Mitch Holthus

The Chiefs are in a rebuilding/retooling/transition mode. However, there are certain situations that require precision no matter the status of the team. A perfect example is kicking 30 yard field goals. Len and I hold our breath and cross our fingers everytime the Chiefs attempt a 30 yard field goal. That shouldn't happen in the NFL.

Dave Rayner has missed THREE field goals of 33 yards or less in 10 games!Justin Medlock missed a 30 yard field goal at Houston to begin the season. FOUR missed field goals of 33 yards or less in 11 games? It shouldn't happen. 30 yard field goals are commonplace for high school kickers throughout the Chiefs Kingdom. The problem is amplified when you compare what has happened in 2007 to the Chiefs kickers with the rest of the AFC West.

Jason Elam has been the Denver Bronco kicker for 15 years. He has missed 10 field goals from the 30-39 yard range in 15 years! This year he is 3-3 from that range. "SEABASS" Sebastian Janikowski has been the Oakland Raider kicker for 8 years. He has missed 7 field goals from the 30-39 range in 10 years! This year he is 5-5 from that range. This week, the San Diego Chargers come to town with Nate Kaeding as their kicker. The 25 year old has missed 2 field goals from 30-39 yards in 4 years. He is 3-4 this year from that range.

Len and I are usually short of breath anyway, we or Herm shouldn't have to hold our breath when the Chiefs are trying a 30 YARD FIELD GOAL. Yes, this Chiefs team is rebuilding/retooling/transitioning. However, the Chiefs COULD have beaten Green Bay and Indianapolis and SHOULD have beaten Denver and Oakland at home. This week should have been a showdown game with the Chargers featuring two teams leading the division with 6-5 records, now the focus is just to win a game and sweep the Bolts. Let's just hope that 30 yard field goals become automatic again someday soon for the Chiefs.

Has anyone else noticed that the AFC West has gone from the BRAVEHEART division to the DAYCARE division? The youngest group of starting quarterbacks in the NFL now resides in the AFC West. It's about time, the division is five years behind their counterparts.

Brodie Croyle is now the Chiefs starting quarterback and played admirably against the Colts. He gave his team a chance to win, didn't throw interceptions and his touchdown throw to Dwayne Bowe was hopefully the first of many to come.

Croyle is 24 years old and is a second year player in the NFL. What about the hated Denver Donkies....errr Broncos? Jay Cutler, the starting Bronco quarterback is 24 years old and is a second year player in the NFL. Does that description sound familar?

The grandpa of the young quarterbacks is San Diego starter Philip Rivers. Rivers is an age old 25 year old, fourth year player. However, he is really in his second year of playing fulltime after sitting for two years behind Drew Brees.

The Raiders quarterback situation is not far behind. Here he comes and get ready for the baby of the babies.....JeMarcus Russell, a 22 year old rookie who has been waiting and waiting on the Raider bench for a chance to play. It would be interesting indeed if he played this week for the Raiders against the Chiefs. Russell is "tight" with Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe and worked out with the Chiefs rookie while both were holding out during training camp.

The AFC West for years kept plugging in old, retread quarterbacks with the exception of John Elway who was brought up mostly in the Bronco system. That strategy belongs in the 1990's as much as cassette machines. The NFL has entered the digital age of drafting and developing young quarterbacks. Who is the best team in the NFL? New England drafted and developed Tom Brady. Who is next? Indianapolis drafted and developed Peyton Manning. Who is next?

Pittsburgh drafted and developed Ben Roethlisberger. Who is next? Dallas took an undrafted free agent WHO LOOKED AT KANSAS CITY by the name of Tony Romo and developed him. He was a 2003 free agent who was scouted by the Chiefs, but the Chiefs were not interested in looking at a young quarterback at the time.

It is a new era for the Kansas City Chiefs, and a new era for the AFC West. It was an era that the rest of the successful teams in the league started four to five years earlier. Vinny Testaverde need not apply...youth is being served in the AFC West.

The loss on Veterans Day to a pedestrian Denver Bronco team was hard to take. Denver had only four starters in the game Sunday that started for them last Thanksgiving night in Kansas City. It was the weakest Denver team that I have seen in 14 years. I have not slept well since the loss, because some numbers keep spinning in my head.

