Tradition Tuesday: Problems in the HoGNation Backfields

The rough focus of this blog is the rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs (heralded by Bankmeister) and the Denver Broncos (championed by Cecil and Old No. 7). It may seem unfair that it's two versus one, but once KC gets that second Super Bowl win we'll even out the delegation.

Seven years ago we started The Tradition, in which Bronco fans travel out to the Truman Sports Complex with their team, and Chief-lovers return to the Rocky Mountains with theirs. We tailgate, we talk massive amounts of shit, our wives are occasionally assaulted by rival fans, and we almost always watch the visiting team lose. It's a grand old time.

Here at the HoG, we're going to keep The Tradition going with Tradition Tuesday--a weekly state-of-the-rivalry address.

Considering that Travis Henry and Larry Johnson couldn't be any further from one another on the total yards charts (Editor's Note: Technically they could at 20 spots apart), they still share some commonality: Their teams desperately need them to step up and be men among men. Through five weeks of NFL football, Henry and Johnson are not living up to what experts might call team-leading production.

Henry, while second in the league with 498 yards is facing a potential one-year suspension for repeated subtance-abuse violations; he has also dominated poor rushing defense teams while struggling against the better clubs of that category. Johnson, his AFC West counterpart (Note: For the purposes of this argument, we'll leave San Diego's LaDainian Tominson out of the discussion), has produced a meager 275 yards.

Both teams sit at 2-3, and both teams have a huge chunk of tough games ahead. It's do or die for these tailbacks and the defense of the HoG-proclaimed "best division in football. Henry's situation is out of his hands for the time being. Johnson's, on the other hand, lies solely in his ability to stifle team frustrations and to focus on the task at hand: carrying the load for his teammates and not being a giant pouting baby. How this will pan out for the two rock-toting rivals is yet to be seen.