Hey, Dee, what's happening man?
Look, you have no idea who I am. There's absolutely no reason you SHOULD know who I am. I write articles about the Chiefs sometimes after watching them play. There are about a thousand other guys who do something similar. You, on the other hand, play in NFL. So please know that I know that you don't care even a little bit what I say when it comes to your performance on the football field.
That said, I owe you an apology.
See, I've spent the better part of this last week talking about how concerned I am about your lack of development, how I wasn't sure if you'd ever come around, and a whole bunch of other things. I even managed to get into a thousand-word slap fight over your rookie year vs. Justin Houston's rookie year (I'm guessing at this point you pity me too much to be angry, but I gotta get through this anyway). It was a pretty rough time.
But then, you decided it was time to go have a three sack, 18 hit, 900-hurry game against Phillip Rivers and the Chargers (all numbers approximate).
I mean, for real ...you were so good, you were tackling Rivers before his tackle even got fully out of his stance.
Dee got a slightly better jump on the snap than the LT. Just a little. A smidge. pic.twitter.com/qiqN4zPySK
— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) December 14, 2015
Now on one hand, that LT was clearly daydreaming about an easier time, when he was collecting six figures to sit on the bench and NOT get eaten alive every other snap by a guy just way too quick for him. This made your path to Rivers quite a bit easier.
On the other hand, your ridiculous first step made the LT's failure look even worse than it was. I have no problem telling you, Dee; your first step is one of the 2-3 fastest I've ever seen. It's insane.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry I said a bunch of stuff about your ability against the run. I'm sorry I doubted that you'd be able to impact a game without a secondary rush. I'm even sorry I said a bunch of stuff about your lack of handfighting skills. Again, I have no illusions that you cared one bit that I wrote these things ... but I know when it's time for me to apologize to someone. Because if it weren't for you, I don't think the Chiefs win that game.
(Hey, on a side note, could you talk to the fellas about maybe putting the next one a way a bit sooner? I've got four kids, man. I've got a stressful job. My life is hard enough without sitting there wheezing in a fetal position following every Chiefs game. I know it's a bad time to ask, but I thought I would. It would mean a lot to me).
And yeah, about that handfighting stuff...
Ford showing a little more handfighting in this game than we've seen previously. A good sign. pic.twitter.com/nmLqL5aMnw
— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) December 14, 2015
But that's besides the point. The point is that for one game you were hands down the best defender on the field (you and Old Man Tamba, who wasn't letting Melvin Gordon sneeze without tossing him to the ground), and that's pretty awesome.
So seriously, my bad. Even though you don't care (and you shouldn't), my bad. I'm gonna go ahead and shut up for a little while and see how things go from here. Until then, please take this letter as my very public apology for doubting you could make an impact on a game. You showed me to be wrong in a big way. So again, sorry about all that, and good luck with the upcoming slate of games.
Sincerely,
MNchiefsfan
(P.S.- Please tell Jeff Allen to get well soon. That would be swell)