FanHouse LJ

In the coming weeks, I plan to start talking about what the Chiefs will likely do this offseason to help themselves at each position. This first blog will reference the easiest positions for the Chiefs to resolve.

Punter:
No mystery here. Dustin Colquitt stays.

Tight End / Fullback:
The Chiefs already took care of business by signing Tony Gonzalez to a long-term deal. They will also return a healthy Ronnie Cruz to the roster, but there's no guarantee that he'll start. Ronnie Cruz turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. He was only an adequate blocker and very average on all other dimensions.

So what now? What the Chiefs do at the fullback position will ultimately determine what they will do at tight end. As of now, Kris Wilson is serving as the starting fullback. He is not a true blocker, but he proved to be a solid receiving option when he was switched into the role of H-back. The question is, are the Chiefs willing to continually sacrifice terrific blocking for a threat like Kris Wilson to serve as an H-back? I think they will. I think Wilson will only get better as a blocker, and he should figure better into a simplified gameplan. Then again, it would not surprised me if the Chiefs used a late round pick on a fullback prospect.

The Chiefs might also want to start looking for a run blocking tight end specialist. Jason Dunn is getting older and more beat up every year.

I've been hearing a lot of talk lately about how LJ might break the rushing carries record and how, historically, this is almost a guarantee that LJ will not be effective next year. The statistical basis for this argument: the claim that most RBs who eclipse 380 carries were injured the following year.

Am I really the only one that doesn't see the ridiculousness of this argument? The claim is that RB's like Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson both suffered major injuries after carrying the ball 380+ times. Newflash: most of the RB's on the list as "overworked" also made the playoffs. TD and Jamal Anderson, in fact, ended up making it all the way to the Super Bowl. When you account for postseason carries, their total number of carries is very close to 500. Barring some extraordinary miracle in which the Chiefs make the playoffs, LJ will not even come remotely close to 400 carries.

For a while, I thought LJ was settling into his new role in Kansas City. I thought he was finally getting comfortable, with a full-time starting role and a coach who wants to do nothing but pound the rock. LJ has shined in his new role as the rock of the Chiefs' offense, but apparently he's not too happy about it.

LJ went off on a tirade, complaining about the Chiefs' predictable playcalling and the team's offensive failures. According to the Kansas City Star, LJ made the following comments:

When you do the same things over and over again, a good defense ... they're going to do things to stop you,

LJ goes into further detail:

They need to fix it. I'm getting tired of this. It's tough running against a brick wall until you break it open, you know? You see other teams do different things; you see different teams react differently. Like I said, you don't have to bang your head against a brick wall hard enough to crack a hole in it. There are other ways of doing different things

LJ got a lot of fire for this. At first, I was a little upset at his reactions. I thought he may have been throwing his coaches and teammates under the bus. But it's important not to judge based on past immature comments he's made. In this situation, I believe he has every right to be vocal.

Well, Chiefs' fans, it appears that this year has once again become another "wait until next year" season.

The Chiefs' offense once again was disgustingly bad. The protection was lousy, Trent Green once again threw way too many passes off the mark, and our receivers once again proved why they are the worst in the league.

This is not to discredit the Chargers who, I believe, are the most dangerous team in the NFL. I have watched LT play in a lot of games and, today, I am beginning to understand the "out of this world" hype. Last season, I thought he was a terrific runner. This season, he has become absolutely dominant. It's hard to charge the Chiefs with missed tackles when LT puts on a move that jukes players out of their shorts. No excuses on the Chiefs' ends. The Chargers executed; the Chiefs did not. Therefore, the Chiefs had no business winning tonight's football game.

It's week 3 and the Chiefs managed to not lose a game for the first time this season. Chiefs' fans rejoiced. "I couldn't believe it when I heard it," a fellow Chiefs' fan told me. "This is a major moral victory for the city of Kansas City. I've already cut Lamar Hunt a check for $1,000 to pay for the new Arrowhead renovations. Heck, I'm even going to build a rolling roof of my own over my garage!"

