How Much Better Would The Chiefs Be If The Season Started Today

[philfree]

As compared to when the season started last year? After giving it a little thought I think we're much improved. Improved across the board. On offence, defense, STs and coaching.

Got to go to the bank and lunch so I'll have to finish my comments a little later when I'm back at the office. In the mean while what's everybody's take? I'd like to have some good reading when I get back so please post your thoughts on the subject.


PhilFree:arrow:

[wutamess]

hmmm... I'm not seeing this accross the board.
Peyton made Lilja
Weigmann may be an upgrade.
Same DLine.
Safety... we had pollard who blew up in Houston... Hopefully EB is better.
Page prolly still won't wrap up and hit somebody.
Hopefully Flowers catches a couple gimmes and actually win some games for us.
DJ might or might not pull his head outta his ass.
STill Trent Green II at the helm with his duck ball fly routes.
Chambers is a nice addition.
Bowe hopefully pulls his head outta his ass but I doubt it.

J.C. will probably help Lilja out also.
Just don't see all this improvement(s) you're so elated about.

[King_Chief_Fan]

The most upgrade came in coaching.

We will see if these guys can polish some turds

[KCrockaholic]

Our team is by far improved and a lot of it is addition from subtraction. We get rid of.... Brown, Wade, Pendergast, and we have an OC now. Stuff like that helps a lot. I expect no less than 50% improvement.

[Brock]

The offense will be better by virtue of someone other than Toddy calling the plays. That guy looked like an idiot most of the time. I expect the defense to progress, but I think they'll still be soft up the middle.

[ModSocks]

Well....hopefully the addition of Berry will reduce the amount of big plays given up over the top and allow our CB's to play tighter reducing the amount of 3rd and long conversions.

BUT we still have no NT and holes at LB so getting teams into 3rd and long may still be challenging. Im assuming that DJ will be a better player, But i've been assuming that for about 5 years now.

Offensively, we should me much better since we will had the system in place and have found an identity with JC. Also, having upgraded the line a bit and Cassel being able to work with both Bowe and Chambers...our passing game should be improved.

We'll be better by a couple of wins most likely.

[TRR]

The 09 Chiefs were a better team going into training camp last year than they were coming out of training camp. They scrapped the O-scheme, cut Pollard, brought in way too many receivers, screwed with Bowe's head too much, and couldn't decide who would be their starting RT until opening day.

Hopefully improvement will come with consistency along with players like Thomas Jones, Ryan Lilja, Casey Weigmann, Eric Berry, Dex McCluster, Javiar Arenas, etc...
Posted via Mobile Device

[gblowfish]

I hope to God we'll be "better" this year. They just have to win five games to be "better."
Jeez guys, dare to dream!

[gblowfish]

The offense will be better by virtue of someone other than Toddy calling the plays.

No more fake punts or onside kicks?

[Fish]

http://www.walkoffwalk.com/cinema.majorleague.groundskeepers.jpg

[LaChapelle]

Make some paper mache tigers out of chicken shit
and move them around under the shade so they dont' get wet
~coaching

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Yeah hopefully ReTodd lets Weis control the offense and just does the head coaching.

[chiefhawk1]

I believe that we could be a .500 team next year. We have upgraded our o-line and added playmakers on offense. On defense, our d-line will have a year more experience. We do have 2 top 5 picks on the line. This will only help out the linebackers. And we have a pretty solid, young secondary. ST will also be good with Succop, Colquitt, and better return men. Not to mention the upgrade in the coaching staff.

[Mama Hip Rockets]

http://www.walkoffwalk.com/cinema.majorleague.groundskeepers.jpg

ROFL

[Mama Hip Rockets]

As long as Matt Assel is QB, I don't think this team will be very good.

[BigCatDaddy]

The only positions I think that will be worse then last year will be DE if Dorsey moves to D-tackle and LG if Waters is still starting this year.

[LaChapelle]

It's not like the KC coaches
have to be the '08 Gailey and '09 Nolan combined

[Mr. Laz]

not much since the main improvement the team made was coaching and they haven't had much chance to work their magic.

Eric Berry,Lilja and shaun smith are the main player improvements

[nychief]

My god, this board is full of shit... all this lamenting about Pollard, who EVERYBODY bitched about nonstop... and who SUCKED for us. Bitching and moaning doesn't make you an expert, it makes you a cynic...

If you can't see that we have improved the talent level of the team this offseason, then you're blind.

Also, if and when, they get this thing turned around... I expect some form of mea culpa from the teenage CMSU dropout fucktard contingent on here... but I doubt we'll see it.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

My god, this board is full of shit... all this lamenting about Pollard, who EVERYBODY bitched about nonstop... and who SUCKED for us. Bitching and moaning doesn't make you an expert, it makes you a cynic...

If you can't see that we have improved the talent level of the team this offseason, then you're blind.

Also, if and when, they get this thing turned around... I expect some form of mea culpa from the teenage CMSU dropout ****tard contingent on here... but I doubt we'll see it.

He went to Jared.

[FlaChief58]

Although I don't believe we'll be setting the world on fire, I think 8-8 is realistic. If you look at our schedual, along with the additions the team has improved over last years squad. There are still a lot of ?? On this team, but I believe we're headded in the right direction :arrow:

[Marcellus]

hmmm... I'm not seeing this accross the board.
Peyton made Lilja
Weigmann may be an upgrade.:rolleyes:
Same DLine.
Safety... we had pollard who blew up in Houston... Hopefully EB is better.ROFL If you don't knwo the difference in talent here, you can't know much.
Page prolly still won't wrap up and hit somebody.AGREED.
Hopefully Flowers catches a couple gimmes and actually win some games for us.
DJ might or might not pull his head outta his ass.
STill Trent Green II at the helm with his duck ball fly routes. WHAT? Trent II? I wish.
Chambers is a nice addition. YES
Bowe hopefully pulls his head outta his ass but I doubt it.