TWO POINTS: It will be maybe the most controversial Chiefs halftime lead in recent Chiefs history. I fully expected Herm Edwards to replace Damon Huard with Brodie Croyle at quarterback AT HALFTIME. Damon Huard was having his worst game and had thrown an interception at the Denver two yard line. Moreover, Denver had dropped a couple other interception opportunities. Yet, the Chiefs had a nervous two point lead at halftime. It would have been an easier decision for Herm to make if the Chiefs would have trailed by two at halftime. As it were, Huard started the third quarter with a devastating "pick" that led to.....

NINETY-SEVEN SECONDS OF 14 Bronco points. The Chiefs had the lead and the ball to start the third quarter. Huard threw the aforementioned interception that turned the game. The Chiefs defense also allowed 4.9 yards per rushing attempt in the game. A rushing total that included a 20 yard TD run by undrafted rookie free agent Selvin Young in the ninety seven second onslaught by Denver.
Keep in mind, the Chiefs entered the week as the number one "red zone" defense in the NFL.

6...3...4...5...: Don't misunderstand me with this blog. The Chiefs are rebuilding under Herm Edwards, but this Chiefs team could have beaten Green Bay and SHOULD have beaten Denver. Two straight home losses, two straight lost halftime leads, a possible one game division lead with seven games to go all can cause insomnia.

Herm Edwards has faced nothing but challenges since he took over the Chiefs in January, 2006. He has fought off challenge after challenge. He faces another huge challenge the next seven weeks. He must keep this team afloat while rebuilding for the future.

The 33-22 loss to the Green Bay Farve's had me tossing and turning Sunday night/Monday morning. It was a wild surreal 60 minutes of good news and bad news.

GOOD NEWS: The Chiefs offense finally had an epiphany of sorts with two consecutive drives of 74 and 82 yards to regain the lead TWICE against the Packers. The Chiefs offensive coaches had told me that they had a sense that the offense could start clicking after the bye week. They had put in some new wrinkles and some of those new formations and plays worked.

BAD NEWS: This offense CANNOT wait 45 minutes to get cranked up. If the Chiefs are going to win the AFC West, the offense needs to take their epiphany and do it in the first half. This team has struggled in the first half of every game sans Cincinnati. The Chiefs didn't cross the 50 yard line on offense until the 13:15 mark of the FOURTH QUARTER. That puts too much pressure on the defense early in games.

GOOD NEWS: The Chiefs defense stood toe-to-toe with arguably the toughest quarterback to play in the NFL and held their ground.....for three quarters. The Packers use a lot of three and four and five wide sets (TD to Jennings). The Pack reduces your defense to the lowest common denominator, your nickleback and dimeback. They can also "formation" to big plays (TD to Jennings). The Chiefs D did their part and defended Farve for 56 plays, unfortunately the Packers ran 62. The Chiefs entered the week 7th in the NFL in disallowing pass plays of 20 plus yards.

BAD NEWS: The Chiefs won't be 7th in that category this week. They allowed a 44 yard pass to Donald Driver, a 48 yard pass to a tight end and the 60 yard (TD to Jennings). The defense is a main reason that the Chiefs have won 4 games this year. However, the offense had given the Chiefs a 6 point lead with 5:18 to go at home and the Packers had to go 82 yards (TD to Jennings).

GOOD NEWS: The crowd was electric Sunday, it was like a playoff game.

BAD NEWS: How did all of those Packer fans get tickets? The game at times seemed as if it was played in a neutral stadium. I could not believe the noise I heard in my head phones during big Packer plays (TD to Jennings).

GOOD NEWS: The Chiefs can win the AFC West. It is up for grabs and the Donkeys are coming this week and hopefully we can get our stadium back.

BAD NEWS: There is no bad news here. Don't apologize for the AFC West, or I'll send you a DVD of the 1997 Chiefs playoff loss to the Donks. Remember? The Chiefs were 13-3 and the Donks were 12-4. ITS TIME TO WIN THE DIVISION. The Chiefs have only one division title since that 1997 playoff loss, so don't get picky, just do it.

ILL SEE YOU AT ARROWHEAD... ITS DONKEY WEEK!