From Arrowhead Stadium
Sounds from the Chiefs post-game locker room after losing 30-20 to the New Orleans Saints, with Herm Edwards, Tyler Thigpen, Brian Waters, Turk McBride, Jon McGraw and Damion McIntosh.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From Arrowhead Stadium
The inactive players for the Chiefs against the Saints on Sunday are:
Because they have only two QBs on the active roster, there is no third inactive QB.
CB Maurice Leggett will start for Flowers, LB Wes Dacus will start for Thomas, LB Rocky Boiman will start for Johnson, G Wade Smith will start for Jones and DL Alfonso Boone will start for Hali.
Inactive for the Saints are: RB Reggie Bush, CB Aaron Glenn, FB Mike Karney, C Jonathan Goodwin, CB David Pittman, T Jermon Bushrod and WR David Patten.
The third inactive quarterback for the Saints is Joey Harrington.
Starting for Bush is veteran RB Deuce McAllister and starting at center for Goodwin is Matt Lehr.
Saints also made a roster move, sending injured DT Brian Young to the injured reserve list for the rest of the season. They signed TE Buck Ortega to the active roster.
Weather at Arrowhead is sunny, clear and cool, with game-time temperatures expected to be in the low tomid 50s.
Lead official today is John Parry. His crew is 11th out of 17 crews in average penalties walked off each game, at 12.3.
From San Diego, California
It was again a very quiet Chiefs locker room after their loss Sunday to the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium.
Herm Edwards, Tyler Thigpen, Jon McGraw and Connor Barth talk about the game, the plays and where the Chiefs go from here.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From San Diego, California
For their game Sunday afternoon against the Chargers, the Chiefs placed eight players on the inactive list to reach the limit of 45 players. Because they do not have a third quarterback to make inactive, they had to sit down an extra position player.
Inactive for the Chiefs will be:
If the Chiefs need a third quarterback, WR Mark Bradley will fill the role. Of the six players added last week to the roster, five are active for today’s game. LB Rocky Boilman will start for Johnson and rookie CB Maurice Leggett will start for Flowers. Newly signed CB David Macklin is expected to be the nickel back. Alphonso Boone has moved into the starting spot for McBride. Rookie Kevin Robinson will replace rookie Dantrell Savage on punt returns. Savage will still handle the kick returns.
It’s a cloudy and windy day in San Diego, with game-time temperatures expected to be in the mid 60s. There was a brief and light rain shower as the team was arriving at the stadium and conditions could provide more light rain at kickoff.
Inactive for the Chargers today are: LB Anthony Waters, LB Derek Smith, G Kynan Forney, T Corey Clark, WR Buster Davis, TE Kris Wilson and DT Ian Scott. Charlie Whitehurst is the third inactive quarterback behind Philip Rivers and Billy Volek.
From Arrowhead Stadium
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team. In fact, in that first season of play, the Bucs were actually part of the AFC West.
In the 33 seasons of play, Tampa Bay had never experienced a comeback like the one the Bucs had on Sunday against the Chiefs. That 21-point deficit topped a pair of previous 17-point opponent leads that the Bucs wiped out. One was in 1979 against Baltimore, the other was in 1983 against Chicago. In both of those games, the Bucs won by a field goal in overtime.
“It’s a hard league to win in, you know that,” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden. “To be 6-3 and alive and have a chance to re-group and get some guys back is exciting. We’ve got to play better than we did today and last week. But we do have character and we are in the race and that’s significant.”
Also, the victory was No. 57 with the Bucs for Gruden, allowing him to pass Tony Dungy and become the winningest coach in franchise history.
CHIEFS LOSE KOLBY SMITH AND OTHER INJURIES
The Chiefs will move another player to the injured reserve list this week, as RB Kolby Smith’s season is done because of ligament damage to his right knee.Â
From Arrowhead Stadium
Just two weeks ago, Tyler Thigpen was considered a joke. Media pundits made fun of him. One sports radio yokel said that quarterbacks at KU, K-State and Missouri were better quarterbacks and would get more done than Thigpen could in the Chiefs offense.
Nobody’s laughing now. In the last two weeks Thigpen has established several things. One, the Minnesota Vikings were correct when they drafted him in 2007 out of Coastal Carolina. Second, the Vikings were right to be upset when the Chiefs claimed him on waivers at the end of the ‘07 pre-season. Third, the Chiefs were smart to grab him and add him to their roster last year.
And the biggest is four: Thigpen is no joke. He’s not yet ready for a bust in Canton, but the young man from South Carolina has now strung together the two best starts the Chiefs have had at quarterback in some time.
Oh, and five: he can catch the ball too!
Last week he outplayed NFL legend Brett Favre; when Favre played his first NFL game, Thigpen was seven years old. This Sunday, he was going against Tampa Bay’s Jeff Garcia, whose first season of professional football was in 1994 in the Canadian Football League. Thigpen was 10 years old at the time.
Here are his numbers for the last two weeks:
Here’s the link to the official NFL Gamebook for the Chiefs-Bucs game.
From Arrowhead Stadium
The Chiefs had a remarkable 24-3 lead on the first-half scoreboard. Connor Barth banged through a 39-yard field goal and two minutes, 13 seconds remained in the half.
This was territory foreign to the Chiefs. How unusual:
-The last time they scored 24 points in a half was on September 30, 2007 when they scored 24 in the second half at San Diego in a victory over the Chargers. It was one of four wins they had last year.
They last time they had a 21-point lead at half-time … well that’s not important now because over the last 133 seconds of the half, Tampa Bay scored 10 points and changed the entire tenor of the game. It got the Bucs back into the action and put some doubt in the mind of the Chiefs.
An overtime game has many turning points, but the big U-turn in momentum on this sunny Sunday was the 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Bucs rookie Clifton Smith.
