Before I get to the title topic, I want to cover another subject: Trade possibilities before the deadline… and then Gambling.
A Chiefs Trade Before the Deadline?
Laddie Morse and I both think the Chiefs will make a move before the trade deadline. Laddie believes it will be a “lesser move.” I keep thinking about: what would happen if? Would a single-player addition make a difference on one side of the ball or the other, to put the team over the top for a run to Super Bowl LVI? Of course, but who?
Brian Burns, Edge, Panthers
I am not eliminating Edge Player Burns from the realm of possibility. Adding Burns would put the defense over the top with an edge player with bona fides and he is only 24 years old(September). Acquiring Burns would be the same as obtaining a #1 Edge player in the draft and he is already trained up and well-versed in Joe Cullen’s defensive line play. Cullen is the Chiefs new DL Coach and he was the Jaguars DC last season, so he may be familiar with Burns. In fact, Cullen is probably pounding the table — every time he comes near a table to pound — so that Brett Veach will make a deal for Burns.
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Burns would bring the Chiefs defense into top 10 discussions by the end of this season. Count me in for that! Would I give up two first-round picks to get him? I would give that up, plus one of our 3rd-round picks in the 2023 draft. The Chiefs have 2 thirds, and 2 fourth-round picks in the 2023 draft. Maybe I am crazier than you thought, right? Overall, the Chiefs have at least 11 picks in 2023 and possibly 12… if Eric Bieniemy is hired away for a head coaching job.
Brandin Cooks, WR, Texans
Cooks has also been a topic, and as I was made public this past week, the Chiefs have had their feelers out to find out what the Texans would want in return. I like this idea, too. I think he could be versed enough over three weeks to be a meaningful participant after week 10 and thus a factor in the Chargers game in week 11. At the same time, during his time in the NFL, he was drafted by the Saints, and traded to the Rams, Patriots, and Texans. I don’t have the storyline on that. However, it’s clear that he knows how to deal with opening a new playbook and then becoming a player who must be planned for. In 8 seasons in the NFL, he’s had 6 – 1,000 yard receiving seasons. His 4.33 time in the 40 still works.
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Would Cooks be an addition that puts the offense over the top? Due to the complexity of Andy Reid’s playbook, I think his value would take some time to bring to fruition. I could see Cooks becoming valuable in the stretch run, perhaps by week 11. His ability to break-down defenders who are in a cover-2 type scheme is a good fit. He is a solid WR and consistently provides 11+ YPC every season (he has a 13.8 YPC average for his career).
The Texans have a lot of work to do to rebuild their team after the Deshaun Watson quagmire. Texan GM Nick Caserio (out of the Patriot tree) has a tough job ahead of him. This is following the HC quagmire and the firing of Bill O’Brien that occurred in Houston as well. for the rest of the the 2020 season, Romeo Crennel tended shop. in 2021, the Texans hired Dave Culley for the position.
Recently, the powers of the Texans fired Jack Easterby as well — VP of Football Operations. For 2022, they hired Lovie Smith to stabilize the team, but I haven’t seen any reason not to turn over the reins to a new Head Coach in 2023 which would make the 4th HC of the Texans since Bill O’Brien was terminated (O’Brien was there from 2014-to-2020). Interestingly enough, O’Brien was also out of the Patriot organization. They are making due with QB Davis Mills, but is that enough? The Chiefs, Rams, and Packers have all made inquiries to GM Caserio about acquiring Cooks.
Read a local Houston, Texans article about Cooks’ trade possibility called, “How a potential Brandin Cooks trade would impact Texans, which NFL teams have made inquiries.”
Sidenote: Recent Texan Head Coaches, prior to Bill O’Brien, the Texan Head Coach list includes: Wade Phillips – took over for Gary Kubiak after his firing, Kubiak 2006-2013, and Dom Capers (2002-2005). I think you can see that the problem with the organization lies with ownership, the latest McNair being named Cal. Also, if you followed the Texan Team and local media, you would know that Easterby has been linked with internal controversies. Houston media breathed a short sigh of relief when Easterby was fired.
