Who Is To Blame For The Chiefs' Terrible Start?

After yet another 0-2 start to the season, Chiefs fans are demanding to know who is to blame for the team’s disastrous start. Kansas City has given up 75 points over the first two games of the season, and looks nothing like a team many thought would challenge for the AFC West division title.

When Kansas City got off to a rough start last season, most pointed the finger at former head coach Todd Haley, claiming he simply did not have his team ready to start the season. Romeo Crennel has received similar treatment from many Kansas City fans, especially because he is a defensive coach. Several media pundits have suggested that Crennel is stretched too thin juggling both the head coach and defensive coordinator positions.

Crennel responded to the criticism yesterday, insisting that the blame rests more on his players failing to execute. Safety Abram Elam and linebacker Derrick Johnson have agreed with Crennel that they need to play better, but both also admitted to the media that communication could be better, and that at times, the players and coaches are not on the same page. If Crennel wants to turn things around quickly, he needs to stop pointing fingers at his players and accept ultimate responsibility for the defense’s performance. Crennel is a lot more expendable than guys like Johnson, Tamba Hali, Eric Berry and Brandon Flowers, especially since this is a second chance for him after his failure as a head coach in Cleveland.

The biggest target for criticism after Kansas City’s start is embattled GM Scott Pioli, who has made headlines recently due to the Chiefs’ refusal to spend money and the stories about his actions told by Haley. Pioli is the ultimate architect of the team, and so far, he has done little to make Kansas City a winner. Many of the Chiefs’ top players were on the team when Pioli arrived, and his biggest acquisition so far has been the signing of quarterback Matt Cassel, who is an average-at-best starting NFL quarterback the Chiefs GM signed to a mammoth contract.

Pioli hasn’t drafted very well either, and the result is that the team lacks significant depth. Kansas City’s horrible preseason record over the past couple of seasons is proof that the Chiefs simply are not very deep, and this ultimately falls on Pioli as well. Coaching and execution play a big role, but you need to have talent on your team to win.

The blame may rest somewhere in the middle of the coaching, players and GM, but one thing is for certain – Kansas City needs to turn things around quickly. If the team drops its next couple of games, the franchise might have to blow everything up and enter yet another rebuilding project.

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Chiefs Fall To Packers, 24-3

The Chiefs wrapped up another lackluster preseason last night, falling to Green Bay Packers 24-3. After winning its first preseason game in convincing fashion, Kansas City lost its remaining three. The team is now 7-29 in exhibition games since 2004.

Most of the game was a battle of the backups, but the Chiefs first-string offense looked good early on. The team moved the ball consistently, and found a lot of success on the ground. Despite gaining a lot of yards, Kansas City could only muster three points. One drive stalled and Ryan Succop missed a 54 yard field goal, and another drive ended with a Brady Quinn interception when the Chiefs were about to score. From there, things went south in a hurry.

Offensively, Ricky Stanzi and Alex Tanney struggled to consistently move the ball, and the Chiefs got almost nothing through the air. Despite rushing for 247 yards for the game, Kansas City only scored three points, although it should be expected that the team’s third and fourth string quarterbacks would have trouble lighting up the scoreboard.

The biggest concern Chiefs fans should have is how the team’s defense played. Packers backup QB Graham Harrell had been having a terrible preseason, but he absolutely lit-up the Chiefs last night. Harrell finished 13 of 15 with 223 yards, and he led the Packers to a touchdown on all three of his possessions, and all three were long scoring drives. On some plays, the Packers’ receivers were wide open, and while Green Bay boasts one of the most talented and deepest WR corps in the league, most of these players will likely not even make the team for Green Bay.

The entire preseason exposed one of the Chiefs’ biggest weaknesses – the team has a severe lack of depth, particularly on defense. What makes this troubling is that the team still does not know if Brandon Flowers or Kendrick Lewis will be ready for the start of the season, and Tamba Hali is suspended for the first game. Injuries are a regular occurrence in the NFL, and if the Chiefs suffer any more on defense, it doesn’t appear that it has a lot of guys who can step in and play at a high level.

