Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 10/8

Good morning! Happy Weekend. Here's your Kansas City Chiefs news for today. Updates for Baldwin, stories on Hali and Jackson, and how sports depression and BBQ lead to national obesity are all ahead. Enjoy.

Physically, Jonathan Baldwin is ready to play football. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be part of the Chiefs 46-man active list Sunday in Indianapolis.

Baldwin went through a tryout of sorts this week, practicing fully for the first time this season and taking part in all team repetitions. His progress was watched closely throughout the week by head coach Todd Haley, offensive coordinator Bill Muir and wide receivers coach Richie Anderson.

Jonathan Baldwin Physically Ready To Play from The Mothership

Sacks aside, Hali is generally the only Chief who’s getting the opposing passer out of his comfort zone. The Chiefs keep a stat called quarterback pressures, and Hali has exactly half of their 22. He is the only Chief with more than three.

So it’s not surprising that only one other NFL team has fewer sacks than the Chiefs, who have five.

Hali Often Only Chiefs To Pressure QB from KC Star

Indianapolis has 10 players who are listed as questionable. Of those, defensive end Dwight Freeney (abdominal), defensive tackle Fili Moala (ankle), linebacker Ernie Sims (knee), tight end Brody Eldridge (knee) and guards Mike Pollak (arm) and Joe Reitz (ankle) were full participants in Friday's practice. Guard Ryan Diem (ankle), tackle Anthony Castonzo (ankle) and defensive tackle Drake Nevis (back) did not practice, and Collins (concussion) was limited.

Chiefs Buzz: Improvement Seen In Tyson Jackson from KC Star

Against the Vikings, Jackson single-handedly forced a sack that Tamba Hali was able to clean up and got his hand on a pivotal pass late in the fourth quarter. He also played a major role in limiting Adrian Peterson to just 3.5 yards per carry.

"Yeah, I did pretty well here and there," Jackson said of his Week Four performance.

Arrowhead Report: Jackson Wants To Keep Showing Up from The Mothership

Curtis Painter will start at quarterback and Jeff Linkenbach will be at left tackle Sunday, Indianapolis Colts coach Jim Caldwellconfirmed Friday.

The identity of the team's right tackle and the rotation at defensive tackle were less clear.

Colts Juggle Lineup Due To Injuries from The Indianapolis Star

Missouri MUFON State Director Debbie Ziegelmeyer contacted Bill Gill, who is the Chapter Team Leader of the EAA Flying Team that few out of the Lee's Summit Municipal Airport on October 4. The group was practicing to audition for "night formation flying" for the Kansas City Chiefs. The planes were RV6s thru RV9s, which are kit aircraft with normal required red/green wing lights and white strobe.

Some Kansas City UFO Sightings Identified, Others Remain Unknown from Examiner.com

Bob Moore, historian for the Kansas City Chiefs, said the week off for NFL teams began in the 1990s. Teams, if not fans, look forward to it as a time to assess, regroup and heal. Calling it a bye may have gained traction because while a team takes a week off, other teams are still playing, he said.

Except it's not a bye. Sportswriter Frank Deford took no prisoners on the issue a while back: "You can't have a bye if everybody gets a bye," he wrote. The NFL bye "is a total misuse of the word bye."

Can We Say Goodbye to "Bye"? from KC Star

SIGNS YOUR TEAM IS PURPOSELY TRYING TO SUCK FOR LUCK:

1. Faking injuries during plays.

2. Betty White really is your flanker.

3. Stud running back keeps pretending he has strep throat.

4. Quick-kicking every third down.

5. Starting Tebow.

The Race For Last Place from ESPN

Fraternity brothers aside, few segments of the population have more nicknames than professional athletes. Some are clever, others are not. Many are inscrutable. So it was a few weeks back when Mitch Holthus, the radio play-by-play man for the Kansas City Chiefs, referred to a Chiefs player as "The Honey Badger."

What's In A Nickname? from The New Yorker

The bust team of the division is without a doubt the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have not lived up to expectations and have not performed as well as they had last year. The Chiefs are not going to get any better with the absence of Jamaal Charles. Kansas City is a very young team that when playing in games shows their youth and inexperience. However; if they keep their focu,s the Chiefs can be a very dangerous team. They have a lot to learn about playing in the NFL, but when they figure it out, watch out.

NFL Division Breakdowns: AFC West from Collegiate Times

Take Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. The average resale ticket price is less than half of what it was a year ago.