There are other players who fit the bill on both defense and offense. The list is long and varied. Burns and Cooks are two players well worth spending draft capital on.
Gambling Effect on NFL: Potential Cheating?
Maybe you are concerned about gambling on NFL games and teams. Maybe not, but I am. I recall the first Super Bowl and rumors and accusations levied toward Chiefs QB Lenny Dawson. I must admit to being more than a retirement age Senior Citizen, but I remember clearly the first so-called Super Bowl. The modern era onslaught has caught me off guard and I don’t like it. Part of that is institutionalizing gambling on the NFL as it’s current off-shoot of building money into each game played.
Different states have different laws. Recently, Kansas approved parimutuel betting including games of the NFL.
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That disturbs me (it also disturbs Laddie). For one reason, it empowers the Kansas side of the Kaw River feeling they had the ability to lobby for the new location of the Chiefs home field from the now Stadium, Arrowhead, to the Kansas Environs. I am opposed to putting Arrowhead in the so-called Wheat Fields. Not that I am opposed to Kansas, or fans from that side of the border or even down in Wichita. I am opposed to moving Arrowhead from Missouri to new environs. The benefit for Kansas City, Missouri is clear. The Kansas Side now has gambling money tossed into the picture. That, I oppose.
Editor’s Note: in an article called, “Legalized Sports Betting is a Horrible Idea,” for pittnews.com comes this:
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“The reality is that oddsmakers in Vegas use several kinds of algorithms, forecasting and seemingly mystical powers that ensure bettors will not gain an advantage over the oddsmakers. Sure, you’ll win here and there, but it’s not sustainable over long periods of time.”
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The point is, as a business, as with any business, to survive, those establishments must make a profit. The profit they make is based upon bettors failing more than 50% percent of the time. Since they are in the betting business, they know the algorithms, and you do not. If you think that your “mystical powers” to out-duel the betting companies is real, you’re lying to yourself.
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Some Personal History
I admit that I have returned to the K.C., Mo. area and I have found it quite foreign from the place that I knew in the time of my living there: 1955-1980. I drove through Hickman Mills on my last trip and recall touring around after the tornado area in the 1950s. I didn’t recognize that area any more. I had a girlfriend who lived off of 85th and Blue Ridge Parkway. It was still foreign. My father and my uncle worked for Federal agencies on Bannister road and the first home I bought was at 86th and Euclid.
The family was in the basement after a neighbor came by and hollered to my father, Edwin Bell, that the Tornado had hit Hickman Mills. Dad climbed out of the basement and got the updated information. My father’s home was on County Line Road on the Kansas side when it hit. We had lived there, and also in Merriam, Kansas and afterwards, near Shawnee.
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Mom used to drop my brother and I off at the Movie Theater on Saturday mornings (it was a cheap baby sitter). My father traded at a lumberyard in the river bottoms. I don’t recall the name any longer, but it had “Longhorns” over the business desk. I would go out to the end of the yard on a boardwalk, sit and watch the yard trains moving up and down the yard. One time, an engineer stopped by, seeing me sitting there and he offered a ride. So, I got a ride on a railroad engine at about age 4 or 5. No way in today’s world would a mother feel safe dropping kids at a movie theater or let alone to taking a ride on a locomotive in a Railroad Yard.
I am very uncomfortable with the influence of gambling on the outcome of games. Hearken back to the 1960s in K.C. and a crime family that was prominent. It is not the same now, as then.
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The Black Sox of 1919
Also, hearken back to 1919 and the Chicago Black Sox, you have a poke in the ribs for your discomfort, and you may be familiar with the film “Eight Men Out” (circa 1988, see the Trailer above). The book on which the film was based was published in 1963. It’s a pretty good accounting of the scandal. Buck Weaver continued all his life to be re-instated to Baseball. His daughter continued the effort after Buck’s death. You can read a good summary of the scandal here.
