Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying?
“Will the real Matt Cassel, please stand up?”
For those on the Chiefs football team that didn’t stand up, congratulations, you were on the trade block. I wish I could have made this up.
The last week of the NFL has been one of the most exciting that the league has ever had around the time of the trade deadline. The Chiefs themselves even made a move, dealing nose tackle Tank Tyler to Carolina for an undisclosed draft pick in 2010. By the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like Tyler was the only Chief who was wondering about where his home will be next week.
As the old saying goes, “Peace Sells, but Who’s Buying?” Apparently, Todd Haley and Scott Pioli sure aren’t. There was no secret to Haley’s minimal stance for misbehavior by his newly acquired team during training camp this past August, but never did I expect this. According to reports, anyone on the Chiefs football team not Matt Cassel, was up for trade.
Reports, per ProFootballTalk are that Haley and Pioli had put the entire team except Cassel up for trade.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/10/18/chiefs-willing-to-trade-anyone-but-cassel/
At first, when I had read up on Haley and Pioli, and the intentions of turning around the Chiefs, it was quite easy to be optomistic. Now, it’s kind of hard what to believe anymore. As I mentioned already with the information in the link provided, the entire team was reportedly on the trade block. But according to Adam Schefter, wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey were just a fabrication?
http://twitter.com/Adam_Schefter/status/4969125634
Kind of hard what to believe anymore, especially since Schefter was the first to report that Bowe and Dorsey were definitely on their way out, but now there is no way they are leaving? What is going on in Kansas City?
Regardless of what is truly going on, the Chiefs have a big game today against the Chargers. Not only is it a division game, but they need to focus on getting a big win over a division rival. With the Chargers missing their star nose tackle Jamal Williams for the season due to injury, and line backer Shawn Merriman still yet to play up to potential, the Chiefs could possibly see themselves in the win column again. Before jumping to conclusions, there are a few things the chiefs need to do today.
-Contain the pass rush. Merriman is a serious pass rushing threat. Along with Merriman is opposite of him at the other outside linebacker spot, and that would be Shaun Phillips. Both Phillips and Merriman are great pass rushers, and even without the help of Jamal Williams, they are both serious threats as pass rushers.
-Run it to the left side. offensive guard Brian Waters and offensive tackle Branden Albert are going to be the key to the success for the Chiefs. Whether it’s Jamaal Charles or Larry Johnson, the Chargers are weak to stopping the run, especially to the left side. Waters and Albert and head and shoulders above the rest of the line talent wise, and their help in the run game can mean a big day for Johnson. The Steelers used this same tactic, and it worked well for Rashard Mendenhall, who had over 130 yards rushing and two scores against the Chargers just three weeks ago.
-The Defensive Backs need to be physical. The Chargers have some physical players on the offensive side. Antonio Gates is an athletic specimen, even as a tight end. Gates’ physical play has helped him gain serious yards after the catch. wide receiver Vincent Jackson is another physical specimen like Gates. At 6′5″ 230 pounds, Jackson has deep threat speed, along with the strength to fight off double teams on a play-by-play basis. Slot receiver Legedu Naanee, like Gates and Jackson, has a rare mixture of strength and speed. Though he doesn’t have top end speed, he’s built like a smaler version of Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, and is not afraid to fight for extra yardage if he gets the ball in his hands. From a receiving standpoint, the Chargers receiving corps is not something you want to take lightly. The press coverage in which the Chiefs defensive scheme thrives up must show up today. They can not have another outing like they did against Dallas. If Miles Austin put up those kind of numbers, just imagine that Vincent Jackson can do.
If the Chiefs want success today, they should look into running a lot of halfback draws from the shotgun formation. Although it may not give a lot of success in the run game, it’ll help in the pass. San Diego has a great trio of corners in Antoine Cason, Quinten Jammer, and Antonio Cromartie. The problem with them, especially Cromartie, is they tend to jump the play easy. They can easy bite on a HB draw, or a pump fake. A combination of HB draws with a mix of play actions can really cause Cromartie to jump on a play, and leave a nice open field for the Chiefs wide receivers to catch and run with.
Like always, I won’t give my prediction, because they always come back to haunt me. Personally, with an injury ridden Chargers team, a good play called game could mean a victory for the Chiefs.
Tommy, do you think the Chiefs can be a playoff caliber team in the next 3 years?
thanks for the reply Tank.
Honestly, it depends on one thing right now, the draft. If they can draft over the next 3 years successfully, they can turn around very quickly. This year is the best year to start. In order for the Chiefs to compete, they need to fix the defense. A defense is the proven key to victory in the NFL, and this defenses desperately needs two things. A nose tackle, and a playmaker. They can obtain one of the other first their first pick. I hate to be pessimistic, but they are likely to be a top 5 pick. Sounds bad right? Wrong. They can obtain either Ndamukong Suh out of Nebraska, or Eric Berry out of Tennessee. Suh isn’t the traditional NT (He’s 6′4″ around 305-315) but the Chiefs DL is alittle different than most DL’s. They have an interesting concept to their DL. With Dorsey playing on the right defense end(going against the OL’s most important player, the left tackle) he’s asked to go one on one with the LT. He’s not expected to give a lot statistically, but he gives the stats no one looks up. Those stats are QB pressures and hurries. Even without getting a sack, Dorsey adds pressure to the QB, and he hurries him out of the pocket, or to hurry up his decision before the opposing QB even gets a chance to complete a pass. With Jackson on the other side, he’s a rare breed of 3-4 DE called the “5-tech”. A 5-tech lines up between the RG and RT, but he’s a jack of all trades. He can open up gaps, he can stuff the run, he can pressure the QB, he can sack the QB, and even in rare defenses like the Steelers, he can even drop into coverage. All that defense line needs is a NT, like Suh. He can be a 1-gap(meaning open up 1 gap for LB’s to get into) or he can pass rush, something similar to Kris Jenkins(Jets) or Shaun Rogers(Browns). As for playmaker,
Eric Berry is that defensive back they NEED. He can play anywhere in the secondary(corner, free or strong safety) and he is a one of a kind player. He is elite in man or zone coverage, has the strength to be an effect press coverage CB(which is perfect for the chiefs) and he is an extremely rare DB because of his speed and strength combination. This kid rarely, and I mean rarely misses a tackle, and he’s a serious ballhawk. It’s like you have a combination of Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed mixed into one player. If you could mix Polamalu and Reed into one player, and have him play corner, or free/strong safety, wouldnt you draft him? I sure would!
I know many people want a left tackle, and Russell Okung is a great tackle, but he’s not elite. He’s not on the same level as Suh or Berry. Besides, even though Albert is having a sophmore slump, it wouldnt be smart to give up on him, for another rookie. If they want to draft a left tackle, wait until the second round, or better yet, they wait and draft Ciron Black (out of LSU) and fix the much bigger issue at RT.
My surprise pick was Dez Bryant at WR, because he’s such an amazing route runner and a dynamic playmaker on offense(especially at returning) but he might fall to the late first round(where the chiefs can move up for him!) because of his ineligibilty (over the issue with Deion Sanders)
I hope this helps! Feel free to comment back if you have anymore questions!