2005 kansas city chiefs seasonal highlight clips

Transcription

2005 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
SEASONAL HIGHLIGHT CLIPS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
KC Can Go Deeper At Receiver – Adam Teicher
2-3
Johnson Showing He’s As Good As He Thinks – Bob Lutz
4-5
Chiefs Hoping Colquitt Will Finally Solve Their Punting Problems – Doug Tucker 6-7
Green Needs To Win Big One To Elevate Status – Bob Lutz
8-9
Wilson Finally Ready To Get Started – Doug Tucker
10-11
Sharing The Workload – Rick Dean
12-14
Chiefs Defensive Coordinator In Charge Of Turnaround – Doug Tucker
15-16
Allen’s Secret Out – Adam Teicher
17-18
Worry Line – Adam Teicher
19-20
Chiefs Counting on Knight, Surtain To Revive Secondary – Doug Tucker
21-22
Cornerbacks’ Camaraderie Overcomes Competition – Liz Merrill
23-24
Things You Learn At Camp – Bob Gretz
25-27
Old School D – Jeffri Chadiha
28-29
Chiefs Move Up At Linebacker – Adam Teicher
30-31
Déjà vu With A Guy From Jersey – Bob Gretz
32-33
All Eyes On DJ – Rick Dean
34-35
Johnson Making Most Of Opportunity – Rick Dean
36-37
No Doubt, Holmes Bounces Back – Liz Merrill
38-39
Chiefs Relish Relay Attack – Rick Dean
40-41
Sweet Samie: Second-Year Receiver Continues To Shine – Scott Dochterman 42-43
Chiefs Assemble NFL’s Best Offense Mostly From Spare Parts – Adam Teicher 44-46
First Vs. Worst – Liz Merrill
47-49
Cunningham Attempting To Change Culture Of Losing – Adam Teicher
50-53
Gonzalez Built His KC Persona With Looks, Money, Charm – Wright Thompson 54-55
Chiefs’ Holmes Visualizes Another TD-Heavy Season – Jim Corbett
56-58
True Grit – Liz Merrill
59-60
Chiefs Offense Ready To Roll – Scott Dochterman
61-62
Coaches Worked Hard To Make Mitchell Meaner – Adam Teicher
63-64
Cavalry Has Arrived – Adam Teicher
65-66
It’s A Year To Toast Vermeil – Liz Merrill
67-69
KC can go deeper at receiver
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sat, Jul. 30, 2005
CHIEFS TRAINING CAMP
Team has no shortage of candidates at position
By ADAM TEICHER The Kansas City Star
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The highlight of early training camp for Dick Vermeil came Friday morning when he watched Marc Boerigter and
Chris Horn join the Chiefs for practice.
Their return after missing offseason work because of knee injuries gives the Chiefs, at long last, an abundance of healthy and capable wide
receivers.
The Chiefs have gone begging for receivers during most of Vermeil’s time as head coach. As recently as last season, they were forced to
play undrafted rookie Richard Smith, a move that proved costly because Smith wasn’t ready for NFL competition.
Having seven viable candidates for, at most, six roster spots is tremendous progress to Vermeil. The candidate list swells to eight today
when rookie Craphonso Thorpe practices after agreeing to contract terms Friday.
“Everybody would like to have two All-Pros playing at wide receiver,” Vermeil said. “We don’t have two All-Pros, but what we do have is a
bunch of good football players, and players with the ability to get better.”
Along with the numbers comes plenty of uncertainty. None of their receivers has been a Pro Bowler, not counting kick-return specialist
Dante Hall. Only Eddie Kennison has been a consistently productive pass catcher.
Only Kennison, Hall and Samie Parker are guaranteed to be with the Chiefs when they open the season Sept. 11 against the New York Jets
at Arrowhead Stadium. They even hope to reduce Hall’s snaps to keep him fresh for his special-teams duties.
Boerigter can secure a roster spot with a good camp. So can Freddie Mitchell. Horn is the Chiefs’ best ball catcher, a skill that could make
him tough to let go.
Thorpe and Smith could wedge their way into the immediate plans by playing well in camp and preseason.
Although the Chiefs are lacking a superstar wide receiver, they’ve had many seasons when they would have envied this kind of depth.
“This will be the most competitive training camp I’ve ever been through,” Horn said. “Every single guy from top to bottom is talented
enough to make the roster and play during the regular season.”
The Chiefs saw this situation developing and were comfortable dumping three-year starter Johnnie Morton. He never was the receiver the
Chiefs envisioned, but Morton became dependable enough last season that quarterback Trent Green often went to him on third downs and
in other clutch situations.
Developing somebody with that ability is one of the biggest offensive issues of camp.
“Freddie Mitchell was that kind of guy in Philadelphia, from what (Eagles coach) Andy Reid told me,” Vermeil said. “Chris Horn is that kind
of guy, too.”
Kennison is one starter, and Parker is first in line to be the other. The speedy Parker tantalized the Chiefs late last season by making
several big plays. But he’s only in his second season and is on the small side at 5 feet 11 and 190 pounds, so the Chiefs believe he might
not be ready to play a full game.
“I’d like to see him play 35 to 45 plays a game, catch three or four balls a game with one being a big one,” Vermeil said. “We’ll have
enough depth that we’ll be able to rotate some guys through to take those other snaps.”
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Parker said: “I’m ready for whatever they ask me to do. We’ve got a lot of young receivers who haven’t been in the league for a lot of
years. Eddie is the only one who’s been around for a long time. So somebody has to step up and take on more responsibility.”
Mitchell, who got his camp off to a strong start by making several big catches Thursday, is the receiver with the most room for upward
mobility on the depth chart. The Eagles made him their top pick in 2001, but he never played like a first-round choice.
Mitchell never became a full-time starter, and his best season was in 2003, when he caught 35 passes. He frequently complained about his
low numbers, and the Eagles, tired of the distractions, let him go.
Perhaps sensitive to creating similar problems with his new team, Mitchell issued politically correct answers when asked about playing time
with the Chiefs.
“I’m trying to learn the offense and make the team better,” he said. “That’s all I want to do: be a part of a win and not have a game where
I’m not part of a win.
“I never have anything to prove. It’s a team game. Every time you’re trying to prove something to somebody outside the team, that’s
when things go to (garbage).”
Go to KansasCity.com for
a photo gallery and the latest news
from Chiefs training camp
To reach Adam Teicher, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4875 or send e-mail to [email protected]
© 2005 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansascity.com
7/30/2005
Johnson showing he's as good as he thinks
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - First-round bust? Or a Priest Holmes in the making?
The jury is still out when it comes to Chiefs third-year running back Larry Johnson. But a year ago at this time, the verdict most likely
would have been bust.
If Johnson didn't change a lot of minds with his production during three ho-hum December games in 2004, he at least opened them.
In those games -- victories over Oakland, Tennessee and Denver -- Johnson rushed for 373 yards and five touchdowns on 57 carries. He
showed blazing speed and ability to elude tackles. And he showed he's not afraid to run over defenders.
He caught balls out of the backfield and was even marginally successful as a pass blocker.
Holmes, who missed the final eight games of 2004 with a strained MCL in his right knee, looks good to go so far during the team's training
camp.
But he'll turn 32 in October, and there are sure to be days when he's dragging.
Johnson showed he's more than just an insurance policy. He's a legitimate back, and the Chiefs' offensive braintrust is trying to figure out
more ways to get him involved in the fireworks, even if Holmes gets through the season without a scratch.
There have been sightings of Holmes and Johnson working in the same backfield during training camp.
Johnson is working a lot with the first-team offense. He is far from the wallflower who spent most of his rookie season in 2003 sulking and
pining for playing time.
Now Johnson has managed to get his name onto a crowded marquee of Kansas City offensive stars.
It's now: "The Kansas City Chiefs, starring Priest Holmes, Trent Green, Tony Gonzalez, Will Shields, Dante Hall, Willie Roaf, Tony
Richardson and Larry Johnson."
"I think he proved what we already knew and that's he can run with the football," Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders said of
Johnson. "That's why we drafted him in the first round."
But if you're in the Kansas City backfield, you also have to be a target for Green, the quarterback. And you have to be willing to throw a
block into a steamrolling linebacker, safety or defensive end to protect your quarterback.
Those are the areas in which Johnson took more time to develop. And they're why he spent most of his rookie year standing and watching,
but not always quietly.
Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil became so fed up with Johnson's media blasts that he called him out last September, saying Johnson
needed to "take off the diapers" if he wanted a chance to play.
You got the idea right then and there that Vermeil was doing more than just chiding his young back; that maybe there was a method to
his ways. It might not be coincidence that Johnson, when given that chance, produced.
To this day, though, Johnson, who was angered by Vermeil's diaper blast, says he didn't need to be inspired.
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"I inspire myself," he said. "I'm a competitor and with every opportunity I get I'm going to try and prove that I should be the starter if we
need it, the next guy up after Priest."
Johnson has always been good at talking about how good he is, and his boastful nature didn't go over well with the media or Chiefs fans.
"The media thought I was just some spoiled kid," Johnson said. "They think that with Priest here, I should just calm down and wait my
turn."
But Johnson rattled cages, and when he was finally offered the opportunity, he busted out.
Holmes, the Chiefs' career rushing leader, was having another hugely productive season running in 2004 when his knee gave out. But in
eight games, he caught only 19 passes, a huge drop from the three previous seasons when he averaged 69 receptions.
There's a lot of wear and tear on Holmes' body. He averaged nearly 25 carries per game last season and the Chiefs would be foolish to
continue having him carry that big of a load.
Johnson, who will be 26 in November, may have put to rest concerns that he's not well rounded enough to be an NFL back -- or more
precisely a Chiefs back.
But he was at his best in games that really had no meaning, against opponents who also were playing for nothing. How will he do on
center stage in games that matter and against opponents who are breathing fire?
"To come out and really pick it up in the last few games last season was a real confidence booster," Johnson said. "Hopefully I can make it
happen again this year -- just with a few more games and opportunities."
While Saunders hinted that a Holmes-Johnson two-man backfield could be an occasional reality, Vermeil wasn't as quick to sign off.
Yes, the Chiefs are working on a few two-back sets in camp.
"But, you know, most of the time you do a lot of that sort of thing during training camp and then you get into the regular season games
and you don't use it," Vermeil said. "Now, maybe with these two guys we will. But it's not like we're going to go back to the old-fashioned
two-back set."
The likely scenario has Johnson spelling Holmes a lot more than ever. Holmes will get the bulk of the carries, but gone are the days when
he gets them all.
Johnson is a weapon and Saunders likes all of those he can put in his trick bag.
So does Green, who has no problem divvying up the offensive fun.
"Hopefully, Larry's role in the offense this season is the same and even more," Green said. "It's clear Priest is going to be the starter. But I
think we'll be able to rotate the two of them and take some of the pressure off Priest. Based on what (Johnson) has done out here so far,
he's going to be prepared whether he gets 10 snaps a game or 45."
Johnson would vote for somewhere in between. He recognizes Holmes' value to the team. But he also recognizes his own and always has,
even when others didn't.
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com
7/31/2005
Chiefs hoping Colquitt will finally solve their punting problems
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sat, Jul. 30, 2005
DOUG TUCKER
Associated Press
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Just half a second and about 21 feet are all the Kansas City Chiefs are asking for.
It sounds so simple, easily within reach.
But an extra split-second of hang time and a net punting average around 38.5 yards instead of 31.5 could make the difference between a
mediocre season like last year's 7-9 disappointment and a playoff push reminiscent of the 13-3 campaign of 2003.
Even in 2003, the Chiefs had trouble punting and playing defense - a dangerous combination in any league but certain to be lethal in the
NFL.
Then last year, it got uglier. The defense, with practically everyone coming back, was one of the NFL's most feeble. At the same time,
Kansas City's net punting average of 31.5 yards - crafted by three different kickers in what turned into a virtually bum-of-the-month club
around Arrowhead Stadium - was the absolute worst.
It all added up to a frustrating year for a championship-caliber offense that topped the league in total yardage.
Now, with a bevy of offseason acquisitions and the bold moxie of coordinator Gunther Cunningham, the Chiefs hope they've addressed
their atrocious defense. As many as five new starters could emerge.
But only one man can revive the punting game. His name is Dustin Colquitt. The third-round draft pick out of Tennessee who kicks leftfooted and has been known to hang the ball in the air for more than 5 seconds, about half a second longer than the NFL average.
The Chiefs have seen nothing in their first few training camp workouts to believe they've made a mistake. Dante Hall, one of the league's
most feared punt returners, has twice failed to hold onto a high, arching kick from the left-footed rookie.
"A very talented punter," said Kendall Gammon, Kansas City's 14-year veteran deep snapper.
"He's got a lot of potential. He's got a strong, strong leg. He hangs the ball up there a long time."
Kicking left-footed is a big advantage because it puts a slant on the ball to which returners are not accustomed.
"It's difficult to catch because he kicks left-footed and the ball has a funny wobble to it. He's lucky he was blessed with that," Gammon
said.
If Colquitt fails to become a topflight punter, it will be a family scandal. His father, Craig, punted for the Pittsburgh Steelers and has two
Super Bowl rings. His cousin, Jimmy, holds Tennessee's career punting average. His younger brother Britton is slated to punt for the Vols
this season.
It's no wonder the Colquitts are known in Tennessee as "the first family of fourth down."
"I've heard them say that," Colquitt said. "It's kind of true. God's kind of put it in our bloodline. My dad, my first cousin, my little brother."
Soccer was actually this Colquitt's first love. He didn't even start punting until his senior year in high school. But once an interest was
sparked, his dad jumped into the project full-bore.
"Once I took that step my senior year and I started kicking, he was out there every day," Colquitt said. "He'd leave work early. He loved it
after that. He was just wanting me to be happy, whether it was basketball, soccer or whatever I did."
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That all-important hang time may turn out to be one of his biggest assets. His goal is around 5 seconds - maybe even 5.1.
"That way, the coverage team can get down there," he said. "You get a 5.1 and they're going to be standing there waiting for it to come
down."
Coming from Tennessee, he's not likely to be intimidated by the size of the crowd at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. And he relishes the
challenge of solving a team's punting woes.
"I like pressure-type situations," he said. "Most of my big punts at Tennessee came in the fourth quarter, at the end of halftime and stuff
like that. I'm excited for the opportunity. I know they've had bad luck in the past but that's why they drafted me. They drafted me to fix
that."
© 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/12265354.htm?template=contentModules/printstor... 7/31/2005
Green needs to win big one to elevate status
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Mon, Aug. 01, 2005
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Where do you stand on Chiefs quarterback Trent Green?
Is he a great quarterback, as some of his dazzling passing numbers would suggest?
Or is he just a good quarterback, buoyed by an offensive system that would succeed with Paris Hilton behind center?
It's a tough argument because the numbers tell two vastly different stories.
One is that Trent Green has the sixth-highest passer rating in NFL history. His 87.9 mark ranks behind only Steve Young, Kurt Warner,
Daunte Culpepper, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana.
During his four seasons in Kansas City, Green has passed for 16,103 yards. Only the Colts' Manning has more during that period.
In 2004, Green's 4,591 yards led the AFC. If he can play for three more seasons, he has a chance to zoom past Len Dawson's franchise
record 28,507 career passing yards. If that happens, Green will have done in seven seasons what Dawson did in 14.
Green, despite an injury-filled past, has started all 64 games since arriving in Kansas City in 2001. Nobody could have expected this kind
of success from a guy who was drafted in the eighth round by the San Diego Chargers in 1993.
Yet there is that other set of numbers that doesn't flatter Green.
As the Chiefs' starting quarterback, he has a 34-30 regular-season record. In his one playoff game, Kansas City lost to Indianapolis.
Green has been plagued by untimely interceptions during his career in Kansas City. Last season, two picks late in games were especially
hurtful in losses to Houston and New Orleans.
But you can make a solid argument that Green is asked to do more than any other NFL quarterback because of a defense that struggles to
keep opposing teams from lighting up scoreboards.
During KC's 8-8 season in 2002, the Chiefs lost four games in which they scored at least 32 points. Last season, Kansas City lost a pair of
34-31 games.
In Green's 64 games, the Chiefs have scored 20 or more points 45 times, including 37 of 48 the past three seasons.
But it's anything but a guaranteed win when Kansas City's offense erupts because of that defense. So Green is a victim of the same
system that has made him so wildly successful.
Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil gives his quarterbacks the keys to the family's luxury car, but the defense often drives it right into a ditch.
The buttoned-down Green would never come out and say anything negative about the Chiefs' defense, though. Or about Vermeil's system.
He knows the clock is ticking on an old Kansas City offense. He's 35 and the hair on his head is sprinkled with gray.
To be considered an elite quarterback, Green needs to get a team to a Super Bowl. The Chiefs think they have made the necessary
upgrades to their defense to allow that to happen.
Green admits to feeling a sense of urgency about the 2005 season. The team is dotted with thirtysomethings, some of whom are expected
8/1/2005
Page 2 of 2
to retire after the season.
"Nobody really talks about it," Green said when asked about the feeling that this has to be the year. "But you get that sense. I think the
organization feels that way, as well. They haven't exactly come out and said it, but with some of the moves that have been made I think
it's pretty clear that we're going to make as serious of a run as we can now."
Green will be at the helm of any run -- serious or not -- the Chiefs make.
Are there other quarterbacks who could do more with this offense?
Manning has comparable weapons in Indy, but would he do even more with the Chiefs?
Tom Brady has won three Super Bowl rings in New England and has been the MVP in two of them. But the Patriots have played stifling
defense during their run of success. Would Brady be as good in Kansas City, where defense has been nothing more than a seven-letter
word during the Green era?
Yet Brady is already a sure-fire Hall of Famer and nobody would consider Green to even be a candidate.
It's fun to analyze how Green stacks up to the best of today's quarterbacks: Brady, Manning, Culpepper, Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre.
All five of those guys are A-list quarterbacks. They have led teams deep into playoffs. Brady and Favre have won Super Bowls.
