Quick thoughts on the game

[Frankenchief]

1- Alex Smith answered a lot of questions today. I thought Aaron Rodgers was wearing 11 for us.

2- Apologies to Alex for Avery (and the rest of the WR group)

3- denver was almost never called for blatant holdings of Hali and T-Jax, and leg whips.

4- After Denver's last TD can somebody show me that "blow to the head" the officials called on us?

5- Cooper is a raw rookie and it showed, but I still think the kid has long term talent.

6- Time to trade Flowers this off season.

7- Not to wish injury on anyone, but Albert's injury might be a blessing in disguise for the Chiefs. Let's start Fishers development there.

8- I badly wanted us to draft Decker when he was coming up. It hurts me double that one of my favorite draft wishes skewered us so bad for the hated Donks.

[ctchiefsfan]

Methinks my friend ctchiefsfan is getting a bit emotional. If we get healthy and play them again in their stadium we have a reasonable chance at beating them. But while my heart is on the Chiefs, my money is on the Donks to win that game too. I will be the happiest loser in the world if we do actually beat them there.

Of course I am getting a wee bit emotional! I always do if the Chiefs are in the hunt! :) But being honest, this ain't just "homer talk". I really think winning in the first round of the playoffs will be a LOT tougher than beating the donks if we get a third shot at them. I'll expand on why I think that in a thread I'm going to start in a bit.

[Frankenchief]

Of course I am getting a wee bit emotional! I always do if the Chiefs are in the hunt! :) But being honest, this ain't just "homer talk". I really think winning in the first round of the playoffs will be a LOT tougher than beating the donks if we get a third shot at them. I'll expand on why I think that in a thread I'm going to start in a bit.

I didn't think you were being a homer. I am a bit more emotional about this team than usual too. It's because this season is a cruel tease. We are so close yet so far.

As for the 2nd game of the playoffs, I also think it would be easier to play for our young team than the first. Whether that would translate into a win against the Donks remains to be answered. But there's still a lot of mountain to climb to get there.

[Eydugstr]

Fisher went back to the bench? I'm pretty sure he stayed on the field after Albert went down.

If I remember right, yeah they did, some. Stephenson has filled in for LT before, so I didn't give it too much thought. I'd have to see the clips again - my focus was on the denver db's vs. KC's recievers at that point!!

[brdempsey69]

I believe that we will all agree that the Chiefs just blew the ball game in their last 3 games that they played.....plain and simple. With that said, I'm not giving the officials a pass for their no-calls on the Donkeys O-Line as there is no legit excuse for it.

Got to get back in the Win column somehow against the Skins.

[Ryfo18]

No. But the quote doesn't say the full story. When I was watching the series when Albert went down, Fisher was the one that went in and relieved him right then. Later they shuffled Schwartz and Stephenson around, and rotated Fisher back to the bench (*&^%!!%%$!!'n injuries)

Fisher played the right side, Stephenson the left.

[Ryfo18]

Are you blind? Did you miss the following part of that?:

"The other part was I didn't think the [injured] guys were able to practice as much earlier in the week as they needed to."

In other words, if Fisher wasn't hurt, he's still in the starting lineup.

We'll see about that.

Stephenson and Schwartz played well against SD, but the Chargers don't have anybody on that side of their Defense that comes even remotely close to some of the opposition that Fisher had to go up against in his 1st nine starts.

They also played fantastic versus Denver. Fisher gave up 2 sacks against Denver in week 11 and was not good in the running game either.

Ryfo has been giving a hall pass to Albert for years, now. Because Albert was the crutch for passing on Okung and taking Berry at #5 in 2010. Pretty pathetic.

Saying a player plays the LT position well and saying they should keep him is not a hall pass. If you're still on the bash Albert agenda that's been going on since early in his career, you're not paying attention.

Meanwhile, making up excuses for why Fisher has played so poorly IS a hall pass.

Albert wanted a long-term contract, not a franchise tag. That would have really hurt his long-term earnings had his knee injury been more serious. These guys are playing football to make a living, so I understand why he, or anyone else would do what they can to maximize their earnings.

You brought up Berry/Okung...Berry is having a career year. Okung missed half the season...again. He can't stay healthy. He's now missed 19 games in 4 seasons.

Dempsey's always quick to dismiss PFF (b/c it never supports his arguments), but look who's once one of the best tackles in the league when it comes to Pass Blocking Efficiency (and take a peak who's at #46):

[brdempsey69]

^^PFF ratings are worthless trash when it comes to O-Lineman. The overhead camera has shown me that Albert has in no way, shape, or form, been head & shoulders above Fisher or anyone else on the O-Line. Not only that, but the PFF listings doesn't account for the series of opponents that these players went up against, which to me, renders it worthless, as there's a big difference between going up against guys like JJ Watt and Mario Williams, than some backup that wouldn't be on the field if the starters were healthy ( like San Diego missing Freeney and Ingram ).

Your statement about making up excuses for "Fisher playing poorly" is just more fabricated BS. Everybody here has noted that he needs to improve, myself included. What was said was "he played better opponents in his 1st nine starts" than what SD offered, which is true, but of course, you want to take & rip that out of context. Truth is, Fisher has had more bad plays that I would like to see, but I've also seen Albert have just as many poor plays. Which one has played in the NFL longer & played at their current position longer? How poorly did Fisher play at Buffalo a few weeks ago? Fisher was poor in the run game against Denver at Invesco? Bullsh!t, they seldom ran behind him in that game & I recall Fisher driving Miller out of the play and springing Charles for a nice gain on one the few times they did run behind him.

