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.

A short game recap will be coming up later this morning. For now, enjoy.

After briefly coming back into our lives last year on the set of the "show" Pirate Master, Kansas City Chiefs fans can finally get another fix of the Nigerian Nightmare Christian Okoye. He has his own blog and talks about fantasy football.

Expect even bigger things from Little LT. Why "Little"? There’s only one LT in my book and that’s Lawrence Taylor. You have to respect that man. Little LT is tough and fast. He’s a lot like Walter Payton. He can run, catch and even throw the ball, but he’s faster than Walter. Walter was tough, but not that fast. Little LT is both. He’s the #1 back until someone can show me otherwise.

I will have this continuously in my head during my fantasy drafts.

The fine folks at Rotohog.com didn't limit Christian to the written word. They put a camera on him for a solid ten minutes and just let the man talk.

Nigerian soccer. Olympic track and field. Being a good NFL teammate. Sharing carries with Barry Word. Whoever had this idea at Rotohog is a genius. My favorite quote:

Everybody deserves second chance. Everybody deserves second chance. Because the way I like to put it is if you have a kid, and your kid messes up, do you just throw your kid away? No! You love your kid. You're going to give your kid a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance. Try to get him to change his ways. That's what life is all about. Forgiveness.

Word. Thanks Christian.

Gamecenter on NFL.com is here.

With a final score of 21 to 17, the Kansas City Chiefs concluded their up and down 2008 preseason.

As with every NFL team, there are still many unanswered questions about the young players on this team. And since young players make up about 85% of this team, well, you get the idea.

A full recap will come tomorrow morning, along with a special update about a former Chief. This is your post game thread.

I have to give my thanks for VanRam for stopping by and answering a few of our questions. Make sure you check out Turf Show Times today for your Rams coverage. And don't forget about the open thread starting at 5 PM tonight. We'll get another post or two in before that as well.

My answer's to VanRam's questions are here.

Why start Trent Green? Doesn't Bulger need more reps?

I wondered the same thing myself. I think he was working well enough to satisfy the coaches last week, and with Bugler's injury history they want to make sure Green is up to speed should he have to step in.

How has Chris Long looked since the first preseason game? Is he going to live up to the #2 pick?

His name certainly hasn't appeared in the box scores as much as we'd like. He will make things happen before the season ends though. The most impressive thing I've noticed is how well he bounces back from a tough game or scrimmage. Rarely makes the same the mistake twice. Remember how many people thought the Mario Williams first overall pick was a bust two seasons ago? Look at him now. Long's a different kind of DE, but he'll be the face of this franchise for years to come.

How's Mr. Irrelevant, the last pick of the 2008 Draft, LB Dave Vobora? Might he actually become something, or will he fade into obscurity?

Vobora has been limited lately with an ankle injury, but he has shown promise in camp. He will make the team and be a special teams regular this season. The surprise pick in the seventh round is LB Chris Chamberlain. He plays great in coverage; I think he could play safety even. He has a spot as a backup and a regular on ST.

With Torry Holt growing long in the tooth and Drew Bennett struggling to adjust last year in St. Louis, who do you see as a prime candidate to step up in this year's offense at wide receiver?

Bennett's still struggling to adjust through the preseason, but the Rams aren't ready to give up on him yet. After all, they did kind of pay a premium to sign him. I really think you'll see Keenan Burton emerge this year. He profiles very similar to Hines Ward, and has made some nice plays with the first and second teams. He backs up Bennett, so if Bennett's struggles continue Burton's the guy. A lot of people scratched their heads when the Rams drafted Donnie Avery with the first pick in the draft, but he's fast and proved his mettle working out of the slot last weekend, his first game of the preseason. Both guys will make some rookie mistakes this year, but they have bright futures in St. Louis.

Is John Greco expected to be the heir to Orlando Pace, or are they putting off replacing him for another season? I loved OG Roy Schuening as a steal in the 5th. Is he a projected starter?

Greco plays really well in close quarters, so the Rams have used him at guard mostly in the preseason. Some say he could be an adequate starter at G in the NFL as a rookie. I think as he gets more time in the league he'll start working more at tackle. At this point he does not look like Pace's understudy. This draft was all about getting quality depth on the o-line, and that's why the Rams took Schuening. Schuening didn't have a great camp, but the Rams have had some surprise standouts at guard, like Greco. His time will come though.

Does Al Saunders still get out there and run with the wideouts?

I know this is beyond the five questions, but I couldn't resist. Yeah, the guy's a madman. He runs all over the place in practice, but this is a team that's needed some enthusiasm for a few seasons now, after the bitter divorce with Mike Martz in 2005 and two mediocre seasons after that. It's nice to see.

Thank you very much! Head over to Turf Show Times for more info.

I knew Axl would come through for us.

The NFL's Missouri Governor's Cup is a chance to appreciate local sports and poke some fun at our East side neighbors.

And poke we will.

I think the fact that I went to school in St. Louis has only increased my distaste for the Gateway to the West. And the fact that there it isn't exactly a hot bed of interesting culture doesn't help either.

Now, Kansas City is far from a New York but we can at least claim to have a signature food - BBQ. St. Louis has a cracker they call pizza and they try to claim some Italian food superiority, when we all know it's just pasta. Give me a break. You have one neighborhood of Italians and that's it STL.

Gateway to the West is an appropriate nickname because that's exactly what STL is used for - a pass through and no more. Heck, you can't even get football fans excited enough from week to week to prevent a blackout, which is the ultimate sign of a team's despair. Not only do the fans not go to the Rams games, we all already know they don't even cheer when they are there. The city already had one football team leave so they could really care less about this one.

