Whitlock: Blame Moe, Larry and Curly for this Chiefs mess

[Tribal Warfare]

Blame Moe, Larry and Curly for this Chiefs mess
By JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star

There’s no mystery here. Teams lacking an adequate amount of talent eventually collapse under the weight of trying to play perfectly.

Four days before Thanksgiving, inside two-thirds-full Arrowhead Stadium, the Buffalo Bills snapped the back of the Chiefs, thrashing and humiliating the home team 54-31.

There’s no reason to blame Tyler Thigpen, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali or any of the nameless, faceless jerseys masquerading as starting NFL linebackers. It’s not their fault. They didn’t assemble this team.

Carl “Moe” Peterson, Herm “Larry” Edwards and Bill “Curly” Kuharich put together the worst team in Chiefs history, a squad with a two-year, 19-of-20 losing stretch.

For a solid month, the Chiefs feigned competitiveness by avoiding turnovers and penalties. Error-free football allowed the Chiefs to keep games close and fool some of us into believing they were making real progress.

Sunday, against a Buffalo team that had lost four straight, the disgusting truth reared its head like Putin staring down Sarah Palin’s lake house. The Chiefs jumped offside, picked up a personal foul, turned the ball over five times and played like the inexperienced, talent-deficient team they truly are.

The result was a franchise-record, 54-point meltdown that all but ensured Arrowhead will be less than half filled when the Dolphins and Chargers visit later this season.

It also ends the debate about whether the Chiefs are on the right path being blazed by Moe, Larry and Curly.

No way.

You could see in July that they had constructed a roster more capable of finishing 1-15 than 8-8. In fact, when I arrived at training camp, a Chiefs official told me that Herm should be praised if he took this team to a .500 finish.

I laughed out loud and said, “Herm should be coach of the year if this team wins four.”

I’m sure the Chiefs employee thought I was being flip. Allegedly, I’m prone toward bluster. I was dead serious. Without Jared Allen, the defense didn’t have a proven playmaker. On offense, I had no faith in Brodie Croyle, thought the QB depth chart was midmajor, assumed Larry Johnson wouldn’t handle the adversity and figured the offensive line would get exploited.

We have no reason to be surprised. The lone surprise of the season was Kansas City’s 33-19 trouncing of the Denver Broncos. Twenty years from now, football historians will still be trying to determine how these Chiefs won that game convincingly.

This team just isn’t built to win football games. It’s built to be $32 million under the salary cap while Arrowhead Stadium undergoes renovation. The season is a success. We’re getting exactly what Clark Hunt was willing to pay for and what Moe, Larry and Curly could conceive given their operating budget.

That in no way excuses Moe, Larry and Curly. They drafted Glenn Dorsey with the sixth overall pick. He has been completely ineffective. His rookie season has been far worse than Ryan Sims’ rookie season.

We knew the loss of Allen would destroy the Chiefs’ outside pass rush. The theory behind drafting Dorsey was that he would give Kansas City an inside push. He is supposed to disrupt the pocket from the inside. It just hasn’t happened.

Opposing quarterbacks don’t even need to wear a helmet and shoulder pads when playing the Chiefs. Bills coach Dick Jauron so enjoyed playing against KC’s front four that he left his struggling QB, Trent Edwards, in the game well into the fourth quarter just so Edwards could pad his passing stats.

“They kept throwing the football because they wanted to get their quarterback going,” Edwards acknowledged.

Kansas City’s defense is a confidence-builder for opposing quarterbacks. Runners, too. The Bills ran for 171 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

Dorsey hasn’t helped Kansas City’s run or pass defense.

This is a horrendously bad football team. Lucky for the Chiefs, they play in the equally horrendous AFC West. It’s going to be tough for the Chiefs to win just one more game this season. They get to play the Raiders, Broncos and Chargers again. The Chiefs also have a season-ending date with the Cincinnati Bengals. And the Dolphins are beatable.

Kansas City will win — in my estimation — two games down the stretch. But the inevitable victories will not excuse the game plan that put this roster together.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by bobbything

I love how one of the excuses for Dorsey's lack of effectiveness is that he "just needs to learn proper technique." It's great to hear that a 1st round draft pick, in (probably) 15 years of playing football, still hasn't mastered that pesky thing called "technique" that oh-so many players at this level lack.

Alot of college players don't have great technique know why? When you can just lineup and physically dominate the person across from you, you don't really need it, to physically dominate in the NFL you have to be such a freak that there aren't words for it because everyone is that good.

Dorsey just needs to get bigger and stronger, he needs alot of weight room work I don't think he saw many 330lb guards at the college level.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Turk McBride, Tamba Hali, and Bernard Pollard are ****ing awful football players for where they were drafted.

Herm had four total picks in the first two rounds his first two years and missed badly on 3/4.

