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2006 Ramblings about the Chiefs

Before the end of the last week of the season, I sat down to draft an entry that went a long the lines of, "The Chiefs need to make some radical change in order to snap out of this malaise we've been in." After we made the playoffs, I decided to hold off on writing something like this because we had accomplished a major goal for the season, which was making the playoffs.

As far as I'm concerned, it was obvious that the Chiefs did not belong in the playoffs. Don't get me wrong. We had the talent to beat Indy last week. We just didn't have the will. For Larry Johnson to rush for anything less than 100 yards against the Colts defense was absurd. The first half of the Colt game was the one of the worst halves of offensive production I've seen out of the Chiefs. EVER.

Where did it all go wrong? I'm really not sure. I mentioned to a few friends that I figured the Chiefs players to be especially jacked up about this game, since everyone and their mother was claiming the Chiefs "snuck in" or "had a lot of help" getting into the playoffs. The Chiefs came out last Saturday as flat offensively as you can play. I guess I'm going to chalk up that playoff loss to inexperience and maybe some postseason jitters. In this situation, I don't really know what to say. Its just ridiculous how the Chiefs played and there is not an obvious explanation.

All in all, the best way to describe this 2006 campaign is up and down. I remember sitting in a bar in Georgetown in Washington, DC, for the very first game of the season against the Bengals. After the first quarter and after Trent Green went down with one of the nastiest concussions I've ever seen, I figured a miracle would have to happen for the Chiefs to even appear decent this season. I am a big believe in continuity, especially in the QB position.

The season was exciting but disappointing. The 2006 season can be looked at through the view of the Cleveland game and the first San Diego game, which was at home. That first SD game showed that the Chiefs had it in them to win against a fantastic opponent but only if they wanted to. The Cleveland game showed that the Chiefs could really suck if they wanted to as well.

I guess that leaves me in a blah position about 2007. Will Trent Green be back? Will Tony G stick around? How big of a dropoff in production will we see from our O-line?

I'll have more to come later but for now, for purposes of wrapping up the 2006 season, it would be great if somebody could write on a few miscellaneous things that I think we should cover:

Grade each position

Examine possible draft picks for 2007

Look at what the roster will probably be for next year

These are just a few quick things I think we should cover. If you get the inkling to write something on one of these, by all means go ahead and I'll put it up here on the front page. And, if you ever want to write anything else, do not hesitate.

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I know its just
me rambling in this post but I've been particularly adverse to writing about the Chiefs since Saturday.

by Chris on Jan 9, 2007 1:55 PM CST   0 recs

And
For the offseason, I was thinking about counting down the 50 greatest Chiefs and just making that an ongoing feature here. Thoughts?

by Chris on Jan 9, 2007 1:56 PM CST   0 recs

time off does a mind good
especially after the meltdown last weekend

by royalsreview on Jan 9, 2007 10:24 PM CST   0 recs

Its just a shock
on the mind. I was PUMPED about the Chiefs making the playoffs and then to not even show up last Sat., I was crushed.

I definitely invested a lot of emotional energy into the Colts v. Chiefs playoff and got, well, not a whole hell of a lot in return.

by Chris on Jan 9, 2007 10:37 PM CST   0 recs

grades
i'm a new user to this blogging stuff, but i've been reading royalsreview all year and arrowheadpride for awhile.  i read the post asking someone to do grades, and this is my kind of thing, so i'll give it a shot.

QBs
Trent Green=B-, injury/underachievement/bad timing/bad transition from old offense to new
Damon Huard=A-, i never saw him coming, the denver, pittsburgh, and miami games were terrible...so no A
Brodie Croyle=C-, the only showing came in the final minutes of the pittsburgh game...he looked like a 3rd qb

RBs
Larry Johnson=B, expectations were too high and offense was too predictable for him to accomplish what we thought he could
Michael Bennett=C+, he looked good when he played, but it seemed as if he was always out or a gametime decision...injuries
Dee Brown=C, blocked for larry on obvious passing downs but still leaves a lot to be desired as a runner
Ronnie Cruz=D, Kris Wilson played better at FB and he doesn't have the tools for the blocking

TEs
Tony Gonzalez=B-, his numbers look average this year compared to the rest of his career, and he seemed to disappear way too much for the best TE in league history
Jason Dunn=C-, injury problems and age caught up to the blocking TE
Kris Wilson=B+ as pass catching fullback/TE, C as a blocking fullback, he seemed to stop shy of holes or linemen, stuttering where T-Rich would just plow ahead and open holes, needs expanded role in offense

WRs
Eddie Kennison= C+, drop in yardage and receptions coming with age/offensive struggles, hands still inconsistent, would be a good nfl number 2 WR
Samie Parker= D+, possibly league's worst hands for a starting wide receiver, unbelieveable speed, talks too much on the field for his lack of production, probably will be replaced or demoted
Dante Hall= C, still Dante Hall, drops passes, good distraction, mismatch only for linebackers
Rod Gardner= D-, former first round picks are not supposed to be special teamers

