Hammock Parties
11-27-2005, 03:25 AM
Today we learn the truth about the Chiefs
Performance against the Patriots will determine whether KC is contender or pretender
JOE POSNANSKI
Today, we find out. All season, the Chiefs have plodded along, singing a song. They have beaten bad teams, lost to good ones and shown signs of being both a playoff contender and a decaying fossil of a team, often on the same series of downs.
It has been maddening. How good are the Chiefs? Who knows? We’re 12 weeks into the NFL season, and you need Nostradamus, Danny Sheridan and Dionne Warwick to read all the tea leaves the Chiefs have left behind this year.
Today, finally, we find out. It’s show time. The Chiefs play the two-time defending champion New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium, and everything is on the line. Everything. The season. The playoffs. The future. The past. All of it.
Win, the Chiefs are for real. Lose, and they’re not. Simple.
Finally, we can get to the heart of things.
That’s good because the Chiefs mystery train has been running for almost five years now. Under coach Dick Vermeil, the Chiefs have been harder to read than those funhouse mirror security words they make you type in to buy things on the Internet. Every year (with the exception of 2001, when the Chiefs were lousy), the Chiefs have been exciting, lousy, thrilling, awful, good, bad and everything else.
In all, Vermeil’s teams have won 40 and lost 34.
When you look closer, though, you see just how they got there:
Records of the teams the Chiefs have beaten: 263-341.
Records of the teams that have beaten the Chiefs: 292-221.
That’s a pattern. The Chiefs have routinely chomped on NFL chum — they are a glorious 14-1 against teams that won five or fewer games in a season. This year, the Chiefs’ victims have a robust 19-41 record.
But under Vermeil the Chiefs are 3-6 against the good teams, the 11-win-or-more teams. And this does not include the devastating playoff loss to Indianapolis or this year’s crushing defeats at Denver and San Diego. For five years, the Chiefs have pasted the patsies, built up hopes and then crashed in spectacular fashion. Remember the beginning of “Rocky III” — of course you do — when Rocky was knocking out bum after bum while “Eye of the Tiger” played? Rocky started thinking he was pretty good. Then he faced Clubber Lang/Mr. T and got batted around like a beach ball at a Dodgers game.
That is like the Chiefs under Vermeil.
They should play “Eye of the Tiger” for kickoffs.
That’s why today’s game means everything. The Chiefs have placed themselves right back on that “Contender or Pretender” plank. You do the math. If the Chiefs win today, they’re 7-4. They will have beaten the best coach in the business. They have a brutal schedule, but they do play three of the last five games at home. There are reasons to hope.
If the Chiefs lose, though, it’s over. The Chiefs would be 6-5, and with that brutal schedule ahead — all five of the teams remaining have winning records — the Chiefs will almost certainly not make the playoffs. Vermeil probably will retire. The five-year Vermeil experiment, which began with such big hopes, will have to be considered a flop.
So, yeah, today’s game is sort of important.
What will we see? Well, the Patriots are struggling — their defense is ranked 31st in the NFL. The Pats have been vulnerable against the run and the pass. Their offense has been one dimensional, although Tom Brady throwing the ball is a pretty good dimension. The Patriots were blitzed at home by San Diego, and they lost at Denver. They have not had a convincing victory since week one and have struggled to victory the last two weeks against bad teams. So, even though New England is two-time defending Super Bowl champs and leading the abominable AFC East, this seems like a great chance for the Chiefs to win, especially at home.
But there’s one other troubling part of Vermeil’s record that we should mention, one that will be on display today. Vermeil’s Chiefs have consistently lost to imaginative, hard-working, prepared coaches. Oh, they’ve had their way against Mike Riley and Dick Jauron. But the Chiefs and Vermeil are 3-6 against Mike Shanahan. They are 0-3 against Jon Gruden. They are 4-4 against Marty Schottenheimer, which sounds better than it is. The Chiefs have lost the last three to Marty.