That's pathetic, especially when there were people all over this board clamoring for Youboty or Simpson in '06 over Pollard , and Kalil over McBride, lest we forget:

"Tamba Hali?? Mother**** You Carl!!"

[bobbything]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Alot of college players don't have great technique know why? When you can just lineup and physically dominate the person across from you, you don't really need it, to physically dominate in the NFL you have to be such a freak that there aren't words for it because everyone is that good.

Dorsey just needs to get bigger and stronger, he needs alot of weight room work I don't think he saw many 330lb guards at the college level.

So, you're saying that he has the technique but not the size or strength?

[Brock]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

"Tamba Hali?? Mother**** You Carl!!"

This turned out to be correct most likely, especially considering Kiwanuka was taken 10 slots later.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Turk McBride, Tamba Hali, and Bernard Pollard are ****ing awful football players for where they were drafted.

Herm had four total picks in the first two rounds his first two years and missed badly on 3/4.

That's pathetic, especially when there were people all over this board clamoring for Youboty or Simpson in '06 over Pollard , and Kalil over McBride, lest we forget:

"Tamba Hali?? Mother**** You Carl!!"

Didn't you take some shit for ripping on those picks...actually I think we all did. Ah well atleast alot of us knew it from day one.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by bobbything

So, you're saying that he has the technique but not the size or strength?

No I'm saying in college he was a physically dominant player in the NFL he's not...he needs to get alot stronger which with an NFL weight program can happen but I question his technique improving with these coaches.

[bobbything]

Originally Posted by Mecca

No I'm saying in college he was a physically dominant player in the NFL he's not...he needs to get alot stronger which with an NFL weight program can happen but I question his technique improving with these coaches.

Well, judging from the assessment from people in the media (the so-called draft experts) and the armchair experts in here, Dorsey lacks the size, strength, and technique right now. Which makes me wonder why he was labeled as an "immediate impact" player.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Dorsey needs better footwork, he needs to stop dropping his head and trying to bullrush through a guy's hips, and he needs to get in better cardiovascular shape.

It would also help if he had a coach who could teach him the fundamentals of how to use your hands instead of slap fighting.

I ****ing hate Tim Krumrie, BTW.

[Sure-Oz]

I loved Tamba's 1 arm attempt at trent edwards heading to the endzone

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Dorsey needs better footwork, he needs to stop dropping his head and trying to bullrush through a guy's hips, and he needs to get in better cardiovascular shape.

It would also help if he had a coach who could teach him the fundamentals of how to use your hands instead of slap fighting.

I ****ing hate Tim Krumrie, BTW.

That slap fight drill is real important isn't it?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

FWIW,

Dorsey's negatives:

Negatives: Has a thick frame and while not sloppy, he does lack solid muscle tone, but does compensate with outstanding initial quickness and lower body strength...While he explodes off the snap, he has just marginal speed to make plays in long pursuit (best when shooting the inside gaps rather than try to make plays on the outside)...Has a strong lower body, but he needs to improve his base (gets narrow in his stance), as blockers have had success getting underneath his pads to lock on and wash him out of the play (see 2007 Tulane, Kentucky and Tennessee, and 2006 Tulane and Mississippi State games)...Must do a better job of planting his foot and anchoring vs. double teams (has good hand placement, but needs to counter better at times)...Best when taking angles or shooting gaps (gets too caught up in the battle when taking on isolated blockers at the point of attack)...Lack of ideal size might limit him to one-gap schemes...Generates good penetration, but for some reason, he fails to seal the deal on the quarterback (has only seven pressures in 51 games)...Does not display an array of pass rush moves, but shows good burst on the bull rush..


Coachable flaws that can't be corrected by someone who can't coach.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

It would also help if he had a coach who could teach him the fundamentals of how to use your hands instead of slap fighting.

I ****ing hate Tim Krumrie, BTW.

Which is exactly why I'm not looking to crucify Dorsey, Hali, McBride and Tyler just yet.

Have they disappointed based on their draft position?

Absolutely.

But when the only two constants regarding your starting DL are:

a) All picked in the first 3 rounds;

b) All coached by Tim Krumrie;


Then forgive me for being a little more patient before calling them busts.

We've had ONE defensive lineman have ONE great season in the time Krumrie has been the DL coach.

That speaks volumes, IMO.

[Mecca]

Krumrie had 1 good lineman his entire time in Buffalo too so it fits....

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I still don't understand why people are ripping on Kuharich. Not his fault that Peterson forced him to build a team entirely on draft picks. He was given no money to spend.

I think Kuharich is doing a good job. I can understand hatred for Peterson and Herm. Kuharich doesn't belong in this equation.

So you like the next GM, interesting, I hope he proves out to be good.

[mlyonsd]

I think there were a bunch of planeteers that used to squawk about how ineffective Kawika Mitchell was. And now he has a ring.

I'm more than willing to give Dorsey next year to become dominant.