My apologies for the tardiness of this report, but I had no internet access in KC and did not fly home until Monday.
First, a report on the great weekend I had with various members of the Pittsburgh Steelers fan club of KC:
Flew into the KCI airport on Friday and made the trip a long
weekend. Must say, KC has the best BBQ I have ever eaten, the next time the
B&G travel to Arrowhead I would definitely suggest going. My girlfriend and
I met up with StillerinKC and his wife and had a great time. Hanging with them
was a lot of fun and they are definitely cool people, as well as great Stiller
fans. Saturday night was off the hook. About 200 Stiller fans in a bar going
nuts showing their B&G pride. Kudos to fast Eddy, the president of the KC
Stiller fan club. His group is a rowdy bunch and some of the best Stiller fans
I have ever been around. If you are a Stiller fan living in the KC area,
getting together with these guys is a must. After partying until about 1:30AM,
it was time to get up and tailgate at 7:00AM. We met with a guy named Dan and
his wife on Sunday morning. Their basement was awesome, basically a shrine
dedicated to the B&G. The tailgate was a great time, many Stiller fans showed
up and drank some free brewski out of a keg provided by none other than
Stillers.com. IC Lighter was a cool Stiller fan I met from the message boards,
as well as a few other guys who loyally read our articles but do not post on the
boards.
The tailgate had at least 200 Stiller fans decked out in
B&G getting ready for the game. Mad Dog, a hardcore fan who is a local
celebrity in Pittsburgh, turned �The 12 days of Christmas� into a Stiller fight
song. Stillers.com also benefited from the banner being displayed at the
tailgate. There were two Stiller flags attached to poles that were on top of
two SUV�s. Each end of the banner was tied to those poles and attracted Stiller
fans from all around to come to the tailgate. The only low light was an
altercation that happened in the tailgate lot after the game when this asshole
KC fan pulled down the Steeler flag and pole and it smacked into the SUV next
to it. Stillerinkc and I got there about five minutes after the scrum but it
was nice to see that even in their own house they could not intimidate the
B&G faithful. The banner was also displayed on the stage of Quincy�s sports
bar and grill during the Saturday night Stiller rally. After some serious
drinking a few girls held up the banner and started dancing. A few guys joined
them and it was kind of funny watching them go wild. Later, there were some
titty shots and all was good for the B&G fans that evening. Of course, that
all changed at Arrowhead the next day.
Now, my thoughts of the game:
I will not go into too much of a detailed analysis of the
game because by now you have read Mill�s report and read detailed reports from
mainstream media sources. One thing that stood out to me was the Stillers lack
of a running game. I still have faith in Russ Grimm to turn things around.
Remember, all preseason long the o-line was banged up and everyone knew they
would struggle out of the gate. It�s just that the first game gave many fans a
false sense of security that everything was OK. Kendall Simmons will need time
to get his strength and conditioning back. Fordham just needs to play better
than he has the first two games. Hartings did not play well and one would have
to consider whether Okobi and Vincent would do a better job in the interior
part of the line. I believe Simmons will return to form but Hartings and
Fordham worry me. This line is definitely behind where it should be at this
point in the season. Should Grimm turn this unit into an above average line by
the middle of the season, this could end up being a very promising season for
the B&G yet. Also kudos to Still Desi and Still Trap for pointing out that
throwing to the tight end and flare passes to Amos Zereoue would do almost as
much to help the running game as improved line play.
The run defense also stood out to me as being pretty poor.
All in all, the defense did not have as bad of a day as the o-line, but they
were far from good. In the second quarter the Chief front line and Priest
Holmes pounded the B&G. That Priest Holmes had good runs was not a
surprise, it was just the way they slapped the Stillers around like they were
nothing. Trent Green only threw for 125 yards but CS and DW stilled showed they
are mediocre corners at best. CS had two pass interference calls go against
him, however, he also had a nice INT returned for a TD. DW played terribly and
Cowher should think of replacing him with Deshea Townsend. Brent Alexander was
invisible once again. Cowher talked about making the red zone defense more
simplistic in his press conference so the defense could react instead of think.
That line of thinking should be carried over to the entire defense. Maybe if
things are simplified just a bit, Polamula could come in at SS and Logan could
move over to FS. If the defense is going to be predicated on athleticism and
play making ability, than there is no reason to have the slow-footed liability
named Burnt Alexander on the field. I would rather lose a little in scheme and
add speed and athleticism to this secondary. For a detailed analysis of the
Steeler�s pass defense, definitely spend some time reading Still Crazy�s
article �Stillers pass defense in Game 2 (KC).�
The special teams were awful once again. This from a coach
who came up through the ranks as a special teams coach and played on special
teams when he was a player in the NFL. The kickoff coverage team was soft and
allowed a 100 yard KO return for a TD. The punt return team, not to be outdone,
allowed Dante Hall to return a punt 45 yards to the Stiller 7 where the Chiefs
converted an easy TD. The only reason the special teams would not receive an F-
for this game is Jeff Reed nailing a 51 yard field goal at the end of the first
half. Turnovers were another putrid area for the B&G. Tommy threw a killer
pick on third and goal from the five that killed a promising Stiller drive in
the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter, Verron Haynes killed
another promising drive with a fumble that could have sliced the lead to 7 with
about 4:00 or 5:00 minutes left. Really, the game ended with Tommy�s INT in the
3rd quarter. However, I felt like the Stillers �D� quit on that last
TD drive by the Chiefs. It may have just been they were demoralized after
watching the Steelers put together two promising drives only to have the offense
turn the ball over.
As for next week, I see the Stillers possibly struggling
with Jon Kitna and the Cincy passing attack, but the B&G should come out
with a W. Had the Stillers won in Arrowhead, this game could have set up for a
let down. As it is now, they will come out fired up and should have their best
day running the football so far this year. I look for the Stillers to keep it
close for a while and then pull away late for a 31-17 victory.