Tag: Kansas City Chiefs. (Page 16 of 36)

Charlie Weis to run Chiefs offense

It appears that Charlie Weis is heading back to the NFL, as ESPN.com is reporting that he has agreed to be the Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator.

Weis will be reunited with head coach Todd Haley, with whom he shared an office when both were young assistants with the New York Jets. Weis also will be reunited with Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who was Patriots vice president of player personnel when Weis was the offensive coordinator for three Super Bowl championships before going to coach at Notre Dame.

The Bears had also been in the mix to hire Weis as offensive coordinator but the Chiefs won out.

Haley ran the offense in his first year with the Chiefs after dismissing offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. Haley had expressed a desire to find a coordinator so he could better manage his head-coaching responsibilities.

This is a good move for the Chiefs. Weis failed as a head coach at Notre Dame, but don’t forget he was successful as an offensive coordinator with the Patriots before he arrived in South Bend. Plus, ND’s offense was rarely the problem under Weis’ direction and was actually quite potent last year with Jimmy Clausen under center.

With Matt Cassel’s experience running New England’s offense, this should be a perfect match. Plus, Haley can now concentrate on being a head coach and not having to worry about running the offense too.


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NFL Week 16 ROY Power Rankings

Lots of rookies this year keep reminding us why they were drafted so high, making this a very difficult race to predict. But we’ll try our best……

1. Jairus Byrd, Buffalo Bills—He hasn’t had an interception in a few weeks, but he’s still tied with Asante Samuel and Darren Sharper for the NFL lead with 9.

2. Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos—He leads all rookies with 897 rushing yards, with an outside chance of reaching 1000 yards Sunday against the Chiefs.

3. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—Yes, he plays for the Rams, and yes, a good linebacker who doesn’t rack up a ton of sacks isn’t one of those sexy picks for MVP or Rookie of the Year. But Laurinaitis’ 102 solo tackles ranks behind only Patrick Willis, Jon Beason and Curtis Lofton.

4. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—46 catches for 795 yards and 6 scores is a good stat line for any receiver. But when you consider how big a question mark the Giants were at the position, this rookie has stepped up nicely and immediately contributed.

5. Percy Harvin, Minnesota Vikings—He’s battled migraines recently, but this explosive game-changer is a dual threat as a receiver and as a kick returner.

Honorable mention: Johnny Knox, Bears; Ryan Succop, Chiefs; Beanie Wells, Cardinals; Jeremy Maclin, Eagles; Brian Cushing, Texans; LeSean McCoy, Eagles; Michael Oher, Ravens

Brandon Marshall out against Chiefs

According to ESPN.com, Broncos’ receiver Brandon Marshall won’t play against the Chiefs this Sunday due to a hamstring injury.

Marshall had sat out practice for the second straight day Thursday with a strained right hamstring that he suffered running a route.

Having him available to play is critical for the Broncos (8-7), who need to beat the last-place Chiefs in their regular-season finale and get some assistance if they’re going to qualify for the playoffs.

There are at least 10 different scenarios that can allow the Broncos to get into the postseason. The simplest is if two of these three lose: Baltimore, Pittsburgh and the Jets.

This is obviously a huge blow for the Broncos, but at least they’re facing a brutal Chiefs team that Denver crushed 44-13 in Week 13. Knowshon Moreno and Denver’s running game should have plenty room to operate against a Kansas City defense that ranks 30th in the NFL in run defense.

With this news, Eddie Royal suddenly becomes starter caliber and Marshall owners might find that he’s available on the waiver wire. The Chiefs’ pass defense isn’t good and the Broncos need the win so look for Royal to step up. Jabar Gaffney is also a sneaky good start.


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Bengals clinch AFC North with lackluster effort

Thanks to Cedric Benson’s 133 rushing yards, the Bengals beat the Chiefs 17-10 on Sunday to clinch the AFC North. It was Benson’s sixth 100-yard rushing performance of the season, which is a new franchise record for Cincinnati.

The Bengals defense was sound today, much like it has been all season. They surrendered only 10 points and 172 passing yards, although they did allow Jamaal Charles to rush for 102 yards on 24 carries.

But for as good as Benson and the defense looked, this wasn’t an overly impressive performance by Cincinnati. They battled San Diego last week, but outside of that game, the Bengals haven’t looked impressive since back-to-back wins over the Ravens and Steelers in mid November. They continue to struggle trying to make plays in the passing game and they seem to play down to their competition.

This has been a great year so far for the Bengals and I realize they’re kind of playing with house money because they weren’t supposed to be this good. But that said, this isn’t a team streaking into the playoffs with a full head of steam. Much like other teams, they have plenty of wrinkles to iron out and little time to do it. It’ll be interesting to see if they can figure things out in time for their first playoff game or if they’ll be one and done.

Jerome Harrison is better than Jim Brown

Really? No, not really. In fact, Cleveland fans might have me shot for even remotely joking about something like that. But Harrison did prove on Sunday that he’s even more dangerous than the Dos Equis Guy.

Harrison rushed for a franchise record 286 yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries, while adding two receptions for 12 yards in Cleveland’s 41-34 win. He scored the game-winning touchdown with under a minute to play to give Cleveland back to back winning weeks for the first time this season. Harrison now holds Cleveland’s all-time record for rushing yards in a game, surpassing the great Jim Brown.

Harrison was so good that he managed to overshadow Josh Cribbs, which was hard to do on a day like this. Cribbs tied an NFL record with two kick returns for touchdowns, both of which came from over 100 yards out. He is now the all-time record holder for kickoff return touchdowns, with eight in his career.

Regardless of whether or not Mike Holmgren takes over in Cleveland, the Browns have to do everything in their power to make Cribbs happy in the offseason. He threatened to hold out this past summer if the Browns didn’t re-do his contract, which they didn’t. He never held out and has been the Browns best player this season, so the team’s first mission in the offseason should resolve his contract dispute.

Speaking of the Browns’ offseason, what should they do with Eric Mangini? He was an easy fire a couple of months ago when the Browns were hapless, hopeless and completely lost, but they’ve played well of late. Should he keep his job or should the Browns start over if/when Holmgren comes to town? Usually head coaches are fired when the team is heading backwards, but Cleveland is actually moving forward.

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