Late Night Bullshit: The 2014 Chiefs > The 2013 Chiefs
 

I have read a lot of negativity towards the upcoming season and I'm not sure why. I think that we are gonna be reasonably better.

Lots of "oh my god, we lost 5 starters"

"Oh my god, we play a hard schedule."

Blah blah blah.

1) We upgraded from Tyson Jackson to a young DL that can rush the passer. Tyson was a good fit for 90s football, but guys that get 2-3 pressures per game like Walker are a much better fit for todays NFL...especially in this division.

2) KENDRICK LEWIS IS NO LONGER A CHIEF.

3) Dexter McCluster is a decent possession receiver, but is easily replaceable...even by a guy like Jason Avant.

4) Losing Albert sucks, but Eric Fisher was universally thought of as a "special" talent as a left tackle. If he takes this offseason seriously, it's possible he starts to show flashes of that for us next year. The guy has battled thumb and shoulder problems all year and its possible we even get an upgrade over Albert by seasons end if every scout turns out to be right. Albert was missing a lot of recent time to injury and I wish him the best, but it's possible his injury problems persist.

5) Asamoah and Schwartz both played well (even though Asamoah seemed off, he graded out very well) and its a shame to lose both of them, but right guards aren't something you invest almost 5 million a year on...that's Emmanuel Sanders money. We have 2 guards as depth that played well when called upon and its not like either Schwartz or Asamoah were irreplaceable.

6) Getting Travis Kelce back has a chance to be a game changer. The guy was catching everything in camp and Alex Smith trusted him. That's intriguing because his strength is blocking. If he can come back from that nasty injury/surgery with trust in his knee, he will be our starter at tight end and will be the best one we have had since Tony Gonzalez. Anyone that knows me and my interest in Tony Moeaki knows that's a big statement.

7) A full year and offseason in the defense for Marcus Cooper. He got here as a waiver cut late in PS last year and showed a lot of promise until Houston and Hali both got hurt and our pass rush went to sleep. He knows what it's gonna take to develop his skills and has a lot of film to study to work on homing his skills into the system.

8) DUNTA ROBINSON IS NO LONGER ON THE TEAM.

9) Sanders Commings has a lot of speed and playmaking ability and lost the year to injury...but will infuse the defense with speed once he gets on the field. Can't be worse than Demps/Lewis and has a lot of upside.

10) Knile Davis showed top end ability in camp and performed nicely when called upon when Jamaal went down. He got the taste of what a starting NFL running back feels like and that should drive him to turn it up next year.

11) Husain Abdullah playing more. This guy made plays whenever he got on the field and that time should increase this year. He was offered a long term deal for good starter money with Minnesota before we took his pilgrimage and by years end was a highly effective player.

12) Alex Smith was in his first year with the receivers last year and it took awhile to get up to speed with everyone, but when he did, the offense was able to score a lot of points and move the ball effectively. Andy Reid knows QBs and has wanted Alex Smith for years...in the playoff game, it showed why that is. The guy can be a playmaker and its possible that he play at that level all year for us.

13) Dwayne Bowe took awhile to get up to speed, too...but once Alex Started throwing him the ball, he was pretty effective and it sparked the offense. This is a big year for Bowe and lets hope he and Alex are able to continue the chemistry they showed in the playoff game. I can definitely see Bowe having a big year in 2014.

14) This draft is amazingly deep in the exact positions that we have needs at. Safety, WR, OL, TE...it's a big opportunity to seriously upgrade this team. Those picks in rounds 3-6 are gonna carry a huge premium over the quality of talent usually available at those spots in the draft.

15) Brandon Flowers being healthy. He battled injuries all year and we probably win in Indy if he doesn't get hurt.

16) Scheme continuity. The coaching staffs stayed in place, so the players come into year 2 being able to play faster due to thinking less.

