Haley Whacks Gailey

They ain't messing around at 1 Arrowhead Drive.

The Kansas City Chiefs have fired offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey after just 3 preseason games.

More to come.

Your faithful scribe,
Mr. Doggity

PRESEASON GAME 3

PRESEASON - GAME 3 - Seahags at the New Head.

Score: Chiefs 10, Seahogs 14.

Weather: Beeeeeaautiful!

Overall impression of the game: They lost - again. Daffy duck looked awful and people got hurt. The bright spot is, the rest of the AFC West doesn't look much better.

The Offense:

WOW that was bad. The line is dreadful beyond words. They should line up the blocking dummies, they won't be out of position as often. But it doesn't stop there. I don't think anyone on this offense can block. The play that got Cassel hurt had at least three blown blocks, including Brian Waters and Branden Albert. But the worst "look out" block came from FB Mike Cox. After Albert missed the guy, #92, who played Gumby with Cassel's left leg, Cox had a clean shot at him, and didn't even get close enough to smell his cologne. We will never know how badly hurt Cassel was, because Haley & Pioli do things "The Patriots Way" -- that is to act like their injury reports are subject to the HIPAA law. But, at a minimum, it was pretty badly extended. Jamaal Charles managed to hang on to the punkin all night. For my money, if Charles can shake that fumbling habit, he's the best back on this team. Battle has looked good, as well, at times. LJ probably should have ditched that Maybach before the "Cash for Clunkers" program ran dry. He may not be able to feed it with next year's income. As for the wide outs, the two that looked the best on Saturday were Bowe and Lelie. This was a game for Thiggy to man up and make his case, and he blew it badly. Gutierrez looked better, and he had two turn overs. Thiggy simply lacks the arm strength and accuracy to play in a straight-up pro offense. Bottom line - this offense will not win any games this year, unless things improve dramatically. If the Chiefs win anything, it will be with....

The Defense:

I am actually starting to like this unit. The 1's looked very good, for the second week. However, as noted last week, once you get past the starters, there is not much depth anywhere but linebacker. Flowers was remarkable, and scored the only TD for the Chiefs with a nice pick-6 off Hasselbeck & the Seattle #1 unit. Let's hope he's not hurt badly, but just like Cassel, we'll never know. Another guy who had a good game was Ron Edwards on the d-line. In a head-to-head test, he out-performed the name brand linemen. The defense still lacks that consistent pass rush, and the pass coverage in the middle of the field has yet to completely come together. They're a long way from great, but that are showing flashes of "pretty good", which is a marked improvement over the past few years.

The Special Teams:

Other than Dustin Colquitt and Jamaal Charles, the special bus looked as bad or worse than the offense. Suck-up missed a chip-shot field goal, and his kick offs were short. Of course, the good news is, he had very few opportunities to kick off! The experiment with returners has netted one guy who seems to understand the concept of "catch the ball - run up-field behind your blockers" -- Jamaal Charles.

The Awards:

"Throw Him A Bone" was penciled in for Brandon Flowers, but with the injury, I decided to go with Jamaal Charles. He did everything right. He ran well, he returned well, he covered punts well as a flyer.  He is making his case to be the #2 back, and #1 kick returner.

"The Doggity Dog" was really hard to narrow down to just one guy. You could make the case that everyone on the O-line deserved it. Damion McIntosh and Mike Goff were particularly bad, but Goff "wins" because he couldn't hold the double-team that cause the pocket to collapse on Cassel, resulting in his injury. Getting your $60 million QB eaten in a preseason game will not win you a lot of friends.

h/t to George Blowfish for this nugget -- a picture of the play where Cassel got hurt:

Next week - short week, at the Identity Crisis Dome in St. Louis on Thursday to play the Lambs.

Your faithful scribe

Mr. Doggity

Dogg Dish

Please notice a new link on the left of your page.  It's called the Dogg Dish.

doggdish.blogspot.com

It's a place for all of you who appreciated the tailgate recipes in the old email Doggity Report. It's an open blog, where you can feel free to share your favorite recipes and pick up a few new ones.

Check it out!

Your faithful scribe,
Mr. Doggity

PRESEASON GAME 2

Sorry I'm late, had work stuff come up.

PRESEASON - GAME 2 - Super Bowl IV replay - Chiefs vs Vikings at The Hump.

Score: Chiefs 13, Vikings 17.

Weather: Climate Controlled

Overall impression of the game: They lost - again. But looked better doing it.

