via NFL.com

Before we jump into more specific opinions about yesterday's game, I wanted to mention that for the first time in a long time, I had a lot of fun watching the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday. The team was inspired, energetic and for a brief time yesterday, you saw a break in the clouds. Will that sunshine last?

I may buy a Tyler Thigpen jersey

I know I'm not the only one surprised with Tyler Thigpen's performance the last two weeks. I thought that those two performances, if Thigpen was even capable of them in the NFL, were years of development down the road.

I love the energy he brought yesterday. I love the TD catch from Mark Bradley. I love his much improved scrambling ability. To date, he's easily the 2008 Chiefs most exciting player.

Rushing attack takes a hit

With Kolby Smith injured yesterday and out for the rest of the season, expect the Chiefs rushing attack to get a bit weird. Jamaal Charles, Dantrell Savage and Jackie Battle will man the rushing corp but don't forget about Tyler Thigpen. Thigpen is currently third on the team in rushing (103 yards) and was already ahead of Kolby Smith in rushing yards on nearly half the attempts.

Averaging 5.1 yards a rush and totaling 183 yards on the ground, this was the third best rushing effort by the Chiefs this season. The 183 yards on the ground yesterday is more than the three previous week's rushing totals combined. The Chiefs also were able to run the ball 36 times, which usually means a win for Kansas City if that happens.

With Kolby Smith leaving the game in the second half with a season-ending knee injury, Jamaal Charles ended up with 18 carries on the day. I hate to see Kolby Smith injured but this does let us see, rather early on, how much of a load Jamaal Charles can handle as a starting NFL running back. I'm still shocked by his fumble in the 4th quarter but it's tough to be hard on the guy when that's about his only mistake.

Spreading the ball around

Since the trade deadline, I've noticed a certain tenacity in Tony Gonzalez's play that wasn't there before. I'm not questioning his desire whatsoever. I'm talking about him fighting off tackles and throwing defenders to the ground. He's being much nastier than he's ever been before and I wonder how much of that is out of frustration.

Never thought I would be saying, "Thanks for Mark Bradley!" But I am. The Chicago Bear transfer has made Chiefs fans wonder what receivers we were even arguing about playing during the preseason. Jeff Webb? Doesn't play. Devard Darling? Very average wide out. But Mark Bradley? Yeah, Mark Bradley.

What's that word...consistency?

Like Primetime mentioned, it was a tale of two halves. For a change, the Chiefs started hot but eventually gave up a 21-point lead to lose the game.

Bolstered by a trick play and a fumble recovery, the Chiefs busted off three straight touchdowns to start the game but only managed six points after that.

Going back to last season, this team has always had trouble playing two good halves of football. There are other explanations for that but I think a good argument can be made that it's the coache's inability to game plan for an entire 60 minutes that hurts us the most.

Turnover battle

I'm happy the Chiefs nearly won the game but if you are +3 in turnovers and you don't win, something is wrong. The Chiefs are +6 in turnovers the last two weeks and do not have a win to show for it.

No, there isn't another chance in overtime

When the Bucs got the ball first in overtime, they marched down the field in 9 plays and promptly kicked the game winning field goal. The Chiefs gave up ground and played like they had a chance to come back and score a touchdown to win. If the Chiefs don't dissolve on that drive yesterday and the Jets final drive two weeks ago, this team may be 3-5.

If there was a report card for this game, it would read Satisfactory. And the parent-teacher conference would go something like, "Your child isn't as quick as the other children but I think he'll turn out fine."

Yesterday was fun to watch and will spurn even more good conversation this week. A narrative of sorts is in it's infantile stages and I'm smiling because of that.

Bumped this up a few hours. Morning update will come around 8 AM. -Chris

It's never too early, is it? Nah.

I am, nonetheless, an addicted draftnik, to the point where I literally have a tackboard that I keep all my favorite draftees targeted at particular points in the Draft.

But the point of this entry is not necessarily to judge which players we might be more intrigued by (rest assured, there will be plenty of those in the months that come from yours truly). Here, I'm more convinced in our needs. What needs are the most and least pressing for the Chiefs in the 2009 NFL Draft?

A complete and obsessive breakdown follows, after the jump.

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The Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver situation starts off exciting with the name Dwayne Bowe who had a highly productive rookie year.  Just shy of 1,000 yards, he proved to be exciting on AND off the field.  But after that, the 'ready-now' talent pool dries up.

With the addition of Mark Bradley, will anyone step up and put a stake in the #2 wide receiver spot?

Jeff Webb is perceived to be a Herm Edwards favorite considering his alma mater.  A 6th round draft choice just two years ago, Webb has been underwhelming.  But, as Herm would say, 'That's okay'.  What did we expect out of a 6th rounder?  A complementary role player.

Devard Darling was a 3rd rounder in 2004 and up until 2007 had been used almost exclusively as a return man.  Darling was non-existent in the preseason and has just one catch in three separate games for the Chiefs this year.  He's (allegedly) a speedster, so why isn't he being utilized more?

Will Franklin has been battling an injury which has limited to one catch in the regular season.  Still, he thrived while at Mizzou albeit in the spread offense.  We've been high on him for quite some time but reality needs to set in.  Rookie wide receivers are generally regarded as the lowest impact players in the draft.  Bowe is a huge exception to this rule.  Franklin's unlikely to catapult himself to the #2 spot this season.

