The Miami pre-season 24-0 loss hurt like a regular season loss. The Chicago 24-20 pre-season win felt like a regular season win. The Arizona pre-season 27-17 loss felt like a pre-season game. When I finally arrived home at 3:30am Sunday morning, I realized that none of them really counted and yet, I was hoping the team would play better Thursday night in the Governor's Cup game against the Rams.
I also was thinking on the early morning drive home from KCI (is 3AM the night before or is it the next day..it always seems in between to me) what do I really know about the 2008 Chiefs and what don't I know? Here is what I think I know:
1. Chan Gailey's offense, play calling and game planning gives the Chiefs and Brodie Croyle a chance to be competitive. The Miami game notwithstanding, I've seen enough of this scheme to realize that it plays to the strengths of Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe. It also gives the young players a chance to contribute much sooner than last year's offense.
2. Derrick Johnson is good and can be great if he can be consistent this year. The Chiefs biggest defensive plays in the pre-season games and practices have usually been provided by DJ. He needs some help in that category.
3. The 2008 rookie class is talented and may even be better than originally thought. Glenn Dorsey is starting to come on at defensive tackle. Brandon Flowers is the best cornerback the Chiefs have had since the Carter/Hasty days. TE Brad Cottam was doing very good things before his injury. RB Jamaal Charles was doing very good things before his injury. WR Will Franklin was doing very good things before his injury. OT Brandon Albert was doing very good things before his injury. Now, they just all need to get healthy and back on the field. S DaJuan Morgan is as impressive as Flowers. RB Dantrell Savage still could be the steal of the class. He looks like one of the better college free agents the Chiefs have had in a while.
However, the regular season starts at New England two weeks from me writing this blog and there is much I/we don't know about this team. That list includes:
1. How this young team will hold up against the rigors of a 17 week grind. Let's hope the famed "rookie wall" is not the Great Wall of China.
2. The entire linebacking corps sans Derrick Johnson (see 2 above) has had its struggles this pre-season. Donnie Edwards and Demorrio Williams injuries, uncertainty at the Mike backer position and lack of progress from back-ups presents Gunther Cunningham one of the greatest challenges of his long NFL coaching career.
3. How will the offensive line progress? The injuries to Brandon Albert and Damion McIntosh have thrown off cohesion and placed young hopefuls Herb Taylor and Barry Richardson into the fight a little prematurely.
The Rams and the Governors Cup loom on the immediate horizon (who has the Governors Cup?) but my gaze is to the east and a daunting trip to meet the Patriots in two weeks.
There is a shortcut that I take when driving from River Falls, Wisconsin to Kansas City. The shortcut takes me through the beautiful town of Northfield, Minnesota. Northfield is the home of Carleton College and St. Olaf College plus it is where the Jesse James gang met its demise in 1876. It is also home of a plant where the famous breakfast Malt-O-Meal is made. You certainly remember Malt-O-Meal, the delicious hot wheat cereal or instant oatmeal that your Mom used to make before the school bus arrived.
The Chiefs pre-season game versus Arizona reminded me of that Malt-O-Meal plant and it reminded me that the Chiefs are NOT Malt-O-Meal. The 2008 Chiefs are not going to be instant oatmeal or a microwave hot breakfast. There is a lot of young talent on this Chiefs roster, but it is going to take a process of development for that talent to mature. I tell Chiefs fans all the time to be excited but to be patient.
The best example of this thesis is Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers. The feisty second round draft pick from Virginia Tech is the most promising young cornerback the Chiefs have had in years. Yet, it is going to take some time for him to develop. Many Chiefs fans want him to be Bronco stud Champ Bailey right away, but those are unrealistic expectations. The Arizona game proved that Flowers will win his share of one on one battles and lose his share as well. The Cardinals might have the best receiver group in the NFC. Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the only pair of receivers in NFL history that have had 2 Pro Bowl appearances EACH in their first four years. The Cards decided to go after Flowers with both Boldin and Fitzgerald. Flowers saw a variety of pass routes by the Cardinal receivers. Flowers had to defend; fades, shallow crosses, deep crosses, hitches and double moves. Flowers defended most of them well, but was beaten on others.
