Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Two of the four starting quarterbacks from the 2007 NFL Draft class will be on display at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.

Third-round choice (No. 92 overall) Trent Edwards (below) will handle the opening snaps for the Buffalo Bills. Seventh-round choice (No. 217) Tyler Thigpen (right) will take the first snap for the Chiefs.

The other starters right now among the 11 quarterbacks taken were first round picks JaMarcus Russell with Oakland and Brady Quinn with Cleveland.

Right now, the star of the group would have to be Thigpen. He’s got more touchdown passes than any of the other throwers and half the 10 interceptions that Edwards brings to Arrowhead Stadium.

What he does not have is a victory as a starting quarterback. Thigpen is 0-5 despite his improved play. That leaves him trailing the other picks that have started at least one game. Edwards is 5-5, Russell is 2-7 and Quinn is 1-1.

Obviously a victory is what Thigpen is looking for this weekend.

“A lot of people look at statistics,” Thigpen said. “It doesn’t matter if he plays good, did he win? I think that’s the biggest thing. I think if I can get that out of the way, it’ll help out a lot for myself, and also for this team.”

Edwards had five victories in nine starts last year as a rookie. This year the Bills won the first four games of the season and five of the first six. But they’ve now lost four in a row and five of the last six. Part of the problem has been a drop in Edwards’ production at quarterback and an increase in interceptions. In the first month, he threw two INTs. In the last six games, he’s thrown eight picks, including three in the Bills’ loss Monday night to Cleveland.

“I’d say I’m still just as confident as I was,” Edwards said this week. “Obviously once you make some mistakes you try to tone it down a little bit. You’re trying not to force as many balls. That’s probably why I didn’t look as confident. We weren’t taking as many shots because of the defenses they were giving us.

“If there’s nothing downfield I can’t force it. That’s what was happening on those two interceptions. I made the mistakes by forcing the ball down the field.”

Here are the 11 quarterbacks drafted in 2007, with their round and overall selection spot and the teams they are currently with:

*-Stanback is on Cowboys roster as wide receiver. **-Rowe is on Bengals practice squad. ***-Palmer was released by the Redskins who drafted him and signed with Bengals. ****-Thigpen was claimed off Vikings waiver list in ‘07 by the Chiefs.

Thursday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

I’m sure the announcement on future sites for college basketball’s Final Four barely reached the radar screen of sports fans in Kansas City.

That’s too bad, because that announcement should have included Kansas City.

And it most certainly would have had Jackson County voters approved a rolling roof for the Truman Sports Complex (artist rendering right.)

That vote in April 2006 still remains a bit of a mystery. There were two issues on the ballot for Jackson County residents. The first was a sales tax to pay for the refurbishing of both Kaufmann and Arrowhead Stadiums. The price tag was $250 million per stadium.

The second issue was a use tax that would have been paid by business operating in Jackson County. That would have funded the rolling roof and the additions to Arrowhead that would have made the stadium weather proof and capable of holding events like the Super Bowl and the Final Four.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the first issue on the sales tax. Even though the NFL promised Kansas City a Super Bowl sometime in a 10-year window after construction of the roof, voters would not approve the use tax.

So Kansas City lost a Super Bowl, and now the city has no chance of hosting the Final Four. If you don’t know your college basketball history, no city has hosted more championship games than Kansas City. Most of those were played 40 to 50 years ago at Municipal Auditorium. The last one played in K.C. was the 50th Final Four in 1988.

Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

His name is Spencer Larsen and while he may not have put himself in the pro football record books this past weekend, he certainly will be remembered by the Denver Broncos.

Larsen became the first player in the Broncos 49-season history to start a game on both offense and defense. Denver’s roster has been riddled with injuries, especially in the offensive backfield. That forced Mike Shanahan to start Larsen at fullback and middle linebacker. Here’s the link to the NFL’s official gamebook showing the double start.

He also was on the kickoff and kick coverage teams. Larsen personifies the old saying “the more you can do.”

