Hydrae
11-19-2007, 12:25 PM
I listened to the game at work but was fortunate enough to be able to record this game. Being in Austin and working on Sundays, I have not been able to see much of the Chiefs this year. These were a couple of thoughts I had while watching the recording.
I love Priest and think it is cool what he has been trying to do. However, he is not even close to the back he once was and is borderline as to how servicable he is right now. I saw a man who was tentative going through the line, a lot of dancing and indecision. It really bothered me when he took himself out of the game at one point. He had been tackled with the guy wrapping his arm around Priest's helmet. The announcers thought there might have been a facemask but it appeared to me that the tackler just had his whole arm wrapped around Priest's head. Priest immediately took himself out of the game and they showed a shot a couple minutes later with him on the sidelines with his hat off. This is never a good sign for a player to take off his hat, it means he isn't returning anytime soon. Priest needs to regain his confidence in his body and its' ability to sustain hits without killing him.
The other thing I noticed was that Taco is right, just a few years too late. Priest has lost his burst. Watching Addai was fun (well, not against us but you have to appreciate his skills) and just helped point out what Priest seems to have lost. I do believe he can get some, if not most, of it back. But it will still be a couple of games, the game is still moving too fast for him.
As has been stated many times by others, Croyle needed to be allowed to throw downfield more. I think more playaction would have worked well to freeze this fast, aggressive defense and would have given Brodie the time needed to find receivers down the field. This kid looks like the real deal (no, not in a Greg Hill kind of way) and I am very excited to be watching him for the next several years.
The defense played out of their minds. Jared is a man possessed and will only get better. The rest of the league better take notice! That said, Jared makes a lot of plays early in games but seems to disappear in the second half (at least by comparison to the first halves). I expect this is due to adjustments teams put in place at half time. They are doing much more doubling on Jared in the second half. This needs to be the time Tamba steps up since he is not getting much extra attention at that point.
This game was lost when we did not go for the 4th and 1 conversion early in the 4th quarter. Convert that 1st down and this game would have been ours. I figured we could have won or lost the game right there by running a play. by punting, we gave the game away. A little aggression from time to time would not be a bad thing!!!
Samie Parker has got to go. That quick out to him that hit him in the hands and he dropped was unforgivable. I don't care how fast he is or how good of a downfield blocker he has become, he is obviously in over his head and if he hasn't figured it out by now he never will.
I did notice Sippio in on a couple of plays. Man, did he look lost. There was a draw to Priest that had lot's of room but only gained about 2 yards because Sippio completely missed the block because he was in the wrong position. I am one who has been excited that he is with the team and I think that he is an unused weapon for crossing patterns and the like but it was obvious that he is still learning the game. I hope this is not an indication that he has Gardner syndrome and is too stupid to learn a playbook.
Overall, I was thrilled with a lot of things I saw yesterday. I love the defense and look forward to it continuing to grow. Just like everyone around here, I am frustrated by the lack off aggressiveness on offense. I do not believe that it is right to "hope" something goes your way at the end of the game to allow you to win. I think you need to dictate the game to the opponents. A lot of that is done on the defensive side of the ball, as Herm believes. But I think you also have to dictate on offense and we are not even close to doing that at this point.
Anyway, enough rambling....
I love Priest and think it is cool what he has been trying to do. However, he is not even close to the back he once was and is borderline as to how servicable he is right now. I saw a man who was tentative going through the line, a lot of dancing and indecision. It really bothered me when he took himself out of the game at one point. He had been tackled with the guy wrapping his arm around Priest's helmet. The announcers thought there might have been a facemask but it appeared to me that the tackler just had his whole arm wrapped around Priest's head. Priest immediately took himself out of the game and they showed a shot a couple minutes later with him on the sidelines with his hat off. This is never a good sign for a player to take off his hat, it means he isn't returning anytime soon. Priest needs to regain his confidence in his body and its' ability to sustain hits without killing him.
The other thing I noticed was that Taco is right, just a few years too late. Priest has lost his burst. Watching Addai was fun (well, not against us but you have to appreciate his skills) and just helped point out what Priest seems to have lost. I do believe he can get some, if not most, of it back. But it will still be a couple of games, the game is still moving too fast for him.
As has been stated many times by others, Croyle needed to be allowed to throw downfield more. I think more playaction would have worked well to freeze this fast, aggressive defense and would have given Brodie the time needed to find receivers down the field. This kid looks like the real deal (no, not in a Greg Hill kind of way) and I am very excited to be watching him for the next several years.
The defense played out of their minds. Jared is a man possessed and will only get better. The rest of the league better take notice! That said, Jared makes a lot of plays early in games but seems to disappear in the second half (at least by comparison to the first halves). I expect this is due to adjustments teams put in place at half time. They are doing much more doubling on Jared in the second half. This needs to be the time Tamba steps up since he is not getting much extra attention at that point.
This game was lost when we did not go for the 4th and 1 conversion early in the 4th quarter. Convert that 1st down and this game would have been ours. I figured we could have won or lost the game right there by running a play. by punting, we gave the game away. A little aggression from time to time would not be a bad thing!!!
Samie Parker has got to go. That quick out to him that hit him in the hands and he dropped was unforgivable. I don't care how fast he is or how good of a downfield blocker he has become, he is obviously in over his head and if he hasn't figured it out by now he never will.
I did notice Sippio in on a couple of plays. Man, did he look lost. There was a draw to Priest that had lot's of room but only gained about 2 yards because Sippio completely missed the block because he was in the wrong position. I am one who has been excited that he is with the team and I think that he is an unused weapon for crossing patterns and the like but it was obvious that he is still learning the game. I hope this is not an indication that he has Gardner syndrome and is too stupid to learn a playbook.
Overall, I was thrilled with a lot of things I saw yesterday. I love the defense and look forward to it continuing to grow. Just like everyone around here, I am frustrated by the lack off aggressiveness on offense. I do not believe that it is right to "hope" something goes your way at the end of the game to allow you to win. I think you need to dictate the game to the opponents. A lot of that is done on the defensive side of the ball, as Herm believes. But I think you also have to dictate on offense and we are not even close to doing that at this point.
Anyway, enough rambling....