Notes: More Tony G. Records
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.
SPECIAL TEAMS
It was an interesting week for special teams coach Mike Priefer given the fact he had a new kicker and punter for this game. Punter Dustin Colquitt did not make the trip to New York for the game on Saturday as he deals with groin and calf injuries.
Replacing him was Steve Weatherford, who last Sunday punted for the New Orleans Saints. On this day with the always windy conditions inside Giants Stadium, Weatherford kicked seven times for a 41.3-yard gross average and a poor 28.3-yard net average. He averaged about 4.31 seconds on his hang times and got off a 54-yard boot.
But poor punt coverage killed the Chiefs at the end of the game, when Weatherford’s final kick was returned 37 yards by Leon Washington, setting up the Jets with great field position to make the drive that won the game. On that return, coverage man Maurice Leggett got a hand on Washington but couldn’t finish the tackle. It was the longest punt return the Chiefs have allowed this season.
Rookie Connor Barth was perfect on his kicks, hitting all three PATs and his first NFL field goal from 30 yards away. He was solid on his kickoffs as well, booting them on average to the Jets three-yard line.
THE ZEBRAS
The Chiefs were in trouble right from the start when they got the officiating crew of Pete Morelli. So far this year, the home team is now 6-0 in games that Morelli’s crew has worked. They came into the game averaging 12.4 penalties walked off per game. Sunday’s game had eight flags accepted.
For the Chiefs, Brandon Carr was hit with holding on a punt return, Rocky Boiman was flagged for a false start on a punt, Gonzalez was hit with an offensive pass interference flag and Bernard Pollard got the first penalty by a player on defense in the last two games when he was slapped with taunting.
INJURIES
Colquitt was not active because of his groin and calf problems. During the game, the Chiefs lost RB Jamaal Charles with a sprained ankle, S Jarrad Page with a groin pull and CB Patrick Surtain with a quadriceps injury. Charles and Surtain did not return to the game after their physical problems. Page did, but was spelled quite a bit by veteran safety Jon McGraw.
That team that was out there sunday, could win 7 of the next 9 games – the 2 in question are the next 2 home games . If anything worked as a HUGE surpize Tony, this team, with you, is playing at a close level, to all the rest , and DIV. If some of those bad calls were not there — Chiefs realy won !
If LJ gets suspended/inactivated next Sunday and Charles’ ankle injury causes him to miss the game as well, we’re down to just Kolby Smith and Savage. More shotgun hopefully will result, but can the Chiefs survive with just those two? I guess Jeff Webb or Maurice Leggett could handle some of the return duties for Savage so he can be fresh to play on offense.
If Colquitt is healthy enough to come back, then they could cut Weatherford and bring Jackie Battle up from the practice squad. That guy runs hard and mean.
if the chiefs are down to kolby and savage I would expect them to bring battle up from the PS.
At first I thought the problem with ST was weatherfords hangtimes (they looked like line drives), but it appears that might not be the case from the stats bob provided.
Cut L.J. not Weatherford, no ones going pick up THAT MESS + trades! – Dallas – No. Battle is ready and knows its time to go to work. Culpepper has what reason to care about this City- Team .
Messin’ with Sasquatch, nee the Chiefs roster:
Within the next 1-2 weeks, Chiefs activate Kevin Robinson, Mike Merritt & Jackie Battle – release Weatherford, Webb & Larry Johnson goes on holiday (suspended, superfluous, obsolete.)
If KC signs QB Daunte Culpepper (God forbid) then they’ll release Ingle Martin perhaps.
Thank you
Discount Tire Company
JP Foschi (gesundheit) is also a possible release candidate if Merritt is activated.
Dream on, let’s keep the team as it is at least until Wed., in case of injuries. Then we need to fill the spots that need help. I wish we had one more running back.
Tony Gonzalez is one of the few reasons to watch this team. He is just awesome.
The day Mike Priefer is let go as ST Coach will be a good day. He may be a great guy, so this is nothing personal, but KC’s ST play stinks. Who is responsible for playing Drummond and drafting Medlock over Crosby? Hard work (Phineas) is not valued by the Chiefs vs. Drummond (reputation-???) on those last few roster spots. This is really bad management.
I hope Jamaal Charles is OK, he did a fine job yesterday.
Hey Bob? Do you know if Flowers was able to get Favre to autograph either ball? LOL
Double A, I too hope Charles isn’t out, Hali too.
RUNNING BACK——- BRAD COTTAM !?
By the way , If you find a REF. leaning to far to the left . that now puts them in season and if you have a lience , can shoot one , if you dont and shoot one , sorry, you loose your drivers licence for two weeks . Dont panick , I know a lawyer who said he thinks he can do something about that . Good luck .
If a WR gets released, it should be Darling, not Webb. Aside from one long reception against the Pats that should have been a TD (since he’s supposed to be fast), Darling has done as little as Webb, despite 3 to 4 times as much playing time.
If Webb can do nearly as much as Darling with less opportunities, it is clear he is the better WR.
