Michael Ash discusses expectations, Derrick Johnson and thanksgiving...

[Hammock Parties]

http://kan.scout.com/2/923799.html

It’s amazing how one win can suddenly change expectations.

A week ago, we were looking ahead to late-season contests with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns, hoping the Chiefs would be able to scrape together an additional win or two by the end of the season.

But now?

If the Chiefs don’t win both those games, it will be disappointing. Heck, if they can’t beat the Denver Broncos next week, it’ll feel like something of a letdown. That’s the kind of boost a victory over the defending Super Bowl champions can provide. In a season where winning four games once seemed like too tall a task, that number no longer seems like enough.

After all, if the Chiefs are capable of beating the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers, why can’t they rack up another two or three wins before it’s all said and done?

Of course, it’s easy to get carried away with those sorts of thoughts in the aftermath of the win. But after Sunday’s game with the Chargers, things might not look quite as rosy.

After their usual early-season slumber, San Diego has now won five straight, including last month’s 30-point demolishing of the Chiefs inside Arrowhead Stadium. The Chargers have the potential to wipe away the sweetness of last week’s victory by putting a sour taste in all our mouths.

We should remember what that feels like. Last year, the Chiefs earned their biggest win of the season – the 33-19 “let’s build on this” victory over the then-unbeaten Broncos – and then followed it up with a humiliating 34-0 road loss to Carolina. Any hope that actual progress was being made quickly gave way to the cold sting of reality.

With two straight wins and a victory over the Steelers, there’s no question this year’s Chiefs have made some degree of progress. How much of it they’ve made will be clearer after their second game with the Chargers.


For Derrick Johnson, Sunday’s game with Pittsburgh was his entire career in a nutshell.

Twelve weeks into the NFL season, there are Chiefs fans who still believe Johnson’s demotion is some kind of head game by Todd Haley. They simply can’t fathom that the former first-round pick isn’t one of the two best inside linebackers on the team. His performance Sunday should have cleared all that up.

Though it was ultimately erased by a penalty, Johnson made one of the game’s more spectacular plays with his leaping sack of Ben Roethlisberger. However, he spent most of the afternoon whiffing on tackles, including one particularly bad miss during overtime.

With the Steelers facing 2nd and 10 on the Chiefs’ 43-yard line, they called an outside run with Rashard Mendenhall that the Chiefs’ defense appeared to have bottled up. Unfortunately, Johnson over-pursued the play and provided Mendenhall with a cut-back lane.

As Johnson extended his arm in a fruitless attempt at making the tackle, Mendenhall charged past him and picked up eight yards, moving the Steelers into field-goal range.

Thanks to a great play by Jovan Belcher, Pittsburgh moved backwards on the next play and opted to punt the ball away. But had that negative play not occurred, the eight-yard run Johnson single-handedly allowed might have cost the Chiefs the game.

A vast collection of errors and forgettable performances peppered by a handful of dynamic, highly-athletic plays summarizes Johnson’s pro career. He’s never managed to put things together for an entire season, but always manages to make two or three plays that are flashy enough to make us ignore the games where he disappears while we hope that he’s finally getting it all figured out.

The Chiefs could do worse than having Johnson around as a backup. But even if they attempted to re-sign him, he’d be crazy to take a modest contract extension in Kansas City when there are surely a few teams willing to throw starter money at him.

With as much playing time as Johnson saw Sunday, he might have had the opportunity to force himself into the team’s future plans. Instead, he only showed why he’s likely to be gone next season.


Looking for things to be thankful for this year?

Be thankful for Tony Gonzalez’s misery.

That’s harsh, but as we all know, the worse Atlanta does this year, the higher the Chiefs will pick with the draft choice they obtained for Gonzalez. The Falcons are currently on the outside of the NFC playoff picture at 5-5. That translates to the Chiefs having the 16th pick of the second round, giving them three of the draft’s first 48 picks.

Atlanta still has three or four more winnable games on their schedule, so it’s unlikely the Chiefs will actually be picking that early. Still, since Atlanta was thought to be a serious contender this season, it’s going to end up being a higher pick than anyone expected when the Gonzalez trade was announced.