The Offense:

Cassel actually looked pretty good. Of course "good" is relative when you consider what the guy makes for a living. Still, he was nifty on his feet and was able to soundly improvise. He was not asked to stretch the field, however. That may be because he lacks the arm strength. It may be because he lacks the receivers to pull it off. But if I had to put money on it, it's probably because that line would get him killed if he had to hold the ball longer than five seconds to get someone open down field. Speaking of that line, I'd really rather not. Imagine how bad they would have looked if Jared Allen wasn't hurt. Why not just go to one of those Food Network eating contests and pick five fat dudes at random? It would be cheaper, and maybe someone would puke or something and cause enough distraction for Larry Johnson to get out of the backfield. LJ had one nice run, but was otherwise still transparent to the viewing audience. Dwayne Bowe looked pretty good. The other 417 wideouts didn't really register. I am glad to have Ashley Lelie. The only player in NFL history to be named for a heroine in a Margaret Mitchell novel. We got to see Gutierrez. He's not bad. I think, if I'm picking, Tony Gonzo's BFF, Thiggy, needs to break out the nice velum and update his resume.

The Defense:

They were improved over last week, at least the #1's were. There is not much depth on this D, at this point, other than at linebacker. There are so many linebackers on this team they had to let Tamba Hali keep his old lineman jersey because they are out of numbers in the 50's. Corey Mays had another good showing, and the 3-4 seems to have gelled a bit from last week. Unfortunately, you don't have to get very far down the depth chart before the bottom falls out of the talent bucket.

The Special Teams:

Again, I think the kickers will both be fine. But the coverage units are sub par, and there doesn't appear to be anyone in a red hat that can return kicks. Jackie Battle managing to only get the ball to the 16, after catching the thing on the 2? Oy vey. That would get you cut from an over-40 rec league team.

The Awards:

"Throw Him A Bone" is getting tossed to Matt Cassel. He showed me the ability to avoid the sack, despite having purple hats in his pocket on every single play. He was almost "Elway-like", but not as goofy looking.

"The Doggity Dog" puts the choke-chain on OT Barry Richardson. This guy makes Trezelle Jenkins look like Willie Roaf. He doesn't even qualify as a speed bump, because at least a speed bump will slow on coming traffic a little bit.

SPECIAL SECTION:
Adios River Falls. The last time the team will do summer camp in Northern Wisconsin was their first under the new regime. Todd Haley did not exactly make a lot of new facebook friends over the past few weeks. He proved to be very intolerant of mistakes. He even axed the long-snapper for forgetting he was supposed to be in on a play in practice. He made last year's #1 draft pick sit four days in the workout area, unable to practice with the team, because he wasn't in game shape when he reported.

And you know what? GOOD. Herm and Dick were far too soft on these prima-donas. This looks more like a Marty camp. And maybe that's just what these losers needed to make winners out of them. I hope so.

Next week - back to The New Head for the Seahags.

Your faithful scribe

Mr. Doggity

PRESEASON GAME 1

Welcome to the 2009 Doggity Chiefs Report. This marks the 8th season of the Doggity Report, but the first season of the new "blog" format, and the first season of the Pioli/Haley era. As in previous seasons, the pre-season Dogg will be an abbreviated version, with the full Doggity coming with the regular season, game one - at the Baltimore Ravens.

Once again, special thanks to the Illustrious Potentate, George Blowfish for his steadfast support of my flighty behavior. He will make someone a good wife.

PRESEASON - GAME 1 - Old Texans VS New Texans at THE NEW HEAD.

Score: Chiefs 10, Texans 16.

Weather: Sloppy

Overall impression of last night's mess game: They lost.

- 3 takeaway ratio. The only TD by Daffy Duck. Not something to write home about. Impression of the stadium remodel: 3-1/2 stars. Looks better than The K. Concourses are much better, as are the johns and the vittles. But I'm sorry -- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RING OF HONOR? I dig the new ribbon display, but putting the Chiefs honor guard on that thing sporadically throughout the game ain't good enough. I want to SEE the names.

The Offense:

Cassel, and the 1's on offense were not impressive, mustering just two first downs (one was a freebee on a penalty), and never getting into enemy territory. Cassel completed just two passes, but had a couple of good looking throws dropped, he also fumbled a snap. Croyle and the #2 O looked better. Thigpen did his zany, running around like loon thing that he did all last year, and managed an ugly, off-balance, back-across-his-body, broken-play pass to the TE for a TD, like he did last year. All-in-all, the QB position looks OK. I think we have three guys who can run the offense, without a huge drop-off. Of course, when you're on the kiddie-slide, there isn't far to drop. The offensive line was offensive. LJ did his Claude Raines impersonation and vanished. Jackie Battle may be the best running back on this team. Dwayne Bowe may be a practice field slacker, but he's a game day play-maker, and Haley needs to get over the pea under his mattress that this kid represents, and let him start. It's not like the rest of the receivers have any clue what they're doing.

