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Apparently the Chiefs will hire Romeo Crennel to be their new defensive coordinator.

The Chiefs have been blacked out on local television for the first time since 1990.

Of course, it’s not all that surprising given the quality of football put out by the Chiefs ever since they went to the playoffs in 2006 and the Browns–sorry AB–may be even worse than the Chiefs. (But both teams are better than the Steelers)

But for those of you that have seen Chiefs games at home over the past few years–especially late in the season–it’s been very rare that Arrowhead has been full.

The assumption was that there were a fair amount of no-shows, sick of the bad football and not willing to make the trip during the colder months, when, according to a local radio station yesterday afternoon, the games weren’t really sold out at all.

The Chiefs got around the blackout rule a purported 15 times thanks to owner Clark Hunt. If/when a Chiefs game was in the slightest amount of danger of being blacked out–after the local television affiliate had purchased their allotment of available seats–Hunt simply wrote a check to the league to cover the value of the unsold tickets.

That check went into a fund that was distributed equally amongst the 32 teams, so obviously Hunt wasn’t making much of his money back.

Why didn’t he do that for tomorrow’s game? Who knows, and it’s probably for the best for Chiefs fans in Kansas City.

The facade of staunch fan support for a struggling franchise is gone and while those inside the offices of Arrowhead Stadium knew what that facade was hiding all along, the supposed “best fans in the NFL” now know that support does waver during prolonged periods of crappiness.

After running the ball just 14 times while Johnson was suspended for yesterday’s loss, the Chiefs have officially released LJ.

Honestly, I hope someone immediately picks him up and he does really well, if for nothing other than to rub it in Todd Haley’s face.

Let me have Bernard Pollard explain:

“With professional athletes, you’re dealing with grown men. You’re not dealing with boys,” Pollard tells the Journal Gazette. “You’re not in a locker room with sophomores in high school. You’re dealing with grown men with families. I have a wife. I have a son. And I have a daughter on the way. I’m not going to sit there and let you curse me out when you feel like cursing me out or talk to me any way you want to talk to me, and you just want me to sit and take it and say, ‘Yes, coach.’”

Given what I’ve seen in the last few months with Haley and Scott Pioli in charge of this team, I’ve got no reason to not believe Pollard.

Maybe I should make the Cowboys my #1 team…

“Get your faggot ass out of here.”

*Sigh*

and I guarantee that it’s coming from Missouri.

The Rams and Chiefs are 0-4, and there’s no flashes of competency from either team.

Admittedly, both teams are in rebuilding mode, but honestly, could you make a playoff contender if you combined both of them?

Let’s see…

QB: Matt Cassel, Chiefs

RB: Steven Jackson, Rams

FB: Mike Karney, Rams

WR: Dwayne Bowe, Chiefs

WR: Donnie Avery, Rams

TE: Randy McMichael, Rams

LT: Branden Albert, Chiefs

LG: Brian Waters, Chiefs

C: Jason Brown, Rams

RG: Richie Incognito, Rams

RT: Jason Smith, Rams

DE: Chris Long, Rams

DE: Tyson Jackson, Chiefs

DT: Glenn Dorsey, Chiefs

DE/LB: Leonard Little, Rams

LB: Derrick Johnson, Chiefs

LB: James Laurinaitis, Rams

LB: Mike Vrabel, Chiefs

CB: Brandon Flowers, Chiefs

CB: Brandon Carr, Chiefs

SS: Mike Brown, Chiefs

FS: AJ Otogwe, Rams

K: Josh Brown, Rams

P: Dustin Colquitt, Chiefs

Would this team even be in the top half of the league? I’d like to think so, but the defense only has four players that are above average at this point.

If you’re only going to watch one Chiefs game–and its today’s game against the Ravens–then you’re not going to get a very good idea of what the Chiefs will be like this season.

Yeah, Matt Cassel is hurt this week, but the Chiefs weren’t going to win if he was at quarterback. (However, I would have taken them to cover the spread). This team still has too many flaws to go on the road to a playoff team and expect to remain competitive right now.

At the end of the season? Well, that’s another matter.

OFFENSE:

Cassel’s the undisputed #1, and Brodie Croyle is going to start today. I really wish that Thigpen would be starting, but at the same time, given Croyle’s fragility and the Ravens’ pass rush, Thigpen may be needed after the first few series.

Cassel isn’t going to duplicate last season, but 20 TDs should be expected, even if he only plays 15 games.

I fully expect a rebound season of sorts for Larry Johnson. He’s not going to go repeat the success that he had when Herm Edwards was trying to kill LJ by giving him the ball 400 times, but 1100 yards and 10 TDs isn’t unreasonable. LJ’s being a good employee right now and will be running hard. After all, he’s got $3 million+ on the line in court.

Dwayne Bowe is the only weapon that the Chiefs have outside. He could get 100 catches given how many times that Cassel will be targeting him. And since he’ll be targeted so much, he’ll probably be vying with Braylon Edwards for the league lead in drops. Mark Bradley is the #2 receiver for as long as he’s healthy, and Bobby Engram will be the slot receiver. Yeah, it’s not pretty. Especially when you consider that the Chiefs’ options at tight end are Sean Ryan and Brad Cottam. Yuck.

The offense will only be above average if the offensive line can improve. The line looked horrid in the preseason, but given the changes that the team made during the preseason (cut Barry Richardson and Damion McIntosh; traded for Andy Alleman and Ike Ndukwe and claimed Ryan O’Callaghan) there’s really no telling how average the line really is. Branden Albert and Brian Waters should be good, and if the right side of the line can be adequate, the Chiefs may put up a fair amount of points.

