I'm here and in a football mood.

Come wit' it before you forgit it.

Looking ahead in my book, I've got the O-linemen, the defense, and the special teams to get through before going on to plays. Looking forward to that.

You've got the best part coming. You win games with defense and OL.

Okie dokie, smokey. I'll skip ahead to plays. I think I have a good grasp for the defense, and I can read up on special teams later. Let's see....

Oh goodness....pass patterns, play action, pump fake, throwing it away, intentional grounding, scramble.......

So much to learn before the season starts. O-line. I've been reading in other threads about who will win out for each spot. People also say we're weak. What are our holes, and why are they holes?

Easy stuff.

Pass patterns are the routes that receivers run.

Play action is when the QB fakes handing the ball off to the RB. The intention is to get the defense to bite on the fake for just one half-second, so that a speedy WR can get open.

Pump fake is when a QB pumps the ball in his hand, as if he were to throw the ball, but he holds onto it. The intent is to get a defensive back to bite on the fake pass and get out of position -- it also helps to fake the DL out of the way, since they'll often jump up to block a pass.

Intentional grounding is when a QB is obviously throwing the ball to nobody. Nobody's in the area where he's thrown the ball. It's a penalty. (It only applies to when the QB is in the pocket.)

Scrambling is when a QB tucks the ball in and runs. It can be something like Trent Green does (checks the field for open receivers, if there aren't any, he'll run) or Vince Young (doesn't even check the field, just runs).

I'd put money on us having a weak OL this year. Others like GoChiefs will contend that our OL will get better this year, but ultimately I think it's just not going to get the job done.

The main reason? We've had two HOFers retire in the last two years. With that kind of loss, it always takes a season or two to recover.

At this point, you're familiar with the positions on the OL.

LT -- LG -- C -- RG -- RT

Left Tackle
(Likely starter: Damion McIntosh. Other candidate: Will Svitek.)

Why people say we're going to suck at LT: "Damion McIntosh is an OG moved to OT. He's only a stop-gap solution, because there's no way this big slob will be able to handle speed rushers. Good LTs are an extremely hot commodity -- if he was so good, why did the Dolphins let him go and why did the Chiefs sign him for so little? Svitek's a 6th rounder, and been nothing but injured for the Chiefs. He looked good in NFL Europe, but that's a far cry from being a good OT in the NFL."

Why people say we've improved at LT: "First of all, nobody could be worse at LT than Jordan ****ing Black. You could put a ham sandwich there and it'd do better than Black. McIntosh is the perfect stopgap LT until we get a stud who can pin the position down. Over the last two years, McIntosh gave up a grand total of nine sacks with virtually no holding penalties -- that's very good, I don't care what his natural position is. And he did it on a bad OL. McIntosh can play OG, too, so not only is he pretty talented, he can play at least four positions on the OL if need be."

Left Guard
(Likely starter: Brian Waters. Other candidate: Chris Bober.)

No arguments against Brian Waters. He's an All Pro OG that is a leader in this offense.

Center
(Likely starter: Casey Wiegmann. Other candidate: Rudy Niswanger.)

Why people say we're going to suck at C: "We've been waiting and waiting for Niswanger to show us anything since we drafted him, and he hasn't seen one minute of playing time. Part of that is because Wiegmann is an iron man, but part of that is that Rudy just can't beat him out for the position when he's heavier and stronger. Wiegmann, in the mean time, is agile and smart, which is perfect for a complex offense that uses a lot of fast sweeps and pulls him out to the wing -- but in Herm's offense, a simple, down-your-throats offense, he's simply not strong enough. He got beat a lot last year by stronger DTs."

Why people say we're okay at C: "The time is right for Niswanger to make an impact. Herm's settled in for a year, he's seen the offense at work, and now he might realize that a burlier center is what this offense needs. Wiegmann's old and undersized, and isn't a fit for this offense, but he's still a talented player and he wants to play -- he can hold the fort while we wait for Niswanger or a future draftee to take over."

Right Guard
(Likely starter: John Welbourne. Other candidates: Chris Bober, Herb Taylor.)

Why people say we're going to suck at RG: "How on earth do you replace a talent like William Shields? Certainly not with a guy who's almost as old as Shields was, and once suspended for steroid usage. John Welbourne has stunk the times he's played on our OL, even if it was at OT. Who the hell even knows if he'll play the whole season? What if he tests positive again? Bober's not fast enough to play, and Herb Taylor is a 6th rounder who didn't play this position in college."