Green's numbers stack up nicely when compared against them. He is precise and smart and unafraid.
Still, Green ranks on the second tier of NFL quarterbacks. At the top of that tier, but not yet with the big boys.
But his career is still fluid. A run toward a Super Bowl or two could elevate him to elite status. But time is running out. And the Chiefs'
defense needs to lend him a hand.
Reach Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz at 268-6597 or [email protected].
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com
8/1/2005
Examiner.net: Wilson finally ready to get started 08/01/05
Page 1 of 2
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Wilson finally ready to get started
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RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- To the Kansas City Chiefs, multitalented Kris Wilson is like a Christmas present
they've waited all year to unwrap.
TopHomes
Offensive coordinator Al Saunders was just starting to
draw up plans for the promising tight end/wide
receiver/fullback last summer when a leg injury near
the end of his first NFL preseason put him out for
almost the entire season.
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A second-round draft pick out of Pittsburgh, the 250pounder had been dazzling in his first workouts.
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thrown high, low, wide left or wide right, he caught
everything that came near.
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of adding him to a supercharged attack that already
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Then he broke his leg. And for almost his entire rookie
season, he was out.
"It was a real travesty that he got hurt," said Saunders.
Although they knew Wilson faced a long rehabilitation, the Chiefs thought so highly of him that they
decided to keep him on the roster, rather than putting him on injured reserve and automatically calling
an end to his season. Wilson wound up taking up valuable roster spot for the first 13 games while
rehabbing his broken left fibula.
http://examiner.net/stories/080105/spo_080105023.shtml
8/2/2005
Examiner.net: Wilson finally ready to get started 08/01/05
Page 2 of 2
He finally made it onto the field for the last three games, but he was limited. Only now is he finally
getting back to full speed.
"It was really enjoyable to see what he could do when we had him last year, when he was healthy,"
Saunders said Friday.
"He's just getting incorporated slowly in three basically three different positions. One is a tight end, one
is a backfield as a fullback, and he has some wide receiver duties. He's a talented guy and we're just
continuing to work with him."
Also impressive was the way Wilson handled his time off. He was at every meeting, constantly trying
to absorb as much as possible even thought he was unable to get on the field.
"I definitely made progress," he said. "I studied my playbook. I was able to be present in meetings and
watch film and even watch Tony and (backup tight end Jason Dunn) go out there and do what they do.
So I do feel like I'm a lot further along this year than I was last year. I'm definitely not a raw rookie."
Sitting out all those months was tough.
"I'm definitely hungry. Whatever word you want to use -- eager, anxious," he said. "I'm just ready to go
out there and play and do the things I expect of myself and the things people expect of me."
He still has a ways to go before regaining full strength.
"He was a little tired today," said head coach Dick Vermeil. "I thought he was dragging a little bit. But
he caught some balls. He's a gifted athlete. We think he's a real good package."
Also taking part in Friday's morning workout were several players who passed physicals Thursday
evening and were declared fit: linebackers Scott Fujita and wide receivers Marc Boerigter and Chris
Horn.
Still out was linebacker Mike Maslowski, who underwent an unusual operation Sept. 29 to correct the
alignment of his left knee.
The Chiefs believe he would be the first NFL player to resume his career after undergoing the
procedure.
"We'll hold Maz a little longer. He didn't look quite ready," Vermeil said. "He's starting to play again
coming off an operation that no NFL player has ever had before. So we'll learn as he learns."
The Examiner - serving Eastern Jackson County, Missouri since 1898
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http://examiner.net/stories/080105/spo_080105023.shtml
8/2/2005
Sharing the workload 08/03/05
Page 1 of 3
CJOnline.com / Topeka Capital-Journal
Published Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Sharing the workload
Vermeil: Johnson still backup, Holmes the go-to guy
By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal
RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- A football training camp is the traditional time for NFL offensive coordinators to play a
version of fantasy football.
From experimenting with different combinations to installing plays that may never see the light of day in the regular
season, the offensive game-planner occasionally shows things in a summer camp that border on the fanciful.
Consider the current hot concept simmering on the "Wouldn't it be great if ..." drawing board of Chiefs offensive
coordinator Al Saunders. That is, that Kansas City will more than occasionally employ a backfield featuring both Pro
Bowl halfback Priest Holmes and his backup, Larry Johnson.
Or, the secondary notion that Saunders will intentionally call Johnson's number more often in 2005 as a way of
reducing the workload on Holmes, who will turn 32 in October.
For public consumption, at least, Holmes thinks this is a great idea.
"I think it's absolutely important to get Larry (more involved),"
Holmes said. "He's definitely a skillful guy in rushing for 2,000 yards
at Penn State. I think it would make our team stronger."
No question, it wouldn't hurt.
When Holmes missed the season's last eight games last season with a
slow-to-heal knee injury, Johnson took advantage of his first real NFL
opportunity to rush for 100 yards in three late-season games. He added
one other Benjamin as a receiver.
CARLOS GONZALEZ/Special to The CapitalJournal
Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes says he'd
like to see backup Larry Johnson involved in the Chiefs
offense.
Click here to check for reprint availability.
"He proved what we already knew -- that he could run the football,"
Saunders said. "That's why we drafted him in the first round (in
2003)."
Using Johnson more in 2005 makes sense, too, in that Holmes is
coming off the third knee sprain of his college and eight-year pro career. A reduced load might, some suggest, increase
Holmes' longevity at a point in his career when most runners lose productivity.
To be sure, the Chiefs have employed Holmes-Johnson backfields several times in the first six days of their Wisconsin
training camp. Johnson also has taken more snaps than in any of his two previous camps when the Chiefs restrict
Holmes to working only once a day, usually in pads in the afternoon session, as a means of reducing the wear-and-tear
on his worn-and-torn body.
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8/3/2005
Page 2 of 3
"My body feels
good," reported a
happy Holmes, "but I
can definitely say that
if I was practicing
twice a day, it
probably would not
feel as good as it does
now."
But let's now ask the
most pertinent
question: Is this really
the way the Chiefs
will do things come
September?
Larry Johnson rushed for 100 yards three times last
season in place of Priest Holmes.
Remember, it was just a month after his 31st birthday last year that Holmes -- at the time of his season-ending injury on
Nov. 7 in Tampa -- had touched the ball 229 times (rushing and receiving). He was on pace to easily pass his previous
high -- 369 touches in his 14-game 2002 season, when a hip injury knocked him out of the final two games. In 2003
Holmes had 351 touches when he set the NFL record for single-season touchdowns (27). He had 15 TDs at the time of
his midseason injury last year.
Do the Chiefs really want to reduce the workload of a run-til-you-drop workhorse who knows his career is nearing its
end anyway?
"As far as prolonging my career," Holmes said, "I don't think (playing Johnson more) would extend it. Once it's time
for my career to end, it will end regardless of another person taking some of the reps."
Coach Dick Vermeil also sounds skeptical about the idea of reducing the load on Holmes.
"Priest Holmes is our starting running back and Larry Johnson is his backup," Vermeil said. "They'll both play.
Throughout Priest's career he's been go-go-go, then he needs a blow and comes out.
"There might be a few things we program in the backfield for both of them at the same time, but right now I don't
anticipate an arrangement where this guy carries the ball six times and the other guy carries it five.
"You know, you do a lot of this (experimentation) during training camp, then you get into the regular seaons and you
don't use it. Now, maybe with these two guys we will, but it's not like we're going back to the old-fashioned two-back
set."
CHIEFS NOTES -- Pro Bowl guard Will Shields returned to camp Tuesday after seeking a third medical opinion
regarding his sore back. And while there is no firm timetable on when Shields will suit up for his first camp workout,
Shields said media speculation that he would not play this year is unfounded.
"I don't think so," Shields answered when asked if the back problem makes him reconsider his decision to play this
year. "I'm going to come back this year and do the best I can do."
• Receiver Freddie Mitchell has elected to forego arthroscopic surgery and will continue practicing with the Chiefs
beginning today. Mitchell injured his right knee Saturday and was scheduled for surgery but has elected to tough it out
8/3/2005
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rather than miss two to six weeks.
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8/3/2005
Chiefs defensive coordinator in charge of turnaround
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Tue, Aug. 02, 2005
DOUG TUCKER
Associated Press
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The hard-driving and perpetually sleep-deprived defensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs trudged slowly up
the long flight of stairs toward the lunchroom.
Sorry, Gunther Cunningham said through heavy eyelids, no time now to chat. Maybe later. Too many things to think about. Too much to
do.
Then he disappeared behind closed doors, but not without permitting one sneak peek into a troubled soul.
"I'd better not mess this up," he said.
In total agreement will be about 80,000 excited fans packed into Arrowhead Stadium for the Sept. 11 season opener.
Also nodding yes are team president Carl Peterson, executive vice president Denny Thum, player personnel director Lynn Stiles, director of
scouting Chuck Cook and all their assistants, interns, secretaries and scouts.
All those cogs in the Chiefs machine have done their jobs. They've gotten very high marks for a productive offseason geared toward taking
a sorry defense and turning it into an ace.
Through both free agents and trades, they acquired cornerback Patrick Surtain and safety Sammy Knight from the Dolphins, signed
linebacker Kendrell Bell off the Steelers and defensive end Carlos Hall from the Titans. They also brought in free agent cornerbacks Ashley
Ambrose and Dwayne Washington.
And, hardly able to believe their luck, they grabbed Derrick Johnson with the 15th pick in the first round of the draft after figuring there
was no way the Texas All-American would still be left.
That's at least five new starters, all trying to learn a new scheme and get acquainted with each other and create that elusive, hard-todefine substance called team chemistry.
The front office has done its job. The rest is up to the players - and a grizzled old coordinator with a raspy voice and a patch of gray
stubble on his weathered, grandfatherly face.
"Sometimes I walk to my car and feel like I need an IV or something," Cunningham said with a grin.
"The scheme is being taught well by the assistant coaches. I'm real happy about that. But where we're lacking is in fundamentals, the
fundamentals of the game. That is really disappointing to me right now."
Cunningham is not a man to take his sport lightly. A history buff and student of warfare, he recently read "The War Fighters," a manual
provided to U.S. Marines in Iraq, and was inspired to pass its message along.
"It talks about the brotherhood. When you go out there and fight for real like those fine young men and women, you'd better stay
together," he said.
"To me, that's the most critical thing we have to do. We have to change the culture of the defense - the attitude we bring on the table, the
brotherhood, the respect we have for each other."
Improved tackling would also help.
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Page 2 of 2
Teaching such a thing to NFL veterans might seem akin to teaching Tiger Woods about the proper use of the sand wedge. But it has been
an Achilles' heel for the Chiefs for more than three years.
"There's only one way to do it, and that's to tackle," Cunningham said.
"The wrap-up you feel on the field, that's live. Tackle! You don't take the guy to the ground, but you wrap. What happens is you get your
feet, you get your angles, you get your arms and body involved."
The spirited tackling Cunningham is insisting upon during two-a-day workouts in River Falls is not making a lot of friends on the offense.
"Sometimes the offensive guys don't like it," Cunningham said. "But we try to make sure we talk to them about why we do it. That's what
we're trying to do."
A week into camp, things do seem to be coming together.
"I think the defense is getting better," head coach Dick Vermeil said after Tuesday morning's practice. "They were very disruptive today to
everything the offense wanted to do. I was pleased with that."
The he players who've been with Cunningham before believe their leader is up to the task.
"Gunther is a master motivator," said defensive end Eric Hicks.
"He takes a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He thinks it's all his fault when things go wrong. When in all reality, he did the best he
can. We're the ones out there running it."
Allen's secret out
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Wed, Aug. 03, 2005
Allen's secret out
Chiefs defensive end can expect more attention after sack-filled rookie season
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
R
IVER FALLS, Wis. — Even from his lofty perch as one of the NFL’s most productive pass rushers, it’s easy for Jared Allen to look back
on last season’s developments with wonder.
Allen joined the Chiefs last year from virtually nowhere — tiny Idaho State and the fourth round of the draft. He was a rare gem on an
otherwise forlorn defense, leading his team and all NFL rookies by comfortable margins with nine sacks.
Remarkable though that might be, the transition for Allen might not be as difficult as what stands before him. Opponents have had a year
to study him. They now know his moves, strengths, weaknesses and probably even what he likes for lunch.
Allen is no longer a secret, and opponents will take their information and prepare for him accordingly. How he responds to the challenge
could define the course of his career.
Will he become an Eric Hicks, a foundation of the Chiefs’ defense for several seasons? Or is he another Duane Clemons or Vonnie Holliday,
talented players who led the Chiefs in sacks for one season before quickly flaming out?
“It’s going to be more difficult for him,” Hicks said. “He’s not going to sneak up on anybody. He had that going for him last year, but not
anymore.”
The Chiefs have designs on improving their defense and need Allen to be everything he was as a rookie — and more.
Recent Chiefs history is against him. The Chiefs haven’t had a repeat sack leader since Derrick Thomas in 1998 and 1999.
Hicks should know the difficulty of Allen’s quest. He led the Chiefs with 14 sacks in 2000 but fell to 3 1/2 the following season as
opponents made sure Hicks wasn’t going to be the defender to beat them.
Allen had a similar experience in college when his 10 1/2 sacks as a junior made him a marked man the following year.
“In college, teams started to pay more attention to me once I got going, so I’m kind of used to that,” he said. “I know that’s not the NFL,
but this is a team sport and I’ve got 10 other guys playing with me who are as good as me, if not better. So if I get more attention, I know
other guys are going to get more one-on-one situations and they’re going to win. I’m going to be careful of trying to do too much.
“I can go out and improve in the areas where I wasn’t as strong. I’m trying to improve my run defense. I’ve put on some muscle mass and
lost some body fat, which is good. I’ve even gained three pounds in training camp, though I don’t know how that’s happened.”
Few Chiefs are more tough-minded than Hicks, but he acknowledged being plenty frustrated as his sacks declined following his doubledigit season. Opponents inevitably sent a back or tight end to Hicks’ side or scooted their offensive line his way.
He rebounded to lead the Chiefs with nine sacks in 2002 and had five in each of the last two seasons.
“My advice to him is to not get discouraged,” Hicks said. “He’s going to make his plays, but he can’t get discouraged if he goes a few
games without a sack. Sacks usually come in bunches, anyway. They’re going to give him a lot more attention, and that’s going to make it
more difficult.
“It’s tough on your ego. He’s an animated person, all about having fun. When people stop giving you the recognition you’re used to, it can
be tough for a guy to deal with. I think Jared will be able to fight through that. He’s a tough-minded guy.”
Allen's secret out
Page 2 of 2
Allen is among the most easy-going of Chiefs. He’s generally upbeat and not the type to brood when things go wrong.
“He likes to play, and he likes to practice,” coach Dick Vermeil said. “He likes to work. He’s just one of those guys. I think he’ll be a better
player this year than he was last year.
“He can maintain his sense of humor when he’s exhausted and working hard. Everything is fun for him. Hard work is fun for him.”
Allen could be among the Chiefs benefiting from the offseason additions of linebackers Kendrell Bell and Derrick Johnson, defensive backs
Patrick Surtain and Sammy Knight, and end Carlos Hall.
The Chiefs plan to use Hall and Allen together in obvious passing situations. Hall’s career started much like Allen’s. A seventh-round draft
pick of Tennessee in 2002, Hall had eight sacks as a rookie but hasn’t been able to maintain that pace.
“He’s going to help everybody and not just me,” Allen said. “He’ll be a good counterpuncher. He’s so fast off the ball. I don’t know what
their plans are as far as using us together, but he’s so fast he can really change things for us. He’s more of a speed rusher, I’m more of a
leverage rusher. It’s going to be fun. Adding sacks always helps.”
To reach Adam Teicher, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4875 or send e-mail to [email protected].
Worry line
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Thu, Aug. 04, 2005
chiefs training camp
Worry line
Offensive front becomes a concern
By ADAM TEICHER
R
IVER FALLS, Wis. — The source of Dick Vermeil’s greatest anxiety at training camp is, for the Chiefs, a most unusual one.
The offensive line suddenly is, if not in turmoil, facing some transition. Will Shields, the longtime foundation of the Chiefs’ line, hasn’t
been on the practice field because of a bad back since camp started last week. The Chiefs have no solid information as to when he will
return.
They will also have a new starter at right tackle, though Vermeil is more confident that situation will resolve itself favorably. The Chiefs are
happy with Kevin Sampson, who will probably win the job over Jordan Black.
Still, there is uncertainty. That, combined with the Shields situation, is keeping the line at the top of Vermeil’s worry list.
“I always have a little concern about Will being ready to go and getting his stamina and getting ready to play,” Vermeil said. “When he
lines up and plays against the Jets (in the Sept. 11 season-opener), you’ve got to be ready.
“It doesn’t matter how many training camps you’ve been to or how many Pro Bowls you’ve been to or how many years you’ve played.
You’ve still got to be ready that day and we’ve got to get him ready.”
The Chiefs line has generally been considered the best in football. It was so dependable that Vermeil was able to spend his energies
elsewhere. That the Chiefs have soared to offensive heights the last three seasons is due in large part to their line.
That includes last season, when the Chiefs fielded three Pro Bowl linemen in Shields, guard Brian Waters and tackle Willie Roaf. This year,
Shields isn’t practicing and Roaf is working only half the time as a concession to his advancing age, leaving the Chiefs with two backups
plus a right tackle they’re trying to break in.
At some point, the Chiefs will hit critical mass. That point would likely arrive if Shields, their right guard and a 10-time Pro Bowler, misses
a significant part of the season.
“I am going to come back this year and do the best I can,” Shields said. “There is a lot of camp left. It is not like I am sitting around not
doing anything. There is a lot of work I am doing. I am pretty sure I will be OK.”
If he sounded less than certain, he’s echoing the thoughts of the Chiefs. They plugged Chris Bober into Shields’ spot for most of camp so
far, but John Welbourn and Brett Williams also had a chance.
The Chiefs signed Bober as a free agent last year because they liked his ability to play most of the line positions. That versatility prevented
him from mastering any one spot.
