I make no promises that this is going to be a regular segment. Absolutely none.

1. Finally, we face a real offense! Are we about to be exposed? I believe this team is on the path to redemption, but it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Particularly for our defense: we boast little passrush, our best DT is a rookie, our LB corps is thin and may have a massive hole at MLB, and our secondary is talented but incredibly young. Everybody could hold their own against the laughably lousy Bears offense, but the Cardinals offense is another level of trouble: their QBs are uniformly more talented, their OL is bigger and better, their rungame doesn't depend on a rookie, and little needs to be said about their WRs. This unit may be too much to handle.

2. Will we generate any pass rush? The biggest deficiency in the Chiefs' solid defensive effort against the woeful offense of the Bears was a complete lack of pressure on the QBs. Demoting Boone and placing McBride on the strong side will definitely help matters, but it will not fix them. Our pass rush is in serious condition, folks. Hali will do what he does, but this far in his career he's proven to be an every-down DE that's good at a lot of things, but not great at any. He is no sack specialist. McBride has not generated much excitement (from anyone other than Adam Best). And if Johnston emerges as a DE in this league, it won't be this year. He needs time. If you want to keep your eye out on a sleeper, there's been some buzz around the quick Jason Parker, so keep your eyes on #92.

3. Will the right side of the line get their act together? The only obvious sack that the Croyle-led offense gave up against the Bears' blitz-free, vanilla defense was McIntosh simply getting beat around the corner. The only stuff of LJ occurred when Adrian Jones allowed a DT to slide through completely untouched to slam into Two-Sev six yards behind the line of scrimmage. This right side is leaky, and for their one game so far, they've struggled.

4. Can our corners handle the best WR tandem in the NFL? Boldin and Fitzgerald are Pro Bowlers, with a pair of good QBs to get the ball out. They will likely only suit up for a couple series before retiring for the evening. But the time they are on the field will tell us a lot about the character of our young guys. It seems inevitable to me that someone is going to get utterly embarrassed. That's not the issue for me. I'm more concerned with how our young guys would react. It helps to have a short memory at corner, and we're going to see exactly how tough, how focused, and how intense our corners can be. (For the record, Flowers has a great record of rising to the occasion.)

5. Will Herb continue to play well? The most pleasant surprise of the Chicago game last week was the emergence of Herb Taylor at LT, filling in for the still-injured Brandon Albert. It was pointed out to me tonight that Mike Lombardi agrees. The possibilities behind this are serious. We may actually have legit starting talent in Herb Taylor. What if we have starting talent in Barry Richardson? Dare I dream of the day that the Chiefs actually fastened down the right side of their line with a pair of 6th rounders?

6. Will Darling finally emerge? Among the many reports emanating from River Falls, and the performance we witnessed against the Bears, Devard "DVD" Darling has not generated much excitement from anybody that I can tell outside of Warpaint. Here at AP, we've all lost a degree of faith in him as we continue to be underwhelmed. The good news, really to all of this, is that it's just one preseason game into the league. But DVD's route-running looked sluggish and I never spied a moment, rewatching the game, where he had shaken off his coverage.

7. How many minds will Sippio have blown by the final whistle? After Gretz's enthusiastic defense of reserve WR Bobby Sippio, how can you not pull for this guy? The battle for the 5th receiving spot is still completely up for grabs. (Bowe, Franklin, Darling, and probably Webb are locks.) Price has looked fast and great at running routes. Jabari Arthur and Kevin McMahan got on the board last week. Hell, the Chiefs might elect to fill the 5th spot with either BJ Sams or currently-injured rookie Kevin Robinson, who are returners but teams virtually never keep five receivers + a returning specialist. Can Sippio fend them all off? My brain says Price... my heart says differently.

8. Can Savage or Battle make enough happen to sneak onto the roster? After studying my crystal ball, I suspect that the Chiefs are going to be working the hell out of Savage for the remainder of preseason. He will probably garner more carries than any other RB, as the Chiefs either wonder if he's worth moving the earth to try and fit him in our crowded backfield, or to dangle him as preseason trade bait. Jackie Battle has run strong, but that's why I suspect we've got no room for him. We've already got a guy who can run that strong, maybe you've heard of him. I see Battle and I think practice squad.