17) The second wave of free agency. This draft class is gonna cause a trickle down effect on the veterans in the NFL because teams will want to start a great deal of guys from this draft and that will lead to a lot of tams releasing higher priced veterans in June...a lot of them will have plenty of gas left in the tank and those are the guys that Dorsey will want to shop for due to the value.

I guess I don't fully understand why there isn't a larger group of posters that are willing to predict a record better than last years...or at least winning 10 or more games.

This isn't the lame coaching staffs we have had the last 10 years, these guys are legit. I don't see them regressing with all this talent. Remember, before last year we thought the 2013 schedule was gonna be a murderers row and look how it panned out, you never know.


I'm thinking 10-11 wins is a lock and more wins than that are possible.

That is absolutely insane.

Two thoughts:

Everything isn't going to work out for the best. Maybe some things will, but some of the moves they make (or don't make) this offseason will flop. Just the law of averages.

The 2014 team could be better than last year's on the field and only win 7 or 8 games. If they play worse, then it could be ugly.

Our team got arguably worse and our schedule got harder. That's why.

Give me specific reasons why we will be worse. I'm all ears.

I see a team that -until Hali and Houston got hurt- was being touted as one of the next elite defenses.

I also see a team that its quarterback played at a high level the last 7 or 8 games.

If they can find a way to run the defense how it did before the bye and pair it with the offense from after the bye...how can we not improve?

The only irreplaceable player we lost was Albert. Agree or disagree?

We ain't beating Seattle or San Fran.

We can't seem to even crack a .500 record in our own division in the past several years.

I think schedule IS a huge deal. I don't think we're necessarily terrible or that our easy schedule in 2013 was masking over the poor quality of our team in any way, but this is the goddamn NFC West we're talking about. And for that matter, the AFC West, too. 10 of the 16 games we play are against foes in the toughest NFL divisions. We also have to play the Patriots.

We're not going 6-10 or anything like that. But we're not doing better than 11-5, that's for sure.

If we get out of this season with 10-6, I'll be ****ing elated.

I'm not so sure Albert is irreplaceable.

Show me what position we aren't currently better at.

*Commings and Kelce have done nothing to this point. They're Kris Wilson until proven otherwise.
*There is no definitive blindside protector.
*The schedule is likely going to be extremely difficult
*There is one game-breaking player on offense
*The safety position has still not improved
*There are only two legitimate pass rushers
*There is no continuity on the interior line, and few proven players
*The defense did not play a single good game against a team with a legitimate, healthy QB.

The '14 Chiefs are more likely to win 4 games than 11.

Agree, obviously; I've said the same in other threads recently.

However, I don't believe the 2013 squad was anywhere close to being a legitimate playoff-contending team. I believe a lot of things went their way, sort of a cosmic rebalancing of the scales from 2012, and I think their win total last year exceeded their actually quality by (at least) 2 or 3 games.

And in that light I think it's going to take a great deal of improvement for the Chiefs to match their win total from last year. But so far what I'm seeing are a lot of lateral-looking moves.

I expect a step back. As much because that's what happens so often in rebuilds as for any specific move they made this offseason. And because it appears to be a more difficult schedule. I think they have more building to do, and I think they're at least a year away from real contention. Maybe they can repeat the magic of last year and get a few unsung heroes to exceed their expected contribution, but I'm not counting on that.

If our win totals were inflated, then why did we lose one SD game to complete bullshit and the other on a last second miracle catch?

I think after you balance things out, we ended up right where we should have been.

You cant expert all those things to happen, but you cant expect none of them either. The best case scenario is just as likely as the worst. I for one feel we will be better simply because Alex will be better. Good Qb play will fill any of our remaining weaknesses.

We'll be a better team but it's hard to imagine we win as many games. But I fully expect us to be better especially on offense. We should start the season close to how we ended last year in that regard. I also expect our D will start as BAD as we ended last year but steadily improve as the year goes on.

All of this assumes no major injuries.