My last two pieces (last weekend’s game review and the write up on Jason Babin) had an air of positivity. Tonight I’m shedding that skin. We have a legitimate reason to be scared. For a few weeks now the Chiefs have thrived in spite of (and in some cases because of) the stunning catalogue of injuries to starters and key role players. Don’t expect that to keep up. The injuries are piling up even higher and we’re about to enter battle against a team that is uniquely suited to exploit each and every resultant weakness.
The Saints are coming, and this is where injury purgatory meets matchup hell.
1ST RUNG: Roman Harper vs. Dwayne Bowe.
Somebody should show Dwayne some of that priceless 1998 Tony Gonzalez footage that had fans everywhere clamoring for Ted Popson to see more playing time. You remember that footage, right? The stuff that made you wonder if somebody was replacing his Stickem with Astroglide? There’s no denying that Dwayne has developed a case of the dropsies. Roman Harper is going to do his damnedest to drive that point home. Roman doesn’t make interceptions. Roman bats balls down. Roman is outmatched in size, but not in ability. The advantage goes to Bowe, but Roman won’t make it easy.
2ND RUNG: Jeremy Shockey vs. Rocky Boiman.
Rocky vs. Shockey. The underachiever vs. the overachiever. The resistable force vs. the movable object. Shockey hasn’t looked like much for a couple of years. Rocky hasn’t looked like much since he left Notre Dame. Rocky put up a decent performance one week ago. Shockey put up a decent performance one team ago. I give the slight advantage to Boiman on account of the fact that his giveadamn isn’t busted, but if Shockey decides he wants to make a point Chiefs fans will be calling for the return of Kendrell Bell.
3RD RUNG: Jammal Brown vs. Turk McBride.
This isn’t a matchup. This is an embarrassment. McBride is not now, nor never has been, a pass rush threat. Brown is superlative pass defender. McBride is best suited as a rotational player. Brown is a star. The advantage goes to Brown by a country mile.
4TH RUNG: Jonathan Vilma vs. Wade Smith.
This isn’t a direct man-on-man matchup, but rather a matchup of consequence. When Kendrick Clancy – hardly a world beater – blows Smith right off the line, Mike Cox will be left to hold back a man who outweighs him by 50 pounds in hopes of opening up some semblance of a running lane. In the off chance that LJ (or Charles or Savage) actually finds that lane, expect Jonathan Vilma to reunite with his old head coach through a 3rd party intermediary. The only positive here is that somebody in our front office might finally notice Jonathan Vilma and bring him in for an interview in the offseason.
5TH RUNG: Jonathan Stinchcomb vs. Alfonso Boone.
Think the matchup on the other side is ugly? This one is gonna be uglier. Unfathomably ugly. Guys like this are why the league asks players to leave their helmets on. This matchup isn’t chess. It isn’t even checkers. It’s Candy Land: The Gravyboat Edition. Call it Lardo Land. And Stinchcomb will win. Boone is not a defensive end.
6TH RUNG: Lance Moore vs. Mike Priefer.
I don’t have a lot to say here other than that Priefer will probably make the transition from Reggie Bush to Lance Moore a lot easier on Saints fans. Also, fire Mike Priefer.
7TH RUNG: Devery Henderson vs. Maurice Leggett.
The charge most often levied against Devery Henderson is that he is woefully inconsistent. Unless he starts batting down his own passes, he’s safe from any such accusations this week. This will be his easiest matchup this season. It may well be the easiest matchup of his career thus far. Then again, if Leggett falters, Henderson might have to deal with some Ricardo Colclough action. Colclough might very well make Leggett look like Champ Bailey, which in turn might make Henderson look like Jerry Rice.
8TH RUNG: Marques Colston vs. Brandon Carr.
The good news is that we’ll probably pair our most consistent remaining CB on New Orleans’s most consistent receiver. The bad news is this: the thing at which Carr is most consistent is playing soft coverage. Carr doesn’t want to give up the big play. Colston is not the big play man. I feel comfortable in stating that Carr won’t give Colston more yards than Atlanta gave him last week. Too bad Atlanta gave him 140 yards.
9TH RUNG: Drew Brees vs. the non-existent pass rush.
