Pissed about our schedule? Bob Gretz is too

[Mr. Flopnuts]

3 out of 4 to open on the road. Our last 2 games on the road. 1 nationally televised game. I know KC is a small market but for Christ's sake draw a line SOMEWHERE.

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


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


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 the Kansas City Chiefs.