“It’s difficult to be really good at a position when you don’t get a lot of practice time there,” Bober said. “Whatever position they put me at,
if I get enough practice there I feel like I can go out and play well.”
The Chiefs are less stressed about right tackle because Sampson has handled himself well in camp. They are still diving into the unknown
because Sampson is only in his second year and was drafted in the seventh round.
They are still eager to see Sampson and Black in the preseason opener a week from Friday at Minnesota.
“We’re pleased right now with the young kids we have out there,” Vermeil said. “But we haven’t scrimmaged anybody or played a
preseason game.”
8/4/2005
Worry line
Page 2 of 2
The Chiefs have made changes on their line before without losing offensive production. They added Roaf three years ago and started three
different new right tackles last year.
That’s why it’s not much of an issue to quarterback Trent Green.
“A couple of guys have shuffled around a little bit,” Green said. “Willie Roaf wasn’t brought in until the second year. John Tait went from
the left side to the right side. So there has been some shuffling going on, and it seems like they maintained a good, solid unit now for
three solid years. Whoever is going to be the person at right tackle will have that tradition pretty much pounded in their heads.”
Sampson knows the tradition now. But he knew little about the Chiefs when he joined them. Sampson isn’t much of a football fan and
confessed that he didn’t know who longtime Pro Bowlers Roaf and Shields were.
“I had to come here to find out who they are,” Sampson said. “But once I got here, I learned what kind of opportunity this was. Who
better to learn from than the best offensive line in football? I can see how the best prepare, how they study, how they work out, how they
work together.”
Go to KansasCity.com for a photo gallery from Chiefs training camp.
8/4/2005
Chiefs counting on Knight, Surtain to revive secondary
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Thu, Aug. 04, 2005
DOUG TUCKER
Associated Press
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The young linebacker, with hopes of becoming a team leader, watched intently as safety Sammy Knight quickly
closed on the tight end and knocked a pass away with exquisite timing.
"I'd like to be like Sammy Knight," said an admiring Kawika Mitchell.
A nine-year veteran who signed as an unrestricted free agent this year, Knight is drawing rave reviews from his new Kansas City
teammates for both his physical abilities and skills as a leader - qualities that have been sorely lacking among the Chiefs defense for
several years.
"I'd definitely say Sammy Knight," defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said when asked to identify his leaders.
For many players and coaches, however, Patrick Surtain has been even more impressive during the first week in the Chiefs camp.
One of the NFL's elite cornerbacks the past few years, Surtain answered Kansas City's frantic call for a "cover corner" in the spring, when
he was traded from Miami, where he had played for two years with Knight and helped form one of the league's top defenses.
"Patrick Surtain is truth," said Dante Hall, ace kick returner and veteran wide receiver. "This defense is a lot smarter, especially with
Patrick. It's really exciting."
Everyone connected with the Chiefs seems excited about the way the new - and hopefully improved - defense is taking shape. There could
be more than five new starters and a completely new look for an outfit that's rested near the bottom of the NFL for several years and
scuttled all the benefits of a topflight offense.
Key to the new defense could be the Knight/Surtain secondary combo. There is no doubt their help was desperately needed.
During the past three years, the highest the Chiefs have ranked in overall defense among the 32 teams in the NFL is 29th. While the
offense led the league in total yards last season, the defense was next-to-last.
But their pass defense was even worse - dead last.
Knight and Surtain hope to change that.
"I've just always been the type of guy that goes after it," said Knight. "I don't know if I'm a leader who's going to talk it all up. I try to lead
by example. If leading is helping people out when they need help, that's fine. I need help, too. We're all leaders out there. Everybody's
helping each other."
Ever since two-a-days began last week, Surtain has looked every bit like the interception specialist he was known to be in Miami.
The two-time Pro Bowler has the league's third-highest interception total since 2000. In the past five seasons, he has made 25 picks.
"He's real. He's awfully good," head coach Dick Vermeil said. "He gets about a takeaway a day. He's been very impressive with a
tremendous work ethic. I look up at special teams as we're working on kickoff returns and there's Patrick Surtain covering the kickoffs.
"We brought him here because he's a fine player and a fine young man. He's got some leadership skills that will permeate how this
defense plays."
The only position group on the defense that does not have a high-profile newcomer is the line. But the improvement in the secondary is
Page 2 of 2
giving the big boys a boost, too.
"Those guys are playing great coverage behind us, which helps, which is a big change from the last couple of years," said defensive end
Eric Hicks. "Those guys seem to be picking it up well."
While the Chiefs have an offense that ranks among the most powerful in the NFL, the wish among most Kansas City fans since 2002 has
been for a defense that's at least average.
It's a hope that brings a scowl to the anchors of the new secondary.
"When I hear that it makes me sick to my stomach. It really does," said Knight. "These guys are out here busting their tails every day. We
expect to be the top defense in the league. That's what we shoot for. Just like the offense expects to be the top offense, we expect to be
the top defense.
"Anything else is uncivilized."
Cornerbacks’ camaraderie overcomes competition
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Fri, Aug. 05, 2005
CHIEFS TRAINING CAMP
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — They stood in their practice gear earlier this summer, four free agents, 43 years of chasing receivers. If their careers
were over then, Ashley Ambrose was going to be OK. He’d play with his two kids. He’d slide into a TV job in Atlanta.
Dewayne Washington wasn’t ready for it to be over. He’d been through three NFL cities and one painful winter cut, but Washington still
had life. His legs were fresh, his purpose was clear. He had to nail his tryout with the Chiefs.
The stopwatch clicked, all four cornerbacks showed, as Ambrose put it, that they still “had it.” He turned to Washington, whom he’d only
known by the back of his jersey.
“You know?” Ambrose said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if two of us wind up coming here.”
Never underestimate the power of cornerback camaraderie. Ambrose and Washington are the two out of that foursome at the Chiefs’
training camp. Only one of them figures to be around for opening day, and suddenly, they’ve become fast friends. They planned a haircut
and golf together on their day off Thursday.
After their first few practices, defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham was praising their leadership.
“Not only do they give you a little more security as a coach,” Cunningham said, “but they’re really, really helping the young guys out
there.”
But this is possibly it for one of the corners, as Ambrose will be 35 this September and Washington is 32. Help the younger guys, and
Ambrose and Washington may very well be helping them snatch away their job.
Ambrose says it’s the only way cornerbacks do it.
They both had their mentors, veteran secondary men who taught them the little things. Ambrose had Eugene Daniel to guide him through
his rookie year in Indianapolis. Washington had Carnell Lake in Pittsburgh.
Ambrose has played with the Colts, Bengals, Falcons and Saints, logging 42 interceptions over 13 seasons. Washington, who’s on his
fourth NFL team, is using his 12 years to help rookie Alphonso Hodge. He tells Hodge that as long as he has his techniques down, he’ll be
fine.
“These are the guys who are going to be in this league after we’re done,” Ambrose said. “We want them to succeed, and we want this
team to succeed.”
The team didn’t know much about Ambrose or Washington until late June, when the Chiefs lost Julian Battle to a season-ending Achilles’
injury. In a scramble for depth, or maybe even a starter, they arranged a tryout with Ambrose, Washington, Terrance Shaw and Aaron
Beasley.
They signed Ambrose to a one-year contract in early July and then picked up Washington just before training camp.
Coach Dick Vermeil said the decision was simple — the Chiefs had an extra locker and a spot on the 91-man roster, and Washington
wasn’t going to cost them much. A former first-round draft pick with the Vikings, Washington would have gone anywhere, winner or loser,
because he just wants to play. He had a tryout with the 49ers before the Chiefs called.
Ambrose was picky. He told his agent not to bother him unless a team with Super Bowl possibilities was interested.
8/5/2005
Page 2 of 2
“I feel like I’ve reached a lot of goals in my career,” Ambrose said. “The only thing I have to do now is try to get a Super Bowl ring.”
They’ve been to the AFC championship, they’ve won and lost position battles, they’ve logged in 367 games collectively.
“They have seen a lot, and they know a lot,” cornerback Eric Warfield said.
So far, the team has refrained from calling the new guys old guys. There’s too much respect. The average person wouldn’t understand it,
Washington said, the cornerbacks’ unspoken bond. You know they’re the last line of defense. You want them to be successful.
Washington says it’s the toughest position on the field. And it’s even tougher this training camp. Somebody will inevitably lose a new
friend.
“We’ve played a career,” Washington said. “We all know the averages, the 2, 2½ years. We’re still gonna be cool with each other because
we’ve played a long time. At some point in your life, you’ve got to be able to move on.”
Go to KansasCity.com for
Chiefs training camp updates
To reach Elizabeth Merrill, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4744 or send e-mail to [email protected]
8/5/2005
Kansas City Chiefs - GRETZ: Things You Learn At Camp
GRETZ: THINGS YOU LEARN AT
CAMP
Page 1 of 4
edit | staff
AUG 09, 2005, 5:53:46 AM BY BOB GRETZ - FAQ
RIVER FALLS, WI – The Chiefs practice twice a day in training camp and after only a
few days, these workouts all tend to blend together and look the same. It’s very
easy to stand there on the practice fields and start daydreaming, especially when the
weather has been as wonderful as what Wisconsin has provided over most of the last
two weeks.
But if one pays attention at practice, he can learn many things. Who is going up and
who is going down on the depth chart is an obvious one. So is noticing who is
working on the No. 1 special teams units; this is another way of opening up a
window into the battle for roster positions.
Then there are a host of other little things that can be learned about the individual
players. Here are three and they have a common theme: hands.
DUSTIN COLQUITT
The rookie punter booms the ball with his left foot. But, when he throws the ball, he
does it right-handed. So he’s not a southpaw, only a southfoot.
“It is kind of odd, isn’t it? God had something weird in mind, I guess,” Colquitt said.
“I’ve always been right-handed. I guess like everybody, it wasn’t something I really
thought about. I just grew up using my right hand.
“When I was a kid, and my Dad was off in training camp, my Mom would take me
outside and show me what my Dad was doing. I have a picture … I was about one
and a half years old, kicking with my Nikes on and with my left foot.
“I don’t remember that it was encouraged or anything, I just kicked with my left
foot.”
In fact, being left footed may have started before he was even born.
“My Mom told me that when I was born, I had a big bruise on my left heel,” Colquitt
said. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with hit, but it’s funny that I turned out
to be left footed.”
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/08/09/gretz_things_you_learn_at_camp/
8/9/2005
Page 2 of 4
So what’s the big deal about being a right-handed, left-footed punter? Without
getting into a long dissertation about body mechanics and the like, it’s something
that Colquitt has always had to consider when he’s practicing and working out.
“Because I’m so dominant when I kick with my left, when I punt, my leg is coming
up, but I’m naturally inclined to turn with my right side. I come up and twist to the
right. I have to do a lot of work with my cross patterns (core muscles in torso and
stomach areas.)
LARRY JOHNSON
Among the Chiefs wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, all but one player
wears gloves when they are on the field. That exception is Johnson.
This hasn’t always been the case. In his rookie season, Johnson wore gloves. That
he’s not wearing them now has nothing to do with the nice River Falls weather; he
plans on not wearing gloves in December, and he hopes January as well.
It has everything to do with L.J.’s confidence level, i.e., if he’s feeling good about
himself and his situation, there are no gloves. If he’s not so sure about what’s ahead
for him or where he fits in, look for the gloves.
“My first two years at Penn State, I wore gloves,” said Johnson. “Then my last two
years I didn’t. Same here with the Chiefs. If I’m nervous about my hands, then I’m
wearing gloves. But when I’m confident in my hands and I’m feeling really good and
I like to feel the ball against my hands.”
Johnson’s played in plenty of cold weather games at Penn State and even last year
with the Chiefs. Weather won’t be a factor in whether Johnson wears gloves or not.
“I’m used to the cold weather,” said Johnson. “It’s just that your feel real
comfortable with your hands, and you don’t worry about anything else.”
There’s also another reason Johnson is not wearing gloves.
“It makes you a man to have calluses and scratches all over your hands,” said
Johnson. “The girls like that when your hands are chewed up.”
ALPHONSO HODGE
One of the Chiefs fifth-round draft choices, Hodge now hears it from his coaches or
8/9/2005
Page 3 of 4
teammates at least once a practice. The subject: his lack of recent interceptions, and
by recent, we are talking this century.
Through training camp on Sunday, Hodge had yet to grab his first interception. Over
a four-year college career at Miami of Ohio, Hodge did not have a single interception.
That was in 46 games, with 35 starts. In fact, he’s not swiped the ball during a game
in this century; his last interception came during his senior year at St. Edward High
School in suburban Cleveland. That was in the 1999 season, one where he was an
all-state selection and the club’s MVP.
“In my mind, they just didn’t throw at me in college,” said Hodge. “I had a few
opportunities I should have picked off.”
The other day, Dexter McCleon dropped an interception during practice and
defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham asked him if he’d been spending too
much time with Hodge.
“Yeah, they are saying something all the time to me,” Hodge said with a smile. “So
I’m always thinking, ‘I got to get a pick, I’ve got to get a pick.’ It’s kind of gotten
into my head a little bit. I’m trying too hard right now to get one. That’s when you
don’t get the ball. You don’t go to the picks. You let the picks come to you. I know
once I get my first pick, they will shut up.
“I just got to relax and let them come to me.”
Here in River Falls, he’s gotten his hands on some balls, but he hasn’t been able to
hold on. Just the other day, he spent a few extra minutes after practice working with
Chiefs VP of player personnel Lynn Stiles on the jugs machine, going through drills to
help him turn and find the ball quickly.
“I don’t think I have bad hands,” said Hodge. “I think I have good hands.”
His teammates are still waiting to be convinced.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas
City Chiefs.
A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years,
Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years before heading up
8/9/2005
SI.com - Writers - Jeffri Chadiha: Cunningham goes back to Chiefs' defensive roots - Tuesday August 9,... Page 1 of 2
Powered by
Old school D
Cunningham goes back to Chiefs' defensive roots
Posted: Tuesday August 9, 2005 1:44PM; Updated: Tuesday August 9, 2005 1:44PM
There's a fierce intensity in the Kansas City Chiefs training camp that
hasn't been seen in years. Defenders fly to the ball faster than ever.
They smack ball carriers with more force than usual. They jump in the
face of offensive players, just to let their teammates know they aren't
playing second fiddle any longer. They do whatever it takes to catch
the eye of defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham because they
know jobs are on the line and he wants only the hungriest of
competitors.
There can't be a happier man in Chiefs camp than Cunningham. When
he stands at one edge of the practice field, his eyes hidden by yellowtinted glasses and his Chiefs baseball cap pulled low on his forehead,
he views a unit that finally has enough talent to play his style of
defense. They have speed, quickness and instincts. Now all they need
is that final touch that Cunningham knows how to provide -- the surly
attitude that was the trademark of the Chiefs defenses he designed
during the mid- to late 1990s.
Yes, it's early, but the Chiefs are looking like they could have a defense The Chiefs' defense finished 31st overall
under coordinator Gunther Cunningham last
worth boasting about again. They have several key new faces -- most
season.
notably cornerback Patrick Surtain, strong safety Sammy Knight
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
and linebackers Kendrell Bell and Derrick Johnson, the team's firstround pick in this year's draft -- but they also have an inspired
Cunningham. Last season, in his first year back with the Chiefs, Kansas City fielded the second-worst defense in the
league. This year, Cunningham says, "I feel real really good. I can call any scheme in practice and have confidence that
they'll execute it. If you have a gun with six bullets, you shoot all of them. Last year, I had a gun with no bullets so now I
feel totally different. It's exciting."
There's no question that a Cunningham defense armed with proven playmakers is a dangerous group for any offense to
face. He possesses one of the game's sharpest defensive minds and his units were the heart of Kansas City's success for
half a decade (Cunningham served as the Chiefs defensive coordinator from 1995-98 and as its head coach from 19992000). Those defenses excelled at everything Cunningham loves. They pounded quarterbacks. They took the ball away.
They consistently beat teams down. During those five years Cunningham was involved with the team, the Chiefs averaged
33.5 turnovers a game.
But when Dick Vermeil took over the Chiefs in 2001, the emphasis went to offense. The Chiefs built an explosive team
that could hang in any shoot-out imaginable. But let's be real -- this is a town that loves its defense first and now the
Chiefs have a chance to return to their roots. Surtain is an exceptional cover corner. Knight has generated more turnovers
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(35 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries) than any defender in the league during his eight-year career. Bell and
Johnson bring much-needed speed to the linebacking corps and defensive end Carlos Hall should be a valuable situational
pass rusher.
Cunningham is doing his part to motivate, too. It isn't enough that this influx of new talent has generated plenty of
competition for jobs. Cunningham says he's "turned back the clock" on his coaching techniques and become a more
aggressive, in-your-face teacher this season. The reason: He wants his defenders to be just as feisty on game days. "I've
never seen Gunther this intense," says defensive end Eric Hicks, one of the few Chiefs who played under Cunningham
during his previous tenure in Kansas City. "He'd yell and curse before to show he had a fiery personality but now he's
directing that anger at individuals. He's been calling guys out during team meetings, which is something he never used to
do. It's really making people nervous."
You can't blame Cunningham for ratcheting up the intensity. He's waited a full year for some legitimate personnel and he
wants to make the most of it. He also doesn't subscribe to the popular theory that all the Chiefs need from their defense is
above-average play to reach the Super Bowl. Cunningham wants his unit to excel. Why not shoot for the top when you
finally have the people to get you there?
Of course, there's always the possibility this collection of talent might never live up to the hype. Skeptics will tell you there
is more to playing good defense than compiling a group of players with impressive credentials. It's a fair argument, but it
won't apply in this case. "We're trying to change the culture here," Cunningham says. "They got into a passive defense
that believed that offense would win it all and the defense got soft. We want to be a hard-hitting defense. What I want is
for people to know this defense is tough. If we can come out of this camp with that attitude, I believe we'll be all right."
Find this article at:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jeffri_chadiha/08/09/chiefs.defense/index.html
Check the box to include the list of links referenced in the article.
