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Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 11/26

I'm still full. Good morning Chiefs fans. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday (even you Canadians). It's a great extended weekend for sports and the Chiefs-Seahawks game is near. Here's today's Kansas City Chiefs news to keep you up to date.

A promising young passer had his future decided by others. Now what? Stick it out or transfer? Complain about his coach’s decision or accept it?

Six years after Cassel was passed over, fate has begun to settle itself. Cassel never got his chance at USC, but now he’s the Chiefs’ starter. Leinart is the third-string passer for Houston after being released earlier this season by Arizona. Somehow, the college senior with no shot now has a firm grip on his NFL team’s future — and the other is in professional purgatory.

Fate has smiled upon Cassel after he lost out at USC from KC Star

This is not the best week for Seattle to suddenly start questioning the problems with its run defense.

Not with the best ground team in the NFL coming to town Sunday.

Seattle's ability to stop the run, a strength of the Seahakws for the first half of the season, has suddenly become a liability. Last week against New Orleans, poor tackling allowed Chris Ivory to run for 99 yards and helped dictate the tenor of the Saints' 34-19 win.

Now, Seattle is faced with trying to correct its problems against Kansas City's duo of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones.

Seahawks' run defense struggling in last 5 weeks from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

KCChiefs.com Video: KC Wolf Cooks Up Another Bird

The Chiefs did get some good news from their secondary Thursday, as free safety Jon McGraw returned to practice after missing the past two weeks. It was McGraw’s first day back at practice since suffering head and knee injuries earlier this month.

Chiefs Notebook | Flowers could miss Seattle game from KC Star

"To me it's an amazing story," Carroll said.

It is a story that spans eight years between starts for Cassel and includes one incredible workout on his college campus that got NFL scouts buzzing. Now Cassel has one of the most difficult jobs to attain in all of sports, a minted multimillionaire member of the elite fraternity of NFL starting quarterbacks.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll admires tenacity of Chiefs QB Matt Cassel from The Seattle Times

Kansas City delivered its trademark brisk Thanksgiving evening, which the Fleisher family - 14 strong - stepped into from the warmth of the Plaza III steakhouse just before the moment.

On stage a few blocks east, Kansas City Chiefs running backs Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles threw the switch with the help of a child chosen from the audience. Thousands attended this year though temperatures dropped toward freezing.

"It was spectacular," Fleisher said.

Plaza lights bring families back to KC from across the nation from KC Star

It seems, as a whole, many Kansas City Chiefs are excited with the season receiver Dwayne Bowe is having. He has 11 touchdown catches, one off the team single-season record, and he has caught a touchdown in six straight games, a franchise record 

Still, it seems fans think Bowe is a work in progress. He has had his issues, but he's doing well and he is a big reason why the Chiefs are in first place at 6-4. Below are some of your responses. Thanks to everyone who participated:

Sound-off responses from ESPN

The most certain way the Chargers finish ahead of the Chiefs is to have Kansas City lose twice more than the Chargers, including in San Diego on Dec. 12. But the Chargers look good if they finish with identical records -- assuming one of the Chargers' victories is that December home game against the Chiefs. The first tiebreaker (after head to head) is division games, and the Chiefs and Chargers finished the first half at 1-2, with the Chiefs beating only the Chargers and the Chargers beating only the Broncos.

Presently, the Chargers have an edge in the second tiebreaker of common games (4-3 to 3-4) but both have five to go. The Chiefs are 4-4 in conference (the third tiebreaker) with four to play. The Chargers are 4-3 with five to play. The next tiebreaker is strength of victory, and we can hardly begin to break that down, though a Chargers victory at Indianapolis would help and it would be a positive for Jacksonville and Tennessee to do well down the stretch. Kansas City's remaining schedule: @ SEA, DEN, @ SD, @STL, TEN, OAK.

A too-early look at playoff scenarios from The San Diego Union-Tribune

Jordan Babineaux and Jamal Charles. At some point on Sunday afternoon, they will run into each other at Qwest Field.

But it will not be just a meeting of the Seahawks' versatile defensive back and the Kansas City Chiefs' leading rusher. It also will be a reunion of two of the best athletes to come out of Port Arthur, Texas.

Babineaux went to Lincoln High School, while Charles was an all-state player at Memorial High School. Babineaux is 28, while Charles is 23. But there is a connection - their desire to give back to the community.

THURSDAY IN HAWKVILLE from Seahawks.com

Try this. The next time your wide receiver makes a catch, see who tackled him. Was it a cornerback? Linebacker? Safety? When he catches a pass was there a defender in his face? Did he have room to run after the catch? Was he jammed at the line of scrimmage? Most teams play a base defense that they practice over and over. You will quickly see that Kansas City, for example, is a much tougher to throw against than Minnesota or Chicago, teams known for tough defenses. The Chiefs‘ defensive backs make a lot of tackles and break up passes because they try to contest every throw. They gave Peyton Manning fits in a narrow loss to the Colts earlier this season. The Bears, on the other hand, drop their linebackers and use them to converge after the catch.

Learn how to become your own ‘expert’ from KFFL

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