Biggest Disappointment #3 - Ty Law

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 9:07 AM CST in 2006 Disappointments

You're right, Coach. Ten interceptions last year was too many. I'll tone it down. (Photo via Lawrence -Journal)

Oh the hype. The talent. The skill. The wonder that is Ty Law. Brings you back to right before training camp, doesn't it? With Ty Law, we're Super Bowl contenders, right?

I'll be honest with you here since what I've said is easily accessible via the search function to the right. I bought into the Ty Law hype. Did I think Ty Law made us Super Bowl bound? No. Did I think he was a fantastic addition to a weak defense? Of course. Its difficult to argue against the talent of a player who had 10 interceptions in the previous season.

In his first season with the Chiefs, Ty Law had 4 INTs, 1 sack and 61 tackles. To Law's credit, the 61 tackles was the second highest total of his career. But its difficult to forget the various slips and big missed tackles he had, especially in the Pittsburgh game. Really what it comes down to and why Ty Law is on this list at #3 is that he didn't have any big plays. Take a look at the link above to see his career stats and you'll notice that in the vast majority of his seasons, he had at least one (sometimes two) long INT returns for TDs. Game changing plays. Think Champ Bailey last year in the playoffs.

It would have been impossible for Ty Law to live up to the hype that surrounded his debut as a Kansas City Chief. But he's on this list because, for the most part, he wasn't much better than Patrick Surtain.

Ty Law as a KC Chief [Arrowhead Pride]

Ty Law: Most Exciting Pick Up Since Joe Montana [Arrowhead Pride]

The Kansas City Chiefs Win in a Close One [Arrowhead Pride]

News, news, and more news [Pats Pulpit]

Ty Law Signs with Chiefs; Reunites with Edwards [Pats Pulpit]

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Comments

disagree

Gotta disagree on Law. CB's play on islands, and the best will get beat if the front 7 let the QB have forever to throw the ball.

By the way, the INT in the Jacksonville game was as big of a play as you could ask for.

by bfos7215 on Jan 25, 2007 10:00 AM CST 0 recs

True

As I've been doing this list, and discussing it with other people, the word "disappointing" gets A LOT of interpretations. I gotta throw him in there because he had a lot of expectations and didn't really come close to living up to them.

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 10:30 AM CST 0 recs

I really enjoy this debate

Because of all the people I've talked to, every single one has a had a different list and every single person debated the hell out of the other person's most disappointing players. I threw out this topic at Chiefs Planet and the answers were all over the map.

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 10:34 AM CST 0 recs

I think he did

I'd argue that he did as good as the team expected him to do. The front 7 is who let the team down.

Which brings up an interesting question. You're obviously not done, but I wonder if Derrick Johnson is one of your most disappointing. Because he was for me.

This guy was supposed to come in and make the kind of impact on defense to the level Urlacher did his first year. He wasn't close. There were so many games, that I couldn't remember his name getting called.

But, again, the front 4 had to have played a part in that. I also don't understand why he's not playing in the middle. He's more athletic, so you'd think he'd be the perfect guy for MLB in a cover-2. Mitchel proved that he's not the right guy for that system, because of his inability to cover recievers down the middle of the field.

by bfos7215 on Jan 25, 2007 10:37 AM CST 0 recs

DJ could be in there

To be honest, I haven't really decided on the Top 2 yet. I'm still working out my own ideas of what "most disappointing" means. Trent Green is either not on this list or he's number 1. Still haven't decided on that...

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 10:39 AM CST 0 recs

On the other hand

I'd like to say that Hali was one of the most surprising, to me.

I almost expected him to be a sure bust, just like all of the other DL's that we had picked early in the draft.

by bfos7215 on Jan 25, 2007 11:09 AM CST 0 recs

Certainly

was better than the #1 overall pick.

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 11:11 AM CST 0 recs

Ty Law was a disappointment

he was supposed to be one of the best CB's in the leauge, but he wasn't even better than patrick surtain. his name got called THREE TIMES MORE than surtain each and every game, which is a bad thing for a CB. he wasnt a big player in the running game, surtain is a better tackler, law just got 61 because someone was open more often than someone was open on surtain's side of the field. surtain shut down his side, law had to constantly make tackles because he is old and slow.

i was never that high on him, i thought he would be better though so i think he should at least be the #3 disappointment if not higher.

regarding DJ, no one in there right minds thought he was going to be as good as urlacher. he is still improving but he has a chance to be really special and he was by far our best LB last year. our defense started doing worse once he got hurt in st. louis, he was a key part of our defense.

by rockchalk on Jan 25, 2007 12:31 PM CST 0 recs

Hmmm

That last comment makes me think that we need to do a countdown of the 5 players with the most potential next season.

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 4:28 PM CST 0 recs

DJ

Derrick Johnson has already been passed by the rookie likes of AJ Hawk, Ernie Sims, and DeMico Ryans. He hasn't been nearly the impact that he was supposed to be. But, like I said, there's a good chance that's because of the system.

Not sure who considered Law one of the best CB's in the league, neither you or I did. He is, however, not markedly worse than he was last year. You just can't leave a CB out there forever to get beat.

by bfos7215 on Jan 25, 2007 4:31 PM CST 0 recs

As always

if you guys (and girls) have strong feelings about any of these rankings, write up a diary or shoot me an email or something with your own list.

by Chris on Jan 25, 2007 4:59 PM CST 0 recs

Law is okay. DJ is CERTAINLY not a disappointment

Chris, I'll have to disagree with you on this one. Shouldn't the measure of an athlete be how he performs when it matters most? From that end, Ty Law was absolutely dominant in the Chiefs' playoff game against the Colts. That alone earned him his $'s, even if it didn't amount to anything.

As for those who want to vote for DJ, I'm not sure I understand that logic. Tackles aren't everything. Someone asked why nobody called DJ's number: that's a good thing, folks. Since DJ has been a starter, our days of tight ends thrashing us are over. Is our memory that short that we can't remember the days when Shannon Sharpe and Antonio Gates had career highs against us each and every game they played us? When DJ missed 5 games, tight ends dominated us because Keyaran Fox wasn't nearly as good as DJ in coverage. Most teams have a strong safety that can help out in coverage. We've done that w/Knight and he's proven to be way too slow to handle that. So instead of blaming DJ for his production, ask why our best LB is asked to go into coverage on almost every down, very often doing the safety's job too.

So you guys can rip on DJ all you want, but our defense struggled when he was out. That's all the proof you need that he's valuable to this team.

by chiefzilla on Jan 26, 2007 7:09 AM CST 0 recs

Are you disagreeing

that Law should be on this list at all or that he is #3?

by Chris on Jan 26, 2007 8:12 AM CST up 0 recs

DJ

Like I said about DJ, it's very likely that it's the system that is limiting his ability to impact the game. If his job is just covering the TE down field, he's not being asked to do enough.

I don't understand why DJ isn't playing the MLB spot, that is the natural position in a cover-2 that is supposed to cover up the middle of the field seam-to-seam. Mitchel failed all year trying to do that. So, that means we have two LB's on any playing trying to get deep in pass coverage.

And, while I can't say that I can specifically blame DJ, the middle of the defense is where just about all of the holes were in the passing game.

But, it's rather simple. We've been waiting for two years for DJ to make a substantial impact for this defense, and it simply hasn't happened, yet. Maybe you can blame it on injury this year. Maybe it is the system, and maybe he'll be great next year. But, so far, for whatever reason, he hasn't been the impact player we need.

by bfos7215 on Jan 26, 2007 8:03 AM CST 0 recs