ChiefsPlanet - Need to feel a little better about your team?

Then read what Belichick has to say about it:

BB: We are one day later than normal here. I would just say that we have taken the extra time to pretty much see all of Kansas City's games this year. This is really a dynamic team. They are very dangerous. You look at a game like Atlanta, who is a very good football team, and they just totally crushed them. They are running out the clock early in the third quarter with a five-touchdown lead. I think this is a team, in the chiefs, that we really are very respectful of in every area. Obviously, they are one of the best special teams units in the league. They are very explosive. [Dante] Hall is a dynamic runner that makes a ton of big plays. He made them against us a couple of years ago and is a threat every time he touches the ball. Offensively, we could stand up here for a couple of hours and talk about everything they have done. They have scored 100 points in their last couple of home games. They average 500 yards per game. They are leading the league in scoring the last couple of years. They are practically at the top of the league in every, single offensive statistic this year, particularly in rushing. In yardage, they move the ball pretty much at will with a great array of talent. I am sure they have several Hall of Fame players on their offensive team right now and they are very good. Defensively, they create a lot of problems for you because they create negative plays in the running game and they are very good on third down. With a new defensive coordinator, Gunther [Cunningham], being there, you can see them playing progressively better every week on defense. It obviously took a little while for them to get acclimated to the system and some of the things that they are doing. They continue to get better on a weekly basis. When Gunther was there earlier in his career as a coordinator and also as a head coach, the Chiefs were one of the best defensive teams in the league. They set a lot of franchise records defensively. It looks like he is trying to do a lot of the same things. You can certainly see a lot of progress. I think they have a very disruptive front. They have a lot of good players on the defensive line. Their corners and their secondary are very physical, and that is where they create a lot of problems. In nine games, this team has been ahead five times going into the fourth quarter, tied twice and behind by four points twice. So, every game for them has virtually come down to the wire or they have been in control of the game like the Atlanta game. Last year at this time they were 9-0. This year, they are 3-6 and offensively they are better in every area. You look at the penalties. You look at a couple of turnovers and this team is very close to being where it is last year, record wise. On the field they might actually be a little bit better.

Q: You talked about Indianapolis being one of the tops in the league offensively. Is Kansas City right up there also?

BB: Oh, yeah. Yes. They are right up there with anybody you want to name. They are right up there with them and ahead of practically everybody. They have a great offensive line. You are definitely talking about three Pro-Bowl-ers up there and maybe more than that in terms of, we will see what eventual awards those guys bring in, [Willie] Roaf, [Brian] Waters, [Will] Shields, they are outstanding. Not good, they are outstanding on the offensive line. You combine that with a great back, the best receiving tight end in the league without question, a really good quarterback, and really good receivers, they bring Hall in situationally, there are problems at every single spot defensively. Every single position. Wherever you line up, there is a problem across from you.

Q: They spread the ball around to a lot of different people. Is that a key in their success?

BB: They use everybody. They have a lot of great players and they all contribute. You have Priest Holmes and when he was out, they brought in [Derrick] Blaylock and he runs for 185 yards. What team in the league could do that? The receivers are outstanding. They bring Hall in as a third receiver. [Tony] Gonzalez is out there and he is already a receiver on the field even though he is a tight end. [Jason] Dunn is an outstanding blocker. They have weapon, after weapon, after weapon. The offensive line that we just talked about, whoever they are running behind, they can probably count on that block. There is just a lot of talent, a very good system. They do a good job of attacking you offensively. They give you a lot of problems scheme-wise to get ready for because of their motioning and shifting, but most importantly their execution and the quality of players they have doing it. They set the standard offensively.

Q: What kind of things can you do on defense to counteract the superiority of their offense?

BB: You just have to try to slow them down. They have 25 points every game. It is not like you are going to go in there and think they are not going to get a first down. You just have to try to slow them down. They attack you on too many fronts. They attack you inside with the tight end and the running back. They attack you outside with the receivers. The offensive line is outstanding. The quarterback is good. They have good blockers in Dunn and [Tony] Richardson, who can also handle the ball. They are pretty good. They are really good.

Q: How helpful can the film be from a few years ago when you played them at home?

BB: It looks just like every other game. It looks like a track meet. They are up and down the field. They are up and down the field. They run it on everybody. They throw it on everybody. They score on everybody. They just track it up and down the field. They did it against us. They do it against everybody else. These guys can move the ball. I am not talking about three or four yards. I am telling you, most times when I go through and watch the game sequentially, I take out big plays and build a little highlight reel and go back and look at some of those plays and show them to the team. Every play it seems it is a 12, 15-yard gain. They hand it off and gain 15. They throw it to Gonzalez, it is 15. They throw it to [Eddie] Kennison, it is 20. They throw it to [Johnnie] Morton, it is 30. They run a screen and there is another 20. They drop it off to Dunn, there is 15. Hand it off to Blaylock or Holmes, there is another 20. It seems like every other plays is about a 20-yard gain. They throw it deep. They throw it short. They run it inside. They run it outside. They run draws. They run screens. They run reverses. They run straight handoffs. Whatever they run looks like a good play. Being on the other side of the ball, you watch them play somebody and you are getting ready to play them offensively, and you are thinking, 'Gee that play looks good.' I mean everything they do looks good.

Q: Do you almost have to play them straight up, with the basic fundamentals more than usual this week?

BB: Well, I think that is what you try to do every week. But, yes, there is definitely a big emphasis on that this week. You are not going to trick them. If you outnumber them somewhere, you are going to be light somewhere else and that will be a bad place to be. So, you are going to have to play a sound defensively game against them. Every player needs to play his best and every player needs to play his responsibility and take care of his job and count on the guy next to him to take care of theirs. There are too many things to stop.

Q: As good as their offense is, they have six losses. Is there a common theme in their losses?

BB: It has been a play here and a play there. It has been a turnover. It has been a penalty. It has been a play, I don't want to say in every game, that would be way understated, they are more than in every game, they are coming down to the last possession, the last couple of plays and it just hasn't gone their way. Last year it did. They got an interception, dropped the ball or they get a ball tipped and lose it. They get a big play and get it called back with a penalty. They stop them and have some kind of illegal contact penalty or something to keep the drive going, stuff like that. Like I said, a play here, a play there, easily 9-0. Just like they were last year. When things are really clicking like they were against Atlanta—they beat Baltimore in Baltimore, convincingly. They can go in there and smack anybody. Anybody. They are very physical on defense. You better be ready. You better have your chinstrap buttoned against them offensively because they are going to come after you. They are going to blitz. They have big corners. They are very physical on the outside. Basically, all of their corners have played safety and they will smack you around.

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Of course, he made the Bills and the Dolphins sound pretty good too. ;)