Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/6

by NJ Chiefs Fan on Oct 6, 2011 7:21 AM CDT

Good morning. Here is today's Kansas City Chiefs news. Enjoy.

Jackie Battle had reason to believe he was going to be a star running back when on his first carry as a rookie for the Chiefs in 2007, he ran over a Detroit linebacker and scored a touchdown.

"I thought I was going to be a legit running back in the NFL," Battle said. "It’s been a little longer road than I expected, but I think it’s paying off."

Chiefs Look to Go to Battle at Running Back from KC Star

On Wednesday afternoon, Baldwin caught footballs, ran routes and worked just as any other healthy wide receiver would. He had previously practiced in a limited capacity, running through individuals with the wide receivers, but heading to an alternate practice field when team repetitions began.

"He's being evaluated every day just like everybody else," Coach Todd Haley said. "His evaluation has just been a little different.

Arrowhead Report: Baldwin Takes Another Step from The Mothership

Baldwin on Wednesday was, for the first time since fracturing his thumb in a fight with teammate Thomas Jones, listed as a full participant in practice. He had been limited the last several weeks. Baldwin told reporters last week that he hoped to rejoin his teammates soon but was again made inactive for this past Sunday's game.

Chiefs Buzz: Rookie Jon Baldwin Might Make Season Debut Against Colts from KC Star

Regardless of who is taking the snaps for Indianapolis this weekend, Dallas Clark is one of those pass-catching tight ends that acts as a security blanket for quarterbacks and poses plenty of matchup issues for opposing defenses.

"He's a tight end that really catches the ball well," Haley said. "You have to see him for his abilities and his number one strength is just his playmaking ability in general."

Colts TE Dallas Clark Has Chiefs Attention from The Mothership

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel observed on Wednesday that Curtis Painter is in a tough spot, and Cassel should know. He has been there.

Cassel was the New England Patriots backup quarterback when starter Tom Brady went down with a season-ending knee injury during the first quarter of the first game in 2008.

"The first thought going through your head is, 'Well, geez, I'd better find my helmet pretty quick here,' " Cassel said.

Chiefs Quarterback, When He Was With Patriots, Had To Step In For Brady In 2008 Opener from The Indianapolis Star

Since losing Charles, Kansas City has struggled to find consistency in the ground game, with veteran Thomas Jones averaging just 2.8 yards per carry. The Chiefs are averaging 110.8 rushing yards per game, a steep decline from the league-leading 164.2 they had last year.

Kansas City is hoping to have better success rushing the ball against the Colts' struggling run defense, which ranks 28th in the league (133.0 yards per game).

Chiefs-Colts Preview from FOX Sports

Longtime readers of my column know I delight in sharing secrets the Worldwide Leader in Sports would rather not have discussed. Today I'm delighted. Tickled pink. Giddy.

Bill Parcells, the ESPN know-it-all and media darling, is responsible for producing two of the worst teams in the NFL today - the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Parcells Behind Two Miserable Franchises from FOX Sports

Disappointment of the quarter: The reports that Kansas City coach Todd Haley is on the hot seat. Haley is a good coach and has helped turn this program around. After a terrible first two games, the Chiefs have shown a strong spirit in the past two weeks.

Quarter Checkpoint from ESPN

To give the status of the Indianapolis Colts offensive line some healthy perspective, consider how one of the starting right tackle candidates has been spending his time.

That would be Michael Toudouze. The deer hunter.

Toudouze, a 2006 fifth-round draft pick of the Colts who was a free agent at the start of the week, resides on the Northeastside with his fiancee. When he hasn't been sharing time with her or working out at IU Health Sports Performance in Carmel, he has been stalking.

Colts' O-Line Shuffle Continues: Toudouze Returns, Ijalana Out from The Indianapolis Star

Q: The offense has looked its best when you've been able to open it up a little bit - the second half of the San Diego game and after the incident with you and Coach Haley on the sideline in the Minnesota game. Why has it taken you guys awhile to open up the offense?

CASSEL: "It's a good question. I think it's probably a better question for coach. At the same time, there's a gameplan going into every game and we stick to the gameplan and it just happens to be that we get a few more throws going into the second half and it's worked out well for us so hopefully we can continue that success."