J.C. will probably help Lilja out also. He made the other 3 RG's we tried out look good.
Just don't see all this improvement(s) you're so elated about.

Thomas Jones may be an upgrade over LJ you think?
Arenas is an upgrade over every returner we had except maybe Charles.
A full off season with coaching continuity on offense and DC who has a freaking clue.
I know talent wins but I think DC may be the most underrated coaching positions in the league. Look at the Giants fall off on defense last year.There is a reason good DC's get HC jobs left and right.
Haley with his first year under his belt should improve.
Cassel hopefully healthy all season instead of starting it with a knee injury.

Plenty of positives.

[Art Vader]

to expect anything mildly resembling legitimate NFL success out of this team this year would be dreaming.. that being said I think the vast but still incomplete improvements they've made to this team are a great step in the right direction.
I'd really like to see just a few things this season.. kick the donx while they're down (twice).. Romeo to work some magic so the D doesn't get burned so bad on big plays. Cassel is obviously the guy they want so I would like to see the dude pick his f'n game up and ball. D-Bowe to raise himself to the next level.
I'm just going to watch and try not to curse too loud around women and children.
oh and... ERIC BERRAAYYYYYYY... eric berry. ERIC BERRYAAAAAAYYYYY... eric berry.

[keg in kc]

I think they'll be significantly better (which should not be read as "good").

+ No longer a "new" head coach.
+ Better coordinators on both sides of the ball (including an OC, so the HC can focus solely on being the HC)
+ No longer installing new systems.
+ Continue to improve team speed, which will help in all 3 phases.
+ Better on the interior offensive line (the real problem with the OL IMHO)
= TE position still appears to be in flux
+ Better at RB (LJ gone, JC established, TJ added)
+ WR position should be set - no longer raiding the waiver wire for starters during the season.
= QB Cassel...
=/+ DL may be improved (experience, new DL coach (is Krumrie addition by subtraction?), NT still a question)
=/+ LB may be improved (experience)
+ Secondary should be improved (talent infusion)
+ Return game should be improved (Arenas, improved team speed)

All that paired with the schedule should mean a few more wins, but "should" is never enough on its own. We'll see what happens.

[ModSocks]

I think they'll be significantly better (which should not be read as "good").

+ No longer a "new" head coach.
+ Better coordinators on both sides of the ball (including an OC, so the HC can focus solely on being the HC)
+ No longer installing new systems.
+ Continue to improve team speed, which will help in all 3 phases.
+ Better on the interior offensive line (the real problem with the OL IMHO)
= TE position still appears to be in flux
+ Better at RB (LJ gone, LC established, KJ added)
+ WR position should be set - no longer raiding the waiver wire for starters during the season.
= QB Cassel...
=/+ DL may be improved (experience, new DL coach (is Krumrie addition by subtraction?), NT still a question)
=/+ LB may be improved (experience)
+ Secondary should be improved (talent infusion)
+ Return game should be improved (Arenas, improved team speed)

All that paired with the schedule should mean a few more wins, but "should" is never enough on its own. We'll see what happens.

Who?

[Coogs]

I'm going to say vastly improved. For starters, Chambers and Bowe were only together on the field for 5 games last season. In those 5 games, we had 1196 passing yards for just right under 240 passing yards a game. In the 10 games Cassel played without both of those guys in the lineup, we had 1728 yards passing for a just under 173 yards a game clip. Nearly 70 yards a game difference. You add a McCluster and Moeaki to the offense, and those numbers should increase even more. Moeaki should also be better in pass protection than the TE's were last season. IIRC, the TE spot was one of the highest positions at sacks allowed.

On defense, the secondary has to be improved. A few rookie mistakes will probably hurt at times, but not nearly as bad as the lack of talent mistakes cost us last season.

The linebacker play should improve to some degree if some of the 1st and second year players that saw some playing time can make a huge step forward in their progress.

And same for the defensive line as well. There should be progress made there as well with Jackson, McGee, and Dorsey all having one more year of experience under their belts, and some young backup talent that flashed potential as well last season.

On special teams, we have to be better at the return games, sight unseen on what the new guys will bring to the table at the professional level. Coverage units should get better with better team talent being added as well.

I could see us doubling our win total again this season. 8-8 should be a realistic goal.

[keg in kc]

Who?Fingers moving faster than my brain.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

This guy thinks we will go 9-7

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/21137513/21357206?source=rss_teams_Kansas_City_Chiefs


NFL Power Rankings
Posted on: April 28, 2010 3:47 pm
Edited on: April 30, 2010 2:20 pm
Score: 280
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#1 - Jets (14-2)
#2 - Colts (14-2)
#3 - Ravens (13-3)
#4 - Chargers (14-2)
#5 - Cowboys (11-5)
#6 - Packers (11-5)
#7 - Dolphins (11-5)
#8 - 49ers (12-4)
#9 - Vikings (10-6)
#10 - Saints (10-6)
#11 - Steelers (9-7)
#12 - Redskins (9-7)
#13 - Bengals (9-7)
#14 - Giants (8-8)
#15 - Bears (8-8)
#16 - Falcons (9-7)
#17 - Chiefs (9-7)
#18 - Texans (7-9)
#19 - Eagles (7-9)
#20 - Seahawks (8-8)
#21 - Patriots (6-10)
#22 - Titans (7-9)
#23 - Cardinals (6-10)
#24 - Buccaneers (5-11)
#25 - Panthers (5-11)
#26 - Rams (5-11)
#27 - Raiders (5-11)
#28 - Browns (4-12)
#29 - Jaguars (3-13)
#30 - Broncos (3-13)
#31 - Lions (2-14)
#32 - Bills (1-15)

#1 -Jets - This team had the best defense in the league last year...and actually improved it during the offseason. Trading for Antonio Cromartie and Drafting Kyle Wilson and then signing Donovan Warren...GL passing the ball NE, Miami, well....anyone. Losing TJ and Leon wont affect much as Shonn Greene will prove he can be an everydown back while getting plenty of tips from LT, who will spell here in and there. Year Two for Mark Sanchez...it's going to be "dirty, filthy, and NASTY." With Braylon Edwards and Jerricho Cotchery on one side, and Superbowl MVP Santonio Holmes on the other....I am betting the farm the Jets are AFC Champions 2010.

