All the news that fit to post...

• I had a clip embedded above in which Mike Reiss of The Boston Globe says the Patriots may have trouble with the Kansas City Chiefs running game. It was acting funny so I posted it after the jump.


• Definitely check out this post from Pats Pulpit linking up yesterday's news.


• Kolby Smith is listed on the injury report as not participating in practice with a back issue but I haven't heard any details on that injury. Today is the day we find out the more specific injury listings - probable, questionable, doubtful or out - and we'll know what we're dealing with. H/T to Eric in the FanShot section for that one.


• Kent Babb makes Tamba Hali sound more competitive than I ever knew he was. Interesting picture with that article too.


• More keys to the game from Double D at Arrowhead Addict.


• Over at The Red Zone , Randy Covitz talks about a possible San Diego Charger blackout this weekend. He says, "There's little question the Fox affiliate in San Diego will buy out the remaining seats because this is one of just two Chargers games it can televise this season." How terrible are your fans when your team is very successful and people still won't watch? At least Rams fans ride the bandwagon.


• The kick returner position has not been settled on yet - "B.J. Sams said after practice that neither he nor Dantrell Savage has been told which player will return punts and kickoffs in New England. Both have been working at each position this week in practice."



• Karen Guregian of The Boston Herald asks some good questions about Sunday's game: "Will Chiefs coach Herm Edwards really have second-round pick Brandon Flowers cover Randy Moss?" and "How will first-round pick Branden Albert, who missed the preseason with a sprained foot, attempt to hold off Richard Seymour?

  Those potential matchups are definitely worth discussing this morning. Surtain on Randy Moss? Or Flowers on him?



• Let me throw out a reminder about the open thread on Sunday during the game. If you can't watch the game, watch it at home with the computer on anyway or just want to talk about the Chiefs come on by.

Wow...the last Friday of the off-season. Can you feel it? The long wait is almost over. The over saturation of media has Patriots fans wondering what the Chiefs can do to win this game. You gotta love this, right?

To get the conversation started, what individual matchups do you like and dislike this weekend against the Patriots? Yes, I know there are probably many. That Boston Herald article really got me thinking - No matter who the Chiefs put on Randy Moss, he's going to about five times as talented as they are. Of course I knew this already but Moss' potential for damage is massive this game.

Thoughts on the best and worst matchups for the Chiefs?

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I know they're small but the offensive, defensive and special teams depth charts are listed here. Click to view larger image. Depth chart taken from KCChiefs.com.

A few notes about the depth chart:

Dantrell Savage is listed #1 for kickoff returns and BJ Sams is listed #1 for punt returns. One of these guys, hopefully Sams, has to go within a couple of weeks here. Something is up with this. It's either an injury or some sort of roster number situation going on for the Kansas City Chiefs to keep two somewhat specialized kick returners on the team.

Because G/C Wade Smith can play either guard or center, expect him to likely be around the entire season.

I will be very curious to watch this chart throughout the season and see if Jamaal Charles jumps Kolby Smith for the #2 running back spot. It could happen!

***

Don't forget that today is the first day the Chiefs will have to file an injury report. I don't believe they have to designate questionable, out, etc. until Friday though.

We look towards the Patriots this weekend with the weekly Know Thy Enemy pre-game and this question:

What are the conceivable, even only slightly rational scenarios in which the Kansas City Chiefs win this game on Sunday?

PS: Thanks for the FanPosts and FanShots while I've been busy the last couple of days. They are a tremendous help.

Of course, the 53 players on the team after 5 PM central time tonight won't be the exact roster for opening day. After the NFL roster deadline hits this evening, expect the Chiefs to pick up one or two players off of the waiver wire.

I've run through the roster and made my decisions on who I think will be cut. Interestingly enough, while researching this and reading others cut lists, most of them are in agreement about 95% of the time.

The only differences I've seen in people's cut lists are the tail ends of the linebacker and line rotations. A little LeRue Rumph here. A little Anthony Alabi there. Maybe throw in some Sippio.

QB: Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard

No surprises here. The Chiefs will carry three quarterbacks on the final roster no matter what and these are almost assuredly the three they will keep.

Cut: None

RB: Larry Johnson, Kolby Smith, Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Dantrell Savage

Dantrell Savage hopefully makes this team as a kick returner but I've included him in the running backs section. LJ, Kolby and Jamaal Charles are all 100% safe. Battle may not make it because of roster numbers but he's probably safe too.

Cut: None

WR: Dwayne Bowe, Devard Darling, Will Franklin, Maurice Price and Jeff Webb

Despite not catching a pass this preseason, Devard Darling is still accomplished enough to get the nod over Arthur, Joachim, McMahan and Sippio. If you make an argument against Darling, you have to make an argument for one of those guys making the team and I don't think you can. Maybe you can make an argument for Bobby Sippio but I think you're splitting hairs at that point.