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Chiefs move up at linebacker
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Posted on Wed, Aug. 10, 2005
DEFENSE ADDS IMPACT PLAYERS
Speed, depth much improved at position
By ADAM TEICHER
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The notion was nothing new to Dick Vermeil, not after he spent the last two weeks watching the Chiefs’ revamped
group of linebackers.
He still couldn’t help but marvel after practice Tuesday about the differences a year makes.
“We’ve never had three at a time that can move collectively like they can move,” Vermeil said, referring to starting linebackers Derrick
Johnson, Kawika Mitchell and Kendrell Bell. “We really haven’t seen Kendrell Bell. We hope he can move like we thought he could when we
brought him here. We haven’t turned him loose yet. Sooner or later, we’ve got to turn him loose and find out if he can move like the other
guys do. We know he used to be able to do it.”
The Chiefs have been cautious with Bell at training camp because of nagging injuries, but they are showing no serious concern that he
won’t be ready for the regular season.
Perhaps that’s because an injury at linebacker is no longer a cause for panic. An invasion of young players the last two seasons is bearing
fruit. This year, the Chiefs added rookies Johnson, Boomer Grigsby and Kris Griffin. Last year, it was Keyaron Fox and Rich Scanlon.
Johnson will start, and the other four are strong candidates to make the team.
As a result, the Chiefs might carry eight linebackers — and former starter Scott Fujita could find it difficult to claim a roster spot. Gary
Stills, a valuable special-teams player but a liability at linebacker, may also get squeezed out.
The crunch will get even tighter when Shawn Barber, another former starter, returns from a knee injury later in the season.
Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham wanted better athletes at linebacker, and now he has them.
“We’ve got five linebackers now we can play in our nickel defense,” Cunningham said, referring to Bell, Johnson, Mitchell, Griffin and Fox.
“When I was with Tennessee, we had one or two, and we had some pretty good defenses. Hopefully, we’ll be able to cover tight ends and
backs.”
Even though Johnson arrived at camp almost a week late because of contract negotiations, he has been the Chiefs’ best defensive player.
Rare is the practice when he fails to make at least one standout play.
Johnson was responsible for covering wide receiver Jeris McIntyre on a play in Tuesday morning’s practice. The 240-pound Johnson stayed
with the 200-pound McIntyre stride for stride for 30 yards and intercepted the pass with an over-the-shoulder grab as he headed down the
field.
The Chiefs have tried to downplay Johnson’s contributions, but Vermeil at times can’t control himself.
“When you can move like he can move, there’s no limitation to what he can do,” Vermeil said. “That’s why he was a No. 1 pick. I don’t
know how long it will take him, but he’s going to be one of the premier football players in the league defensively.
“We haven’t played a game yet. But just watch what he does on the practice field and watch his ability to diagnose, quickly react, and
flash into plays and bend his knees and strike. The only thing he doesn’t have is experience.”
While Johnson was a first-round draft pick, Griffin joined the Chiefs by far different means. He was undrafted from tiny Indiana (Pa.)
University.
8/10/2005
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But almost from the day he joined the Chiefs, Griffin invited comparisons to Johnson. He’s about 10 pounds lighter than Johnson and
moves almost as well. Practice observers have more than once confused the two because they are both outside linebackers and their
jersey numbers are similar — Johnson wears 56, and Griffin is 66.
“I hear that every now and then,” Griffin said of comparisons to Johnson. “We’ve got the same body type. We’re not the same player. He’s
a great player. But I think I’ve shown I can play.”
Grigsby, who has been backing up Mitchell in the middle, also comes from a small-college background at Illinois State. That’s why the
Chiefs are eager to see both players on a much bigger stage in Friday night’s preseason opener at Minnesota.
“It’s going to be a different experience to line up against somebody with the thought in your head of trying to crush him,” Grigsby said.
“Trying to play really hard without leaving your feet or hurting anybody like we do at practice makes you more reserved.
“This is the best of the best. I’m looking forward to playing some linebacker against those guys and busting some heads on special teams.”
Of the rookie linebackers, only Johnson figures to play a lot on defense. Griffin and Grigsby will be special-teams regulars but could claim
starting jobs down the line.
“I don’t think any of our linebackers necessarily need to be resting on their laurels, because we’ve got more depth at that position than
I’ve ever witnessed on a football team,” Chiefs vice president of football operations Lynn Stiles said. “We’ve got Griffin. We’ve got Grigsby.
We’ve got Scanlon. And don’t forget we’re going to get Shawn Barber back at some time. He’s a pretty good football player, too.”
Go to KansasCity.com for a photo
gallery from the Chiefs’ training camp.
8/10/2005
Kansas City Chiefs - GRETZ: Déjà vu With a Guy from Jersey
GRETZ: DÉJÀ VU WITH A GUY
FROM JERSEY
Page 1 of 3
edit | staff
AUG 10, 2005, 5:11:08 AM BY BOB GRETZ - FAQ
RIVER FALLS, WI – They do not look alike, but they are so similar it’s eerie.
Kevin Sampson doesn’t know a thing about Dave Szott. But he’s a living, breathing,
albeit bigger version of the Szotter and he’s walking the same path Szott took in
making a place for himself on the Chiefs offensive line for a decade. Szott moved
into the starting lineup at guard as a rookie in 1990. Sampson has moved into the
starting lineup at right tackle this year, his second in the NFL.
“If he played in this league for 10 plus years then obviously he had something,”
Sampson said.
Sampson may have something too. He’s done nothing in training camp to put that
starting job in jeopardy. Every day, Sampson seems to get better and better. With
three Pro Bowlers and Casey Wiegmann, right tackle was the possible weak link in
the offensive chain. Right now, Sampson is showing that may not necessarily be the
case.
“Every day, I try to improve,” said Sampson. “We’ve been told the five best players
will play and I just want to be one of those five.”
Those are words that could have come out of Szott’s mouth, and not just with that
Jersey accent either. There’s so much more that links these two guys:
z
z
z
z
Szott wore uniform No. 79; that’s the number Sampson was assigned last year
as a rookie.
Clifton, N.J. was where Szott grew up; Sampson was born and raised in
Westwood, N.J., just 14 miles away on the Garden State Parkway.
As a high school wrestler, Szott put up a 109-8 record as a heavyweight;
Sampson was undefeated during the senior league season of high school, also
as a heavyweight.
In 1990, Szott joined the team as a seventh-round draft choice; Sampson was a
seventh-round pick in the 2004 Draft.
The Chiefs got a real gem in Szott. He had bounced back and forth between offense
and defense at Penn State, never getting a chance to establish himself on either side
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Kansas City Chiefs - GRETZ: Déjà vu With a Guy from Jersey
Page 2 of 3
of the line of scrimmage. But with the Chiefs, he was strictly a guard and a damn
good one. Szott got into the starting lineup as a rookie in 1990, opening 11 games at
left guard. He ended up starting 136 games during his Chiefs career. Overshadowed
by Pro Bowl tackle John Alt to his left and the vociferous Tim Grunhard on his right at
the center position, Szott never got the recognition he so deserved.
Now, there’s Sampson. He was downgraded in the 2004 Draft because he had some
problems with stingers during his time at Syracuse. Stingers are burning sensation
that generally runs down a player’s arm after he takes a blow that jars his neck and
spine. They are a fact of football life and just about every player has suffered one if
he’s played football for any length of time. Multiple stingers, however, draw the
attention of the medical types and thus Sampson was still available in the seventh
round on the 231st pick.
Almost immediately last year, the Chiefs coaching and personnel staffs were talking
about this young man. He’s different from Szott because he’s much bigger, at 6-4,
312 pounds. Szott was also 6-4, but played most of his career somewhere in the 275
to 285-pound range.
But Sampson has that same “Jersey attitude” about playing the game. “It’s just
doing what is necessary to get the job done,” said Sampson in describing their
shared mentality.
Will Shields is the only guy on the roster who played with both Szott and Sampson,
and he hasn’t really noticed any similarities between the two players. “Dave was
unique,” said Shields. “His whole game was leverage inside. Kevin’s working on the
outside and while you can see he understands leverage, he’s more of a mauler.”
Maybe it’s a stretch, linking Sampson with Szott. The Chiefs can only hope they are
lucky the second time around when throwing the offensive lineman dice in the
seventh round.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas
City Chiefs.
A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years,
Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years before heading up
KCFX-FM's sports department. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's
Board of Selectors. His column appears three times a week during the season.
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8/10/2005
All eyes on DJ 08/10/05
Page 1 of 2
Published Wednesday, August 10, 2005
All eyes on DJ
Vermeil: LB will be premier player
By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal
RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- The interception was a beauty.
It was a downfield throw, 25 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and rookie quarterback James Kilian put the ball on
the money. The receiver, the slot guy in the three-wide set, was open for a second, maybe two. But the Chiefs defender
broke quickly as the wideout made his cut to the sideline, caught up to the ball and got the pick.
It was the kind of play the Chiefs hope to see their defensive backs make a lot this season.
Only this didn't involve a defensive back.
It was linebacker Derrick Johnson, Kansas City's first-round draft choice and the talk of camp.
On Tuesday morning, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil did most of the talking about the player who could be the most
exciting linebacker drafted by Kansas City since the late Derrick Thomas became the cornerstone of the Chiefs
renaissance in 1989.
"When you can move like he can move there are no limitations to what he can do," Vermeil said of Johnson. "He can
catch up to the football as it travels. I don't know if he can run faster than the football's flying, but he can get there.
"I don't know how long it's going to take him but he's going to be one of the
premier defensive players in this league," Vermeil added. "I think he'll be a
candidate this year for the rookie defensive player of the year."
Such high expectations, though possibly daunting to some rookies, are nothing
less than what Johnson expects of himself.
"I put a lot of positive pressure on myself to run with anyone on the field," said
the speedy 242-pound Texas product who won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the
outstanding defender in college football last year.
"I'm glad I've got coaches who believe I can get the job done," Johnson added
when told of Vermeil's rookie of the year prediction. "I never want to count my
chickens before they're hatched. But if I'm a player who produces in my first year,
yeah, I'd like to be rookie of the year.
"I got a lot of accolades last year. Hopefully I can keep it going in the NFL."
After missing the first four days of the Chiefs camp while his first pro contract
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Derrick Johnson continues to impress at
Kansas City's training camp, as the 15th
8/10/2005
All eyes on DJ 08/10/05
was being settled, Johnson has moved quickly into the No. 1 left linebacker position -which usually plays over the opposing tight end -- and brought to the linebacking
corps the kind of speed not seen in Kansas City since Donnie Edwards last played in
Arrowhead in 2001.
Page 2 of 2
overall pick in the 2005 draft made a
spectacular interception during
Tuesday's workout.
Click here to check for reprint
availability.
Faulted by NFL scouts last year for its lack of linebacking speed, the Chiefs have addressed that concern appreciably
with the drafting of Johnson and the free agent acquisition of right backer Kendrell Bell.
"We've never had three at a time that can move collectively like they can move," Vermeil said of the linebacking corps
that includes Kawika Mitchell in the middle.
"Now, we really haven't seen Kendrell Bell," he added. "We hope he can move like we thought when we brought him
here, but we haven't turned him loose yet (in full-speed contact and blitzing situations). We're not confidence, and he's
not confident yet, that he can really go."
With the two new players bracketing Mitchell, the Chiefs hope their returning middle backer won't feel the need to
make plays all over the field -- an over-eagerness that sometimes caused him to be vulnerable to cutbacks runs last
year.
The addition of Johnson also gives Kansas City hope for better coverage of running backs, tight ends and inside
receivers -- something incumbent left linebacker Scott Fujita struggled to do a year ago.
"It's always a positive if a linebacker can drop back and cover a slot receiver," Johnson said of his Tuesday
interception. "I just ran down the seam with him and stayed with him.
"I think coaches have seen what they can expect from me," he added. "I think they know I can get the job done."
DJ AS A LONGHORN
Year Tackles For Loss Sacks Int.
2001 83 13 4.5 0
2002 120 13 2 4
2003 125 20 2 4
2004 130 19 2 1
Totals 458 65 10.5 9
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8/10/2005
Johnson making most of opportunity 08/11/05
Page 1 of 2
Published Thursday, August 11, 2005
Johnson making most of opportunity
After spending most of his first two seasons in the doghouse, Larry Johnson has settled into his role
By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal
RIVER FALLS, Wis. -- Larry Johnson can finally hear opportunity knocking on his door. He'd wear a diaper before
letting a thigh injury keep him from answering.
Sidelined during training camp workouts for the previous three days, Johnson was determined to show his Chiefs
coaches Wednesday afternoon that he is ready to play in Friday night's preseason opener against Minnesota in the
nearby Metrodome.
"I've always been a quick healer," Johnson after going through a morning checkout session with trainer Bud Epps. "I
haven't missed any games since I first started playing football, and I don't want to miss any now -- even in the
preseason. I intend to be out there Friday in full force."
Which is pretty much the only way he's played during his third training camp with the Chiefs.
Gone are the days when Johnson, a 2,087-yard rusher in his senior year at Penn State in 2002, sulked and pouted while
waiting for his elusive chance to replace Pro Bowl running back Priest Holmes.
Putting the acrimony-sodden memories of last year's Diapergate flap behind him, Johnson has used every opportunity
in this camp to prove to coach Dick Vermeil and everyone else that he is now wearing big-boy pants and is ready for a
larger role in the Chiefs' offense.
"It seems like he has the right attitude," quarterback Trent Green said. "I think last year really helped him when he had
a chance to play and realized that he could play in this league. It gave him a confidence boost that hopefully carries
over.
"Based on what he's done here so far, he's going to be prepared whether it's 10 snaps a game or 45 snaps."
After getting only 20 carries in his 2003 rookie season -- the year
Holmes set the NFL record for single-season touchdowns (27) -Johnson finally got the call late in the '04 campaign after injuries
sidelined Holmes and backup Derrick Blaylock.
In the final five games of an otherwise forgettable 7-9 season, Johnson
rushed for more than 100 yards in three contests and added a Benjamin
as a receiver in one other. It was the kind of output that convinced Carl
Peterson to draft Johnson as the heir apparent to Holmes even though
Vermeil wanted a defensive player with the first pick of his second
draft in Kansas City.
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8/11/2005
Johnson making most of opportunity 08/11/05
Kansas City's Larry Johnson (27) had just 20 carries as a
rookie in 2003 and 11 in the first 10 games last season,
but the running back from Penn State burst onto the
scene in the final six games of 2004 with three 100-yard
rushing efforts.
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Vermeil's upspoken resentment was a wall Johnson struggled to break
down in his first 1 1/2 years in Kansas City. The ill will erupted when
Johnson over-reacted to Vermeil's innocuous comment, made in the wake
of of Holmes' mid-season injury, that it was time for the young Johnson to
"take off the diapers" and go to work.
That, as it happens, is exactly what Johnson has done in his camp.
He has been one of the most impressive offensive players when taking frequent first-team reps when Holmes works
only once a day. He has run around people and through people, such as he did last weekend in flattening linebacker
Keyaron Fox on a goal-line play. He has improved his play as a receiver and even has demonstrated some toughness in
picking up blitzes -- a problem that kept him from playing earlier.
"Being able to perform to my potential the way I did those last couple of games last year definitely opened some eyes.
It opened my eyes," Johnson said. "I know now I can do some things in this offense.
"I'm more comfortable with this system now," Johnson added. "But the biggest change is the way I'm running. I hadn't
been running as aggressively as I did in college. Those first two years I was kind of star struck by the guys I was
playing against. That's over now. Now I want to dominate anyone who tries to tackle me."
LARRY LEGEND?
After being a non-factor for a year and a half, Larry Johnson piled up 781 total yards and 11 touchdowns over the final
six games of 2005:
Opponent Rushing Receiving
San Diego 10-43, 1 TD 1-7
at Oakland 20-118, 1 TD 3-56, 1TD
at Tennessee 7-104, 2 TD 2-19
Denver 30-151, 2 TD -Oakland 25-79, 2 TD 4-43
at San Diego 17-46 8-115, 1 TD
6 games 109-541, 9 TD 18-240, 2 TD
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8/11/2005
No doubt, Holmes bounces back
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sun, Aug. 14, 2005
Chiefs running back tested knee in game
Holmes
MINNEAPOLIS — Priest Holmes didn’t understand all the commotion. For 10 years, his medical charts have read like the alphabet. Torn
ACL, sprained MCL, loose fragments in his hip. And every time Holmes gets hurt, he always manages to come back better.
The crowd gathered around his locker late Friday, wondering if the Chiefs exhaled after Holmes’ four-carry, 42-yard night against the
Vikings. Were they serious?
“I don’t see why it would be that way,” Holmes said. “I think with injuries, I’ve always bounced back. That’s never been a doubt in my
mind.”
Two months shy of his 32nd birthday, Holmes apparently has no doubts about his body. He rated his health from the “75th to 80th
percentile” and said he still has a few more weeks to go before he’s fully recovered after missing the last half of 2004 because of a knee
injury. Holmes also suffered a leg bruise last week in training camp, which hasn’t helped his progress.
But on his first play Friday night, Holmes changed direction and raced 21 yards down the left sideline. It was his first game action since
Nov. 7 at Tampa Bay.
Possibly the most encouraging thing for the Chiefs was that the No. 1 offense moved effectively without Pro Bowl guard Will Shields, who
has been out of training camp because of a back injury.
Holmes has practiced just once a day, along with quarterback Trent Green and tight end Tony Gonzalez. Green is nursing a sore shoulder;
Gonzalez is coming back from foot surgery. They all saw limited action Friday, and were on the sideline by halftime.
Gonzalez was discouraged by the Chiefs’ inability in the red zone.
“Right now, it’s not even close to where it’s supposed to be,” he said.
But after an offseason when so many of their offensive stars were healing, coach Dick Vermeil, for the most part, was happy Friday night
— even after the 27-16 preseason loss. He praised Holmes’ backup, Larry Johnson, who ran for 37 yards in eight carries.
Johnson played the final six games of 2004 in place of Holmes, rushing for 541 yards and nine TDs.
