Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

From River Falls, Wisconsin

Jay Feely wasn’t even released officially by the Miami Dolphins before the news broke that the kicker was going to be available.

Some people thought the Chiefs would jump right on him, but that’s not so according to Herm Edwards.  In case somebody hasn’t noticed, the franchise has changed the way it does things.  Now, Feely may be a player the Chiefs seriously consider a bit later in the pre-season, but right now Edwards says they are going to stick with Nick Novak and Connor Barth.

It would not be a surprise to see Feely come in for a workout, but more than likely that won’t happen until the Chiefs get back to Kansas City.  Right now, he’s also got a groin pull that must heal.

Over his career, Feely has made 80.8 percent of his field goals (177 of 219) and inside the 40-yard line he’s been 90.7 percent (127 of 140) while kicking for Atlanta, the New York Giants and Miami.

 A DIFFERENT KIND OF GAME

The whole video game thing is something that has passed me by.  I’ve never owned one.  My kids never owned one.  I was sooooo lucky that I did not need to make these week before Christmas scavenger hunts for the latest game system or game.

I understand a lot of folks, and that includes adults, love the games. But I come at this subject without much in the way of background, so I tend to ignore it.  There’s no ignoring,  however, when the yearly edition of John Madden’s game is released.  That happened Monday night and gamers lined up to be the first in-line for the Madden ‘09 edition, the one with Brett Favre in a Green Bay uniform on the cover.

It took less than 12 hours for reviews of the new Madden game to hit the Internet, and here’s one part of a review that came across my radar screen: 

“The Dolphins are predictably bad, but if you want a team that you can roll up yards and achievement points against, pick on the Chiefs. If Madden 09 is any indication, this is going to be a loooong season in Kansas City because this team reeks worse than a jockstrap after two-a-days.”

This review was on si.com and If you are so inclined, here’s a link to the review of Madden ‘09, take it for what it’s worth.

COUNTDOWN

The Chiefs have two full days here at UW-River Falls before breaking camp and returning to Kansas City for the rest of the pre-season.  It’s 13 days from the NFL’s first mandatory cutdown of the roster.  Teams must go from 80 to 75 on August 26.  It’s 17 days from the NFL roster cutdown to the regular-season limit of 53 players.

It’s 25 days away from their regular-season opener against the Patriots in Foxboro and they are 32 days away from their home opener against the Raiders.

CHIEFS HISTORY

On August 13, 1977 the Chiefs beat the Pittsburgh 23-21 in a pre-season game at Arrowhead.  The Kansas City scores came on a 20-yard run by RB Tony Reed, a 16-yard catch by RB Arnold Morgado from QB Mike Livingston and three Jan Stenerud hit field goals.  Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw had a 1-yard TD run and threw a 7-yard TD pass to WR Frank Lewis.  Livingston threw four INTs, including one by DE L.C. Greenwood. The Chiefs defense had five interceptions, three of those thrown by backup Pittsburgh QB Cliff Stoudt. Safety Gary Barbaro had two INTs.

OUTSIDE VIEW

NFL.com was in camp this week and here’s a piece from Vic Carucci on the Chiefs.  It was great to see Vic looking so good; at this time last year he was battling Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, but he’s made a nice recovery.

USA Today’s Jarrett Bell has a piece on RB Larry Johnson.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Former Mizzou TE Martin Rucker went down with a knee injury in Browns camp.

AROUND THE AFC WEST

A few notes and quotes from Broncos camp, including an item that WR Brandon Marshall does not consider Terrell Owens a role model.  Smart decision.

Notes and quotes from Chargers  camp, including an update on TE Antonio Gates and his toe/foot problem that’s kept him rehabbing.

Notes and quotes from Raiders camp, including notice that CB DeAngelo Hall has a broken bone in his right hand.  He’s casted it up and is still practicing.