Dear, Vikings: Thanks for our quarterback; Sincerely, Chiefs
Dear, Vikings: Thanks for our quarterback; Sincerely, Chiefs
By Clark Judge CBSSports.com Senior Writer I heard someone last week ask if there were any way the Minnesota Vikings could repay Kansas City for dropping star defensive end Jared Allen on their doorstep, and, yes, I said, there is. In fact, they've already done it. Meet Tyler Thigpen. He's the Chiefs' quarterback for now and maybe the future, but he wouldn't be in Kansas City if the Vikings hadn't cut him loose a year ago to make room for a reserve tight end. The move was a gamble, and Minnesota knew it, but it figured it could re-sign Thigpen -- chosen by the Vikings in the seventh round of the 2007 draft -- to its practice squad after he cleared waivers. Only he didn't clear. Kansas City claimed him. Now he's playing so well that Chiefs coach Herman Edwards confessed he's considering scrapping the Chiefs' run-heavy offense next season and going with what works for Tyler Thigpen -- a more spread-out, wide-open, two-minute approach that usually has Thigpen operating out of the shotgun. That can't be good news for someone like running back Larry Johnson, but it is for Thigpen. It means someone has a conviction about the guy, and that someone is Edwards -- with the coach considering a change next season from his offenses of the past just to suit his young quarterback. If that happens, it means Edwards believes in Thigpen as his future starter. But he isn't there yet, and he emphasized that when I reached him Wednesday. "We've got four games left," he said. "Let's see what he does. But one thing I do know: He's a No. 2. There is no doubt about that. That we know." Others within the Kansas City hierarchy admit "cautious optimism" about Thigpen, who produced his first victory last weekend and who has played well for one of the league's bottom feeders. In fact, in a recent four-game stretch, he threw eight touchdown passes and one interception and took, in order, the Jets, Tampa Bay and San Diego to the mat, with all three games decided in the closing seconds. Now, let's make something clear: Tyler Thigpen is not the next Eli or Peyton Manning. But he is a pleasant discovery in a not-so-pleasant season in Kansas City, and the Chiefs can address those "thank you" notes to 9520 Viking Drive, Eden Prairie, Minn. They wouldn't have Thigpen were it not for the Vikings' gamble. The common perception is that Kansas City discovered Thigpen when the Chiefs and Vikings held a preseason scrimmage, but Edwards shot down that idea, saying Thigpen didn't play "that much" when the two teams practiced against each other. Instead, he said, Thigpen appeared on the Kansas City radar when he was a star quarterback at Coastal Carolina, with the Chiefs rating him a low fifth- or high sixth-round choice. He could run. He had a strong arm. He was accurate. He was durable. And he won. Basically, he was everything you wanted from a quarterback, with a couple of drawbacks: 1) He didn't operate in a pro offense, working instead out of the shotgun, and 2) he played at a small school against lesser competition. Nevertheless, when the team's vice president of player personnel, Bill Kuharich, watched him that summer in the fourth quarter of an exhibition game, he noticed something he liked. "It was just the way he handled himself and the pressure," said Kuharich. "It reinforced what I had seen on tape. (Team president) Carl (Peterson), Herm and I decided if he ever became available we would claim him." Which, of course, they did when Minnesota stuck with Tarvaris Jackson and acquired veteran backup Kelly Holcomb. Now, Holcomb is gone, Jackson is benched and Thigpen is playing for Kansas City. Hindsight is 20-20, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out the Vikings erred when they let Thigpen go. I came to that conclusion last weekend when Thigpen led Kansas City on a 16-play, 91-yard drive that broke a 10-10 deadlock against Oakland. He completed three of four passes and ran for two first downs on that series. I came to that conclusion again that afternoon when, on third-and-3 with just over two minutes to play, he iced the game by hitting Dwayne Bowe with a 12-yard completion. "We've got ourselves a pretty good quarterback," said Edwards. That's as strong a statement as you get from the head coach, but it tells you what he will not: That Tyler Thigpen could be the quarterback the Chiefs envisioned when they drafted Brodie Croyle in 2006. Croyle was supposed to be the Chiefs' quarterback of the future, but those plans have been scrapped because he can't stay healthy. Thigpen can. He can also win, with last weekend's defeat of Oakland a breakthrough. After close calls against four opponents -- including New Orleans -- he finally demonstrated that he can close a deal, and that's what the Chiefs have been missing the past year and a half. But that's just the beginning. They rave about Thigpen's mobility. In fact, it was the first quality Edwards ticked off when he listed his quarterback's strengths. Thigpen can throw with accuracy, too, with a string of 161 passes without an interception and a third-down passer-rating higher than those of Brett Favre and Jay Cutler. Plus, he's an outstanding athlete -- the only quarterback in Kansas City history to score a touchdown by running, passing and receiving. "The question now," said Edwards, "is how will he continue to play and do we want to change the offense? I have to talk to (offensive coordinator) Chan Gailey, but right now I'm thinking we would. "We changed everything to build the offense around him. It's like we're operating with a three-page notebook, adding a little with each week. Now the question is: Do we stay with this? Because it means you would have to do some things differently, like look at a little different offensive linemen." The Chiefs have four games to produce an answer, but that they are even considering a change in their offense tells me one thing: They may have found themselves a quarterback. http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/11149961 |
