Babb goes the dynamite - Baldwin’s play limiting Bowe’s importance

[Hammock Parties]

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/01...mportance.html

Baldwin’s play limiting Bowe’s importance

Baldwin is all in; Bowe still absent

BY KENT BABB

ST. JOSEPH -- The first segment of Chiefs training camp ended Tuesday with a night practice at Spratt Stadium, and whether you were there or not, you probably know about the first week’s biggest storyline.

Yes, that wide receiver everyone keeps talking about. It’s a shame he has baggage, because we could all be a little more certain about him if not for that. As it stands, this young wideout with so much talent — you’re not a first-round pick without big skills — could be a significant reason why the 2012 season is a success and not a failure.

Jon Baldwin, not Dwayne Bowe, has been the most important player for the Chiefs during this first week of the preseason, and boy, has he answered the challenge. Baldwin, not Bowe, is not only in attendance but is emerging as a player who looks like a young star who could give quarterback Matt Cassel a tall, powerful option down the field. Baldwin, not Bowe, is doing everything right when the man who was supposed to be his mentor is making a career mistake by refusing to sign his franchise tender — and allowing a second-year receiver to show the Chiefs how it’s done.

Let’s discuss Bowe for a moment. This is actually bad news for him. When a player decides to skip practices or weeks or an entire camp, it is to remind the team that it would be in trouble without him. Think this week was tough? Just imagine what it’d be like to go an entire season like this.

As it stands, with each passing day and each time Baldwin leaps to catch a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone, as he did Tuesday night, Bowe’s value and importance to the Chiefs drops. Oh, the Chiefs still want and expect Bowe to be on the practice field at some point, and would likely still pencil him into the starting lineup, but the absence of their 2007 first-round pick is being overshadowed by the presence of their 2011 first-round pick.

Baldwin has been so good that there’s no panic here. Cassel already looks more comfortable with the youngster than he ever has with Bowe. There’s more confidence that Baldwin will run a perfect route, will be there when the ball arrives, will hold onto it when it hits his hands. Baldwin has, in offseason practices and in a week of training camp, been everything you want a first-round receiver to be. For months now, Baldwin has taken such an impressive step that there’s not just hope but budding certainty that the Chiefs will be, for however long it’s necessary, just fine without Bowe.

There was suspicion last year that Baldwin might have been built in the same, undependable mold as his veteran teammate. When he stepped to running back Thomas Jones during last year’s camp, suffering a broken hand that would sideline him the first six weeks, it was easy to think that Baldwin was a high-risk player whose future already looked murky. He couldn’t even finish camp without finding trouble — a fight with a respected team leader, no less.

Time passed, though, and the Chiefs started asking questions and hearing encouraging answers. The first was whether Baldwin, a rookie, had been intimidated by Jones, who’s maybe the last person on Planet Earth that anyone should pick a fight with. When the team learned that Baldwin hadn’t been scared and had defended himself, coaches were disappointed that he’d been hurt, sure, but they kind of respected that he hadn’t been rattled.

Later, they asked whether Baldwin was doing all the right things in rehab and in the downtime that can make or break a rookie’s career. The kid kept his mouth closed, did what was asked, and when the cast finally came off and Baldwin made his NFL debut, he was well-conditioned, focused and able. A week later, in a home win against San Diego on Monday night, he came down with an acrobatic 39-yard touchdown catch that began to show what the Chiefs had been waiting for.

Those are the kinds of catches that Baldwin has been making consistently in OTAs and so far in training camp. If the Chiefs asked a new question — how will Baldwin respond when the spotlight shifts in his direction? — they’re learning the answer.

He’s making it look easy, while Bowe is just making life difficult.

It’s understandable that Bowe has no interest in participating in practices that’ll earn him zero additional dollars on top of his $9.5 million tender. These weeks are hot and thankless, and if you ask any veteran player what he won’t miss when it’s time to retire, he’ll likely say training camp. But the problem with Bowe is that there’s no way to know what he’ll look and play like when he finally does join the Chiefs, whether that’s Thursday (almost inconceivable) or shortly before the regular season begins (looking more likely by the day). This has been discussed and written to death, but Bowe doesn’t have a spotless history when it comes to these matters. With a new coach and quarterback in 2009, he arrived to camp around 30 pounds heavier than his target weight, and whether it was an accident or not, as he said at the time, Bowe turned to a diuretic to shed the extra pounds — a move that got him suspended for four games by the NFL.

So life with Bowe has been an adventure, and it continues to be. If he arrives out of shape and with no knowledge of the offense, there will be no hurry to rush him back into the starting lineup. That’s what he must have thought it would be like when he opted to skip practices and remind the Chiefs of his value. But that plan has now blown up in his face.

What’s interesting is that another receiver with a spotty history seems to have vowed to erase the doubt that lingers from the past; without a new contract to play for or a statement to make, Baldwin keeps making the dazzling plays and the easy ones, saying the right things, and just being a player the Chiefs can depend on day after day.

Now that Baldwin has made us think about it, none of that has ever been true of Bowe.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Trying to come up with all these mysterious/complicated explanations for why Pioli won't sign Bowe is a waste of time.

Simplest explanation is usually the correct one: The Patriot Way.

Do please explain, particularly in light of the 2007 team and this season.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by jspchief

I think Bowe is arguably one of the five best WRs in the NFL, and its highly unlikely that he's lost his spot after 5 days of practice.

While I too disagree with the ranking, the ACTUAL PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE dont think Bowe is any better than the 15th best receiver in the game.

There were 14 wide outs listed in the top 100 and Bowe didnt even make the list.

Is it possible that we as Chief fans simply overrate him because of the Arrowhead on his helmet?