Why people say we're improved at RG: "Will Shields was elite for many years, but the decline last year was obvious. Losing him is not a major loss. Replacing him will be a guy who played next to Shields on the OL for years. John Welbourne wants to play, and he's finally going to get a chance to play his natural position -- one he did quite well at when he played there in Philadelphia. He's a proven starter, and should be an improvement over the next year or two. If nothing else, he's a great stopgap until a younger guy develops or until we draft a stud."

Right Tackle
(Likely starter: Will Svitek. Other candidates: Chris Terry, Kevin Sampson, Herb Taylor, Ramiro "Mexitackle" Pruneda.)

Why people say we're going to suck at RT: "We have no earthly idea who's going to play there! Is Chris Terry in trouble with the law, or not? Is Svitek NFL material, or not? Is Kevin Sampson capable of staying healthy for more than four games, or not? Is 6th rounder Herb Taylor worth anything, or not? Have we seen anything promising from the big Mexican, or not? It doesn't matter -- all of these guys range from barely decent to flat out bad."

Why people say we're going to improve at RT: "RT was a revolving door in 2006. Nobody played that position for more than a handful of games last year. This year, we're going to get some stability -- just as soon as we figure out who the hell's there. Svitek's been said to have earned the position thus far. Terry's a proven quality starter who will take the starting position if he stays out of trouble. Sampson played admirably when he stayed healthy. Taylor and the Mexitackles are unknown quantities at this point. But consistency will help."

Wow.

How does this compare to the Dline we already had before the draft? Did we need the defensive players we got, or did we need to focus more on the oline?

That made zero sense. We'll blame it on lack of sleep. Comparing our oline to our dline is like comparing apples to oranges. Let's focus on the second part of that post.

The Dline we already had was decent, and wasn't deep. DT James Reed has actively complained that starters on the DL had to play too many snaps and would get exhausted because there was nobody else on the bench that was any good.

You had DE Tamba Hali, DT Ron Edwards, DT James Reed, and DE Jared Allen, with only one decent backup in DE/DT Jimmy Wilkerson -- who shouldn't even have played at DT, and will just be a DE this year.

Hali and Allen got the job done, but again, had no help. Edwards and Reed are decent; they played for Herm Edwards on the Jets, and when Herm arrived in KC he realized our DTs didn't cut it and signed those two guys off the streets.

This year will be a massive improvement, both in quality and in depth.

Herm has said that he wants a rotation of 4 DTs, and 3 DEs, so that whoever's on the field is fresh and can give 100%.

We kept Edwards and Reed, and Reed should have a good shot at starting. We picked up Alphonso Boone from the Bears, a space-eating run-stuffer who was a large part of the Bears' DL's success. (That the Bears' defense is incredible needs no explanation.)

We also drafted a couple guys for the DL, as you know. Turk McBride, our second rounder, will fill in for Allen for those first four games at DE, and will spend the rest of the year at both DE and DT. He's versatile, a James Reed-esque motorhead who is tenacious and never, ever stops. And Tank Tyler's a huge bastard who is easily the strongest DT on our squad -- perhaps the strongest guy on the team. He was a steal in the 3rd and should contest for a starting position right away.

So, in quality and in depth, our DL should be much better this year.

It made enough sense. I apologize for the long-winded answers, they may be confusing.

Basically put, our OL will be one of our weakest squads this year, and our DL will be one of our strongest.

Not confusing at all. Structured to where I can focus on one section at a time.

People have said that we will be a very boring team to watch this year. While we may struggle offensively, I think it will be interesting to see us try to develop a new young QB in Croyle. Looking forward to seeing Bowe in action as well. I think there are enough fresh, new faces to keep it interesting.

For Chiefs fans, yes. This will be an intriguing year. Will our D see the boost we've been waiting for? Will the O keeps its head above water? Will Croyle stumble or will he show potential? Do we have the kicker we need?

For anybody else who has no special interest in the Chiefs like we do, we will not be a very fun team to watch. Our OL is going to be pretty weak, all our WRs are young and inexperienced outside of Kennison, Croyle's a no-name as far as the market's concerned, and the Cover 2 isn't exactly the sexiest defense out there.

Our offense isn't too sexy either.

True.