Cut: Jabari Arthur, Sergio Joachim, Kevin McMahan and Bobby Sippio

FB:Mike Cox and Chris Manderino

Word on the street is that the Chiefs like Manderino's special teams play, which is great for him because Mike Cox has the starting fullback spot nailed.

Cut: None

TE: Tony Gonzalez, Brad Cottam and J.P. Foschi

TG and Cottam are locks to make the roster and we'll give Foschi and his GA Tech roots the nod over the injured Mike Merritt and Michael "What happened to people being excited about me?" Allan. Allan may spend his final year on the practice squad before permanently falling off into obscurity. My future money says this is another D3 experiment that will not succeed.

Cut: Michael Allan and Mike Merritt

O-Line: Branden Albert, Brian Waters, Rudy Niswanger, Adrian Jones, Damion McIntosh, Herb Taylor, Barry Richardson and Wade Smith

I think those first eight offensive linemen I listed are definitely going to make the team. Beyond that, I think we could see another player dropped at a different position in favor of another offensive linemen. That linemen may not even be on the team right now and there is no way the Chiefs are satisfied with the depth they have on the offensive line.

Cut: Travis Leffew, Tre Stallings, Will Svitek, Anthony Alabi, Edwin Harrison and Rob Smith

D-Line: Turk McBride, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, Tamba Hali, Alfonso Boone, Ron Edwards. T.J. Jackson and Brian Johnston

After Ron Edwards, you're entering a pretty blurry area on the defensive line. TJ Jackson and Brian Johnston both had their names called more than a few times last Thursday against the Rams and that may be enough to distinguish themselves from the other defensive linemen.

Cut: Johnny Dingle, Jason Parker and Derek Lokey

LB: Derrick Johnson, Pat Thomas, Donnie Edwards, Demorrio Williams, Weston Dacus and Nap Harris (Int'l player Aden Durde will be on the practice squad but not count for a spot)

Nap Harris seems to be on everyone else's cut list and he certainly is a possible roster casualty. One of the cuts listed below could out value Harris on special teams, making the decision to keep him even more difficult. Donnie Edwards of course makes the final cut but how durable will he be in his 13th season? He's already tweaked a hamstring.

Cut: EJ Kuale, Steve Octavien and LeRue Rumph

CB: Patrick Surtain, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr, Dimitri Patterson, Tyron Brackenridge and Maurice Leggett

The first four CB spots are taken with Brackenridge, Barksdale and Leggett battling for the final one or even two spots. Can't say I've seen much of any of those three this preseason, making my analysis a bit strained. Brackenridge will probably get the nod because the Chiefs liked him enough last year as an UDFA to play him a bit and neither Barksdale nor Leggett has distinguished themselves.

Cut: Rashard Barksdale

S: Jarrad Page, Bernard Pollard, Jon McGraw and DaJuan Morgan

The safety position isn't difficult to figure out. Page and Pollard will start with McGraw and Morgan rotating in and out. The Chiefs don't need five safeties on the team.

Cut: Khayyam Burns

Special Teams: Nick Novak, Dustin Colquitt and J.P. Darche

Again, no surprises here. The Sams v. Savage competition is pretty much even but I'll throw my support behind the younger, less Drummond-like Dantrell Savage.

Cut: BJ Sams and Connor Barth (he's still on the roster so we'll include him for good measure)

We've already had a few threads about the roster cuts today so use this spot to make any last minute predictions. I'll update you on the cuts as soon as I hear about them.

I don't know about you but I'm more than ready to start talking about the New England Patriots and the start of the regular season. Last night, Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez didn't play. Brodie Croyle was in the game for sixteen plays, only attempting four passes within that period. The Rams made similar personnel decisions - the majority of what will be their regular season starters did not play.

In other words, this Kansas City Chiefs team will not resemble the one that will take the field two Sundays from now at 12 o'clock.

Regardless, here's quick rundown of what happened last night.

Offense

The Chiefs rolled in the first half and most notably in the first quarter. After halftime, the offense was basically a no-show.

Calling the offense a no-show isn't a criticism. This was the final half of a painful preseason and I'm sure everyone on the field, aside from the bubble players, were ready to leave at any time.

The running game was the most pleasant surprise of last night. Jamaal Charles, Jackie Battle and Kolby Smith all ran the ball effectively. Smith scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of fourteen and four yards. Get used to Chiefs fans saying Jamaal Charles is fast. Charles zigged and zagged his way past a number of Rams defenders on his way to rushing for 43 yards on six carries.

One stat that makes me overjoyed to see was the thirteen rushing first downs versus the three passing first downs. Usually, the ratio has been reversed.

