Chiefs: Have You Noticed?

Chiefs: Have You Noticed? – I was perusing the usual articles and postings around the NFL before the trade deadline, and it was to a wall of speculation, desires, and wants. Since then, traffic has been light. The quiet extended to other fan sites as well as Twitter. I thought that was odd but then I took a couple of days where I have been less active myself. Have you noticed? The Chiefs are still division leaders. Have you Noticed? Other things I noticed are highlights for a quiet week.

Late News – Troop Movements

• The Chiefs released Cody Thompson from Practice Squad.
• The Chiefs signed Jack Fox to the Practice Squad.
• The Chiefs moved DT Greg Senat to the IR.
• The Chiefs released QB Kyle Shurmur.
• The Chiefs activated QB Chad Henne.
• The Chiefs called up DT Joey Ivie to the active Roster.

Game Status – Questionable?

Some good news occurred late this week when the Chiefs, who had injured QB Pat Mahomes practicing (LP) and there were a lot of comments about this. He then was upgraded to questionable for Sunday. That means he could play. At least we know he is going to be the #2 behind Matt Moore and if Moore were injured, Pat would be put to work. On the other hand, all week, Matt Moore has taken the “Starter Snaps”. This is a bit puzzling to say the least. Which way is Reid going to go? Even having Henne moved to the active roster at the same time — Oh I know, this is just to confuse the Vikings because Henne’s status is also now “Questionable.”

Several other players were back at practice after being on the injury list for varying periods of time. Of note, Chris Jones was FP and everyone I think is pleased as punch about this — the Chiefs are getting the most out if it as Jones has gained great popularity in town the past two seasons and was greatly missed due to the fact that he is ostensibly the best Defensive Lineman on the team. His leadership has been sorely absent too.

Frank Clark ended up changing status to practicing late in the week and he will be available to play. Clark suffered a neck injury vs. the Raiders in Week Two. He had his best game against the Broncos but after that he had nearly two weeks out missing the Packers game on the Injury list.

Breeland, Colquitt, Mahomes, Fuller and Clark were all in the LP status Friday but all are listed as questionable including Chris Jones. Add to this list of “questionable,” QB Chad Henne and that is a big list. All others if no ruled out were FP status.

Mahomes? Last Sunday, Ian Rapoport indicated that Pat Mahomes would have a legitimate shot at starting against the Vikings, The week went a long and Pat was looking better and better. Andy Reid himself was hedging his bets.By Friday Rappoport tweeted that at least he had a shot at playing (I wonder if that’s due to the national following of Pat Mahomes):

Outliers

LDT, Eric Fisher, and Alex Okafor. So from this list the Chiefs will be missing two starting members of the offensive line crew. Besides the players that I listed in the Friday Article, vis a vis on the positive side, Andrew Wiley being ready to go as a guard and having Martinas Rankin ready to go at least gives the Chiefs two linemen who have started this year. Stefan Wisniewski is also available as is Cam Erving. I would wager there was some crow being eaten this fall about Eric Fisher and his import the front line play. As it is, we go from there. Alex Okafor has played an integral and at least efficient role as a DE for the front four.

Confusion for the Vikes? – Maybe a Little

With Moore ready to start and the next two QB’s being Questionable for Sunday’s game, I suppose that there was confusion about who and how to prepare for the Chiefs offense. Too, having both Jones and Clark rejoin the active players on the front four defense must have given pause for consideration also. It is doubtful to me that the player availability, aside from Pat Mahomes, caused a great deal of worry.

Confusion for Chief fans, prognosticators, pundits and odds-makers is a different story. As I understood it, Friday afternoon the Vegas guys were still confused about how to set the odds.

My Take?

Matt Moore has had two successful outings as a starting QB. He acquitted himself with aplomb in the losing cause against the Packers. He deserves a lot of credit. As I noted about, the Chiefs had Moore taking most snaps under center this week but the Mahomes Factor gives me pause. I wrote on Friday about the AFC west race closing to a one game lead should the Chiefs lose. I wrote before that that I thought Pat Mahomes was itching to go last week as well. Even in the case where he was held out by the medical staff, Pat Showed leadership. He and Matt were in constant ongoing conversation during the week of practice and during the game.

If he is ready to play, then I want him to play. If not, then why did Henne come up and why did they release Shurmur?

Oddsmakers

If the odds makers are having difficulty setting the odds, which I can clearly understand, it makes it even more difficult for the Chiefs hometown pundits. I am having difficulty myself. If Pat Mahomes is going to play, does that mean the offense, increasing it’s dynamism get back to scoring 30 plus? Will Mahomes be a bit rusty and they score 26 or 28? The Matt Moore led Chiefs scored 24 against a top NFL team and I don’t rate the Vikings in the category of the Pack or Patriots for example.

A Confusing Prediction?

Chiefs 31 – Vikings 27: with either QB starting. After all, it will be Moore or Mahomes. Henne has got to be knocking rust off into next week. Standby for the OPEN THREAD at 11:00AM. Today is Sunday… finally!

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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