DEFENSE:

The defensive front is very young, but at the same time, it really isn’t very good. Glenn Dorsey has made the switch to end in the Chiefs hybrid 3-4, and hopefully won’t be bossed around as much as he was on the inside in last year’s cover 2 4-3. Tank Tyler’s inherited the nose tackle position, and Todd Haley has spent all of training camp telling Tyler that he needs to be nastier. That’s not good. #1 draft pick Tyson Jackson is on the other end, and he’s supposed to be “the prototypical 3-4 end.” Alex Magee, the Chiefs’ third round pick from Purdue, will be the top backup on the line.

The linebacking corps is a mishmash of former defensive ends and players playing out of position. I really was hoping that Zach Thomas would have been healthy because his addition to the middle of the Chiefs’ defense would have been a great thing for the other linebackers. Instead, Thomas got cut, and the “old white linebacker as a leader” role falls to Mike Vrabel, who will alternate between the outside and the middle. One of the middle linebacker spots is Derrick Johnson’s, as he’s going to get a chance to go sideline to sideline to make plays. Johnson has the athletic ability to do that, but he also likes to avoid blockers. Tamba Hali and Turk McBride are the converted defensive ends who shouldn’t struggle as the rush linebacker when the Chiefs are in a 3-4, but will have a hard time dropping back into coverage. If the’re on the field on passing downs, it’s a pretty good bet that they’ll be rushing the passer.

It was a surprise that the Chiefs cut Bernard Pollard. The reasoning was that the staff wanted to get Mike Brown on the field, but Mike Brown is 31 and injury-prone. Ooooooook. Yes, Pollard was a liability in coverage and had a tendency to whiff at times when he went for the big hit. But he was affordable–still in his rookie contract–and would be an adequate replacement for when Brown inevitably gets hurt.

The cornerbacks should be pretty good as long as Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr continue to improve. Maurice Leggett will be the nickelback again, and he made some plays in the slot. I’ve had a mancrush on Flowers ever since they drafted him and I think he’s got the ability to be a shutdown cornerback as soon as this season.

Mister Irrelevant Ryan Succop should be an adequate kicker and Dustin Colquitt is one of the best punters in the league, provided that he’s recovered from last season’s groin injury. The kick returning spots are up for grabs, and as of now, it looks like rookie Quinten Lawrence will be the first in line.

OUTLOOK:

The Chiefs aren’t nearly as bad as they were last year, but they’re still a year or two away from competing for the division title. The schedule should prevent them from taking a major leap forward–they draw the NFC East–but the team should be much better at the end of the season, and a 7-9 season isn’t completely out of the question. After all, they do have to play the Raiders and Broncos twice.

…Kansas City’s has been worse.

Apparently.

Matt Cassell out 2-4 weeks with an MCL sprain, and enough of a vision of the offense with him that the front office takes the rather extraordinary step of firing offensive coordinator Chan Gailey after just three pre-season games.

The sins?

Coach Todd Haley, who was the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive coordinator before coming to the Chiefs, appeared unhappy with the play-calling Saturday night in the Chiefs’ 14-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Arrowhead Stadium. At Monday morning’s practice, Haley was directing the offense, while Gailey was nowhere to be seen.

The Chiefs have just two offensive touchdowns so far, and they certainly weren’t helped when quarterback Matt Cassel was injured Saturday night. Cassel has gone down four times despite attempting only 19 throws. He was hurt when he was sacked on his first pass attempt against the Seahawks, and it’s possible he might be out for up to four weeks with a strained knee. The Chiefs were expected to address his status today.

See? The pre-season DOES matter…

…let’s not leave out Matt Cassell’s start in Kansas City. The look back in the KC Star:

Desperate for a new direction, the Chiefs changed their general manager, head coach and quarterback, but things still looked suspiciously like last year in Saturday night’s preseason opener. They fell 16-10 to the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium, ruining the debut of general manager Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley. For that, they can blame an offense that was mostly lifeless under new quarterback Matt Cassel. On a rainy night, Cassel was unable to lead anything close to a scoring drive in four possessions. The Chiefs had only two first downs with Cassel, one coming on a Houston penalty. He finished with two completions in five attempts for 15 yards before being replaced by Brodie Croyle in the second quarter with the Chiefs behind 10-0.

“We executed some things and we didn’t execute some others, so we’ve got a lot to work on,” Cassel said. “That’s why we have preseason. We were trying to find out some things about different people, and I’m sure we’re still trying to find out what our identity is going to be.”

Cassel also committed a turnover when he fumbled a snap during one of the game’s rainy periods. He fumbled during a rainy practice session at training camp and committed three turnovers in last weekend’s intrasquad scrimmage.

Where have you gone, Tyler Thigpen, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you…

Todd Haley has assumed the role of Jillian Michaels  and seemingly wants every Chiefs player to drop weight.

(side note: as a Chiefs fan, I hope that he’s a better coach than Jillian Michaels is a trainer)

His new target is Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe, who he says needs to drop 20-25 pounds by training camp.

Previously, Haley has publicly called out last year’s first round draft pick Branden Albert for his weight gain, and has also implied that the other first round pick, Glen Dorsey, needs to lose weight to play the end in the Chiefs new 3-4 scheme.

While Albert and Dorsey could have gained weight–with the media lockdown at Arrowhead, pictures are a bit harder to come by–the picture on the right of Bowe hardly looks like a person who needs to lose 20-25 pounds.

Based on the principles Haley and GM Scott Pioli have learned, I realize what Haley is trying to do. And calling out Bowe isn’t a terrible thing because of all the drops that #82 had last year. But if he truly thinks that D-Bowe needs to lose 25 pounds, maybe he will be the Jillian Michaels of the NFL. And that’s certainly not a good thing.