Whitlock- OPTIMISM GRINDS TO HALT
 

JASON WHITLOCK COMMENTARY
COMMENTARY
OPTIMISM GRINDS TO HALT
Guess we can thank Willie Roaf for Ty Law, Kyle Turley and Tamba Hali’s on-time-for-camp signing.

Things were going much too smoothly at Arrowhead Stadium this summer for something really terrible not to be driving Carl Peterson’s actions. Now we know: Arguably the Chiefs’ most valuable player had told Peterson and coach Herm Edwards that his playing career is over.

And now everything makes sense. The Chiefs dusted off Kyle Turley, sweet-talked Ty Law and paid Tamba Hali to mask the stink of Roaf retiring.

Problem is, we’re just not that stupid. Roaf’s exit puts a dark cloud on what previously had been the most anticipated Kansas City football season since the 1998 disaster.

My optimism has been replaced by fear — fear of Trent Green getting steamrolled by defensive ends traveling the Jordan Black Expressway to quarterbacks. Green is an iron man. He’s played five years and 80 regular-season games without missing a start. It’s difficult to imagine that streak continuing with Roaf at home awaiting his invitation to Canton, Ohio.

Anyone holding out hope that Priest Holmes might decide to return needs to let that fantasy go. Holmes would be foolish to play this season without Roaf. Nope. Let Larry Johnson carry that burden. He’s young and desiring a megacontract. He can take the hits.

Oh, it’s going to be MartyBall all the way this season. Edwards has no choice. The Chiefs will have pass-protection problems, receiver Eddie Kennison isn’t happy with his contract, and Al Saunders’ imagination is now in our nation’s capital.

New offensive coordinator Mike Solari is going to pound the football. The Chiefs will try to control the clock and play solid defense.

I don’t have a problem with that plan. I just question whether they have the depth to pull it off. Remember, there’s no depth behind Johnson. Tony Richardson plays in Minnesota. Will Shields is old. And the Chiefs are still banking on Ryan Sims improving their defensive front four.

This is an absolute disaster. What’s worse is Roaf’s explanation for retiring. He said his body was worn out by four years of being locked in Dick Vermeil’s boot camp in-season and offseason programs.

Vermeil’s marathon practices shortened the career of one of the best offensive tackles in the history of the game. Roaf said his body didn’t feel right in May, and he let Peterson and Edwards know he was going to retire. Roaf said he even filed his retirement paperwork.

Of course, Peterson failed to share this bit of information with us. Peterson thinks Big Willie is going to change his mind. Peterson thinks Big Willie hates training camp and might change his mind later.

Hmm. Peterson didn’t want anything to interfere with season-ticket sales. He didn’t want to spend the whole offseason listening to experts speculate about what the Chiefs would do to fix their offensive line.

You can’t fix the hole Roaf created. A tackle combination of Jordan Black and Kyle Turley is a far cry from Roaf and Anybody.

Can the Chiefs still make the playoffs? Yes, they can sneak in as a wild card. But they’re no longer a legitimate Super Bowl threat. Not unless Hali and Law turn Kansas City’s defense into a real strength.

This news is a just a terrible kick in the gut. I’m more sad than mad.

This team has imploded. What will our record be next year?

Same as last year 10-6, but we squeak into the playoffs this time..... then promptly loose the first game.

I'm a natural optimist, but being a fan of the KC Chiefs is more of a rollercoaster ride than the 80 year old wooden one at Joyland (Wichita).

That aside, I dont think that loosing Roaf will be as big of a deal as people are making it out to be.

Dont forget that there is still AMPLE time for someone in camp to step their game up or for King Carl to make a trade for someone.

It's a valid (for the most part) argument.

Roaf's retirement does hamper the LJ2000 talk.

But then different sources tell different stories on Roaf and retirement paperwork.

Roaf's done. I hate to say it but he's made up his mind. His career is over.

I also think there's a huge difference between Peterson holding out hope Roaf would come back and formulating a conspiracy...

we haven't imploded yet...

with larry running rampant over everybody, the play action pass will work, even deep, even with our wr's, even with black or turley at lt...

hopefully they won't have to try 7 step drop back passing very often...

the season isn't over, but it just got a lot more interesting...

Between 7-9-9-7.......Not good enough to get in the playoffs....not bad enough to get a great college player. I hate that position the limbo position.

roaf is done...

wished we could have won the big one for willie and t-rich...

but anything is possible in today's nfl, so there's still hope (i think)...

It's killed the Steelers and Pats for years now...

We'd have to look back carefully at how critical Roaf was in LJ's games to determine if LJ will still be able to run over everbody.

LJ set the Chiefs single game rushing record with Roaf on the bench.

I think LJ will be fine.

Indeed.

The tape of LJ lowering a shoulder and emasculating defenders in open field is misleading...

Who cares about the Steelers and Pats, our team finishes with records like that every year and we never get good players in the draft, I see a trend.

Picking out 2 of 32 teams isn't exactly a good percentage either. They've both done well but generally to get the real top notch talent you need to be picking really high. If you pick 18,19,20 all the time there's going to come a time when you lack talent, especially when you draft as poorly as the Chiefs do.

I don't think you do.

It's not the pick, it's who you take with it.

Of course he's incredible in the open field. No shit. But you don't get into the open field if you can't get past the line of scrimage. And I'm not even taking one side or the other. I'm just saying that before we assume one way or the other about how Roaf leaving affects LJ, it's smart to go back and see how Roaf affected LJ on the field.

LJ started three games while Roaf was out. In those three games LJ had 445 yards rushing and four TDs. That includes the game against Buffalo where LJ had no TDs despite rushing for 130+ yards. This was mostly because Green was sacked a bijillion times and he also threw multiple interceptions.

Somebody also posted a stat earlier today that showed that the majority of the time last season LJ ran up the middle. Additionally, LJ ran more to the right then he did the left, and he also had a higher ypc (5+) running to the right then anywhere else. Here is a link to our rushing stats by left-middle-right for 2005. It is the one under "Season Team Offensive Line Stats"

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/foo.../players/2586/

The big loss with Roaf is definately pass protection. I don't think there are too many LTs that can routinely shut down pass rushers like Dwight Freeney.