#5 -Cowboys - I don't care how bad Wade Phillips is as a coach, or how much Romo is over rated, the offensive weapons, and Felix Jones being in his 3rd season, subplanting Marion Barber as starter, the Cowboys are this year's New Orleans Saints. Roy Williams hasnt shown much, but he will when he's pushed the entire preseason and regular season by rookie Dez Bryant. Miles Austin? Pro Bowl. Don't forget about Jason Witten. They will have questions on defense...none to label specificaly, but it will be enough, Romo will finally do it after tasting blood last year, the Cowboys, as much as I hate saying it, will be NFC Champions 2010. (Only if McNabahan doesn't turn the skins into an outstanding team, and the Madden Curse doesn't skip a beat in New Orleans.)

#8 -49ers - Alex Smith....being argued as a #1 Bust and with all the Jemarcus Russel talking, his name pops in here and there. This year, will be different. I'm pulling a Jason Campbell logic (already this sounds like crap, I know) but he's under the same consecutive offensive coordinator and play calling for the first time in his pro career. His shoulder should be back to %100, and has been given a new talented young o-line (Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis) to protect him, as well as the organization backing him %100 now and have shown theyre comitted solely to him. Let's also mention that he "should" be starting with better field position off of kick and punt returns with the acquisition of Ted Ginn Jr. Other key points that drasticaly improve the 49ers is Vernon Davis' head has shrunk back to earth thanks to Mike Singletary (genius without pants) and Michael Crabtree will play in games 1 thru 5. You're a fool if you dont think Michael Crabtree is a great player and has a large impact on the offensive push. Josh Morgan is in his third season and is projected to have a breakout season. You also never know if Ted Ginn might actually work on his catching skills this offseason.......you never know, but im not counting on that. Dont forget that Glenn Coffee is a backup. And to who? the perennial injury machine Frank Gore. But Frank Gore is plenty enough to dominate day in and out as a dual threat RB easily a top 10 in the league. I also want to point out that the 49ers have the best LB in football, Patrick Willis. He's young, he's a tackling machine, and everyone would pay top dollar for him. Let's also not forget about Manny Lawson and Takeo Spikes. But adding someone like Taylor Mays at Safety....a freak hard hitting athlete that only dropped in the draft because of off the field intangibles, please...Mike will just drop his drawers and he'll be under the Singletary spell. This team has a lot of talent, and is ready to use it. With one of the easiest schedules in the NFL this season, It's a lock that the 49ers are in the playoffs, making a run at a superbowl.

#10 - Superbowl Champion Saints - Congratulations to New Orleans for their victory in their Team's first trip to the superbowl. Here's what to prepare for: Your quarterback is jinxing the entire season by agreeing to become the cover of Madden 11 (voted by the fans,) your team, and city, wont give the same energy and motivation because it's no longer your team's "first" superbowl, and you're still the same team as last year, but with a schedule a bit harder. I don't doubt your youth and talent, but why havnt you re-signed Pierre Thomas yet? What's with signing 14 undrafted free agents? I know you're the champions, but you have to believe your competetion is improving during the offseason, why not at least make an effort? Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention, or as many say I know nothing about football. Perhaps Darren Sharper will really improve your team and give some great leadership, but Shockey doesnt run your team, so who cares what he says. Dallas, Minnesota, San Fran, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh....and maybe even Arizona losses with a split with Atlanta. I see (and so does Miss Cleo) at least 4 losses in there.

#11 -Steelers - Ben's out for Six games. The Steelers improved with the pickup of a young center, where theie offensive line is possibly the worst in the league (side by side with Washington.) Their draft focused on their defensive ends and snatched Jonathan Dwyer in the sixth. The only problem is Baltimore improved dramaticaly and the Browns are looking less like an easy win with their defense improving. Roethlisberger's immaturity off the field IS going to have an affect on this team, but he'll rally them in his return to just barely beat out cincinnati and KC for the wild card.

#15 -Bears - Jay Cutler isn't the greatest, but he just needs some time to get better....one thing that seems to frustrate JC is his team's lack of defense last year that would have saved many games (not to mention Cutler's Ints either....) But with his young receivers (Devin Aromashodu, Johnny Knox) and the WR Project Devin Hester, can you blame him? TE Greg Olsen is a major impact on Cutler's offense and will continue to grow into a top receiving TE. Will Matt Forte turn back into his rookie year form? Even if not, Chester Taylor and Brandon Minor will be waiting to fill in. Landing Julius Peppers should improve leaps and bounds, as well as having a healthy Brian Urlacher for hopefully the entire season. In the draft Chicago addressed their defensive needs just fine. Wakeup, NFC North, Chicago is gonna be grizzly. Shame their schedule is super tough.

#21 - Patriots - Everyone (except Dolphin, Jet, and Bill fans (wait bills fans dont really care)) wants Tom Brady to return to form. If he does, he's going to have some trouble anyways. Rookie Rob Gronkowski will need to be useful this season, Wes Welker will be sorely missed with injury, and Randy Moss is being Randy Moss again (the Bad one, not the Good one.) Let's hope he keeps interest in winning with the Patriots rather than wanting to win with another team sometime midseason. BenJarvus Green-Ellis should become the featured back, how soon will it be necessary though? Look for Rookie linebacker Jermaine Cunningham to turn some heads, and hopefully give NE the pass rush they need in order to pressure the young QBs in their division. The Patriots are falling behind and really need to pick it up with their very tough schedule this season. (Now bring on the hate for their 6-10, but look at the schedule...Chi, GB, Minn, Balt, Cin, Pitt, Indy, San Diego....Not to mention the Jets and Dolphins twice.)