Barth’s kickoff hung in the air for just a shade over four seconds and landed at the three-yard line. Smith took the ball, the Tampa Bay wedge set for a left return and he went straight up the field. On the right side of the Chiefs coverage unit, from Barth to the sidelines were Maurice Leggett, DaJuan Morgan, Erik Walden, Tyron Brackenridge and Devard Darling.
Not one of them touched Smith. Demorrio Williams came from the left side and made a diving attempt to tackle him. The only Chiefs coverage guy with a chance was Jon McGraw, but he chased him for 20 yards and then missed a diving tackle from behind at the 30-yard line.
Smith chugged into the end zone. It was only the second kickoff return for a touchdown in Tampa Bay history. The Bucs came into the league in 1976, so that’s two kickoff returns in 33 seasons.
From Arrowhead Stadium
The Chiefs fell 30-27 in overtime to the Tampa Bay Bucs and we went inside the Chiefs locker room to get the reaction of the players to what happened Sunday afternoon.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From Arrowhead Stadium
If you can’t see the progress the Kansas City Chiefs are making as a team these days, then you are either blind, lacking in IQ or such a Chiefs Hater that your venom has left you brain dead.
“I’ll tell you what, we are a good football team, there’s no doubt about that,” Tony Gonzalez said after the Chiefs 30-27 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday. “We are not as bad as everybody thought we were, I don’t care what anybody says. I think you’re full of it if you think we are still that bad.
“We are playing really hard, we are executing; we have to keep it up and keep improving.
For the second week in a row, the Chiefs went out and played inspired and improved football. And for the second week in a row, they were unable to close the deal.
How can a team finish two games in eight days at plus-6 in the turnover column and be 0-2? It’s hard to believe, but that’s what happened to the Chiefs.
In both cases it was oh so predictable. The Jets had the old, mostly steady hand of Brett Favre to lead their comeback. On this Sunday, a veteran Tampa Bay team took the best shots the Chiefs had to offer and were still able to go home with an overtime victory.
Right now, the Chiefs best shots are not good enough to knock out a team like the Bucs. Tampa Bay was struggling, but they were never knocked down, not even when they were down by 21 points. Not even when they were down 11 points at the start of the fourth quarter.
They found a way to win.
From Arrowhead Stadium
It was a day where one team was good enough to overcome its mistakes and take advantage of those made by their opponent.
That team was not the Kansas City Chiefs. It was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Matt Bryant’s 34–yard FG four minutes, 36 seconds into overtime provided a sad ending for what may have been the Chiefs best performance in weeks. The 30-27 loss left the Chiefs 1-7 on the season and it happened in the most painful of manners.
For the second week in a row, the Chiefs had a chance to win this game. They did plenty of things right, but when it came down to making plays to win the game, they did not get the job done. The 6-3 Buccaneers did, and they flew home happy.
“They made the plays at the end with about five minutes when the game could go either way,” said Herm Edwards. “We didn’t make enough plays, similar to last week.”
For the second week in a row, the Chiefs finished the game plus-3 in the turnover battle. That they lost both games is almost unimaginable given the history of what happens when teams are plus-3.
They also blew a 21-point first half lead and they led by 11 points at the start of the fourth quarter. It was then that the veteran Bucs turned it on, scoring 17 points in the final period and overtime to earn the victory.
“We were kind of playing at the end with some reserve guys,” Edwards said of his team, which was hit by injuries to RB Kolby Smith, LB Derrick Johnson and CB Brandon Flowers. “But you’ve got to give Tampa credit. They came back and made the plays at the end to win the game.”
From Arrowhead Stadium
The Chiefs game-day inactives announced this morning are:
Ingle Martin is the inactive third quarterback.
The Bucs left starting LG Arron Sears (concussion) and RB Warrick Dunn (back) and backup WR Maurice Stovall (hamstring) at home, so they top the game-day inactives for Tampa. Rookie Jeremy Zuttah is expected to start for Sears and former Chiefs RB Michael Bennett should start for Dunn.
Also starting SS Jermaine Phillips is out with a broken arm suffered last week. Sabby Piscitelli will take his place.
Rounding out the inactives for the Bucs are QB Brian Griese, WR Dexter Jackson and FB B.J. Askew.
Rookie Josh Johnson is the third inactive quarterback.
Weather conditions were pefect Sunday morning, with clear skies, plenty of sun and game-time temperatures expected at 70 to 75 degrees.
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey
Every time he catches a pass these days, Tony Gonzalez is establishing new records.
With six catches on the day, Gonzalez now has 853 in his career, which ranks him No. 11 in most career receptions. During Sunday’s game he passed both Rod Smith and Irving Fryar. Just ahead of him at No. 10 is Jimmy Smith with 862 catches.
And he’s moving up the charts every time he starts a game. Sunday’s opening was start No. 165 and that pushed him past Tim Grunhard and into third place for the most starts in Chiefs history. The next player ahead of him is former center Jack Rudnay with 171 career starts.
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey
It was the type of matchup that a veteran quarterback loves to see: a veteran and gifted wide receiver against an inexperienced cornerback.
That was enough to tempt Brett Favre to make the throw that won his team the game: a 15-yard throw to wide receiver Laveranues Coles with one-minute to play that ended up in the end zone. The New York Jets win; the Chiefs go home with another disappointment.
There was a lot of disappointment for Favre on this day. He threw three interceptions, including one that was returned 91 yards by rookie cornerback Brandon Flowers for a touchdown. It wasn’t until the Chiefs final offense drive came up empty that the veteran quarterback was able to breathe easy.
Coles beat the Chiefs fourth cornerback on the play, Dimitri Patterson. He was in the game because veteran nickel back Patrick Surtain was on the sidelines with a quadriceps injury. In his third NFL season, Patterson has played far more special teams than he has defense.