9. Which kicker will make the most of his chances? Second verse, same as the first. Neither kicker has been able to reach the endzone on kickoffs, which hasn't been pleasant. Barth has had his game opportunity so far, and nailed a decent 37-yarder. Here's hoping for more chances come this evening. I'm sure the Chiefs have Feeley (and worse yet... Morten Andereson) on speed dial.

10. Who can make a name for himself returning kicks? Nobody has really shown a Justin Phinisee-like presense returning kicks this preseason, which has got to make Kevin Robinson happy. Sams doesn't even appear to want the job. C'mon BJ! Throw caution to the wind! (Phinisee, who looked phenomenal in the 2007 preseason returning kicks for the Chiefs, is a free agent. I'm just saying...)

Adam Best (a.k.a. Batman) of Arrowhead Addict posts a great projection of the Chiefs' 2008 season on Yardbarker. It includes who he thinks will bust out, who he thinks will flounder, etc. etc.

Basically, if you follow Adam's work on AA at all, this is vintage stuff: reasonable while retaining a belligerent homerism, decent football analysis but in totally killer style.

It's a must-read for the smack talk on our rivals, if for nothing else:

[The Chargers] bitch and bitch and bitch about Marty Schottenheimer, then go out and sign...Norv Turner? That's like bitching about Cuba Gooding Jr.'s acting only to replace him with L.L. Cool J.

Total gold. You keep doin' what you do, Batman.

I'll let you read his analysis yourself, but I do have a couple comments with his projections.

1. Fantasy rankings. Batman pegs Bowe as our "fantasy stud," even though he projects Bowe to put up a 1,000-yard season with 8 touchdowns easy. I normally wouldn't have a problem with that, but he also projected LJ to break out a 1,400-yard season with upwards of 12 TDs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in virtually any fantasy league, that would make LJ the team's fantasy stud.

2. Turk breaking out. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the entire projection was the claim that Turk would emerge as the team's breakout player this year. He is getting the best opportunity of his career now to play strong-side DE (for which his frame suggests he's perfect), but I've long-suspected after Turk's tumultuous rookie season that he's going to be fighting for a roster spot next year. Turk had a sturdy opening month in 2007, where he was hungry and active. But he trailed off to virtual invisibility as the season wore on. He didn't put up many stats his rookie season, but he started out with tons of promise. His preseason performance against Chicago was forgettable at best.

I hope for the best with Turk, one of my favorite players on this team, but I haven't seen enough from him to suggest that he's anything more than a rotational reserve. Maybe he takes the field when we're in a nickel package. Maybe.

3. Rivalries reborn? One serious problem we'll have with this season is that with so much turnover and new youth, there's virtually no rivalry holdover from last season. Adam sees the Chiefs "fired up" to avenge their 2007 sweep at the hands of the Broncos, but I honestly don't expect many of the new faces to feel much anti-Denver passion just yet. I believe this is the season that rivalries will be born, not carried over.

One of our many series that may or may not finish, I'll be taking a look at what I think to be the most interesting individual match ups next season. First up in Week 1, the New England Patriots.

With a new starting cornerback, a second year player in the nickel spot and two safeties with combined experience of four years, the easy answer this week is say watch the Kansas City Chiefs secondary compete against the record setting, All World, yada yada yada New England Patriots offense. I'll admit if the Chiefs are able to at least feign containment on Brady and Moss in Week 1, I'll be impressed. And I do that that would at least vaguely point to developing talent in our secondary if they performed well against the best. But if the Pats destroy the Chiefs secondary, then what will we say? That's what we expected?

That's why I'm going to tell you to watch the Chiefs' Jared Allen-less defensive line against the Patriots' foundation, their offensive line.

