Week 2: oh my god you guys oh my god

[sigma7]

I don't think I've ever seen a string of luck hit a sports team as badly as the Kansas City Chiefs have been hammered in the last three weeks. At least, not one that didn't involve a plane crash. The Chefs have lost, in order, their star tight end, their (arguably) best defensive player and their young up-and-coming running back, all out for the season. They've lost their first two games by a combined score of 89-10, and if anything, the losses were worse than the score would indicate. They're the embodiment of the idea of "freefall," and they need a patsy team to cushion the fall. Guess who they're playing next week?

San Diego squeaked a win out in Week 1, then when given several opportunities to claw their way back into the New England game yesterday, politely declined to do so, possibly concerned they'd miss the flight back to California. Apparently the only thing worse than losing your starting tight end is forgetting you have one, and then on the only time you do target him, you throw it straight into the hands of the largest, slowest man east of the Mississippi River. If Philip Rivers and Mike Tolbert had stopped trying to win the game on every down and just cut wood, good things would've happened, but they forced it, and maybe against Minnesota that wins you the game. But not against the Patriots. Vince Jackson played like a man possessed, making at least one stupid-freaky one-handed catch that I thought I'd never see the like of again (until Tony Gonzalez topped it last night). The Bolts are -- just like last year -- finding new and exciting ways to circumvent their own inherent talents by making huge mental mistakes in every facet of the game (particularly coaching BRING ME THE HEAD OF NORV TURNER), which, if nothing else, makes them interesting to watch but frustrating to root for.

Next week will be...picturesque. The three Chiefs I have the most faith in are the kicker, punter and force-of-goddamn-nature Tamba Hali. Hali used to be a defensive lineman, and he's since been retooled into a linebacker. Man could be anything he wanted to on the field; he's probably got the talent for it, and if not, you're not going to tell him otherwise. Quarterback Matt "White" Cassel can be inconsistent, and wide receiving monster Dwayne Bowe can have as good a game as he decides to, but it's a roll of the dice as to whether they drink the Gatorade or the Thorazine before the game. That's exactly the type of team the Chargers have devolved into, just with bigger names and more potential for an explosive day (and a somehow iffier special teams unit).

The sad truth of it is that the Chefs are depleted and discombobulated, probably to the point of being the least coherent team in the league. And they can still beat the Chargers next week.

Unrelated, your college football clip of the week -- Florida State's Kenny Shaw tries to make an exceptional touchdown grab and pays for it dearly:

Shaw's okay, but I remember very clearly thinking he'd been killed on the play.

Comments

[bedsitter23.livejournal.com]

I'd argue that the Rams lost Bradford (he's back), Steven Jackson, their top WR in Danny Amendola, and DB Ron Bartell; but I think the Chefs have it the worst of all.

I watched the Bolts game, thinking surely, they have fired Norval by now, but there he was on the sidelines...

[patchsassy.livejournal.com]

Being stuck out here in Indiana, people are practically suicidal over Manning's neck injury. Seeing as how Indiana's football team blows (at least for Chiefs fans, some of them are at least Missouri/Kansas State fans, so their team isn't at least as horrible as Kansas' is) this gives most of the people in this area (including Purdue fans, as they're just about as wretched in pigskin as the good ol' Hoosiers) nothing to live for until basketball season starts.

Good times.

[motteditor.livejournal.com]

FWIW, it was undrafted safety Sergio Brown who picked off the pass intended for Gates; Wilfork picked off another pass.

[daethkow.livejournal.com]

The Chiefs fans are in full Whaargarbl mode right now. Half are blaming Haley, half are blaming Scott Pioli, half are blaming Clark Hunt, half are blaming Matt Cassell, half are blaming Mitch Holthus, I think.

I think what I said about Haley, before, believe it or not, is still true: If he doesn't lose the team, he'll survive the year. But the fact that the most credible rumor is that the front office is considering replacing Haley with Josh McDaniels is ... pretty much the definition of a bad omen.

And that clip fills me with just about as much righteous fury that one can have in sports. BOTH Okies targetted the head. BOTH of them. Do you really want to stay in a league with these thugs? I would find it the epitome of comedy and karma if, tomorrow, the six not-COMPLETE-douchebag schools and Missouri all announced they were joining the Big East, SEC, whoever, leaving Texas and OU out in the cold doing their codependent circle-jerk ... until the Pac-12 reneged yet again and signed them. Sigh.