But there really wasn’t much he could have done on the throw to Coles. He battled down the field with the receiver and there was contact several times. Patterson forced Coles to the outside and Favre threw the ball to the only place where it would have worked: behind Patterson. Coles reached back and caught the ball and got both feet in to the end zone.
“Where his alignment was, I was thinking an inside route,” said Patterson. “But this was Brett Favre and he makes those throws that you don’t think he will make. It was questionable at the point of attack whether he pushed off or not. But I have to make that play at the end of the day. I have to find a way to break up the pass.
“It was a good throw. A good catch.”
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey
It’s there every Saturday of the college football season, especially in the Big 12 Conference.
It’s the spread offense, with the quarterback in the shotgun, multiple receivers spread all over the field and little concern for some of the most tried and true offensive pillars of the game.
It’s the Missouri-Kansas-Texas-Texas Tech-Oklahoma State-Oklahoma offensive mentality. Throw, throw, throw. OK run this play, but come back and throw, throw, throw.
Nobody in the NFL does this on a regular basis and don’t expect the Chiefs to start coming out and playing games with this scheme. But for one Sunday, the Chiefs offense could have fit right in with the Big 12 guys. Herm Edwards and Chan Gailey put their team into their version of the spread offense.
Tyler Thigpen took the snaps in the shotgun. He had receivers flanked generally two on each side, with a running back beside him. The Chiefs added the no huddle twist as well. Now, this wasn’t a full-scale jump to the spread. Generally, two of those four receivers were tight ends in Tony Gonzalez and rookie Brad Cottam.
But it was this scheme that finally got the Chiefs offense on track. With Thigpen throwing accurately and with generally good pass protection while in the gun, the Chiefs started generating some offense and some touchdowns.
“It was a change of pace, switch it up a little bit,” said quarterback Tyler Thigpen. “It’s what I ran in college (at Coastal Carolina.) It’s more comfortable. We will probably throw in a few more plays this week. We had a select few plays this week for that. I imagine we will broaden that out.”
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey   Â
It was the laugh of the week in the NFL in the days leading up to Sunday’s game.
The Chiefs and Tyler Thigpen, starting just his second NFL game against the Jets and Brett Favre, the legend, the guy who would be making regular and post-season start No. 282.
In the end, Favre got the last laugh, leading his Jets to a last minute victory over Thigpen and the Chiefs.
But on this day, Thigpen outplayed the great Favre. Here are the numbers:
The only number that really mattered was the “W” for Favre. But on this afternoon, Thigpen displayed some of the skills that had the Vikings and now Chiefs quite interested in his services.
“The job has been handed to me to step in there and play football and I’m going to take advantage of that,” Thigpen said.
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey
Before a team can learn how to win, it has to learn how to play.
Maybe, just maybe the Chiefs learned how to play on Sunday afternoon at Giants Stadium.
They are now 1-6 on the season and they easily could have that same record and played much better football than they’ve shown for most of those seven games. But they didn’t play good football; in fact, most of the time they were downright awful. They played well in New England and against Denver. Otherwise, their performances were putrid, with no offense, no defense and no special teams. What was most bothersome to everyone involved, from ownership to the fans, with GMs, coaches and players in between, was the lack of improvement. The Chiefs seemed to be going backwards.
That wasn’t the case against the New York Jets on a sunny October Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. The Chiefs played one of their best games of the season. They made their mistakes, failed to capitalize on opportunities and were beaten physically at times. But it wasn’t anything like the last month. In the fourth quarter, they were not multiple touchdowns behind. They held victory in their hands in the final period with the clocking crawling towards the game’s conclusion.
From the Meadowlands in New Jersey
In what was their best performance as a team in over a month, the Chiefs chased victory right into the final moments of the game against Brett Favre and the New York Jets. But Favre being Favre, he and the Jets pulled out a 28-24 victory at Giants Stadium.
After the game, Herm Edwards told his team that what they had done was shown the world what they are and what they can become. There’s no question there was improved play, especially on the offensive side of the football. Making the second NFL start of his life, Tyler Thigpen outplayed the great Favre.
But in money time, Favre answered as he’s done so many times before. His 15-yard pass to Lavernaues Coles provided the winning points.
“We saw him do that to us last year,” said LB Donnie Edwards of Favre. Edwards returned to the playing field for the first time in a month. “We knew what he could do. We didn’t stop him and that hurts.”
That the Jets were in that precarious position was due to the play of the Chiefs secondary and the performance of Thigpen. Running most of the time out of a shotgun/no huddle offense, Thigpen produced two touchdowns, 330 yards and did not have a turnover. The Chiefs defense picked off Favre three times and returned one for a touchdown, as CB Brandon Flowers went 91 yards on an interception return for a touchdown.
From Arrowhead Stadium
It was another chapter in a familiar and disastrous story line for the Chiefs 2008 season.
Unable to generate any consistent offensive attack and unable to stop the other team’s running game, the Chiefs were soundly thrashed by the Tennessee Titans 34-10 on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.
This was an oh so familiar plot for the Chiefs. They were unable to mount any consistent scoring threat under three different quarterbacks. Brodie Croyle returned to the starting lineup, but he did not even last a half, leaving early in the second quarter with a sprained left knee injury that will end his season.
Damon Huard came in and played into the fourth quarter, but he suffered a right thumb injury. He was replaced by Tyler Thigpen who finished out the game and led the team on its only scoring drives.
“Offensively, we’ve got to score points,” said Herm Edwards. “We can’t play the first half of games getting shut out. It puts too much pressure on us.”
(Story continues below)
—————————————————–
Game Coverage Titans vs. Chiefs
——————————————————–
The Chiefs had 272 offensive yards, with 91 of those yards coming after the Titans were already up by 27 points. In the first quarter they had 27 yards. In the second quarter the Chiefs had 113 yards. In the third quarter, they produced 10 yards.
