Took It Back, Now Keep It

A few weeks ago, I wrote a fanpost titled "Taking Back Sunday", in which I discussed 3 simple ways that we could help the Chiefs start fielding a somewhat successful team.  I'm not sure how many of you read it, but one of those 3 ways to help our team came to fruition in RESOUNDING fashion on national TV. 

To save this post being ridiculously long, I'll split it up into two parts since I go in-depth on our future home games this season, so hopefully, you like it enough to read the 2nd part :-).

 The 3rd way I wrote about in my initial post a few weeks back went as follows:

3).  Let's make Arrowhead stadium as feared as it once was.   Ahhh, such fond memories of the "Arrowhead Mystique", as it was regularly listed as one of the loudest stadiums in the league, and carried a fierce environment for opponents that made QBs visiting for the first time crumble like the Bronco's roster (too soon? :-)  I know that the economy and the 10 wins in 3 seasons makes it hard for a lot of people to get out to the games, but as this team comes into 2010, let's continue to build on this positivity that's coming from this offseason and give this team their beloved homefield advantage again.  Regardless of the win/loss outcome through the season, us fans can give the rest of the league reason to believe that this team is turning around their fortunes from the last few dismal seasons.  If you can find a way out to any games this season, even if it's just one, make it happen.    Don't give the networks any opportunity to black out the Chiefs games from television.  Cheer as loud as possible when this team takes the field.  Let everyone know, from the opponents on the field, to the Chiefs fans in other parts of the world, that this is "the home of the CHIEFS!!!!".  Boo, yell, and hiss at every point the opposing offense is on the field.  Show your approval for every completion, every yard, every tackle, every defended pass, every sack, every cheerleader (whoops).  Sing at the top of your lungs, every time we score a touchdown, "WE'RE GONNA BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU.....YOU.....YOU YOU YOU!!!!". 

Well, here we are, 3 days removed from one of the loudest, nastiest, most hostile enviroments created at Arrowhead in a long time.  I am truely proud to be a Chiefs fan with all of you and having been a part of that with all of you who had the opportunity to be the there, sitting way up in the upper deck, getting rain soaked, wind blown, and slapped with numerous wet towels being swung in the air, screaming, cheering, and singing until my head pounded from yelling for extended periods of time, and my voice was cracking; and to the thousands of people watching from on TV across the country, across the world, as you were apart of what is regularly one of the highest rated shows on television on a per week basis, Monday Night Football on ESPN.  The recognition that our stadium and crowd got for having such a dramatic affect on the game is an exhilarating feeling, and I can only hope that we, as Chiefs fans, can continue to create that "Arrowhead Mystique" that I talked about weeks ago. 

Looking back at how we as fans affected the opposing team, and how our team fed off of our energy, it made me look ahead to our future home games this season, and if I believe we could affect other opposing QBs as badly as it did Philip Rivers and the consistency with his offense.  Let's breakdown our future opponents we play at Arrowhead this season, specifically the opposing QB.

Week 3: San Francisco:  Looking back at the last time we played the 49ers in 2006 and our 41-0 shutout we pitched against them at Arrowhead, I think it's safe to say that we may be able to get into Alex Smith's head.  Smith put up a Cassel-esque (yeesh, sorry) performance, going 13/25 for 92 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 INTs.  The way that San Fran looked as a whole on Sunday against Seattle, this team has some work to do, and I'm thrilled we are getting them early in the season when they may not be gelling quite yet, b/c they are a pretty talented and well-coached team.  Loud and boisterous may be all we need to get Alex Smith out of his game, but we have to stop Frank Gore, which could be a tough task. 

Week 7: Jacksonville:  We will be coming off of a tough 2 game road stretch against Houston and Indianapolis, and you just never know what Jaguars team will show up, but the last home game against Jacksonville wasn't too good for us, as they beat us 17-7 in 2007, with both Croyle and Huard playing and 2.7 putting up a Shonn Greene-esque (didn't look too good for my fantasy team) performance, 12 yards on 9 carries.  David Garrard played well enough, going 20/27 for 218 yards and 1 TD, but then again he didn't have to do much against the Chiefs offense in full Herm Edwards mode at that point.  Looking back a bit further, Garrard started in the season finale at Arrowhead the season before, going 10/18 for 140 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but was pulled during the game for Quinn Gray after a leading a mostly ineffective offense for the majority of the game, giving the Chiefs a 28-10 lead before being benched.  That was a pretty serious crowd for that game, as it was the beginning of the day that we needed several things to happen for us to back into the playoffs, all of which did happen fortunately for us, only for us to lose in true Herm Edwards style to the Colts in the 1st round of the playoffs.  I think we can get into Garrard's head easily enough, but again, we have a solid RB to deal with in Maurice Jones-Drew, so the defense will have to feed off the crowd energy again. 

Week 8:  Buffalo:  Ah, Buffalo, some tough games it's been against the Bills the last two seasons at home.  In 2008, Trent Edwards helped put up the most points against our Chiefs at home in our history, going 24/32 for 273 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs.  In 2009, Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starter, only needing to go 12/20 for 86 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT, as Cassel threw 4 INTs.  Obviously that can't happen again this season for Cassel against the Bills, which will definitely take the winds out of the crowd's sails, but looking back to 2008, our crowd could not have been much of anything as we were going into week 13 with one win, so getting into Trent Edwards' head was not going to happen.  Can we have a positive affect on our team against Buffalo this year?  Edwards hasn't played in a riotous Arrowhead stadium yet, and history shows that QBs playing for the first time in the "real" Arrowhead don't play very well, so I'll go out on the proverbial limb (and really hope it doesn't break) and say that if we can show Trent Edwards how loud our stadium can be, I can see him doing the "hurry up and hike it!" dance that Rivers was doing a few different times last Monday, and just like our team right now, I don't think they are a good enough offensive team to overcome penalties that push them back. 

I'll finish the rest of our home games in part 2, but feel free to start commenting on these teams and your thoughts of what a real Arrowhead crowd the shades of this past Monday can do to help our team win these home games.