Mark Bradley comes from an offense with a more putrid quarterback situation than the Chiefs with the Chicago Bears.  Grossman and Orton had trouble calling his number but then again they have that problem with a lot of receivers.  He was productive at Oklahoma and was expected to accrue similar success when the Bears used a 2nd rounder on him in the 2005 draft.  Was Muhsin Muhammad right when he said Chicago is where "receivers go to die"?  Or is Bradley another player waiting for the right opportunity?

Because of injuries, the Kansas City Chiefs are only dressing three wide receivers.

Larry Johnson has not played in a regular season football game since November 4th, 2007. The Chiefs' fullback is a brand-new rookie.

The offensive line is still very much in flux and unstable as a unit.

What kind of production can we possibly expect from this offense?

Let me make an unpopular prediction - Our offense is going to be extremely unproductive this weekend against the Patriots and for at least a few weeks after that. Let me tell you why. And this is more about the direction of the team over the next few weeks than specifically about this Sunday's match up.

I am in no way a believer in this offensive line until I see actual production on the field. I need to see it with my eyes for me to believe it. I need to see Larry Johnson running through big gaps in the line, defensive players flattened and most importantly in the rushing game stats.

I still feel stung from last season when I thought, not especially strongly mind you, but I thought that the Chiefs line would be adequate going into the regular season. And frankly, I have not seen really anything in the preseason to make me think that the line has improved much over last year's squad.

That mistake and the misjudgement by the Chiefs coaching staff has really jaded me to being a homer. It can make you look ridiculous and make you really question your judgement.

Next, behind Dwayne Bowe, the Chiefs have nearly zero depth at wide receiver. I know Maurice Price and Will Franklin are solid prospects and me saying zero depth is in no way criticizing their talents or the talents of Darling, Webb or Robinson.

My point is about our reveiver draft picks - they are unknown wide receiver talents in the NFL. Unknown. We really have no clue how much they will help this team. They should help this team. Wide receivers are notoriously hard to judge coming into the NFL draft. Past drafts are riddled with sickeningly high draft pick choices spent on wide receivers who never lived up to a tenth of their hype.

If the pressure is that high on a top WR draft pick and the odds that poor, then certainly those odds worsen as you drop into the fourth round (Franklin) and down to the undrafted college free agents (Price).

Again, we just don't know with these guys. Even Bowe is still proving himself after a huge rookie year. Expectations are heavy on him as well.

To top it all off, the Chiefs are starting the regular season tomorrow against what was last year one of the greatest regular season football teams of all time. At the very least, this game will be a major, major test for a young team. I like that we are playing the Patriots right off the bat. Baptism by fire. Let's throw them in and see what they can do.

What about your thoughts about this Chiefs offense?

Without the emergence of rookie Dwayne Bowe last year, the Chiefs wide receiving corp would have been in shambles. Bowe ended '07 with 995 yards receiving, which was nearly 60% of the total yards gained by all of the Chiefs' wide receivers. Jeff Webb, Samie Parker and veteran Eddie Kennison were nearly non-existent in 2007, with their 65 catches combined not even surpassing Bowe's own 70 catches. Parker and Kennison are no longer on the team, which means that the Chiefs most experienced WR on the roster is Devard Darling who is entering his fifth season. However, Darling has only started one game in his career so take his "experience" with a grain of salt. After that, the most experienced Chiefs receiver is Jeff Webb, who is entering his third season.

In other words, the Chiefs needed some help at the wide out position.

That help began with the signing of former Baltimore Raven Devard Darling this off season, who saw little action in Baltimore during his four years there. He came to Kansas City looking for an opportunity to start. Darling appears to be a quick, hard-working receiver who will battle for the #2 spot behind Dwayne Bowe. His signing isn't major by any means. He's an unproven wide out to throw into the mix with the others.

More than likely, Jeff Webb will be called on to be the #2 receiver but the job won't come without major competition. Webb's talent appears to be on roughly the same level as former Arena League player Bobby Sippio, who spent a mix of time on the active roster and practice squad last season. Neither have shown much of a spark, even when judged by #2 spot standards. Sippio didn't even catch a pass last year.

That brings us to the two receivers the Chiefs drafted this past weekend, Missouri's Will Franklin and Utah State's Kevin Robinson. Franklin should be familiar to most here - a burner who makes the occasional drop. He'll likely battle Jeff Webb for the #2 spot and there is no foreseeable winner in that fight. Franklin was a fourth round pick, which makes him a bit more touted than Jeff Webb, who was a 6th round pick back in 2006. Kevin Robinson initially appears to have been drafted for his fantastic return ability, something the Chiefs sorely need, even with the signing of another former Raven B.J. Sams this off-season.

The Chiefs receiving corp has only eighteen combined NFL starts. That receiving game is bolstered by the greatness of TE Tony Gonzalez but there is a dramatic drop off in "seen" talent after that. We have a clear cut #1 WR in Dwayne Bowe, with all four of our other receivers theoretically fighting for the #2 spot.

What happens when defenses key on Bowe and Tony Gonzalez? Who steps up? Will the Chiefs' receiving corp be another major problem for the development of QB Brodie Croyle? Does he have the help he needs to succeed?

Croyle better be living with his receivers and his offensive line this summer. He's going to need that chemistry.