Practice Report 9/30 Updated

From the Truman Sports Complex

The changing Chiefs roster this week had nothing to do with the results of last Sunday’s game in Philadelphia.

“We’ve made it pretty clear whenever we have the opportunity to make this team better whether now or in the future, we are going to do it,” said Haley, a day after the club swapped  out three spots  on the active roster. “We are in the process of shaping this team and I think it’s critical that we understand,  all the players understand that this is the beginning stages of the process.

“One thing that’s made clear to the players is that there are going to be changes as we try to improve and get better reach week. They can’t let it effect them in any way shape or form. That’s the way we are going to continue to operate.”

New faces on the field Wednesday morning for their first practice session of the week were TE Leonard Pope, LB David  Herron and CB Mike Richardson. Pope is wearing No. 45, Herron has No. 42 and Richardson No. 23. …Read More!

As The Roster Door Turns … Wednesday Cup O’Chiefs

Scott Pioli and Todd Haley promised after the NFL Draft back in April that they were not done trying to improve the Chiefs roster.

They said it again at the end of training camp.

They are proving men of their word when it comes to personnel matters. By the time the door to the Chiefs roster stops spinning this week there will be at least three new faces on the 53-man active roster. Tyler Thigpen, Monty Beisel and Ricardo Colclough got their walking papers on Tuesday. OT Leonard Pope (left) was officially added, with two spots remaining open.

Sounds like one of those could go to former Packers OT Mark Tauscher, who worked out on Tuesday at the team’s facilities. Tauscher is coming off a knee injury and was not re-signed by Green Bay.

What does all this coming and going accomplish? So far, not much based on the team’s record. Pioli has talked about the number of players he inherited who have been removed from the roster and only a few have since found work in the NFL (see the chart below.) Right now that number of players who were on the active roster-injured reserve-practice squad when Pioli took over and are now gone is 32. Only six are on NFL active rosters right now. …Read More!

Beisel, Colclough Gone From Arrowhead

Tuesday was a busy day in the personnel department at the Chiefs offices.

And there’s more to come as two spots remain open on the active roster.

QB Tyler Thigpen was traded to the Miami Dolphins in the morning for an undisclosed draft choice.

Then in the afternoon, the Chiefs released ILB Monty Beisel and CB Ricardo Colclough.

They signed free agent TE Leonard Pope to the active roster. Pope played with the Arizona Cardinals for three seasons, so obviously Todd Haley is familiar with him. At 6-8, 264 pounds, he caught 48 passes for 476 yards and 5 TDs with the Cardinals, where he was largely a blocking TE. Pope had two catches for 21 yards in the ’08 playoffs.

Pope was a third-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft out of Georgia.

They also made a move on the practice squad, releasing TE Tom Crabtree and signing OT Chris Patrick. A three-year letterman at Nebraska, Patrick went to training camp with the Eagles but was released before the start of the regular season. He went to camp with the Giants in the ’07 season. Patrick stands 6-5 and weighs 315 pounds. He was a three-year lettermen for the Cornhuskers.

A New Feature: Power Rankings

Our good friend Enrique has put together the official bobgretz.com power rankings. We’ll have his insight and rankings each week for the rest of the season. Enjoy.

In the pre-season, the third week of action is the most important one. Right after those games, teams begin to establish their definitive depth charts, as the contenders for the final spots on the rosters have separated from the pretenders, leaving open a small window of opportunity in the final week before conclusive cutdown.

In the regular season, things are somehow alike. In the first two weeks, all the teams are fighting to find their respective identities; but the results that follow Week 3 almost always determine the direction where a team is headed, as terms vary from: “We’re 3-0 right here. Maybe that says something about us” to “We just kept believing in each other and that was the best thing about it” to “We blew our chances.”
Leaving open as always, a small window of opportunity for the late bloomers to make a final charge before the season … I’m sorry, I got a little ahead of myself.