“I just think that everybody should be excited for the fact that we have L.J. now,” Holmes said. “Knowing that we’ve given him an
opportunity over (six) games last season to mature in the backfield … I’m excited about that.”
Holmes was so excited that he questioned a first-quarter call in which Johnson appeared to score a 7-yard touchdown but the ball was
spotted on the Minnesota 1. Had that been in Kansas City, Holmes said, it would’ve been six points.
But it’s the preseason. No reason to cause a commotion.
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“My job now is not only help the team to get to a championship level …” Holmes said, “but to be more of a mentor to some of the guys
who are here.”
■ HOLCOMBE AWAITS TESTS: Running back Robert Holcombe, who sprained his left knee Friday, will undergo an MRI.
Chiefs relish relay attack 08/22/05
Page 1 of 2
Published Monday, August 22, 2005
Chiefs relish relay attack
By Rick Dean
The Capital-Journal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Chiefs got a brief glimpse Saturday night of a phenomenon the Denver Broncos have
experienced for years.
A truly effective running back relay team.
It happened in the first half of the 24-17 loss to Arizona, long before No. 3 quarterback Damon Huard and the KC
reserves threw away a 10-0 halftime lead posted by the regulars.
Priest Holmes, after busting loose for 13 yards on his first run, suddenly seemed stuck in neutral. Seven carries later he
had a net of three additional yards to show for his efforts. He played on three possessions, then retired for the night.
It was Larry Johnson's turn with the baton.
The third-year runner started nearly as poorly as Holmes finished. But after getting swarmed for a loss of four, Johnson
stormed back with carries of 16, 6, 11 and 12 yards before he was finally stuffed for no gain on a second-down play at
the 20.
In Johnson's mind, this is what a complementary running game is all
about.
"It's hard to just come into a game and change the tempo, but I think
that's the great thing about me and Priest playing in that kind of
combination," Johnson said. "He's going to give you the outside runs,
and he'll make you miss. Then you get a back that's going to take it
right at you and won't stop until you fall over.
"I think that can open some eyes, get the offensive line excited to be
bowling over people."
Johnson finished the night with 49 yards on nine carries, a decent 5.4yard average. He now has 86 yards on 17 carries in two preseason
outings for a 5.1-yard average. Holmes is averaging 4.8 yards on his
12 tries following his big 4-for-42 start against Minnesota.
Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson proved
effective after relieving Priest Holmes, who was unable
to do much damage against the Cardinals on Saturday
night.
Come the regular season, of course, Holmes most likely will return to
the traditional role of the featured back. Johnson will be there when he needs a breather or -- as happened last year
when Holmes missed the season's final eight games -- if he gets hurt.
Still, it wouldn't be surprising to find offensive coordinator Al Saunders recommending that Holmes take more
breathers this year, knowing that Johnson can be effective coming off the bench.
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Chiefs relish relay attack 08/22/05
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That would go against conventional wisdom that says a back gets better as he gets into the flow of a game and begins
sensing where his holes will open.
Johnson, though, believes both he and Holmes still can be effective in a limited rotation.
"Priest showed he could do that at Baltimore and (the University of) Texas," Johnson noted. "I did it at Penn State
when I had two guys ahead of me.
"There will be a point when he plays more than I will," Johnson acknowledged. "But there will also be a time when we
need to bang people around, like when we're running out the clock. Then I'll come in and bang people around. I think
we can co-exist."
Whether Holmes and Johnson ever play on the field together remains to be seen. The Chiefs have installed such a
package on the practice field. Whether they show it on Sundays is anybody's guess.
One thing about such a package is certain. It won't have a blocking back.
"If we use it, one guy will be there as a runner and the other will be a receiver," coach Dick Vermeil noted. "Neither of
those guys will be in there to block for the other."
That's fine with Johnson, too. His 100-yard receiving game last year against San Diego, which followed three 100-yard
rushing games, showed him there is more than one way to get his Benjamin.
"I think that showed I can be a threat as a receiver out of the backfield, as well as being a runner," Johnson said.
"Maybe this year I can run some corners routes like the receivers do -- dive and catch some balls, all of that."
And then Johnson thought of another wrinkle for Saunders' playbook.
"I think it would be nice to have us both in there and be able to run two separate screens," he said. "Wouldn't that shake
defenses up?"
CHIEFS NOTES -- The Chiefs reported injuries to receiver and returner Dante Hall (sprained knee) and to Huard,
who sustained a mild concussion during his 1-for-12, two-interception performance. Vermeil said the team doesn't
believe Hall's knee injury to be a serious one but that it bears watching.
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8/22/2005
St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO | Sweet Samie: Second-year receiver continues to shine
Page 1 of 2
Sweet Samie: Second-year receiver continues to shine
By SCOTT DOCHTERMAN
Sports Editor
KANSAS CITY — Samie Parker virtually has locked up a roster spot and a key contributing position with the Chiefs’ wide
receiving corps.
With his play Saturday night against the Arizona Cardinals, he also may have locked up the second starting receiver position.
Parker caught two passes for 14 yards and forced three pass interference penalties on Arizona cornerback David Macklin.
Parker, who enters his second season with the Chiefs, said he hasn’t locked up the starting receiver spot opposite Eddie
Kennison, but he’s becoming more confident in his role with the team.
“No, I don’t think I solidified it; I still have a lot of improvement to go,” he said. “We still have guys who haven’t practiced yet that
could still run in the front running also. So I just got to keep doing what I’m doing, making plays.”
On the first drive, Parker and Macklin were tangled along the left side and Macklin was called for pass interference to take the ball
from the Cardinals’ 42-yard line to the 9. Two plays later, Parker ran a slant route that sent the defensive back to the ground and
cut toward the corner of the end zone. Green’s pass was a little behind and high for Parker, but the receiver pulled it down for a
touchdown over Macklin.
“It was like a short slant-out,” said Parker, who’s listed at 5-foot-11 and weighs 190 pounds. “Basically, the guy bit really hard on
the slant move, and it just opened it up real wide for the out move. And the quarterback put the ball on me.”
“Anytime you can get the DB to fall down on a double move, that’s a pretty good route,” Green said. “As soon as I saw the DB go
down, I was trying to put it in a spot to make it as easy as possible, and he ended up making it pretty spectacular. Definitely kudos
to him on a great route.”
The second drive featured two more pass interference calls. Green said he intentionally picked on Macklin and threw toward
Parker.
“I think he was getting frustrated because every time (Macklin) seen a flag, he was dropping his head, digging themselves in a
hole,” Parker said.
Parker’s drive from the University of Oregon to possible NFL starter began in April 2004 when the Chiefs drafted him in the fourth
round. Injuries claimed most of his rookie season; he played in only one of the first 13 games without recording a statistic.
Against Denver in the 14th game, he arrived. Parker caught three passes for 84 yards including a 48-yard touchdown. He ended
the season with six more catches.
Parker has stayed injury-free in offseason workouts and in training camp. He has lined up with the first team all offseason after
http://www.stjoenews-press.com/print.asp?ArticleID=68654&SectionID=143&SubSectionID=274
8/22/2005
St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO | Sweet Samie: Second-year receiver continues to shine
Page 2 of 2
three-year starter Johnnie Morton was cut in June.
Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil has yet to name Parker a starter, but he’s impressed with him so far.
“(Parker’s) still got a ways to go, but when he tried to go deep, they interfered with him down there,” Vermeil said. “I didn’t see him
make a great play or anything like that, but maybe we didn’t give him an opportunity to.”
Parker said he likes the pressure of knowing he’s favored to win a starting spot.
“Pressure makes me a better player,” he said. “I think the pressure is on me now.”
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8/22/2005
Chiefs assemble NFL's best offense mostly from spare parts
Page 1 of 3
Posted on Tue, Aug. 23, 2005
By ADAM TEICHER
The list of Chiefs offensive players to receive individual awards in Dick Vermeil’s four seasons is so long it could almost fill the Kansas City
phone book.
Tony Gonzalez, Priest Holmes, Will Shields, Willie Roaf, Dante Hall, Tony Richardson, Casey Wiegmann and Brian Waters have been
honored with some sort of All-Pro status.
There is no shortage of team offensive achievements. The Chiefs were in the top five in yardage all four seasons and led the league last
year. The Chiefs led the NFL in scoring in 2002 and 2003 and were second last season.
So, as the world knows, the Chiefs have an impressive collection of offensive talent. It’s easy to say that now. But it didn’t look that way
when many of these players joined the Chiefs.
Only Gonzalez and Roaf arrived as desirable players any team would have taken. Otherwise, the Chiefs have a collection of offensive
players overlooked or passed up by other teams.
Holmes and Wiegmann were free agents but didn’t have many teams in the bidding. Shields, Hall, Samie Parker and Kevin Sampson were
mid- or low-round draft picks.
Richardson, Waters and Eddie Kennison were “street free agents,” an NFL term for guys who had been dumped by another team and were
available to all. Trent Green was a backup quarterback for St. Louis.
Compare that with other high-scoring teams from Indianapolis, Minnesota or St. Louis that were all built with high draft picks at key
positions.
That makes the Chiefs’ offensive achievements all the more remarkable in comparison.
“Your players are your scheme, and you have to make sure you do what they can do best,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders said.
“Every player has some outstanding quality. What we’ve tried to do is find out what that outstanding quality is and then manufacture our
system so these players can do those things.”
Saunders is the one who draws it all up and makes sure everything fits. He joined the Chiefs after two seasons with the high-flying Rams
and set about building an offense capable of the same thing.
He found his new players had different strengths from those he left behind. The Chiefs had a premier pass-catching tight end in Gonzalez;
the Rams didn’t. The Rams had big-time wide receivers in Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce; the Chiefs didn’t.
So Saunders tinkered with his plans and featured Gonzalez and halfback Holmes in the passing game instead.
“We have a tremendous number of things we’d like to do offensively,” Saunders said, “but we don’t do them because we don’t have guys
who can do them.”
If there’s a secret to the Chiefs’ offensive success, that’s it. Fit the plays to the players rather than the other way around.
The Chiefs worked around the fact that they’ve had a marginal group of wide receivers. Of the guys to play the position for the Chiefs the
last four years, only Johnnie Morton and Derrick Alexander arrived as sought-after players. Even then, Alexander was nearing the end of
his career when Vermeil and Saunders joined the Chiefs, and Morton was close to the end when he came to Kansas City.
But the Chiefs turned Kennison, who had been cut by Denver, into a valuable player. He had his first 1,000-yard season last year. Marc
Page 2 of 3
Boerigter arrived from the Canadian Football League in 2002 and caught eight touchdown passes.
“You wouldn’t consider us to have a great receiving group,” said Lynn Stiles, the Chiefs’ vice president for football operations. “But they’ve
been well utilized within the framework of our system.”
The Chiefs’ best personnel work has been done at other offensive positions. Take Holmes, for example.
Nobody predicted he would become one of the NFL’s best backs when he was a free agent in early 2001 — the Chiefs included. He was a
backup on Baltimore’s Super Bowl-winning team, and because he was smallish and had an injury history, he didn’t have many teams
lusting after his services.
The Chiefs saw a nifty runner who might be useful in a running game that stretched the field as opposed to the between-the-tackles
offense used by the Ravens.
“He was a great fit,” Stiles said, “for what we were trying to do.”
The Chiefs now look brilliant for signing Holmes. The same could be said for Wiegmann, their center.
Wiegmann, listed by the Chiefs at 285 pounds but probably lighter, is too small for his position to suit many teams. The Chiefs found a
way to make him a useful player.
“If we asked Casey a lot to have a one-on-one situation with a big, huge nose guard, that’s probably not in our best interest,” Saunders
said. “But what Casey does better than any center in the National Football League is get out on the perimeter and find the players he’s
responsible for. He can play in space so well.
“If we still had (former center) Tim Grunhard, we’d be running different kinds of plays. We’d be just as successful because we’d be using
his strengths.”
Left tackle Roaf and guards Shields and Waters were Pro Bowlers last season. Many observers consider Wiegmann to be as crucial a part of
the offensive line as them.
“Casey is probably the most underappreciated guy on our offense,” Green said. “From a mental standpoint, he’s making all the calls and
getting everyone communicated. From a physical standpoint, there aren’t many centers in the league that can snap and be able to pull
around the end and lead on a screen or lead on a sweep or a reverse. What he relies on so much is his mind and his quickness.
“He’s not underappreciated by the guys on this team, but I think he goes unnoticed around the league.”
On the current line, only Shields was a starter when Vermeil and Saunders arrived. The Chiefs signed Wiegmann and promoted Waters
that first year, then traded for Roaf their second year.
This year’s addition is Sampson, a seventh-round pick last year who played well in training camp before injuring a toe.
All of these line decisions worked as planned.
“They’ve been able to find players who fit,” ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth said. “Brian Waters is a great athlete. He may be one of the best
athletes in the NFL pound for pound. Casey Wiegmann, same thing. The guy can move his feet, get out for screens, runs under control.
Will Shields and Willie Roaf are supremely gifted athletes.
“That just goes to show you how important the play of their offensive line is. If you’ve got a dominating offensive line, you can win a lot of
football games. It’s not a coincidence that offensively, they lead the league every year.”
Vermeil said: “We have a lot of guys that are such good players on our offensive line that it doesn’t matter what you ask them to do
because they can do it well. Will Shields is unlimited. It doesn’t matter what you ask him to do. He will do it and do it well. That’s just like
Brian Waters, just like Willie Roaf. Those guys can do anything.”
Just like all of those first-round picks in Minnesota, Indianapolis and St. Louis.
“I don’t know if what we’ve done with our offense is more significant than what those other teams have done,” Vermeil said. “But I think
it’s more rewarding to all the people involved this way.”
Page 3 of 3
A talent roundup
How the Chiefs acquired their top offensive players:
Pos Player
How acquired
QB Trent Green
trade
HB Priest Holmes
unrestricted free agent
FB
Tony Richardson “street” free agent
WR Eddie Kennison
“street” free agent
WR Samie Parker
fourth-round draft pick
WR Dante Hall
fifth-round draft pick
WR Marc Boerigter
Canadian Football League
WR Chris Horn
Arena Football League
TE
Tony Gonzalez
first-round draft pick
OL
Willie Roaf
trade
OL
Brian Waters
“street” free agent
OL
Casey Wiegmann unrestricted free agent
OL
Will Shields
third-round draft pick
OL
Kevin Sampson
seventh-round draft pick
First vs. worst: Chiefs say chemistry's good for NFL's top offense, 31st defense
Page 1 of 3
FOOTBALL 2005
First vs. worst: Chiefs say chemistry's good for NFL's top offense, 31st
defense
The tension of two-a-days can boil over at training camp as
the offense and defense scuffle play after play. Toward the
end of camp, defensive lineman Eric Hicks (left) and offensive
guard John Welbourn exchanged pleasantries after a play had
ended.
T
hey are Johnnie Walker Blue and Old Grand-Dad, pretty boys and grunts, and Lional Dalton stands on the defensive side of the locker
room, trying to name the offensive guys who hang with them.
He temporarily draws a blank. Brian Waters. Johnathan Ingram. He realizes he’s only rattling off offensive linemen.
“It’s a different mentality,” Dalton says. “Offensive linemen cross over, but that’s about it. The guys who do most of the grunt work on
offense tend to cross over.”
Us and them. The NFL’s best offense versus the 31st-ranked defense. If any team had reason to be divided, it was the 2004 Chiefs. They
had the NFL’s No. 1 offense, the 31st-rated defense and a 7-9 record. Dalton says there was no ill will, that the offense never blamed the
defense for keeping them out of the playoffs.
But come on. Don’t these Pro Bowlers with their highfalutin numbers just want to scream, “Stop somebody!”?
“We don’t need to be on edge with them as far as not getting the job done,” says Chiefs receiver Dante Hall. “They know they’re not
getting the job done. We’re friends first, so we don’t need to go rubbing it in their faces. They have pride.
“I’ve never felt it was an offense-defense thing. It’s always been a team thing. We win together, we lose together.”
They meet separately, they practice against each other, they scuffle in the heat of two-a-days, when one side has been staring down the
other for three long weeks. But rarely does the tension between the offense and defense boil over to the public spectrum.
The closest it probably came in Chiefs modern times was 1996, when linebacker Derrick Thomas launched into a tirade aimed at offensive
coordinator Paul Hackett.
Thomas blasted Hackett’s play calling in a 17-7 loss to Pittsburgh. It was behind closed doors but in full view of many teammates. It was
in the middle of a dominating run in the 1990s for the defense.
Page 2 of 3
Thomas later apologized to his teammates and coaches, and the Chiefs insisted there wasn’t a rift between the offense and defense. They
lost their final three games and failed to make the playoffs. In two of those contests, the offense failed to break 10 points.
“You always had a little more pressure to perform because the defense was good,” says Tim Grunhard, a center on that ’96 team. “But
they were always behind us and always had our backs.
“But I was on a winning team. When you’re winning games, it’s a cure for all evils. I can’t speak for these guys, but I think Dick Vermeil
does a hell of a job keeping these guys focused and together.”
It’s a Dick Vermeil thing. The coach who made it chic to cry is big on chemistry and plans social events to promote it. This spring, the team
went to see “The Longest Yard” together. They went bowling, too. Vermeil even has players over for dinner and lets them sample his wine.
But even Alan Thicke would’ve had a hard time keeping all the children happy last year. With Chiefs fans planning for the Super Bowl in
the preseason, Kansas City started 0-3. After that third loss, at home against Houston, the locker room was eerily quiet.
“Obviously you feel bad when the offense is scoring 41 points and we give up 42,” says defensive end Eric Hicks. “It’s kind of hard to look
at those guys sometimes.”
The blame game went on throughout the whole team. The defense blamed themselves for giving up 34 points to Tampa Bay and San
Diego. Some of the more astute number crunchers on offense noticed a different trend — the Chiefs had 17 interceptions and 10 lost
fumbles in 2004, nine more turnovers than in 2003.
