2011 Season Preview: Kansas City Chiefs

On the speedy heels of Jamaal Charles and the workhorse attitude of Thomas Jones, the Chiefs led the league in rushing last year. However, there is still a lot of questions on offense for this team. The Chiefs gave Matt Cassel a huge contract, and he was efficient with a 27:7 Touchdown-to-INT ratio. His 58% completion percentage was 26th in the league, and the offense was one-dimensional. Dwayne Bowe was the only consistent target in the passing game, and the Chiefs went out and added two former WPIAL standouts Steve Breaston (Woodland Hills) in free agency and Jonathan Baldwin (Aliquippa) in the draft. Cassel will need to improve if the Chiefs are going to repeat as division champs.

The Chiefs have a good young defense that has improved since they made the switch to a 3-4. Tamba Hali has excelled as a 3-4 OLB, ringing up 14.5 sacks last year. The Chiefs need to find a bookend pass rusher for Hali as LB Mike Vrabel decided to retire after a 14 year career. They did draft LB Justin Houston (Georgia) in the 3rd round and he could be the OLB of the future across from Hali, but it remains to be seen if he’s ready to go. Safety Eric Berry made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and was as good as advertised in the lead-up to the draft. 

The Chiefs were buoyed by great special teams play and a lack of turnovers. They had the second fewest turnovers in the league and this helped keep their offense on the field where they could pound teams in the run game. The distribution of carries between Charles and Jones figures to be similar this year, but the Chiefs will need to show something in the pass game to keep teams from stacking the box against them.

Exported from New England. It’s a cider so it’s a toned-down version of real beer. But when you get down to it, it’s still tasty and will get you drunk.