Late Night Bullshit: How Good Can We Be...
 

So far, our team looks amazing.

We are forcing turnovers, getting big time returns, pinning teams back and aside from a couple miscues, we have been just nasty on special teams thus far.

On defense, we look sick. We are constantly looking to rip the ball out and have a lot of bodies around the tackle at all times. We take the ball away in a sustainable way. Our pass rush is second to none and IMO has just begun to scratch the surface of what we can do as a team pass rush. Poe, Houston and Hali are all playing at an elite level and arguably all require double teams to slow down. I can't wait to see Nico get healthy, kid is gonna be an animal. The secondary is playing like a well oiled machine and the communication has been outstanding. They are feeding off each other and playing at a level we haven't seen a Chiefs defense play at in a very, very long time. We are taking
the ball away at a record pace. The DEs are helping to shut the run down and keep opposing offenses in third and long a lot. Shit they are even giving some push up front to help collapse that pocket and force teams to throw before they want to.

It's fun to watch.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Our offense has looked pretty good overall (all things considered) and has the pieces that could propel this unit into the stratosphere as the year rolls along.

The line has been getting abused and I expect that to unit to be a strength by years end. We switched blocking schemes, have 2 new starters on the OL (one
being a rookie) and are looking lost out there, right now. There is a megashitton of talent on that OL that nice they begin to jell should have the ability to be a dominant unit. I expect this unit to blossom in front of our eyes over the next 4-8 games. If Eric Fisher can start to give us what we paid for, wow. The mental mistakes will subside and the technique will become more natural as they build cohesion between one and another. In theory, anyway.

I know it looks bad now, but I still think it will be a top 5 line by years end.

That brings me to the TEs.

We have a quarterback that uses the tight end as a primary receiver in a lot of plays and we havent been able to get a sniff of what Kelce is all about and Fasano has been injured as well. When these two get healthy (which will happen) they are gonna be a huge part of sustaining drives for this offense because teams now HAVE TO treat Donnie Avery as a legit threat. That means it's gonna be really hard for teams to bracket Dwayne Bowe and once we get a healthy tight end on the field, he should get a ton of targets. Kelce looked very good in camp and I think could be a real difference maker once he gets up to speed. We played tight ends that were mopping floors a week ago and made them look ok. A real tight end will rape.

How about them running backs?

Charles has shown that he can take over games since he stepped on the field with Thiggy in 08. Knile Davis is a guy that I think will play a larger role as the season goes on. Against our defense in practice at camp, he looked like he had the ability to be really special. Hit the hole fast and had the extra gear that he could hit in no time and lots of power to stay on his feet through traffic. Gray is a quality player as well and I think he has the ability to start on a few teams.

All in all, how much better will we be once

The tight ends are healthy
The offensive line starts to jel
Nico Johnson and Knile Davis get worked in
Reid learns how to properly utilize our personel
Alex Smith gets comfortable in this system

11-5

Depends on how the Oline improves(if it does) during the season. With young guys, I think the room for improvement is there. It also depends on if Alex can push the ball down the field a little to help the running and screen game. If he can get a good relationship with Bowe that would do a lot for the offense.

If those things happen I wouldn't be surprised to see this team get in and ruin a really good teams playoff run. Those are big ifs though, and it still seems more likely that this season ends more like 2010 then the prediction of upsetting a really good teams playoff run. It's still really early but at the very least Alex is a guy that finds a way to win if you give him a chance and make some plays vs. that 2010 QB that was always hanging on by the skin of his teeth just to game-manage. I am interested to see how they play a team on Sunday that I think still has the skill to win important games. The Chiefs are now expected to win Sunday, so I am interested to see how they handle that.

I think Bowe is gonna have a couple standout games coming up.

He's due.

They'll struggle after the bye. 8-8 or 9-7

Minimal impact. Unless I see otherwise, I'd guess Avery = Vernon Davis in terms of Alex's
comfort level. Even then, Kelce is the TE equivalent of Fisher: small school guy with good upside but incredibly raw. Blocking will improve of course, but I just don't see a lot of production out of Fasano outside of safety-valve plays like we saw in the 4th Q of last Thursday's game with throws to Avery and McGrath.

Bumps in production from guys like McCluster, Fasano, Sherman / rotational RBs as Alex has a little bit more time to make plays.

I don't think we want either of them in...

I think we've seen exactly what Reid wants to do already; it's all down the execution now.

He'll produce a little bit more offensively... Maybe an extra TD over the course of a few games, a few dozen extra yards than we've seen through the air to this point.

I wish they hadn't traded Tony Gonzalez. He would have come in handy.

I'm still going with 16-0. No reason to predict otherwise.

This can be a 10-6 team...

You think we are only gonna go 7-6 from here out?

Your predictions so far have been pretty good(especially the feel of those games) so I am looking forward to see how close you are on the Raiders game.

11-5 best case.

I'm not ready to towel Miles Davis yet. I still have a feeling he'll pull through the struggles and at a minimum be very decent. Just a question of when.

This defense alone makes us a playoff team. That's what's exciting about these Chiefs.

An offense like this is hard to fix even in just one season. It may take until the last four games of the season to get going at the level we'd like to see. I'm somewhat to fairly confident, though that we'll be in good enough of a position by then to crack some skulls.

I'd trade for a TE now.
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Completely disagree. Boss is spot on about the TEs. That makes a huge, huge difference. Charles is an outside runner and he needs those guys to seal the edge. Our TEs are completely useless in blocking situations. Fasano is a good blocker and Kelce is far better than McGrath.

So yeah... we've built this team to be a really solid game managing team. Alex Smith has proven he can take what the opposing team gives him. I'm okay with his game management style as long as he pulls out all the stops when the defense doesn't give him much, which is bound to happen. Denver might be a good test for that.