#26 -Rams - Sam Bradford out performs Matt Stafford by leaps and bounds this year. Steven Jackson has proven to be one of the elite dual threat runningbacks in the league, now let's see if he can continue while theyr prep the Rams young franchise QB. Rams are going to steal a few wins here and there from unsuspecting teams and really show that theyre ready to make a run at a winning season......soon, just maybe not this year. Perhaps signing on Brian Westbrook to help spell Jackson will help add more running plays and let Bradford manage an easier game focusing mostly on the run. Roger Staffold should add enough protection to help Sam Bradford get 20 comfortable throws a game.

#32 -Bills - Sorry Buffalo, your management and coaches wanted more "Pow, Pizazz, and excitement" on your team, not wins, so they drafted C.J. Spiller. There were so many other options available that would have helped your team immediately, or even trading down for a possible QB project in McCoy or Clausen (dont need to mention Tebow, thats just R-tarded) The Bills failed to bite, and being in the second toughest division in football, you will squat on 32nd place this season. 2011, Jake Locker is all yours.


Playoffs - NFC - West - San Fran (12-4)
- NFC - South - New Orleans (10-6)
- NFC - North - Green Bay (11-5)
- NFC - East - Dallas (11-5)
- Wild Card - Minnesota (10-6)
- Wild Card - Washington (9-7)

- AFC - West - San Diego (14-2)
- AFC - South - Indianaoplis (14-2)
- AFC - North - Baltimore (13-3)
- AFC - East - New York Jets (14-2)
- Wild Card - Miami (11-5)
- Wild Card - Pittsburgh (9-7)

[Archie Bunker]

Granted this is the time of the year I'm a little drunk on the Kool-Aid, but I see a lot of improvement from the start of last year. Starting to get some weapons on offense, might have the best special teams in the NFL, maybe one the most talented young secondaries in the league, and a coaching staff with credentials out the ass. I think you are starting to see a team take shape that might allow us to get excited again.

RB
LJ vs Charles

WR
Bradley vs Chambers

Slot
Engram vs McCluster

TE
Ryan vs Moeaki

C
Niswanger vs Wiegmann

RG
Goff vs Lilja

RT
Ndukwe vs O'Callaghan

NCB
Leggett/Richardson/Daniels vs Arenas

SS
Brown vs Berry

PR
Leggett vs Arenas

OC
Haley vs Weis

DC
Perdergast vs Crennel

DB Coach
Collier vs Thomas

DL Coach
Krumrie vs Pleasant

Front Office
2 guys in a war room drafting and signing crap vs productive FA and by most accounts a good draft

[Wilson8]

We had a thread in January about the top 5 Chiefs players that needed to be replaced.

People submitted the most important players to be replaced. A compiled list of the leading vote getters went something like this...

1. S Mike Brown -Eric Berry
2. G Mike Goff -Ryan Lilja and Jon Asamoah
3. WR Bobby Wade - Dexter McCluster + Javier Arenas
4. C Rudy Niswanger - Casey Wiegmann and maybe Andrew Lewis
5. TE Sean Ryan - Tony Moeaki
6. LB Corey Mays - ?
7. NT Ron Edwards - Shaun Smith will probably split time
8. LS Thomas Gafford - ?

Others on the list -
Matt Cassel - Nope
Ike Ndukwe - Nope
Ryan O'Callaghan - Nope
Lance Long - Jerheme Urban
Williams - Not sure if this was RB or LB
Dantrell Savage - Dexter McCluster
Richardson - Not sure if this was the CB or RT.
Jake O'Connell - Tony Moeaki or T.C. Drake
Devard Darling - ?
Jon McGraw - Kendrick Lewis
Travis Daniels - Javier Arenas
Mike Vrabel - ?

We have improved but we still need to get better at NT, ILB, and RT.

Hopefully the coaches can bring up the level of play in several of these guys.

[Reerun_KC]

As long as Matt Assel is QB, I don't think this team will be very good.


Well you said it.....

[Mr. Flopnuts]

It can be summed up by one player.

[KCrockaholic]

Granted this is the time of the year I'm a little drunk on the Kool-Aid, but I see a lot of improvement from the start of last year. Starting to get some weapons on offense, might have the best special teams in the NFL, maybe one the most talented young secondaries in the league, and a coaching staff with credentials out the ass. I think you are starting to see a team take shape that might allow us to get excited again.

RB
LJ vs Charles

WR
Bradley vs Chambers

Slot
Engram vs McCluster

TE
Ryan vs Moeaki

C
Niswanger vs Wiegmann

RG
Goff vs Lilja

RT
Ndukwe vs O'Callaghan

NCB
Leggett/Richardson/Daniels vs Arenas

SS
Brown vs Berry

PR
Leggett vs Arenas

OC
Haley vs Weis

DC
Perdergast vs Crennel

DB Coach
Collier vs Thomas

DL Coach
Krumrie vs Pleasant

Front Office
2 guys in a war room drafting and signing crap vs productive FA and by most accounts a good draft

I love the way you look at it.

[Valiant]

It is an improvement from last year.. It is not leaps and bounds better.. But I think with consistent playcalling, Charles the whole year and hopefully competent O and D play calling we will be 7-9..

[philfree]

I think most things were touched on.


hmmm... I'm not seeing this accross the board. ---
Just don't see all this improvement(s) you're so elated about.

I never said we were Superbowl bound.

Improved across the board yes.

The Offense-Well we actually have one. We did slightly upgrade the interior of our line with Lilja and Wiegman and we did draft McCluster to play the slot as well as create mismatches all over for opposing Ds. Add this to the facts that we actually know who both our starting WRs are as well as we know what we have in Jamal Charles.Then add that we have very good coaching and we have a sum greater than the parts we've added. Yes alot of it will fall on Cassel but his odds of success have been greatly increased. We'll start this season with an indentity and IMO we should be able to compete and score points throughout games. Last year there were many times we couldn't even compete on offense. I believe that's over.