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

reading is so hard

Apparently for you, it is.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by BossChief

While I too disagree with the ranking, the ACTUAL PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE dont think Bowe is any better than the 15th best receiver in the game.

There were 14 wide outs listed in the top 100 and Bowe didnt even make the list.

Is it possible that we as Chief fans simply overrate him because of the Arrowhead on his helmet?

I'm sure some homerism plays into it, but we also know all too well the quality of quarterbacks Bowe has played with his entire career so far.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by BossChief

clown shoes post right there.

Full of lies.

1) I have never said that Brown is as good as Bowe. Not once, soif you want to continue making this claim expect to be called a bitch and a liar.

I'm sure you're used to it.

2) Your reading comprehension is evidently at the level of a kindergartner. No matter how many times I have said that my preference is to re-sign Bowe for a reasonable (even if the amount is crazy for a receiver) contract and only if that cannot be achieved would I trade him...you cannot understand it.

I'm sorry that you cant read, I really am.

you've still never explained how you would trade Bowe for multiple picks, and resign Brown for nothing...even though you also believe they have the same value

do you wave a magic wand over your x-box?

and as for using a 2nd on stanzi...we'll even you can't deny how ****ing stupid that is...

how's your boy Studebaker doing, by the way?

This kid is gonna play a big role in our future success. I think he will be one of our best defenders once he gets into the fulltime starting lineup.

wares numbers in same drills:

6'4
251
4.56
1.6 10 split
2.7 20 split
4.07 ss
6.83 3 cone
38.5 vertical
10.07 broad
27 reps

Studebaker is marginally talented...indeed.

Im sure Ill get flamed again for this but I am actually quite happy that we have a situation like the one we have with Studabaker. His workout times were as good as any guy at the combine last year or this and he has been under the wing of one of the best linebacker to play in this system in the last decade or two to learn the intricacies of the position.

I think that when he is ready and takes over the spot, he will be a "unexpected star" of sorts and will seemingly "come out of nowhere" when in essence he has been part of (brace yourself) "the process"

mr. quality football takes...

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

That's not Pioli's job. I'm not sure why you think he has to sign any specific player(s) just because a bunch of idiots on a message board thinks he should.

They are just two random NFL players. Not guys the team invested high draft picks on, and/or lots of developmental time. It's not like there was an investment made on those players and the players demonstrated the ability to play at a high level for a joke of a franchise. It's not his job to retain top players.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

They are just two random NFL players. Not guys the team invested high draft picks on, and/or lots of developmental time. It's not like there was an investment made on those players and the players demonstrated the ability to play at a high level for a joke of a franchise. It's not his job to retain top players.

Your vagina is just full of sand, isn't it? The job of the GM isn't to sign specific players. It's to put together the best team he can.

As for all the crying about Bowe, the Patriots had a much more contentious situation with Mankins, yet they managed to get him signed, and other teams have been in that same position. You people are just looking for excuses to bitch and whine.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

Your vagina is just full of sand, isn't it? The job of the GM isn't to sign specific players. It's to put together the best team he can.

As for all the crying about Bowe, the Patriots had a much more contentious situation with Mankins, yet they managed to get him signed, and other teams have been in that same position. You people are just looking for excuses to bitch and whine.

no one, anywhere, gives a shit what some head-up-their-ass Patriots fan thinks about football....hilarious how all you guys are ****ing geniuses since Brady showed up..

stick to telling us hilarious stories about how great a QB Cassel is, you moran...

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

That's not Pioli's job. I'm not sure why you think he has to sign any specific player(s) just because a bunch of idiots on a message board thinks he should.

True. No one knows if those players are any good and positively contribute to wins, so why sign them?

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Just Not Gettin' It

Your vagina is just full of sand, isn't it? The job of the GM isn't to sign specific players. It's to put together the best team he can.

As for all the crying about Bowe, the Patriots had a much more contentious situation with Mankins, yet they managed to get him signed, and other teams have been in that same position. You people are just looking for excuses to bitch and whine.

The "Right 53"? Not about the sizzle?

Some other Patriot cliche?

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

True. No one knows if those players are any good and positively contribute to wins, so why sign them?

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

The "Right 53"? Not about the sizzle?

Some other Patriot cliche?

I look forward to the next time you post something worth a damn. It's been a couple of years since you last did it.

[L.A. Chieffan]

more validation that Cassell was the one propping up bowe, not the other way around.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

you've still never explained how you would trade Bowe for multiple picks, and resign Brown for nothing...even though you also believe they have the same value

do you wave a magic wand over your x-box?

and as for using a 2nd on stanzi...we'll even you can't deny how ****ing stupid that is...

how's your boy Studebaker doing, by the way?







mr. quality football takes...

hahaha

had to go back 2 or 3 ****ing years to try and make an attempt at clowning me in a post were I compared Demarcus Ware and Andy Studebakers workout times? BTW why didnt you post ASs times? They were nearly identical...

YOU REALLY GOT ME THERE.

BTW nobody will ever know how good AS would have been as a starter because a 1st round talent fell into our laps in the third round.

Maybe he would have sucked, maybe not.

To use that or my Stanzi takes as some kind of way of slamming me, after being here for about 4 years shows how little ammo you have to use against me.

COME AT ME, BRO.

[Hammock Parties]

We know how good Studebaker was.

He lost his starting job to a 3rd round rookie.

He started the beginning of the year, remember?

Dude ****ing sucks. Career backup scrub/STer.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

The knock on Baldwin last year was that he couldn't beat the press. Wonder if he has improved in that area....

Can't make plays if you can't get off the LOS.

According to who?

And don't post some noname twitter asshole as your source.