Be thankful that Scott Pioli didn’t trade for Richard Seymour or Braylon Edwards.

Do you remember all the complaining and hand-wringing amongst Chiefs fans when the Seymour-to-Oakland and Edwards-to-New York deals were announced? How are those trades looking at the moment?

Seymour, who cost the Raiders a future first-round pick, has four sacks this season as a starter. Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ Wallace Gilberry – who, prior to the season, no one envisioned would play a significant role – has 3.5 sacks as a backup to Tyson Jackson and Glenn Dorsey.

Then we have Edwards, who not only cost the Jets two draft picks, but two players. In six games with his new team, he has 281 yards and two touchdowns. Bobby Wade, who the Chiefs signed off the street, has 243 yards and two touchdowns in seven games with the Chiefs. Better yet, Chris Chambers – who also cost the Chiefs nothing – has 249 yards and three touchdowns in only three games with Kansas City.

None of this is to suggest that Seymour and Edwards aren’t talented players, of course. But to this point, the Chiefs have managed to match their production without losing a single draft pick.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Coogs

I just finished rewatching the game on TiVo. I pretty much just watched the offensive plays to focus on the offensive line. I'm most definately no offensive line guru, but it looked to me like Smith at RG was by far our best O-lineman last week. Albert and O'Callaghan were just average at best in pass blocking, but decent in the run blocking game. Waters was overpowered quite a bit in pass blocking. Same for Rudy. When all five of them gave Cassel time, Cassel was pretty darn good. But on most of the pass plays at least one of the 4 not named Smith was overpowered back into Cassel.

Three upgrades on the O-line at least seem to be in order. C, LG, and one of the tackle spots.

Center is by far our biggest need on the offensive line right now.

Wade and Alleman are both upgrades over Goff ... Alleman can't stay healthy.

Waters is just about done ... Maybe 1 more season.

both O'callaghan and Albert struggle with quickness and it makes you immediately think about moving both inside to guard and just grabbing 2 new OT's.

LOT - new
LG - Albert
Center - Wade
RG - O'callaghan
ROT - new

It wouldn't be a pulling type Oline but they could be a decent power line ... i dunno.

[TinyEvel]

I am super-stoked about last week's win. I think the good thing was they finally won two in a row (and the second one against a good team) and that will do a LOT for the team's morale. But I am not going into the SD game thinking we are gonna wipe up Qualcomm with the Chargers. Not by any stretch. I think the article's harken back to the DEN/CAR weeks might be a scary premonition.

Chiefs played a hard-fought game last week, but the offense only had 46 total yds by the end of the first half. And we had to force many takeovers to win. we got 10 points from the runback TD and the STUDebaker INT.

Did PIT give us that game? Maybe. More like they put it out there and we took it. But I don't think we're gonna win the next four games. We'd be lucky to win two of them.

I am glad we are improving and seeing what we're made of in a good way rather than a crap way. And while I will relish the DJ "sackle over the tackle" for a long time, I think he is not starter material. He makes a big play once a game and whiffs most of the rest of the time.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Laz

Center is by far our biggest need on the offensive line right now.

Wade and Alleman are both upgrades over Goff ... Alleman can't stay healthy.

Waters is just about done ... Maybe 1 more season.

both O'callaghan and Albert struggle with quickness and it makes you immediately think about moving both inside to guard and just grabbing 2 new OT's.

LOT - new
LG - Albert
Center - Wade
RG - O'callaghan
ROT - new

It wouldn't be a pulling type Oline but they could be a decent power line ... i dunno.

I was actually wondering about both OT's moving inside. I know Milkman and the gang are going to give Albert the benifit of losing weight and all, but he flat got beat time after time pass blocking. He did a nice job run blocking though.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

But I don't think we're gonna win the next four games. We'd be lucky to win two of them.

