Gretz' biggest crybaby column ever...
 

GRETZ: Schedule Reaction
Apr 12, 2007, 1:55:02 AM by Bob Gretz

I don’t know about you, but every year when the Chiefs schedule comes out, I grab it and initially glace at the first month of the season. Then, I find the bye week and where it is situated, and finally I look at the last month of the season to see how things finish up.

After looking over the Chiefs 2007 schedule that was released on Wednesday, I had one reaction: just who did the Chiefs tick off at the league office?

Nobody is ever completely happy with the schedule they receive, but the Chiefs have to be wondering what the folks in New York were thinking with some of the decisions they handed down.

For instance, the Chiefs are the only team in the league that begins the season with three of their first four games on the road. That’s trips to Houston, Chicago and San Diego. They are also the only team that begins and ends its season with three of four games on the road. That’s trips to Denver, Detroit and New York. There are two other clubs – Dallas and Pittsburgh – that also finish the season with three out of four away from home. The Chiefs are one of only three teams – New Orleans and Atlanta – that open with consecutive road games.

Yes, the months of October and November have a lot of home cooking for the Chiefs with seven of nine weeks at home. Fast start? Not likely with what they’ve been handed. Strong finish? Possible, but let’s not forget the Chiefs road record in December, especially against good teams.

Plus, the Chiefs are scheduled for one nationally televised game: their final week, on the road in New Jersey against the Jets. The Chiefs are the only team that made the playoffs last year that has only one national TV appearance during the regular season.

Football coaches and teams constantly strive for balance, and that’s all that can be asked of the NFL schedule makers. But they failed that task miserably with the Chiefs. The Chiefs get a home game in October against Jacksonville, with the Jaguars coming off their bye week. The next week they host Cincinnati and guess what? The Bengals are coming off their bye week.

The only bone the league threw the Chiefs was they get to stay home for the game after their bye week and host Green Bay, after the Packers played a Monday night game on the road.

There’s no question that the biggest component in how the schedule falls together every season is television. Those of us who watch the game get that, and understand that. Then the schedule comes out and we are left shaking our heads in disbelief. For instance:

The Dallas Cowboys have seven, count’em seven, national television games this year. Last I looked, Cowboys haven’t won the Super Bowl since the 1995 season and their post-season record in the last nine years is 0-2, same as the Chiefs. This is not the Cowboys of Jimmy Johnson, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. This is Wade Phillips, Tony Romo and Julius Jones.

One of those Dallas prime-time games is a Monday night trip to Buffalo on October 8th. I’d love for somebody from the league office to explain that decision, when other games available that weekend include Atlanta at Tennessee (Michael Vick against Vince Young), the Jets and the Giants in New Jersey, Seattle at Pittsburgh (Replay of Super Bowl 40) and Baltimore at San Francisco (strong defense against one of the league’s young and improving offenses.)

The Cowboys have more nationally televised games than the two teams that played in the most recent Super Bowl. Indianapolis and Chicago have five each.

Other teams with five national TV games are Denver (did not make the playoffs), New England, Pittsburgh (did not make the playoffs) and the New York Giants.

The six teams with four national TV games include Cincinnati (out of the playoffs, Green Bay (out of the playoffs), San Francisco (out of the playoffs.)

Other teams like the Chiefs with just one national TV game are Miami, Buffalo, Carolina, Minnesota, Detroit, St. Louis and Arizona. All of those teams did not make the playoffs last year. Cleveland and Oakland have no national TV.

The league and networks are ignoring Arrowhead and the Red Sea. If the 2007 schedule holds (it could change under flex scheduling) over the last six seasons (2002-2007) the Chiefs have had only two prime-time games at home. Last year’s Thanksgiving Night broadcast of the Chiefs-Broncos hardly qualifies as national exposure since so many markets do not have access to the NFL Network. There was a Monday night game against New England in 2004. That’s it.

There is an obvious lack of respect among the league officials responsible for scheduling for what the Chiefs are doing here under Herman Edwards and what they’ve accomplished as an organization for the last 18 years in creating the game-day experience at Arrowhead.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Carl Peterson.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/04...dule_reaction/

I was kind of hoping with the coaching change we'd hear less about the schedule.

Looks like we already have our built-in excuse for mediocrity in 2007.

I think DV was the guest columnist.

The last part of the article is justified, IMO. Arrowhead (meaning the FANS) does't get enough exposure. The fact that we never play on Monday night is bullshit.

But whining about the difficulty of the schedule is 4th-grade crybaby shit.

I couldn't agree more.

Good teams when on the road - end of discussion.

The Chiefs only embarass themselves letting this crap on their website.

I normally don't pay any heed to the scheduling crap, but that is pretty bad.

Similar to KSU having opened the conference football season on the road every year since the start of the Big 12 except this year.

Great teams play tough schedules. Padding your schedule with powder puffs pretty much insures that when you reach the postseason and face the REAL competition, you're gonna get exposed.

MNF is not the timespot to worry about. The Sunday Night game is now the premier game of the week.

We don't get featured then either. We've played alot of Thursday night games since the inception of the Thursday night game.

I think that's the league's backhanded way of minimizing exposure while being able to provide the excuse that they are giving KC prime-time games.

I don't think this is a shot at the Chiefs team, or Arrowhead, or the fans, or the Hunt family. IMO, the league offices have soured on King Carl, particularly when he made that motion a couple of years ago to expand the number of playoff teams from 12 to 14, because his team went 10-6 and missed the playoffs. Maybe it's nothing like that, but the facts pretty well fit the theory.