But we can’t get ahead of ourselves in bringing you the game that will serve as a reliable barometer to measure the quality of talent in professional football. This week the celebrating Vikings are on top (above) and the awful bad Browns bring up the bottom.

Enjoy your NFL’s Chutes ‘N Ladders for Week 3.

• Week #3 – No. 1 through 16.
  
• Week #3 – No. 17 through 32.

Thiggy Joins Flipper

On Tuesday the Chiefs traded QB Tyler Thigpen to the Miami Dolphins for an undisclosed draft choice.

That was good news for Thigpen who was trapped in a no-win situation with the Chiefs. GM Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley did not view him as potential quarterback for them. There’s a good chance Thigpen would have gone to Jacksonville in a trade before the season’s first game, but the knee injury to starter Matt Cassel put that on hold.

In Miami, the Dolphins have lost starter Chad Pennington for the season with a right shoulder injury. Chad Henne will become the starter. The other quarterback on the roster is rookie Pat White out of West Virginia.

Because of his ability to run and throw the ball, Thigpen will likely get a chance to get on the field with the Dolphins once he learns the offense. This year with the Chiefs, he appeared for two plays against Baltimore, running once for two yards and handing off on the second play. …Read More!

Game-Day Leftovers …Tuesday Cup O’Chiefs

They are not there yet, but if the results continue to go south like they have for the 2009 Chiefs, this team will enter some dangerous territory for Todd Haley.

A coach can’t work his team as hard as Haley has done with the Chiefs and expect to be loved and admired. That’s no big deal because most NFL players don’t like their head coach anyway.

But a coach can’t work his team as hard as Haley has and not give the players a little sugar, in this case in the form of a victory. The longer it takes to get the first winning effort of the Haley Era, the closer the locker room will be to tuning out their head coach.

That’s not visible now, but a victory is badly needed by everyone in the Arrowhead tepee.

Here are a few other thoughts left over from the weekend in Philly and what happened on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field: …Read More!

From The Mouth Of Todd 9/28

From the Truman Sports Complex

Everything around the Chiefs these days is very fluid, and that includes the head coach’s weekly press conference. It will now be held Monday afternoon rather than Tuesday.

So Todd Haley met with the media horde and answered questions for 24 minutes at the Chiefs offices. Naturally, the theme revolved around the Chiefs 34-14 loss on Sunday to the Eagles.

Here’s some of the best of what Haley had to say.

ON THE DIRECTION THE CHIEFS GO FROM HERE

“I think it’s pretty clear that our margin of error is not real great right at this time, so we must as a team and as a coaching staff really do everything right – all the little things including technique, decision making – especially against a team like Philadelphia. We weren’t (doing things right) and that’s why we saw the result that we had.

“We’ve got to continue to coach discipline. We just have to get better at the little things. When your margin of error is small you can’t align a yard out of place, or allow a big play to happen. We need to have all those little things coached hard, coached correctly and then we need to execute. I don’t think we do a whole lot different other than focus and not let anything slide. That’s the direction.” …Read More!

Chiefs Report 9/28

From the Truman Sports Complex

There are changes coming with the Chiefs as they lick their wounds from Sunday’s loss to the Eagles and get ready for the visit of the Giants this weekend.

On the team’s depth chart released on Monday, Ryan O’Callaghan is now listed as the starter at right tackle.  For the first three games, Ikechuku Ndukwe was the starter there.

And the depth chart also now lists Ron Edwards as the starter at nose tackle. Edwards opened the game against the Eagles. Tank Tyler had been the starter there for the first two games.

There may be more. Speaking on Monday, head coach Todd Haley also indicated that rookies ILB Jovan Belcher and CB Donald Washington could become major parts of the defensive effort. Belcher played with the starters in the base defense through the second half, replacing Corey Mays. In the nickel defense, Washington was inserted into the nickel back role in place of Maurice Leggett after Philly’s DeSean Jackson scored on a 64-yard touchdown pass.

