FanHouse LamarHunt

NFL owners tabled the Kansas City Chiefs' proposal to ban NFL players from wearing their hair long enough to cover their names on their jerseys at this week's league meeting. But the Chiefs say they won't give up the fight.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt tells the Kansas City Star that requiring all NFL players to keep their hair tucked under their helmets is something his father, Pro Football Hall of Famer and Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, would have supported:

"He was always very much a stickler for players' names to be legible on the backs of jerseys," Hunt said. "He felt it was a positive from a marketing standpoint for the team, the league and the player."

Although Hunt says Commissioner Roger Goodell "has been supportive of it," all indications are that this rule has almost no chance of passing. The owners might take it up again at the May meeting, but if they do they'll vote it down. You have to pick your battles, and this battle just isn't important enough to fight with the players.

Previously on FanHouse:
NFL's Deal With Union Says 'No Player Will Be Disciplined Because of Hair Length'
NFL Could Ban Hair Flowing Out of Helmets
Herm Edwards on NFL Hair Proposal: 'Is It a Cultural Thing? No. It's a Uniform Thing'
Just So You Know, NFL: Troy Polamalu Is Not Cutting His Hair for Anybody

It almost seems like the Chiefs have been kissed by destiny, doesn't it? They began the season by losing their starting quarterback and leader for what many believed would be a career. They lose esteemed owner and icon Lamar Hunt before the season ends. Somehow, the Chiefs squeak into the playoffs despite being #6 on the food chain of AFC teams with a playoff hope.

And now, let's add another one:
The Chiefs square off against the Indianapolis Colts, the Grinches that embarassed the Chiefs the last two times in the Chiefs' own unbeatable backyard. It sure seems like the tides have reversed, doesn't it?

• The Chiefs walked into the past two matchups with the upper-hand; in 2006, the Colts are the team with the stout 12-4 record.
  
• The Chiefs got to play the 2003 matchup against the Colts at Arrowhead, where they are virtually unstoppable; this time, the Colts play in their own backyard where they are also unstoppable.
• The Chiefs played in the 2003 matchup with a laughingstock run defense with holes the size of Missouri; this time, the Colts have the laughingstock defense, with run defense holes the size of Indiana.
  

It almost seems like the road for the Chiefs could be paved for a run that could only be created by destiny. Sure, the Colts have the upper-hand in this matchup, but maybe that's just what the Chiefs need to finally win a playoff game against them. The Chiefs sure couldn't get that job done when they were supposedly the better team.

A lot of Firsts with the last Arrowhead Awards of the 2006 regular season. For the first time, we have four winners. For the first time, we have winners from another team (indeed, they weren't even the Chiefs' opponents). And for the first time, we have a deceased winner.

The first winner is blatantly obvious. Bernard Pollard has officially overtaken Dante Hall as the most feared special teamer on the Chiefs. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out now (link here, then go to the Video Features tab, and it's Top Play 2), because it was an amazing combination of speed, strength, agility, and awareness. Not only that, but to have the wherewithal to block out Montell Owens (who he just dominated for the punt block) and recover the ball in the end zone was perhaps more electrifying than any of Dante Hall's TD returns from a few years back. More importantly, Pollard's TD gave the Chiefs life and the all-important first score of the game.

The second winner is Shayne Graham of the Cincinnati Bengals. I have to admit, I flipped the channel when Jeff Reed's FG sailed through to tie the game. I figured that I would catch overtime in a few minutes. What I missed, and caught only via a highlight clip during overtime, was Graham missing what should have been an easy FG. Once I saw that, I knew Pittsburgh would win.


The third winner is also obvious. Joe Nedney kicked the biggest FG of the Chiefs' 2006 season. Barely.

