GRETZ: This Is Rock Bottom
 

GRETZ: This Is Rock Bottom
Dec 10, 2007, 8:22:51 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

DENVER – There’s one part of the game of football that has never changed not even once since they organized teams of 11-men a side and chased after the funny shaped pigskin.

To win a football game a team must control what happens on the line of scrimmage. Offensively, defensively, either way, the team that can impose its will on their opponent in the blocking zone wins the game.

The Chiefs did not win on Sunday at Invesco Field. They were not even really part of the equation in this game. They were drubbed 41-7 in one of the most embarrassing outings by this franchise in some time. I’m talking back to the disasterous 1980s.

The reason they got their rear ends kicked so thoroughly and completely was their inability to win on the line of scrimmage. We’ve seen that all year from the offensive line and they went out and matched their performance once again, giving up five sacks, gaining a mere 129 yards in total offense and only 16 yards rushing on 17 carries.

What we had not seen a lot of this season has been the defensive line being dominated. But the Broncos came out and completely controlled the Chiefs front four. On the second offensive play of the game, Denver cracked the right side of the Chiefs D-Line for a 50-yard run. In the previous five games the Chiefs had allowed an average of 42 yards rushing in the first half. They gave up more than that in one play.

The Broncos ended up with 215 yards on 34 carries. Jay Cutler threw 27 times for the Broncos and was not sacked. In fact, if he had not fallen down at one point, tripping over his own feet, I’m not sure his pants would have had any grass or dirt stains on them. And by the way, after he fell down he got up and ran for 21 yards.

The saddest part of watching the Chiefs get dominated on the line of scrimmage was that it was being done by one of the worst Broncos teams that Mike Shanahan has fielded in his time in Denver.

Elvis Dumervil is a second-year stud pass rusher for the Broncos and he contributed three sacks. The rest of the domination was coming from guys like John Engelberger, rookies MarcusThomas, Tim Crowder and Steve Harris, Alvin McKinley and some guy named Josh Mallard. Denver is Mallard’s fifth team in the last six years and he was signed by the Broncos on November 6th, after he was cut by the woeful Atlanta Falcons.

The Chiefs began this game like a disinterested group that wanted to be elsewhere on a cold, sunny day. There are those that will say they quit, gave up, weren’t prepared, have thrown the season in the trash. After a performance like that one, it’s not hard to understand why someone would think so.

However, let me tell you that is not true. The Chiefs played hard. They just didn’t play effectively. And how anyone could question the desire of Tony Gonzalez, for instance, I’m not sure. He went out on the first offensive play of the third quarter with an ankle injury. A lot of players would have taken that injury to the nice, warm locker room and called it a day. Gonzalez went to the locker room, got re-taped, and came back on the field and played in the fourth quarter. He played his heart out.

Take it from someone who spends seven days a week with this team. They were prepared, the coaching staff worked hard to get this team ready for everything that Denver does.

But it’s apparent this team has lost its confidence in themselves and each other. When they fell behind 14-0 halfway through the first quarter, the game was over. There weren’t many guys wearing the red and gold that thought they had a chance to come back.

Turned out they were right.

Losing by 34 points can happen, especially on the road. But losing by 34 to a team like Denver (now just 6-7 on the season) and doing it the way the Chiefs did has brought them to rock bottom.

From here, there’s nowhere else to go but up.

Actually, getting completely shut out at home next week would be slightly lower.

I disagree with Gretz.

There's still a lot this team can do to get worse this season, and I expect them not to disappoint.

4-12 here we come

A 4-12 season will get them a fairly high draft pick. However, it won't matter because they will piss it away on someone worthless. AND if they do get someone worth anything, the coaches will **** them up.

Gretz, it could get a LOT worse than this. Our O-Line could get our quarterback of the future injured. Our offense (as mentioned above) could get shut out at Arrowhead Stadium, thus extending the home losing streak to five I believe. I could name more, but this is depressing me.

It will start to look up when Carl is ****ing GONE

Rock bottom will be finishing the season on a 9 game losing streak, having won our last game of the season on October 21.

We'll have really hit rock bottom if Clark Hunt gives Carl and Herm a vote of confidence, and extends both their contracts.

quoted from grunny this morning

It's easier to take the losses when you can see certain areas of the team improving. All I've seen is each area regressing with each game. Significantly.

And when you look at this team next season, who are the "young" players that are supposed to lead us to the promise(d) land? I count Croyle, K. Smith, Bowe, Allen, Hali, D. Johnson, Page, Pollard.

8 players out of 22. I suppose you could count Webb, Tyler, and McBride. Even so, half of the team isn't "young" at all.

This team could be just as awful, if not worse, next season.

We won't be any better if Herm and Carl are still driving the bus. Our record masks how bad we truly are. Look at net yards per play, and I wouldn't be surprised if we were the absolute worst team in football. Teams, even those "rebuilding" rarely get dominated in the fashion we have been. Honestly, I think Miami is a better team than we are, and only SF and St. L have routinely been dominated like we have this year.

Two of those "young players" are terrible: Page & Pollard. Both whiff terribly on tackles, and both bite on playaction. Neither have a clue when it comes to deep coverage... both are always up too close to the LOS, and both allow receivers to GET BEHIND THEM.

wanna bet?

I'm hoping some intelligent decisions will be made come draft time :rolleyes: /sarcasm

I am not sure you can blame that on the player. That's coaching.

and you'll probably see Gretz pull a groin jumping on the "carl sucks" bandwagon as soon as carl is gone. He'll start talking about all the things that carl did wrong.

of course Gretz is to cowardly to mention those things WHILE carl is still here.


it's the KC way .... everyone is perfect until they leave, then they are crap.