Gretz is right in that we got hosed with the schedule, but there's nothing anyone can do about it, so there's no reason to whine about it. Use the respect card for this season, and make the NFL take notice.

I just don't get why people are worked up over the schedule.

Yeah, we start and end the season playing 3/4 on the road. Big deal. Looking at the teams we play during that stretch, no reason not to be .500 in each.

Then 6/8 at Arrowhead in the middle of the year. With a middle bye week, instead of that week 3 crap.

Other than playing the Vikings in the opener, I like the way it played out.....

The 14-team playoff was Lamar Hunt's baby and the Chiefs had introduced it two other times prior to the 2005 season, in which they finished 10-6 but missed the playoffs.

it all comes down to big market or 'popular' teams being televised nationally. KC's small time and not that good. That's why they get the crap they get.

Nothing more sinister than that.

Whining about schedule. Play the games and Win.
back in the National spot light at Flex time, or have your game MOVED to 3pm before flex time.
or next year when your 11-5 in the play offs again then bitch.

Gretz quite your bitching. Scheduling formula has alot to do with who plays who each year and
building TV ad money.

Fox/CBS pay alot to show the games they want good match ups.

Good point about the flex scheduling.

If things break right, the San Diego and Tennessee games are very realistic possibilities to be moved to SNF, as well as the Indy and Denver road games.

I could care less about the schedule as far as who we play when we play them.

The thing that pisses me off is the exposure some of these teams get in prime time games. Give me a break Dallas in 7 prime time games? Denver in 5? In Fact Denver has 2 sets of back to back prime time games.

and I would bet you that most of the years we were accused of having a "powder-puff schedule" we ended up in the top quarter of the SOS despite it. In fact a couple of years ago I know we ended up with a top 10 SOS. that's a played out argument that has been won years ago.

get over it.

The Chiefs need to go 2 and 2 in their first 4 games. With Houston on the road and Minnesota at Arrowhead, it is easily doable. Then they play their strong home stretch. Time to build up a lofty record. That should put them in the thick of the playoff race going into their final 4 games. It's all up to them. No excuses.

The league likes offense and high scoring games. The idea of Croyle, Huard, Herm and Solari doesn't instill confidence in scoring lots of points.

Well, that explains the Bears.

That, or the Super Bowl thing.

I guess that block buster last year Chiefs at Denver 9-6 OT game
sealed that as a NON-PRIMETIME chance. where before we often got a
PT game with Denver.

ESPN was touting the Denver/Green Bay game as one of the best games of the upcoming season. ROFL

I'm just glad we don't have a prime-time game at Denver this year. I think we had about 5 in a row before last year, and it was always an automatic loss (except for when we had the GQBOAT).

So it is about the playoffs?

Let it go, man.

I think I stopped getting upset about the Chiefs lack of respect/lack of PT exposure when I was 12.

It's hard to find time to get upset about the schedule when you're busy dwelling on the team's PR office...

I would if I knew what "it" is.

Actually reading Rufus Dawes and Elaine whatsherface would take up a lot of time.

There is no such thing as a easy schedule in the NFL but it is kinda BS IMO that.

"The Chiefs are the only team in the league that begins the season with three of their first four games on the road. They are also the only team that begins and ends its season with three of four games on the road."

That being said good teams win on the road.

Guess it is time for the Chiefs to put up or STFU....

We need to learn to actually win road games in December anyway, so why not play them...

It's been that time for about 20 years. :thumb:

I'll make it easy for you since you like playing the dunce card. Super Bowl appearance = television coverage the next season. Marquee players (especially on offense), big market teams, teams with national followings = television. Playing in a small market in the midwest on a team that hasn't done squat in the playoffs in 15 years without flashy or outspoken players and on a team with a boring scheme = no television.

Wow, sorry. I didn't know you had such an inferiority complex, though I see why that could be. Your personal insults don't really mean anything to me.

I'm really not surprised that we didn't make MNF this year. We only have two superstars (LJ and TonyG), and we have a ton of question marks (QB, OL, WR, DL) as of right now. Also, they obviously think the Den vs. San Diego is the best AFC West matchup this season cause they have a MNF game, and I can't say I disagree with that.

As for Green Bay, you have to get the mandatory farewell to Brett Favre MNF game for nth time. I'm just glad its in the 8th week instead of the end of the season.

I was a little surprised by Tennessee's exposure, but I guess they expect Vince Young to continue his improvements of last season and be a big draw.

The real surprise to me is Buffalo. If there is a team in the NFL that has fewer superstars and less national appeal than the Chiefs, I would say its Buffalo. Can't really understand that one. I guess they just want to get as much out of the Cowboys and T.O. as they can.

What a whiner.

We get to play the final game of the regular season. Isn't that some sort of honor or something?

I think this would be a good point if we didn't play these teams in the 5th & 6th weeks of the season. Jacksonville gets their bye in week 4, so it's not like the entire team is going to be in a huge need for rest.... and we played both last season, so it's not like either team needs weeks to prepare.

I don't care about travel... charter flights that last a couple of hours, cry me a river. We have a couple of tough road games (Chicago, Indy, NYJ), a couple of tough home games (Jax, Cincy), and an 8th week bye.... and we play the freakin' NFC North this year.

Eh, the schedule sucks, but that's the way it goes. Denver has a stretch when 6 out of 8 games are on the road, and their bye week is surrounded by home games (less of a bye benefit IMO).