Defense

The defense was able to force two turnovers, one on a big hit delivered by Bernard Pollard and the other on a fourth quarter interception by DaJuan Morgan. Nothing about the play of the defense was especially spectacular. The game leaders in the box score are all second to third string players. Like with the offense, the Chiefs starting defense didn't spend much time on the field.

Kicking Game

Connor Barth kicked two successful extra points and Nick Novak kicked one. Both made all of their attempts and I suspect had their been another touchdown scored by the Chiefs, Novak would have come in and kicked that point after. It appeared that the coaching staff was going to rotate the kickers as opportunities arose. The race for the starting spot is still a dead heat. And Nick Novak has just been announced as the Chiefs kicker in Week 1. Barth will be put on waivers.

It's finally time to look forward to a meaningful, regular season game.

We'll be monitoring the cut situation throughout the day and the weekend so stay tuned.

Had a video from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune up about last night's practice but I couldn't figure out to make it not automatically play when you came to the site. So, I took it off. Auto playing music and video is my biggest internet pet peeve. If I find something later, I'll put it here.

Good Friday morning, everyone. Here are your links to the coverage of last night's practice between the Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs.

WPI is here, here and here.

BobGretz.com

The Star-Tribune has a bit of coverage as well.

UW-RF

Kansas City Star

Last night's "contest" between the Chiefs and Vikings wasn't so much of a scrimmage as a practice. Still, the presence of competition was enough for a few players to come out of it with minor injuries. Jared Allen didn't make the trip, as Vikings' coach Brad Childress excused a number of veteran players.

Branden Albert had his ankle stepped on and had to leave practice early. Bob Gretz wonders if Albert's ankle issues are chronic, considering Albert sprained his ankle earlier in the off-season. Since his ankle was stepped on and not the result of a shift or move by Albert himself, I don't think you can look too hard into that. It could have happened to anyone.

Kolby Smith pulled his groin and Donnie Edwards tweaked a hamstring. Beyond that, consider ourselves lucky nothing serious happened. We'll be lucky to get through camp without at least one serious injury to a Chiefs player. Last year it was Damion McIntosh's knee but that turned out to heal rather quickly.

In all of the camp reports I've read this year, Dwayne Bowe has had zero regression from last year and by all accounts will have a stellar sophomore season. He doesn't seem to need as much time to get back into football mode as some other players.

Speaking of D Bowe, I absolutely love highlighting stories about him like this one, from the UW-RF site:

Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe had some fun on the sideline during an 11-on-11 drill. Bowe sat down on a training table before asking a group of media members if they were having fun. He gave the media the peace sign while sticking out his tongue. One member asked Bowe if that meant he was having a good time. He said yes. A fan dressed in a Vikings jersey joked with Bowe about putting his picture up on MySpace. Bowe responded to the man by saying, "You better add me as a friend."

Vikings CB Benny Sapp picked off Damon Huard, undoubtedly aided by playing for the Chiefs last season. Sapp was a decent corner but too small really to be a full time starter. We wish him the best of luck in Minnesota.

Check out the links above and let us know if you find anything else interesting. It's Friday, so expect a more laid back approach today. The Chiefs only have an afternoon practice from about 3:45 to 5 PM today.

P.S. Had someone sign up with the user name JJBirden last night and yep, it's actually him.

I'm not feeling the organized, list version of our morning update so I'm just going to throw some stuff out there. It's basically Friday anyway.

Unfulfilled college dreams. An 8th round draft pick. Sounds like J.J. Birden knows how lucky he is.

A product of the inner city of Portland, Birden came to Lakeridge because he was in the very last group of students who were bussed in order to achieve racial balance in schools.

While doing his part to promote integration, Birden did even more to help the Pacer football team. He was good as a junior and great as a senior, making the all-state football team.

But where Birden really shined was in track as a sprinter and jumper.

Birden had to wait until his sophomore year to even try out for the Oregon Ducks. I had a most unimpressive college career in football."

"I started as a junior, but I broke my arm against Nebraska. As a senior I twisted my arm against UCLA. I had one touchdown my whole career."

Now, Birden sells "special" chocolate. The chocolate has pain relieving powers, which Birden was sick of using over the counter meds for.

The Kansas City Chiefs will beat up on the Minnesota Vikings during their annual practice a week after training camp starts.

The Chiefs will depart for River Falls on Thursday, July 24 with the first day of practice scheduled for Friday, July 25. Kansas City will hold a joint practice session with the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, July 31 at UW-River Falls. Family Fun Night is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 2. The Chiefs will open their 2008 preseason schedule with a contest at Chicago on Thursday, Aug. 7. The club is currently scheduled to break camp and return to Kansas City on Friday, Aug. 15.

I have to say that Nap Harris' softball event in Chicago sounds like it was a lot of fun.

Harris was so successful in recruiting his teammates for the game that one might have thought the game was being played in Kansas City.