The Defense- Again a slight upgrade in the middle. Shawn Smith will be a minor upgrade and hopefully we have some depth there as well. I also think Dorsey and Jackson will be improved to a degree. That's all minor(still improvement though) but drafting Berry is huge. How many times did our Ss fail as the last line of defense last year? Berry is going to put a stop to that I'm pretty sure. Between Berry, Flowers and Arenas we'll have a ball hawking secondary. If Carr improves then even more so and then of course Lewis is probably an upgrade too. I actually think the addition of Berry is going to have a huge impact on every player in our secondary. Add in Crennel and the addition mutilpies. How many times in the past few years have we chased a QB around only for him to just chuck it up and get a completion? Enough to numb all of our emotions. I think those days are over. If QBs try that this year it's gonna be a pick 6.


STs-We've improved tremendously with the acqusitions of Arenas and McCluster. I'm not convinced McCluster will get that many touches as a returner because he'll be busy elsewhere but he is an option. We already have a good K and P so that part should be solid. Our coverage should improve as well becuase of the youth and team speed that's been added. It really wasn't bad last year. Again add in improved coaching and this will become a strength of this team. The importance of this can't over stated.


As compared to last year with the new caoching and a year under Haleys belt this team will be much more on the same page when the season starts.

I'm not making any bold predictions but I do see 8-8/9-7 as a real posibility.

Anyways that's the way I see it.


PhilFree:arrow:

[Fish]

The polarity in this thread is quite intriguing...

A majority think we'll be improved because of better coaching and high expectations from rookies.

A majority thinks we're still shitty and haven't improved in the more important positions.

I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. The offense still hinges on the performance of Matt Casshole. Which I have the lowest of expectations for.

6 wins.

[OnTheWarpath15]

The polarity in this thread is quite intriguing...

A majority think we'll be improved because of better coaching and high expectations from rookies.

A majority thinks we're still shitty and haven't improved in the more important positions.

I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. The offense still hinges on the performance of Matt Casshole. Which I have the lowest of expectations for.

6 wins.

That's pretty much where I'm at right now.

This time last year, you couldn't throw a dead cat without hitting a post that claimed, "Coaching alone will win us 7 games."

You still have to have talent.

Everything hinges on Cassel. Hopefully Weis can be crafty enough to hide his weaknesses without being predictable.

[keg in kc]

The polarity in this thread is quite intriguing...

A majority think we'll be improved because of better coaching and high expectations from rookies.

A majority thinks we're still shitty and haven't improved in the more important positions.

I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. The offense still hinges on the performance of Matt Casshole. Which I have the lowest of expectations for.

6 wins.I think I'd be classified as on the "optimistic" side, but I think the "significant improvement" I expect still only means 7-9 wins. There are still another offseason's worth of moves to make.

I think several of the rookies will have prominent roles, but they are still rookies, and won't be the kind of players in 2010 that they will be in 2011 and beyond. But, at the same time, I think there are several players from 2009 who may be better for exactly the same reason...

Cassel is the biggest question mark for me, as well, but I don't think he, alone, is going to be responsible for turning what should in the neighborhood of an 8-8 team into a 5-11 one, anymore than I think he could likewise turn them into an 11-5 one. I don't think we're at a point (yet) where the success or failure of the team will depend on him to that degree. I think that's down the road. Although if does play that poorly (or that well) then it will have been good to learn that in 2010, so the appropriate move can be made in 2011.

But that's just my opinion.

[philfree]

The polarity in this thread is quite intriguing...

A majority think we'll be improved because of better coaching and high expectations from rookies.

A majority thinks we're still shitty and haven't improved in the more important positions.

I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. The offense still hinges on the performance of Matt Casshole. Which I have the lowest of expectations for.

6 wins.

There's also the improvement of players already on the roster too. I think Berry will make an impact but after it's incremental. To me the sum of the players we added will be greater then the parts themselves. That will be due to coaching and the fact that we didn't just bring in a player to upgrade a position we brought in that player to fill a specific role. The skill set of those players will fit roles. To me that makes a big difference.


PhilFree:arrow:

[Archie Bunker]

The polarity in this thread is quite intriguing...

A majority think we'll be improved because of better coaching and high expectations from rookies.

A majority thinks we're still shitty and haven't improved in the more important positions.

I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. The offense still hinges on the performance of Matt Casshole. Which I have the lowest of expectations for.

6 wins.

I agree with that. Cassel has ran out of excuses at this point OLine is improved, more playmakers and a OC/playbook for an entire offseasson. It's do or die time for him. IMO it all comes down to whether or not Weis can get Cassel back in the 85 QB rating range. If so we might have some fun this year, if not it's 5-6 wins and another long year.

If only the 2009 class wasn't looking like such a disaster, combine the 2008 leftovers with the way this years class looks and we might've been ready to make some noise this year.

[OnTheWarpath15]

I think I'd be classified as on the "optimistic" side, but I think the "significant improvement" I expect still only means 7-9 wins. There are still another offseason's worth of moves to make.

I think several of the rookies will have prominent roles, but they are still rookies, and won't be the kind of players in 2010 that they will be in 2011 and beyond. But, at the same time, I think there are several players from 2009 who may be better for exactly the same reason...

Cassel is the biggest question mark for me, as well, but I don't think he, alone, is going to be responsible for turning what should in the neighborhood of an 8-8 team into a 5-11 one, anymore than I think he could likewise turn them into an 11-5 one. I don't think we're at a point (yet) where the success or failure of the team will depend on him to that degree. I think that's down the road. Although if does play that poorly (or that well) then it will have been good to learn that in 2010, so the appropriate move can be made in 2011.

But that's just my opinion.

Dane and I had a conversation about Cassel a few days back, and I mentioned that there were 5 games where the defense played really well - allowing an average of 12 PPG - and our record was 2-3.

I don't recall the exact stats, but it was something along the lines of 2 TD and 9 INT in those games.

