(Photo by John Bazemore)

Here's the weekly update on the Kansas City Chiefs play calling distribution. The more detailed numbers are after the jump.

First Down

39 rushing plays (4.08 average yards per rush), 37 passing plays (1.11 average yards per passing play)

Second Down

26 rushing plays (4.27 average yards per rush), 41 passing plays (6.98 average yards per passing play)

Third Down

11 rushing plays (4.27 average yards per rush), 38 passing plays (3.11 average yards per passing play)

Fourth Down

1 rushing plays (1 average yards per rush), 2 passing plays (6.5 average yards per passing play)

Continue reading this post »

(Photo by John Amis)

Well, well. Another week. Another loss. I began this recap with the intention of brushing a broader stroke but I didn't have the heart for it. Here's a few things I took away from yesterday's game.

Turnovers will always kill you

Whenever a team loses a game and I take a look at the box score, my eyes almost always go to the turnover line. Sure enough, the Chiefs were -2 yesterday in the turnover category and lost by 24 points despite similar offensive stats to the Falcons. Tyler Thigpen's two interceptions within three minutes of each other in the second quarter, in hindsight, was the devastating blow dealt to the Chiefs. Those two picks gave Atlanta excellent field position (KC 18 and the KC 40) for what ultimately led to ten more points and a 24 to 0 lead a few minutes before half.

No reason to mention Thigpen's third and final pick which resulted in a touchdown by the Falcons' Chris Houston. Dwayne Bowe slipped and Thigpen had already released the ball.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a -1 turnover ratio on the season but the wrinkle in that is the Chiefs' opponents take advantage of those turnovers and score, literally after every turnover mind you, and the Chiefs do not. That's a basic football stat that you have to shake your head at if you're a Chiefs fan. That's a lot of power to have conceded to your opponent each game.

Hey, was that Larry Johnson on the field?

Lost amidst yesterday's destruction was that Larry Johnson had the best rushing performance by the Chiefs since Kolby Smith pounded the rock 31 times for 150 yards against Oakland last year (Side note: I completely forgot that Kolby Smith carried the ball that many times). LJ ran the ball 24 times for 121 yards and a touchdown.

One thing I've found myself doing when looking at Larry Johnson's stats over the last year is take away his longest carry and see what the YPC average is. With his long run of 48 yards included, LJ had a 5 yard per carry average. Take out that run and he averaged about 3.2 yards per carry. I like to use that second number as a more accurate judge of a runner's effectiveness over the period of an entire game.

Even with that second number right around 3 yards, the Chiefs were able to effectively run the ball for the first time in a long, long time. I actually saw a few holes opened up by the offensive line yesterday and that is said with no sarcasm whatsoever. They have been the first running lanes Larry Johnson has seen all season.

Remember, Tyler Thigpen is only temporary

The Tyler Thigpen led Chiefs' offense put together, for about 28 minutes to start the game, one of the worst strings of drives I've seen in a long time. And I watched all of last season!

The debate between starting Tyler Thigpen over Damon Huard is really only a relevant one if Brodie Croyle is out for a long period of time. Thigpen is not a future starter for the Chiefs and we need to treat him like that. Right now, the Chiefs starting quarterback is hurt and the team is in triage mode, trying to get as many pieces to work together as possible to maximize survival. The situation is obviously not ideal but I think that the Chiefs keeping Thigpen in is a good move, if only because wins aren't the ultimate goal this season. It doesn't matter if Huard or Thigpen is in there if neither one is going to be the full-time starting quarterback. It's a band-aid, barely covering the wound and we have to grit through the pain.

With those criticisms aside, Tyler Thigpen did lead touchdown scoring drives of 74 and 82 yards and that's no joke for this current Chiefs team. The best three drives of the season have been with Thigpen at the helm. Even going back further than this year, those two drives yesterday and his 9 play, 80-yard drive last week were some of the best drives the Chiefs have had since 2006.

For that, I will politely tip my hat to Tyler Thigpen and anxiously await the return of Brodie Croyle, or whoever our next quarterback is.

