Art Hains
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Reconstruction
Like the period after the Civil War has come to be known as the Reconstruction, the Chiefs' growing pains of Rebuilding continue to be felt. Not to compare the two directly, but from a football standpoint(with no loss of life), the process is a necessary one signaling a seismic shift in the order of things. The Chiefs are going from one of the oldest teams in the league to the youngest. It isn't unlike the mid-70s, when the Super Bowl teams' personnel had faded away, and there were no ready replacements. Hopefully, this turnaround won't take 15 years, and I'm confident that it won't, for a variety of reasons.
One is the current NFL rules, designed to promote parity. Most of all, the salary cap forces teams to prioritize, and prevents good teams from hoarding good players for years. These players go into the free agent market, and are available to teams that are struggling, but have cap room because of their relative youth. The '08 Chiefs certainly fall into that category.
Another is the seemingly-better results of the last 3 drafts. Certainly, the final story on all these players won't be written for some time, but the Chiefs have Jarrod Page, Brandon Pollard, Brodie Croyle and Tamba Hali to show from the '06 draft. '07 brought D-Bowe, Tank McBride, Turk Tyler, Kolby Smith and Herb Taylor. And of course, this year's draft was widely praised.
I expected the Chiefs to struggle this year, but admittedly, not as much as in the last two games. I think the offensive line IS improved, evidenced by the running game's success in the second half last week. I also think play at the QB position has greatly hurt the offense's chances to move the ball through the air. Hopefully, that will be less of a problem this week with the steady Huard back at the helm, and more so when Croyle returns for the Tennessee game. And we still don't know about Croyle. It isn't fair to judge him on the last 6 games of last season without LJ and with a makeshift O-line.
I am very surprised, though, at the porousness of the defense against the run. The young line, I think, shows promise, but the linebacking corps has to step up and make some plays. This is where the Chiefs have devoted most of their draft attention in recent years, and they did make strides last year, but they've gone backwards in the last 2 weeks.
It's going to be a painful process, but one in which hopefully perserverence will lead to some improvement, and hope for a better future.
One is the current NFL rules, designed to promote parity. Most of all, the salary cap forces teams to prioritize, and prevents good teams from hoarding good players for years. These players go into the free agent market, and are available to teams that are struggling, but have cap room because of their relative youth. The '08 Chiefs certainly fall into that category.
Another is the seemingly-better results of the last 3 drafts. Certainly, the final story on all these players won't be written for some time, but the Chiefs have Jarrod Page, Brandon Pollard, Brodie Croyle and Tamba Hali to show from the '06 draft. '07 brought D-Bowe, Tank McBride, Turk Tyler, Kolby Smith and Herb Taylor. And of course, this year's draft was widely praised.
I expected the Chiefs to struggle this year, but admittedly, not as much as in the last two games. I think the offensive line IS improved, evidenced by the running game's success in the second half last week. I also think play at the QB position has greatly hurt the offense's chances to move the ball through the air. Hopefully, that will be less of a problem this week with the steady Huard back at the helm, and more so when Croyle returns for the Tennessee game. And we still don't know about Croyle. It isn't fair to judge him on the last 6 games of last season without LJ and with a makeshift O-line.
I am very surprised, though, at the porousness of the defense against the run. The young line, I think, shows promise, but the linebacking corps has to step up and make some plays. This is where the Chiefs have devoted most of their draft attention in recent years, and they did make strides last year, but they've gone backwards in the last 2 weeks.
It's going to be a painful process, but one in which hopefully perserverence will lead to some improvement, and hope for a better future.
posted by Chiefs Radio # 8:05 AM 