“People can say whatever they want to say about the defense,” says Chiefs guard Brian Waters. “What the defense did (last year), to be
honest with you, was no different than what they’d been doing for three years. That’s reality. What we did on offense was not
characteristic of our team. We had way more turnovers. That’s on us.
“We weren’t good enough. When you think of the best offense, I look at the Indianapolis Colts. Their defense was just as bad as ours
statistically, but yet they won games because the offense scored continuously throughout the game. And they didn’t have near as many
turnovers as we did.”
Vermeil has helped breed a win-together, lose-together attitude, but even the best-intentioned coaches can make one side feel as if it’s
not holding up its side of the bargain. Dalton says most of the defensive players could handle it when the media blitzed them. It was
tougher sometimes to hear the coaches rave about the offense, which broke an NFL record last season with 398 first downs, then compare
them with the defense.
“It’s like two children,” Dalton says. “If one kid’s bad all the time and one kid’s good, you’re always trying to compare. It’s hard. Even
though you love both of them, the bad kid feels like he’s just a bad seed. It does two things. Some people get down. I take it personally.
I’m out to prove them wrong, that we’re not second-class citizens.”
It’s a gentleman’s agreement, an unspoken code: Never blame a teammate. At least not publicly. When Rich Gannon was Oakland’s
quarterback and the Raiders offense was clicking and the defense was clunking, he heard the bickering.
It happens everywhere, Gannon says, even in his time in Kansas City. Football is a game of emotion, not manners.
“There is tension,” Gannon says. “There’s frustration. I’ve seen it pour over to where players are yelling at each other when they’re coming
on and off the field. The coordinator’s mad at the other guy. … Hopefully you avoid that and you stick together.
“It’s a fine line. You’ve got to worry about your own guys. You don’t want to step on anybody else’s toes. They’re doing the best they can,
and they’ve got leaders on their side of the ball. You’ve got to work together.”
ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury compares the ebb and flow of offense and defense to a child-parent relationship.
Parents take care of children, but at some point, the children take care of the parents.
Baltimore won a Super Bowl after the 2000 season with a lukewarm offense and the NFL’s most feared defense. Did the defense take its
locker-room shots at the offense? Probably. Did it affect the final outcome?
“Good teams can find a way,” Salisbury says. “You can bicker but still find a way to get it done.”
The gentleman’s agreement doesn’t seem to apply to kickers. Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt questioned quarterback Peyton Manning’s
emotion. Manning fired back by calling him an idiot kicker.
Page 3 of 3
The name “Jon Baker” is still cursed in the bowels of Arrowhead. Baker’s three out-of-bounds kickoffs helped keep the Chiefs out of the
1999 playoffs.
It’s a respect thing. Hicks was considered the leader of the 2004 defense, and nearly every week, he found himself apologizing to the
offense for what the defense didn’t do. Their response, he says, was nearly always the same.
Forget about it. We’re a team.
The Chiefs made moves to stop the apologies in the offseason. They acquired linebacker Kendrell Bell, cornerback Patrick Surtain, safety
Sammy Knight and defensive end Carlos Hall through trades and free-agency. They drafted Butkus Award winner Derrick Johnson, who will
start as a rookie.
The newcomers have four Pro Bowl trips among them. Just one of the Chiefs’ starting 11 from last year — safety Jerome Woods — has
been to the Pro Bowl.
“I kind of think it’s exciting,” Hicks says, “because for the first time since I’ve been here, our defense has the opportunity to catch up with
the offense. It would be a pretty bold statement to say that we’ll be as good as them. We won’t. It would be pretty hard to jump from No.
31 to No. 1.
“If we can live up to the offensive aura this year and give something back, we won’t feel like second-class citizens.”
Or forgotten grunts. It hasn’t happened in the offseason. When training camp started, the biggest news wasn’t about Green’s arm or
Holmes’ knee. It was about Derrick Johnson, who’d wowed the coaches during the summer, getting to camp on time.
And defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who nearly popped a blood vessel during every practice. Even the Chiefs’ coordinators
seem to be polar opposites. While Cunningham was in the defense’s face, spraying their helmets with spit, offensive coordinator Al
Saunders was quietly plotting, slapping backs and delivering high fives.
Maybe they know how far they need to go. Maybe they’re just different.
Dalton jokingly refers to the offense as the pretty boys.
“Don’t tell them I said that,” he says.
No need to cause tension.
Cunningham attempting to change culture of losing
Page 1 of 4
FOOTBALL 2005
By ADAM TEICHER
Linebacker Kawika Mitchell (left) and the rest of the Chiefs’
defense watched the other team celebrate scoring
touchdowns too often last season.
“If you play defense, you always have to think you were better than the offensive players, because they always knew the play and the
count. Your mind-set must be you’re always better. Anytime you let yourself shift from that, you create a problem.”
— Willie Lanier (right), Chiefs linebacker, 1967-77, and Pro Football Hall of Famer
Scrawled in big black letters on a grease board in the Chiefs’ defensive staff room is a two-word mantra that coordinator Gunther
Cunningham has lived by the past eight months.
CULTURE CHANGE.
It defined every move the Chiefs and Cunningham made to repair a woeful defense, from the acquisition of several new defenders to
Cunningham’s planned game-day move from the press box to the sideline.
The Chiefs, as the entire football world knew, were a defensive mess. Cunningham returned to the franchise last year and was hailed as a
conquering hero who would make all the defensive problems disappear.
Of course, they didn’t. His first season back was a failure. The Chiefs’ defense ranked 31st in the NFL, and Cunningham realized that
nothing would work — not even new players — unless the team received an attitude adjustment along with them.
“We talk about it every night,” Cunningham said. “Not a meeting goes by when we don’t talk about changing this team’s defensive culture.
“It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish because of everything that was in place when I got back here. Turning everybody’s
mind back to the middle ’90s, that’s tough to do.”
Page 2 of 4
Cunningham talks about it with his fellow coaches. He talks about it with players. He may even discuss it with his next-door neighbors.
“I’ve never seen him like this before,” defensive end Eric Hicks said. “The man is tireless to begin with, but I’ve never seen him with this
type of intensity. This is beyond how he was even when he was head coach. It seems like he’s on a quest like Joan of Arc to get us to No.
1 on defense.”
Last season was harder on Cunningham than he would like to admit. He always pushed a lot of buttons, and though not all of his moves
worked, a large percentage did.
Nothing worked in 2004. He didn’t recognize these defenders in red.
The Chiefs he once coached — now, those guys had swagger. Few teams had a more distinctive defensive culture. They carried the flag for
the great Kansas City defenses of the past, for Bobby Bell and Buck Buchanan, for Willie Lanier and Jim Lynch. Cunningham’s Chiefs got in
your face, hit you hard, had a nasty attitude and were often undisciplined.
But in his three seasons away, they turned into a beaten-down bunch that even he didn’t know whether to coddle or whip.
Much was made of an off-season spending spree that netted the Chiefs new starters on defense. But Cunningham understood that so
much more needed to be done.
“What he’s trying to do,” Chiefs longtime safety Jerome Woods said, “is turn a bunch of nice guys into a bunch of thugs.”
“Gunther Cunningham has the same philosophy our defensive coordinator, Tom Bettis, had. It’s an attack defense, and that’s what we did.
We just lined up and went after people.”
— Jim Kearney, Chiefs defensive back, 1967-75
There’s a common denominator to all dominating defensive teams.
“Everything I’ve ever known about defense is built around attitude,” said Lynn Stiles, Chiefs vice president for football operations.
“Attitude, attitude, attitude.
“It doesn’t matter how you line up or what schemes you run. It all has to do with attitude and setting a standard. … I’ve never been with a
championship team that didn’t have it, and I’ve had the good fortune of coaching in four Super Bowls.”
That the Chiefs lost that quality during Cunningham’s absence is undeniable. But it wasn’t so obvious while it was happening.
When Dick Vermeil replaced Cunningham as head coach in 2001, most of Vermeil’s time and energy were spent on upgrading an offense
that had culture issues of its own.
The Chiefs were usually efficient running the ball but had trouble consistently scoring.
While that quickly changed, the defensive nosedive happened right along with it. The Chiefs lost players with attitude — like cornerback
James Hasty and linebacker Marvcus Patton — and didn’t adequately replace them.
Any residue from Cunningham’s time was quickly lost.
“You can’t help it,” Woods said. “The atmosphere around here kind of makes you a nice guy, a friendly guy. Everything is so familyoriented. It kind of carries over on the field. Gun wants us to be nice on our own time, but he wants us to be a bunch of thugs on the field.
Nice guys finish last.”
And, by extension, nasty players don’t. When Woods joined the Chiefs in 1996, they had nasty players who took ownership of the defense:
Hasty, Dale Carter, Derrick Thomas, Vaughn Booker and Anthony Davis.
“It wasn’t hard to blend in with that,” Woods said, “That attitude was already so established. That was just the way we played.
“When coach Vermeil got in, he wanted to change some of that. He wanted us to be a smart football team that didn’t do this and do that.
That’s the right thing to do, but from a defensive standpoint, we bought into that laid-back atmosphere. To play defense in this league,
you can’t be laid-back.”
Page 3 of 4
“Before they brought in Gunther, it was kind of disgusting to sit out there and watch them play defense. I’d see them get in a defense, and
the offense would show them something different, and they never checked out of that defense and made adjustments.”
— Bobby Bell, Chiefs linebacker, 1963-74, and Pro Football Hall of Famer
A good deal of blame must fall to Vermeil. He often left defensive decisions in his early seasons with the Chiefs to coordinator Greg
Robinson.
The Chiefs also made some bad defensive choices in the draft, and many of their free-agent decisions didn’t work as they had planned.
“Those things don’t just happen overnight,” Stiles said. “You just kind of evolve to it. We’re guilty of allowing it to happen. Somewhere
along the way, the defensive phase of it just wasn’t happening for some reason. It’s not like the coaches didn’t try. The effort was there.”
Being a Chiefs defender was little fun, even in the Chiefs’ 13-3 season in 2003.
In the playoffs, Kansas City couldn’t force Indianapolis to make a single punt, and the Colts scored 38 points. It appeared the Chiefs hadn’t
even watched Peyton Manning tear apart Denver the previous week.
On the Colts’ first drive in Kansas City, Manning pump-faked and hit Brandon Stokley on a skinny post for a 29-yard touchdown pass — the
identical play in which Manning found Stokley for a 31-yard touchdown for Indianapolis’ first score the previous week.
“My litmus test for the Chiefs was if they let Manning score on any of the five touchdown passes he threw the previous week, then they
would lose,” Lanier recalled.
“If we’re playing a chess match, and if I’d just seen your move the previous week, and let’s say a touchdown is a move, than I should be
able to offset that. You might beat me with another move, but you shouldn’t beat me with one I have just seen.”
The Chiefs’ pinball-machine offense put up 31 points that day, usually enough to win a playoff game on your own home field. Not this time
— or on many occasions in the 2004 season.
Sundays were tough for Chiefs defenders. But Mondays might have been worse. That’s when they had to face their offensive teammates.
“Over time, if you hear it enough about how bad you are or how your personnel on defense doesn’t stack up to the personnel on offense,
eventually you start buying into that,” said former NFL lineman Mark Schlereth, now an analyst with ESPN. “Obviously, personnel and
scheme are at the forefront of that, but you also have to make that shift mentally. It can’t be OK anymore to be second-fiddle. … You get
beaten down mentally. It’s hard to overcome.
“The good teams I played with, when we went against our starting defense in practice, we wanted them to know that we were better than
they were. If we played second-fiddle to our defense on a daily basis, how were we supposed to respect ourselves and get the job done
when it mattered on Sunday?”
When the Chiefs went looking for defensive players in the off-season, they wanted ones who not only would fit into Cunningham’s on-field
plans, they also wanted certain types of personalities. Ones with the attitude Cunningham was looking for, the infectious kind.
“We went out and got some players to create some competition,” Stiles said. “That has a lot to do with it. Let’s face it: We needed an
overhaul. It wasn’t just additional players or better players. We brought in the kind of players that will demonstrate leadership. They will
hopefully act as a catalyst and an example to the other players.
“I think our standards and expectations have changed. That’s critical to the process.”
Central to the plan is linebacker Kendrell Bell, who would have fit in perfectly with Cunningham’s old Kansas City defenses. Or maybe even
the old AFL Chiefs.
“That guy plays with a mean streak and a nasty attitude,” Schlereth said. “I’ve seen him hit people and it made me glad I retired before he
got into the league. He’s going to be a part of changing that culture.”
If all else fails, defensive players will get a game-day earful from Cunningham. He plans to call signals from the sideline, the idea being to
better dispense his unique brand of communication when needed.
It’s all in the name of getting things back to the way they were.
Page 4 of 4
“I want people to talk about great plays the defense made to shut down Peyton Manning or a goal-line stand or a big sack and a caused
fumble,” Hicks said. “It’s great to hear, but I don’t want it to be every time that people talk about ‘Priest Holmes went 80 yards for a
touchdown’ or ‘Trent Green threw a bomb to Eddie Kennison.’
“We want to be the saviors sometimes.”
They are not alone. The 2005 Chiefs have a special group pulling for them. Kansas City’s defensive legends have a reputation to uphold,
but they are not unsympathetic.
“I can’t imagine how frustrating it has been for them over the last few years,” Lanier said. “It’s not like the team has the very worst
players who ever played the game.”
The Star’s Randy Covitz contributed to this story.
Gonzalez built his KC persona with looks, money, charm
Page 1 of 2
FOOTBALL 2005
By WRIGHT THOMPSON
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The face, that’s what makes him different from the bruisers, from some Mark Bavaro type with blood-stained tape on
his knuckles. Tight ends don’t become the most visible person on a team, unless. … Hey, there’s no way around it, fellas: Tony Gonzalez is
a good-looking man. His mug is angular, handsome, and — yes, we know the mail that’s gonna come in over this one, not to mention the
interoffice hazing — sorta delicate.
His face has made him the most famous man in Kansas City since George Brett, and turned his credit-card-on-the-bar nights at Mi Cocina
into the stuff of 20-something KC legend. Everyone’s seen Tony G out and, more often than not, been greeted with a smile (attractive
ladies, a bit more).
That’s not an accident. He’s been working on making other people feel at ease around him, just another way to increase the worth of his
most valuable asset — his persona.
“This is my new motto,” he says. “In the offseason, I learned to treat people like they’re old friends of mine. Pretend like I’ve known this
person forever. Whether it’s kids, or dealing with fans. I guess when I take that approach, it’s helped me out a lot. I don’t feel
uncomfortable in those situations.”
Then Tony looks at you and smiles, his tone conversational. You realize he’s pulling a trick on you, and doing it so well that you don’t
really care, convinced that this is different and he actually likes doing this interview. It’s not a gift; it’s a learned skill. He’s constantly
improving himself, devouring books of daily affirmations, of motivations. He’s analytical, always watching, always cataloging. Actually, it’s
kinda freaky.
“That’s part of my deal,” he says. “I watch everybody around me. I’m really big on the hidden determinants of human behavior. I wanna
see why people act the way they do and what motivates people and how can I apply that to my life.”
During the offseason, his busiest of all, that studying paid off. He felt at ease, becoming adept at living the high-flying lifestyle his face and
sure hands provide.
This journey — transforming himself from talented athlete into mogul — began in 1999. He’d made his first Pro Bowl, and the offers
poured in. He couldn’t keep up, with any of it. He felt like he’d gone on vacation and left something at home. Felt like that 24-7.
“I was having trouble balancing stuff back then,” he says — then he laughs out loud, thinking of his current schedule, booked through the
end of the season; he can literally find out what he’s doing at 2:26 p.m. on, say, Nov. 24.
He formulated a plan. He hired a personal assistant to handle all his scheduling. He’d turn his incredible talent and his shiny personality
and, yes, his Hollywood good looks into a second career. He’d turn his face into a commodity, then he’d sell, sell, sell.
Like everything he’s ever done, this didn’t happen by happenstance. Gonzalez isn’t a man of idle threats. When he wants to learn Spanish,
he moves to Mexico for a bit. Dealing with his off-the-field opportunities is the same. Today, his coaches and teammates marvel at his
juggling.
“What I see with Tony is a guy that’s not distracted by anything,” Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil says as camp begins.
He’s got help. Team Tony is a large group now. There’s his sports agent. His marketing guys. His assistant. His assistant’s assistant. His
Hollywood agent. People who handle the travel company he’s set up.
This past winter and spring, he went around to meet with corporate boards, working on business deals for a life after the games end. He
felt like a rookie again. He liked that. It’s why he enjoyed going to Portugal a while back; it was the first place he’d been in ages where
people didn’t recognize him.
Page 2 of 2
“My career is winding down, so I’ve been creating opportunities for myself,” he says. “So I’ve got to take meetings. I’m starting out again
as a beginner. I’m going in there doing PowerPoint sessions in a meeting while we’ve got a projector up there: ‘This is what we think we
can do for your company.’ To a CEO of a company that does $200 million in sales a year.”
Just a few years ago, he wouldn’t have dreamed of talking to corporate executives. He was living a rap video.
“When I was young?” he says, laughing. “I was going out every night. I was 21, young, single, a millionaire. People knew me. I was out
there having a good time, drinking. I’ve been in situations where maybe, potentially, something wrong can happen and other situations it’s
gone wrong with other guys. I’ve been lucky, I think.”
Even then, he was watching how other people carried themselves. At a team luncheon early in his career, he saw friend and thenteammate Donnie Edwards give a speech. The thing was awful. Just a total disaster.
“You know what he told me before he went up there?” Gonzalez says. “He said, ‘I’m just gonna go up there and wing it.’ I said: ‘Cool.
Good luck. See what happens.’ ”
Part of Gonzalez still thought he could sneak by on charisma. Four years into the league, a speech to a company in Kansas City about
leadership brought down his façade. He figured he’d smile and wink his way to a quick payday.
“I bombed,” he says. “I was horrible. I wasn’t prepared. I’m glad that happened because it was embarrassing, and it taught me that
there’s no such thing as winging it. You can’t wing anything. Everything takes preparation, especially talking to people. Whatever it is in
life, you’d better be prepared.”
