Chiefs Update 12/24

From the Truman Sports Complex

Chrismas Eve was just another Wednesday in the 2008 season for the Chiefs, more a holiday because it’s the last Wednesday on the schedule.

The Chiefs went through a two-hour workout and all hands on deck participated.  Sixty players took part, as the Chiefs are down two bodies on their practice squad.  CB Maurice Leggett (shoulder) was a limited participant while DE-DT Alfonso Boone (thigh) participated fully in the work.

They will practice again on Christmas Day, although Herm Edwards has moved back the schedule so players can leave home a little later and those with children can enjoy a few minutes around the tree.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is giving his players Thursday off, but that was after practicing them on Tuesday, their normal day off.

Lewis also talked on Wednesday about his coaching counterpart Herm Edwards:

“He’s got a great perspective on things with his background as a player and with coming up through the ranks there in Kansas City, both coaching and scouting with the Chiefs. So he’s got a great perspective on the league. And, he’s really been a great resource and somebody I’ve spent a lot of time with. He holds the NFL, and the privilege of playing and coaching in the NFL, in high regard. So I think when you’re around him, he has that aura about him, which is outstanding. He has a real appreciation for what he’s had an opportunity to do. The way he carries himself all the time as a person and a man is exceptional.”

Lewis was asked if he has great empthay for what Edwards has gone through this year with the Chiefs:

“He and I talked in Mobile last year (at the Senior Bowl practices).  Herm talked at that point that he felt they really needed to find a way to get a younger football team together for this season. That was going to be one of their goals as an organization. It’s difficult. They had been a successful team, always on the brink of moving on in the playoffs, and being able to enjoy the playoffs, and so you hang onto some of your older, mature players a little longer, because of that. The fans have an affection for them, and so everybody thinks, `Because he’s here this year, he should be here next year and the year after that and the year after that,’ and then you look up and see they can’t do the same things anymore. That gets to be an issue, because people they’re competing with are at a different speed.  So I know they felt the need to make some of those kind of moves. And then what we’ve been through, it looks like they did, too. You lose your quarterback like that, so you’re playing with people you didn’t expect to, and I think that compounds the issue a little bit. They’ve done a great job defensively this year. Gunther (defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham) has stuck to his guns, and they’re getting turnovers and takeaways, keeping them in football games, and lately they’ve been very explosive on offense.”