Q&A with Matt Cassel 10/5 from The Mothership

Q: You've had trouble covering the tight end at times this season. With their tight ends, and not having Eric Berry in your defensive backfield and kind of adjusting, is that something you talk about with your players going into this game and is that something everyone is still getting used to?

HALEY: "Yeah, I think for sure, you see some of that result is that component. But the fact is the component is not going to change. We just need to continue to improve and understand how we have to play defense - each player within the scheme and the way that we're kind of doing things now and we'll still game plan accordingly to who we're playing. There has been a slight adjustment in philosophy and we just have to keep getting better."

Q&A with Todd Haley 10/5 from The Mothership

Danny from El Centro wants to know how I think the AFC West compares to other divisions.

Bill Williamson: I think the Chiefs' struggles are hurting the division as a whole. With San Diego and Oakland having solid programs, it would have been nice had Kansas City been able to keep up the progress it made last season. Now, though, both Kansas City and Denver, are bottom-half programs at this point.

AFC West Mailbag from ESPN

Football is a tough sport, but the concussion epidemic is a problem we can work to fix.

Part of the issue is the culture of the game. Retired NFL great Nick "the Kick" Lowery, the all-time leading scorer for the Kansas City Chiefs and one of the greatest kickers to play the game, wrote to me about his experiences.

Tackle the Concussion Epidemic from CNN

Tweet Comment 35 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Kind of hard to keep up the progress when an ass of a WR takes out one of your best acquisitions of last year.

by bossmanham on Oct 6, 2011 8:12 AM CDT reply actions

And you lose a great RB and the centerpiece of your offense on his second carry of the second game

and you loes your starting TE, who just happens to be a good receiver AND blocker, before the season even starts.

And your 1st round WR who is a freak of nature gets hurt and doesn’t see the field for the first 4 weeks.

Other than that, though…

I love my wife, my kids, and the Chiefs. In that order. Except on game days.

by MNchiefsfan on Oct 6, 2011 12:20 PM CDT up reply actions

Should have to put a warning on that Whitlock article.

That guy sure hasn’t changed. I do not miss having him around to write uninformed trash about the Chiefs every week.

The views expressed by craig in calgary do not necessarily represent the views of all Canadians.

by saskwatch on Oct 6, 2011 8:32 AM CDT reply actions 3 recs

I read the headline and had to check it out of curiosity...

But then I opened it up and saw I’d been Whitlock’d. Not fun. Kind of like a car wreck though, just had to read it to see what rediculousness was being printed.

by Archyrr on Oct 6, 2011 9:20 AM CDT up reply actions

Knew it had to be Whitlock

So glad I did not click the link.

by Spiderwomn69 on Oct 6, 2011 10:17 AM CDT up reply actions

I'd pretty much forgotten about him.

So it caught me unawares.

by Archyrr on Oct 6, 2011 10:33 AM CDT up reply actions

Good call, it will only infuriate and confuse

Once in a while he puts up something good – this was 95% tripe. He has to be so excited that we got off to a slow start so he could heap up garbage like this.

by Ochophosphate on Oct 6, 2011 10:34 AM CDT up reply actions

He’s probably had in the works for awhile, just waiting to publish it. I liked his work on on the HOF stuff, but other than that I don’t think I’ve seen anything decent come from him. It’s one thing to take a controversial view point when you have a valid reason but more often than not he’s taking it to get web traffic.

by Spiderwomn69 on Oct 6, 2011 11:15 AM CDT up reply actions

An early trick or treat.

by NJ Chiefs Fan on Oct 6, 2011 10:37 AM CDT up reply actions

Good to see

that whitlock is still a grudge holding douche.

by Ozarks on Oct 6, 2011 8:35 AM CDT reply actions 3 recs

Sheesh, what a stupid article - at least the Miami portion has some relevance

I’m surprised he didn’t lump Dallas into the mix.. you know… somewhere Parcells has actually been in the last 10 years? I guess if you’re 2-2 you’re not bad enough to support his argument. I understand the Pioli-Parcells and Haley-Parcells connection, but c’mon, every organization in this league is riddled with incestuous connections to other coaching trees past and present. He just wanted to take a shit on KC and thought this was a way he could do it while also hitting a broader base of readers. It’s easy to kick teams when they’re down.