Gunther Cunningham and Herm Edwards decided during the off-season to add a variety of defensive coverages. The Chiefs will use zone defenses, man-to-man defenses and a combination of both. However, to employ such strategies requires cornerbacks who have man-to-man coverage skills. Flowers has the ability to play man, zone and combos. Yet, it will take some time for Brandon Flowers to refine his skills to perform at a high level all the time, especially when he is up against the caliber of receivers that the Arizona Cardinals have.
Brandon Flowers is not Malt-O-Meal...the 2008 Chiefs are not Malt-O-Meal...they are a work in progress. My motto for this team continues to be "be excited, but be patient".
I'm a little sleep deprived in River Falls, but excited nonetheless about the pre-season win in Chicago.
I appreciate little things, like beautiful Midwest summer sunsets and cute, little puppies....and pre-season wins that feel like a regular season wins.
Ok....I know, I know, save the responses, it was just a pre-season win, but this win in Chicago was different than most pre-season games. PRE-SEASON GAMES ONLY COUNT WHEN YOU LOSE THEM ALL like last year or in 2000, when Gunther Cunningham lost all 4 pre-season games and some how it was played into a six game losing streak when the Chiefs lost the first two regular season games that year. A similar response occured in 2007 when HBO's Hardknocks portrayed the Chiefs 0-4 pre-season as a minor disaster.
Here is why I am excited after the win over Chicago:
1. CHAN GAILEY: I've said repeatedly that he was the best pick up in the off season by the Chiefs. I now have a man crush on Chan Gailey. He is an experienced game planner and play caller, a novel concept for an Offensive Coordinator. His offense and philosophy gives the Chiefs and Brodie Croyle a chance to be competitive in 2008. The first drive against the Bears is a perfect example of Chan's impact. The Chiefs did things on that first drive that they didn't do all last year (e.g. avoid 3 and outs, convert 3rd and long situations, used 5 different players to convert 5 different third downs). Moreover, it was against a Bears defense that had Pro Bowlers and mega stars Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Tommie Harris on the field. This offense is effective. This offense features bootlegs, short rolls, misdirection, zone option reads on runs, plays that compliment one another, quick counts, "dummy" calls and an audible system.....AN AUDIBLE SYSTEM! All three Chiefs quarterbacks who played against Chicago led touchdown drives and all three used "check with me" calls repeatedly. Thank you Georgia Tech for firing Chan Gailey (what were they thinking), and thank you Herm Edwards for hiring the 'ol Georgia boy for leading this offense. Now KC actually has the chance to use the plays that Denver has killed them with for years against THEM and the others on this schedule.
2. TEAM UNITY: Our new sideline reporter Kendall Gammon brought up a great point near the end of the game against Chicago. He pointed out that the ENTIRE roster was up on "their toes" near the sideline to urge their teammates to win the game. There weren't many Chiefs on the field at the time who will make the final 53 man roster. Yet, young guys and veterans alike were "into" it on the sideline. The Chiefs WANTED TO WIN THIS GAME. Herm Edwards has done a great job in this camp to build team unity. There is a mutual respect between offense and defense and there is a central purpose to build this team into a winning playoff team. The ENTIRE coaching staff is as unified as I have seen in my fifteen years as the "Voice". It is exciting to see how Gunther Cunningham's defense can compliment Chan's offense and vice versa without worrying who is trying to pad their resume with stats, etc.
3. RADIO NETWORK UNITY: Dan Isreal is the Chiefs Radio Network's version of Chan Gailey. He is brilliant! The unity that exists on the Chiefs football team now exists throughout the entire Chiefs Radio Network team. It is amazing when a large group of people from varied backgrounds and with varied talents can respect one another and move with a single purpose. The Chiefs Radio Network is a complicated mix of technology, logistics and personalities. It requires leadership and mutual respect to really be successful. Donna Baker, the market manager of the Cumulus Radio Group of Kansas City, who owns the Chiefs Radio Network has initated the leadership necessary to create an environment for success. I encourage you to listen closely sometime to the end of our broadcasts when I read the names of all the people who make the broadcast possible. You may hear names, but I am really reading a roster of a "team". A team who had a wonderful start to the season in Chicago and who represents what can happen when true mutual respect can lead to a wonderful result.
I KNOW ITS ONLY THE PRE-SEASON, BUT THERE WERE GREAT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN CHICAGO. Now, I'll try to sneak in a nap before the final week of camp starts here in River Falls.
