Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 6/17

Chiefs Volunteer At Cross-Lines from The Mothership

On Monday afternoon, the Chiefs Community Caring Team, featuring the Red Coaters and Chiefs Ambassador Anthony Davis, served lunch at Cross-Lines Community Outreach.

The Cross-Lines' hunger relief program is designed to help feed those in need on a daily basis. The organization provides breakfast and lunch five days a week and has a thrift store on site, which is stocked with essential household items. Their goal is to help the less fortunate break the cycle of poverty.

NFL.com Podcast: Super Bowl Non-Contenders

Tamba Hali/Justin Houston Top NFL's Best Pass-Rushing Duos from NFL.com

When I played for the Oakland Raiders in the late 1990s, defensive coordinator Willie Shaw told us that the pass rush is far more important than the coverage in the NFL. He believed disrupting the timing and rhythm of the quarterback was paramount to playing good defense.

Based on that premise, I decided to dig into the tape and identify the top pass-rushing duos in the NFL. While I'm sure my list will draw the ire of fans used to seeing some familiar names at the top of the charts, the final order is based on the collective talent, performance and production of the tandem heading into the 2014 regular season.

Without further ado, here are my top five twosomes:

1) Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs Enter Final Phase Of NFL Offseason Workout Program from Chiefs Spin

The Chiefs hold a mandatory three-day minicamp Tuesday through Thursday before the players take a break ahead of training camp in July.

The last period in Phase Three of the league's offseason workout program offers the coaching staff a chance to reinforce to players what has been learned in the past 10 days of voluntary organized team activities (OTAs).

Minicamp also allows an opportunity to spend more time with players.

3 In The Kee: Which Chiefs Must Deal The With The Most Fallout From Flowers' Departure from FS Kansas City

Another number to note: 87.

As in, that's how many career NFL starts Flowers, the former Virginia Tech product, had under his belt through the fall of 2013.

Persepective: The 10 cornerbacks left on the Chiefs' roster have 105 NFL starts, combined. And veteran Sean Smith accounts for 71 of those, all by himself.

So, yeah, there's a financial savings for letting No. 24 go. But there's plenty of risk, too, especially where these three on concerned ...

Chiefs To Gamble On Defense from ESPN

First the Kansas City Chiefs surprised most people by selecting Auburn defensive end Dee Ford in the first round of the NFL draft. Then last Friday, they made their second stunning move of the offseason with the release of Pro Bowl cornerback Brandon Flowers.

There's an undeniable statement in these decisions, one that goes far beyond talent and money. The message the Chiefs are sending these days -- and it's a serious gamble from this vantage point -- is that defensive coordinator Bob Sutton really has the goods to take this unit to the next level.

Houston Is Now More Important To Chiefs from ESPN

Houston's value is only greater to the Chiefs now that Flowers is gone. Without him, the Chiefs are patching things together at cornerback and need a top-flight pass-rusher more than ever to counter that. They drafted another pass-rusher, Dee Ford, in the first round this year and he has displayed considerable promise since joining the Chiefs.

The Chiefs won't reach their defensive potential without Houston, though.

Detroit Lions Linked To Brandon Flowers, But Don't Expect Him To Solve Secondary Woes from The Detroit Free Press

Flowers is coming off a career-worst one-interception season and reportedly was lukewarm about playing the nickel cornerback position he spent about 30 percent of his time in last year.

The Lions likely would use Flowers, a willing run defender, as their nickel cornerback and leave Slay and Mathis outside.

Finding The Fits: With Size, Speed For Scheme, Phillip Gaines Fits In KC from CBS Sports

Corners lacking size -- like the 5-foot-9, 187 pound Flowers -- aren't a fit in a scheme predicated on press coverage with long, lanky defenders on the perimeter. That's why Sean Smith (6-foot-3, 218), Marcus Cooper (6-foot-1, 192) and Ron Parker (6-foot, 206) were given free agent deals over the past two years and why the 6-foot, 193-pound Gaines will be given every opportunity to earn considerable playing time as a rookie.

Gaines possesses the height, long arms, fluidity and straight-line speed to handle making the jump from Conference USA. He was one of the hotter prospects in the class as the draft approached, in large part due to an extraordinary workout at the combine that was highlighted by his 4.38 in the 40-yard dash and 6.62-second 3-cone drill, second fastest among cornerbacks tested in Indianapolis last year.

Kilgore Making Up For Lost Time from The StarPhoenix

The Roughriders originally signed Kilgore to a free-agent contract in December 2012 with the idea that the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker would be in Saskatchewan for the 2013 CFL season.

However, in March of 2013, the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs - or, as Kilgore called them Monday, "my hometown team" - offered a contract to the product of Orrick, Mo.

In a kind gesture, the Roughriders let him out of his CFL deal so that he could pursue the opportunity in Kansas City.

Rocky Bleier: The Chuck Noll I Remember from MMQB

I remember in 1974, Chuck's sixth season as coach of the Steelers and my fourth year back with the team after serving in Vietnam. We went out to Kansas City to play the Chiefs, and they had all the main players from their recent Super Bowl team, including Lenny Dawson at quarterback. We ran the ball well, we sacked Dawson two or three times, and we beat them. On Monday we're going over the game film, and I was expecting Chuck to congratulate us on a great game. But not Chuck. Chuck said the reason we won this game was because of the lack of good habits formed by one person...

...So Chuck said, "The reason we won this game, gentlemen, is because of the lack of habits formed by Kansas City's left guard. The reason why we had the sacks and the forced passes and why they had no running game was because of the habits formed by the left guard."

NFL Analysis: Weakest Position On Each Team from Lindy's Sports

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

-WIDE RECEIVER: The Chiefs have 12 wide receivers on the 90-man roster. Six have played at least one NFL game, but only two have more than 50 league appearances - Dwayne Bowe (103) and Donnie Avery (71). Last season, the wide receivers accounted for 52 percent of the team's passing offense, with Bowe and Avery producing ordinary performances with just seven touchdown catches total and averaged only 13.1 yards per catch (91 receptions, 1,269 yards).

US Players Targeted By Wildcats Scam from The Swindon Advertiser

"When I looked at the icon picture I noticed it was a picture of the NFL Kansas City Chiefs head coach, which clearly was a red flag.

"I read the five tweets and they all were trying to get players. So I did some sleuthing and found the real Ryan's Twitter account and contacted him."

The conman puts out notices across the ice hockey message boards, with pleas for players to contact him on a fake e-mail address: office.swindonwildcatsihc@gmail.com.