This draft could wind up being a good one if Brodie Croyle winds up ever being the starting QB for the Chiefs, otherwise it’s about average.  Here’s the breakdown:

1st round pick DE Tamba Hali was a homerun for the Chiefs.  Many thought they took him too high, but they were wrong!  Hali played in all 16 games and made 58 tackles, had 8 sacks, forced 5 fumbles, had an interception, pass defensed and a fumble recovery.  He will be an impact player for a long time on the Chiefs defense.

2nd round pick, strong safety Bernard Pollard was kind of a bust as a rookie.  He mostly just played on special teams and he played in all 16 games and made 10 tackles and defensed a pass.  But, Herman Edwards always favors the veterans so he has time yet.

3rd round pick QB Brodie Croyle had a rough rookie season.  Coach Edwards threw him to the wolves in a couple of blowouts in hostile environments and he’s didn’t do too well.  He played in two games and completed 3 of 7 (42.9%) passes for 23 yards with 2 interceptions for a QB Rating of 11.9.  He also carried the ball 3 times for -3 yards (-1.0 ypc).   It will be interesting to watch Croyle develop and see if he can be a starting QB someday.

5th round pick Marcus Maxey played in 2 games and did nothing.

6th round pick OG Tre’ Stallings didn’t play a down as a rookie.

The other 6th pick was WR Jeff Webb.  Webb played in 10 games and caught 3 passes for 23 yards (7.7 avg).  He also returned 7 kickoffs for 169 yards (24.1 avg).

In the 7th round the Chiefs made a good pick.  SS Jarrad Page played in all 16 games and made 30 tackles, had a sack, intercepted 3 passes, defensed 5 passes and recovered a fumble.  He will be a starter really soon for the Chiefs as he is a playmaker.

Larry Johnson had an awesome season for the Chiefs.  It was his second consecutive season of rushing for over 1,700 yards!  He carried the football 416 times for 1,789 yards (4.3 ypc) with 17 TD runs.  He also caught 41 passes for 410 yards (10.0 avg) with 2 TD catches.  For his career, Johnson has played in 48 games (28 starts) and has carried the football 892 times for 4,205 yards (4.7 ypc) with 47 TD runs.  He also has caught 97 passes for 1,033 yards (10.6 avg) with 5 TD grabs.

Michael Bennett was brought in to back-up Johnson and he did a good job in limited duty for the Chiefs.  He carried the ball 36 times this season for 200 yards (5.6 ypc) and he also caught 9 passes for 77 yards (8.6 avg).  For his career, Bennett has played in 75 games (49 starts) and he’s carried the ball 749 times for 3,374 yards (4.5 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  He also has caught 135 passes for 1,117 yards (8.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs.

Dee Brown didn’t get much playing time and he only carried the ball 10 times for 24 yards (2.4 ypc) this season.  He also only caught 1 pass for 5 yards.  For his career, Brown has played in 44 games (3 starts) and he’s carried the ball 119 times for 405 yards (3.4 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 21 passes for 114 yards (5.4 avg) with 2 TD grabs.

Fullback Ronnie Cruz didn’t get much PT due to injury.  He only carried the ball 5 times for 19 yards (3.8 ypc) and caught 2 passes for 20 yards (10.0 avg).  For his career, Cruz has played in 19 games (3 starts) and carried the ball 5 times for 19 yards (3.8 ypc) and he also has caught 3 passes for 35 yards (11.7 avg).

Derrick Ross played in 7 games and he only carried the ball 3 times for 8 yards (2.7 ypc).

Herman Edwards has taken the potent Chiefs offense and made it an average one in only one season.  The Chiefs finished at 9-7 on the season and they lost their first playoff game last week.  For his career, the great Herman Edwards sits at 48-48 (50%) in the regular season and he’s now 2-4 in the playoffs.  The players have to play very well to overcome Edwards poor coaching.  I can’t believe that the Chiefs gave up a draft pick for this clown.

You could tell this wasn’t going to be the Chiefs day in the first quarter.  With the Chiefs trailing 6-0, Ty Law intercepted a Peyton Manning pass and returned it 42 yards to the Colts 9 yard line.  On a third and goal, Trent Green trips and falls to set up a 23-yard field goal attempt by Lawrence Tynes.  Tynes wound up missing the kick when it hit the top of the left goal post.  That was the only scoring chance the Chiefs would have in the first half as they didn’t record a single first down in the half.  As bad as the Chiefs played in the first half, they still only trailed 9-0 at the half.

