HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED – The Fanball.com Sports Network is always looking to add new voices to our network. Whether you’re a savvy sports fan who’s looking for a soapbox or a fantasy sports player who is looking to make a career out of fantasy sports, we can help you accomplish your sports blogging goals. For more information on joining the Fanball.com Sports Network staff, please contact Bryan Douglass via email: bpdouglass(at)gmail.com

Recognition For Tyson Jackson

During a season in which the Kansas City Chiefs defense constantly was a unit among the worst in the league, bright spots were often hard to see.

Today one of those spots was recognized by Pro Football Weekly and the Professional Football Writers of America with the announcement of their All-Rookie Team.  One of the four defensive linemen selected was Kansas City DE Tyson Jackson.

Jackson finished his rookie season with 38 tackles and zero sacks.

For a 3-4 defensive end, his total for tackles is a respectable number for a player in his rookie season.  Unfortunately it’s that last number that left many fans wondering if the Chiefs made a mistake by taking Jackson third overall last April out of LSU.  If he can’t get to the quarterback, why pay him so much money out of the chute?

I think to truly understand how important Jackson is and how impressive he was this season you just have to look at the other Louisiana product starting for the Chiefs along that defensive line, Glenn Dorsey.

Like Jackson, Dorsey did not put up big time sack numbers (1).  But when he was out of the lineup late this year against the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns that’s when the Chiefs rush defense was attacked the most.  With Dorsey back in the lineup and fully recovered against the Broncos Week 17, the Kansas City defense held Denver to only 84 yards on the ground.

When looking at Jackson and where you think he should be, look not further than how important Dorsey became to the Chiefs defensive line.  If the rookie DE can make the same sort of progress between year one and two that his former LSU teammate did, the Kansas City defense will soon have more than an appointment to the All-Rookie team as it’s sole accolade.

Tags: Tyson Jackson

All That’s Left To Do Now Is Win

Kansas City Patriots.

New England Chiefs.

With the hiring of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, a year after the trade for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel, I’ve heard over the past couple of days from countless people about how Scott Pioli and Todd Haley want to be the New England Patriots.

Hard to argue with such an assessment with all of the former New Englanders now residing in Kansas City.  But the most surprising part is that the statements were supposed to hit me like an insult.

Insult?

Teams try to copy winning franchises all the time.  Why should Kansas City be any different?

The Chiefs are one of the few that get to try doing it with the people that helped build the dynasty in the first place.

It’s the difference between buying your girlfriend a diamond or cubic zirconia engagement ring.  Yes, you could give her the fake and things could go really well with her never knowing the difference.  But wouldn’t you rather have the sure thing and not have to worry about being exposed as a fraud?

While other teams are gambling that their fans will never know the difference by hiring knock offs, the Chiefs have gone out and given the people of Kansas City the real deal.

And for those in the media that have been trying to cry foul in regards to Todd Haley’s ability to coach (himself called much worse than a cubic zirconia this season), putting the best in the business around him will make him a look a whole lot better.  With refocused units on both sides of the ball, Haley will finally be allowed to just worry about being the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

All that’s left to do now is win.

Tags: Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Todd Haley

Raiders And Broncos Make Haley Look Good

Starting with his “22 players off the street” confrontation with Brian Waters to opening the season with five straight losses, many believed Todd Haley might be a one-and-done coach in Kansas City.

Months later, the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders have coaches under fire and Haley — by comparison — looks like a guy worthy of an extension.

Josh McDaniels took Denver like a whirling dervish when his failed attempt to trade for Matt Cassel forced the trade of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall spent training camp pouting like a spoiled three year old.  All of that was forgotten when the Broncos took a 6-0 record into their bye.  McDaniels could do no wrong.

But the Golden Child quickly lost his shine when the Marshall saga reared it’s ugly head again (among other player complaints) and the Broncos became the first team to start a season with that many victories and not make the playoffs.  Entering his first offseason as head coach there are calls from fans and media alike for McDaniels’ head.

Then of course whenever you need to look good, there is always the Oakland Raiders to help out.

Besides their complete unwillingness to cut the cord with the disaster that is JaMarcus Russell, the Raiders cannot hire a coach that is competent and/or unwilling to assault assistant coaches.

After a season full of too many issues to list, but still managing five wins — including playoff bound Philadelphia and Cincinnati — Al Davis feels he needs to try and find another poor soul willing to take the job as his head puppet.

I’m the last person that normally would stand up for Tom Cable, trust me.

But how do you fire a guy that was forced to start the season with a quarterback that had no right to play on an NFL field?

