Sunday Sermon: Today Brodie Rides

Hell, to the fuck yeah, baby. Arrowhead Pride, among others, is reporting that Matt Cassel is inactive to open the 2009 Kansas City Chiefs season at M&T Bank Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens. The folks at the CBS pre-game show are calling this the best decision that Todd Haley has made in his short time in Kansas City. They're calling Croyle the sacrificial lamb.

I frequently stand up for this booth over Fox's, but in this particular situation, I say fuck those clowns. Granted, Croyle is in a terrible situation. He's coming off a season filled with multiple injuries, and this will be his second kickoff-weekend start. He's facing an allegedly still-ferocious Ravens defense, and he no longer has Tony Gonzalez as an option. What's worse, the Kansas City offensive line is nothing shy of Swiss Chiefs.

Brodie has lived, though, to bang another day when many thought he would not be on the Chiefs roster after 2008. Memory fails to recall another NFL player in recent seasons with so many doubters, so few giving him the support that translates to confidence. He hasn't shown much to deserve such support, but he's also played for some really bad teams. I'm still on the Brodie bandwagon, though. I got nothing against Cassel, but I'd love for a nation of many to eat their fat-mouthed words. Go get 'em, kid.
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Saturday Studmuffins: Former NFL Quarterback Steve McNair (1973-2009)

This feature is usually reserved for feats and accomplishments. I won't pretend to be good at eulogizing, or breaking news. And I won't pretend like I knew Steve McNair. I will only say that to die at 36 years old is extremely sad.

The three-time Pro Bowler logged 13 years in the National Football League, threw for over 30,000 yards, 174 touchdowns, and a 60.1 completion percentage. He was drafted third overall in 1995 by the Houston Oilers, moved with the franchise to Tennessee, and played as a Baltimore Raven for the final two seasons of his career.
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Sunday Sermon: What the Image Says

Now, almost every single post-season game has gone the way I hoped it would. Yesterday's Titans-Ravens game was a disappointment, only in terms of the final outcome. I'd like for Jeff Fisher to get one, and the whole Kerry Collins story was neat, too. Smash, and Dash, however, can drink a simmering vile of panther urine for all I care. That game, though, left a most profound thought smattered across my brain...

...and that is the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs are really no where near to contender status. The defenses displayed by both Tennessee and Baltimore were beyond impressive. They stopped the run, they hit guys like freight trains, they played their positions, they trusted one another, they wrapped up their tackles, they made picks, and they kept it to a field-goal game, more or less. It was remarkable.

Since Carl Peterson stepped down as GM for the Chiefs, I've waivered a bit on whether or not I think Head Coach Herman Edwards should be retained for another year. Now I'm certain he should not. He's a defensive-minded coach that would be entering his fourth year of this program. His secondary can hit hard and pick off a few passes. But they don't wrap up, they don't stay in position, they don't have trust, and they get smoked because the linebackers and linemen are flippin' terrible. Perhaps, if you don't count his first year here, this upcoming third season with "his players" is just what he needs to get this thing righted, but the gap between the Chiefs defense (last in the league) and that of both clubs on the field yesterday in Tennessee are astronomical, a leap very few could make, I imagine.

I suppose the same argument could be made for the Denver Broncos, but that stand is for some other guy on some other job.

Miscellaneously speaking, I'm pumped for the Cardinals. Really? An NFC Championship in Arizona? That's freaking nuts. Now, how to root in this Pittsburgh/San Diego tilt -- that's beyond me.
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