“I think it’s cool,” Larsen said after he helped the Broncos beat the Falcons in the Georgia Dome. “It’s a great experience and I credit the coaches for allowing me to do it. (Shanahan) is always looking out for his players and he knew that would be fun for me. It’s great for him to allow me to do that”

Now, don’t get the idea that Larsen was a 60-minute man. The last guy who did that in pro football was Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles back in the late 1950s. “Concrete Charlie” as he was called played at linebacker and center and never left the field.

Larsen saw three snaps as a fullback in the offense. He played much more on defense, where he finished with seven tackles. In all, he participated in 66 plays.

“For Spencer to play both fullback and start at mike linebacker and kickoff coverage and kickoff return kind of gives you an idea what he’s all about,” said Shanahan.

The week began for Larsen when Shanahan called him in and told him he would be starting at middle linebacker. At the University of Arizona, Larsen had played linebacker well enough to be selected in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

That move at linebacker was kept quiet by Shanahan, who closed the last 30 minutes of his practices so the media would not see Larsen working at both positions. After practice, he would spend time with running backs coach Bobby Turner and learned several offensive packages put in for the game.

Tuesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Let’s face facts: gambling has always been a big part of pro football.

Two of the most storied franchises in the league were founded by gamblers: the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants. Legal bookmaking in Nevada surrounding the NFL is a multi-million dollar business. The NFL publishes its own injury reports in hopes of keeping information in front of the general public, and not the domain of gamblers with sources in the locker room and at the doctor’s office.

That under current serves as a backdrop for the sport; always there but seldom noticed. Until an incident like the one that happened in the Steelers-Chargers game on Sunday at Heinz Field.

Here are the details: With San Diego trailing 11-10 and the game clock about to run out, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers completed a short pass over the middle to LaDainian Tomlinson of three yards. Tomlinson then lateraled the ball to Chris Chambers, who fumbled while trying to loft it back to tackle Marcus McNeil. Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu (above) burst through to disrupt the lateral, scooped up the fumble and ran 12 yards for a touchdown as the clock read 00:00.

After on-field discussion by the officiating crew of Scott Green and a replay review, the officials ruled there was an illegal forward pass and it had hit the turf and therefore the play was dead.

Except that’s not at all what happened. A confused Green admitted afterward to a pool reporter for the media at Heinz Field that the officials and their decision were wrong.

“We should have let the play go through in the end yes,” Green is quoted as saying by the pool reporter. “The rule was misinterpreted.  It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play we should have let the play go through.”

Sunday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Somewhere, wherever it is that football coaches hang out when they leave this mortal playing field, Hank Stram is smiling today.

“What’d you say boys, what’d you say,” the Mentor is telling his fellow coaches. “My boys are going head-to-head boys, head-to-head.”

The Chiefs and Saints meet Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium; it’s only ninth meeting all-time between these teams and the fourth game in Kansas City.

But these two franchises share if not roots, then some common territory. And, it goes beyond the fact that the biggest victory in franchise history for the Chiefs came in New Orleans at Tulane Stadium in Super Bowl IV, when Stram was carried off the field (right).

The Dallas Texans could have very easily become the New Orleans Saints back in 1963. When Lamar Hunt decided the head-to-head battle with the Cowboys in Dallas wasn’t winnable, he looked for new cities for his football team. At the top of that list was New Orleans.

In his book “The Saints, the Superdome and the Scandal; An Insider’s Perspective” Dave Dixon writes about that time. Dixon would go on to help Hunt form World Championship Tennis (WCT). Dixon later helped form the United States Football League and was one of the forces that brought the NFL to New Orleans with the Saints in 1967.

Dixon writes:

“… immediately following the 1962 season, Lamar went so far as to bring his very capable business manager Jack Steadman, to New Orleans to work out a deal for me to become president, general manager, or a similar position at a flattering salary with two percent ownership in the team at no cost to me, provided a satisfactory stadium deal could be arranged at Tulane.”

That never happened for several reasons. At the time, colleges ruled the big stadiums and they had no desire to share them. Also, New Orleans civic leaders were more interested in a possible NFL team than a team from the AFL that at the time was still struggling to survive as a business entity.