So he began taking notes. He now has files going, with speeches in constant evolution for different groups. One on teamwork. One on
motivation. Another especially for kids. He picked other stars’ brains, like Peyton Manning’s. He worked at it, and, about six months ago,
Gonzalez finally felt he’d come full circle.
“So this year, at the Super Bowl,” he says, “I went and talked to a company, and I was up there for 30 minutes. Dazzling them. Telling
’em jokes. Giving ’em good points. And I think they liked it. I felt good about that. I went in there prepared. I wrote everything down.”
He’s smiling, doing his old-friend bit. He has one point he wants to see in print, so he works the conversation back to it. Being a public face
of a franchise makes him rich, but it doesn’t come without strings. He takes the responsibility seriously.
“I think that’s really, really what’s important,” he says. “Guys can’t forget about that, and we have to realize, we are kids’ heroes, no
matter if we want to be or not. There’s nothing wrong with heroes. We had heroes growing up.”
Sometimes, when it gets crazy, when he’s flying from coast to coast, drinking with models and starring in television shows, he struggles to
remember the little kid who played the game for fun, the little kid who had heroes. That’s why he likes where he is now, sitting at a
lunchroom in River Falls, Wis., gearing up for the season, munching on some fruit and other cafeteria fare. It’s a long way from Hollywood
nights at Mood with the other A-listers.
“Sometimes you have to refocus yourself,” he says between bites. “That’s one of the things I particularly enjoy about camp. Most of the
guys, they get TVs. I don’t get a TV. All I bring is a radio, some candles and a book. I bring a journal because I like to write, and I bring a
bunch of books.”
He’s ready for this season to start. A year ago, he had almost 1,300 receiving yards, and he hopes he can do even better in 2005. Besides,
at least he’s done jacking with his reality television show, “Super Agent.” It didn’t do so well, and Gonzalez isn’t used to failing. But at
least he can make a joke out if it. “Put it this way,” he says. “My family doesn’t even watch it.”
Suddenly he’s off. Got another commercial to film. The crew is set up near the cafeteria. A woman is holding the script. Tony Gonzalez
walks into the room, takes a peek at his lines and flashes his engaging smile. He looks at them like they’re old friends, and they melt.
USATODAY.com - Chiefs' Holmes visualizes another TD-heavy season
Page 1 of 3
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Chiefs' Holmes visualizes another TD-heavy season
By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports Weekly
Priest Holmes sharpened his vision for running to daylight inside a darkened University of Texas
classroom, listening to a woman's voice guide him through an imaginary forest. Back then, Holmes ran in
Ricky Williams' shadow and needed an edge. So he took then-Texas coach John Mackovic up on his
visualization recommendation. It was one of the best moves Kansas City's three-time Pro Bowl back ever
made.
Priest Holmes doesn't see himself playing beyond ten years. But he says, "This is my ninth year, and I feel real
good."
B Ann Heisenfelt, AP
The NFL's most prolific touchdown scorer the past three years attributes those Friday sessions for enhancing his extraordinary cutback vision, especially inside the red zone. Holmes is money inside an opponent's 20-yard line. His 66 touchdowns over the past
three seasons are the most during that span in league history.
Holmes scored 15 TDs in eight games last season before a sprained right knee shut him down.
"I've always had a knack for finding the goal line," Holmes says, recalling the visualization training. "It would only be myself and two,
three linemen. We'd sit there for an hour in a dark room.
"There was nothing to look at. But this woman's voice would walk you through a forest and she would tell you everything you were
about to smell, touch and walk past. 'Now the path turns. Do you hear the trickling water?' Then, you'd hear a bird chirping in the
distance.
"The drills really helped me envision things. It translated to football because I was able to slow down and sense where defenders
are. I developed more of a sixth sense.
"I've always kept up those drills."
Holmes, who turns 32 in October, will likely duel San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Seattle's Shaun Alexander, New
England's Corey Dillon, New York's Curtis Martin, Baltimore's Jamal Lewis, Buffalo's Willis McGahee, New Orleans' Deuce
McAllister and Dallas' Julius Jones for the league scoring lead.
Holmes lets blockers lead the way before shooting through openings only he can see.
"I'm usually playing off flashes of color," Holmes says. "But when I'm really locked in and have done everything possible to study
film, when I know that defensive back doesn't like to hit, or that linebacker overpursues, or that safety is more worried about
dropping back than coming up — that's when the game really slows down.
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Chiefs%27+Holme... 9/1/2005
Page 2 of 3
"I see it all. I see your uniform number. I see the details in your hairstyle. That's when I really feel I'm in tune with what my offensive
linemen are doing and I can just see holes opening."
Chiefs president Carl Peterson, who compares Holmes' vision to Marcus Allen's, recalled the first time he spotted a player practicing
alone from his office overlooking the Arrowhead Stadium field.
"There was one guy out there with a football after a Saturday walk-through and it was Priest," Peterson recalls. "He's practicing
scoring a touchdown, catching the football, turning and running to the pylon in slow motion. The next game he catches a pass, runs
to the pylon and I say to myself, 'I've seen this play before.' "
Holmes has scored more on slow-motion Saturday touchdown practice than most backs do in their careers.
"Some people see Priest going out there on Saturday for the first time and say, 'What's he doing?' " coach Dick Vermeil says. "He's
poised to have a great season."
Coming off his third knee injury since suffering a torn left ACL in 1995 at Texas, Holmes says his rehabilitated right knee is strong
enough to stand up to a grueling season.
It will be interesting to see who has made the quicker comeback, Holmes or quarterback Chad Pennington, when the Chiefs host
the Jets in their Sept. 11 season opener. Pennington, who couldn't brush his teeth right-handed for two months after Feb. 8 rotator
cuff surgery, is remarkably ahead of schedule despite a panic attack generated by a couple of end-zone interceptions Aug. 26
against the New York Giants. Pennington's reunion with go-to receiver Laveranues Coles will test the Chiefs' defense, which has
five new starters.
Yet for all the hype about this season's "Generation Next" running backs, from second-year starters Jones in Dallas and Detroit's
Kevin Jones to Miami rookie Ronnie Brown, Tampa Bay's Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Arizona's J.J. Arrington, Holmes runs with
the patience that can only develop over time.
Touchdown visualization and hard work are his only performance-enhancing boosters.
"Priest is a machine, an old-school workout guy," says Bay McClinton, the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NBA's
San Antonio Spurs, with whom Holmes trained for eight years. "We run hills. He spent time this offseason running on a treadmill in a
hydro pool at the Spurs' facility to take pressure off his joints.
"Priest and I have talked about how guys in the NFL are heroes to little kids. Playing dirty isn't the way to go.
"I tell the college kids I work with, 'Watch the way Priest works.' He takes every catch to the end zone and jogs back. He's not a tall
dude. He's compact. But he's got great heart."
Watching his hometown Spurs capture the NBA championship reinforced the ticking sense of urgency the Chiefs feel with seven
offensive starters over 30.
Holmes has unselfishly groomed Larry Johnson, a talented third-year back who had a strong preseason. Vermeil will keep Holmes
fresh by working Johnson in more.
Savor Holmes while you can.
"I never really thought about playing beyond 10 years," Holmes says. "This is my ninth year, and I feel real good.
"I have no individual goals this season other than winning that Super Bowl championship. We want to win it for coach Vermeil and
our owner, Lamar Hunt."
Herrion update: What can be said to ease players' minds after the death of 49ers guard Thomas Herrion, four years after Vikings
tackle Korey Stringer died of heatstroke? That layer of invincibility is gone.
"Other than saying, 'Listen, this game has been played for a long, long time,' I can tell you there's more monitoring of players today
done by more medical personnel, particularly after what happened to Korey Stringer," says Elliot Pellman, the NFL's medical liaison.
Page 3 of 3
"It's just statistically that sometimes bad things happen.
"We don't have all the information yet (concerning Herrion's death). But I can say there is more monitoring of these athletes today
than by any other sport in the world."
Herrion's heart showed no abnormality, according to the initial autopsy report, though further tests were planned.
Emergency response following Herrion's collapse in Denver was textbook, in accordance with a two-year-old plan to have a trauma
care specialist trained in inserting breathing tubes at every game. A committee of doctors appointed by Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue nearly two years ago to carefully analyze cardiovascular health will soon define a baseline profile to help identify players
at increased cardiovascular risk.
Have some players gotten too big for their own good?
"The obesity issue is one that has been there," Pellman says. "They're going to start this year and next to get body-fat measures
across the league. They'll look at cholesterol profiles, blood pressure (and) EKGs. It really is about cardiovascular health.
"The committee has to decide how you define obesity in the NFL. It's based on body fat, and there's much more scientific ways of
calculating body fat.
"I suspect the physicians talking about obesity being a problem in the NFL are gathering information off the Internet and from what
they see on television. ... The players in the NFL are a separate, unique population."
A lot of questions must still be answered for the mental health of that unique population.
E-mail: [email protected]
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/columnist/2005-08-31-corbett_x.htm
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True grit
Page 1 of 3
Posted on Fri, Sep. 09, 2005
True grit
Green’s 64-game streak seemed unlikely
Before there were streaks and stents and panic about Trent, a young man sat in the training room at Arrowhead Stadium with a
contraption that monitored his left leg. He didn’t say much. Couldn’t practice.
If this was the Chiefs’ new man of steel, at least a couple of players wanted to check Trent Green for rust.
“You were just trying to figure out how healthy he was,” Pro Bowl guard Will Shields says. “The first time you meet him, he’s in the
training room. You’re looking at him like, ‘Is he going to be OK?’ ”
That’s the thing about tough guys. They sneak up on you. Through four seasons, a few broken ribs, a sore shoulder and 64 straight starts,
Green has uttered three words at least a hundred times: I’ll be fine. He said it that spring in 2001, when he overcame four knee surgeries
and was swapped for a first-round draft pick in one of the riskier acquisitions in franchise history.
He said it during pregame warm-ups two weeks ago, when he couldn’t jog from the 50-yard line to the end zone just before the preseason
game with Seattle. That’s when offensive coordinator Al Saunders knew something was wrong. At first they just thought his shoes were
too tight. Green had already changed them.
He played two series that night, then underwent a battery of tests that eventually revealed a torn artery in the area behind his left knee.
Green had surgery to put a stent in his leg and was on blood thinners until Thursday morning.
It won’t stop him from making his 65th straight start Sunday in the season opener against the Jets, a streak that ranks fourth among
active NFL quarterbacks.
Ask just about anybody, with the exception of Saunders and maybe coach Dick Vermeil, and they’ll say Green’s staying power has been a
surprise. Before he came to Kansas City, the longest starting streak he’d held in the NFL was nine games, in Washington, in 1998. He’d
attempted just one pass in the three seasons before that.
But when opportunity finally arrived, so did the injuries. A hip ailment, sore shoulders, dozens of bumps and bruises. The streak has been
in jeopardy three times in the past year alone. Green fought through the end of 2004 with broken ribs and watched part of training camp
with a sore shoulder. Then came the torn artery and a quick procedure to get back on the field.
“I’m not surprised by anything Trent Green does,” Saunders says.
“Football is a physically violent game. And Trent is a very, very tough guy. Part of his leadership role as a quarterback is to play through
those kinds of injuries. That’s why he addressed the team when he had this leg situation. He said, ‘Hey, I’m going to be playing. I’ll be
ready for you.’ That’s why guys respect and rally around him.”
It hasn’t hurt Green that he’s been protected by one of the best offensive lines in the NFL for the last four years. Shields is a 10-time Pro
Bowler who’s started 191 straight games. Willie Roaf and Brian Waters have been to Hawaii too. Casey Wiegmann has been Green’s center
for the last four years.
To last as long as Green has, former Chiefs quarterback Len Dawson says, you need a good line, a little luck and a few intangibles. Some
quarterbacks can feel the pressure without looking at it. Green, Dawson says, falls in that category.
But all the intuition couldn’t stop Green from being carted off the field in the 1999 preseason in St. Louis, when Rodney Harrison came in
low on a tackle and knocked Green out for the season. The Rams won the Super Bowl, Green lost his starting job, and Sports Illustrated
called him “The Unluckiest Guy in America.”
9/9/2005
True grit
Page 2 of 3
The luck changed when he came to Kansas City. Green has gone on to throw for 16,103 yards in four seasons, which ranks second in the
NFL behind Peyton Manning. His 87.9 passer rating tops Dawson’s from 1962 to 1975.
Mind, body and spirit. Green, Saunders says, is fanatical about taking care of all of it. He locks himself away for film study and lifted so
much in the offseason that he developed a sore shoulder.
“He’s not really built like a quarterback,” fullback Tony Richardson says. “Look at his physique … I mean, the guy is built well, and I say
that as a man who is very secure with his manhood. He’s put together well. He busts his butt in the weight room. He really takes care of
his body.”
At 35, Green knows he has to. He’s the second-oldest starting quarterback in the NFL next to Brett Favre. He spent training camp
relegated to the one-workout-a-day duty given to many of the Chiefs’ aging offensive veterans.
When Dawson was around Green’s age, he had to swing at a racquetball before each game to loosen up his shoulder. He’d slather on
analgesic balm and press hot packs on the aching wing.
“The older you get, the slower you heal,” Dawson says. “I was playing at that age myself, and the aches and pains don’t get over with
until about Friday as opposed to a Wednesday. It lingers on. Oftentimes, you have to do what you have to do to play in a game.”
Green says he’s healthier than the average 35-year-old because he hasn’t had the typical NFL mileage. He sat in ’99 and spent roughly six
seasons trying to find his way in the league.
Although he wished the knee injury never happened, Green says it shaped him as a quarterback in Kansas City. It made him tougher.
More focused.
When Green had his stent operation last week, it was the first time he was separated from his team since his days in St. Louis.
“I didn’t like it,” Green says. “It wasn’t a situation that I want to be in ever again. You always want to be there. Even though in that game
I probably would’ve taken five to 10 snaps, you still want to be out there with your guys, being in that locker room and supporting
(them).”
In the days before the diagnosis last week, Green, for maybe the first time since he’s been in Kansas City, was worried. His foot was
numb, and his muscles ached. Doctors couldn’t find the problem.
When a diagnosis was made Aug. 30, Green decided to have surgery immediately. He wanted to play this Sunday against the Jets. He
didn’t want to break the streak.
Shields says it’s taboo for football players to talk about streaks. Especially when they deal with quarterbacks. But with everything Green
has been through, the knee surgeries, the ribs, the stent, is there really anything that could jinx Kansas City’s quarterback?
“We don’t talk about streaks,” Shields says. “I don’t. I don’t even talk about my own.”
But maybe another former quarterback under Vermeil will. Ron Jaworski says playing quarterback in the NFL is like being in 60 car wrecks
every Sunday. What Green has done, Jaworski says, is a testament to his toughness.
“What’s troublesome to me is that I don’t think it’s nationally recognized how well he’s played over the last few years,” Jaworski says. “He
has played up there with the top five guys. I don’t think he’s gotten the credit for playing the position as well as he’s played it.”
Some of it could be because of a smaller market. Or maybe Green just got lost somewhere on I-70, between St. Louis and Kansas City and
hundreds of questions about his health.
Green can’t worry about that. He’ll be fine.
To reach Elizabeth Merrill, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4744 or send e-mail to [email protected]
9/9/2005
St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO | Chiefs offense ready to roll
Page 1 of 2
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Chiefs offense ready to roll
By SCOTT DOCHTERMAN
Sports Editor
Thursday, September 08, 2005
KANSAS CITY — Age has a funny way of humbling people, especially on the football field.
The creaks in the knees, the tightness in the thighs, the throb in the shoulder. Those pains balance the experience veterans
impose upon rookies.
Kansas City’s offense, which has scored a league-high 1,754 points and gained 24,278 yards since 2001, could slow down with
age. After all, seven starters have surpassed their 30th birthday.
But don’t tell that to New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, who said “they’re the best offense in captivity.”
“The last time I checked they were No.1 in the league last year, and they scored about 30 points a game,” Edwards said. “They’ve
got a fantastic runner, they’ve got a great offensive line, they’ve got a Hall of Fame tight end, they’ve got some wide receivers that
can run fast, a lot of shifts; a lot of motions, get one-on-one matchups. They move the ball, and they know how to move the ball,
and they score.”
Kansas City finished as the NFL’s No.1 offense at 418.4 yards per game, and the Chiefs were second in scoring at 30.2 points a
game. But the Chiefs struggled offensively early last season in losing their first three games. Injuries in training camp changed the
original playcalling and forced the team to change its focus.
Wide receiver Marc Boerigter, who scored eight touchdowns in 2002, tore the ACL in his right knee in a preseason game. Tight
end Kris Wilson suffered a broken left leg in the preseason finale at Dallas. Starting wide receivers Johnnie Morton and Eddie
Kennison missed time in training camp as well with injuries.
“I don’t think it was an out-of-rhythm thing. I just think we didn’t have the people that we were counting on certain situations,”
Chiefs guard Brian Waters said. “Marc Boerigter was a big-time red zone player for us, a big-time touchdown guy in the red zone,
and we didn’t have that. So we were trying to figure out who was going to be that guy.
“We worked so hard and try to intertwine Kris Wilson into our offense and put him in some certain packages to use his strengths
and then all the sudden we didn’t have him. He got hurt in the last preseason game. So, all the sudden, some of the things that
you’ve been working very hard on and some of the people that you use their strengths in the game were all the sudden gone.”
So far, there’s a parallel between the 2004 offense with its latest version. Guard Will Shields sat out most of training camp with a
sore back, tight end Tony Gonzalez practiced only once a day after foot surgery and quarterback Trent Green had surgery last
week to help blood flow improve in his left leg.
Still, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil won’t blame last year’s problems on injuries, and he won’t do the same this year.
“We said that was the reason. Something has to take the blame,” Vermeil said. “We’ll use that. Maybe we just didn’t do a good
9/8/2005
St. Joseph News-Press, St. Joseph, MO | Chiefs offense ready to roll
Page 2 of 2
enough job. That’s the way I approach things. We don’t need excuses, we really don’t.