“I just felt early in the game they set the tempo being physical and were playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively,” said Edwards. “We got behind; that’s not good for us. That puts you in a passing mode and that’s what they want to get you in.”
From Arrowhead Stadium
From the Chiefs locker room, here’s an audio report after Tennessee’s 34-10 victory on Sunday.
[podcast]http://www.bobgretz.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/post-game-report-titans.mp3[/podcast]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From Arrowhead Stadium
It’s a fact of football. If you want to figure out which team is going to win or lose the game, watch the area about two yards on either side of the line of scrimmage. That’s where the nitty-gritty war of infighting takes place, where the offense tries to control the defense, and the defense reacts in a negative fashion.
The Chiefs lost that war on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. They didn’t just lose it … they were destroyed. Constantly, the red and gold defense never got past the line of scrimmage, let alone into the area two yards behind the snap of the ball. Offensively, the Chiefs offensive line was backpedaling like bad cornerbacks as they got shoved around by the Titans defense.
In the end, that was the story of the Chiefs fifth loss of the season and their 14th in the last 15 games.
From Arrowhead Stadium
On Wednesday, after he wasn’t traded by the Chiefs, Tony Gonzalez hoped that planned ceremonies to honor his record receiving yardage for a tight end would be postponed.
And, as Gonzalez said at the time, “Hey, they don’t listen to me, obviously.”
Well they didn’t. The Chiefs honored Gonzalez, but not with the plans they had before last week’s controversy. The original idea was in pre-game introductions was to announce Gonzalez by himself, have him run on the field carrying the record setting football and have him hand the ball to officials from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Instead, during the first TV timeout, the Chiefs showed a one-minute video of Gonzalez’s record setting plays for catches, TDs and yards. Then, the camera cut to Pro Football Hall of Fame president Steve Perry holding the football on the sidelines.
Gonzalez did not take part in the ceremony, as he was in an offensive huddle on the sidelines. He did however, acknowledge the crowd which gave him a loud ovation and chanted “Tony, Tony, Tony.”
PLAYING IN THE BAND
After he scored on a 66-yard run, rookie Chris Johnson made a stop with the Pack Band behind the end zone and played on the bongo drums for a moment. It’s surely a clip that will get replayed many times in the coming days.
It will also likely cost Johnson some money in an NFL fine. It certainly cost him a tongue lashing by his head coach.
“I told him regardless of the score I n the game, you just can’t do that type of thing because then we end up kicking off from the 15-yard line and end up giving up points,” said Fisher. “He’s excited and celebrating and all that kind of stuff. I think he used (poor) judgment and realized that and if he didn’t then he realizes now that he can’t do that under any circumstances.”
Said Johnson, the Titans first-round draft choice out of East Carolina: “I thought about it before the game. I was just out there trying to have some fun. Coach Fisher told me I can’t be doing those things.”
With the kickoff moved back because of that 15-yard penalty, the Chiefs were able to begin their last possession at their own 46-yard line. Five plays later, Tyler Thigpen scored Kansas City’s only TD.
TITANS DO IT SHORT-HANDED
When you are the last unbeaten team left in the NFL, it’s generally because you have a lot of talent. The Titans do.
They were without four starters on Sunday and did not miss a beat. Out were starting WRs Justin Gage and Justin McCariens, as well as starting DT Tony Brown. Starting DE Kyle Vanden Bosch was active, but played very little as he’s recovering from an injury.
“He (Vanden Bosch) really wasn’t ready to go, but he was close,” said Fisher. “The plan after warming him up was see if we could get him 25 to 30 plays. But he was nervous about having a setback, so it was best to just have him sit and continue to rehab this week.”
OFFICIALS BUSIER THAN NORMAL
Gene Steratore’s crew came into the game as the league officiating crew with the fewest penalties, averaging just nine per game.
Well, that number jumped to 16 for this game, as each team was hit with eight flags.
That was easily the most penalties in a game this season for the Chiefs, whose previous high was five flags.
Nailed by Steratore’s crew were S DaJuan Morgan for an illegal block above the waist on a kick return, RT Damion McIntosh for a false start, delay of game on the Chiefs offense, CB Dimitri Patterson for holding on a punt return, T Herb Taylor for a pair of false starts, LB Erik Walden for illegal use of hands on punt coverage and LB Rocky Boiman for unnecessary roughness on a kickoff.
One noticeable note on the penalties: four were on offense, four were on special teams. No penalties were called on the defense.
TO CHALLENGE OR NOT TO CHALLENGE
When Nick Novak’s 39-yard FG try was called wide left by the officials, holder Dustin Colquitt took immediate offense. Once the replay was shown inside Arrowhead Stadium, everyone understood why. The ball looked like it went right over the left upright.
Herm Edwards considered challenging the call and during a TV timeout had a discussion with Steratore about the subject. He was told he could challenge, but he would lose, so Edwards did not call for an extra look.
BOWE RISING ON CHARTS
WR Dwayne Bowe caught seven passes for 86 yards, one of his best games so far this season. He became the fourth player in team history to have 100 catches or more in his first two seasons with the team. He now has 104 in 22 games. Ahead of him are WR Derrick Alexander with 108 (1998-99), WR Andre Rison with 112 (1997-98) and RB Priest Holmes with 132 (2001-02).
As for receiving yardage, his total of 1,405 in 22 games ranks fifth for receiving yardage in the first two seasons. Alexander has the most yardage with 1,824 yards in ‘98-99.
OTHER NOTES
The Chiefs spelled McIntosh at right tackle several times during the game with Taylor, something they planned to do going into the game and will continue to do. It’s pretty apparent that McIntosh is on his way out.
Chiefs also continued with the trend of having rookie TE Brad Cottam on the field more often by himself, and giving Gonzalez a rest.
Dantrell Savage ripped off a 59-yard kickoff return, the longest by the Chiefs in 27 games, dating back to the end of the 2006 season when Dante Hall ran back a kick 60 yards against Denver.