Defensive problems loom large

The Chiefs defense started the game off well, forcing three straight three and outs on the Falcons. But then the floodgates opened. Two quick touchdowns by the Falcons towards the end of first quarter shook the Chiefs defense and they never recovered.

A tough Matt Ryan and another week of ineffective pass rushing resulted in no sacks for the Chiefs. The run defense let the team down again, giving up 186 yards on the ground. This weekly recap is getting quite repetitious by the way. We are getting torn up on the ground.

I don't buy the argument that the defense is tired because they're on the field so much. First, the time of possession for all three games this season has not been out of whack for the Chiefs or their opponents. Plus, the Chiefs scattered in enough three, four and five minutes drives between their three and outs to give the defense time to rest. The defense did get a lot of time on the field during the first quarter yesterday but if your team can't make it through the first quarter endurance wise, geez I don't know what to tell you.

The Falcons aren't that bad

"We lost to the Falcons!"

I heard that quite a bit yesterday and even said it myself a few times. But after sleeping on it, the Falcons are actually a pretty solid team. They have what appears to be a good quarterback in Matt Ryan and their running game is a complete 180-degree turn around from last year. Their pass rush is pretty solid and their offensive line is leaps and bounds ahead of ours. Let's give the Falcons some credit for yesterday's win.

I'm still working on today's game recap so DJ's post is going to sit up top until just a bit later this morning. -Chris

I'm sure by now we have all heard the report from Jay Glazer that the Chiefs have been in talks with the Cleveland Browns to acquire Brady Quinn, who was expected to be a top 5 pick in the 2007 draft and surprisingly dropped clear to #22 where the Browns traded in right in front of the Chiefs.

Though Glazer said the Browns had declined our offer, which apparently involved multiple draft picks, Warpaint Illustrated is reporting that the talks are not dead and should heat up following the latest addition to the longest losing streak in Chiefs history.

According to WPI:

Brodie Croyle will remain sidelined for what amounts to roughly eight weeks before he’s ready to practice and take any hits on his right shoulder.

Chiefs nation simply will not survive another six weeks of Tyler Thigpen.

I have been a staunch Croyle supporter since he was drafted in the 3rd round of 2006, but the injury issue simply cannot be passed over anymore.  Three injuries causing missing game time in seven starts is too much and no matter how good he has the potential to be, if he's not available, he does the team no good and part of rebuilding is thinking of the team long term first over individual players.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reportedly the Browns are asking for our 1st round pick in 2009 for Quinn, which quite likely will be a top 5 pick and very possibly could be #1 overall.  Here are the reasons I think we need to fork it over immediately:

Continue reading this post »

Photo by John Bazemore

Stats are here.

Again there's not much to say.  We were dominated in most facets of the game.  LJ got back to 100 yards and Bowe scored again.

Unfortunately, 22 incompletions and 3 interceptions won't win you anything.  Our offense looked pathetic but at least this game helped re-focus the problem on the QB.

I don't know what else to say anymore.  I guess you could say we made some progress from last week so maybe that was rock bottom?

When: Noon central time

Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

SBN Affiliate: The Falcoholic

Chiefs Blogs: Home of the Chiefs, Arrowhead Addict, BobGretz.com, KC Chiefs Football, Red Zone, The Mothership and KC Chiefs Fanatic.

Coverage of the game leading up to now is here.

Injury reports are here. Inactives are QB Brodie Croyle, RB Dantrell Savage, T Barry Richardson, DE Brian De La Puente, LB Nap Harris and CB Patrick Surtain.

Listen online here.

Find out what NFL games you get on television by clicking here.

Bible quote about today's game:

Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the Lord persecute them.

And now this:

Ba na na na... Hey!
Ba na na. Ba na na na... Hey!
Ba na na. Ba na na na... Hey!
Ba na na...We're gonna beat the hell out of you! You! You! You! You! You!

Make sure you chime in at The Falcoholic's game day thread too.

GOOOOO CHIEFS!!!!!