Eventually Hunt hooked up with Kansas City’s outgoing mayor H. Roe Bartle and worked out a deal to move his Texans from Dallas to Kansas City.

Saturday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Another look at the turnover ratio and the Chiefs 2008 season.

In their last four games the Chiefs have finished even, plus-3, plus-3 and plus-2 in the turnover ratio. That’s four games and a plus-eight in turnovers.

Yet, they lost all four of those games, falling to Tennessee, the New York Jets, Tampa Bay and San Diego.

History tells us that should not have happened.

Over the 20 seasons prior to this one, Chiefs teams have won 75.5 percent of the games where they finished on the plus side of the turnover ratio. This year they have won 25 percent of their games on the plus side, as they are 1-3 in those games.

It’s just another example of how truly unusual this season has been for the Chiefs. Ask players and coaches about the turnover ratio not leading to victory and they are dumbfounded.

“You hear from the time you start playing football that turnovers are the key to victory,” said linebacker Rocky Boiman. “To get them and then not take advantage of the numbers is hard to understand.”

Over the 20 seasons (1988-2007) previous to this one, the Chiefs won 76 percent of the games when they were on the plus-side of the turnover ratio. They lost 75 percent of the games when they were on the minus-side of the ratio.

Here are the numbers:

Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Thursday night football saw the New York  Jets beat the New England Patriots 34-31 i n overtime on a 34-yard FG by Jay Feely. Details are here.

It’s takeaways, it’s giveaways, it’s the turnover ratio. It comes down to possession of the football and it’s all so critical for any team’s chances for success.

Except for the 2008 Chiefs. After nine games, they have one of the best turnover ratios in the league at plus nine. But they have one of the worst records at 1-8.

It has the Chiefs coaches puzzled and they have no explanation.

“I can’t explain that,” said Herm Edwards. “That goes against everything you know in the game about what’s important.”

As always, Gunther Cunningham was more blunt.

“It’s bleeping unbelievable,” said the Chiefs defensive coordinator. “To have the ball in our hands as many times as we have gotten it and not to have more to show for it, it’s just …”

The Chiefs have taken the ball away 20 times this year. That’s tied with Chicago for the most takeaways.

They have given the ball away 11 times. That’s tied for 10^th for the fewest giveaways.

And they are 1-8.

Here’s the turnover ratio list for the league right now, along with each team’s record.

Thursday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

The NFL’s yearly showcase comes after the first of the year with the playoffs and Super Bowl.

There was a time when those post-season games were considered bulletproof, immune from downturns in the economy and television ratings. It was pro football’s gold mine.

However, it’s been a long time since there has been an economic situation as bad as what the country is going through right now. The NFL has taken notice.

The league announced on Wednesday that it was going to lower the price of tickets for the playoffs approximately 10 percent. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell set ticket pricing guidelines to teams contending for the playoffs. Those teams set their own price on tickets. The league is now giving teams the right to price wildcard games at a lower price than divisional playoff games. That’s something new.

The average price for tickets to the playoffs and conference championship games last year was $121.

This year is the first time that some tickets to the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa are priced at $1,000. One-fourth of the house will cost $1,000. There are 17,000 suite and club seats that will sale for $1,000. There are 53,000 tickets that will go for $800 and there are 1,000 tickets available for $500.

The league dropped the price of that last group of tickets by $200. It’s the first time the NFL has cut the cost of a Super Bowl ticket.

Where the NFL makes its money is on selling their TV rights. One of the jewels of those broadcasting deals is rights to the Super Bowl. NBC is charging $3 million for a 30-second spot. The network was able to sell most of their time over the summer, before the economic meltdown on Wall Street.

But the network has eight ad slots left and hasn’t been able to sell them for the last two months. Several big-time advertisers are out of the picture. General Motors won’t have any Super Bowl ads. FedEx has not bought ad time, even though they’ve been part of the game broadcast for the last dozen years. Garmin is sitting out this year’s Super Bowl.

Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

There’s one thing you’ve never read much about on this site and that’s fantasy football.