Gunther’s new blitz scheme will not make all the difference. Brees is a highly accurate QB with one of the league’s better trios in Colston, Henderson, and Moore. Give him a five-count or better and he’ll find a target. Barring unexpected contributions from newcomers like Wallace Gilberry and Jason Babin, expect Brees to play most of the day with a clean jersey.
10TH RUNG: Drew Brees vs. the depleted secondary.
Brees won’t need that five-count. Good receivers don’t need that much time to separate from scrubs. Our CBs are going to hand out career days like Gideon’s Bibles after school.
All is lost, right? Not exactly. Redemption is found by beating them in the middle. The Saints are weak where we are strongest. On defense, Rudy Niswanger and Brian Waters must win the battle against Kendrick Clancy and Sedrick Ellis. That’s not a tall order. Neither Clancy nor Ellis is particularly large or particularly powerful. Rudy can’t expect help from Wade Smith against Clancy, however. He must mentally prepare himself to handle that responsibility singlehandedly. As for Ellis, Waters can bowl right over that kid. LJ must adapt and find his running lanes behind Waters and Albert and through Scott Shanle. That’s right – through. LJ must duck his shoulder and hit a guy who outweighs him by 15 pounds. He can average 5-yards per carry if he adheres to that methodology. He’ll need to, because Damion McIntosh is going to lose the battle against Charles Grant and Branden Albert is going to struggle to keep Will Smith from gettin’ Thiggy with it.
Likewise, on the other side of the ball success can be found up the middle. The Saints are playing with a backup C in Matt Lehr and a backup LG in Carl Nicks. Tank Tyler and Glenn Dorsey are coming off of their best game to date as a tandem. If they build on last week’s success, which came against one of the league’s best interiors, they can at a minimum slow the bleeding. They might even land a sack or two. Or more. This game has the potential to bolster Dorsey’s confidence and put an end to any discussion as to whether it was he or Ellis that was the better choice.
Our backup LBs can earn their keep too. Reggie Bush is out and Deuce McAllister is aging fast. Deuce could still pull off a big game, but only if Rocky, Demorrio, and Dacus let him. The unit that should have been our deepest still can be. They can earn the one thing that’s more gratifying than respect: job security.
Folks, hold on to your hats. This one could suck.
I was under the impression that I put a lot of thought into our matchups and gameplan, I was mistaken. Your analysis is ridiculous!!! My honey-do list is far too long to spend the time required to go that deep.
Great reading, although, I tend to lean toward the more positive articles.
My greatest fear is that our recent “improvement” or ability to be competitive somehow gives CP and Herm another chance next season. I continue to have conflicted views while watching games; root for the win….wait, front office overhaul; win; fire Herm and CP; win..SHIT!!!!
I admit, the last three weeks have given me hope within our offense and coordinator, at least in the first half. Someone has to do a better job of anticipating the changes the defense makes at halftime, in order for our offense to operate effectively the entire game. With the question marks and injuries that continue popping up on defense, the offense needs to stay on the field in the second half.
Comment by Travis — November 15, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
UPDATE: A good friend in New Orleans has pointed out to me that Charles Grant is on IR, so the guy Damion McIntosh will be abused by is actually pass rush specialist Bobby McCray.
The positive there is that if Mac struggles enough we might see Herbie again. Herbie is our best pass blocker. I’m crossing my fingers.
Does anybody else find it ironic that Mac, who has one complete season in 9 years, is the healthiest player on the team right now?
Comment by Nathan Kent — November 15, 2008 @ 7:09 pm
The biggest fact about this gMe is number one offense vs the 32 defense and in my oppinion our defense will play better than their offense. Not just because we wil not allow a running game no big deal for the best passing team, but because they are coming to our house and will not leave with a win. I hate you fuckers who care more about CP and herm than you do about your team and how they play on Sundays.
We will win with coverage and turnovers. We are the more physical team and have more talent. Instead of hoping our team loses so your fantasy about regime change might happen just put on your long johns and show up like a real fan.
Comment by Jake — November 16, 2008 @ 1:33 am
I’m not sure that we’re the more physical team. New Orleans doesn’t have much pressure up the middle, but they have excellent pass rushers and 2/3rds of a great LB corps. They have one good corner and one good safety. We’re pretty much the opposite. We have no pass rush, but a very good interior. We have next to nothing happening at LB. We have two very good corners (note: Carr isn’t one of them) and three very good safeties (note: Morgan isn’t one of them), but unfortunately we don’t have either of those corners right now and one of those safeties is a little gimpy.
