AFC West
Kansas City's First Quarter (Season)
By Lorenzo Aquiningoc
Oct 2, 2007, 13:26

Well after 4 weeks into the season my beloved Kansas City Chiefs stand at 2-2 which has them tied with Denver and surprisingly Oakland, with San Diego sitting in dead last with a 1-3 record. (Bet they are really missing ol’ Marty Schottenheimer right about now). Things started out poorly in training camp with 1st round pick Dwayne Bowe holding out for most of training camp, along with All Pro Running Back Larry Johnson. There was a quarterback controversy with the Trent Green saga and 2nd year man Brodie Croyle coming in camp as the favorite to win the job, and Damon Huard who as a journeyman quarterback posted impressive enough numbers last season to be offered a new contract. Throughout camp Huard and Croyle battled for the starting quarterback position, and even though it was Croyle’s job to lose, after the preseason it was evident that he was just not ready for the job.
The season started out poorly for the Chiefs with an embarrassing loss at Houston in their season opener in which the key offensive weapons turned out to be non factors, their leading receiver WR Eddie Kennison went down after the first play and RB Larry Johnson showed the rust from holding out all training camp. The defense was suffering with the two game suspension of DE Jared Allen (who in my opinion is one of the most underrated DE in all of football). They followed that poor performance up with another road loss at Chicago in which Devin Hester almost single handedly beat them. Things looked down when Kansas City headed home to play the Minnesota Vikings. Suddenly things turned around for them and they were able to defeat the Minnesota Vikings with the defense boosted by the return of DE Jared Allen who in his first game back had a monster of a game. Rookie WR Dwayne Bowe also recorded a touchdown grab which was his second in two games. Unfortunately the ground game suffered and it was the passing game that led them to victory. The Chiefs the following week traveled west to face AFC West rival the San Diego Chargers. This game was not even supposed to be close with the Chargers smarting from their loss to Green Bay, they were supposed to come out and destroy the Chiefs. Instead after taking the lead heading into the half, the Chiefs offense and defense woke up and rattled the Chargers. Philip Rivers looked nervous and confused most of the game with the Chiefs throwing numerous different blitz packages his way. On offense WR Dwayne Bowe took over and in turn set a KC rookie receiving record for most yards in a game, along with collecting his third TD catch of the season. On the other side All Pro TE Tony Gonzales collected his 62nd career TD catch which ties him with Shannon Sharpe for the most all time by a TE. The ground game also got going with RB Larry Johnson collecting his first 100 yard game of the season. When it was all said and done this young Chief’s team led by a journeyman QB thoroughly decimated a very talented SD team.
Heading into the rest of the season, things look very promising for this team. They have a solid D-Line led by DEs Jared Allen and Tamba Hali. The DT position is still the weakness on this line, but it is improving. They have one of the best LB corps in all of football, led by the ageless LB Donnie Edwards. They have a very strong secondary which continues to improve with each game led by All Pro CBs Ty Law and Patrick Surtain, with 2nd year men SS Bernard Pollard and FS Jarrad Page (a seventh round gem). On the offensive side of the ball, their fortunes rely on their offensive line, which used to be their biggest strength but now is their biggest weakness (losing two HOF Offensive Lineman in two years can do that to a team). If they can continue to open holes for RB Larry Johnson and give QB Damon Huard time to throw, this team should be tough to beat. The offense still has TE Tony Gonzales and with the return of WR Eddie Kennison , and the strong play of rookie WR Dwayne Bowe, Huard should have plenty of options when he needs to throw the ball. The question will remain; will Larry Johnson have holes to run through? Will Damon Huard have time to throw the ball? Will HC Herm Edwards open up the playbook enough to allow for more options in the pass game? The next few weeks will be a test for where these Chiefs stand and if they are for real or if their last two wins were flukes against bad or disoriented teams.

EFSports Fantasy Football