The Kansas City Chiefs begin the Herman Edwards era on Sunday at Arrowhead when they welcome the ferocious Cincinnati Bengals and this could be the start of a very long season for Trent Green and his mates.

When handicapping a team my first inclination is too look for an experienced offensive line that can run the ball and keep the quarterback vertical. In Kansas City this has been their strength with Roaf, Shields, Waters, Wiegmann, and Welbourn, but you can remove the bookend tackles Roaf and Welbourn who both retired.

Replacing Roaf is Kyle Turley who has not played since 2003 and is 25 pounds under his playing weight at that time. Replacing Welbourn is Kevin Sampson who was drafted in 2004 and has played a total of 2 games.

The Chiefs have an emerging superstar in Larry Johnson at running back, but he will not have the luxury of experienced fullback Tony Richardson who has moved on and this will certainly cause problems. So before you do any football betting on Johnson, I advise you to research the odds at your favorite sportsbook. His replacement Ronnie Cruz was undrafted and played at some school called Northern State.

KC will not have the luxury of turning to Priest Holmes, as he is battling career threatening injuries, so if Johnson goes down, Michael Bennett is average at best.

Now we all know that Trent Green has been a durable machine in Missouri, but if he goes down, things get very dicey.

Damon Huard, who is 33 and hasn't completed an NFL pass since the 2000 season is the backup, and this is not good.

The defensive side of the ball has always been the Chiefs' Achilles heel and I don't see this changing much. Bringing over Ty Law and Patrick Surtain was a mistake and the line has gone through too many changes. Their strength is at linebacker with Mitchell, Johnson, and Bell, but that is not enough.

Arrowhead Stadium can be loud and raucous, but the Bengals will quickly bring them down to a dull roar come Sunday afternoon!

Bob Acton

Sports Betting