I don't expect us to win the next four either. But I don't think we will necessarily have to be lucky to win two. I think two is very doable. It may not be pretty in those two, but I don't think we will have to have a lot of luck to beat Buffalo or Cleveland.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Coogs

I was actually wondering about both OT's moving inside. I know Milkman and the gang are going to give Albert the benifit of losing weight and all, but he flat got beat time after time pass blocking. He did a nice job run blocking though.

i think moving them inside and grabbing 1 OT in FA and 1 in the Draft might be the quickest way to turn the line around.

Albert and O'callaghan are average at OT but i imagine they could be well above average at guard.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

We'd be lucky to win two of them.

So we'll need luck to beat Buffalo and Cleveland?

[GoHuge]

This draft isn't going to look real sexy. And to be honest I'm fine with that as long as we go BPA, BPA, BPA. Other than QB and Flowers this team needs EVERYTHING! No sacred cows anywhere with this bunch. The only way my head explodes on draft day is if I hear "with the number nine overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft the Kansas City Chiefs select QB......"
Posted via Mobile Device

[TheGuardian]

This article is fantastic and as noted by others, I don't think a lot of Chief fans actually WATCH what goes on on the field. Derrick Johnson has been an inconsistent player since he was drafted.

IT'S NOT THE COACHING STAFF

IT'S NOT THE SCHEME

He's just an inconsistent player. Who gives a shit what he did at Texas, this isn't the big 12. He's just not that great, and he never will be. And he's not going to go someplace else and become some pro bowl/all pro player. He doesn't have the make up to be that kind of player. He doesn't. He isn't a great tackler, he doesn't have great instincts and doesn't even take good angles to the ball carrier.

I have never gotten why some fans here think this guy is one of the best linebackers on the roster. Draft status? That's years ago now. He is what he is, an inconsistent player even on his best days. He'll be gone after this season and hopefully Belcher will move into the starting line up soon and we'll grab someone this offseason to replace Vrabel or at least push he and Studebaker for playing time/starting time.

[Easy 6]

Good read by Ash, short & to the point.

He's right about last week raising the expectation bar & i dont see why we shouldnt be able to get another 2-3... if we can beat the Steelers, we should be able to do that. Win or lose Sunday, i cant imagine us getting humiliated like v. Carolina, this isnt Herms team anymore... this crew will give better effort for 4 quarters. My $ says Haley will keep them focused.

DJ - God bless the guy, i honestly think he's doing everything asked of him to the best of his ability, i think he wants to be 'The Guy' here but just isnt able to fully grasp the mental requirements. I gave up on the 'Haleys just playing head games' idea a few weeks ago, if mind ****'s havent worked by now... they never will. I hope DJ finds success at his next stop.

I've been more ambivelant about Big Money Free Agents this year than ever & it didnt twist my drawers in a knot at all that we didnt grab Edwards & Seymour. Jumping in up to our necks with a bunch of expensive older guys right off the bat in a new administration, on a rebuilding team, just didnt seem like a good 'Big Picture' move.

Cant wait for this draft & free agency periods, i think it'll be a much more exciting go this time.

[TheGuardian]

Yeah we got a lot of money to spend and I am curious to see what Pioli is going to do with it.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Laz

it's good to see yet another writer using CPlanet for his source material.





we should get royalties or something

funny I was thinking the exact same thing. Most of these points have been covered on here.

[Fritz88]

i don't remember any of us whining about Seymour

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by LaChapelle

Did Edwards turn back into the Browns' Braylon Edwards?

It's a point to keep in mind. Will Chambers turn back into the Chargers' Chambers?

Yeah, he's not comparing apples to apples. Edwards isn't 900. The Chiefs have a more stable QB situation (of late).

If Edwards came here with our coach and QB, he may have lit the world on fire.
Posted via Mobile Device

[CaliforniaChief]

Originally Posted by Fritz88

i don't remember any of us whining about Seymour

I think rejoicing and laughing at the compensation was what I recall.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by BigChiefDave

I'd kinda feel sorry for TG, but it would be funny if the Falcons and Chiefs both finished 6-10.

The Chiefs won a lot of games in the 90s, then Tony was drafted, and the overall decline of the Chiefs started in earnest.

Tony is traded to a young ascending team with fairly high expectations for this season, and suddenly that team seems to be backstepping.

Coincidence?

I think not.