Offense, defense & special teams all contribute in Victory No. 2

From the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in the East Bay, the Chiefs once again made themselves right at home in the house Al Davis built, vacated and now lives in again.

Victory No. 2 of the grueling and disappointing 2008 season came with a 20-13 decision over the Raiders and the Chiefs saw all three phases of their game contribute to the victory.

The offense got the job done with a strong drive in the second half that ate up clock and ended with RB Larry Johnson in the end zone. QB Tyler Thigpen led his group to 301 yards and successfully ran the game’s last minutes off the clock with several key first downs. TE Tony Gonzalez had eight catches for 110 yards.

The battered and bruised defense went into the game unsure of how many healthy bodies would be available to play on the defensive line. But they ended up forcing a big second-half turnover and did not give up a big play all day, allowing Oakland 271 total yards. After giving up 300 rushing yards in the season’s second week, they allowed just 139 yards in this game.

And the special teams stepped up and produced a touchdown on one of the most unusual plays of the day and kept Oakland’s explosive punt returner Johnnie Lee Higgins under wraps with good coverage.

The teams traded field goals in the first quarter, as both defenses stiffened in the scoring zone. The Chiefs won the pre-game coin toss but were unable to mount a scoring drive on their first possession. On its first chance with the ball, Oakland was able to drive the ball 80 yards on eight plays. The big plays were a 28-yard completion from QB JaMarcus Russell to TE Zach Miller and then a 16-yard hook-and-ladder play from Russell to WR Ronald Curry, who tossed a lateral to RB Darren McFadden …Read More!

Game-Day Inactives 11/30

From the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Game-day inactives for the Chiefs in Sunday’s game against the Raiders are:

• CB Pat Surtain
• CB Ricardo Colclough
• TE Michael Merrritt
• LB Pat Thomas
• LB Donnie Edwards
• T Andrew Carnahan
• G Adrian Jones
• WR Jeff Webb

Inactive for the Raiders are CB Michael Waddell, CB Darrick Brown, LB Ricky Brown, C Jake Grove, G Dylan Gandy, T James Marten and DE Greyson Gunheim.  Marques Tuiasosopo is the third inactive QB.  Grove is the Raiders starting center.  He’ll be replaced by John Wade.

Rocky Boiman and Demorrio Williams will start for Edwards and Thomas.  Wade Smith opens at right guard for Jones.

DT Antwon Burton was added to the team on Friday and he’s active today.  He’ll be wearing No. 61.

Game-day weather conditions are near perfect for the last day of November: clear skies, no chance of rain, with kickoff temperatures expected to be in the mid to upper 60s.  The Raiders declared the game a sellout.

The officiating crew of Pete Morelli is working this game.  Over the season, Morelli and his crew walk off on average 10.9 penalties per game.

Sunday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

From Millbrae, California

When the Chiefs and Raiders meet on Sunday afternoon at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum they will play the 100th game that mattered in the history of this storied rivalry.

They have played 96 times in the regular season and three times in the playoffs and they have combined for some of the greatest moments in pro football history.

But right now, guys like Dawson and Lamonica, Biletnikoff and Taylor, Bell and Hendricks, Rudnay and Otto wouldn’t recognize what’s happening on the field.

Can you really call it a rivalry when one team is 3-8 and the other is 1-10?

Can it really be another chapter in a storied history of games when one team is 1-19 in the last 20 games, while the other is 4-16 in the same time frame?

Since the Raiders made the Super Bowl at the end of the 2002 season, they have an NFL worst record of 22-69. The Chiefs in that same time-frame are now 44-47.

The Chiefs against the Raiders used to mean something. It mattered. That’s not the case right now and hasn’t been the case for some time. In fact, one would probably have to go back to the Y2K Bowl on January 2, 2000 when the Raiders beat the Chiefs 41-38 in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium. That victory allowed Oakland to finish .500 on the season and knocked Kansas City out of the playoffs.

How bad is this match up? CBS-TV is forced to broadcast the game because they carry the AFC. They’ve assigned their least active and talented broadcast crew in Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein. Kansas City and northern California will be the only areas of the country that see this game, and again that comes only because CBS must provide that coverage.

There will be little or no carryover from the previous 99 games when these teams play on Sunday. The only game that really matters is the 99th meeting, back in September when the Raiders rolled into Arrowhead and handed the Chiefs a 23-8 loss. In that game, the Raiders embarrassed the Chiefs by running for 300 yards. And, there wasn’t a single fight, which tells you there isn’t much emotion left in this battle.

