I don’t know much, but of five things I’m certain as we inch toward the 2005 Kansas City Chiefs season:
1. The 2004 season is never to be spoken of again. Never. Ever. Every true Chiefs fan should take the vow – it didn’t happen, doesn’t exist in our memory banks and not even three clicks of ruby slippers will bring it back. It was a nightmare.
Any Chiefs fan who mentions the season of which we’ll never speak again will be forced to wear a Bronco hat for a week. If he or she persists, then it will be a Raider hat for a month. It’s done. Gone. Kaput. Take the vow, true Chiefs fans. Right now. Right today.
2. I’ve seen a lot of great wailing, gnashing of teeth and general screwage on the Chief bulletin boards about Carl Peterson’s four-year contract extension. All kind of King Carl this and Dammit, Carl that.
And while I’ve been as disappointed as the next fan with some things, I think we all miss a key point: The Kansas City Chiefs will not be tempted anytime soon to go for broke and mortgage the future for the sake of one big run at the Super Bowl.
Don’t get me wrong – I want the Lombardi Trophy in KC as anyone – maybe more than some. But I don’t want to see the Chiefs in Salary Cap Hell dumping good, solid players as the price for getting there. If this were truly Carl’s last year and Dick Vermeil’s the temptation would be there. And why not?
This team has a solid foundation and a major chance to do some great things for the future in this year’s draft. There is no reason why the Chiefs can’t follow the New England model. They really don’t have that far to go.
3. Call me an ignorant nincompoop if you haven’t already (it’s OK, my wife does every day) but I’m not that concerned right now with that cornerback position in free agency. I think someone like an Andre Dyson would be an option (although I wonder if Gunther knows something about him that we don’t).
The reason? Given the enforcement now of cornerback contact with the receiver after five yards, the corner isn’t the issue. Even the best corner (can you spell Champ Bailey?) can’t stay with a receiver if a quarterback has time to have sex, a cigarette and a beer before throwing the ball. Any corner is going to be the one who gets screwed. The key now is the quarterback – taking him out of rhythm or putting his ugly butt on the ground.
I think the absolute necessity is to have the nastiest pass rush/front 7 on the face of the planet. An extension of the defensive coordinators warm and cuddly personality. And I think our draft should be focused on that the first day.
If it were up to me, I’d do whatever I had to do to move up and get Carl Peterson’s second Derrick – Derrick Johnson. This guy is going to be special – a monster. Short of that, I’d be happy with (in this order): Shawne Merriman, Erasmus James or Marcus Spears.
This draft is deep with corners. We could find one late the first day or early on Sunday.
4. That said, even with an influx of new players, the defense needs an attitude adjustment. With the additions of Sammy Knight and Kendrell Bell, that may have already happened. But attitude is at least 80 percent of the battle.
Look at the people around you who get things done. Never has anything worth anything been done by someone with no attitude. Think about where you work, and look at the leaders and team members who succeed. Somewhere there is always an attitude.
Maybe you have it. Maybe you don’t. And if you don’t, you are probably someone who has blamed your failures on others. Never yourself. People with attitudes know when they’ve screwed the pooch. They learn from it. They fix it. Losers blame others. And remain losers.
I submit to you that attitude is what has sorely lacked in recent Kansas City Chiefs defenses. And having Bell and Knight on board will help bring that back. Look at recent developments – Greg Wesley is already madder than hell. And he needs to be madder than hell. And assuming he’s not a loser, then he’ll take his attitude and turn it into something positive. And a madder-than-hell Greg Wesley on the field would not be a good thing if you are wearing different colors than Red and Gold.
You think that Kendrell Bell won’t have an effect on the people like Kawika Mitchell and Scott Fujita? And what if Mike Maslowski came back? Now there’s an attitude. It’s infectious.
This defense has lacked leadership on the field. It lacked heart. It had no attitude. And it lost.
In 2005, I believe and hope that we’ll once again see Gunther Cunningham’s attitude reflected by the players on the field.
5. For the sake of sanity, I’m not going to have the high expectations that I’ve had before recent previous seasons (notice I did not name the season of which we’ll never speak again). When friends ask how I think the Chiefs will do, they’ll just get a shrug of the shoulders.
But I am going to have a good time in Detroit (possibly and oxymoron) in February 2006.
No expectations, though.
None. | 