Right at the beginning of the season, the Chiefs will have a difficult test to gauge how far (or how steady) the team's 2007 strength has fallen. The Patriots offensive line, while a fantastic unit, is more dependent on the influence of Brady and Moss in that offense than the actual skills of their entire line. For example, only left tackle Matt Light and center Dan Koppen were cemented in their positions last year, with the guards and other tackle able to interchange quickly.

So, if the Chiefs are able to develop a successful pass rush during the game on September 7th, we'll know we have something to build upon.

Frankly, it's time for Tamba Hali to either become a pass rushing force or relegate himself to the "Also played" category of NFL players who had a couple of decent seasons. We will see in Week 1 if Hali is a player on his own or if he needed those dozen or so sacks by Allen the last two seasons to skate under the Chiefs' radar.

The same goes for the defensive tackles in Week 1. Glenn Dorsey gets a big time NFL test in his first game and we hope, we hope to see progress from Tank Tyler or Turk McBride, or both.

In other words, the Chiefs will get to see how immediate of an impact their '07 and '08 draft picks will have.

I know this is a lot of hot, hypothetical air over a game the Kansas City Chiefs will likely get whooped up so bad in that we won't be able to glean any lessons from it. But you see where I'm going with these? As this team changes and grows, what will be revealed to us this season about our current condition? We may lose, but what are we learning? Who can't cut it anymore? Or never could?

Because if you're not a Chiefs fan who is thinking in terms of two to three years down the road, you're setting yourself up for angry disappointment.

What a great picture. The hair...

In 2008, Tamba Hali will finally have the chance to emerge from the spotlight and attention of Jared Allen and be one of the featured Kansas City Chief defensive players. Entering his third season, Hali needs to show he can play at a much more effective level. If he doesn't, he runs a real risk of losing the faith of the coaching staff and the fan base. In my opinion, he's performed at about expectations in his first two seasons for the first round investment the Kansas City Chiefs made in him. I feel like I'm still waiting for Tamba Hali to arrive, if you will. He hasn't dominated a game in his career in my not-so-good recent memory.

I feel like, sure, the guy is pretty good. But great? Nah, not yet anyway. Honestly, Hali would be so lucky to even to even conceive of a season like Jared Allen had last year. I don't know. I'm rambling here but I feel like you can find my point in there somewhere.

There are a few things in Hali's favor this year, or they could just as easily not be in his favor if you so choose to view it like that.

First, the absence of Jared Allen allows Hali to take over that right defensive end spot, which rushes at the blind side of the quarterback. Naturally, the quarterback's inability to see the pass rush plays into the hands of the defensive end.

Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said, "It’s easier when you come from the right side to do that like Derrick Thomas did it and Jared Allen did it. They were coming from the quarterback’s blind side. When you come from the other side like Tamba’s been doing it, you’re right in the quarterback’s vision. That’s going to help him."

Also, you could just as easily argue that the extra attention Jared Allen inevitably drew last year led to fewer blockers to tend to Hali. Now, Hali becomes the #1 defensive end. Glenn Dorsey's presence in the middle of the defensive line should help balance out that attention though.

Can someone please explain to me why there are like a dozen pictures of Tamba Hali with fans on either side of him, just like this one? He must be out and about quite a bit.

And, Tank Tyler and Turk McBride will be entering their second seasons, so you'd assume even a marginal improvement from the two of them. On the whole line, Hali will benefit just like everyone else from the addition of experience and talent. How much that benefit will translate into play on the field, that is to be seen.

Next, and this is an assumption, Hali should be completely healthy for the start of the season. Hopefully, he can end 2008 without any significant injuries. During his first two years in the league, he had a few vagues injuries. A hip injury in 2006 and a supposed foot problem in 2007. Both injuries could be described as nagging, seeing how Hali played through them. I imagine playing defense end, having to rely on your agility and quickness, would be much more difficult with a sore hip or a sore foot. Much more difficult.

So, there's a couple of things to discuss in there. I think Tamba Hali ends up with a double-digit sack count for the first time in his career. Ten, maybe eleven sacks feels about right.

Also, did we ever settle on a nickname for the guy? Liberian Nightmare? Did that catch on anywhere?