Especially when the Raiders actually fought (no pun intended) for their coach down the stretch.

Were they bad?

No question.  But there was no rolling over by this Oakland team, which when you think about how ridiculous their season was is actually pretty impressive.

So by the time today is over the Raiders will be looking for a coach and a lot of people in Denver will still be hoping the Broncos will be doing the same.

All the while, Todd Haley is barely an afterthought in the discussion of coaches on the hot seat as he plots the Chiefs 2010 attack with new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis (and maybe eventually with Romeo Crennel on defense).

Tags: Denver Broncos, Josh McDaniels, Oakland Raiders, Todd Haley, Tom Cable

Why Jamaal Charles Didn’t Get A Shot At All-Time Record

The story of the Kansas City Chiefs 44-24 victory over the Denver Broncos was the record-breaking day by running back Jamaal Charles.

Entering the day he needed 139 yards to become a member of the 1,000 yard club.  It’s not exactly an exclusive club these days and under normal circumstances it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, especially on a day that Tennessee’s Chris Johnson crossed the 2,000 yard mark.  What would make it a special accomplishment for Charles is that he was only the starting running back for the final 9 games of the season.

After a couple of spectacular runs, Charles got to 139 on a five yard touchdown and immediately he started making history.

Later in the game he broke away for a 50 yard touchdown that gave him the Chiefs single-game record and a legitimate shot at the NFL rushing record for a single game.  Adrian Peterson’s 298 yard record was only 39 yards away when Kansas City got the ball back at their own 20 with just under 3:00 minutes to play.  With no need to save Charles for the playoffs, he would at least get a chance to get the record, right?

Wrong.

But make sure you don’t blame (like I did) Todd Haley for pulling his emerging star from the game.

“I really didn’t want to get it because I want to get it when I’m in the game and it’s competing time,” sad Charles. “People give up at that time and don’t really care.  I could have gone back in game, but I told coach that I was satisfied and that I’d get it some other time.”

How about that?

The kid had a chance at stealing the league spotlight away from Chris Johnson’s near-immortal season, but instead wanted to earn it when it would matter.  Matter to the team when they need the rushing yards for a victory instead of just mattering to his ego.

It’s rare that you can feel good about a team that only wins 4 games, but because of Jamaal Charles that’s exactly where I am with the Kansas City Chiefs right now.

Tags: Jamaal Charles

Interview With Broncos Stable

The Kansas City Chiefs visit the Denver Broncos today as they look to finally pick up their 4th victory of the season.  Meanwhile, the Broncos can keep their slim hopes for a playoff spot alive with a victory.  To get the lowdown on Denver, I sat down with the Broncos Fanball correspondent Bryan Douglass from Broncos Stable.

Ryan Jones: Word came down this week that Brandon Marshall strained his hamstring and then that he was being benched by Josh McDaniels because he wouldn’t play through the injury.  How, if at all, will the final Marshall-McDaniels showdown impact the Broncos?

Bryan Douglass: Not sure this is a “final” stand as I expect to see at least 1 more Broncos game this year, but Ryan… c’mon. Money cures all evils.  Pay him, watch how it suddenly doesn’t matter.  Josh feels the need to set a precedent, Marshall obliged.  They are gambling they can win without him.  If this was Round 1 of the postseason, we’re aren’t having the conversation.

RJ: Including Marshall, Denver listed 9 players on their final injury report.  With the season on the line, where will the injuries hurt the most?

BD: It’s been proven that the damages suffered at offensive guard have been severe.  I fear the youth in the defensive backfield should be a bigger concern.  Darcel McBath has been a positive influence and I was hoping to him shine as the older guys got rest.  He and Alfonso Smith being healthy would be huge… without them I worry this group can’t
win late.

RJ: Elvis Dumervil — the owner of 17 sacks — said he’s only 70-75 percent when it comes to playing his position.  How much better could this kid really get?  And maybe more importantly, how much will it cost the Broncos to keep him?

BD: Will be interesting to see how McDaniels and the franchise treat both Elvis and Marshall this offseason.  At this point I think the defenseman gets his due… Elvis is a premium commodity for this Mike Nolan system and his youth is too alluring to deny.  We haven’t seen his best either… get a good DT in this draft (and there are several to be had) and its on.

RJ: In what has been a roller coaster season for the Broncos, who would say has been the team’s most valuable player and biggest surprise?

BD: MVP = I would give it to Brian Dawkins. I think you just can’t put a value on his leadership and influence on and off the field (and I think you can blame him for a return to dominating effort from Champ). Biggest surprise… for me, I’d list the positive surprise as Matt Prater, though (a) it would be fair to suggest Kyle Orton is the clear choice, and (b) I’d be more tempted to suggest a negative surprise in Eddie Royal as the biggest “shock” of the season. I simply cannot explain his fall.