I must say that several years ago I missed the boat on this whole fantasy thing. When I think fantasy I don’t think football. I think about secluded tropical beaches, chilling beverages and numerous native girls rubbing me down with oils and lotions and then … hey, it’s my fantasy. Get lost!

For 30-plus years I’ve covered pro football and never once did I want to be a general manager. It’s much too hard of a job. I can assure you that the last thing I’d want to be is a fantasy football GM. Friends and families have called me over the years for advice on drafts, what players to activate and who to leave off their rosters for a weekend. They never call back.

But I’ve heard this week from a number of sources that the No. 1 name in fantasy football right now is Chiefs QB Tyler Thigpen. Relatively unknown just a month ago, Thigpen’s being claimed off the waiver wire by fantasy football owners looking for a boost in their scoring numbers.

According to the fantasy folks at ESPN.com, Tyler has produced 21, 21 and 24 fantasy points over the last three weeks. Among NFL quarterbacks, that was fifth, first and third in points. Supposedly those are huge numbers for a guy making his first four NFL starts.

Yet, there apparently remain quite a few fantasy players that can’t believe what he’s doing because Thigpen is unclaimed in 84 percent of the standard leagues on ESPN.com.

I’m probably putting the kiss of death on Thigpen, but if anybody calls me right now I’d tell them that they should claim him and keep him active. First, he’s getting help with the return of Larry Johnson to the offense. I don’t think that L.J. will hurt Thigpen; I think he’ll help the young quarterback. Right now, the Chiefs need a reliable running game to take the pressure off Thigpen. Johnson can give that to them.

Tuesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

 

 A special thank you to all the men and women who have served our country as members of the military.
Have a Happy Veterans Day!

 

 

It was 50 years ago when the two-point conversion was born.

The father of the two-pointer was the legendary Fritz Crisler (below), a guy who is major part of the history of college football in this country. Crisler coached at Princeton, Minnesota and Michigan and was later the athletic director at Michigan. He was at Michigan when he invented two-platoon football; separate squads for both offense and defense. Until that time players played both offense and defense.

He spent 41 years on the college football rules committee and he was chairman of this group for nine years. In 1958 he was one of the driving forces behind instituting the two-point option after a touchdown. In that very first year, it played an important role in the great rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas. The Longhorns decided after one of their touchdowns to go for two points. They made the play and went on to beat the Sooners 15-14.

The two pointer came to pro football with the American Football League in 1960. It was part of Lamar Hunt’s baby for the entire 10 years of league play. The franchise’s first two-point play came on November 24, 1960 when RB Curley Johnson caught a pass from QB Hunter Enis against the New York Titans. The Dallas Texans ended up losing that game 41-35.

When the AFL merged with the National Football League the two pointer did not come with them. The older league had no interest in bringing in what they considered the college play.

For years, Hunt would propose each spring at the league meetings a rules change to bring back the two-point attempt. For years the NFL old guard would vote it down. But Lamar finally wore them down and in the 1994 season the rule became part of the NFL.

That’s the history of the play that has been much discussed around Chiefs fans since Sunday afternoon. Herm Edwards wasn’t playing the percentages in his decision to go for two points and the victory against San Diego. It had everything to do with where his football team was at that moment and in this season.

But here are the percentages for the armchair coaches and second guessers:

Saturday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

From La Jolla, California

The Chiefs arrived here in sunny Southern California on Friday afternoon and there were a lot of new faces on the plane as the Chiefs get ready to play the Chargers on Sunday in San Diego.

It’s all part of the revolving door that has been the Chiefs roster this year.

Just this week the following players have been added to the roster: S Oliver Celestin, CB Ricardo Colclough, DE Wallace Gilberry, CB David Macklin, TE Michael Merritt and WR-Returner Kevin Robinson. That’s six out of 53 players who were not part of the crew that played against Tampa Bay last Sunday.

There’s a good chance that at least four, maybe five of those players will be active against the Chargers.

LB Rocky Boiman (right)will be in the starting lineup for the injured Derrick Johnson (hamstring). Boiman joined the team on October. 15. Plus, there’s WR Mark Bradley who has become the Chiefs starting No. 2 receiver; he joined the team on October 1.