And the two wins were due to pure incompetence on the part of the opposition - we won one of them without scoring a TD.

Cassel can absolutely lose games for this team.

[Micjones]

We're definitely better offensively. Defensively we should be slightly better at NT and have a better Safety situation. But overall, still a huge work in progress.

This team should also be improved in the Special Teams department.

We're capable of scoring more points, but should still be vulnerable in the middle defensively, have some trouble stopping the run and prone to giving up big pass plays.

[keg in kc]

Dane and I had a conversation about Cassel a few days back, and I mentioned that there were 5 games where the defense played really well - allowing an average of 12 PPG - and our record was 2-3.

I don't recall the exact stats, but it was something along the lines of 2 TD and 9 INT in those games.

And the two wins were due to pure incompetence on the part of the opposition - we won one of them without scoring a TD.

Cassel can absolutely lose games for this team.I don't think that differentiates him from any other "JAG" quarterback. Which is what I think he is based on what I've seen in New England and here. Just A Guy. I do believe he was a victim of circumstance last year, in a number of ways. I don't think you can take the kind of beating he did the first half of the season and come out firing on all cylindars in the second. I don't think a new playbook two weeks before the season is good for anybody, QB least of all. I don't think juggling the wide receivers on a weekly basis with a focus on waiver wire rejects is a recipe for success for any QB.

We'll see what happens. As I mentioned in my original post I think the interior line should be strong enough to not be a major problem this year, the WR position should remain constant in terms of who's on the field, the RB position is stronger. He should be a better player with some consistency around him. Everything about the offense looks better than it did a year ago.

Unfortunately, all that said, I haven't seen anything from him yet that indicates he can be more than a game manager. I think climbing the mountain of averagedom is about the most we can expect. Which is why I also said it would be a good thing to either see him play really poorly or really well in 2010. One would give us some hope for replacement. And the other would give us some hope for the future.

[RedThat]

I can agree, it all depends on Cassel. He has to improve.

I think he can do it. He is in a much better situation this year than he was last year.

I think he has a better cast around him. The OL is improved, RB position is deeper. I think the receiving corps improved, but, Bowe needs to bounce back and be the player he was 2 years ago. In addition, we have a solid OC this year. The coaching is there, the players around him are better. We shall see. Give it time. I hope he can be the man behind center.

[ChiefsCountry]

Cassel is still our QB so we didn't improve.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Lets see:

We brought in two coordinators that were fired from theor last jobs

We brought in a running back that was released from his former team

We drafted midgets

We drafted a tight end that has been injured ever since grade school

We cut Pollard.

Cassel is still our QB

We'll be lucky to win one game

[Monty]

Lets see:

We brought in two coordinators that were fired from theor last jobs

We brought in a running back that was released from his former team

We drafted midgets

We drafted a tight end that has been injured ever since grade school

We cut Pollard.

Cassel is still our QB

We'll be lucky to win one game

ROFL

[Ralphy Boy]

I think to answer that you have to look at each unit and the improvements we've made to them. I'll start with Special Teams.

Punting – Thanks to our anemic offense, we were forced to punt 96 times, which was the 2nd highest total in the league after only San Francisco & tied with Oakland. Dustin Colquitt finished the season ranked #8 in punt average at 45.4; he punted 96 times for 4,354 yards. 24 of those were fair caught and 22 were downed by his own players. Only 40 were returned for 285 yards. Essentially he and the punt coverage unit accounted for 4,069 yards for our team last season. All in all, the unit performed very well and the only way to improve on it would be to add fast and sure tacklers to provide better coverage.

Punt Returns – Thanks to our porous defense, we only forced 78 punts last season compared to the 96 times that we punted. That would rank us #20 in the league and it makes me realize how much I miss Dante Hall. I really had forgotten how great of a returner he was and how his return ability made up for our crappy defense. From 2002 to 2004 he averaged 13.2 yards on punt returns and 24.98 on kick returns. In 2003, he averaged 16.28 on punt returns. Last year our leading returner, Bobby Wade, averaged 7.62 on the 21 punts he returned and he “Fair Caught” 19. Comparing him to the league leaders is a joke at best. DeSean Jackson led the league last year with a 15.2 average on 29 returns, Fair Catching 15. The next closest average to him was Wes Welker with a 12.5. The top 10 in the league had no worse than a 10.3 average. We were ranked #27 in punt return yardage last year with 209 yards on 32 punts returned with 24 being Fair Caught.

Obviously this was an area of concern and until I found myself looking for a reason to justify taking Arenas so high, I didn’t realize just how bad we were.

Arenas Certainly, based on his college stats, he would be viewed as a capable return man and I would expect to get at least 1 punt return for a TD from him this year. Arenas averaged 10.55 on punt returns in college, though only 9.3 last year, but I think it’s safe to say that there would at least be some drop-off in his average which would still be an improvement over Wade. Looking at the first year stats for Devin Hester there is reason for hope. Hester averaged 12.7 yards on punt returns as a rookie.
He is pretty comparable coming out of college to where Devin Hester was. Hester was faster, quite a bit faster, but both were very accomplished return men in college and incidentally both were the second of two second round selections. It has been said that it is more important to have a” quicker than fast” on punt returns and that would seem to fit Arenas.

If we are drafting a return specialist higher than Hester was drafted, don’t you think he should be able to come close to having as good a rookie year? Hester had 3 TD’s on punt returns as a rookie, though he returned and Fair Caught 12. If Arenas is, because of a crappy defense, only able to get the same 56 opportunities that we got last year, as opposed to the 69 that Hester got, then I would sure as heck hope he would be able to get at least 1 TD on 38 returns with 18 being Fair Caught.

Regarding Arenas’ speed, It would stand to reason that he would have timed faster than 4.60, had he not pulled his hamstring, but I don't think he'd have been faster than around 4.50 at best. Arenas had a 2.61 20 yard & 1.55 10 yard. Out of the CB's & WR's that ran in the 2.60 to 2.62 range in the 20, the fastest 40 time went to Carlton Mitchell, who had a 4.46. The average time was a 4.55.