Not all the city or the nation was thrilled about the Chiefs' non-loss this weekend. The response from AFC West rival teams' fans has been mixed:
Broncos' fan: "Whatever. Last time I checked, we just beat you chumps. Hey, you guys interested in trading for Plummer?"
Raiders' fan: "Your record is still as bad as the Raiders' is, loser. Somehow, we still believe we're better than you."
Chargers' fan: "Didn't you guys have a bye this week?"

The news hit fantasy football owners especially hard. I spoke with a fantasy football owner in my office league. Our conversation went something like this:
Anonymous: LJ really sucked it up for me this week.
Me: Zero points. Zero touchdowns. Why didn't you bench him?
Anonymous: #1 rule of fantasy football. NEVER bench LJ.
Me: i.c.
Anonymous: LJ once ran for 200 yards on Chuck Norris.
Me: lol
Anonymous: Anyway, I gotta go. The boss is looking over my shoulder and he looks pissed.
Me: ? Why is he pissed?
Anonymous: Looks like he started Trent Green this week. Horrible decision.

Local critics still found a way to criticize Herm Edwards. "Typical Herm Edwards," one patron at a Kansas City bar told me. "No yards?" she continued. "Oh, biiiiggggg surprise. Hey, you want to give me a ride to White Castle? I'm starving."

Another patron described Edwards as a manipulative snake. "He didn't tell us," the man told me. He was decked out in Chiefs' gear: Lin Elliot jersey, tattered foam finger, face painted red and yellow. "I've been sitting here in Arrowhead for 10 hours. Why didn't they tell me we weren't playing at home this week? It's that sneaky Herm Edwards character. He thinks he can roll into Kansas City and pull a stunt like this? Go back to New York, moron. And take that lousy Terrence Law guy with you!"

Herm Edwards found a way not to lose this weekend. The reaction is mixed, but my feeling is, the Chiefs will find it much tougher to keep their non-losing streak alive next week when they square off against the 49ers.

When the blocking breaks down for a team, the first instinct a football fan has is to immediately blame the offensive line.

The offensive line was not the offensive part of Sunday's ordeal against the Bengals. Amazingly, it was not the defense either. It was the Chiefs' offensive playcalling.

What was most baffling about the Chiefs' offensive gameplan on Sunday against the Bengals was that it was so contrary to the philosophy that everyone imagined the Chiefs would adopt. Herm Edwards came in as a "Marty ball" coach, known for favoring the run over the pass. Mike Solari came in as the offensive coordinator; the Chiefs' former offensive line coach; the architect of the Chiefs' running game. Most people expected the Chiefs to run LJ 30 to 40 times, if they could somehow squeeze that many plays into one game. The way some people were talking, you almost expected LJ to average 100 carries a game.

For some reason, the Chiefs completely abandoned the run on Sunday. They did a great job of mixing up their playcalling to begin the game and it worked. While they only managed to muster up 3 points, they kept the ball out of Carson Palmer's hands, ate up a lot of clock, and moved the ball downfield. Most importantly, the pass protection was solid too.

For some odd reason, the Chiefs decided to follow up with a series of plays that featured 2 runs versus 16 passes. When you have an incredible tackle like Willie Roaf to keep the pass rush out of the quarterback's face, you can sometimes afford the luxury of passing on 100 straight downs if you want to. However, most offensive lines get progressively worse as the playcalling becomes more predictable. It's no coincidence that as the Chiefs' playcalling became more predictable, their protection got progressively worse.

Furthermore, I was disappointed that Solari's offense resorted to a more vanilla offense. The Chiefs started the game out well, shuffling players around like musical chairs, shifting players to different spots, etc.... It reminded me so much of the Al Saunders offense I grew to know and love. For some odd reason, the Chiefs stopped doing it. They basically had an offense that was moving the ball well down the field, and tore it apart as the game went along.

Phil had mentioned that Mike Solari would likely have a learning curve ahead of him. He certainly learned a lot of lessons on Sunday. For the Chiefs' sake, let's hope that he doesn't take those lessons for granted.