Our friendly neighborhood Chiefs blogger, Chris, from Arrowhead Pride was kind enough to answer some questions for us.
We know LJ and Gonzo, anybody else we need to worry about? With Kennison out, what receivers will we be seeing?
Dwayne Bowe, our first round pick out of LSU, will be taking over Eddie Kennison's spot. Bowe has been thrust into the starting position so it will be very interesting to see what he can do against Chicago. We'll also see a bit of former Arena League star, Bobby Sippio. People in the Chicago area may know Sippio from the Chicago Rush, where he played last season.
After the performance the Bears had against Tomlinson, do you think Larry Johnson is going to be able to get anything going against the
Bears D?
The Bears can expect a heavy dose of Larry Johnson this weekend, contrary to what we saw last week against the Texans. Last week, LJ had 10 rushes and 7 catches, which was well below his average number of touches a game last year. In 2006, LJ averaged 26 carries a game. Hopefully Larry can get 20-25 carries this weekend. I still expect him to have problems against the Chicago defense though. You guys are just too damn good on defense and our offensive line, this early in the season, is pretty ineffective. We also have zero threat of a passing, which will hopefully change this week.
The Bears are currently looking to use Devin Hester on offense. The closest example we have to this happening before is with the Chiefs and Dante Hall. Hall never really regained his ability in the return game and never developed into the weapon they wanted. Did you feel the Chiefs made a mistake in playing Dante Hall too much on the offensive side of the football?
I wouldn't say the mistake was playing Dante Hall too much at WR because we really didn't play him that much. The guy just wasn't a good reciever. 5'8" receivers typically don't do well in the league, unless your name is Steve Smith. Hall had lost his effectiveness as a returner in Kansas City when we let him go. He was running east-west way too much. I think the turf and the dome in St. Louis will do him some good this year.
I have to claim ignorance, I know nothing about the Chiefs defense. What should we expect? What is the scheme? Any particular player who name we will be hearing a lot?
The Chiefs play a little Cover 2, which Herm Edwards learned in Tampa in the late 1990s. You won't be hearing star defensive end Jared Allen's name at all- he's out one more game because of a suspension over two DUI arrests. The defense is the strong point of this team and will continue to be for a while. We have Jared Allen and second year guy Tamba Hali on the defensive ends, both of whom will be Pro Bowlers in the near future. Our interior defensive line is fairly soft. We've got some role guys and some young guys rotating in and out of there. Our linebacking corp is arguably one of the best in the league, although I'm sure the Bears linebackers could take them to task. The veteran Donnie Edwards, Napoleon Harris and former Texas standout Derrick Johnson round out the core of our defense at the linebacker position. The two veterans have taken it upon themselves to mentor Johnson and it showed last week when he recorded 7 tackles. Derrick Johnson should be looking at a breakout year behind the defensive line.
Herm Edwards has been taking a beating because the offense the Chiefs run is being labeled as 'vanilla'. Do you find your offense that plain, or is the media missing something and if it is that plain, do you think Edwards will be around long enough to change that?
Our offense is very plain and I believe that to be a combination of our unimaginative offensive coordinator and a weak armed Damon Huard. Huard plain can't throw the ball downfield and the play calling reflected that in Week 1. Our playcalling has been a point of contention for a lot of Chiefs fans. It will be interesting to see how it evolves from week to week, if at all. Without some offensive production this season, I don't expect offensive coordinator Mike Solari to be around KC much longer. With all that said, we still haven't seen this offense at full strength. And by full strength, I mean giving Larry Johnson the ball 25 to 30 times. That should theoretically open up our passing game to go from non-existent to respectable. We have a few solid, young recievers that will see a lot of time this year. Hopefully we get to air it out more this year and get those guys some good experience.