MLB Pat Thomas led Chiefs tacklers in the post-game stats with nine tackles. FS Jarrad Page had seven tackles and LB Derrick Johnson was credited with six stops.
The Chiefs announced paid attendance of 74,200, but there were not that many in the stands. A guess would be somewhere between 60,000 and 65,000.
From Arrowhead Stadium
On Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham moved from the coaching booth to the sidelines.
The idea was to have the chance to talk directly to his players and make adjustments in a faster, more concise manner.
Gun may consider going back to the press box level after what happened against the Titans.
The Chiefs defense cemented its status as the worst run unit in the league by giving up 332 rushing yards in losing to Tennessee.
Some would say that 146 of those yards came on two long touchdown runs in the fourth quarter with the game already decided. That still doesn’t explain the other 186 yards.
Those 332 yards were a franchise record total for the Titans, topping the 296 yards that the Houston Oilers gained against the Chiefs on November 27, 1977 at the Astrodome.
It was also a franchise record for the Chiefs, as in most rushing yards ever allowed in a single game. The performance broke the previous record of 330 yards gained by the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 7, 1976.
Consider those Chiefs defenses, of 1976 and 1977. In the history of the franchise, they are among the worst defensive units ever fielded.
From Arrowhead Stadium
It was without a doubt, the saddest sight of a very sad day of football for the Chiefs.
Just outside the team’s locker room are double-doors that lead down the tunnel at the 50-yard line and out to the field. Just before half-time, those double doors opened and Brodie Croyle limped through with a doctor and a trainer at his side.
Tears were streaming down his face.
That’s when he saw his wife Kelli waiting for him. Together they embraced and he sobbed on her shoulder for several minutes.
All the hard work, all the rehabbing, all the blood, sweat and tears that have been so much a part of Croyle’s life for the last year ended in an athlete’s greatest disappointment on Sunday. Damage suffered to the medial-collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee is so severe that his season is finished.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
UPDATED
The Chiefs thought they were beyond something like what happened to them on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
Not that they had grand delusions that they were a great team, but after four games of the 2008 season and their performance last week in beating Denver, they seemed beyond an afternoon with multi-system failures.
Not so fast. An inept offense, a ravaged defense and no special teams help doomed the Chiefs as they were shutout by the Carolina Panthers 34-0.
“We were a confident team after last week’s game,” Herm Edwards said of the victory over Denver last Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. “Then we come in here and act like we’ve never played before. It wasn’t very good. The coaching, the playing, anything.”
MORE STORY BELOW
——————————
CHIEFS/PANTHERS GAME COVERAGE
——————————
It was the first time the Chiefs have not scored a point since the final game of the 2002 season in Oakland and it’s only the second time in the last 225 games that Kansas City has been shutout. It’s also the worst shutout defeat suffered by the Chiefs in 24 years, since they lost 45-0 in Seattle during the 1984 season. The Chiefs did lose 42-0 to Miami in 1987, but those were strike replacement teams.
Not only was the Kansas City offense unable to score any points, they could not move the football, managing just 28 total yards in the first half and 77 yards after three quarters and 127 total yards when the final gun sounded. That’s the fewest yards by a Chiefs offense in 22 seasons, since they got 126 yards against Cleveland in October 1986.
They turned the ball over three times on a fumble by QB Damon Huard, who also threw two interceptions.
“That was the worst I’ve been involved with in my professional career,” said TE Tony Gonzalez, who was playing in his 182nd regular or post-season NFL game.
Defensively, the Chiefs could not stop Carolina RB DeAngelo Williams, who ripped them for 123 rushing yards and 25 receiving yards and scored three first half touchdowns. At the end of three quarters, the Panthers offense under the direction of QB Jake Delhomme was over 400 yards. They finished the game with 441 yards and 205 of that was in the running game.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
It’s not a good day when the team gets beat by 34 points and the head coach says:
“I can’t explain it … Our staff and I didn’t see that coming at all. It’s puzzling to me.”
But then what other alternative does Herm Edwards have after watching his team’s humiliating performance on a sunny Sunday afternoon against Carolina?
Listen, the Panthers are a good enough team and the Chiefs are a young and inexperienced enough team that Edwards boys could have played well and still lost this game.
But the Chiefs didn’t play well. OK, that’s an understatement. They went out and repeated their horrid performance from the Oakland game. In fact, this effort may have been their worst overall performance by a Chiefs team in many, many years. It’s certainly the worst I can remember seeing since the brutal 1988 season when the team finished 4-11-1 under Frank Gansz and that brought it in the biggest change in franchise history with the hiring of Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
The game day inactives for the Chiefs in Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers will be:
Ingle Martin will be the inactive third quarterback.
Inactives for the Panthers are both of their starting tackles, LT Jordan Gross and RT Jeff Otah. Also inactive are WR Ryne Robinson, S Quinton Teal, LB James Anderson, WR Dwayne Jarrett and DT Gary Gibson.
Matt Moore was the third inactive quarterback.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
Herm Edwards caused quite a stir last week when he said that if the Chiefs won in Carolina with Damon Huard at quarterback, there might be a tough decision for him to make when the team came out of its bye week to face Tennessee.
Scratch that. Any controversy went bye-bye with the Chiefs 34-0 loss to the Panthers and with Huard’s performance.
The veteran quarterback finished the game with a 19.2 passer rating. He threw two interceptions and fumbled twice when hit on sacks. One fumble was recovered by RB Larry Johnson. The other went to the Panthers.
Nobody, not Edwards, Huard or Brodie Croyle had anything to say after this debacle.
But there’s little doubt now that if he’s physically ready, and he showed last week during limited participation in practice that he is, then Brodie Croyle should take the first snap against Tennessee on October 19 at Arrowhead.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
The last eight days are perfect bookends to what life is like for a cornerback, particularly a rookie cornerback in the National Football League.
