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.

[saphojunkie]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

every fan who has posted about Bowe being and overrated #2, not as good as Antonio Brown, primadonna thug who flexed once and is asking for a $4000 million dollar contract so trade him for draft picks...

all points made are from actual posts on this board...it's the reading thing, you do it poorly

Okay, for the record:

1. Dwayne Bowe is a #1 wide receiver in this league.
2. If Bowe is a #2, that team has the best WR corps in the league.
3. Bowe likely wants more money than is his market value.
4. Pioli won't pay above market value for a player.
5. Bowe has some baggage.
6. That baggage hasn't been present for years.
7. A lot of people hint that Bowe doesn't run his routes as precisely as the coaches would like.
8. Matt Cassel needs all the help he can get.
9. Bowe is help.
10. Bowe running proper routes is better help.
11. We have the cap room to overpay him.
12. Still won't happen.
13. No one wants Bowe gone.
14. No one is 100% convinced Bowe won't be gone.
15. If Bowe leaves, it would be good to get a draft pick in exchange.
16. That draft pick could be used to move up for an elite QB in the draft.
17. I will take an elite QB prospect over 4,000 million Bowes.
18. This team will not be as good without Bowe as with Bowe.
19. All we can do is sit around and watch what happens.

Is there anything there that is untrue?

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

and to answer your dumb question directly: bosschief, who wants him traded yesterday...


again, the reading thing

I read very well and have yet to read 1 person who "prefers" your BS scenario. Not one.

[TimeForWasp]

I really don't understand the big deal about the #1 or #2 wide reciever. If they are both on the field at the same time, The QB is going to throw to the person who gets open, if the QB is worth a shit.

[Mr. Laz]

only if you are just 'trying to get by'



Baldwin,Bowe,Breaston is trying to do than just get by



IF Baldwin really is going to be great ... right now it's just another training camp rumor.

[Holladay]

how many dropped balls does Bowe have?

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by The Macho Man

The article wasn't about Haley being a delusional paranoid. It didn't paint Haley in that light at all, so stop trying to play that BS card. You know damn well what the intentions of that article were.

The knee-jerk reaction was "Pioli is bugging phones and Arrowhead is a horrible place to work." Within a week people were saying "these are serious allegations, if there is any proof of this it is trouble. Haley needs to put up or shut up." I can't help it if you never got past the knee jerk portion.

[Sofa King]

Originally Posted by Holladay

how many dropped balls does Bowe have?

**** you.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Babb's dumb azz

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.

Everyone looks good in TC you ****tard...

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

The knee-jerk reaction was "Pioli is bugging phones and Arrowhead is a horrible place to work." Within a week people were saying "these are serious allegations, if there is any proof of this it is trouble. Haley needs to put up or shut up." I can't help it if you never got past the knee jerk portion.

WTF are you talking about?

WHAT?



The reaction occured because THAT'S WHAT WAS WRITTEN. THAT IS WHAT THE ARTICLE INTENDED TO CREATE.

WTF are you talking about?

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

we could have:

Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston (potentially one of the best groups in the league)


instead Pioli has convinced fans to prefer:

Baldwin, Breaston, McCluster (unproven and unremarkable)

How the Hell is Steve Breaston unproven?

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

we could have:

Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston (potentially one of the best groups in the league)


instead Pioli has convinced fans to prefer:

Baldwin, Breaston, McCluster (unproven and unremarkable)

really ... where has Pioli said anything about it?




do i need to put on a tinfoil hat for your response?


Breaston is not unproven

[bevischief]

Kent Babb ‏@kentbabb

Getting some questions re:Bowe possibly being traded. Certainly wouldn't count on it. His value is fairly low & is getting lower by the day

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

we could have:

Bowe, Baldwin, Breaston (potentially one of the best groups in the league)


instead Pioli has convinced fans to prefer:

Baldwin, Breaston, McCluster (unproven and unremarkable)

what a stupid post

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

every fan who has posted about Bowe being and overrated #2, not as good as Antonio Brown, primadonna thug who flexed once and is asking for a $4000 million dollar contract so trade him for draft picks...

all points made are from actual posts on this board...it's the reading thing, you do it poorly

****ing clown shoes wearing bitch.

You can never have a conversation without outright lying to try and make a point, can you.

Something bitches commonly do.

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

and to answer your dumb question directly: bosschief, who wants him traded yesterday...


again, the reading thing

Is it hard to get up and down stairs with those clown shoes on?

Seriously.

How many times should I say this before you comprehend it?

I WOULD GIVE BOWE A 8/100 WITH 40 GUARANTEED CONTRACT BUT IF HE DOESN'T WANT TO TAKE A REASONABLE CONTRACT, ID MOVE HIM BEFORE HE LEAVES AND WE GET NOTHING IN RETURN.

Its a real shame how far the drafturbators have fallen since Hamas isnt around to drag them around by telling them what to think.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by Micjones

How the Hell is Steve Breaston unproven?

Some of these guys have lost their mind today. It's driving me crazy because some of these guys are posters that i normally view as good, smart posters.

But a lot of them, recently, have just been spewing made up BS.

[bevischief]

Kent Babb ‏@kentbabb
Trading in NFL is much different than MLB; with Bowe not practicing & contract issue, he'd be worth maybe a 3rd-rndr or lower. Believe it.