Kansas City’s regular season starts next Sunday at 12:00 p.m. when the team hosts the Atlanta Falcons.

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Kansas City Chiefs - Green Bay Packers Preview

The Chiefs will wrap up their preseason tonight, as they visit Green Bay to take on the Packers. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

Kansas City is looking to turn things around after an embarrassing performance against the Seattle Seahawks in its last preseason game. After opening the preseason with a rare victory, Kansas City has reverted back to struggling in its exhibition games. In fact, since 2004, the team is 7-28 in the preseason, however these exhibition games have often given little indication on how the team will perform during the regular season.

It is unknown how long the Chiefs starters will play. Head coach Romeo Crennel indicated that he will go by feel. The Chiefs played most of their starters for quite a while in last year’s final preseason game, although Crennel may elect to play his reserves more to prevent any more injuries from occurring. Cornerback Brandon Flowers and safety Kendrick Lewis continue to be held out, and the team will also likely be without CB Jalil Brown, DT Toribio, WR Terrence Copper and DL Allen Bailey for tonight’s game. Toribio has been used as the starting nose tackle, so his absence means first-round pick Dontari Poe will have an opportunity to play with the starters and prove himself to the coaching staff. Another player who has something to prove is the recently-signed Dwayne Bowe, who may see a lot of action as the coaches try to get him up to speed before the regular season starts.

The Packers may have revenge on their minds entering this game, as the Chiefs were the only team to defeat them in the regular season last year. If Green Bay wants to avenge last year’s loss, they will have to do so with their backups – head coach Mike McCarthy indicated that the starters will play only one series, and many starters will not see the field at all. Graham Harrell, the Packers second-string quarterback, has struggled mightily this preseason, and the coaching staff will likely try to give him as much game time as they can.

Since Kansas City will be facing Green Bay’s backups for almost the entire game, this will be a good opportunity for the team to gain some confidence and erase the memory of the Seahawks game. However, the Chiefs simply cannot afford to lose any more key players to injury, so Crennel may have to pull his starters early as well. We may see an ugly battle-of-the-backups tonight at Lambeau field.

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Chiefs Ravens Preseason Week 2

Well we definitely saw more action in week two of the Kansas City Chiefs preseason when they met up with the Baltimore Ravens, the team who ended the season for Kansas City last season. The Chiefs looked like they were poking their head out of the turtle shell of Haley's secrets just a tad more this week, and actually testing out some plays.

Just as many have predicted, it appears that the secret of Jamaal Charles is out of the bag and that every team facing the Chiefs this year will be keying on him. The football nation as a whole is WAY too excited about Jamaal Charles, and that's putting too much focus on him. For one example, fantasy league owners are choosing Charles an average of 4th pick overall and that is just rediculous. Charles is a great running back, but he is not going to be a secret any more, and since he doesn't exactly break tackles, he is going to have an uphill battle ahead of him in 2011. Fantasy owners who choose Charles in the first round are going to be sorry. In Friday night's game Charles stumped along for 12 yards on 4 carries, which is a much more realistic scenario of what is to come for the young running back.

Here at Kansas City News, we are still not sold on Matt Cassel, but at least he did get the ball into the air this week to go 6/14 with 73 yards. In our minds he is still a very highly paid back up quarterback. Tyler Palko made another great showing, going 8/13, 95 yards and a touchdown to Terrance Copper. This left handed gunslinger looks good to us, and he should be our number 2 guy.

Rookie Justin Houston had a great game with 2 sacks, honoring the #50 jersey that was worn by veteran Mike Vrabel. The defense continued to fall for the old short pass up the middle that is Baltimore's staple play, the same play they beat us over the head with over and over in last year's playoff game. The Chiefs defense needs to work on sealing up the middle or we're going to face real trouble when we meet teams with marquis running backs and shifty slot receivers. Other than that, the Chiefs starting defense did fairly well overall, matching blows with the Ravens starters all the way through the second half.