Which brings me to the fourth winner: Lamar Hunt. It seems pretty obvious that his fingerprints were all over Week 17, doesn't it? That Graham missed FG was, well, eerie. It looked awfully good, then veered right. That Nedney FG was, well, eerie. It looked like it would veer too far right, then stayed just within the upright. You don't think Lamar Hunt saved two big breaths and blew, first to the right for Graham, and then to the left for Nedney? If the Chiefs could not do it themselves, you just knew Lamar Hunt would do something about it.

Note: Because of the holidays, I neglected to publish the Arrowhead Award winner for 12/24/06. That winner was Jarrad Page because of another stellar effort against the Raiders.

A lot of interesting comments this week, following another disappointing loss by the Chiefs. A lot of them center around Trent Green, so let's start there. James Hicks wrote:

Trent Green is a very nice guy,but he cannot get away or move around enough to create plays consistantly.I have always liked him but its time to realize our team cannot take the next step in winning with him.He keeps making horrible throws against good teams.We cannot afford to do this any more.We need to shore up the o line because we have a championship back now so lets use him.

A couple of points to address there. First, I think there's a misconception about Green that he's an immobile quarterback. While he is rather slow, he does the important stuff in the pocket. He moves his feet, and when he does step up in the pocket, he steps up to the right spot. This year, he has struggled a little more with that aspect. His awareness of the rush is not as sharp as in past years, which appears to be a combination of two things. First, the offensive line has pass-protected poorly in the last few games. Second, that lack of awareness could very likely be some of the lingering effects from the concussion. Green is still rusty; essentially, it is still almost like preseason for him.

But the key, I think, is the offensive line. This year, the Chiefs have done a very poor job in picking up blitzes, and that has rattled the quarterbacks. One thing about both Green and Damon Huard-- if they get pressured early, they get rattled for the rest of the game. We saw that in Huard in both the Pittsburgh and Miami games, and we saw that from Green the last two games. The Chiefs must do a better job of picking up the blitz.

Moving on... John wrote: "I think these last 2 games, we need to start the new QB Brodie Croyle. It's about the future now, Trent Green should be benched."

As long as the Chiefs still have a shot at the playoffs, Green will start. Our friends at Arrowhead Pride have been advocating for Green to be benched as well, but I still stick by my contention that Green deserved the nod, and I think he still does. Granted, he still looks awfully rusty, but as noted above, the pass protection early in games has been awful. I don't think Huard would have made much of a difference with that protection. Right now, Croyle is still a major project. He looked bad in the preseason against third and fourth stringers. He needs at least another offseason of getting prepared before he is ready for major game action.

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.

I have been doing a lot of reading the last couple of days. I try to read as much Chiefs' material as I can, and the last few days have seen a ton of Chiefs' material. Or rather, should I say, Lamar Hunt material.

Have you seen the "Thoughts and Reflections on Lamar Hunt" section of KCChiefs.com? It's extensive, and the people quoted are from all over the sports universe. I extol his contributions to the sports world a bit more thoroughly in my other blog, but I think one important point I raised there bears repeating here: Everyone who met him loved Lamar Hunt. There is nothing fake about those quotes in KCChiefs.com. Everyone had a genuine respect for him.

My favorite obituary about Hunt is from Paul Domowitch of Philly.com. It's short, but it gets right to the point. Lamar Hunt was a common sports fan in a rich man's body, but he knew what power he had and he used it to better not only football, but every sport he could make an impact in. And make an impact he did, but even better, he did so without having anyone hold any grudges against him.

You can never meet too many truly good and nice people, and it is unfortunate that I will never meet this one. But as a Chiefs and football fan, I will feel his impact probably for the rest of my life. Mr. Hunt inspired loyalty by earning it, not demanding it. We see that in his former executives and his former coaches, and now we are seeing it in his colleagues. Rest in peace, Mr. Hunt, and here is hoping that the Chiefs bring home your trophy sometime in the near future. After all, you deserve it.

CJ responded to my Kyle Turley post a couple of days ago:

The Chiefs need someone like Mark Cuban to buy the team. Someone who's a CHIEFS fan, who's gonna come in and pay the players what their worth. Buy some talent for gawds sake. The people of Kansas City have waited long enough. Stop doing patch work on the team with "lame ducks" like Kyle Turley.

