Dwayne Bowe made the one critical mistake that any rookie in the NFL never wants to make; he showed up 30 minutes late to his first practice. Bowe, who was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, described himself as “intimidating” but somehow left out the words “often late” and “apathetic” to describe himself.

If Bowe doesn’t think this is a big issue, he should talk to Cardinals wide receiver Bryant Johnson. Johnson, who was the Cards first round pick in 2003 and can now be considered a bust, had an embarrassing moment of his own when he first signed with the team and began practicing. At least Bowe wasn’t hungover when he showed up to camp. Way to go Bryant.

Bowe, who was touted as one of the top receivers in the class, should bring a major boost to the Chiefs wide receiving corps, a unit that can only be classified as a bunch of no-talent scrubs (except for Tony Gonzalez of course). Bowe’s large physical stature should benefit him in a division loaded with three great defenses in Denver, San Diego, and Oakland. If he has any sort of talent in his system, he should be a one or two receiver immediately on this team.

It’s still unclear as to whether concussion prone and perennial douche bag Trent Green will be traded to the Dolphins this off season. Whether its Green, Damon Huard, or eight year college starter at Alabama Brodie Croyle, Bowe will be a big target to look for. His impact should be felt right away, that is unless he keeps sleeping in and showing up to camp fashionably late.

The Rams added talent to a position which they felt they needed the most help at, kick returns, by picking up Dante Hall today. Hall was traded to the Rams along with the Chiefs third round pick (84) for the Rams 3rd round pick (82) and their fifth round pick. Personally, I think that the Rams had more pressing issues than the return game, but they felt that this addition would really help their team.

I would say that Hall has fallen off over the past few years. It wasn’t that long ago when there was talk of him possibly earning the MVP award (as ridiculous as that talk was, it was still talk), and now he’s being shipped off for a fifth round pick. I wouldn’t say that his nickname of “X-Factor” is no longer meaningful, but it’s getting pretty close. He can still break off huge returns, but they don’t seem to happen every time he touches the ball like they used to. The Rams must be thinking that his speed on turf will make him practically unstoppable, which could be true, but this could also turn out to be a useless pickup.

Maybe this is just an attempt to return “The Greatest Show on Turf” back to Saint Louis. I guess you could compare Hall to Az-Zahir Hakim, but even if the Rams can put out an offense as dominant as the one they fielded in 1999, they won’t have the defense to stop anybody. I guess now instead of picking Ted Ginn Jr. the Rams can just focus on defense in the draft, so maybe this work out well for them, we’ll have to wait and see how Dante does in his new stomping grounds.

With the loss of a couple high-profile lineman, their starting quarterback, and the inevitable aging of their star tight end, the Kansas City Chiefs might be seen as a team over the hill. But even through last year’s struggles, they rode their franchise running back Larry Johnson to the playoffs. But according to the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs are planning on selecting a running back early in the draft to back up Johnson or maybe even replace him.

Oklahoma?s Adrian Peterson, widely considered the top running back available in the draft, did not visit with the Chiefs this week. Neither did some of the other top runners, including Arizona?s Chris Henry, Auburn?s Kenny Irons, Penn State?s Tony Hunt and Alabama?s Kenneth Darby.

The Chiefs were unavailable Thursday to speak about their motives. But the agents for all of the players said the Chiefs told them they planned to draft a running back in an early round.

It’s hard to imagine shopping a guy that’s run for 3539 yards and 37 touchdowns in the last two seasons. But it could be a decent move if the Chiefs can get a good offer. With the retirement of Will Shields and Trent Green’s departure, the Chiefs could be entering a rebuilding period. Tony Gonzalez is getting up there in age and the defense isn’t very good. Do you shop Johnson? After all, he’s coming off an NFL record of 416 carries.

The Chiefs have shown that they’re not against drafting running backs early. After all, Johnson was drafted in the first round, even though the Chiefs had Priest Holmes. He was coming off a 1600 yard season with 21 touchdowns. But think about it, Kansas City. This is a team that has one of the most conservative coaches in the league. Why in the hell would you trade the only thing that resembles offense under Herm Edwards? With the NFL Draft just five days away, it’ll be interesting to see what the Chiefs do.