The Defense:

The D was somewhat less awful. They looked lost on several plays, like they had no idea what zip code they were supposed to be in. Especially the linebackers. On Houston's TD drive, the LBs looked like they needed mapquest to figure out where they were going. They have a lot of work to do in the 3-4. Andy Studebaker and Corey Mays looked solid, and Tamba Hali appears to be adjusting to his new position. Brandon Flowers should be a Pro Bowler, if he continues to advance at this pace. I am still not sold on Bernard Pollard in passing situations. I have to wonder if Glenn Dorsey has a career plan B?

The Special Teams:

Kickers were OK, although Colquitt -- the team MVP from last year -- had a couple of ugly ducklings. Of course, it was pouring down rain. Suckup - Mr Irrelevant - did what was asked of him. Special bus team coverage was not that great, but the return game was worse. This team is still trying to find a guy who can walk and chew gum at the same time to put back for kicks. So far it's "chomp-step-chomp-step".

The Awards:

"Throw Him A Bone" goes to Corey Mays. A guy that even his momma has to look up his name on the depth chart. Yet he played a very solid game at linebacker. He performed well against the run and was in the backfield more than some of Houston's running backs. He and Andy Studebaker shone on defense, but I went with Mays. He managed to not get himself hurt, and had a bit of an edge.

"The Doggity Dog" goes to Brandon Albert. This guy is supposed to be the stud of an otherwise sub-par O-line. He was a speed bump a couple of times in this game - barely slowing down the rusher on the quarterback expressway.

Next week - break camp and play the Vikings in Minneapolis. We will have the training camp overview next week.

Your faithful scribe

Mr. Doggity

DT

A few words on the day of the late Derrick Thomas' posthumous induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio.

We all know about the women, the philandering, the bad-boy behaviors off the field. The cases of $1,000-a-bottle Remy-Martin Louis XIII cognac in hand-blown Baccarat crystal decanters he had stacked in the garage. (Can I have JUST ONE? Please?) The fact that he was driving like a fool on an icy road, not wearing a seatbelt on the day of the accident that claimed his life. His crazy antics with his running mate, Michael Tellis (who died at the scene, in the same accident).

But then there were the other DT's. There were several of them. The philanthropist. The loving son. The efforts to be a father to his disjointed family. The guy who teared up and then tore up quarterbacks on Veteran's Day, after a fly-over. His legacy -- thanks to his "Third and Long" Foundation, and the efforts of his friends and former teammates, like Neil Smith -- will live on in Kansas City for generations.

He changed Kansas City in another way, too. Perhaps no one person was more responsible for bringing sleepy Arrowhead stadium back to life. Kansas City was a baseball town in the 1970's & 80's. George Brett and the Royals were the big dogs. An average Sunday at Arrowhead back then, the vendors nearly out numbered the fans. Your beer guy was almost your personal valet. But after Derrick Thomas -- and that amazing supporting cast that defensive coordinator, Bill Cowher, assembled -- everything changed. The stands turned red and the parking lots began to smoke. Arrowhead became the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL. It became intimidating. And it smelled GREAT!

Did Thomas deserve induction into Canton? I think that's a silly question. No, he was not "the complete linebacker". He was never particularly great against the run, or in pass coverage. His only HOF stat was sacks. But he OWNS that stat, and likely will for another generation. But he didn't just change games. He changed teams. The Broncos, Raiders and Chargers, in particular, had to make personnel decisions and change game plans to account for him. And he didn't just feast on low-hanging fruit, either. Many of his prime targets will also have busts in Canton. Many already do. He also changed the way the entire league looked at the position of outside linebacker. Anyone who not only changed games, but changed other teams, and changed the position he played, deserves the Hall of Fame. If he had played for a team in New York, or a marquee team like the Cowboys or 49ers, he would already be there.

So, on this day; the day Derrick Thomas will join fellow Chief linebackers, Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell, and the other Chiefs - Buck, Emmit, Hank, Jan, Lenny and Lamar - in pro football's elite shrine, let us remember what Arrowhead looked like before #58 brought that boyish smile, and laser-beam eyes, and "tomahawk chop" and his boiling-over love and passion to the heartland.

Welcome to Canton, DT.