As for Okung, yes he's missed playing time each season, but so what? He's still a better LT than Albert and there's no guarantees whatsoever that if the Chiefs had drafted Okung that he would have missed that same amount of playing time in KC, as that's a completely unknown commodity.

As for Berry, yes he's having his best year, but that isn't saying hardly squat. He's still inferior to another Tennessee Safety that the Chiefs drafted at #20 in 1992 named Dale Carter. And Berry isn't head shoulders above other Safeties that they could have drafted in later rounds of that same draft in 2010 like Cam Chancellor, Morgan Burnett, TJ Ward, Nate Allen, etc. Berry is just simply HYPED more than those others are. And let us not forget that Berry missed an entire season, so what's your point regarding Okung missing playing time?

They also played fantastic versus Denver. Fisher gave up 2 sacks against Denver in week 11 and was not good in the running game either.

But, of course, no mention of 2 of their starters, Wolfe and Vickerson being in the line up in game 1 against Denver and missing from game 2, yesterday.

We'll see about that.

You can bank on Fisher being in the lineup now with Albert hurt & I'll bet money that Fisher would have been put back in the starting lineup once he demonstrated in practice that he was 100%, regardless of what you think.

Saying a player plays the LT position well and saying they should keep him is not a hall pass. If you're still on the bash Albert agenda that's been going on since early in his career, you're not paying attention.

I have been paying attention. The untimely penalties regarding Albert are still happening, like the 1st play from scrimmage in Denver & again yesterday. He's not a top-5 LT. Fisher does have the potential to be, if given the same chance that Albert has had. Thus far, Fisher has performed better in 2013 than what Albert did in 2009 and in 2010. I know that because I watched very closely. The bashing of Albert had occurred because of him being used as a crutch by people like yourself to not take another O-lineman in round 1 and because he was allowing too many hits on the QB back in 2009 and 2010 -- something that Fisher has not allowed an abundance of compared to what Albert did in 2009 and 2010.

Albert wanted a long-term contract, not a franchise tag

Albert wanted top-5 LT money and has TWICE turned down long-term offers. You've had that pointed out to you and keep blatantly ignoring that.

Like eydugstr said, one has to wonder why people like yourself are willing to give Albert a pass, but we both already know the answer to that -- it's because you wanted Berry drafted in 2010 and Geno drafted in 2013 and Albert was the crutch in both instances.

[Frankenchief]

I believe that we will all agree that the Chiefs just blew the ball game in their last 3 games that they played.....plain and simple. With that said, I'm not giving the officials a pass for their no-calls on the Donkeys O-Line as there is no legit excuse for it.

I agree. I also strongly believe that the NFL looks at Peyton Manning on his last crusade as a golden goose for TV rating and other sources of revenue. If the 37 year old Peyton goes down to injury that story book ending and therefore a good chunk of profit will be lost. So yes, Peyton does enjoy extra protection from the officials, via allowing his Oline to get away with extracurricular activities. Some of the holdings and leg-whips are borderline blatant. They have to be out in the open, in full view of the TV cameras and all in the stadium and stadium attendees to be called. Must be fun playing in Peyton's O-line and practically having card blanche to do anything you want.

[brdempsey69]

I agree. I also strongly believe that the NFL looks at Peyton Manning on his last crusade as a golden goose for TV rating and other sources of revenue. If the 37 year old Peyton goes down to injury that story book ending and therefore a good chunk of profit will be lost. So yes, Peyton does enjoy extra protection from the officials, via allowing his Oline to get away with extracurricular activities. Some of the holdings and leg-whips are borderline blatant. They have to be out in the open, in full view of the TV cameras and all in the stadium and stadium attendees to be called. Must be fun playing in Peyton's O-line and practically having card blanche to do anything you want.

Good points & it goes back to what I saying about guys like Joe Montana not having this type of luxury, but instead, they had to take their lumps & had to earn everything outright. To me, it totally unfair for these type of concessions that you described, to be made for any one particular QB, in this case Peyton Manning. But, I can't ignore that Pat Bowlen and Elway are involved in this. It's just too suspicious & if Manning had went to any other team other than the Donkeys, then I don't believe there would be any discussion about Manning's O-Line holding and getting away with it, because it simply wouldn't be happening. At least I don't recall it ever being discussed when he was with Indy.

[ctchiefsfan]

I agree. I also strongly believe that the NFL looks at Peyton Manning on his last crusade as a golden goose for TV rating and other sources of revenue. If the 37 year old Peyton goes down to injury that story book ending and therefore a good chunk of profit will be lost. So yes, Peyton does enjoy extra protection from the officials, via allowing his Oline to get away with extracurricular activities. Some of the holdings and leg-whips are borderline blatant. They have to be out in the open, in full view of the TV cameras and all in the stadium and stadium attendees to be called. Must be fun playing in Peyton's O-line and practically having card blanche to do anything you want.

SO RIGHT!!! The real money for the NFL and the team owners is in TV and we all know how how TV loves that "Cinderalla Story". So it is entirely possible that the NFL is trying to deliver the networks what they want. As much as I respect brdempsey, I'm just not quite sure I buy into the whole NFL/Bowlen/Elway conspiracy thing, but despite my skepticism, I have to admit that when I smell a certain smell, I know there is rotted fish around and some of the officiating is starting to make my nose tingle a bit.

That said, if we can get to the playoffs and the donks get eliminated our Chiefs would become the natural replacement "Cinderalla Story".

brdempsey....hope you take no offense at what I've typed. I'm not saying you are wrong. It's just that the idea that the NFL has sunk to the level of professional wrestling is a hard pill to swallow.