Here is one of my favorite trash talking Rams posts - Rams Cover Up Real Injury Woes; Chlamydia Actually to Blame. I mean, how could you read that news article and not rush over here to make St. Louis jokes?

VanRam will be stopping by later today to give us the 'ole question exchange so look for more to come later. I'll include a quasi-preview of the game in the open thread post. The thread will be posted at 5 PM so be here or be square. I end with more random STL trash talking.

BBQ > Cracker pizza

Kansas City, KS > East St. Louis

Boulevard Beer > Budweiser Beer

Ward Parkway Mall circa 1995 > Any STL Mall (That's a sentimental one)

Numbering city streets > Not numbering city streets

Finally, get over the 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis. Seriously. It was 104 years ago and not even that cool.

As the final preseason game nears and the New England Patriots loom on the horizon, I figured now is as good of a time as any to go over some odds for the Kansas City Chiefs 2008 season, courtesy of Bodog Life. I'm not a gambler but these odds are great for community projections as well.

An explanation of some of the numbers used would help too.

Team Odds

Odds to win the 2009 Super Bowl XLIII: 125/1

Odds to win the 2008 AFC Championship: 55/1

Odds to win the AFC West Division: 12/1

Continue reading this post »

We're encouraged to be independent thinkers on sports blogs, but sometimes there's a guy out there shaking the branches so hard you just have to follow his lead. We've had some interesting discussions over the past week regarding our special teams status. And the whole Feely incident was enough to end Batman's patience over at Arrowhead Addict, who is now calling for Priefer's head.

It's hard to blame him. He lists the specific failures of Priefer's judgment, and it's a damning list.

I prefer to take a broader review of the situation, and it's not much better. It might even be worse. More after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Must watch Philip Rivers lose....

I'd probably be a little pissed off too.

"We’re shocked, baffled, disappointed," said his agent, Glenn Schwartzman. "It was not our understanding that they were just going to give the job to Jay. We in no way thought that. We knew he would have to win the job.

"While no one promised him the job, we were under the impression he would be given a better opportunity to win it. If they’re going to base it off two days of kicking, they probably shouldn’t have signed him. It makes no sense to make a decision about Jay without letting him kick in the preseason game."

Feely has to feel a bit used after this. He was essentially brought in to jazz up our current kickers, although I feel like if Feely had out kicked either Barth or Novak over the last two days that it would have been one of them getting the boot.

This is the business of the NFL. I'm glad to see the coaching staff isn't keeping any player around to save face, even in the kicking position. Football players are the number one priority in Herm's Kansas City.

Plus, we already had way too many former Miami players on our roster. And, anyone else realize how incestuous the kicking game is in the NFL? Lawrence Tynes replaced Jay Feely in New York and then we bring Feely in for a visit. Nick Novak has been on Washington's and Chicago's roster. Twice. Former Chiefs kicker Dave Rayner even signed with the Dolphins earlier this year before being released.

It's a small world when you've got unbelievable legs. (Guess the sports movie reference!)

Poll

Who will be the Chiefs kicker Week 1 against the New England Patriots?

74%

Connor Barth

206 votes

21%

Nick Novak

59 votes

4%

Someone else

12 votes

277 votes | Poll has closed

Number of drives: 13 (Last game: 11)

Average starting field position: 31 yard line (Last game: 31 yard line)

Average number of plays per drive: 4.84 (Last game: 6.6)

Average net yards gained per drive: 14.5 (Last game: 31.3)

Average drive time: 2:34 (Last game: 3:06 minutes)

Longest drive: 63 yards (Last game: 60 yards)

Time of possession: 33:25 (Last game: 34:07)

Box score is here.

Let me throw out a touch of good news before we get into the bad. The Kansas City Chiefs have improved quite dramatically over last season in converting third downs. Currently, the Chiefs have converted 43% of their third downs which is a big bump up from the ~30% they hoverered around last year. Why is third down percentage a big deal? Because, almost all of the time, an unconverted third down results in a punt, resulting in the opponent getting the ball. It's sort of a way at looking at turnovers, if you want to bend it like that.

The terrible third down percentage in 2007 was a maddening stat to have to look at each week because it meant the Chiefs weren't even giving themselves enough offensive plays to establish any kind of rhythm.

The passing first downs to rushing first downs ratio is still terribly out of whack- 32 to 17. The teams with a high ratio like that, for the most part, are not good. It has to be tough on Brodie Croyle to be forced to make two-thirds of the team's first downs with his arm. A more even ratio makes your offense more unpredictable in third down and short yardage situations where unpredictability is an even greater asset.

Unfortunately, real life is intruding this morning so I'll have to cut this short. Here are a few articles to tide you over until later today:

Over the Top - Chiefs' TV ratings suffer a major hit

Jonathan Rand - Easier said than done

Mile High Report - Samie Parker released

Don't forget that NFL rosters have to be trimmed to 75 players by today. As usual, we'll be updating you with who's out and if anyone new is in.

Say hello to Jay Feely. H/T to UCrawford in the FanPosts.

Feely (5-10, 206) has played in 112 regular season games with Atlanta (2001-04), the N.Y. Giants (2005-06) and Miami (2007). He has converted 177 of 219 field goals (80.8%) and 249 of 251 PATs (99.2%) for 780 points. He has also appeared in six postseason contests, connecting on eight of 11 FGs (72.7%) and all 12 of his PATs for 36 points.

That makes three kickers on the Kansas City Chiefs roster, as of right now. Neither Nick Novak nor Connor Barth distinguished themselves in the offseason and preseason. And with Novak missing the only field goal attempt during Saturday's game, bringing in a veteran was a no-brainer for the coaching staff.

The roster has to be trimmed to 75 players by tomorrow afternoon so expect either Barth or Novak to get the boot.