”
Last week: 8-8 – Maybe I need to stop pulling for upsets.
Last season: 81-77
CIN @ PIT – PIT
PHIL @ BAL – BAL
HOU @ CLE – CLE
TB @ DET – TB
BUF @ KC – BUF
CHI @ STL – CHI
NYJ @ TEN – NYJ
NE @ MIA – NE
MIN @ JAC – JAC
SF @ DAL – DAL
OAK @ DEN – DEN
CAR @ ATL – ATL
NYG @ ARI – NYG
WAS @ SEA – WAS
IND @ SD – IND
GB @ NO -- GB
With so many bumps and bruises left and right, the Chiefs once again had another shot at winning the game. It came to a point where Herm Edwards had to make a decision. Go for two, or kick the field goal and go to overtime. Herm made his players play to win the game, not tie it. I have no problem with the call despite the Chiefs could not succeed. What I do have a problem with is the fact that Edwards could have made the right play calls earlier with Chan Gailey and they would have never gotten to the point where they would have to force a two point conversion. Don’t get me wrong, when the Chiefs are not playing, I love watching tight football games in overtime. But as a fan, I don’t like seeing the Chiefs in overtime. The Chiefs have had bad luck in overtime the past couple of years. Winning the coin toss doesn’t win you the game, but teams do a very good job of taking advantage by scoring on the first drive in overtime.
If you’re not sold on Tyler Thigpen, then you better get used to hearing his name because he is starting to get some attention. 124 pass attempts without an INT in these last three starts along with six touchdowns. Can you ask for anything else out of Thigpen right now? I just feel bad for the kid that he has to come through in the final drive when he has done his job in the beginning. The defense breaks and they allow opponents to take the lead and Thigpen has to score on the final drive under pressure. Tyler Thigpen has to be the quarterback of the future. Expect me to return to that topic in the off season. For now, the Chiefs are still losing games.
Many people are being soft on the Chiefs this week and mainly that is because of the injury bug that has spread throughout this team. Offense, defense, special teams, heck, even one of our staff members got hurt. Remember the pre-season in which players ran into the Chiefs doctor? I have no idea why people are going easy on the Chiefs. They called the wrong plays in the second half. I credit this defense a little bit for forcing turnovers and limiting their opponents in scoring. However, the amount of yards they give up is ludicrous. They have forced nine turnovers in the last three games, but still give up over 300 total yards and quarterbacks in the last three games have thrown at least 290 yards. How high could those numbers be if the Chiefs were not able to force turnovers? Not to mention the Chiefs have only turned the ball over once in the last three games. A 9-1 victory in turnover battles usually helps you win games, but that hasn’t been the case for the Chiefs and that is no excuse, even with injuries.
I know how all you Chiefs fans feel right now. I am just as frustrated as every die-hard fan at Arrowhead. Herm Edwards and Chan Gailey can be good together. They have shown it in the last three weeks. Herm Edwards has been on the doubtful side for everyone and he had a shot to prove me and everyone else wrong, but he failed. I have more on my mind I want to discuss later.
Last week: 7-7
Season: 73-69
NYJ @ NE – NE
DEN @ ATL – ATL
DET @ CAR – CAR
PHI @ CIN – PHI
NO @ KC – KC
BAL @ NYG – NYG
MIN @ TB – MIN
OAK @ MIA – OAK
CHI @ GB – GB
HOU @ IND – HOU
STL @ SF – STL
ARI @ SEA – ARI
TEN @ JAC – TEN
SD @ PIT – PIT
DAL @ WAS – DAL
CLE @ BUF – CLE
This is going to sound really crazy, but the Chiefs are only three games behind the division leader in the AFC West, the Denver Broncos.
I know the whole "woulda coulda shuda" deal and I don't think anyone needs to be reminded of that. But if Herm Edwards was a little bit smarter with his play calling in the last two games, Kansas City would be only one game behind Denver. Not to mention the Chiefs offense has really played well the last two games against two very good defenses with Tyler Thigpen starting.
If the Chiefs get into the playoffs, the only possible way is by winning the division and getting a #4 seed. That would guarantee them home field advantage in the first round. The Chiefs getting in as a wild card team is very slim.
