one word fired!!!

These two teams mirror each other in the way they approach the game.  Both teams want to run the football and control the clock.  They both have pretty good defenses.

The Chiefs have been real conservative on offense.  The Chiefs will look to run the ball with Larry Johnson (331 yards rushing), but the Steelers have a pretty good run defense (88.5 yards per game, 3.6 yards per carry).  Maybe Herman Edwards will take a page out of Marty Schottenheimer’s book and throw to set up the run.  As long as the Chiefs pick up the Steelers blitzing well, the Steelers are vulnerable to a team that can throw the ball.  Damon Huard has exceeded all expectations with his fine play.  Huard has completed 70.2% of his passes and has a QB rating of 107.4.  Huard has a decent cast of receivers to throw to in TE Tony Gonzalez and WRs Eddie Kennison and Samie Parker.  Huard’s favorite receiver so far has been RB Larry Johnson (20 rec, 268 yards).  Look for Huard to challenge the Steelers linebackers with screens and passes to the flat area to Johnson.

The Steelers will try to run the football first when they have the ball.  Willie Parker has run the ball well (325 yards), but the Steelers have been falling behind in games and getting away from their running game.  The Chiefs allow 106.5 yards rushing per game, but only 3.6 yards per carry…..so they might be able to run, but the yards will be tough to get.  The Steelers really need one of their receivers other than Hines Ward to step up and relieve him of all the double coverage he’s been seeing.  TE Heath Miller had a big game in the season opener, but he’s disappeared as of late.  Cedric Wilson or Santonio Holmes must step up soon, or the Steelers will continue to have a hard time passing the ball.  The Chiefs secondary is full of veterans that pick-off passes so Ben Roethlisberger better be careful with the football.  The Chiefs only allow 147.8 yards per game passing and have held opposing QBs to a 66.5 QB rating.  If Roethlisberger doesn’t play a mistake-free game on Sunday, the Steelers are in trouble.

I think the Steelers have the more talented team, but I think the Chiefs have a real chance at an upset here.  In fact, I’m picking the Chiefs to win this game outright.

The special teams are a weapon that the Chiefs have been using all season long.  They have been winning field position battles with their great return game and kick coverage teams.  The Chiefs are only allowing 5.3 yards per punt return and 22.8 yards per kick-off return.

Lawrence Tynes has hit 8 of his 9 FG attempts and all 8 XPTs.  Punter Dustin Colquitt has a booming leg averaging 46.7 yards per punt, 40.8 net yards per punt and pins opposing offenses inside their 20 yard line 31.6% of the time.

Dante Hall is simply the most electrifying kick returner in the NFL.  Hall averages 12.8 yards per punt return (including one for a TD), and 23.2 yards per kick-off return.  Jeff Webb replaced Hall (a little dinged up) and returned a kick-off 50 yards.

 

The Chiefs had a furious comeback to beat the Cards.  The team played very bad for three quarters on offense until they finally woke up before it was too late.  Damon Huard completed 26 of 38 passes for 288 yards with 2 TDs.  Larry Johnson was stuffed running the ball, as he only had 36 yards on 16 carries (2.3 ypc)….but Johnson caught 6 passes for 106 yards and a TD.  WR Eddie Kennison caught 4 passes for 48 yards.  Samie Parker caught 5 passes for 37 yards and a TD.

The Chiefs defense played a great game for the last 3 quarters after stinking it up in the 1st quarter.  The Chiefs stuffed the Cardinals’ running game, holding them to 76 yards rushing on 26 carries (2.9 ypc).  The Chiefs allowed rookie Matt Leinart to complete 22 of 35 passes for 222 net yards passing.

 

Coach Herman Edwards has ruled out OTs Kyle Turley (back) and Will Svitek (knee). Damon Huard better have short drops because the Cards could have their way with the Chiefs O-Line. Also, running back Michael Bennett is out indefinately with a hamstring injury. That is not good news, because Dee Brown is a huge drop-off from Bennett which means Larry Johnson won’t get too many breaks in the game Sunday.

This game pits two coaches that have been taking alot of heat so far this season.  Herman Edwards has been taking heat for his ultra conservative play-calling on offense.  Dennis Green is taking heat because his team is falling far short of expectations.