It was against the Denver Broncos on the final Sunday in September that Brandon Carr had what amounted to his coming out party in the NFL. He contributed a fumble recovery and an interception in the defense’s top-notch effort in controlling and beating the Denver Broncos.
On the first Sunday of October, it was Carr being treated for third-degree burns after going head-to-head against veteran Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith all afternoon at Bank of America Stadium.
Smith finished the afternoon with six catches for 96 yards in helping the Panthers offense overwhelm the Chiefs defense in Carolinas 33-0 victory.
“Not as much fun as last week,” Carr said in the quiet Chiefs locker room. “It was a struggle for the whole team today.”
From Charlotte, North Carolina
The Carolina Panthers starting tackles were both inactive for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs. After effects of a concussion claimed LT Jordan Gross and a sprained ankle forced rookie RT Jeff Otah to the sidelines.
Their replacements were Frank Omiyale and Jeremy Bridges. It was Omiyale’s first NFL start replacing Gross. Bridges had not started or played a game at tackle in two seasons.
It seemed a perfect time for the anemic Chiefs pass rush to enjoy putting some pressure on the quarterback.
But it tells you something about what kind of day Gunther Cunningham’s unit had when the Panthers ran 70 plays on offense and the Chiefs defense touched starting quarterback Jake Delhomme one time. Twenty-two pass plays and they touched him one time.
And as a perfect capsule of the Chiefs performance, the one time they did touch Delhomme, DE Turk McBride was flagged for roughing the passer.
Oh, and Delhomme’s pass to RB DeAngelo Williams went for a 25-yard touchdown when nobody covered the receiver coming out of the backfield.
Carolina’s 34-0 victory decimated a Chiefs defense that was coming off its best performance of the season last Sunday against Denver. This was not a repeat.
From Charlotte, North Carolina
Over the last three seasons, the Chiefs have had some bad offensive performances.
None matches the stinker they left on the field at Bank of American Stadium against Carolina on Sunday.
This was as bad as bad can be. Here’s the evidence:
It was hard to believe how poorly the offense played.
After doing a quick trip through the game tape late Sunday night, let me tell you that given more time for development, Denver QB Jay Cutler is going to be scary. Cutler is going to be a thorn in the side of teams in the AFC West for some time.
Now, he threw at least one ill-advised pass against the Chiefs, the one CB Brandon Carr picked off. Cutler had TE Tony Scheffler open down the middle of the field. Scheffler was bracketed by safeties Jarrad Page and Bernard Pollard, but with Cutler’s arm I’m not sure they could have gotten there in time to break up the pass. The throw that Carr got was a tough one for any QB to make.
Other than that, Cutler was very impressive. He threw several balls to places where only his receivers could have caught the ball. He showed his velocity on the TD pass to Marshall and he showed his touch on several other throws, especially one to rookie WR Eddie Royal where he dropped it in over his shoulder. Royal never broke stride.
From Arrowhead Stadium
The inactive players for the Chiefs in their game Sunday against the Denver Broncos:
Ingle Martin is the 46th player, the third and inactive quarterback.
Inactive for the Broncos are S Vernon Fox, RB Ryan Torain, LB Louis Green, DT Dewayne Robertson, T Erik Pears, G Dylan Gandy, WR Darrell Jackson and DT Josh Shaw.
Denver does not have a third quarterback.
From Arrowhead Stadium
Tony Gonzalez needed 50 yards on Sunday to become the tight end with the most receiving yardage in pro football history. A representative of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was at the game, prepared to accept the football to be placed in Canton’s hallowed Hall.
Gonzalez came up three yards short.
The veteran tight end caught three passes for 47 yards, including a pretty 10-yard TD catch. All of those catches came in the second half. With the Chiefs trying to bleed the clock in the fourth quarter, they went to the running game and thoughts of records were out the window. The idea was to assure the victory.
Gonzalez did extend his franchise record reception streak to 119 games. He also became the first tight end in NFL history to have 1,000 receiving yards in his career against three different teams. He’s over that mark against Denver, San Diego and Oakland.
SPECIAL TEAMS MAKE CONTRIBUTION
When needed the Chiefs kicking game was solid and provided plays that helped decide the game.
Not the least of which was Kolby Smith’s recovery of Denver’s onside kick late in the game. The Broncos actually had hands on the ball, but somehow Smith came up with it and that ended any comeback hopes for Denver.
K Nick Novak hit four of five field goals, missing only from 48 yards when he was wide right. Novak had his best day of the season on kickoffs. He put three of his eight kickoffs into the end zone, three more at the goal line and another at the two-yard line. His only poor kickoff went to the 11-yard line.
Dantrell Savage had a 51-yard kickoff return that set up a fourth quarter field goal for the Chiefs. That’s the longest kick return for the team since a 60-yarder by Dante Hall against the Broncos on Thanksgiving Night 2006. Savage also contributed two tackles on special teams.
The Chiefs made a change in their set up for kickoffs in this game. Prior to Sunday, the Chiefs had three guys back in their wedge. For this game, they had four big guys for Savage and Jamaal Charles to run behind.
L.J. & BLY JAW
There were several occasions where Larry Johnson and Denver CB Dre Bly exchanged pleasantries in language that can’t be repeated on a family website.
L.J. instigated a lot of it because of a incident that happened years ago when Johnson was a young player with the Chiefs and Bly was in Detroit.
“When I was a second-year player, he was always busting me about getting scrap time and something about Penn State running backs were busts,” Johnson said. “I got hurt last year and didn’t get a chance to go at him. I definitely wanted to go at him today.”