That’s the kind of year it’s been for Herm Edwards and his coaching staff. Since the team settled on its 53-man roster with the end of the pre-season and the league mandated cut down, the roster has been in flux. Some of that has been planned by the Chiefs as they continue to search for more and better players for their young rosters. To read more about the churning of the roster, read the piece I wrote on kcchiefs.com right here.

Some of the moves have been caused by injury. Whether S Jarrad Page (groin), S DaJuan Morgan (thigh) and CB Brandon Flowers (hamstring) play on Sunday remains in doubt as the Chiefs will hold a short walk-through practice later this morning at University High School. That’s why Celestin, Colclough and Macklin will likely be active. There’s a very good chance that rookie Maurice Leggett will join rookie Brandon Carr as the starting cornerbacks, with Macklin playing the nickel back role.

And with the shoulder injury that DE Turk McBride  is nursing, there’s a chance that Gilberry will get playing time along with rookie Brian Johnston.

Here’s how the movement has gone since that first 53-man roster:

Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Over at USA Today they got their hands on the 2008 salary numbers for the entire NFL.

In fact, the newspaper has a data base that covers NFL salaries for the last nine seasons. You can check it out yourself right here.

Now, before we get started, a note on these numbers: in the past, there has always been discrepancies in the figures that USA Today gets from the NFL Players Association and what the clubs have listed on their payrolls. Generally, those differences come down not to wrong figures but different methodology.

These numbers are in the ballpark. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading them here.

According to USA Today, the highest paid player in the NFL this year is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (right), who will cash by the end of the year $27.7 million in salary and bonuses. The highest paid defensive player was former Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen, who hit the jackpot with Minnesota as he’ll collect $21,119,256 from the Vikings in salary and bonuses.

The newspaper says the highest-paid member of the Chiefs this season will be first-round draft choices Branden Albert and Glenn Dorsey. USA Today reports Albert will take home nearly $9.5 million this year, while Dorsey’s rookie contract was structured differently and he’ll pocket $6.93 million.

After the rookies, the top 10 for the Chiefs in salary and bonuses rounds out with: CB Pat Surtain ($6 million), LG Brian Waters ($5.28 million), LB Demorrio Williams ($4 million), LB Donnie Edwards ($3.75 million), RB Larry Johnson ($3.6 million), P Dustin Colquitt ($3.13 million), CB Brandon Flowers ($3.03 million) and QB Damon Huard ($2.63 million).

Look at those 10 players and only four have played in every game this season: Dorsey, Waters, Williams and Flowers. Albert, Surtain, Edwards, Colquitt and Huard have missed time because of injuries. Johnson has been off three games because of team sanctions and a one-game NFL suspension that he’s serving this week.

Williams and WR Devard Darling ($2 million) were the big free agent signings by the Chiefs before the ‘08 season and both are no longer in the starting lineup. That cost the team $4 million in signing bonuses.

Top 20 Highest Paid Players

When it comes down to base salary for this year, Surtain has the highest number at $5.65 million, followed by Donnie Edwards ($3.25 million).

Thursday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Thursday night football returns to the NFL this evening and it’s a game that Chiefs fans will take notice of for several reasons.

The Denver Broncos are in Cleveland to face the Browns. At 5-3, the Broncos are struggling to stay on top of the AFC West. Their defense is in shambles and so is their running game. It’s going to be quite a chore for Mike Shanahan to make something out of what is left of this 2008 season.

On the other side, the Browns will start Brady Quinn (right) at quarterback in place of Derek Anderson. They become the 13th team in the league this year to change their starting quarterback at least once because of performance and injury. The number will reach No. 14 this weekend when Shaun Hill becomes the starter in San Francisco and possibly No. 15 if Pittsburgh starter Ben Roethlisberger can’t go and he’s replaced by Byron Leftwich.

It wasn’t so long ago that Quinn was tops on the list for Chiefs fans when they talked about the team’s quarterback of the future. The Chiefs inquired about Quinn and his status with the Browns earlier this year – at the time Brodie Croyle was first injured – but found out that the folks running the Cleveland franchise have no plans to deal their young quarterback.