Thanks, CJ. This is not an unpopular sentiment among some Chiefs' fans. Is there merit to this opinion? There are some justifiable reasons, yes. The failure to re-sign Donnie Edwards is a popular one. Even this past offseason, it sure seemed that letting Tony Richardson sign with Minnesota for only about $1 million more was frugality at its worst.

I think it's hard to blame Hunt or Carl Peterson for the offensive line, though. Obviously, the primary need in the offseason was again on defense, and once they signed Ty Law, you got the sense that the Chiefs were saving up for him. Did the Chiefs know that Willie Roaf would retire and that John Welbourn would be suspended? If they did not know for sure, at least they had an inkling. But the Chiefs have always had confidence in Jordan Black, and that confidence seems justified at this point in the season. They have also always been enamored with Kevin Sampson; though I do not share in their enthusiasm over him, he has at least proven to be a competent offensive lineman. Will Svitek is another prospect with huge upside, and the Chiefs believed he would be a good backup this year.

The problem is that you cannot spend too much money on backup offensive linemen. Kyle Turley was an experienced and cheap option, so I do not blame them for signing him. The problem with Turley is that he has not gained nearly as much weight as they thought he would. I also cannot believe that any GM anticipates three absences/injuries to the offensive line (in the Chiefs' case, Roaf, Waters, and Welbourn/Sampson) at the same time. If Welbourn is able to reclaim his spot at right tackle, I think all will be well.

I know, this does not resolve the question of whether Lamar Hunt spends enough money or not, but I do not think that the current state of the offensive line can be attributed to money concerns. Keep in mind, spending money does not guarantee championships-- Daniel Snyder is a notorious spender, but Washington has become less and less of a contender, while the Rooneys are notoriously cautious, yet they won the Super Bowl last year. With a salary cap league, you simply cannot have depth at every position, and I am not so sure that any team could do any better than the Chiefs while losing three starting offensive linemen.

I talked to a developer today and he told me of the Chiefs' double-super-secret plan to build a rolling roof over Damon Huard.

"It's a new concept," the developer told me. "The Chiefs decided that if they can't protect their quarterback, they might as well just build a roof over him. The roof will be 10 feet tall and will be overhead Damon everywhere he goes. It will even go as far as Kaufman Stadium, so if Damon wants to watch a concert in the middle of a football game, he can certainly do that."

The rolling roof might just give Herm Edwards an excuse to hand the ball off to LJ on crucial third and long situations. Right now, the play is considered ultra-conservative; however, if a roof is built over Huard, then passing will become noticeably more difficult because it might be difficult for Huard to spot receivers downfield, so running the ball on 3rd and long becomes a high percentage play.

Obviously, I'm making that story up, but if a rolling roof isn't built over Huard, then the Chiefs might be forced to devise different ways to keep him protected. The Chiefs have been in panic mode on offense ever since the season started. It began when the Chiefs started losing to the Bengals by 7 points and the Chiefs completely abandoned the running game. It continued last week when the Chiefs, in a gut reaction, tried to solve pass protection issues not by balancing their playcalling, but by running the ball on every down. The playcalling was so conservative, I'm almost surprised the Chiefs never tried to punt on third down.

If a ridiculous (and fabricated, of course) idea of throwing a rolling roof over a quarterback is what it will take Herm Edwards to trust his protection, then so be it. The Chiefs' pass protection is not what it once was. They can't afford to go into an aerial assault on every play as they did against Cincinnati. The offensive line is still very good, though and the Chiefs will never move the ball if they continually insist on sending their quarterback on 3-step drops. Huard practically releases the ball as soon as the ball is in his hands.

Herm Edwards has promised he will open the playbook and allow the Chiefs to go downfield. If he doesn't, then I might just pitch this rolling roof idea myself.