Said Bly, being diplomatic: “Larry Johnson is one of the better backs in this league. I know he hasn’t gotten off to the good start he has in the past. He’s a big, physical guy and he was able to make some plays.”Â
NOT MUCH FROM SHANAHAN
Denver head coach Mike Shanahan did not have a lot to contribute after the game, pretty good evidence he was really ticked off by the outcome of the game.
“We talked about the keys to the game and obviously the first one is you can’t turn the football over,” Shanahan said. “Kansas City has an unbelievable home record when they win the turnover battle and they won it by three today. Credit that to them.”
Here’s what Shanny was talking about: the Chiefs are now 31-4 at Arrowhead dating back to ‘95 when they force two or more INTs. They have won 19 consecutive home games with a positive turnover ratio, the fourth longest active streak in the league right now. And they are 46-4 at Arrowhead when positive on turnovers dating back to ‘95.
From Arrowhead Stadium
“We were getting kind of frazzled.”
That’s how Derrick Johnson described the Chiefs mental state going into their game on Sunday against Denver.
Just preparing for the Broncos can frazzle a defense, especially one that’s confidence was down, down, down after starting the season 0-3. The Chiefs came into the season believing they had a good defense. They never expected at any time this season to be ranked as low as No. 25 in the yards allowed.
And here came the Broncos, ranked No. 2 in yards gained and No. 1 in points scored.
Frazzled? Yeah, they were frazzled.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a rout. The Chiefs defense rose up and forced four Denver turnovers and allowed the Broncos into the end zone just once in 13 possessions. Instead of TDs, Denver got field goals, four of them.
Six trips into Chiefs territory and Mike Shanahan’s offense got just 19 points. In the four quarters in three games before their trip to Kansas City, the Broncos had scored 20 or more points in each quarter.
So how did this frazzled group of Chiefs defenders make it happen?
“We just fought,” said Johnson. “We had to fight. This team came in 3-0 and played good football. The Denver Broncos played good football. They didn’t let us just have it.”
It was a day where the Chiefs linebackers stood up and made plays. Johnson forced a fumble and intercepted a pass. LB Demorrio Williams, getting his first Kansas City start in place of the injured Donnie Edwards, was a disruptive element all over the field, whether playing the run, rushing the quarterback or dropping in coverage.
“It came down today to every guy doing his job,” said Williams. “That’s all it was. It’s all about effort and everybody doing their job. I haven’t seen the tape yet, but I bet we got that done.”
The Chiefs accomplished a lot on defense, although the statistical box score may not reflect their performance. They gave up 446 yards, including 352 passing yards. They gave up a score of big plays, with Denver getting 40, 32, 28, 26 and a pair of 21-yard completions.
But when the Broncos offense got into scoring territory, the Chiefs were able to rise up and slam the door. In the second quarter they gave up a Jay Cutler to Brandon Marshall 16-yard TD pass where Cutler threw it high and Marshall made a great catch at the back of the end zone.
But that was it when it came to touchdowns. The rest of the time it was field goals:
-In the second quarter the Broncos had a second-and-two play at the Chiefs 10-yard line. Cutler threw a pair of incomplete passes and kicker Matt Prater came on and missed a 28-yard field goal.
-Late in the second quarter, a punt return set up the Denver offense at the Chiefs 42-yard line. But three plays produced nine yards and Prater kicked a 56-yard FG.
-On the first offensive possession of the second half, Cutler got the Broncos to the Kansas City 32-yard line. But a backward pass went incomplete and out of bounds for a six-yard loss. Second down was an incomplete pass and on third down Denver got just five yards. Prater kicked a 51-yard FG.
-In the fourth quarter, the Broncos had first-and-goal at the Chiefs 10-yard line. Three plays produced seven yards and Prater kicked a 22-yard field goal.
-On its next possession the Denver defense had first-and-10 at the Kansas City 15. But Cutler threw three straight incomplete passes and Prater kicked his fourth field goal, this one from 33 yards.
Take those stops and throw in the four turnovers and despite the big Denver yardage, it was quite a day for the defense.
“We went in with the mindset that they have a very good offense and were going to move the ball some,” said Herm Edwards. “But if you just hold them to field goals, you’re going to have a chance. They’ve been a team that has possessed the ball 10 times per game and they’ve scored five times out of those possessions, touchdowns and field goals. We just tried to reverse it and wanted to make them score two touchdowns and kick three field goals. Then, you’ve got a shot. We held them to less than that.”
Thanks in large part to a linebacker group that played its best game of the season, especially Williams.
“Today I feel like I got in a rhythm and it’s time for me to start playing ball,” said Williams. “Gun (Cunningham) is always telling me to believe in myself and the game will come to you and I feel like that’s what happened today.”
Williams brought some emotion to the defensive effort, providing a spark that unit has sought for several years.
“That’s the kind of player I am,” said Williams. “I love to make plays and I love to see this defense make plays.”
Overall, the Chiefs defense got done what needed to get done. They kept the Denver offense out of the end zone.
“It’s something to build on,” said Johnson. “This was a division opponent too, so this is a big win for this football team. We cannot be satisfied with this football game. We need to build on it.”
From Arrowhead Stadium
The Dirty Dozen is no more.
After going 11 months without a victory, the Chiefs finally tasted the sweet juice of winning on Sunday in an improbable 33-19 victory over the previously undefeated Denver Broncos.
After losing nine games in a row at the end of last year and then the first three of this season, things were as bad as they could be in the Chiefs Nation. But this young football team finally did what it needed to do and showed the kind of talents that have made them foundations for this rebuilding project.
“We just stopped worrying about everything and just went out and played,” said safety Jarrad Page, a grizzled veteran on this team as a third-year player. “We didn’t talk about losing streaks. We didn’t worry if we gave up a big play. We just went out and played each play as hard as we could.”
Added head coach Herm Edwards:
“That’s a good football team we played today. I think what we finally realized was we had to play with passion. Just play, not worry about doing everything right or the score. I thought for the most part we did that.”