Dave from The Falcoholic stopped by and answered five of our questions. Many thanks to Dave for taking time to do this. Make sure you read up on the game this weekend at The Falcoholic.

KC FAN IN CA: Obviously you do not miss D hall but who has replaced him?

Dave: Hall has been replaced by undrafted free agent Brent Grimes, who went from roster afterthought to our best corner. Grimey is freakishly athletic and has shown surprisingly good instincts for a guy who was thrust into the starting lineup with little warning, but he's still prone to mental mistakes. He will definitely be matching up with Dwayne Bowe, who I understand is kind of good or something. That matchup scares me a little, but Grimes is getting better every game.

Hall was just too full of himself and too sure of his own talent. He's being treated like an elite cornerback, but he's at best a #1 corner on a bad team. Thought you guys probably know that by now.

primetime 07: How is Sam Baker looking? Does he figure to progress into a player the Falcons will keep around for the next decade?

Dave: Baker actually looks like a potential anchor on the critical left side of the line, but he got his bell rung last week and he's iffy for this week. It's really too early to say whether he'll last the decade, but the knocks on him about his lack of aggression and short arms haven't stopped him from being very effective. When he was knocked out of the game against the Bucs, there was a noticeable drop in the quality of protection. That's probably a pretty glowing endorsement.

Seth_C :As for a question for the Falcons, is there any whisper around there of what, if anything, will happen to Lawyer Milloy after his DUI?

Dave: There were many whispers about the team suspending him for a game or two to teach him a lesson, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Milloy was on the practice field mid-week and will probably just be on a short leash for the rest of the year. He's being counted on to provide veteran leadership (and the team cut my favorite sleeper, Daren Stone, and continued to let him start) so I was incredibly disappointed to see him showing up in the papers with a DUI. This is probably his last season as a Falcon.

IISaiNtII: Has the team and fanbase moved on from Michael Vick? Are they warming up to Ryan yet, or is it too early to tell?

Dave: There's a percentage of fans out there--and how big they are, I don't know--that are more attached to Michael Vick than the Falcons. They're still rooting against the team because they're not willing to take Vick back, which makes sense to pretty much every rational human being in the entire world. He did completely screw the franchise, which is kind of a no-no where I come from.

As for Ryan, I think the fanbase is really warming up to him. I've already had people defend him when I called him out for terrible throws last week, which at least tells you they're giving him a chance. We've got big expectations for Ryan, but he's handling himself well so far and he's converting people who swore he'd never amount to a damn thing. Even though it's too early to tell if he will.

TheQ: Can we beat you guys...please?

Dave: I gotta say that I don't think it's particularly likely. The Falcons should get close to 100 yards out of Turner and hit Thigpen often, so it's not going to be easy for you guys. I'm going to predict something along the lines of a 28-17 win, just to be generous. Good luck out there!

It's all need to know info, right?

• One of the unverified rumors circling KC this week has been that Damon Huard asked to be taken out of the Raiders game, or that he had gotten on Herm's bad side and coach got fed up with him. Not sure if either of those is true but I wanted to throw them out there.


• Brodie Croyle and Pat Surtain are the only Kansas City Chiefs not practicing according to the injury report. Looks like Nap Harris and Will Franklin are a go this weekend but I'm unsure of how much they'll play, if at all.


• Harm Edwards? It could stick.


• Within two weeks, Tony Gonzalez should surpass Shannon Sharpe on the all-time receiving yards for a tight end list. He needs 85 yards to do it.That would give TG the most touchdowns by a tight end; the most receptions by a tight end; and the most receiving yards by a tight end. Greatest. Ever.


• Eh, why not? Early Look: NFL Draft Top 100 Prospects from Rivals.com.


• I suppose it's about time to start using this phrase - "The Nextel portion of Sprint Nextel has been losing subscribers even faster than the Kansas City Chiefs have been losing starting quarterbacks lately."


• Jeffrey Flanagan says: "Be patient. It will get better."



• One more item of note from the Comment of the Day on Flanagan's blog - "My family has had season tickets for 35+ years. I would like a partial credit towards next year, please."