Now Quinn finally has his chance to play. Since joining the Browns last year, he’s appeared in just one regular season game: last year’s season finale when he hit three of eight passes for 45 yards and led the Browns to a field goal. His last start at quarterback was the 2007 Sugar Bowl, when Notre Dame got smoked by LSU 41-14.

He now has his chance to start again and he’s got eight games to convince the Browns they didn’t blow it last year by giving up two draft choices, including the team’s ‘08 first-round pick, so they could grab him.

“Honestly, I’m not looking past this week,” Quinn said. “The biggest thing is getting a win this week. I’m not looking at eight games. I’m looking at one game.”

Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

On Tuesday during his regularly weekly press conference with the unwashed media horde Herm Edwards talked about what’s happened over the last two weeks with his team and although they’ve lost two close games, why they’ve played better football.

“… early with the quarterback situation, we never had a consistent guy back there. It seemed like every week we changed the position. Now all of a sudden, the quarterback has been playing for two weeks, he’s done a good job; we’ve been able to score about 25 points per game. Hopefully we can continue to build on that. Now we’ve got some other adjacent players that are out. That affects you. That’s the way this league is. You’ve got to adjust, and we’ve been able to do that.”

Edwards went on to say that the teams at the top of the offensive stats have had quarterback stability; while the teams at the bottom have struggled with the position.

Obviously that makes sense, but in this case the head coach knows of what he speaks.

Here are the league’s top 10 offenses right now and their quarterback situation:

Houston is now without Schaub for the next month due to a knee injury suffered last Sunday against Minnesota. In Tampa, Garcia has started five games, while Griese started four games. Every other team has experienced no changes at the position.

Now here are the league’s worst 10 offenses right now and their quarterback situation:

Of those bottom 10 offenses, only Jacksonville and Oakland have not had changes at quarterback, due to performance or injury. Four of those 10 teams lost their opening day starter to injury. Russell has struggled in his first season as starter, and the upheaval of losing an offensive minded head coach like Lane Kiffin probably didn’t help. His passer rating is 69, his completion percentage is 48.6 and he’s averaging 5.97 yards per attempt. Garrard has thrown five interceptions after throwing only three in the ‘07 season. The Jaguars have been hampered by major injury problems along the offensive line.

All of this is just more evidence that the Chiefs No. 1 goal for 2009 has to be stabilizing the quarterback position.

Tuesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

With his 37-yard touchdown pass to QB Tyler Thigpen on Sunday, WR Mark Bradley joined a select group.

Certainly, not as select as Thigpen who became the first quarterback in club history to catch a touchdown pass. That’s him below celebrating his score against Tampa Bay.

But Bradley became part of a group of 33 players who have thrown a pass for the Dallas Texans-Kansas City Chiefs over the last 49 seasons of play and they were not quarterbacks. He’s now one of eight guys in that group to throw for a TD pass.

There’s a Pro Football Hall of Famer on the list in RB Marcus Allen. There are several members of the Chiefs Hall of Fame in the group, led by RB Ed Podolak. There are wide receivers like Bradley, running backs Allen and Podolak, punters in Louie Aguiar, Jerrel Wilson and Bob Grupp and even a pair of tight ends in Walter White and Tony Gonzalez.

These would-be quarterbacks are led by Podolak, who over his career completed four of six passes for 82 yards. Podolak did not throw a touchdown, but did throw an interception. Allen threw three passes for the Chiefs, including a pair of TD passes in the 1997 season. One of those went for one-yard to TE Ted Popson and the other was a 14-yard scoring throw to WR Danan Hughes.

Now Hughes was among the most successful throwers, hitting both of his throws for a total of 55 yards. The longest pass thrown by a non-quarterback also went for a touchdown. It came when rookie RB Warren McVea hooked up with WR Frank Pitts for a 50-yard TD pass on November 9, 1969 at Municipal Stadium against San Diego.

Here’s a complete list of the non-quarterbacks who have thrown passes for the franchise.