RJ: What’s your best guess at the final score?  Player of the game?

BD: On my review I went Chiefs 13, Broncos 24 (covering by one), and I’m starting to wonder if I’m not too optimistic. Player of the game should be Correll Buckhalter if he is truly healthy… if not, give me Elvis.

Tags: Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos, Elvis Dumervil, Josh McDaniels

Chiefs Could Look Down I-70 For WR Help

The Kansas City Chiefs have a very long to-do list entering this offseason that will look something like this:

• Defensive Tackle
• Safety
• Linebacker
• Offensive Tackle
• Wide Receiver
• Kick Returner

As you can see, the defensive side of the ball should get the most attention during the draft and free agency.  With the Chiefs locked into a Top 5 pick they will most likely select from the likes of Ndamukong Suh, Eric Berry and Russell Okung and frame the rest of their attack based on the remaining holes that need to be filled.  Wide receiver will still be far down on that list no matter which way they go with their Top 5 pick.

Odds are that wide receiver will not be on the mind of Scott Pioli when he uses his two second round picks.  In order to address their need for some production from the WR position, the Chiefs only need to look down I-70 at the Missouri Tigers.

There they will find the country’s leader in receiving yards and yards per game: Danario Alexander.

The Marlin, TX native finished his career at Missouri with at least 100 yards and one touchdown in each of his final six games, but still has yet to receive much national attention.  Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s Golden Tate and Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant are constantly recognized as the best receivers in the country, even though Bryant missed most of his Junior season due to a suspension.

A big reason — if not the only — that Alexander is not mentioned in the same breath as the top WRs in the 2010 draft is because of concerns around his health.  His first three seasons at Missouri were marred by three knee surgeries and and a wrist injury.  No team (except maybe Oakland) is going to invest big time money on a player that has not been able to stay on the field.

Once Alexander got on the field this season and started getting the passes once ear marked for Jeremy Maclin, it’s amazing how good he looked.  During the 2009 season, Alexander had a DeSean Jackson-esque 8 touchdowns over 50 yards.

For a Chiefs team that needs offensive playmakers but most likely will not be able to use a high pick to get one, Alexander seems like the perfect fit.

Line the 6-4 Alexander up opposite the 6-2 Dwayne Bowe and Matt Cassel will have his choice of huge receivers to throw the ball up to.

Tags: Danario Alexander, Draft

Chiefs Healthy For Season Finale

The Kansas City Chiefs have been dealing with a variety of injuries the second half of the season after having an almost injury-free team to start off the year.  Judging from their New Year’s Eve practice, Kansas City plans on ending the year the same way they started it: healthy.

The only player that missed Thursday’s practice was G Andy Alleman and he could find himself on IR before kickoff as the Chiefs look to load as many young players as possible on their active roster before the end of the season.

Even CB Brandon Flowers once again fought back from a nagging right shoulder injury to be a full participant.  It’s that same injury that nearly knocked Flowers out of last week’s game and has bothered him for the better part of the last month.

When you are in the midst of a 3-12 season, it’s hard to find any bright spots but the toughness of this team has to be one.  I can promise you that no one would blame Flowers if he wanted to call it a season and start getting prepped for what should be a huge 2010 for the Kansas City Chiefs.  Like the rest of his teammates, the Chiefs young cornerback wants to be out there to try and bring whatever momentum this franchise can muster into the offseason.

If you need to know why any Chiefs player would go to the lengths of Flowers and the other nicked up players to stay on the field, just ask the starting quarterback.

“Everybody’s treating this like a playoff game for us and we’re going in there anticipating a battle and we’ll be ready to go.”

Matt Cassel knows there’s something to be said for not only beating (arguably) your biggest division rival but also ending the season on a high note.

Will a 4th win change a whole lot for this team?  Other than a couple draft spots, probably not much on the surface.  But Todd Haley and Scott Pioli are attempting to build something special in Kansas City and their process will go that much smoother this offseason if this team comes out Sunday — and like Cassel says — treating Denver like a playoff opponent.

Tags: Brandon Flowers, Denver Broncos

Interview With Bengals Jaw

The Kansas City Chiefs visit the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday as they look to finally pick up their 4th victory of the season.  Meanwhile, the Bengals can clinch a division title with a victory and will be looking to honor fallen teammate Chris Henry in their first home game since he passed away.  I sat down with Mike Norrod to get the low down on Cincinnati.  Mike is the Bengals Fanball correspondent, giving you everything you need to know at Bengals Jaw.