I’m hopeful that either Babin or Gilberry will step up in a big way. We’re in dire need of at least a little bit of legitimate talent at DE, especially with Tamba gone.
Comment by Nathan Kent — November 16, 2008 @ 2:35 am
Jake would eat a turd as long as it had a Chief emblem on it.
Comment by Mark F. — November 16, 2008 @ 4:31 am
Gee Mark…. tell us how you really feel….
Comment by Nathan Kent — November 16, 2008 @ 4:39 am
only if tasted like molasses instead of your chili
Comment by Jake — November 16, 2008 @ 7:59 am
“I hate you fuckers who care more about CP and herm than you do about your team and how they play on Sundays.”
Jake,
The team plays the way it does because of Carl & Herm. I hate you care more about fighting with Chief fans than you do with the 2 idiots that have built a 1-18 team.
I do put on my long johns & show up, and guess what, they still lost. There is nothing the fans can do that will change Herm’s incompetency. We can all be little Jake Lemmings & fill Arrowhead with loud screams, and they will still lose 30-20.
How many games do the Chiefs have to lose before you realize Herm is the problem, not Chiefs fans?
Get over yourself.
Comment by Alex — November 16, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
who the hell is jake lemmings?
I thought it was great game. Our defense could not compete for even the the first 30 minutes, but our team held its composure which is what you need to do when you are a young team. Yeah would it be nice to win sure but it would also be nice to have heated seats and free cocoa. None of those things will happen under the current circumstances of being a young team.
I don’t want to wait for some new GM’s five year plan. When Carl’s contract ends he will not be here no matter who he knows, besides he’s made enough money to buy an island somewhere. Herm is our coach our leader support him or don’t it does not matter he does not play on Sundays.
It’s sad to see good people give in to their emotions and hope for things for their own self interest. Thats right talking about you alex I’m not fighting you just giving you my opinion in as many ways as possible it seems the only thing you want is a quick solution. Sorry there is not quick fix actually the last four games have been the biggest turn around of any team since Mannings second year. Earlier in the year we were a joke then we finally won a game and got full of ourselves overly confident. Now we are looked down at except when we have only two guys on defense with more than two real years experience. There are not many players in the NFL who hit their prime in the first two years of their career and the ones who do don’t last that long.
We need a healthy defense and we would be a lot more competitive I mean winning games. I’m not making excuses just stating the obvious.
Comment by jake — November 16, 2008 @ 7:28 pm
“Sorry there is not quick fix actually the last four games have been the biggest turn around of any team since Mannings second year.”
Jake,
Are you kidding? You can’t be that dumb. Losing 4 in a row is not a turn around.
Winning 4 in a row, however, is a turn around. Especially when you were 1-15 last year like Miami was.
Ask Atlanta, Baltimore, the Jets & Miami if there is no such thing as quick fixes.
Manning’s second year? What a joke.
Jake Lemmings is you and everyone else that thinks 4 close losses are just as good as a win.
Comment by Alex — November 16, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
jake is a goofball, and so are herm and carl
Comment by Buddy — November 16, 2008 @ 10:55 pm
Jake
I take offense to your comments. You are talking to the REAL fans. All the others jumped ship several years ago. Caring for our team and our allegiance to this team is the reason for hating CP. He is a pompous ass who has spent the last 6 years or so kicking back earning a ridiculous amount of money for some work (maybe appearance would be more accurate) on draft day. What does hating the GM and not respecting the coach’s ability have to do with cheering for our team. The players deserve better, as do we.
I will always be a Chiefs fan, and for the money I have invested, not to mention the emotional pain and suffering I incur every weekend to support this team, I have earned the right to criticize the head idiot at any time. I don’t hate Herm, just don’t think he is a suitable head coach. He is better fit for a DB coach, nothing more. I respect his playing career, and for what he stands for as a person, and don’t wish him ill will.
I respect your opinions, but based on your analysis of how the game played out in your mind, I think you should reevaluate things……fucker.
Comment by Travis — November 17, 2008 @ 12:27 am
Jake,
Nevermind…
Comment by Jeff in VA — November 17, 2008 @ 9:12 pm