On the injury front, Haley said the Chiefs would be very careful this week with the hamstring injury of WR Dwayne Bowe. Bowe is unlikely to practice on Wednesday, but may be able to get ready for action by the weekend. 

Haley expects ILB Derrick Johnson to practice on Wednesday. Johnson missed all of practice last week and Sunday’s game with the Eagles because of the groin injury he suffered against the Raiders.

Chiefs Take Another Step Backwards

From Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

The ugly beat goes on.

Even though they were playing a depleted Philadelphia Eagles team, the Chiefs were unable to matchup even against their backups. With youngsters like QB Kevin Kolb, RB LeSean McCoy, TE Brent Celek and WRs DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin leading the way, the Eagles improved their record to 2-1 with a 34-14 victory Sunday afternoon.

Philadelphia got Michael Vick on the field, but head coach Andy Reid did not have Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook and Kevin Curtis, all starters in his offense. Turns out the Eagles didn’t need them.

The 25-year old Kolb threw for 327 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The 21-year old McCoy ran 20 times for 84 yards. The 24-year old Celek caught eight passes for 104 yards, while the 22-year old Jackson led all receivers with six catches for 149 yards. The 21-year old Maclin added four catches for 33 yards.

The Chiefs were ineffective on offense, defense and special teams. They killed themselves again with penalties; in the first half they had more penalties (6) than first downs (5). Todd Haley’s team is now 0-3 this year. The Chiefs have now won only two of their last 19 games, and six of their last 35.

As always, there was plenty to write about.

• Game story: Chiefs overmatched on the field.
• Column: There’s a long road to travel for this franchise.
• Vick: The disgraced QB makes a quiet return.
• Offense: Third down struggles continue.
• Defense struggles & notes.
• GAMEBOOK

Pre-Game Report 9/27-UPDATE-Inactives

From Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

10:37 a.m. – Former Missouri WR Jeremy Maclin will make his first NFL start today, as he opens for the Eagles offense in place of Kevin Curtis. Also, Mark Bradley will take Dwayne Bowe’s spot in the starting lineup for the Chiefs.

10:35 a.m. – The Eagles have made all three healthy quarterbacks active for today’s game, with Kevin Kolb starting and Jeff Garcia and Michael Vick both part of the 45-man roster. Nursing his rib injury, Donovan McNabb is on the inactive list. Because all three of the QBs are active, Philly had to name eight inactive players: McNabb, Westbrook, CB Dimitri Patterson, FS Quintin Demps, G Mike McGlynn, OL Todd Herremans, WR Kevin Curtis and DE Jason Babin.

10:30 a.m. – The Chiefs got a big break as RB Brian Westbrook is inactive today because of an ankle injury he suffered last week. That should put rookie LeSean McCoy into the starting lineup.

10:25 a.m. – Both WR Dwayne Bowe and ILB Derrick Johnson will not play today against the Eagles, as they were part of the inactive listed just turned in to game officials. Also inactive for the Chiefs will be WR Quinten Lawrence, QB Matt Gutierrez, CB Ricardo Colclough, TE Jake O’Connell and LB Pierre Walters. Tyler Thigpen is the inactive third quarterback. …Read More!

Make A Play To Win … Game-Day Cup O’Chiefs

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

His name was Gerald Hayes.

Two years ago on a September Sunday in the desert, the linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals found a way to make a play with the outcome of a game against the Seattle Seahawks on the line.

Todd Haley says that moment was when the Cardinals learned how to win. He hopes that sometime soon, one of his Chiefs will enjoy a similar moment and help the team stop the losing ways that have become a habit around the team for the last two seasons and two games.

Haley hopes that man makes himself visible Sunday, when the Chiefs make their first trip to Lincoln Financial Field to play the Eagles. Kickoff is noon on CBS-TV.

Trips to the city of brotherly love over Chiefs history have been as rare as victories in recent seasons; it’s only the second time that the red and gold have made a trip to the land of the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin, Rocky Balboa, Geno’s & Pat’s (cheese steaks for the uninitiated and I think they are both great) and America’s most boo happy sports fans.