Chiefs star running back Larry Johnson, linebacker Derrick Johnson, running back Kolby Smith and defensive back Patrick Surtain all played.

Bears running back Garrett Wolfe and wide receiver Mark Bradley, along with former Bear and current broadcaster Jerry Azumah, were on hand to give the crowd some local stars to cheer on.

That's it for now. We'll have a community projection up later in the day but if you're anything like me, your mind is already drifted towards the weekend's activities. Let us know if you have any good 4th of July/fireworks stories.

work·horse  [wurk-hawrs] 

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Sounds like we'll never know the exact severity of Larry Johnson's foot injury last year, just more vague references to his workload. From The Kansas City Star:

That’s why the Chiefs intend to go easy on Johnson when offseason practice begins today. The Chiefs have 15 practice sessions planned over the next four weeks, including their June 6-8 minicamp.

"We’ll bring him along slowly," coach Herm Edwards said. "We’re not going to beat him up. We’re not going to rush him a whole lot. We want to see where he’s at.

"He’s been running straight and he’s been doing all of that for a long time, but as far as cutting and football things like that, we want to limit him some."

The Kansas City Chiefs may not have planned to put a full load on Larry Johnson during these off-season activities (OTAs), even if he had not injured his foot last year. Herm Edwards has to be getting weary of working his team's running backs as much as he has.

Here's a prediction of mine - You'll hear less and less of Kolby Smith's name this training camp. Jamaal Charles will step into that #2/3rd down role for the Chiefs, pushing Kolby Smith into relative obscurity over the next couple of years.

While you can make the argument that Smith was the Chiefs' best runner last year (He was the most effective runner, certainly not better than LJ as he faced lesser defense), I think we're still over-enamored with that first drive against the Oakland Raiders last November. Smith gained sixty yards on seven rushes, punctuating a bruising of the Raiders' defense with a ten-yard touchdown run. Smith ended the game with 150-yards rushing on thirty-one attempts. Impressive but the Raiders did end 2007 with the 31st ranked rush defense and Smith never approached that number of attempts or even 100-yards rushing the rest of the season (He actually had a couple of 80+ yards games, which is close).

Kolby appears to be a good scat back runner but I'm betting you Charles blows him away. Jamaal Charles' speed, coming right on the heels of a LJ power running game, could be a back-breaker for opposing defenses. The Charles-LJ duo will be much, much more powerful than Smith-LJ.

H/T to Direckshun in the FanShots section

Poll

Larry Johnson's foot injury?

• Worse than reported
• Not a big deal, he'll be fine for Week 1

  215 votes | Results

For a good portion of this fan's life, the Kansas City Chiefs were known first as a defensive team. My football memories of the 1990s are filled with Derrick Thomas' hands clasped above his hand in a safety signal, Neil Smith home run swings and Dale Carter running back interceptions.

Even though this isn't defense related, I'm going to throw in Steve Bono's record breaking run. You know, just because.

The winds shifted to the offensive side of the ball in the early part of the 21st century. In fact, the Chiefs did an about face. During the 1990s, the Chiefs defensive averaged about a top ten finish in points allowed and yards allowed. Since 2000, those defensive ranks have fallen into the lower third of the NFL.

Currently, the Kansas City Chiefs don't have much of an offensive or defensive identity.

The defense is solid but not great. Not yet anyway.

The offense has a few bright spots but also a lot of unknowns.

So, my question to you is, what are the strongest positions on the Kansas City Chiefs? And, will those strengths become pillars? Or will they crumble within a few years?

I'll resort to the blogger's best friend - lists - to get this conversation started. Here are my top three positions of strength on the Kansas City Chiefs:

1. Running back - The addition of Jamaal Charles suddenly catapults the Chiefs' personnel of the running game into the team's biggest strength. Larry Johnson is the #1 bruising back a Herm Edwards' team needs and Kolby Smith and Jamaal Charles are excellent compliments to LJ's style.

2. Linebackers - I don't really like putting linebacker as a major position of strength for the Chiefs but with so many unknowns on the team, this corp slides in. Derrick Johnson is slowly coming into his own since being drafted in 2005; Donnie Edwards is still an excellent player but won't be for much longer; and DeMorrio Williams and Nap Harris at least have experience, which is more than you can say for a lot of Chiefs positions.

The linebacker position appears to be stable, which is enough to make it on this list. I need to see much more from Derrick Johnson and just a glimmer of hope from Williams to be comfortable with this crew. Harris was unimpressive last year and left much to be desired.

3. Punter - You knew this was coming, right? Go through the roster and tell me what other positions for the Chiefs are stronger than punter. Dustin Colquitt falls into here sort of by default, but also because he's been one of the top performers at his position.

This was a pretty interesting exercise to go though if you do it objectively. We have a tenuous, at best, hold on our strengths.