Rivalries are built on two things: geography and playing games of importance. The Chiefs and Raiders have never been about geography. They have always been about playing games of importance.

Until now. …Read More!

How The Chiefs Can Beat The Raiders

From Millbrae, California

Today’s question: when was the last time the Chiefs won on the road?

Answer: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. On October 21, 2007, the Chiefs beat the Raiders 12-10.

Since then, the Chiefs are a miserable 1-19, winning only at home against Denver earlier this season.

As they have just about every week this season, the Chiefs come into their game on Sunday against the Raiders as an underdog, even though the silver and black is just 3-8 on the year. One of those victories came at Arrowhead Stadium back in September. That 23-8 defeat was the first indicator that the ’08 season was not going to be a good one for the red and gold.

With seven consecutive defeats, the Chiefs need a victory in a bad way. There’s no question they can win this game by doing all the necessary things and a few extra. …Read More!

Zebra Watch Week #12

There are always things that make you wonder about the guys in striped shirts.

And it’s not so much the guys on the field, but the folks who oversee the business of officiating in the NFL.

Take for instance the national television games, Thursday, Sunday and Monday night football. Go back to Monday night, November 10 when the 49ers and Cardinals played. In that game, Tony Corrente’s crew walked off a total of 20 penalties for 164 yards. No game that week had as many penalties and it ranks among the most penalized games of the season.

Since then, the prime-time games have had remarkably few penalties. The next Thursday night saw nine flags in the Jets-Patriots game. On Sunday night that week, the Cowboys-Redskins had just seven flags and that was from the crew of Jeff Triplette, one of the most active in the league. The Monday night game that week saw just five flags walked off in the Browns-Bills game by the crew of Jerome Boger, again one of the most active flag throwing groups in the league.

Let’s jump to last week. The Thursday night game featured the Bengals-Steelers and the crew of Ron Winter, again one of the league’s most active bunches. They walked off just six penalties. Sunday night football had the Colts-Chargers and Gene Steratore’s crew threw just eight flags and then this past Monday night, the Packers-Saints saw Walt Coleman and his guys throw just five flags.

Those three games were four of the least penalized games in the league.

It may be coincidence but I found it an interesting turn of events.

Here’s how the officials ranked last week and on the season. …Read More!

Saturday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

From Millbrae, California

The Chiefs boots hit the ground in the Bay Area Friday afternoon and when they got to their hotel near the San Francisco Airport, DT Antwon Burton (right) had to wait to get a key to his room.

The newest member of the Chiefs 53-man roster was added Friday, just before the team left Kansas City for their trip here to play the Raiders in Oakland on Sunday.

It was just another example of the constant ebb and flow of the club’s roster this season. It’s gotten to the point that the team’s hotel has to change room assignments at the last minute because there always seems to be somebody new along on the trip.

Bolden becomes the 74th player on the team’s active roster this year. When he plays on Sunday, and right now he’s scheduled to be part of the 45-man active roster, he will become the 69th player who has dressed for a game. If he gets on the field, he’ll be the 68th player to have played this year. It’s unlikely that Bolden will start; there have been 37 different players who have opened the game on offense and defense.

We’ve covered this ground before but it still does not do justice as to how unusual this season has been for the Chiefs when it comes to injuries. Teams that are struggling in the standings always seem to have more injuries than those teams sitting on top of the league’s eight divisions. But what’s happened to the Chiefs has set club records and is probably close to pushing NFL records for players used in a single season.

Last year, the Chiefs had 62 players step on the field.  Back in 1994 they had 63 players who got their uniforms dirty.  No other non-strike season had more players than that ’94 team so the Chiefs have shattered all records.

Here’s how they break down by position:

And the amazing thing is that there are still five games to play in this season. Obviously the ’08 Chiefs defense has had problems since the second week of the season, when the Oakland Raiders ran wild on them. Obviously, having 35 different players dress during the season does not help matters for Gunther Cunningham. …Read More!

Player Profile: Tank Tyler

Tank Tyler’s life is dominated by two things: football and music.

Football has brought him to the NFL and Kansas City, as he was a third-round draft choice of the Chiefs in 2007. After a rough rookie season, he’s been the Chiefs best defensive lineman this season, working hard on the interior of defensive front.