The second half started out well for the Chiefs as Ty Law intercepted a pass on the Colts first drive.  But the Chiefs failed to take advantage of it with a 3 and out on offense.  At this point it seemed like the defense was starting to get tired.  It was thought that the Chiefs would run all over the Colts defense, but the Colts totally dominated the line of scrimmage and the Chiefs couldn’t deal with Joseph Addai (25 carries, 122 yards, TD) and Dominic Rhodes (13 carries, 68 yards).  The Chiefs finally got their first, first down in the 3rd quarter with 3:32 left in the quarter.  That drive concluded with an 8-yard TD pass to Tony Gonzalez with 8 seconds left in the 3rd quarter to make the score 16-8.  The 4th quarter was all about the Colts grinding out the win, mostly on the ground.  But Manning’s TD pass to Reggie Wayne sealed the victory for the Colts and ending the season for the Chiefs.

Herman Edwards should have switched QBs at halftime.  Green had been playing poorly since he returned from his concussion and the Chiefs could have used the jolt that teams usually get when a QB change is made.  The Chiefs offensive gameplan was pretty poor.  You can’t expect to run on first and second down all the time if you want to put points on the board in the NFL.  Tony Dungy outcoached him…..think about that for a minute.  Dungy never does well in the post season, but he put together a fantastic gameplan as the Colts held the football for 39:23 of the game.  The Colts also rolled up 435 yards of offense (188 rushing) while the Chiefs only could muster 126 yards of offense!

Larry Johnson had a rough game with 13 carries for 32 carries (2.5 ypc) and he also caught 5 passes for 29 yards.  The reason Johnson had a rough game is because the Chiefs had no worries about Trent Green beating them with his arm.  Green only completed 14 of 24 passes for 107 yards with 1 TD and 2 INTs.  Edwards should have yanked him at the half and he will have the whole off-season to think about it.

To check out the boxscore, click on this link.  http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270106011

Damon Huard has completely outplayed Trent Green this season, but Huard will likely leave the Chiefs if he doesn’t get the starting gig in KC.  Trent Green was been rusty all season, but he might still have some cobwebs in his head from his severe concussion earlier in the season.

Damon Huard played in 10 games (8 starts) this season.  He completed 148 of 244 passes (60.7%) for 1,878 yards with 11 TD passes and only 1 interception (98.0 QB rating).  He also ran the ball 9 times for 9 yards (1.0 ypc).  For his career, Huard has played in 48 games (14 starts) and has completed 318 of 533 passes (59.7%) for 3,569 yards with 20 TD passes and 9 interceptions (85.2 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 39 times for 136 yards (3.5 ypc).

Trent Green played in 8 games (all starts) this season and he completed 121 of 198 passes (61.1%) for 1,342 yards with 7 TD passes and 9 interceptions (74.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 19 times for 59 yards (3.1 ypc).  For his career, he has played in 112 games (107 starts) he completed 2,143 of 3,527 passes (60.8%) for 26,963 yards with 157 TD passes and 101 interceptions (87.5 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 233 times for 878 yards (3.8 ypc) and 6 TD runs.

Rookie Brodie Croyle appeared in 2 games this season and it didn’t look good.  He completed 3 of 7 passes (42.9%) for 23 yards and 2 INTs (11.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 3 times for a loss of 3 yards.

The Chiefs should go into this game with some confidence after watching game film of the Colts run defense all week in preparation for this football game.  The Chiefs still must be able to mix up the offense a little bit, but they will ride Larry Johnson’s back in this game as long as he can go.  The Chiefs have not played well on the road (3-5) this season and must get off to a quick start if they want a chance to win this football game.  The Colts allow a shocking 173.0 yards rushing per game and 5.3 yards per carry, so Coach Edwards will attack that weakness with Larry Johnson (1,789 yards rushing, 4.3 ypc and 17 TDs) pounding away at the Colts defense.  When Johnson needs a break, Michael Bennett will come in and the Chiefs will continue running the ball.  LBs Cato June (142 tackles, 3 INTs) and Gary Brackett (120 tackles) will be the main Colts players that are trying to deal with Johnson.   Trent Green has not played that well this season (74.1 QB rating) and could be on a short least in this game as Damon Huard has been getting more practice time this week.  The Chiefs need to keep the pass rush off of Green so that they can take advantage of the mis-match that Tony Gonzalez presents to the Colts defense.  Gonzalez (73 rec, 900 yards, 5 TDs) will be matched up against the Colts young safeties (Antoine Bethea and Marlin Jackson).  The safeties of the Colts are good tacklers as Bethea has 90 tackles and Marlin Jackson has 82, but they don’t make many big plays on the ball and Gonzalez knows all the tricks of the trade.  The Colts hope that ends Robert Mathis (9.5 sacks) and Dwight Freeney (a disappointing 5.5 sacks) can get to Green and force him into mistakes as the Chiefs have allowed 41 sacks so far this season.  Eddie Kennison (53 rec, 860 yards, 5 TDs) and Samie Parker (41 rec, 561 yards and a TD) can do some damage in the passing game if the Colts sneak up on defense to try to take away Johnson & Gonzalez.