I'm not saying the Chiefs will make the playoffs, but my point is: If the coaching staff can be smart (especially in the next six games, four of them are against divisional opponents) then Kansas City just might have a chance. The Chiefs defeated Denver at home in week four as they are currently first place in the West. Again, the key for the Chiefs is that the coaching staff needs to stay smart and creative for one whole entire game. The Chiefs may not have a legit shot at the playoffs until 2011, even Herm Edwards admitted that. Some people may consider it “cheap” that the Chiefs can get a #4 seed with a bad record. However, it’s an advantage, and a big one the Chiefs should take advantage of, considering that they will play at Arrowhead Stadium. I like the way Thigpen has played lately as well as the rest of this offense, but like I said before, I still don’t think Kansas City can make it. I hope I am wrong. Let’s see if Edwards can take advantage of this opportunity.
Last week: 7-7
Season: 66-62
DEN @ CLE—CLE
NO @ ATL—NO
TEN @ CHI—TEN
JAC @ DET—JAC
BAL @ HOU—HOU
SEA @ MIA—MIA
GB @ MIN—MIN
BUF @ NE—NE
STL @ NYJ—STL
CAR @ OAK—CAR
IND @ PIT—PIT
KC @ SD—KC
NYG @ PHI—PHI
SF @ ARI--ARI
Forget about the nice touchdown grab by Dwayne Bowe, forget about Kolby Smith scoring the touchdown with Larry Johnson out, forget about the trick play with Tyler Thigpen catching a touchdown and forget about the fact that we now have a kicker. The Chiefs put up 27 points against a team that was second in the NFL in points allowed this season. “It just shows what our offense can do.” Thigpen told me. “It really feels good going up against a tough defense and moving the ball. We need to look at that and build on it.” That was not expected from the Chiefs. Thigpen played a great game against the Jets, but would he do it against a defense that is in the top 10 in every major defensive statistical category? He did, in the first half. The Chiefs were in full control in the first half as the offense chose to do whatever they wanted to do as they were leading 24-3. The Chiefs forced three fumbles and Brandon Carr also got an interception, giving him a total of two on his rookie season. However, when things were looking bright in Arrowhead, the light began to fade away.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, the Buccaneers kick returner, Clifton Smith, came through with a 97 yard kick return for a touchdown. Matt Bryant also kicked another field goal to decrease the deficit to 11 points heading into halftime. After a very quiet first quarter, the Buccaneers began to strike as they reached the redzone. The Chiefs were able to force a fumble inside their five as they recovered. But rookie running back Jamaal Charles fumbled without any force, giving the Buccaneers field position at the two yard line. Tampa Bay got the easy touchdown with a trick play as Earnest Graham threw the touchdown pass to Alex Smith. Jamaal Charles did make up for his error by taking his team to the redzone allowing Conner Barth to extend the lead to eight in the fourth quarter. Charles also got over 100 yards (106 to be exact) for the first time in his career as Kolby Smith left the game early due to a knee injury and will not return this season. Tampa Bay was able to strike back yet again and succeeded on a two point conversion, giving the Chiefs only 14 seconds after the kickoff to win the game. After Thigpen was forced to throw the ball away with seven seconds left, Herm Edwards decided to knee the ball and send it into overtime. Maybe he doesn’t realize that in overtime, the winner of the coin toss scores on the first drive. The snake bit Herm as the Buccaneers won the toss and closed the game up with a chip shot field goal by Matt Bryant.
I don’t know where to go with this. I really don’t. It’s frustrating enough when this team has a 1-15 record in their last 16 games heading into this game. Fortunately, that goes back to last season. But there is a good chance for the Chiefs to have a one win season. Everyone in the locker room felt that this team was un-conservative in the second half. In this game, the Chiefs were not as conservative as usual, but they didn’t succeed in the fourth quarter with the lead. Yes, there was another awful call on Tony Gonzalez by the one and only, Ed Hochuli. Hochuli is having a more difficult than season than Herm Edwards. He had to correct himself three times in overtime for a ball placement. And to be fair, he even threw some bad flags on Tampa Bay. Hochuli deserves a fine/suspension, however, it’s really hard to blame the officiating of the game when you win the turnover battle, fumble at your own two yard line, give up an easy kick return for a touchdown and when your team simply cannot tackle. The Buccaneers created the biggest comeback in franchise history and I applaud them. They show why a team should never give up no matter what the scoreboard says. But in the end, it’s the Chiefs who beat themselves and just like Tony Gonzalez said, “It’s starting to get old.”
Arrowhead Stadium was 90% full. However, fans did not bother coming early to tailgate despite the bueatiful weather on a November 2nd. Will this be the last time we see Arrowhead that full? Here is what I want to know. How will fans take this? Have the fans lost faith after blowing a 21 point lead, or do they see signs of improvement with Thigpen after two very good starts? The only game that will host a full house at Arrowhead will be the Kansas and Missouri game later this month. That tells what path the Chiefs are on.