This is where the Chiefs hope to find the first victory of the Pioli/Haley Era. For the last two weeks, they’ve been in the game, thus had a chance to win, against both Baltimore and Oakland. Just as this team did last year in a disastrous 2-14 season, they either found ways to lose, or could not find the key to victory. …Read More!

Testing Haley’s Mettle

It’s coming full circle, and I can’t wait.

The most important skill any person in command can display is the reaction to adversity. Without a doubt, greatness is recognized in those little moments when the comfort zone is shattered and one is left scrambling to pick up the pieces in order to give the perfect solution to a specific predicament.

Right after Clark Hunt gave the reins of the franchise to Scott Pioli, the search was on to find the man that could lead a group of men in red back to respectability.

And it didn’t take long to spot him. In fact, less than a week.

As everybody knows, last January, in the final quarter of the NFC Championship game, after Philadelphia shockingly mounted a furious comeback to gain the lead, the Arizona Cardinals found themselves on the ropes as the result of that tremendous blow. Stumbling, they tried to answer right back. But on their way to do so, they had to dodge some friendly fire. …Read More!

City of Brotherly Love?

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A sports figure has never really reached superstar status until he’s been booed by the sports fans of Philadelphia. They are equal opportunity in Philly when it comes to making their voices heard. Great players are often targeted more than the not so good.

I mean come on, these guys booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

Folks in the Midwest have often asked me if the reputation of the Philadelphia sports fans was true. Were they really a group that would boo anybody at any time, and were they the most unruly spectators in the country?

My answer has always been yes, and yes.

Over the years, I saw a lot of games at Veterans Stadium and the Spectrum. Baseball, football, hockey, a few college basketball games were spent in south Philly and always something would happen. Fights and drunken brawls were not considered anything out of the ordinary.

I can remember a Phillies-Pirates game where every fan in a half-filled section in the upper deck were all involved in a melee. Security personnel arrived and hauled a couple guys off and it wasn’t a half-inning later that another fight broke out in the same section. There was an Eagles game where I swear to God, the fans booed a couple kids who took part in a Punt, Pass & Kick competition at half-time. …Read More!

Surviving the Philly Blitz

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It’s unorthodox. It’s unusual. It can be deadly in a football sense.

When a team faces the Eagles they must deal with the Philadelphia blitz package. Under their late defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, the Birds have been sending extra guys at the passer for the last decade and confusing offensive coordinators and quarterbacks.

Johnson passed away earlier this year and Sean McDermott was elevated to the defensive coordinator’s position. So far, McDermott has changed a lot of what the Eagles have done.

“It looks like they’re carrying over a lot of the same stuff to me,” said Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. “I would say that it’s hard to see a lot of difference now. Coach Johnson was the best as far as the timing and instincts; when he did and didn’t bring (the blitz) and staying ahead of the curve. To me, going against anybody in the league, Coach Johnson was the one.

“So that’ll be on the new guy to pick up from there. But it doesn’t look like a lot is different.” …Read More!

Iowa vs. Penn State … College Preview 9/26

One of the better matchups of this weekend in college football will go down at Beaver Stadium in the middle of Pennsylvania as Penn State hosts Iowa.

With Penn State LB Sean Lee (right) and Iowa OT Bryan Buluaga likely out of this game because of injury, two of the stars on these teams that could move on to the NFL will be missing. But both teams have a handful of players who will make a place for themselves at the next level.

Because of that, there will be a lot of attention on this game tape as NFL teams go through the evaluation process. On top of that, it figures to be a heck of a game. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is 6-2 all-time against Joe Paterno and last year the Hawkeyes knocked off a good Nittany Lions team.

The crowd will be loud and wild. It will be as good as college football gets.

Game time is 7 p.m. on ABC.  Here are the top prospects: …Read More!