The Colts will likely come out passing to get the lead and then running to grind out a win.  Peyton Manning (4,397 yards, 31 TDs and 9 INTs) should have no problem picking apart the Chiefs secondary that’s a little long in tooth.  The Chiefs will likely try to blitz more often than usual to screw up Manning’s timing.  The Colts offensive line has been great allowing only 15 sacks this season so DEs Jared Allen (77 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 6 fumble recoveries) and Tamba Hali (58 tackles, 8 sacks) have their work cut out for them.  Look for the Chiefs to also turn OLB Derrick Johnson loose on the blitz early and often in this game, because if the Chiefs let the Colts sit back in the pocket it will be a long day for them on defense.  Marvin Harrison (95 rec, 1,366 yards, 12 TDs) and Reggie Wayne (86 rec, 1,310 yards, 9 TDs) will offer up a huge challenge to veterans Ty Law (65 tackles, 4 INTs) and Patrick Surtain (66 tackles).  The Chiefs will likely try to cover both of those guys man-to-man, so the pass rush better be there.  Manning also likes to throw to his TEs (Dallas Clark and Ben Utecht) and that will put pressure on Greg Wesley (67 tackles, 3 INTs), Sammy Knight (83 tackles) and rookie Jarrad Page (3 INTs) to cover them.  Manning also likes to dump the ball out of the backfield to Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai who combined for 76 receptions this season.  The Colts will try to get the lead passing the ball and then grind out a win handing the ball off to Joseph Addai (1,081 yards rushing, 4.8 ypc, 7 TDs) and Dominic Rhodes (641 yards rushing, 3.4 ypc, 5 TDs).  Chiefs leading tackler Kawika Mitchell (104 tackles) should be very busy in this football game.

The special teams of the Chiefs has one crack in it’s armor and that is the play of kicker Lawrence Tynes.  Tynes has hit 24 of 31 FGs this season, but he’s only 13 of 20 on kicks over 30 yards, which could be a huge problem in this game because the Chiefs are going to need every point they can get to win this football game.  The Chiefs to have a huge edge at punter as Dustin Colquitt has been great this season.  He averages 44.3 yards per punt for and 39.3 net average, so the Chiefs cover teams have played pretty well behind Colquitt.  Colquitt has also downed 23/71 punts inside the opponents 20 yard line.  Dante Hall is always a threat to break open a game with a huge return, but he had a slightly below average season for him.  Hall returned 27 punts for 240 yards (8.9 avg) and a TD.  He also returned 53 kick-offs for 1,207 yards (22.8 avg).  The Colts don’t cover punts very well so Hall might have an opportunity for a big play there.

The Colts brought in Adam Vinatieri for games like this and he has always produced in the playoffs.  For the season, Vinatieri was a fantastic 25/28 on FGs.  He can still hit the long one with the best of them.  The problem for the Colts special teams is on their punting team.  Hunter Smith averages 44.4 yards per punt, but only for a net of 34.5 yards.  This could be a huge problem against the Chiefs and Dante Hall.  Terrence Wilkins has handled virtually all of the return duties for the Colts and he has done a nice job.  Wilkins averages 9.2 yards per punt return (one TD return) and 24.5 yards per kick-off return.

The Colts are 8-0 at home this season and have won the games by an average of 11.1 points per game in the RCA Dome.  But something has me thinking that the Chiefs have a shot at an upset in this game.  Maybe it’s the fact that Tony Dungy is only 5-8 in his career in the playoffs, or that he’s been messing around with the idea of coaching the Minnesota Gophers next season.  The Chiefs have the kind of running game that can give the Colts fits, but I think I will side with the Colts in a very close football game.