The Chiefs were unbeaten before visiting the 2-2 Colts on Oct. 10, 2010, with an average ticket price of $212.37...

...On Tuesday, the average ticket price for the 1-3 Chiefs and the 0-4 Colts was $108.49, TiqIQ reported. By Wednesday, that average price had dipped to $97.36. By Thursday, it had fallen to $90.85.

Poof! from The Indianapolis Star

Congress is calling for testing all NFL players for human growth hormone. Well, all except the guys on the Kansas City Chiefs roster. The Chiefs won/loss record is proof nobody's cheating.

Breaking Bad: Friday, Oct. 7 from The Omaha World-Herald

I had a great opportunity at the Chiefs game the other day to visit with Chiefs Hall of Fame linebacker Willie Lanier. Willie told me that whenever he comes back to Kansas City he is always reassured about life when he sees myself and his Hall of Fame Super Bowl teammate Len Dawson still broadcasting news and sports on KMBC-TV, Channel 9.

Oct. 7, 2011 Willie Lanier from KMBC

I'm not a Suck-for-Luck'er - at least not as of today. However, should KC lose to Indy, I very well might become an S4L'er. For anyone groaning at the thought, let's take an example.

Suppose KC is 1-14 and another team is 1-14. Obviously, that will mean that Cassel has stunk. While there may be one person out there who has Chiefs tattoos all over their body who might be rooting for the Chiefs in game #16 at Denver, I suspect 99%+ of us would want to see KC lose the last game and the other 1-14 team win the last game. At that point, who cares about a win or a loss when the reward could be Andrew Luck?

Winning Without An NFL Quarterback from Upon Further Review

Quiet first quarter: The Colts and the Chiefs are two of five teams in the league that have not scored a first-quarter touchdown this season. Kansas City is the only team that hasn't scored a rushing touchdown. Defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis may be the Colts' two most productive players through four weeks. Kansas City quarterback Matt Cassel's protection and ability to get rid of the ball have been pretty good; he's been sacked only five times so far. The ability of the Colts' pass-rushing duo to hit and harass Cassel may be the biggest factor in the game.

Final Word: AFC South from ESPN

4. Kansas City - 35.5 points

Chris Ryan:

"Todd Haley."

Simmons:

"The good news is that K.C. barbeque is fantastic, so depressed K.C. fans can just eat and eat. I'd like to thank the Chiefs and Royals for contributing to America's obesity problem."

Baker:

"The city recently hosted a sold-out preseason hockey game between the Penguins and the L.A. Kings that had to have been a bit of a sad reminder that Kansas City was once oh-so-close to getting an NHL franchise and instead it has a nice arena just looking for love in all the wrong places."

The Most Depressed Fan Base: Reviewing Last Month's Saddest Cities from Grantland

[T]he Patriots lead the NFL with opponents' average starting position at the 20.98 yard line. That's nearly 2 yards better than the next closest team (Tampa Bay, 22.88) and more than 7 yards better than the league average. By comparison, the Chiefs are last in the NFL, allowing an average starting position at the 35.43 yard line (Kansas City, of course, is 1-3 and has been outscored by 77 points overall this season). 

Field Positioned For Success from ESPN Boston

When I think of this Bills offense, I go back to Chan Gailey's '08 group in Kansas City, led by Tyler Thigpen. Gailey presided as offensive coordinator over an attack that seemed very close to a collegiate spread and momentarily made Thigpen something of a fantasy star. From Week 5 to Week 9 that year, Thigpen had 11 TD passes and three picks and averaged 34.2 pass attempts per game. Dwayne Bowe was still an underwhelming pup in his second season but he managed a 1,000-yard campaign, as did Tony Gonzalez. Thigpen exceeded 300 yards only once in his 11 starts, but when I squint and look at Ryan Fitzpatrick (who's already got 300-plus yards once in four games this year), I see Thigpen circa '07

Will Jets Limit Red-Hot Wes Welker? from ESPN

The Chiefs are playing better after a horrible start and actually broke through last weekend, so, naturally, they're the favorite here. What's that? A 3½-point underdog? That makes no sense ... unless, of course, you believe this is the week the Colts wake up. They played just well enough to lose the past two weekends but keep losing players to injuries, suspensions, something.

Curtis Painter is the quarterback now, and look no further for why Luck could make sense for the Colts.

Peek at the Week: It's Winning Time Or Else For Jets, Eagles from CBS Sports