  No. No you should not get a freakin' partial refund. Do you know how exchanging money for a product works? You paid to see a football season. Not a winning football season. A season. You did not pay for a specific football strategy. No team can guarantee wins. It was your decision to buy the season tickets. The Chiefs did not make you do that. Maybe if you paid an ounce of attention to the team you would know that the expectations for this year were zero. At least for the educated fans they were.

  You wouldn't demand a refund on your wedding because you and your wife got in a fight, would you?

  The reader comment ends like this: "How great would it be if all the fans boycotted and stayed in the parking lot for a whole game?" Seriously dude? You just lost your Chiefs' fan privileges. Give your tickets to someone who actually wants to watch football and stay the hell away from me.




• Speaking of wives and the Chiefs...



• More Quinn talk: Brady Quinn Will Not Be A Member of the Kansas City Chiefs.


• No TV blackout in Atlanta. Get used to hearing about Chiefs blackouts this year. It's the lazy story to file on Wednesday for reporters because the sell-by date for the NFL is Thursdays at 1 PM for Sunday games.


• I forgot where I read it but someone compared Damon Huard to a few of the guys in the cart in this clip.


• styg50 from MHR picked the Chiefs to win this weekend!


• Finally, and I'm stretching a bit here, does it bother you that Tyler Thigpen's alma mater's football program is only five years old? It has no bearing on his play in the NFL today but I'm just saying. That's a young program.

Wooh..that's a lot of links. Come back throughout the day if you don't get to read them all this morning. Enjoy those and we'll have this week's Know Thy Enemy coming up shortly. Also, please take part in our demographic poll below. Thanks!

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Despite going 4-12 last season like our beloved Kansas City Chiefs did, Atlanta Falcon fans are feeling pretty good about this game. You know when your team isn't very good and a worse team comes on the schedule and you're like, "Finally, we'll get back on track this week"? That's the Chiefs this week for the Falcons.

Beyond just "The Chiefs are a bad team" reasoning, the Falcons also have another very good reason to assume confidence this weekend - DE John Abraham and the Atlanta pass rush.

John Abraham, formerly coached under Herm Edwards in New York, already has four sacks on the season and is undoubtedly licking his chops to get after Tyler Thigpen this weekend. As Bob Gretz noted, the Atlanta pass rush is a major reason why Tyler Thigpen is getting the nod this weekend over Damon Huard.

Let’s be honest, if they move Abraham over to the left side and have him rush against RT Damion McIntosh, then whoever is playing quarterback for the Chiefs is in trouble. Better to have somebody with some mobility, who can get away from that kind of pressure. Huard can’t do that. Thigpen can.

Thigpen, despite his other shortcomings, is relatively more mobile than Damon Huard meaning he can avoid the pass rush. Then again, who isn't more mobile than Damon Huard?

Let me take one second to talk about Thigpen's touted mobility. I guess I don't see why it's such an asset for him. Thigpen did make a few plays with his legs last week against the Raiders (1 rush for 6 yards and a few dodges) but I would hardly call him a mobile quarterback. He's only seems "very" mobile compared to Damon Huard, who is practically a statue in the pocket. Compared to Huard, Thigpen is younger and less stiff. Croyle has a bit of mobility too when he needs to use it. Thigpen isn't Donovan McNabb or Michael Vick when it comes to running the ball. He's more like...Steve Bono.

Plus, does mobility matter if the pocket dissolves a half second after snapping the ball?

Abraham will have his choice of going up against Branden Albert on the left side of the line or Damion "Sackintosh" McIntosh (I hate nicknames like that but this one is too good) on the right side. Albert should be able to at least partially contain Abraham but I'm quite concerned about Abraham literally running past Damion McIntosh on the right side of our line. We saw the Raiders' defensive ends do it last week and I don't think McIntosh has improved much from last week to this week. The man is Chris Terry version 2.0 and I don't want to remember those visions of last season.