Kicking – Ryan Succop is a fine scoring kicker, he finished #10 in Field Goal % and was tied with most kickers in 100% on PAT’s. Where he lacks is in kickoff distance and it is pretty bad. He kicked off 72 times and averaged 61.9 yards which would place him #27, and his 7 touchbacks rank #23 among kickers. Of those kickoffs, 59 were returned for a 24.2 average which is ranked #10 in the league. Matt Prater in Denver averaged 68.4 yards with 28 TB's and 49 kicks returned for a 22.8 average.
Basically the long & short of it is that Succop's short kickoffs are putting the opposing offense into good field position against us and the coverage unit is having to cover for his weak leg. Grand Valley state kicker Todd Carter was worked out by us but ended up signing with Carolina. He had a huge leg and would have been ideal on kickoffs. Right now they need to improve this area.

Kick returns – Last year, if not for Jamal Charles, we would have been horrible on kickoffs. He had a 25.7 avg on 36 returns and ranked #10 in the league. The returner with the next most after him for KC was Lawrence with 16 returns for a 19.8 avg and that would have ranked him around #31 in the league.

For the sake of not seeing a drop-off in production and keeping him healthy, we needed to replace Charles and I admire the recognition of that when they drafted one of the best return men in the draft, but I'm not sure how much Arenas will help and doubt that he could provide an improvement to what Charles did. As I alluded to earlier, it takes speed to get a high average on kickoffs. Arenas averaged 29 yards each on 19 kick returns last year, a nice average but his longest was 61 and his longest ever was 62. He has never had a kickoff return for a touchdown in college and I don’t believe that lends itself well to getting one in the NFL.

Perhaps McCluster will share some time in this role or perhaps they intend to put Charles back there again this year.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

SUPER-BIZZLE!

(Oh wait; 'Motherfuckme' is still here, right?)

[Coogs]

Again, I am not the biggest Cassel fan by a long stretch. But he did throw for nearly 70 yards more per game in the 5 games last season where Bowe and Chambers were able to line up together on the outside. And that was not with a whole lot of practice time together between all three of them, as Bowe was not able to practice when on suspension from the Commish.

[Marcellus]

Lets see:

We brought in two coordinators that were fired from theor last jobs

We brought in a running back that was released from his former team

We drafted midgets

We drafted a tight end that has been injured ever since grade school

We cut Pollard.

Cassel is still our QB

We'll be lucky to win one game

You are half glass full kinda guy. Too bad it's full of boar semen.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

:LOL:

[Ralphy Boy]

WTF? Monty! Who the hell is Monty? That was my post.

[Marcellus]

I think to answer that you have to look at each unit and the improvements we've made to them. I'll start with Special Teams.

Punting – Thanks to our anemic offense, we were forced to punt 96 times, which was the 2nd highest total in the league after only San Francisco & tied with Oakland. Dustin Colquitt finished the season ranked #8 in punt average at 45.4; he punted 96 times for 4,354 yards. 24 of those were fair caught and 22 were downed by his own players. Only 40 were returned for 285 yards. Essentially he and the punt coverage unit accounted for 4,069 yards for our team last season. All in all, the unit performed very well and the only way to improve on it would be to add fast and sure tacklers to provide better coverage.

Punt Returns – Thanks to our porous defense, we only forced 78 punts last season compared to the 96 times that we punted. That would rank us #20 in the league and it makes me realize how much I miss Dante Hall. I really had forgotten how great of a returner he was and how his return ability made up for our crappy defense. From 2002 to 2004 he averaged 13.2 yards on punt returns and 24.98 on kick returns. In 2003, he averaged 16.28 on punt returns. Last year our leading returner, Bobby Wade, averaged 7.62 on the 21 punts he returned and he “Fair Caught” 19. Comparing him to the league leaders is a joke at best. DeSean Jackson led the league last year with a 15.2 average on 29 returns, Fair Catching 15. The next closest average to him was Wes Welker with a 12.5. The top 10 in the league had no worse than a 10.3 average. We were ranked #27 in punt return yardage last year with 209 yards on 32 punts returned with 24 being Fair Caught.

Obviously this was an area of concern and until I found myself looking for a reason to justify taking Arenas so high, I didn’t realize just how bad we were.

Arenas Certainly, based on his college stats, he would be viewed as a capable return man and I would expect to get at least 1 punt return for a TD from him this year. Arenas averaged 10.55 on punt returns in college, though only 9.3 last year, but I think it’s safe to say that there would at least be some drop-off in his average which would still be an improvement over Wade. Looking at the first year stats for Devin Hester there is reason for hope. Hester averaged 12.7 yards on punt returns as a rookie.
He is pretty comparable coming out of college to where Devin Hester was. Hester was faster, quite a bit faster, but both were very accomplished return men in college and incidentally both were the second of two second round selections. It has been said that it is more important to have a” quicker than fast” on punt returns and that would seem to fit Arenas.

If we are drafting a return specialist higher than Hester was drafted, don’t you think he should be able to come close to having as good a rookie year? Hester had 3 TD’s on punt returns as a rookie, though he returned and Fair Caught 12. If Arenas is, because of a crappy defense, only able to get the same 56 opportunities that we got last year, as opposed to the 69 that Hester got, then I would sure as heck hope he would be able to get at least 1 TD on 38 returns with 18 being Fair Caught.

Regarding Arenas’ speed, It would stand to reason that he would have timed faster than 4.60, had he not pulled his hamstring, but I don't think he'd have been faster than around 4.50 at best. Arenas had a 2.61 20 yard & 1.55 10 yard. Out of the CB's & WR's that ran in the 2.60 to 2.62 range in the 20, the fastest 40 time went to Carlton Mitchell, who had a 4.46. The average time was a 4.55.