When he’s not involved in football, Tyler spends his time with music. He writes songs, both the lyrics and music, and likes to record his rap compositions. It tickles his creative fancy and also is his escape from football and seasons like the one the Chiefs are going through right now.   To find out more about Tank Tyler, click here.

Chiefs Update

From the Truman Sports Complex

Well, the Chiefs were unable to make it through the week without a roster move.

Just before they departed for the left coast Friday afternoon, the Chiefs made a roster move because of injuries along their defensive line.

Promoted from the practice squad was DT Antwon Burton.  To make room for him, LB Wes Dacus was released.  If Dacus clears waivers he’ll be added to the practice squad.

The move came about because of a rash of banged up defensive linemen.  DE Tamba Hali got very little practice time this week because of an ankle injury.  DT Tank Tyler got limited work because of a hip. DE-DT Alfonso Boone was limited all week because of a back issue.  DT Glenn Dorsey practiced all week but he’s been dealing with a knee injury that he suffered last week.

After Friday’s practice, Herm Edwards said he expected Hali to attempt to play on Sunday against the Raiders. How much he can contribute will be the question mark because of the lack of work. The Chiefs will list Hali, Boone and Tyler as questionable on the NFL injury report.  Joining that group will be WR Mark Bradley, who got some practice time in on Friday morning.

Listed as out are CB Pat Surtain, LB Donnie Edwards and G Adrian Jones.

Burton (6-2, 308) has played in seven games over the last two seasons with Denver, picking up nine tackles.  He joined the Broncos as a college free agent in 2006 out of Temple University.  He spent the last eight games of the ’06 season on the Broncos active roster.  He repeated that in ’07, starting on Denver’s practice squad before moving to the active roster for the second half of the season.  Bolden went to camp in ’08 with Cincinnati but was released before the start of the regular season.

Burton will wear No. 61 and will be active for Sunday’s game against the Raiders.

Podcasting: Len’s Look 11/28

Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson joins us again this week to continue analyzing the growth of Tyler Thigpen as an NFL quarterback.  Len talks about Thigpen’s turnovers from last week and what the next step must be for this young quarterback.  He also talks about the Chiefs defense and we talk about whether two teams that are 3-8 and 1-10 can really play a rivalry game.

Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

MU-KU HAVE SIGNED FOR FOUR MORE YEARS OF FOOTBALL EACH NOVEMBER AT ARROWHEAD.
Word of a new deal between the schools was no secret, but on Thanksgiving Day they announced a new four-year contract with the Chiefs to hold the game between these rivals at Arrowhead through the 2012 season. The teams will play each other this Saturday in the second meeting at Arrowhead.

“This continues what everyone knows was the late Lamar Hunt’s dream” said Carl Peterson. “Without question this is a great positive for Kansas City, Jackson County and Arrowhead Stadium.”

It’s also a great financial deal for the two schools. In the Big 12 Conference, there is no sharing of revenue with the visiting team. KU officials estimated the deal was worth $1.5-2 million more for each school than if they hosted the home games.

“It’s good for both schools,” Peterson said. “It’s a great economic impact for the Kansas City community. We’d like to sustain this, but ultimately it’s their decision. We’re hopeful that this thing will continue.”

Last year’s game was huge as both MU and KU came into the contest with national championship dreams. The Jayhawks were unbeaten, the Tigers had one loss. Mizzou’s 36-28 victory was played before 80,527 fans, the second largest crowd in Arrowhead history. It was also one of the most highly watched college football games of the season.

The two schools have played each other 116 times, making it the oldest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi.

Also starting next season, Arrowhead will host the Kansas State-Iowa State series for at least two years. …Read More!

Answering Some Whys?

I’ll go through a game or a day, picking up information, seeing things happen and invariably write in my notebook next to something new or different, WHY?

I’ve had a bunch of those notations lately, so I spent some time trying to get answers to the various whys I have collected.

Like why does at least once a game Dwayne Bowe drop a pass that should have been an easy catch? It’s a weekly occurrence. These are never tough catches he flubs. In fact, they are generally the easiest passes to catch that he’ll see that day. We have seen in almost two seasons that he has very good hands and can make some remarkable catches. But the drops keep getting in the way.

Why?