Watching the Kansas City Chiefs play last year, a couple of things were apparent. The Chiefs were a far better team with Damon Huard running the offense. The other thing: Trent Green was awful. The Chiefs decided they like offense, resigning Huard to a three year deal and deteriorating the free agent market in the process

I usually don’t condone starting quarterbacks losing their job because of injury but I would have made an exception here. Huard was very, very good in his eight starts. When people were quick to mail in Kansas City’s season, Huard went 5-3 and threw 11 touchdowns to just one interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 98 before being yanked for Green, who proceed to be awful.

“Damon had an excellent year in 2006 and contributed directly to getting our team to the playoffs,” Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson said in a release. “Damon is an excellent veteran player and an outstanding person. We’re delighted to have him under contract.”

Huard certainly contributed to the Chiefs’ playoff berth. He contributed about as much as Trent Green did to their playoff demise. After getting cheap-shotted by Cincinnati, Green exceeded 200 yards just once and was downright pitiful in the playoff loss to the Colts. The Chiefs couldn’t have been less threatening in the air during the final few weeks of the year. Huard eclipsed 200 yards five times and lost his job? I know Herm Edwards hates offense but that was a bad move.

I respect Trent Green for being a pretty classy guy throughout his career with the Rams and Chiefs. But he’s done. With Brodie Croyle still a year or two away from taking over, I think training camp should be an open competition for the starting job. Trinterception didn’t play like he had much left, while Huard really showed signs of leading that team places.

Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen has supposedly demanded a trade away from Kansas City. Based upon his past history, three DUI’s in the past four years, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was demanding a trade to Cincinnati. Regardless of where he ends up, Kansas City will be looking to deal him soon, if at all, so they can get some decent compensation.

I’m surprised that Allen is demanding a trade, he has played at a pretty high level since coming out of Idaho State University, averaging nine sacks per season. He is just looking for a contract extension, which he may or may not deserve, unfortunately it doesn’t appear as if the Chiefs are going to be willing to give it to him. This is good news for every team in the AFC West, bad news for the teams in his newest division.

It isn’t like Allen is an established veteran with great numbers year in and year out, so I can understand why the Chiefs may be reluctant to give him a contract. He isn’t quite yet a cornerstone to their team, but he could be in a few years. I’m just hoping he ends up in the party town that is Cincinnati if he does get traded, that way his chances of picking up another DUI increase exponentially. Although, sitting through another year of Royals baseball may induce more alcoholic tendencies.

If I had to pick out the reasons Kansas City was in the playoffs, I’d obviously start with their star running back Larry Johnson. But beyond that, I’d look out west for the reason the Chiefs are still playing. I’d look beyond the Rocky Mountains (while laughing at the Denver Broncos chokejob) and end in San Francisco. Because of the 49ers shocking win in Denver, the Chiefs are in the playoffs. Sure, they won their last two games to finish 9-7. But without the 49ers help, they’d be watching this weekend. Luckily for them, they’re in. Even more lucky is the fact that they actually have a chance to win this game.

Here’s a simple equation that could be very good to the Chiefs today in Indianapolis.

Elite running back + horrific run defense= Upset?

It’s that simple. Larry Johnson ran for 1789 yards this year, good for 2nd in the NFL behind MVP LaDainian Tomlinson. The Colts finished dead last in the NFL in stopping the run, allowing over 170 yards per game on the ground. The day will come when Indianapolis’ season ends because of this weakness. Will it be tomorrow? That’s what we’ll find out at 4:30 PM EST on NBC.

One look at the Colts shows that they’re basically the same team as past years. They put tons of points on the board with that offense but their undersized defense also gives up a lot on the other end. That simply doesn’t work in the playoffs because everybody knows defense wins championships. The Colts 12-4 regular season and undefeated start is out the window. Now is the time for Peyton Manning to shine. Can he? It won’t matter if he throws for 300 yards, a defense that gives up 200 on the ground will probably lose. Read the rest of this entry »