Easily. This is SUPPOSED to be a cover-2 defense. The safeties MUST keep receivers in front of them. The coaches can scream at them 'til they're blue in the face; if the player doesn't get it, it's just a waste of energy. Both of these guys want to make a highlight reel hit rather than just tackle, and NEITHER know how to play deep. FFS, in the cover-2 the first & foremost job of the safety is to keep deep containment!

Who is apparently quoting Bob Dole from yesterday.

I disagree. We purposefully use the safeties for run support, and just hope Allen can get to the QB before we get burned deep.

Bob Dole probably stole it from WPI in the first place.

That could happen.

Damnit! Foiled again!!

QFT.

When Vermeil was here, Gretz did a 5-part dissertation on Saunders' offense. I mean, he spent some serious time "oooh-ing" and "ahhh-ing" over it. Then, this year, I've read, no fewer than, 5 articles where Gretz blatantly bashes the Saunders-style offense.

For some reason, Gretz is under the belief that we were a pass-first oriented offense. And that we chucked the ball 50 times per game all over the field.

For someone who spends "7 days a week" with this team, you'd think he'd have a better grasp of certain things.

You thought Bob Dole was kidding? Bob Dole watched the Titans yesterday and the possibility is quite real.

I firmly believe the Kerry Collins-led Titans would beat us.

This is like saying "it can't get any worse."

It can ALWAYS get worse.

As hard as it is to believe from watching yesterday's abortion, there are worse teams than us out there. Granted, there aren't very many of them, but they're out there.

And while our loss was both painful and humiliating, it was never in doubt. I think it would be more painful to be a Detroit fan this morning after they pissed away a win over Dallas, not to mention a 6-2 start. And prior to that, they've sucked well, FOREVER. High expectations make failure that much harder to swallow.

amazing insight in that column

"it looked like we quit, but I don't think we did...cause Carl said so..."

I don't see how VanDenBosch doesn't get at least four sacks. That guy is a monster, especially with Haynesworth right next to him.

I watched most of that game as well. Holy crap, that defense played stout.

Tell us all about the supposed yelling incident at Arrowhead, Gretz

This isn't rock bottom.

This is rock bottom squared.

embarassed at home vs Titans,

thoughly drubbed by Lions.

shut out against bad Jets team. Herm getting booed off the field at 4-12 will know we are the worst.

and the Lambs catch us last game to be 4-12 too.

So what is the scoop on this? You got some insdier info? Or do we have to pay $99.95 to get this kind of "Premium" insider info?

:shrug:

Question is, will Herm be booed more next week, or when he travels back to NY?

Most people don't know that Darwin ripped off WPI. He got all his info from C.E. Waddler and his voyage on the Bassett.

At least this year we got to save lots of money that otherwise would have been spent on tickets, gas, etc., to see another Chiefs play-off loss.

Just when I thought I couldn't see any more stupidity on this board.

If there's one strength has, it's the draft.

Did the coaches **** up Bowe, DJ, LJ, Hali?

No, the coaches screwed up this team in last years playoff loss by not being able to call plays good enough to get one fuggin first down in the first half v the Colts.

Then coming out in the 2nd half and not making any adjustments because the D kept us in the game.

Seriously, have we seen anything different this year but without Will Shields and Trent Green?

Same game plan, every time, every game.

That's on the coaches.
Give this crew enough time and the players you mentioned WILL be fugged up beyand all recognition.

You know everyone says the drafts are better and Herm knows what he's doing.....

So because he took guys who aren't awful in the first round he's better.....because so far he's had 6 first day picks.....3 of them look like ass so far, that's not good.

I'll hawk this to the end, but when you're watching an awful team get better, it doesn't look like you expect it to. It's more like Lost than an Episode of Law and Order. You're building a whole unit, and it's not like building a house where one day there's a foundation, then there's some framing, then the HVAC gets installed.
But for those familar with Lost, they'd supposedly envisioned the entire series as a jugsaw puzzle, where you get a piece here and a piece there, and it all makes sense at the end.
And it seems like it's the same for a rebuilding team. Things look like a mess from 1000 different directions from week to week. You'll have the D hold up one week and fall apart the next. You'll have a WR shine for a game then disappear for a while, then one day, or more likely one season, it all 'fits.'
Don't expect a straight-line progression in a rebuild it'll drive you nuts.

I couldn't agree more, Mr. Baby Lee. I just have one question. Given where we are, when would you expect to see order begin to emerge from the chaos you describe?

FAX

No that is the end of the franchise.

Dave

I have no idea. Hope to know it when I see it. And just sit back with lowered expectations until then.

In order to fully realize that we're gonna suck for a while, you have to fully realize that we're gonna suck for a while.

Is that too Zen?

My best foundation for sanguinity is that with Herm involved in the draft, and higher draft picks, we stand a chance of getting more Carson Palmers and Orlando Paces and Brian Urlachers and less Rick Mirers and Lawrence Phillipses and Kyle Bollers.

Chase Daniel and Mizzou could beat KC at this point.

Hell if KU had the Chiefs on the non-conference schedule next year, everyone would still be able to laugh at them for having a KUpcake schedule.

FWIW, I think the Chiefs could still beat Nebraska. :)

ROFL

Shit Gretz. Rock bottom is when you leave 2 tickets on the dash of your car, leave it unlocked hoping someone will steal them & when you come back, there are 4 tickets on your dashboard.

I think Hermy has a few more records to break-Like the Sold out streak at Arrowhead. Maybe have a Blackout-that should top off his Stellar resume as Head job Coach.

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Yes because of course the most important attribute on an NFL coach's resume is the "Consecutive Stadium Sellouts" list. Way to keep sight of things.....

Well, heres some good meat for the argument to firing Herm..

Herm holds 2 of the 6 worst losses the Chiefs have ever sustained.

That's low Tim. :harumph: