I realize it’s only January, but nothing should come close to touching Kent Babb’s story in Sunday’s Kansas City Star about the work atmosphere at 1 Arrowhead Drive. Of note, former Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley’s claim — whether real or paranoid — that his phones — yes, even his personal cellphone — may have been tampered with by the organization. He wasn’t the only one, as 610 Sports’ Nick Wright has pointed out in the past few days. UPDATE: Pro Football Talk says the NFL won’t be investigating the claims just yet. (H/t: Arrowhead Addict)

After the jump, an admittedly imagined conversation in which Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli unveils his cellphone tracking sonar spy machine. Also, a look inside Pioli’s office (special thanks to Christopher Nolan and Batman!).

Pioli: Beautiful, isn’t it?

Unidentified Chiefs employee (played by Morgan Freeman): Beautiful… unethical… dangerous. You’ve turned every cellphone in Gotham Kansas City into a microphone.

Pioli: And a high-frequency generator-receiver.

Unidentified Chiefs employee: You took my sonar concept and applied it to every phone in the city. With half the city feeding you sonar, you can image all of Gotham Kansas City. This is wrong.

Pioli: I’ve gotta find Todd Haley.

Unidentified Chiefs employee: At what cost?

Pioli: The database is null-key encrypted. It can only be accessed by one person.

Unidentified Chiefs employee: This is too much power for one person.

Pioli: That’s why I gave it to you. Only you can use it.

Unidentified Chiefs employee: Spying on 30 million people isn’t part of my job description.

But as 610′s Wright also highlighted this week, Pioli claims to have a million jobs — including chewing Chiefs employees’ asses for not picking up candy wrappers. Damn, they need better janitors at 1 Arrowhead.

We at The Pitch like to imagine this is what Pioli’s office looks like, according to the Star‘s story.

Gotta make sure the drones are working.

Uh, oh! He’s got a hit!

Read More: Willis McGahee (RB – DEN), Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos barely escaped Kansas City with a victory in November, and that was without Willis McGahee for most of the game. This week, McGahee will go up against the Chiefs and he’s looking to play the entire game, reports CBS Sports’ Lee Rasizer. McGahee dealt with a hamstring issue that game and then had to overcome a knee issue in December. He has been limited since that mid-November game, but he has gone over 1,000 rushing yards for the season.

McGahee has led a resurgent Broncos rushing attack, which hadn’t had a 1,000 yard rusher since Tatum Bell did it in 2006. With this game being almost like a playoff game, McGahee wants to do his part to lead the Broncos to a AFC West title for the first time since 2005.

For more on this Week 17 game, visit Broncos blog Mile High Report and Chiefs blog Arrowhead Pride. Be sure to check out SB Nation NFL for more news and notes around the league.

The Green Bay Packers (13-0) take on the Kansas City Chiefs (5-8) at Kansas City on December 18th, 2011. These two teams are headed in opposite directions. Green Bay has clinched not only the NFC North title, but also a first round bye in the playoffs. The Chiefs are in last place in the AFC West and have lost five of their last six.

Part of the reason the Chiefs are in last place is their inability to score. They have scored just 173 points in 13 games, last in the AFC and second worst in the NFL. Some of this can be attributed to key injuries. Running back Jamaal Charles rushed for nearly 1500 yards in 2010 but went out for the season with a torn ACL back in September. Starting quarterback Matt Cassel went on injured reserve in November. Green Bay is the highest scoring team in the NFL with 466 points, so Kansas City will have to keep quarterback Aaron Rodgers and company off the field to have any chance of winning.

The Chiefs do have a fairly good pass defense, allowing 209.3 yards per game, tenth best in the NFL. They’ll need to bring their A game, as Rodgers is the league’s top rated quarterback with a QB rating of 123.3. He has 39 touchdown passes and just six interceptions. Back on November 21st the league’s second rated quarterback, New England’s Tom Brady, threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs in the Patriots’ 34-3 victory. Kansas City can’t allow a similar performance from Rodgers.

The Packers will be without the services of Greg Jennings (949 receiving yards, nine touchdowns) until the playoffs, but they have so many capable receivers it just means more chances for everybody else. Jordy Nelson has 10 touchdown receptions and 957 yards, James Jones has five TD’s, and the venerable Donald Driver has four, including two in the Packers’ victory over the New York Giants on December 4th. With Jennings out, I would expect to see more of KR/WR Randall Cobb on passing downs. Rodgers also has thrown eight TD passes to tight ends, including six to Jermichael Finley. Again, with Jennings out , I would expect Rodgers to utilize the tight ends even more.

There is more bad news for Kansas City’s defense. Green Bay rediscovered the running game in their 46-16 rout of the Oakland Raiders on December 11th. Ryan Grant rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns, and Green Bay had a total of 136 rushing yards for the game.

The Packers simply have too much offense for the Chiefs to overcome. Green Bay will improve to 14-0, and in doing so, secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Mark Hudziak is a Featured Contributor in Sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. He has been a fan of the Green Bay Packers since the Vince Lombardi Era.

Sources:

Yahoo! Sports Green Bay Packers team site

Yahoo! Sports Kansas City Chiefs team site

Statistics from Yahoo! Sports NFL

More from this contributor:

Milwaukee Brewers Agree to Terms with Aramis Ramirez, Trade Casey McGehee: Fan’s Reaction

Brewers Lose Hairston and Hawkins, Sign Gonzalez at 2011 Winter Meetings: Fan’s View

History of the New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers Playoff Games

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“The first half, when we can’t get a first down and are terrible keeping the other team from getting a first down, that will not be a good half,” Haley said.

“They did a great job in the red zone,” he added about the Jets. “They were more prepared and just played better, period.”

Through two quarters, New York (8-5) led Kansas City 253-4 in yards, 16-1 in first downs, and 20:34-9:26 in time of possession.

Not a formula for success for the Chiefs (5-8).

“It was probably our worst half of football,” Haley said. “I don’t know if it’s even close this season.”

The second half wasn’t much better, marked mostly by penalties. In the most brutal stretch, the Chiefs were penalized five times for 81 yards during the Jets’ final touchdown drive. One of those was an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Haley. Kansas City finished with 11 penalties.

“That generally gets you beat,” said Haley, who would not elaborate on what he said to the officials. “The one thing we can’t do is lose our composure on calls.”

Tyler Palko was sacked five times, a week after the quarterback earned his first victory as a starter at Chicago. He was 3 for 8 for 11 yards in the first half. He finished 16 of 32 for 195 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“It seems like they play 12 or 13 guys sometimes because they have guys all over the place,” Palko said, comparing New York’s defense to Pittsburgh’s.

Dwayne Bowe dropped a would-be touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter for Kansas City.

Mark Sanchez threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores as the Jets improved their lot in the AFC playoff race. The Jets were helped by that inept Chiefs offense, and KC couldn’t stop New York’s rushing game, either.

Sanchez was 13 of 21 for 181 yards and was cheered warmly in pregame introductions after being booed in the team’s last home game two weeks ago. Shonn Greene had a season-high 129 yards rushing and a score, and Santonio Holmes and LaDainian Tomlinson each caught touchdown passes for the Jets, who have won three straight and improved to 6-1 at home.

The Jets’ first drive began ominously as Sanchez was forced to call a timeout — to loud boos — before New York even ran a play because of confusion on personnel.

The Jets rebounded nicely with an 11-play, 77-yard touchdown drive jump-started by Greene’s 31-yard rumble on the opening snap. On third-and-goal from the 3, Sanchez threw incomplete into the end zone, but Chiefs cornerback Javier Arenas was called for holding.

Sanchez took the next snap, faked the handoff to Greene and nearly every Chiefs player bit as the Jets quarterback rolled to his left and strolled into the end zone untouched.

Ryan Succop’s 53-yard field goal late in the opening quarter made it 7-3.

Palko, starting again with newly signed Kyle Orton inactive with an injured right index finger, made a poor throw intended for Steve Breaston that Jim Leonhard picked off easily early in the second quarter. Breaston grabbed Leonhard for a twisting tackle on which the safety’s right knee was injured.

On the next play, Sanchez, facing heavy pressure, dumped the ball to Greene, who zipped down the left sideline 36 yards. Sanchez found Holmes in the middle of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

Greene’s 7-yard run put New York ahead 21-3 after a fumble was challenged by coach Rex Ryan and overturned by video replay.

Things started getting out of hand midway through the third quarter when the Chiefs were called for three straight penalties, including the unsportsmanlike conduct on an irate Haley, helping move the Jets all the way from their 3 to the 43. A few plays later, Brandon Flowers and Kendrick Lewis were called for consecutive pass interference penalties, bringing the ball to the KC 4.

On third-and-goal, Sanchez took the snap and rolled into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown run and a 35-3 lead.

Notes: Chiefs K Ryan Succop badly botched an onside kick attempt that traveled 3 yards early in the fourth quarter. … Chiefs S Jon McGraw left in the second quarter with an injured left ankle and didn’t return. … New York’s five sacks were a season high. … Chiefs RB Thomas Jones had just 12 yards on five carries, but passed Eddie George and Tiki Barber for 22nd on the NFL’s career list.

___

AP Sports Writer Dennis Waszak Jr. contributed to this story.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Even though he spent just three relatively unremarkable seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Chester McGlockton was still a part of the Chiefs family. The former defensive lineman passed away early in the morning Nov. 30. He was only 42 and serving as a defensive assistant at Stanford.

McGlockton was a big, big man. He was 6’3″ but tipped the scales at a massive 334 pounds as a defensive tackle and defensive end. He spent 12 years in the NFL from 1992 to 2003. Half of his career was with the Oakland Raiders before coming over the Chiefs in 1998 for three years before finishing out his career with the Denver Broncos and New York Jets.

When he was in Kansas City, McGlockton had seven sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles to go along with 87 solo tackles. He made the Pro Bowl four seasons, all with the Raiders. His best year was 1994 when he recorded 9 ½ sacks. He had one touchdown in his career, a fumble return in 2002 when he played for the Broncos.

McGlockton wasn’t as well known as another defensive player on the Chiefs that played with him. The giant was a teammate of linebacker Derrick Thomas for two years from 1998 to 1999. Both players were key members of the defense that anchored Kansas City’s tough teams of the era.

As compared to his years in Oakland, McGlockton was still in his prime by the time he got to the Midwest. When he got to Kansas City, he was an important focus of offensive lineman. When the opposition keyed in on McGlockton, it freed up space for Thomas to move in on quarterbacks. The big man suffered injuries throughout his 2001 and 2002 seasons, according to Sports Illustrated.

The Chiefs website states McGlockton supposedly went over to the Chiefs’ sideline during a 30-0 rout at the hands of the Raiders. The purpose of the visit was to ask then-head coach Marty Schottenheimer to sign him after the end of the year. The team made good on his promise after McGlockton was feuding with team owner Al Davis of Oakland.

McGlockton’s presence on the Stanford sideline will be missed. The Cardinal came up just short as they bid for the inaugural Pac-12 championship game. The team has yet to find out its bowl destination but will certainly be invited to a BCS bowl game later in the season.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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