So I ask around and the general consensus is that Bowe loses focus at times during games and that’s the biggest reason for his drops. It’s a very simple habit of watching the ball all the way into his hands, rather than grabbing at it and turning his head and eyes away from the catch point to look for running room up the field. The coaching staff has worked with Bowe on fixing this problem, but he can’t seem to get over the hump. It was a problem in the season opener against New England and it continued last Sunday against Buffalo. Right now it’s a flaw in his game. …Read More!

Chiefs Update Thanksgiving Day

From the Truman Sports Complex

The Chiefs went through a two-hour practice session Thanksgiving morning and then had the rest of the day off to enjoy the holiday with family and friends.

One piece of bad news was the addition of DE Tamba Hali to the injury list with a sore  ankle.  He did not work at all in Thursday’s  practice and Herm Edwards seemed pessimistic that he would be ready for action on Sunday against the Raiders.

DT Tank Tyler and DE/DT Alfonso Boone were both limited participants in Thursday’s work.  Depending on the improvement of Tyler (hip) and Boone (back) in the next few days, the Chiefs starting defensive line against Oakland could have Wallace Gilberry and Jason Babin at end with Glenn Dorsey and Ron Edwards at tackle.

Others who did not work on Thursday were CB Pat Surtain (quad), WR Mark Bradley (calf), LB Wes Dacus (knee), LB Donnie Edwards (knee/hamstring) and G Adrian Jones (ankle).

Both LB Pat Thomas (hamstring) and s Jarrad Page (groin) were full participants in the practice work.

The Chiefs will practice Friday morning at their facility and then take an afternoon flight to San Francisco where they will be headquartered until Sunday’s game across the bay in Oakland.

Podcast: Football 101 with Goose 11/27

A Thanksgiving Day treat for us as Rick Gosselin, best pro football writer in America, joins us for a conversation about Thanksgiving football, why scoring is up in the NFL, why the home teams are suddenly taking it on the chin, why the New York Giants are the best team in the NFL and one of the most unusual plays in the NFL rules that came down last week in Arizona.

Thanksgiving Cup O’Chiefs

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

WE GIVE THANKS EVERY DAY THAT YOU FOUND BOBGRETZ.COM

If you think there wasn’t much for the Kansas City Chiefs to be thankful for during this disaesterous 2008 season, you would be wrong.

The Chiefs will get out of the office a few hours earlier than normal on Thursday so they can enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

And they all seem to have plenty to be thankful for this year. In fact, the timing of Thanksgiving in the midst of losing seven games in a row and 19 of the last 20 is actually a good reminder for many of them of what’s important in life.

“What we do here is very important,” safety Jon McGraw said. “But I think it’s always important to step back and put life into perspective. That doesn’t belittle what we do. Our job is to win football games and that’s important. Still there are things that are more important than football.

“There’s no better holiday to remind us all about how lucky we are than Thanksgiving. Just the opportunity to play this game and what it brings us is reason to be thankful. It’s a chance for us to remember what’s important.”

Herm Edwards will likely spend the holiday working. Wife Lia and the kids have gone off to California to see his mother and her parents. “I’ll probably just stay in the office and work,” Edwards said.

The head coach said he was most thankful for the people who serve.

“Whether it be military, police, fire department, all those people that do the things that we take for granted,” Edwards said. “We have to be thankful for them. They do a lot and it doesn’t get notice until something happens. I thought about that a lot this week.” …Read More!

Chiefs Update 11/26

From the Truman Sports Complex

Wednesday proved to be an unusual day for the 2008 Chiefs.

There were no roster moves.

The same 62 names that were on the active roster and practice squad last Wednesday were back for another week of work.

That may not seem like news, but it’s only the second time this season there hasn’t been a change in one of the rosters at mid-week.  The other time was the Wednesday-Thursday of the bye week.

Unless something unusual happens – it has been the season for that – the Chiefs will get through this week without a change to their roster.

The team went through a two-hour session outside under perfect conditions for a November 26: sunny skies, warm temperatures and very little wind.

What isn’t perfect is the injury report.  Not practicing were RG Adrian Jones (ankle), LB Donnie Edwards (knee/hamstring), DT Tank Tyler (hip), DT Alfonso Boone (back), WR Mark Bradley (calf) and LB Wes Dacus (hamstring).

Taking a full practice load were LB Pat Thomas, CB Pat Surtain and S Jarrad Page.  With Thomas back, he mixed in with Rocky Boiman at middle linebacker.