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Now if only our defense wasn't complete shit.
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Dear Chiefs, Thanks for your entire pass rush.
Vikings |
First smart thing Herm has said in a while "He's a number 2. We know that for sure."
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I think it's great that Herm and Carl have FINALLY located a true QBOTF.
Extensions are probably in order. |
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You can't handicap the running game by working out of the shotgun all day. I'm a fan of Thigpen, but this is just scary stupid. |
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I like the fact that having Thigpen has forced Herm to change his offensive philosophy.
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Again, cautious optimism is a good place to be. However is Stafford or Bradford declare and fall to us in the draft then I could see us pulling the trigger. As for changing back the offense to Hermball, WHY? :mad:
The scoreboard shows the difference Herm! Would we really have to change our players that much? They seem to run this offense much better than Hermball RRPP. |
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Dear Chiefs,
Thanks for the Hall of Famer. The Vikings |
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Shuddup Moron! |
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God, somebody back me on this PLEASE! If you stick with this current scheme; lining LJ or whoever up behind Thigpen in a shotgun formation, you've lost 3+ yards before the ****ing ball is even snapped! This is stupid, reeruned, gay, D-D-DEE, Ass clown Offense. If there were only ONE THING I could point to and say Herm needs to be fired; this would be the one. |
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And if you DO, then know that those yards are coming from outside or near outside runs. This is utter lunacy. |
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2) And it's going to be hard to take a QB that is already gone (Stafford) and one that is still playing college ball. (Bradford) |
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I may garner some shred of respect for Herm if he does change his offensive mindset to fit Thigy. That would be a step out of the play not to lose mentality I would think.
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Saying that this is the thing Herm should be fired over is straight stupid. |
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But, I also think the Chiefs are looking at LBer as well. Moving DJ to the middle gives every indication of that. We do know, the Chiefs hint to positions for sure: -LB and QB |
why is it we can have R2P2, OR the spread? some people make it sound like those are the only two options. who's to say during the revamping of the offense, chan doesn't find some happy balance? let thigpen get a little more comfortable under center, and slowly get back to a more pro style offense. that being said, i'm wondering how this offense is going to run in december. (i'd like to see how it runs in january more, but thats not happening.)
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Another piece to this puzzle that needs to be looked at is how the college game is moving more and more to the spread. It may become difficult to find enough "true" pro-style players - especially QBs - after a while.
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I don't think we'd necessarily have to sell the run out to adopt this offense next season.
Currently it's about a 60/40 split in favor of the pass. I'm not looking at the numbers at the moment, but I'd imagine that we've been fairly effective running the ball since the Spread was installed. And remember, we're not fully operational with it. Herm said as much in the article. |
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Prior to this thread, I thought that overall we had some really good students of the game in here. Unbelieveable. |
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He has a chance to play a bigger role next year, but that will depend on his numbers over the final quarter of the season. I think if he can minimize turnovers he'll win the job. I'm looking for something like 6-8 TD's with 1-2 picks. I think that would do it. |
Although i didnt notice it last week,
Thiggy has ran a few plays from behind center. He doesnt take 100% shotgun snaps. |
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Let's find out some numbers that relate to those "pretty good" defenses we've played. |
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I can almost guarantee our spread is going to be dogshit without Tony catching 10 balls a game.