Hey, you know who else is directly in the Parcells coaching tree? Tom Caughlin… why aren’t the Giants in this article? Oh yeah, because they’re fucking 3-1 and tied for the lead in the NFC East. They won that Super Bowl thing a few years back too… that franchise is just in ruin. Boy, that Parcells sure is an idiot. Hey, how about those Saints? Sean Payton sure ran that franchise into the grou…. huh? what’s that? They won the Super Bowl two years ago? Well I’m sure Parcells had nothing to do with that.

Funny how you can make the “facts” fit what you want when you want to spew garbage. Just ignore anything that would be contradictory to your opinion.

Mr. Whitlock, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

by Ochophosphate on Oct 6, 2011 9:11 AM CDT up reply actions 3 recs

Completely Agree

Only reason Whitlock has a job is because his articles are so HORRIBLE he gets non-stop comments and opinions, therefore, his article is read by everyone.

He is seriously Dumb.
Someone should write up an article on how stupid he and his opinion are.

by gibson21 on Oct 6, 2011 9:14 AM CDT up reply actions

Agreed

He bitches about Pioli not being able to land McDaniels as HC.
McDaniels – Hired January 11
Pioli – Hired January 13

by ilchiefsfan on Oct 6, 2011 9:46 AM CDT up reply actions

Yeah but he will never mention that again, ever, in fact he'd probably deny he ever argued for it

because McDaniels was a train-wreck in Denver… and he’s doing oh-so-well as OC in STL right now too.

See, it doesn’t fit his argument so it may as well not even exist.

by Ochophosphate on Oct 6, 2011 9:51 AM CDT up reply actions

He mentioned it in the article posted above

by ilchiefsfan on Oct 6, 2011 10:39 AM CDT up reply actions

No shit? I swear I read that thing twice... must have been pre-coffee

by Ochophosphate on Oct 6, 2011 12:04 PM CDT up reply actions

Whitlock is a racist plain and simple.

He loves playing the race card.

Just tell it to call you Billie!

by saints_chiefsfan1979 on Oct 6, 2011 8:10 PM CDT up reply actions

You Sir,

are greened.

by chiefs_fan_forever on Oct 6, 2011 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions

Muchas gracias mi amigo!

Billy Madison quote FTW.

by Ochophosphate on Oct 6, 2011 12:06 PM CDT up reply actions

I hope Battle proves me wrong

Outside of a few surprising carries in the preseason, I’ve never seen him do anything that showed promise. I’ve been calling him a waste of roster space. Since TJ and McClain aren’t exactly being the bulldozers we need, I hope Battle proves me wrong.

by Chiefs4Life on Oct 6, 2011 9:05 AM CDT reply actions

Amen, Ditto & This ^^^

by KCChef on Oct 6, 2011 9:07 AM CDT up reply actions

I'd like to see TJ's Carries

Get split between Battle & McClain. It seem like every time McClain gets the ball it’s on a slant. When he is in the game in a 2 back formation he’s always the blocker. Disappointed in our use with him thus far.

by Spiderwomn69 on Oct 6, 2011 10:22 AM CDT up reply actions

I'd LOVE for Battle to get all-around game.

That’d give McClain more all-around game. One blocking for the other and turnabout.

If Battle can be great lead-blocking AND in pass pro’, then KC would have an awesome pro set, because Battle has speed and stout for carrying the rock. He also is pretty fluid and fast as a receiver. IF he’s nailed down the protections side of it, this could be some of the best news of the year.

Battle has always been intriguing, because of the athleticism and ability to turn nothing into something and something OK into something good, as a runner. But in his early times, he was a real liability as a lead blocker and pass protector. It gave me the impression that he was a big back who wanted to be a feature back, but he was too selfish to round out his game and block for somebody ELSE. So I was always surprised to see him in and around the play on special teams. NOT a guy who’s selfish, but an unselfish guy battling for a roster spot.