The Ravens left their starters in longer than the Chiefs and went on to win the game, but there is really no such thing as "winning" a preseason game, and I'm certain that Haley and Pioli do not care about the preseason scoreboard - and rightly so. The Chiefs came out with swagger and confidence and held their own against the Ravens, and that is a good sign of things to come.

Chiefs Show Improvement, Concerns Against Bucs

The Chiefs' second preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offered reasons to be both optimistic and pessimistic for the upcoming season for Kansas City fans. The offense looked to finally be establishing a rythem, while it was the same old story for the Chiefs' defense.

After looking like a high school team on offense against the Atlanta Falcons in the team's first preseason game, Matt Cassell and his receivers showed promise yesterday. The team's receivers got open and hung on to the ball, two glaring problems against Atlanta. Cassell seemed to settle down a bit, and the team developed some rythem on scoring drives. The Chiefs will be able to run the ball with the steady Thomas Jones and electric Jamaal Charles, and if the passing game remains steady, the offense could put some points on the board.

Another boost to the team has been the special teams, most notably Javier Arenas. The rookie had a long kickoff return to help set up one of the team's scoring drives, and has shown game-changing return ability the team has lacked since Dante Hall. The Chief's already boost reliable kickers in Ryan Succop and Dustin Colquitt, and with a strong return game, the Chief's special teams could be a difference maker this season.

However, with the good comes a lot bad, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The front seven continues to struggle with almost no pass rush and poor defending of the run. The secondary, which was viewed as a strength entering the season, has struggled with tackling and drawing penalties. While the secondary's problems can likely be corrected, it is starting to appear that the Chief's front seven lacks the personel to get the job done at a consistent basis. Romeo Crennell is one of the best defensive coordinators in the game, but he certainly has his work cut out for him.

The Chiefs showed much needed improvement from its starters in its second preseason game. The team still has a long way to go, luckily there are two preseason games still remaining. The team looks better, but it will need every second of its next too exhibition games to move back towards being a competitive team.

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Chiefs Falcons Preseason Game 1 - Are We Going to Throw Long?

 

Chiefs Falcons Preseason Game 1
Are we planning on throwing long anytime this season?

It doesn't matter what happens for the rest of this Chiefs preseason game vs. the Atlanta Falcons, it baffles me that the Chiefs did not attempt one single pass over 15 yards while the starters were in.  Cassel's only attempt at a pass of any noteworthy length was an incomplete pass to tight end Pope across the middle.

The only teams that win in this league are teams that can air it out LONG down the field.  The fact that the Chiefs didn't even ATTEMPT to throw the ball long leads me to believe that we're in for a long and fruitless year.  It is simply not possible to win football games without throwing long.  The defense will abandon coverage and close in on our semi-weak running offense.  The Chiefs are going to have to stretch the field in order to keep the heat off of our running game.

The fact that this is only a preseason game doesn't matter - they still have to get the ball down the field to Bowe or Chambers at least once.

Standouts from tonight's preseason game are Dexter McCluster, who ran the ball successfully for the most part and caught several passes to the wings - short passes that is.  The Chiefs also tried to run a draw up the middle with McCluster - quite possibly the dumbest call of the game.  Dexter McCluster is only 5' 7", 165 pounds, he's NOT going to be able to run up the middle...sheesh.  Another standout was Jamaal Charles who did his usual scampering about for a few yards.

Terrible performances brought to you by Leonard Pope who does not seem to be able to catch the ball at all.  He had two passes bounce off his chest.  Thomas Jones either really sucks or the plays that they had him run were worthless, either way he was suck-o.

All in all this preseason game was quite possibly the most boring football game I've ever witnessed and the Chiefs had better learn to stretch the field with long passes or they are going to lose - a lot. 

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