“I have a feel for why we’re not as good as we ought to be early. Hopefully, we’ve corrected it. If not, we’ll be the same.”
Despite an 0-4 preseason record, the Chiefs’ first-team offense was happy with its production. The Chiefs’ first-team offense
scored touchdowns in both home preseason games with Trent Green at the helm. The execution, especially in an eight-play
touchdown drive against Seattle, was crisp.
Green returned to practice on Monday and Vermeil said he has no problems so far.
“I have no concerns about Trent,” Vermeil said. “The only concerns I have about Trent is pass protection and not for any other
reason than for any quarterback to be good it starts with those guys up front.
“We all know he’s not a scrambler and not what we want him doing. We’ve been spoiled by the execution of a fine offensive line.
But you can’t take it for granted.”
Also, injuries haven’t kept the players off the field for very long. Other than right tackle Kevin Sampson, the team doesn’t have a
starter out of the lineup.
“We aren’t missing any key parts,” Waters said. “We don’t have anybody that’s new to the field this year. So we’re not worried
about transitioning a new player.”
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9/8/2005
Coaches worked hard to make Mitchell meaner
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sat, Sep. 10, 2005
Chiefs want to change middle linebacker’s attitude
By ADAM TEICHER
When it comes to nice guys, few of the Chiefs come in ahead of linebacker Kawika Mitchell, a family man devoted to his wife, Billie, and
children Lewai and Eliza.
The Chiefs have no problem with that except for three hours each week. Then, on game day, they want their starting middle linebacker
changed into something different.
That’s why defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham and linebackers coach Fred Pagac embarked on an offseason course to, in Pagac’s
words, “work on (Mitchell’s) head.”
They had him in for regular meetings, and nasty, occasionally hateful things were said. The basic premise was to challenge Mitchell’s
manhood.
“When the game’s not on, you can be a nice guy,” Pagac said. “When you’re home with your kids, you can be a nice guy. When you’re
between the lines on a Sunday afternoon, I don’t know a whole lot of nice guys out there, particularly at that position.
“He’s our middle linebacker. He has to have an attitude. He has to set our attitude.”
So far, the Chiefs like what they see. Mitchell was one of the most pleasant surprises of training camp and the exhibition season, but the
Chiefs remain nervous about what will develop in the regular season, which begins Sunday against the Jets at Arrowhead Stadium.
Vast improvement from Mitchell is a vital element in the Chiefs’ grand plans for a defensive turnaround.
“Gunther and Fred Pagac have done a great job of fooling around with Kawika’s mind-set,” coach Dick Vermeil said. “They want an ornery
son of a gun there. Some kids aren’t naturally ornery. That doesn’t mean they aren’t tough. They were very demanding, probably more
demanding on him than any player on our football team in this training camp.
“They put the pressure on him as the (middle) linebacker to become the leader of the defense. Then they put three times that amount of
pressure on the field on him. They didn’t give him much room to (fail).
“He’s always been a hard worker. He’s always been a self-motivated kid. But he needed a lot of work. A lot of things just didn’t come
natural to him. It’s taken some time.”
The Chiefs believe they started to see signs late last season that Mitchell, their second-round draft pick in 2003, was coming around.
“I saw him flash into plays, explode into ball carriers, knock screens down and receivers down,” Vermeil said. “You saw it. You just didn’t
see it consistently. They’ve gotten him to do that more consistently.”
Mitchell acknowledged he hardly played like a Pro Bowler last season but often wondered why he was being singled out as the main source
of the defensive problems.
He finally figured out that it came with the territory as the middle linebacker, a position as close to the defensive equivalent of the
quarterback as there is.
The constant harping from his coaches got that fact through. That the Chiefs added one linebacker in veteran Kendrell Bell and adding
three others as rookies, including top draft pick Derrick Johnson, helped the message sink in.
Page 2 of 2
It was this: The Chiefs would find a middle linebacker with a mean streak, whether it was Mitchell or someone else.
“Gunther didn’t hold much back,” Mitchell said. “He told me what he thought was the truth. The things he was saying really didn’t describe
me, I didn’t think. I thought I was a tough person. I thought I was being a leader. I thought I was capable of a lot of good things. That’s
why the Chiefs drafted me.
“When I heard them question that, when I see them bring middle linebackers in, when I hear the media talk about me that way, it made
me look at myself. Maybe I wasn’t playing up to my potential.
“I don’t think I’ve changed a lot. They just applied the pressure and I just reacted to it.”
Occasionally, Cunningham wondered whether he went overboard.
“Kawika is a fine young man,” Cunningham said. “I guess I wanted to turn him into a likeness of me. Day by day, it worked. I said some
things to him on a personal level that weren’t real nice. There were times when I drove home and I wondered whether I had stepped over
the line. I would call him at his house, and we would talk some more. He would tell me he would understand, but he still didn’t get it until
camp.”
Cunningham and Mitchell engaged in a face-to-face shouting match one day at practice in Wisconsin. Expletives were flying in both
directions.
To Cunningham, hearing such talk from the mild-mannered Mitchell was sweet music.
“I walked away from that, and everybody saw me smile,” Cunningham said. “That’s when I knew he arrived.
“It was a tough six months. It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. But I think it worked. You can’t be a nice guy. I don’t
think he’s a nice guy on the field anymore.”
N.Y. Jets at Chiefs
■ WHEN: Noon Sunday
■ WHERE: Arrowhead Stadium
■ TV/RADIO: Chs. 5, 13; KCFX (101.1 FM)
To reach Adam Teicher, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4875 or send e-mail to [email protected].
Cavalry has arrived
Page 1 of 2
Posted on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005
Cavalry has arrived
Knight, Surtain embrace challenge to help defense
By ADAM TEICHER
Call Patrick Surtain and Sammy Knight mercenaries if you must. There’s probably some element of truth there.
The two defensive backs, among the newest members of the Chiefs, are getting a nice chunk of coin to help fix a forlorn unit that ranked
near rock bottom of the NFL last year. That’s particularly true for Surtain, who could make as much as $51 million before his contract runs
out.
But if it were only money, that could have been found elsewhere in the league. There are other reasons Surtain and Knight made the
choice to parachute into Kansas City.
“We wanted guys who wanted the challenge of turning this culture around, and they wanted the challenge,” defensive coordinator Gunther
Cunningham said. “I tried to sense it before they even got here. We knew a lot about the guys we brought in.”
The Chiefs took a look at many defensive free agents. More than anyone else, cornerback Surtain and safety Knight, who had been
teammates at Miami, embraced the idea of making something out of nothing.
Both already were accomplished players. Knight is a former Pro Bowl selection who leads the NFL in takeaways during his eight seasons.
Surtain is a two-time Pro Bowler and widely acknowledged as one of the game’s top cover corners.
It was also important for the Chiefs to have players who not only could deal with the stench of defensive failure, but who actually
embraced it. Both players knew the Chiefs failed defensively in recent seasons and had been warned away from the situation by friends
around the league.
They pressed on anyway.
“I wasn’t going to pay too much attention to what other people said,” Knight said. “I was going to make my decisions based on what I saw
and what I experienced. We all knew Gunther was a great defensive coach. We all knew they had a lot of good defensive players already
here. So it wasn’t like anybody was looking at this as an impossible situation.”
Impossible, no. A little frightening for some, maybe. As the Chiefs brought various job candidates to town for interviews, Cunningham
watched closely as he mentioned the defensive issues.
He didn’t always like the body language or the words he heard in response.
“I had specific questions I was asking everybody we brought in about this situation,” Cunningham said. “ ‘Do you think you can come here
and be the man and take control of this or that?’
“(Linebacker) Ed Hartwell came in and shook a lot of hands. I didn’t want a handshake. I want guys to come in here and knock other
people on their butts. He’s a fine football player. I wouldn’t say anything bad about his ability. But he can’t run like I want our guys to run.
That was a big deal to me.
“(Surtain and Knight) looked me right in the eye. They understood we brought them here to win football games. They accepted what the
Kansas City Chiefs had and what we want to become.”
Surtain, a career Dolphin, played on some great defensive teams and with some great players on those units. The Dolphins were a top-10
defense in each of his seven seasons.
But because of a lifeless offense, Surtain’s Dolphins rarely achieved much. New coach Nick Saban saw Surtain’s fat contract as an
9/11/2005
Cavalry has arrived
Page 2 of 2
obstruction to the rebuilding process and offered him to any interested taker.
Surtain started looking around at prospective new employers. The more he looked at the Chiefs, who showed interest from the start, the
more he liked — particularly when they started talking contract figures.
“I was coming from a team that was oriented around the defense,” he said. “The offense wasn’t that good. To come in here and not
necessarily be a savior but be counted on to make a play and make a difference, it was too good to pass up.
“I just felt this was the place for me because of where they were ranked defensively, because of the culture around here where offense
ruled. I wanted to come here to make a difference.”
Surtain knew the Chiefs had some defensive players worth building around. He knew Eric Hicks once had a season with 14 sacks. Ryan
Sims was a high draft pick. Jared Allen was coming off a promising rookie season. Surtain played with Jerome Woods in a Pro Bowl a
couple of years back.
The Chiefs had already added Knight, Kendrell Bell and Carlos Hall and were about to draft Derrick Johnson with their No. 1 pick when they
completed the trade with Miami for Surtain. The Dolphins received a No. 2 pick.
“Something didn’t add up here,” Surtain said. “I thought the players were better than the results, so something was missing.”
If the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl, Surtain will look even more like a football hero
“We have a chance to be pretty good,” Surtain said. “Guys are hungry, ready to get after it.”
9/11/2005
It’s a year to toast Vermeil
Page 1 of 4
Posted on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005
I
n the solitude of the rolling Pennsylvania hills, a man can plant himself on his tractor, thrash about his log-cabin house, leave without
ever stopping.
They’ve tried family vacations before. There’s a time-share condo in Key West, and sometimes, Dick Vermeil actually plops down with a
book, sticks his toes in the sand and snoozes. Most of the time, he skips it.
With the midsummer sun beating on what could be his final season, Vermeil arrived at his 110-acre ranch in Pennsylvania in late June with
11 months of neglect. His 68-year-old body was tired; the house needed work. He hopped on his tractor and kept going.
“Dick is very task-oriented,” says his wife, Carol, “and he likes to accomplish things. He’s not good with idle time at all.”
Vermeil can’t stop. Not near the elevator last week after a long practice with his hair mussed and a radio show at 5 o’clock and meetings in
between and the Jets coming to town. Not to talk about something that is four months away.
He’s entering the last year of his contract with the Chiefs, and he won’t say whether this is his final ride. He says he doesn’t know. If the
Chiefs are successful in 2005, chances are, Vermeil says, he’ll stay. And if they’re not …
9/11/2005
Page 2 of 4
This is where it gets confusing. This is where Vermeil says he’ll go. But can a man who’s left pro football twice and come back really finally
say goodbye? Can the coach who’s taken two different teams to Super Bowls leave a project that never got finished?
“Listen, I can leave in any way I want to leave,” Vermeil says. “I just … I would not want to put Carl (Peterson) and Lamar (Hunt) in a
position that they have to tell me to leave. I’ve never been in a football program that wasn’t successful. And to this point now, I think we
should’ve been a playoff team three out of the last four years and we haven’t been.
“It bugs the hell out of me. Bugs the hell out of me.”
Carol Vermeil will know. She’s been with him the longest.
They were high school sweethearts in Calistoga, Calif., wandering souls in a school of about 100 where everybody knew everybody. Carol
was drawn to the football player not because he was a Super Bowl coach in the making, but because she thought he was cute.
“What else draws you to anybody?” she says.
Money was tight after they were married, and Vermeil worked at a warehouse stacking boxes in between class and football at San Jose
State. One summer, he dug a pool as an odd job. He did it with a shovel.
When Vermeil was a younger coach in Philadelphia, his hours were Jon Gruden-esque. He’d leave when Carol was sleeping and come home
when she was in bed. Burnout won out in January 1983, when he gave an emotional farewell speech and retired from coaching. He’d done
just about everything. He’d been to the Super Bowl.
For decades, the Vermeils have referred to the players as “our boys.” Little Lional Dalton, the 315-pound tackle? He’s one of our boys. Ron
Jaworski, who’s 54 now? He’s our boy too. But when Vermeil retired the first time, Carol thought he could spend more time with his own
kids.
Then came a 14-year broadcast career, and Vermeil treated it as if he was preparing for the playoffs. He researched every player, every
statistic. He ended up using about 2 percent of his material.
The thing he missed most in those years away was the people. He’d bring players over for dinner and learn about their lives. They’d drink
wine and listen to music. Vermeil’s into jazz. He’d spin disco.
Vermeil says he can leave the game, that he’ll be OK, but Carol wonders. She knows how much 2004 ate at him. She wonders how much
they’ll miss their boys.
“There’s nothing better he likes than when a rookie that isn’t drafted is successful and gains confidence in himself,” Carol says. “He just
loves the whole process of being with his players. That’s the best part, and that’s going to be the hardest part of not doing it. He loves
these guys. It’s going to leave a huge void.”
Every season since Vermeil has been in Kansas City, Carol invites the immediate family and a handful of friends to sit in their suite for the
opening game. This year’s contingent will be the same, roughly 20 people. They’ll be pressed in like sardines. They won’t know whether
this is their final gathering.
“He really, desperately, wants this team to win,” Carol says. “Not necessarily for his record but for the kids themselves. Because you
know, there’s nothing like success. Why do you work so darn hard? It’s to be successful. That’s the uppermost thing in his mind, to have a
good season. I think it’ll be very disappointing if we don’t. Because he’ll realize that he couldn’t get it done here, that we couldn’t get it
done.”
Carl Peterson will know. He’s the one who got Vermeil into this fix.
Fuming over a losing season in the early days of 2001, the Chiefs president and general manager made a call to Vermeil’s ranch. Vermeil
was retired, again, and was by all accounts happy. He’d gone out on top in St. Louis the year before, hoisting a Super Bowl trophy. This,
and he meant it, was it.
Peterson just asked for a visit. They’d been together for years, in Philadelphia and at UCLA, and had won a lot of games. No was an
unacceptable answer.
“The night before he flew, I told him, ‘Don’t even come and see me,’ ” Vermeil says. “And he came anyway. He did a good job because he
knows me well enough to hit the buttons.
9/11/2005
Page 3 of 4
“And I appreciated it very much. To have the opportunity to work for Lamar and Norma Hunt and work with Carl and these people I love
very much has been a real, real bonus for me.”
Vermeil broke into tears last week at a luncheon when he talked about Hunt and wanting to give the Chiefs’ owner a memorable season.
In four years in Kansas City, Vermeil has gone 34-30 but has made just one trip to the playoffs. The 2004 season was the most painful.
The Chiefs went into the year with Super Bowl expectations and left dragging a 7-9 record.
In his final news conference of the season, Vermeil said that 2005 would probably be his last season. That comment was made, he later
says, when he was dead-tired. In the months since, he’s hedged.
But Peterson and Hunt made offseason moves that lent to the notion that this could be Vermeil’s last hurrah. They picked up four new
starters through trades, free-agency and the draft to fix the leaky defense. They crossed their fingers and didn’t touch the offense, which
ranked No. 1 in the NFL but is running out of time with a collection of aging stars.
“We do not talk about (retirement),” Peterson says. “We’ll talk about that at the conclusion of the season. But I have to prepare that he
will not be here. This is the end of his contract. He was at one point very definitive about it. But now is not the time to talk about it. We’re
kicking off the regular season. He’s focused and I’m focused on this football team right now.”
Jaws will know. He played quarterback for Vermeil in Philly in the days when his hair was darker and his step was swifter. Ron Jaworski is
one of Vermeil’s best friends.
Jaws’ wife turned 50 a few years back, and they had a celebration on the Jersey shore. The Vermeils popped in unexpectedly. He’s always
there, Jaworski says. It’s been that way for almost 30 years.
But now Jaws worried about his old coach’s health. He knows the hours he keeps. He watches him in headset battles with whippersnappers
20 years younger.
He also knows how much it will hurt when Vermeil finally leaves.
“When you’re involved in the National Football League, the competitiveness never leaves you,” Jaworski says. “I haven’t thrown a pass in
16 years, but when I walk on the field before a game I get goose bumps.
“I know how much the coach puts into it. Everybody in Kansas City understands the work ethic of the man. You just don’t walk away from
that and not take a piece of it with you.”
But if Vermeil is aging, the Chiefs haven’t seen it. He lifts weights with the team and carries a heavy load. When 21-year-olds see Vermeil
work out, receiver Eddie Kennison says, they decide they have to work harder.
“I think he’s probably more motivated than anything,” Kennison says. “He portrays like he’s a 39- or 40-year-old man. He goes out on the
football field and in the meeting room and there’s a lot of enthusiasm. I think he has shown more this year than he probably did in the first
year.”
Vermeil, the Chiefs say, has never told them that 2005 will be it. But they’re operating with an urgency, maybe to win for him, maybe to
keep him going.
Kennison says Vermeil would never bring up the future because he doesn’t want the focus to be on him. It’s always on the season, the
week and his boys, whom he still treats to dinner.
Kennison has shared drinks with Vermeil on the Plaza. Long-snapper Kendall Gammon has rocked to KC and the Sunshine Band with his
coach.
“We want to win for him,” Gammon says, “but he hasn’t said anything. It’s pretty much business as usual.”
And business for Vermeil, at 68, is all about moving. He spent more time in the offseason studying X’s and O’s. The Chiefs noticed a higher
energy level from the coach in camp.
Just as he couldn’t let the weeds grow around his ranch, he can’t let the Chiefs suffer through another losing year. He hustles for the
elevator and gets back to his office. The season is here. There’s no time to stop.
“I don’t coach as if this is going to be my last season,” Vermeil says. “I coach this as the first game. That’s my only mind-set. This is the
first game of this year. And hopefully we’re a better football team than we’ve ever been.”
9/11/2005

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