OL
Jordan Black=C-, Did well against average or below average ends, but speed and tenacity always beat him to the QB...he seemed to constantly be in the backfield on running plays to the left, needs to be replaced
Brian Waters=B+, emerged as the team's vocal leader and is an emerging star in the league, probably the best LG in the game, the injury and the problems with whoever filled in to his left made him look bad
Casey Wiegmann= C, least productive year as chiefs center, revealed to be not strong enough for good DTs
Will Shields= C-, age is finally showing on the iron man, needs to seriously consider retirement, however much we love him...best lineman in franchise history
Kyle Turley= D-, looked nothing like his most productive years and had the injury problems we were told he would not have
Kevin Sampson= Incomplete, for our future right tackle he never plays
John Welbourne= C-, played best of our right tackles, but that doesn't say a whole lot
Chris Terry= D+, like turley, it shows he's been out of the game awhile, despite the raw talent
Chris Bober= A-, filled in very nicely, probably overachieved, for waters and shields, would be a good short term fix for a shields retirement if that comes

DL(here we go...)
Jared Allen= A, should have gone to his first pro bowl, constantly fought double-teams and holding, always near the passer, knocked down a lot of passes...needs to work on playing against premier tackles if he wants to take the next step
Tamba Hali= B+, we got more out of him than most people think, a good tackler, run defender, and more than adequate pass rusher for a rookie...potential to be a very good player
Eric Hicks= F, sorry old bud...but herm not playing you really shows what kind of player you are these days
Jimmy Wilkerson= B+, really developing into a nice end/tackle player ideally suited for a 3/4 system outside slot...probably could have benefited from more college
James Reed= D+, very average run stopper, no push whatsoever...needs replacement
Ron Edwards= C-, only thing keeping him better than reed is his college ball at northwest
Ryan Sims= F, get off our team now, you're ruining young guys w/ your attitude and terrible play when you're out there

LBs
Derrick Johnson= B, tackling could use improvement as could blitzing skills, speed and attitude/general talent greatly improve defense, could be bigtime player in the derrick brooks mold someday
Kendrell Bell= C, missed tackling early in the season cost the chiefs, still not playing his natural position as an ILB in 3/4 schemes and it shows, but strong second half was impressive, speed is lacking as well
Keyaron Fox= C, just good enough to challenge Bell for the starting spot, not sure he's an upgrade though, injury problems persist
Kawika Mitchell= B-, has turned himself from a detrimental part of the defense to a very average nfl middle linebacker, still misses tackles he shouldn't and could use help getting free of blocks

DBs
Ty Law= B+, proved his worth in clutch situations(arizona, jacksonville, indianapolis), though slippage cost the chiefs 3 td's this season and the whiff in cleveland hurt as well
Pat Surtain= C, clearly the weaker of the two starting corners and still is playing below the advertised talent level, adequate
Lenny Walls= C+, does not seem to be any worse than Surtain, may challenge for a starting spot, blew coverage in arizona and pittsburgh
Benny Sapp= B+, you know what you get w/ him, blitzing corner and great special teams play
Greg Wesley= C-, despite play reminiscent of his previous seasons, he will lose the starting job to Jarrad Page, still blows coverages and is consistently late to receivers deep and over the middle, tackling is not good enough either
Sammy Knight= C, showing some age in speed but not mentally or in his tackling, will be challenged for a starting spot by Pollard
Jarrad Page= A, i would give him an A+ if it weren't for the game of tag he played w/ jacksonville Qbs on new years eve, probably the best 7th round pick in the draft, future star
Bernard Pollard= B- defense/A+ special teams, great tackling and ferocious hitting define him, a couple blown coverages that could go away w/ experience, best special teams player on the team that's not a punter

Special Teams
Lawrence Tynes= B-, extremely reliable during the season and very average on kickoffs(although they are probably low and hurting our coverage), 23 yd miss in postseason play too lin elliot-ish
Dustin Colquitt= A+, led NFL in net punting, the only important stat for punters, constantly threatens return men w/ drops
Dante Hall= C-, regressed big-time, spent most of the season either standing still or in reverse, may not be given a roster spot in training camp
Boomer Grigsby= C, kickoff coverage units suffered and for a special teams specialist, he doesn't make a lot of plays or get noticed
Kendall Gammon= B+, still no bad snaps, although replaceable as a roster spot
Jeff Webb= B, in several returns replacing hall, looked very very capable

Coaching Staff
Herm Edwards= B-, created mediocre defense, imposed(should have let it run itself) mediocre offense, game management is alright, motivation got the most out of this team for the most part...pittsburgh/miami/cleveland/indy are exceptions
Mike Solari= C-, we will never know how much of the predictability is Solari and how much of it was Herm this year
Gunther Cunningham= B, defense showed discipline and playmaking ability, just imagine what he could do if he had capable blitzing linebackers

that's what i got...let me know what you think

pat

by kcisbetterthanstlateverything on Jan 10, 2007 5:16 PM CST   0 recs

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