Game Day! Happy New Year!! Arrowheadines is a little late due to a hangover, but it doesn't matter since we have a late game anyway, right? Chiefs and Broncos in Denver today, with a chance to spoil. Hope everyone is well and I wish you all a very happy New Year. Go Chiefs!!
The race for the AFC sack crown will be on display Sunday afternoon.
Chiefs Pro Bowler
Tamba Hali enters Week 17 trailing Baltimore's Terrell Suggs by one sack on the AFC leaderboard. Broncos rookie Pro Bowler Von Miller sits in third, a half-sack behind Hali and 1.5 sacks behind Suggs. Miller paired with Elvis Dumervil to terrorize the Chiefs in the first meeting between the two teams on November 13th.
Matt Cassel was hurried on 12 occasions and sacked four times before leaving the fourth quarter with a season-ending hand injury. Miller and Dumervil split the sack that injured Cassel. Denver Take Five from The Mothership
The Broncos are crashing at the wrong time. Their losing streak is enough to give credence to those who believe Denver was more lucky than good when it ripped off seven wins in eight games, four of the wins coming by a field goal. The Chiefs aren't exactly on fire but their level of efficiency and play has leveled off under Romeo Crennel. They should be good enough to beat a buckling opponent, if just barely.
Prediction: Chiefs 20, Broncos 17
Chiefs-Broncos Scouting Report from KC Star
New Year's Day: Mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 42. North northwest wind between 3 and 7 mph.
Game Day Weather Report from The National Weather Service
The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Saturday that the club has placed RB
Jackie Battle on injured reserve and signed RB Shaun Draughn to the 53-man roster. Chiefs Place RB Jackie Battle On IR, Sign RB Shaun Draughn from The Mothership
Drafting no higher than eighth, barring a trade into the top five - which also isn't Pioli's forte - the Chiefs will likely miss out on the best quarterbacks in a talented class. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, who's expected to enter the draft, will surely be gone by then and it seems that Landry Jones is staying at Oklahoma. That leaves Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill or Arizona's Nick Foles as the Chiefs' best draft options.The Packers' Matt Flynn could be an interesting free agent if the Chiefs plan to bring in a legitimate contender for Cassel's job. They also could target the Buccaneers' Josh Johnson.
Breaking Down The Chiefs' Future, Position By Position from KC Star
Can't only be coincidence that the man Pioli considers his best friend growing up is Steve Cahillane, now the CEO of Coca-Cola and Washingtonville High class of 1983.
Or that, growing up, they shared this town with Brian Cashman (the Yankees' general manager), Tony Gilroy (Oscar-nominated filmmaker of the Bourne movies), Eddie Hawkins (the U.S. national soccer team's first American-born black player), James Mangold (director of "Walk the Line" and "3:10 to Yuma") and others.
All of this from a village of 6,000 people - fewer when this logic-defying generation of success came through.
The Two-Stoplight Town Where Scott Pioli Grew Up Is A Cradle Of Achievement from KC Star
Key matchup
Denver LBs D.J. Williams and Wesley Woodyard vs. Kansas City RB Dexter McCluster. The Broncos have had issues this month with "slash" types-players who can line up in multiple spots and have the speed and quickness to create mismatches...
...Getting McCluster involved in the offense makes even more sense when you consider that the strength of the Broncos' defense is the pass rush, led by Elvis Dumervil (9.5 sacks) and Von Miller (11.5). The best way to slow down a rush is with quick-hitting passes, so look for the Chiefs to hit McCluster on bubble screens and wheel routes out of the backfield.
Pre-Snap Read: Kansas City Chiefs At Denver Broncos from SportingNews
The evidence is in, and it is overwhelming. Nobody else will say it, and letting it drag into 2012 is morally wrong. So let us end 2011 with an inconvenient truth. No, not one involving a full of (redacted) vice president, but an even more dangerous one.
Tim Tebow is Satan.
He is the personification of pure evil, and he must be defeated and destroyed, never to rise up and spread terror and pain ever again.
Is Tim Tebow Satan? from The Washington Times
The Kansas City Chiefs signed linebacker Brandon Siler to a one-year contract extension after he missed all of this season because of a torn Achilles tendon.
Siler's agent, David Canter, confirmed the deal Saturday in a text to The Associated Press.
Siler was expected to compete for time at middle linebacker alongside Pro Bowl selection Derrick Johnson after spending last season with the San Diego Chargers. He had a good start to training camp but was hurt in late August, and had surgery to repair his Achilles a few days later.
Chiefs Extend Brandon Siler One Year from ESPN