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Others besides Buck Weaver claimed to be innocent too. It can wreck a family and a reputation for a long time. That’s part of the point: gambling and sports don’t really mix. They never have. Every time you put them together, there’s problems. Like the Len Dawson scandal of the late 1960s. Of course, Len was totally innocent.
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Len Dawson Scandal
More recent than the Black Sox scandal of 1919 was Len Dawson and the 1970 gambling scandal that threatened to over come, he and the Chiefs. It had to do with a gambler who had been raided by the IRS and this implicated Len Dawson.
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BTW, the Chiefs won the game versus the Vikings 23-7. This gent was a restaurateur named Donald J. “the Dice” Dawson who was arrested in a Detroit hotel by IRS agents. The IRS confiscated gambling records and $450,000 on information that he had filed an untruthful tax return. The whole thing was an overwhelming accusation against Lenny.
Conspiracy Theory
Stacking the Deck Big Time: NFL East of the Hudson?
No matter how you pan it, the NFL powers that be have stacked the deck against the Chiefs with scheduling. In 2022, the Chiefs have faced 3 of 7 teams who had the #1 defense in the NFL at the time the game was played. I do understand the top teams who have won a Super Bowl, get a tough schedule of opponents. However, if you look at the Chiefs 2022 schedule, it becomes obvious. Among the teams on the schedule were the Colts, Bills, Raiders and 49ers all of whom had a top defense at the time the game was played. They faced 2021 playoff teams: Cardinals, Buccaneers, Chargers, Raiders, 49ers, Colts. They will face both the Chargers and Raiders a second time, and to include tough match-ups, include future games vs. the Titans, Bengals, and Rams. In all, they will have 11 opponents who were 2021 playoff teams in this years schedule and 11 games of 17 against top opponents. That’s a tough row to hoe. Coincidence? You be the judge.
Are Zebras Fair Game?
My answer is a vehement, “YES!“
Through seven games, the Chiefs have been flagged 37 times for 370 yards. At the same time, they have been beneficiary’s of flags where they were the offended team: 45 flag for 362 Yards. When you think about it, that’s pretty even. However, when you consider game changing type flags, 2 against Chris Jones are my primary focus. The roughing the passer flag was flagrant delecti! Cheffers made public statements, but if you had watched the game live, the play was an appropriate play, without intent to harm the Raider QB, and at full speed was unavoidable. Besides that, the ball was fumbled and Jones knocked the ball loose and then recovered it. In replay slow motion, the film reviews the same thing and include the view that Jones used his left arm and hand to break his fall on top of the QB. I am still angry with this new-found NFL Baloney.
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It’s nonsense, a bunch of BS – G3Box Photo Credit… PS: I am still angry about it
I perfectly understand protecting the franchise investment in the highest paid players on almost all teams. They are vulnerable. At the same time, to make calls such as the one by Cheffers changes how the game is played. It puts far too, much judgement in the hands of a Zebra. Are Zebras fair game in Africa? Are Zebras fair game in America? In my view, they just became a qualified prey.
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Referees deserve all the criticism they get and even more in 2022 due to this nonsense. Changing the game, it’s roughness and violence, creating a pretty bunch of fancies, and it will ruin the game if it’s allowed to continue.
My actual words included far worse attributes adjectives, and expletives.
Beyond the flags is the lack of consistency in calling penalties, from one NFL officiating crew to another. This bothers me a bunch. The same problem exists in football at every level. At this point, I am convicting the NFL on this as an aiding and abetting culprit. If you are going to change the game via officiating, count me out. It’s a rough and violent game. The public, by the way, views these calls in the same way that I do. One time, vs. the Titans, a flag flew and Chris Jones caught in the air. That would be the right action vs. Cheffers ludicrous flag. Intercepting the penalty flag. Sounds about right to me.
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This is beyond frustrating for legitimate fans of the game of football. The NFL Commissioner is aiding and abetting in the crime at the same time. Do you consider yourself a legit fan of NFL Football? Responde’ voux … with your thoughts!
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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