Kicking – Ryan Succop is a fine scoring kicker, he finished #10 in Field Goal % and was tied with most kickers in 100% on PAT’s. Where he lacks is in kickoff distance and it is pretty bad. He kicked off 72 times and averaged 61.9 yards which would place him #27, and his 7 touchbacks rank #23 among kickers. Of those kickoffs, 59 were returned for a 24.2 average which is ranked #10 in the league. Matt Prater in Denver averaged 68.4 yards with 28 TB's and 49 kicks returned for a 22.8 average.
Basically the long & short of it is that Succop's short kickoffs are putting the opposing offense into good field position against us and the coverage unit is having to cover for his weak leg. Grand Valley state kicker Todd Carter was worked out by us but ended up signing with Carolina. He had a huge leg and would have been ideal on kickoffs. Right now they need to improve this area.

Kick returns – Last year, if not for Jamal Charles, we would have been horrible on kickoffs. He had a 25.7 avg on 36 returns and ranked #10 in the league. The returner with the next most after him for KC was Lawrence with 16 returns for a 19.8 avg and that would have ranked him around #31 in the league.

For the sake of not seeing a drop-off in production and keeping him healthy, we needed to replace Charles and I admire the recognition of that when they drafted one of the best return men in the draft, but I'm not sure how much Arenas will help and doubt that he could provide an improvement to what Charles did. As I alluded to earlier, it takes speed to get a high average on kickoffs. Arenas averaged 29 yards each on 19 kick returns last year, a nice average but his longest was 61 and his longest ever was 62. He has never had a kickoff return for a touchdown in college and I don’t believe that lends itself well to getting one in the NFL.

Perhaps McCluster will share some time in this role or perhaps they intend to put Charles back there again this year.

Great job!:clap:

[RustShack]

The Chiefs can easily win this weak division.. especially with such a weak schedule. The team alone was a lot better at the end of the year with the additions of Charles and Chambers... plus the OL got on the same page and got used to their new blocking schemes and weight adjustments. We have two far better coordinators than last year, Page is back, Jackson and Dorsey have a year in the 3-4 and a far better DL coach now. Thats not to mention the addition of our new NT thats a lot better than Ron Edwards, Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Areans, Moeaki, Thomas Jones, Ryan Lilja, Casey Weigmann. Then theres addition by subtraction with LJ and Mike Brown.. Leggit wont be our nickle anymore and hopefully not on the team either. Oh and this year all of our players are in shape and we have a real staff in place so we aren't working on cutting weight and getting a lazy team in shape.. and we won't be changing our schemes a week before the season. The Chiefs are a lot better this year.

[Ralphy Boy]

How am I Monty and Ralphy Boy at the same time? Who is screwing with my identity?

[Marcellus]

The Chiefs can easily win this weak division.. especially with such a weak schedule. The team alone was a lot better at the end of the year with the additions of Charles and Chambers... plus the OL got on the same page and got used to their new blocking schemes and weight adjustments. We have two far better coordinators than last year, Page is back, Jackson and Dorsey have a year in the 3-4 and a far better DL coach now. Thats not to mention the addition of our new NT thats a lot better than Ron Edwards, Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Areans, Moeaki, Thomas Jones, Ryan Lilja, Casey Weigmann. Then theres addition by subtraction with LJ and Mike Brown.. Leggit wont be our nickle anymore and hopefully not on the team either. Oh and this year all of our players are in shape and we have a real staff in place so we aren't working on cutting weight and getting a lazy team in shape.. and we won't be changing our schemes a week before the season. The Chiefs are a lot better this year.

I agree it's possible I just don't think it's gonna be easy, SD is competitive year after year even though they fold at some point every year.

[keg in kc]

SD is way better than anybody else in the division. The Raiders draft scares me a little - maybe they're starting to get things together. I don't think Denver is much of a threat for anything for the time being. They look like they don't have a clue right now. In any case, I think it's the Chargers' division to lose, and the rest of us will be fighting each other for .500 at best.

[BossChief]

The OL was a major weakness last year and looks to have added the pieces to be much improved. Lilja, Weigman and Asamough are all solid players that will help to solidify this OL both short and long term.

McCluster will help this receiving core a lot IMO because of the matchups. Teams will have to dedicate a better defender to covering him and that will take that away from another area. With adding him and Moeaki, teams are gonna always have some serious matchup issues with our skill position players.

Remember why Dante Hall called himself the "X-Factor" ? It was because when you have Priest, Eddie, Rich and Gonzalez all covered, he was the factor you arent accounting for and he is lethal.

That is McCluster.

Our backs went from thin but talented to deep and talented. Adding Thomas Jones was huge, he will take enough carries from Charles to keep him fresh for us for next year or maybe even this year if we do make the playoffs. If someone goes down, Dexter can fill in and give us a spark.

Our nickle and both safety positions were very weak last year and just added a fucking stud safety and nickle that round out what should be a strength of the team and one of the best young secondaries in the NFL.

Our special teams were boring and ineffective for the most part of 09 and we added the most dynamic returner in college football.

Our quarterback was a HUGE weakness and we brought in the best quarterbacks coach in the business to help him realize his **cough*cough**** potential ** cough****cough if we can get a game manager out of him right now, we will be much much better next year.

Our defensive line added a guy Romeo had previously worked with at the position and he must have liked him because we have him. He has the size for the position and is still virtually young. If he is able to play well (or we add someone to compete with him) and our ends make the expected second and third year jumps, our defensive line can be pretty good.

Lord help us at linebacker. I hope they have some tricks up their sleeves, but you cant expect them to fix the whole team in one, or even two offseasons.

I seriously think this team should make strides this year and that by years end, we will all be forced to be excited for the future of this team.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

There's a lot of good points being brought in this thread. Real good points. I, myself have only made one. Let me reiterate that here;

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

There's a lot of good points being brought in this thread. Real good points. I, myself have only made one. Let me reiterate that here;

:clap:ROFL


**cough*cough**** potential ** cough****cough if we can get a game manager out of him right now...

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Nice breakdowns Ralphy Boy and Boss Chief