Bradley almost did more in one game than Darling has done all year.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame; Good point, and I agree DVD ain’t cuttin it!
NOBF
Except, Chiefs have begun deactiviating Webb for games, plural. He is now in his 3rd season, last year of his contract (unlike Darling) and unlike Spidey our Webb is not reeling em in…in year 3 his this, I think he is in his last hurrah with KC, we shall see.
‘Despite’ the playing becomes more a matter of to my way of thinking ‘if’ a guy- Webb – cannot even beat out a Darling like Devard or rook (Franklin) his future does not look promising.
K. Robinson might allow Savage to concentrate on just kickoffs (occasional work at RB), KR taking over punt returns. Or Robinson might not even be activated, que sera sera.
Darling may not be a world beater but the coaches evidently are more enamored of Devard than Jeff -pick your poison (as in pre-season when some folk were screaming for Bobby Sippio to make the team over Webb & others. Alas, the legend All Arena is no more.
Ideally, neither Webb or Darling wouldn’t be on the roster.
Oh for the days Otis Taylor, Chris Burford, Frank Pitts, Gloster Richardson, Noland ‘Supergnat/Jet’ Smith, Warren Wells – when the good choices were many…
I’d cut Darling over Webb if it were my call. Webb at the very least is equal to Darling as a WR. Where he has the advantage is age, career production, his ability to be a gunner on special teams, and his ability to be a fill in as a kickoff returner. Eric Price, our WRs coach, recruited Darling out of high school so he was a pet project. It isn’t working out. Bradley has proven so far he’s a decent option. We still have Franklin in there developing too, so Darling needs to go if Kevin Robinson is healthy enough to play.
I like Savage on kickoff returns, but he hasn’t done much as a punt returner. Robinson could be a big upgrade there. I also think Robinson, who lacks blazing speed but has plenty of quicks, is an intriguing slot receiver. I truly believe if Robinson ran a bit faster 40 time he would have been a 2nd-3rd rounder instead of a 6th. He got it done in college!
Foschi should be the cut if Merritt is healthy enough to go. Foschi earned some checks because he knew the offense, but I’d like to see what Merritt can do. I’ve heard he’s a load of a run blocker! Maybe even guard material if he gets bigger.
I can’t believe it, but I actually find myself agreeing with Rin on this one. I guess our differences in opinion are rooted in Herm. Personell-wise though it’s close. Pick your poison is the perfect way to put it when it comes to Webb vs Darling (or the sappy Sippio). My reasons for liking Webb more are listed above and stem from versatility, but in the long run, they probably aren’t all that different as far as what they do for the offense.
Will wonders never cease (stop standing in my spotlight, get out of my wake.)
Yes, and I know a QB that(we were led to believe was inferior to an ancient washed up guy that had NO DESIRE to play) sat on the bench until fortune (if an injury to any human being can be considered that) decided his status for the coaching staff.
So as someone mentioned, Webb’s lack of games active is hardly reason to doubt his skills.
I betting there are more guys buried on this roster that could help our cause. B RICH!!!! W Dacus!!!!! Just a couple that comes to mind.
The only knock on Webb last year was he was still a little too inconsistent: dropped a few passes, didn’t get his feet inbounds in at least one case on 3rd down that could have meant beating Green Bay.
Even still, look at what he did last year in two starts:
3 catches for 19 yards against Detroit, 4 catches for 49 yards and a TD against the Jets in the season finale. That means in his only two career NFL starts, he already produced more than Darling did in 4 starts (7 games total) for us this year.
Aside from those 2 games, Webb also had 7 catches for 78 yards in last year’s win over Cincinnati…does it look like DVD is even capable of getting open 7 times in one game, much less catching that many?
Finally, I haven’t seen Webb drop passes this year, regular season or preseason. And he’s gotten his feet down a few times on the sideline, too. He’s 6′2″, 211 pounds, and is fast for his height.
In short, I think his slow development gave the coaches time to get more enamored by other WRs like DVD, Franklin, and Robinson, but Webb clearly has the ability to be adequate if given the chance. He really hasn’t been given the chance to show it this year.
Bradley’s emergence probably ends any hope for Webb in KC. Webb’ll probably go be a pro-bowler for someone else, just like Joe Horn.
IF Bradley continues to play like he did Sunday, do we care where Webb would go? After all, Bradley was a Bear’s castoff. It happens all the time. Darling, however, should be the first WR to go. He is not good on special teams so he just uses up a roster spot. I actually feel better about WR now than I have for a long time. Add in Cottam and the receiving portion is good to go. Just need a consistent passer who gets time to throw, a RG/RT, a replacement for LJ and the offense will be fine. That sure looks worse when you write it…
Not sure we should be so optimistic about Merritt or Robinson since neither has even been on the field. My guess is that they won’t come in until next year. They will be a step behind the rest of the year and it would mean cutting some other young player. Besides, Robinson was only expected to be a kick returner.