Ryan Jones: From the minute Larry Johnson signed with the Bengals, he had this game circled.  Has there been any indication from Marvin Lewis that LJ will get more than his normal handful of carries to try and get his revenge?

Mike Norrod: I haven’t heard anything coming from Marvin about LJ’s involvement in this game.  I have heard from more than one Bengal that they can’t wait to see what Johnson does in this game, the feeling is that he will get more than his 4 carries a game, but that he won’t start, and once the game is in hand, he will get as many carries as he wants.

RJ: Earlier in the week the Bengals were offering tickets to any home playoff game to fans that bought tickets to this Sunday’s matchup.  It’s rare to see a team about to clinch a playoff spot have to use incentives to sell out a game, what has the atmosphere at home games been like this season?

MN: The home games have been a tough sell ticket wise because the economics in the area are just tough right now, we have sold out every home game for several years now, and much to everyone’s surprise the Bengals are playing for the division and tickets aren’t selling.  We have had some great companies like Kroger and Motorola (on behalf of Chad Ochocinco) buy tickets and give them away.  So the Jungle is still alive, but it is definite oddity that we can’t sell out early on a possible division clinching home game.

RJ: Watching last week’s game I was struck by how things unraveled quickly for the Cincinnati offense during the third quarter with five penalties almost back-to-back.  Is this offensive unit undisciplined or was that an anomaly?

MN: The offense is very undisciplined in my opinion, Bob Bratowski our offensive coordinator in my opinion is the worst in football, he gets credit for anything good that happens, and never takes credit for a bad game plan.  We are only 1 of 2 teams in the NFL that runs more than it passes.  We have so many penalties per game it makes us all ill, I believe we have 8 or more penalties in our last 7 games… so unfortunately it’s more normal than abnormal.

RJ: One of my favorite parts of gameday is doing a double take and say to myself “Who is that?” when being surprised by a player on the other team.  Who will be that player for me on Sunday?

MN: The player you will probably be most surprised with is Tom Nelson, who was a star of Hard Knocks on HBO.  He didn’t get a chance until Crocker went down, but the guy plays his tail off, and is always around the ball, I would be shocked if he doesn’t create a turnover this week (and he hits as hard as Roy Williams).

RJ: What’s your best guess at the final score?

MN:  Score, I am going to call this one Bengals 31-13, as the Bengals are starting to open it up in the passing game, and will definitely attempt to run it a lot after seeing the Browns game plan last week, but the thing with the Bengals is, they have a tough time having a lead, so I wouldn’t be shocked if it ends up much much closer…. But that is my fearless prediction!!

Tags: Cincinnati Bengals, Larry Johnson, Tom Nelson

Just Another Game To LJ (Now), Palmer Says Otherwise

When Larry Johnson signed with the Cincinnati Bengals following his release by the Chiefs, perhaps you remember his thoughts on the Week 16 matchup with Kansas City.

First he took to Facebook.

Gonna gallop all over the Chiefs.  Cleat prints on the chests.  Mud in the face masks.

Then in his introductory press conference he was slightly more diplomatic… barely.

I’d be lying if I said I ain’t looking at that game (as one) I want to definitely play in … if that happens, it would be the best Christmas gift I could get.

But to listen to the infamous Kansas City club goer now, this is just another game.

It will be kind of like me practicing against my friends.  A lot of those guys I haven’t seen in six or seven weeks.  It will be great to get out there and play for real… What’s going on with this team is bigger than me versus the Kansas City Chiefs.  It’s basically us trying to put ourselves in a great position to get to the playoffs and hopefully get to the Super Bowl.

To anyone that follows the Chiefs, this sort of waffling by Johnson isn’t a surprise.  There has always been a “good” and “bad” LJ.  Immediately after he was released he was more than happy to let a bit of the bad LJ out, but with free agency approaching he is making sure only to give out vibes from his alter ego.

When the Cincinnati press approached Bengals quarterback about Johnson and if this game has extra importance to the mercurial running back, there was no delay.

Absolutely… I’m not sure what specific game plan we’ll have for him this week, but I know he’ll be ready to play.

With the Bengals still looking to lock up a playoff spot, Marvin Lewis isn’t going to try and do any favors for a backup running back.  However, if this game gets out of hand, look for Benson to retire to the sidelines and it turn into the all-LJ show, which you know he will eat up.

If Johnson gets a chance to get upwards of 15-20 carries that means obviously he’s being very successful and I can promise you we’ll see more than a few glimpses of the “bad” LJ.

Tags: Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals, Larry Johnson