And Belichick might just be the best preparation coach in NFL history. Vermeil’s Chiefs are already 0-2 against Belichick.
What separates Belichick from other coaches is that his game plans, like the prizes on the old “Newlywed Game,” are chosen just for you. If Belichick figures, for instance, that the Chiefs are vulnerable to a running quarterback, he will put Tom Brady in the single-wing. If he thinks his best chance is to have 10 players on the field, the Patriots will do that. If he finds that Chiefs quarterback Trent Green is red-pink colorblind, he might send his team out in pink leotards.
Other coaches won’t do that. They say they will do whatever it takes to win the game. They study the film, too. But in the end, they won’t go all the way. They’ll add a few wrinkles. But they wouldn’t, say, throw deep 30 times if they see a weakness in the secondary. They will always settle into their usual game plans.
Belichick will not settle. He and his coaching staff will completely change the look of the team week in and week out. There’s a terrific story in David Halberstam’s book The Education of a Coach. Belichick was defensive coordinator of the New York Giants then, and his team was about to face the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl. Those Giants had a great and proud defense, but Belichick believed his team’s best chance was to let Buffalo run a little bit, which would run time off the clock and keep the Bills from throwing.
He told his players: “If (Buffalo running back) Thurman Thomas runs for 100 yards, we win this game.”
Thomas ran for 135 yards. New York won the game.
So Belichick will undoubtedly have a unique game plan for today’s game. Bill’s father, Steve, a brilliant football scout and coach himself, passed away last Saturday. Bill missed the first couple of days of preparation attending the funeral. But Belichick says that he had time to adjust the plan for the Chiefs. There’s no doubt the Patriots will be ready.
And it will be fascinating to see how the Chiefs respond. Today, we find out how much this defense has improved. Today we find out how much of a difference Willie Roaf can make on the offensive line. Today we find out if Larry Johnson is ready to be one of the elite backs in the NFL.
More than anything, today, finally, we find out if the Chiefs are any good.
Performance against the Patriots will determine whether KC is contender or pretender
JOE POSNANSKI
Today, we find out. All season, the Chiefs have plodded along, singing a song. They have beaten bad teams, lost to good ones and shown signs of being both a playoff contender and a decaying fossil of a team, often on the same series of downs.
It has been maddening. How good are the Chiefs? Who knows? We’re 12 weeks into the NFL season, and you need Nostradamus, Danny Sheridan and Dionne Warwick to read all the tea leaves the Chiefs have left behind this year.
Today, finally, we find out. It’s show time. The Chiefs play the two-time defending champion New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium, and everything is on the line. Everything. The season. The playoffs. The future. The past. All of it.
Win, the Chiefs are for real. Lose, and they’re not. Simple.
Finally, we can get to the heart of things.
That’s good because the Chiefs mystery train has been running for almost five years now. Under coach Dick Vermeil, the Chiefs have been harder to read than those funhouse mirror security words they make you type in to buy things on the Internet. Every year (with the exception of 2001, when the Chiefs were lousy), the Chiefs have been exciting, lousy, thrilling, awful, good, bad and everything else.
In all, Vermeil’s teams have won 40 and lost 34.
When you look closer, though, you see just how they got there:
Records of the teams the Chiefs have beaten: 263-341.
Records of the teams that have beaten the Chiefs: 292-221.
That’s a pattern. The Chiefs have routinely chomped on NFL chum — they are a glorious 14-1 against teams that won five or fewer games in a season. This year, the Chiefs’ victims have a robust 19-41 record.
But under Vermeil the Chiefs are 3-6 against the good teams, the 11-win-or-more teams. And this does not include the devastating playoff loss to Indianapolis or this year’s crushing defeats at Denver and San Diego. For five years, the Chiefs have pasted the patsies, built up hopes and then crashed in spectacular fashion. Remember the beginning of “Rocky III” — of course you do — when Rocky was knocking out bum after bum while “Eye of the Tiger” played? Rocky started thinking he was pretty good. Then he faced Clubber Lang/Mr. T and got batted around like a beach ball at a Dodgers game.
