InChiefsHeaven
09-10-2007, 12:51 PM
BARNES: A Fan's Reaction
Sep 10, 2007, 1:40:10 PM by Jim Barnes
I can’t remember the last time I was ready to write off the Chiefs’ season after opening day (the 1980’s don’t’ count because we wrote them off before the first game).
But I’m about ready to punt after Sunday’s debacle in Houston.
It was a bad omen when I pulled up my NFL Sunday ticket and found it didn’t work. Nothing like having to deal with Direct TV anytime, much less 15 minutes before the game. That miraculously got fixed. Quickly. This is good, I thought to myself.
Then Eddie Kennison injured his hamstring right out of the gate. The offense moved down the field, ate up clock, and I was feeling great. It stalled and we got introduced to our new kicker, who struggled in a pre-season that’s not supposed to mean anything. Right, I said, as he shoved a 30-yarder nowhere near the goalposts.
I got no better after that as all Chiefs fans know. We saw fumbles, dropped balls, bad snaps, quarterback sacks, interceptions, stupid penalties, not enough patience to get a ground game going, and that’s as good as it got. I’m not a football genius, but the pass plays on second down seemed to always leave us in a third-down hole.
Why did they do that? Does anyone on the coaching staff think the pre-season didn’t mean anything now?
Now I know why I enjoyed “Hard Knocks” so much. We didn’t have to watch the offense on the field. We got to know the players some, and we got to watch the coaches strut their stuff. But we didn’t have to watch that offense play football.
We must give the defense props – darn good job considering they were on the field all day. Or at least that was the impression. By the end of the game the defense looked gassed. But Derrick Johnson was everywhere. There was push up the middle. And Donnie Edwards was wearing red and gold again.
The defense only allowed 13 points, and usually that can get you a win. But not with that offense. How could an offensive machine that terrorized defenses just two years ago be reduced to this so quickly? This offense is offensive.
As putrid as the defense was during the Vermeil years, the offense holds similar promise under Herman Edwards.
As I watched the Bears and the Chargers afterward, I could only grimace at the thought of these Chiefs playing in Chicago next weekend. They couldn’t score a touchdown against Houston. It’s highly conceivable that they won’t score a touchdown again next week. Two games. No touchdowns.
Were there bright spots? A few. With the absence of Eddie Kennison, it would appear that Dwayne Bowe will have to come into his own sooner than later. We saw some flashes of that with a great catch and some yards after the catch. And Samie Parker caught the damned ball.
But Damon Huard didn’t look like the quarterback we saw last year. Larry Johnson isn’t Larry Johnson yet. And the offensive line didn’t do much to dispel what the pundits have been saying all year.
If the coaching staff honestly believes that this unit can get better, then they’ll leave it intact during the weeks to come. But if they know major improvement isn’t in the works, then it will be time for Brodie Croyle. Please.
Better to lose a season so quickly if it can pay dividends down the road.
Like most Chiefs fans, I’ve spent the past several months in that purgatory called the offseason. I follow every move. I look for Chiefs stories everywhere. I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before the first game.
This Sunday Chiefs fans looked under the tree. They got squat.
And because we’re avid fans, we’ll be watching and praying for a miracle at Soldier Field next Sunday. We’re fans, and we can’t help it.
But there’s just more doubt after one game than there should be. So, so early to have to say: Here we go again.
We’ve just experienced as fans a version of Hard Knocks that is all our own.
So much for the theory that CP controls the content of that site...
Sep 10, 2007, 1:40:10 PM by Jim Barnes
I can’t remember the last time I was ready to write off the Chiefs’ season after opening day (the 1980’s don’t’ count because we wrote them off before the first game).
But I’m about ready to punt after Sunday’s debacle in Houston.
It was a bad omen when I pulled up my NFL Sunday ticket and found it didn’t work. Nothing like having to deal with Direct TV anytime, much less 15 minutes before the game. That miraculously got fixed. Quickly. This is good, I thought to myself.
Then Eddie Kennison injured his hamstring right out of the gate. The offense moved down the field, ate up clock, and I was feeling great. It stalled and we got introduced to our new kicker, who struggled in a pre-season that’s not supposed to mean anything. Right, I said, as he shoved a 30-yarder nowhere near the goalposts.
I got no better after that as all Chiefs fans know. We saw fumbles, dropped balls, bad snaps, quarterback sacks, interceptions, stupid penalties, not enough patience to get a ground game going, and that’s as good as it got. I’m not a football genius, but the pass plays on second down seemed to always leave us in a third-down hole.
Why did they do that? Does anyone on the coaching staff think the pre-season didn’t mean anything now?
Now I know why I enjoyed “Hard Knocks” so much. We didn’t have to watch the offense on the field. We got to know the players some, and we got to watch the coaches strut their stuff. But we didn’t have to watch that offense play football.
We must give the defense props – darn good job considering they were on the field all day. Or at least that was the impression. By the end of the game the defense looked gassed. But Derrick Johnson was everywhere. There was push up the middle. And Donnie Edwards was wearing red and gold again.
The defense only allowed 13 points, and usually that can get you a win. But not with that offense. How could an offensive machine that terrorized defenses just two years ago be reduced to this so quickly? This offense is offensive.
As putrid as the defense was during the Vermeil years, the offense holds similar promise under Herman Edwards.
As I watched the Bears and the Chargers afterward, I could only grimace at the thought of these Chiefs playing in Chicago next weekend. They couldn’t score a touchdown against Houston. It’s highly conceivable that they won’t score a touchdown again next week. Two games. No touchdowns.
Were there bright spots? A few. With the absence of Eddie Kennison, it would appear that Dwayne Bowe will have to come into his own sooner than later. We saw some flashes of that with a great catch and some yards after the catch. And Samie Parker caught the damned ball.
But Damon Huard didn’t look like the quarterback we saw last year. Larry Johnson isn’t Larry Johnson yet. And the offensive line didn’t do much to dispel what the pundits have been saying all year.
If the coaching staff honestly believes that this unit can get better, then they’ll leave it intact during the weeks to come. But if they know major improvement isn’t in the works, then it will be time for Brodie Croyle. Please.
Better to lose a season so quickly if it can pay dividends down the road.
Like most Chiefs fans, I’ve spent the past several months in that purgatory called the offseason. I follow every move. I look for Chiefs stories everywhere. I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve the night before the first game.
This Sunday Chiefs fans looked under the tree. They got squat.
And because we’re avid fans, we’ll be watching and praying for a miracle at Soldier Field next Sunday. We’re fans, and we can’t help it.
But there’s just more doubt after one game than there should be. So, so early to have to say: Here we go again.
We’ve just experienced as fans a version of Hard Knocks that is all our own.
So much for the theory that CP controls the content of that site...