Thoughts about today's game
 

1) Everyone (including me) thought it was obvious that Damion McIntosh had to be benched. But Herm and Chan stood their ground that the O-line needed to play together and would get better. Over the last 3 weeks against good defenses the pass blocking for Thigpen has been outstanding. Branden Albert is playing great for a rookie who has never played the position before, and McIntosh and Jones have been doing a good job on the right side. None of this passing offense could be happening if the line continued to play like it did in the 1st 4 or 5 games.

2) This was the defense for most of the 2nd half of the game:

DE: Brian Johnston
DE: Wallace Gilberry
DT: Glenn Dorsey
DT: Tank Tyler
WLB: Rocky Boiman
MLB: Weston Dacus
SLB: Donnie Edwards
CB: Brandon Carr
CB: Maurice Leggett
SS: Bernard Pollard
FS: Jon McGraw

That's rookies from Valdosta St, Grand Valley St, Gardner Webb, another undrafted rookie, and 2 guys from off the street. The fact that the Chiefs were even close is amazing.

3) 14 rookies played today. That's 1 out of every 3 Chief players. And it doesn't even include Tyler Thigpen.

4) About Thigpen - it's obvious that Dick Curl ruins young QBs. If Thigpen was on another team he would be so much better by now. Still, his turnaround is the most surprising thing I've seen on the Chiefs in a long time.

5) This team will be really good next year if Thigpen is not a mirage. The young guys playing together will continue to get better. I would bring in a guy like Matt Cassel to compete with Thigpen, draft a pass rusher (Orakpo) in the top 10, and get another playmaker that fits our new offense (say Derrick Williams from Penn St. at the top of Round 2). And definitely a new special teams coach. But the team is really not that far off in my opinion.

if people can get past the winning and losing
there is a lot to be encouraged by
with improvements player wise

missed pat
 

on the missed pat we had, am i the only one that seems to think I heard a whistle and about half the offense and half the defense kinda stopped and everybody was a little confused..?? I wasn't able to rewind or anything but I could have sworn I heard a whistle and then it was a very "confused" play all together including the bad snap.

Nobody mentioned anything that, though, and I haven't seen anything about it here either. Was I tripping?

Damion McIntosh and Adrian Jones haven't improved.

Their poor play has been masked by Thigpen's mobility, his quick decisions, and good decision making, combined with more creative play calling.

They still suck.

The Chiefs are just hiding it better.

Agreed. The players haven't given up, that's for sure.

And if we go through next the offseason without bringing in or drafting some new LB's its going to be ugly again.

My Brother mentioned that as we were watching the game (on tv). I didn't hear it though, but he was sure of it.

I thought Thigpen staying in the pocket and taking hits
then delivering the ball was huge
running has got to be a strong -and acceptable in his case -option

This.

If we went back to a QB under center, run RRPP offense, the right side will just as bad as it did at the beginning of the season. Spread makes it easier to pass block.

Yep.

I've seen enough of McIntosh to be able to surely say he isn't a quality starting O-Tackle.

Jones & Rudy (can't handle the big DTs) arn't much better IMO.

Thigpen's pocket presence has been incredible - but I maintain that McIntosh has really improved a lot.

After the Jets game I thought we just caught them off guard with the spread but that Thigpen's really not a legit NFL QB.

After the Bucs game I got a little excited but thought that it was mostly trick plays and catching the Bucs on a day they were looking ahead to their bye.

Tonight after this game and that drive at the end is the first time that I am really starting to believe this may be real. It's pretty exciting, and I'm glad we have 7 more games to really figure this guy out.

I was let down but still exited through out the game! Can't wait until we get everything working

What planet do you live on?

McIntosh got bitched repeatedly by Shaun Phillips. He's god awful. He gets beat by inside moves all the time.

Adrian Jones hasn't improved either. We can't run to the right side to save our lives.

Keep drinkin the kool-aid.

McIntosh's Pass blocking has improved. The line as a whole is still getting pushed back on runs.

No, actually it hasn't.

Pass Blocking only looks slightly better because we are operating out of the shotgun 95% of the time.