They did it well enough to beat a Denver team that has a potent offense, but a defense that’s going to break the heart of the Broncos faithful.
Â
(More Story Below)
________________________________________________
Chiefs-Broncos Game Coverage
________________________________________________
Â
They found that out thanks to the powerful legs of Larry Johnson. Just two weeks after he said he felt he was being phased out of the Chiefs offensive picture, the big back rumbled for 198 yards on 28 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
But it was the defense that drove a stake through the heart of the dirty dozen. Led by LBs Derrick Johnson and Demorrio Williams, the Chiefs defense gave up 446 yards. But that number is meaningless because they forced four turnovers by the Broncos offense. Denver scored just one touchdown, after putting 13 offensive TDs on the board in the first three games. Derrick Johnson contributed an interception and forced a fumble. Rookie CB Brandon Carr had an interception and a fumble recovery.
“We went in with the mindset that they have a very good offense and they were going to move the ball some,” said Edwards. “But we wanted to hold them to field goals. If you just hold them to field goals, you’re going to have a chance.”
The Chiefs enjoyed something in the first quarter that they haven’t had for some time: a lead. They took the opening kickoff and moved down for a 23-yard FG from Nick Novak that ended a nine-play, 94-yard drive. The key play was a 65-yard run by Johnson on the second offensive snap of the game. It’s the longest run of his pro career. Seven plays later, Novak hit the FG to give the Chiefs a 3-0 lead.
The Kansas City defense stepped up and made its first major contribution, forcing a fumble at the end of a pass play from QB Jay Cutler to WR Eddie Royal. Hustling DE Turk McBride got down the field and knocked the ball out and it was recovered by Carr, who returned the fumble 17 yards to the Broncos 26-yard line.
The offense picked up a nice third down on a 17-yard pass from QB Damon Huard to WR Dwayne Bowe, but couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone. Novak kicked a 21-yard field goal and the Chiefs lead was 6-0.
On Denver’s next possession, the Broncos offense picked up a first down, but their drive ended when Derrick Johnson got a big third down sack of Cutler to force a punt. Early in the second quarter, the Broncos took over at their own 38-yard line and Cutler moved the team on eight plays to a touchdown. The big play in the drive was a 40-yard screen pass to RB Michael Pittman on a third down-and-18 yard play.
The touchdown came on a 16-yard pass from Cutler to WR Brandon Marshall who made a leaping catch at the back of the end zone and got both feet down for the score. Matt Prater kicked the extra point and Denver had a 7-6 second quarter lead.
The defense got the Chiefs back on the scoreboard. The Broncos had Marshall come out of the backfield on a running play and Derrick Johnson came quickly in run support and ripped the ball from Marshall’s hands. The fumble was recovered by CB Brandon Flowers who returned it 37 yards and was tackled just short of the end zone.
Two runs by Larry Johnson produced his 52nd career rushing touchdown, as he went in from the one-yard line. Novak’s PAT kick gave the Chiefs a 13-7 lead.
Denver drove right back down the field, hitting a handful of big plays before the Chiefs defense slowed their pace, forcing a field goal try. But Prater missed a 28-yard FG wide right.
Prater got a chance to redeem himself just before the half came to an end, when he nailed a 56-yard FG with 11 seconds remaining to cut the Chiefs lead to three points, 13-10 at intermission.
The Broncos took the second half kickoff and moved 32 yards with the big play coming on a 28-yard pass from Cutler to Royal. But the Chiefs defense again kept Denver out of the end zone and Prater hit a 51-yard field goal to tie the score at 13-13 with 12 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the period.
After a nice 35-yard kickoff return from Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs started at their own 37-yard line and Larry Johnson immediately ripped off a 17-yard run on first down. That run put Johnson over 100 yards for the game, the 29th time he’s passed the century mark in his career. However, the drive stalled after one more first down and Novak came in and kicked a 43-yard FG to give the Chiefs a 16-13 lead midway through the quarter.
The Chiefs defense forced the third Broncos turnover of the game when Derrick Johnson picked off a Cutler pass for Marshall on a third-and-10 play and returned the interception seven yards into Denver territory.
But the Chiefs offense gave the ball right back, as Larry Johnson fumbled as he was tackled by the Broncos CB Champ Bailey and the ball was recovered by Denver LB Boss Bailey.
The Chiefs defense again forced a turnover, as Carr jumped in front of a pass to Marshall for his first NFL interception. Carr returned the ball 32 yards, snuffing another Denver scoring threat.
Near the end of the third quarter, the Chiefs started a drive at their own 27-yard line. They had a big third down conversion on third-and-nine when Huard hooked up with Bowe for a 17-yard gain. Just as the fourth quarter started, Huard found WR Jeff Webb for a 15-yard gain, and then Bowe again for 10 yards. The scoring play came on a second-and-seven play at the Broncos 10-yard line, when Huard found TE Tony Gonzalez open in the end zone. Novak hit the PAT kick and the Chiefs led 23-13. It was the 68th TD catch of Gonzalez’s career.
Denver answered with a 15-play, 75-yard drive that reached the Chiefs three-yard line, but they couldn’t punch it into the end zone. Prater hit a 22-yard FG and the Broncos trailed by seven, 23-16.
The Chiefs answered right back, thanks to a 51-yard kickoff return by Dantrell Savage that gave the offense opening field position at the Denver 49-yard line. While the offense couldn’t find the end zone, they ran off more than four minutes as they drove in seven plays to a 33-yard FG by Novak that pushed the difference back to 10 points, 26-16. The big play on the possession was a 23-yard pass from Huard to Gonzalez.
Denver added another Prater FG, but the Chiefs recovered the Broncos onside kick attempt and drove down the field on the legs of Johnson. He cracked off a 34-yard run and finished it up with a 16-yard touchdown jaunt over the left side on a play where it looked like he had been stopped for a minimal gain.