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Its not like Herm come out and said you know what guys? This team can not run my historically bad buttsexs offense, we need to look at this type of offense to best maximize our potential... It came out of desperation... IF Herm was such a prodigy, then the Tampon 2 wouldnt be used, when our LB's and Safetys are blah.... |
any offense the chiefs will be running will be dogshit with out tony. especially a tony g that is on fire.
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http://www.stayingalive.ca/images/fi...inguisher1.jpg |
I won't deny that the scheme is working well right now. But the level of play on the part of EVERYONE involved in it needs to up, up, UP Big Time in order to make it work against a Pro Bowl defense.
I'll be plowing through the numbers here shortly, as I want to see how this is truly playing out. |
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It is good to see one of these claims go the Chiefs way, many of us have been upset over the Colts claim of Ryan Lilja for quite a while. |
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if r2p2 scores you 17 points and the other team 24
or the spread scores you 27 and the other team 34 the outcome is just the same -sav perhaps a little more entertaining |
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yeah..your right. Damn, thought we had something. Back to rrp2 |
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Total Defense: #4 Pass Defense: #3 Rush Defense: #9 Scoring: #4 |
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These are the current rankings of our opponents for overall NFL defense:
Tampa Bay: 4th. This was the game where we really opened up the playbook, and had better performance from the Offense after the NYJ and two solid weeks of practicing the scheme. The Tampa D however did what a good D is supposed to do; they made adjustments at the half, and shut the Offense down in the 2nd half of the game. Tennessee: 5th. Doesn't really count, but WTF. New England: 9th. Again; doesn't count. Carolina: 11th. No Count. Buffalo: 12th. Interesting... Miami: 18th. New Orleans: 20th. Atlanta: 22nd. Shits and giggles only; no count. Cincinnati: 24th. Oakland: 25th. San Diego: 27th. Denver: 28th. If I'm wrong, and this scheme becomes the Holy of Holies; great. But until I see a 'W' against a top 10 defense, I will NOT be convinced. |
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CarlSatan, do you really think the Chiefs had a power running game?
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The vikings would be worlds better if they had thigpen starting
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You're a ****ing idiot. The offense we're running now is far better and much more effective than the offense that led us to the playoffs in 2006. |
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The argument is valid; run this Quasi-Spread against a Top 10, and SHOW ME THE ****ING WIN!!! :cuss: |
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Gochiefs, you are such an idiot...ROFL |
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Divorce can be a nasty thing, if you need to talk, I will listen... |
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We went to the playoffs in 2006 with an offense half as effective as the one we've ran the last 6 weeks with Thigpen.
This offense has been playoff caliber lately...too bad we have NOTHING on defense. |
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It cant be judged on W's and L's when your HC is a proven loser over the course of his pathetic career... Next year is more of the same as well. All we can hope for is that we have enough of a foundation from Mr Keen Eye for the next GM and staff to work with... |
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Fickle. Will O' The Wisp. As The Wind Blows; these are but a few of the descriptives I can apply to certain members who have now turned a 180 on this. Or do you just like arguing with me for shits and giggles?:rolleyes: |
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or Suppose Thigpen was 12-33 for 177 yards, 0 TDs and 3 ints and we WON because the other team had a bunch of fluked turnovers. This is my last response to this idiocy. Everyone who watches football understands QBs can play well and lose and play poorly and win -- everyone but you evidently. |
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I liked the Chiefs winning games...and we were better in 2006 with Huard than we were with Green...that was my point at the time...I don't know how people still don't realize this. Huard is the best QB in the R2P2...that's not a compliment, it's just a fact. I never ONE TIME claimed Huard was a starting caliber QB with starting caliber QB qualities. |
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