Abraham's three sacks in the Falcons opening game against the Lions was undoubtedly bolstered by the fact that the Falcons got up 21-0 on the Lions within twelve minutes of the game and forced Detroit into passing attack mode. But a quickly declining Damion McIntosh won't be much of a match for John Abraham. The Chiefs will need to set up more help on the right side of the line for McIntosh and that will have a serious affect on their game plan. We will have to either put another tight end on the right side or commit fullback Mike Cox to that side on almost every down. The Chiefs are already short on talent and to have to overcompensate on one side is a terrible point to have to concede to he Falcons.

The game changes necessary for the Chiefs to contain the Atlanta pass rush will spell bad news for KC. I predict that the game will be won or lost on the right side of our offensive line. And right now I don't have much confidence the Chiefs will win that battle. Thigpen's mobility will not be as big of an asset as people are making it out to be and the Chiefs will suffer dearly on Sunday.

To sum up this rambling, Tyler Thigpen's mobility is overrated and will hardly help him avoid a solid Atlanta pass rush. I hope I'm wrong.

Amid all of the hullabaloo over Larry Johnson' fiery comments about his role with the Kansas City Chiefs is a very valid point made by the running back - The Chiefs need to use certain players more, mainly because it just makes sense to do so. Larry Johnson had 416 carries two years ago because that's partly his style and part of what made him an effective running back. We shouldn't deny the ability of players in favor of some sort of scheme.

Larry Johnson

This one is pretty obvious in my opinion. I know the Chiefs have had to pass quite a bit in the first two games of the 2008 season but that is no excuse for Larry Johnson to only receive two carries in the second half of last week's game. The Chiefs only rushed the ball four times as a team in the second half on Sunday.

To be fair, Larry split his 22 carries in Week 1 equally over the first and second halves but last week's play calling was atrocious in the second half.

Is LJ being taken out because of insufficient pass blocking? Is he actually being phased out of the offense? The first one rings much more true than the second. I will say I agree with Larry - Get him the ball at least, at least 20 times a game and you can feel good about your play calling. That seems like a no-brainer to me but so have a lot of things this season.

Jamaal Charles

I know it's a bit odd to suggest Larry needs more carries and Charles does as well but I think you know what I'm getting at.

I'm suggesting Jamaal Charles get more carries at the expense of Kolby Smith getting fewer. Now, Kolby only has one carry on the season mind you but Charles has yet to be anointed the official #2 back and I'm going to assume that Kolby Smith still factors heavily into the game plan as far as the #2 RB spot.

I think we've all loved what we've seen so far from Jamaal Charles - the quick cuts, the darts in between the tackles and that feeling of anxiety you get while watching a super fast running back who he can break off a big run at any time.

Any WR not named Dwayne Bowe (And more Bowe too!)

Hopefully rookie WR Will Franklin returns this week and can take some of the heat off of Bowe but I haven't heard anything definite on that quite yet. I went over the lack of receiving options in my recap of last week's game and it has quickly become a growing problem inside my head. We're back where we've pretty much always been Chiefs fans, without a sold receiving corp. That should feel familiar.

Glenn Dorsey

It seems to me that in the four or five games I saw Dorsey play while he was at LSU, he made his mark in the games as a disruptive force behind the line of scrimmage. In the short first two games of Dorsey's career in the NFL, the Chiefs appear content to have him in more of a run-stuffing role on the line of scrimmage. Let Dorsey do his disruption act within the limits of the Cover 2 defense and hopefully we can see our rookie doing his sack dance against the Falcons this weekend.

Dantrell Savage

This is another obvious one, right?

Savage was inactive last weekend in favor of Eddie Drummond B.J. Sams who yet again showed us nothing. Savage may have the same luck with this special teams coverage unit but we can all agree that youth should be served at the kick return position. As long as Savage doesn't fumble the ball, why not let him get 10 yard returns instead of Sams?

By the way, after this post, I'm retiring my small personal campaign for Savage and against Sams. I'm tired of talking about it already.

Who do you think should be a bigger part of the game plan this weekend?