Coach Edwards has to be licking his chops after watching game film this week of the Cardinals run defense.  The Cards are allowing 144.5 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry.  Look for Larry Johnson (295 yards rushing, 162 yards receiving) to be the focal point of the Chiefs offense.  Also look for Edwards to let Damon Huard (106.9 QB rating) throw some short passes to Tony Gonzalez (17 rec, 147 yards) and Eddie Kennison (9 rec, 139 yards).  The Chiefs will look to control the clock on offense and keep the potentially explosive Cards offense on the sideline.

Look for the Cards to run Edgerrin James (272 yards rushing) a little more than usual, to protect rookie QB Matt Leinart a bit in his first NFL start.  The Cards will still put the ball up alot with their best players on offense being WRs Anquan Boldin (24 rec, 295 yards) and Larry Fitzgerald (22 rec, 316 yards).  The Cards will try to jump to an early lead and take the Chiefs out of their gameplan.

I see the Chiefs winning this football game, because there’s no way the Cards will be able to stop Larry Johnson.  The Chiefs improved defense could give Matt Leinart some problems in his first NFL start.

The Chiefs would be in much better shape if Trent Green would have never gotten hurt.  But that doesn’t really matter now.  Damon Huard has taken the bull by the horns and has earned some respect from his offensive teammates.  Huard has completed 47 of 66 passes (71.2%) for 481 yards with 3 TDs and no interceptions.  Huard’s QB rating is 106.9 so far this season.  Huard is a game manager that is not expected to win games, but just to protect the ball and make the needed throws.

This was complete domination of a football game.  Damon Huard looked very good now that Edwards let him prove what he could do.  Huard completed 18 of 23 passes for 208 yards and 2 TDs.  Larry Johnson ran the ball 30 times for 101 yards (3.4 ypc) and 2 TDs, he also caught 4 passes for 41 yards.  WR Eddie Kennison caught 6 passes for 86 yards and a TD.  TE Tony Gonzalez caught 5 passes for 59 yards.  Dante Hall caught 1 pass and it was a 13 yard TD, Hall also returned a punt 60 yards for a TD.

The defense looked awesome in pitching a shutout against the Niners.  LB Derrick Johnson had 6 tackles, 1.5 sacks and defensed a pass.  Ty Law had 5 tackles and a pick-off.  S Sammy Knight added 3 tackles and a pick-off.  DE Tamba Hali had a tackle and 1.5 sacks.  The Niners ran the ball 21 times for 93 yards (4.4 ypc).  The Niners could only muster 72 net yards passing.

This was a dominant performance, but it was against the 49ers.  Hopefully the Chiefs can keep up this level of play.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Chiefs as we know and love with an added extra, a fast defense.  Herm finally listened and opened up the offense.  The downfield pass attack followed by a  brutal smash mouth rushing game kept San Fran’s defense confused and sucking wind.  The difference again was, the downfield pass attack which was desparately missing in the first two games.  That loosened up the defense to where they can’t stack 8+ men in the box to stop our running game.  If you said that the Huard did well in his last game, you’re dead wrong, those short dink and dunk high percentage passes are just the same as a hand off.  This game was more impressive for him because he went downfield and was on target with those passes.  Don’t know what he did to convince the coaches to have some confidence in his arm, but now they know he can so there’s no excuse for not continuing this game plan.

How about the Chiefs defense!!!!!  Unbelievable!!!!  This defense has speed, they have heart and they are assured of themselves.  DJ looked like the great DT.  Hali looked like the old Neil Smith.  Wesley is hitting like a hitman and Law is covering like a glove on Michael Jackson.  Jared Allen was like Dennis the menace annoying the hell out of the offensive line and Kawika looked like the brute he is with those vicious hits.  This defense now has the nations attention and they have become a headache for every offensive coordinator that has the Chiefs on their schedule.   The 49′ers offense was no push over and the Chiefs made them look like a high school team.  Come to mention it, the Chiefs did the same thing to the Denver offense, so this was no fluke.  This defense is fast, they have the skilled players to run down a screen play, which they were burned on repeatedly in the past.  They are playing discipline ball and containing the quarterbacks which they were constantly getting burned on by scrambling QBs’.  They are disciplined with their sure tackling which they were notorious for bungling up in previous years by marquee running backs.  The D-Line and D-Backs are all supplying vicious and punishing hits to opposing offenses which is creating happy feet by QBs and lack of concentration by the backs.  This defense is for real and barring injuries, they will be the focal point of this team this year.

Herm did his job this week and the Chiefs faithfuls are easing up on the Herm bashing for at least a week.  If he continues to play this style, he could become a genious by leaving the offense alone and shoring up a disfunctional defense.