That is like the Chiefs under Vermeil.
They should play “Eye of the Tiger” for kickoffs.
That’s why today’s game means everything. The Chiefs have placed themselves right back on that “Contender or Pretender” plank. You do the math. If the Chiefs win today, they’re 7-4. They will have beaten the best coach in the business. They have a brutal schedule, but they do play three of the last five games at home. There are reasons to hope.
If the Chiefs lose, though, it’s over. The Chiefs would be 6-5, and with that brutal schedule ahead — all five of the teams remaining have winning records — the Chiefs will almost certainly not make the playoffs. Vermeil probably will retire. The five-year Vermeil experiment, which began with such big hopes, will have to be considered a flop.
So, yeah, today’s game is sort of important.
What will we see? Well, the Patriots are struggling — their defense is ranked 31st in the NFL. The Pats have been vulnerable against the run and the pass. Their offense has been one dimensional, although Tom Brady throwing the ball is a pretty good dimension. The Patriots were blitzed at home by San Diego, and they lost at Denver. They have not had a convincing victory since week one and have struggled to victory the last two weeks against bad teams. So, even though New England is two-time defending Super Bowl champs and leading the abominable AFC East, this seems like a great chance for the Chiefs to win, especially at home.
But there’s one other troubling part of Vermeil’s record that we should mention, one that will be on display today. Vermeil’s Chiefs have consistently lost to imaginative, hard-working, prepared coaches. Oh, they’ve had their way against Mike Riley and Dick Jauron. But the Chiefs and Vermeil are 3-6 against Mike Shanahan. They are 0-3 against Jon Gruden. They are 4-4 against Marty Schottenheimer, which sounds better than it is. The Chiefs have lost the last three to Marty.
And Belichick might just be the best preparation coach in NFL history. Vermeil’s Chiefs are already 0-2 against Belichick.
What separates Belichick from other coaches is that his game plans, like the prizes on the old “Newlywed Game,” are chosen just for you. If Belichick figures, for instance, that the Chiefs are vulnerable to a running quarterback, he will put Tom Brady in the single-wing. If he thinks his best chance is to have 10 players on the field, the Patriots will do that. If he finds that Chiefs quarterback Trent Green is red-pink colorblind, he might send his team out in pink leotards.
Other coaches won’t do that. They say they will do whatever it takes to win the game. They study the film, too. But in the end, they won’t go all the way. They’ll add a few wrinkles. But they wouldn’t, say, throw deep 30 times if they see a weakness in the secondary. They will always settle into their usual game plans.
Belichick will not settle. He and his coaching staff will completely change the look of the team week in and week out. There’s a terrific story in David Halberstam’s book The Education of a Coach. Belichick was defensive coordinator of the New York Giants then, and his team was about to face the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl. Those Giants had a great and proud defense, but Belichick believed his team’s best chance was to let Buffalo run a little bit, which would run time off the clock and keep the Bills from throwing.
He told his players: “If (Buffalo running back) Thurman Thomas runs for 100 yards, we win this game.”
Thomas ran for 135 yards. New York won the game.
So Belichick will undoubtedly have a unique game plan for today’s game. Bill’s father, Steve, a brilliant football scout and coach himself, passed away last Saturday. Bill missed the first couple of days of preparation attending the funeral. But Belichick says that he had time to adjust the plan for the Chiefs. There’s no doubt the Patriots will be ready.
And it will be fascinating to see how the Chiefs respond. Today, we find out how much this defense has improved. Today we find out how much of a difference Willie Roaf can make on the offensive line. Today we find out if Larry Johnson is ready to be one of the elite backs in the NFL.
More than anything, today, finally, we find out if the Chiefs are any good.