If you look back, it seems like when he first came to the league, he was exciting to watch as a runner and showed some halfback skills as a receiver. But he was a liability any time he wasn’t the guy getting the ball. Knowing this about him and almost ALWAYS seeing him get the rock when he takes the field, it seemed like he was a gritty player against any defense that knew how he was used. Minnesota acted almost like they didn’t expect him to get the ball, even though I sure expected it when 26 took to the field, especially with #44 in front of him.

would of ≠ would've

by hmills110 on Oct 6, 2011 6:56 PM CDT up reply actions

he sucks

I don’t know why they’re talking about reducing Dexter’s carries. He can do in 10 carries what it would take TJ, McClain, or Battle could do in 25.

I understand wanting to protect your player, but after a while you cross the line from protecting to coddling. The kid was a feature back in college. Sure, the guys playing in the pros are bigger and stronger, but that just gives McCluster more incentive to get away from them.

Point is, I don’t know why Haley wants to roll out with a trio of Ford Fiestas when he’s got a Porsche in Dexter waiting in his garage. If you’re never going to drive it because you’re afraid of getting some scratches on it, you’re a damned fool.

batter nine you sucky

by marbotty on Oct 6, 2011 12:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Because McCluster is a poor blocker. Not just average.. but bad

Putting him on the field as the one back in a single back set on say… 3rd and 6… and expecting him to chip the Jarred Allens of the world on his way out ona route… OR …. having him be the guy responcible for picking up the block on a blitzing LB or safety just doesn’t work.

In certain down and distance situations it’s detrimental to have McCluster lined up in the back field. Someone else has to take those snaps as the RB. Peanut can be used as a receiver, or a second back in those kind of situations… but not the primary blocker.

The Powers Of Astute Observation Are Often Mistaken As Cynicism By Those That Do Not Posses Them -- G.B. Shaw

by Texas Chief on Oct 6, 2011 2:01 PM CDT up reply actions

Then don't make him your third down back, make him your 1st and 2nd down back

Or put him in with a package, like you suggested. 3rd and 6 situations usually are the result of two straight Thomas Jones carries

batter nine you sucky

by marbotty on Oct 6, 2011 2:55 PM CDT up reply actions

It's about being pigeonholed by his presence in the backfield.

Personally, I thought he played a lot “bigger” in protections the last couple games, but he’s still of more use as a decoy, if you’re trying to get the ball to somebody else. There’s a tendency to be forced to go to him, because pass rushers can just blow past him, leaving only the screen to Dex as the thing they have time to execute.

I can see a regular diet of Dex, but you have to go to him a lot, early, for him to give you the “indirect protections” by drawing a lot of attention away from the ball. If the D isn’t biting, and sit on the hot routes, you can force the Chiefs to dump it off to Dex and still have DBs fairly close to the line to finish the play on him.

Thing is, there are times when you just want to play fake and let the QB r’ar back in the pocket and survey the field, when the HB HAS to take out a pass rusher, for it to work. Dex doesn’t necessarily give them that extra beat to make the pass a good one. I think that’s why Jones has lasted as long as he has. Run it enough to force the D to bite on the play fake, and give Cassel some opportunities to hit somebody down the field.

That’s why it’s cool to have Battle being mentioned positively, right now. I do think he’s a better power-speed combo than Jones as a runner. But I’m not as down on Jones as a lot of folks are. The offense has been more complete with Jones out there, although nobody but me believes this.

would of ≠ would've

by hmills110 on Oct 6, 2011 7:10 PM CDT up reply actions

chiefs4life

I like Jackie Battle,I think he can develop into a nice power back.He’s played behind Jones,but if you noticed,he was the 1 Hayley went to seal the win sunday. Don’t get me wrong,he’ll probably never be a star.But he has the tools to be a solid change of pace to Charles when he gets healthy.My prediction is he gets more and more carries as the season goes on,while Jones keeps getting phased out of the offense

Just tell it to call you Billie!

by saints_chiefsfan1979 on Oct 6, 2011 8:22 PM CDT up reply actions

I've always hated Battle

But for some reason when he got those 2 carries at the end of the game and ran LOW and ran a couple guys over.. for some reason.. for a second.. I found my self nodding my head in approval. He could possibly get it done I guess.

I dont see why McClain doesnt run like that, it seems like he tip tose around to much before he hits the line. Dude should run with his head down

by gibson21 on Oct 6, 2011 9:09 AM CDT reply actions