Sunday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

The Chiefs will have the opportunity to remember their storied defensive history on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s Alumni Day and the team will honor two of its greatest defenders: newest Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Thomas (right) and newest Chiefs Hall of Famer Curley Culp (left.)

The duo was honored Saturday evening at the Chiefs annual Alumni Dinner at Arrowhead.  Nearly 50 former Chiefs took part in that affair.  More will be on the field today, as Thomas will receive his Hall of Fame ring from Canton officials. Every Hall of Famer decides where he wants to be honored with the ring ceremony and Thomas selected Arrowhead. His Atlanta Falcons are on the bye week this Sunday.

That timed up perfectly with an already decided Alumni Week, an annual celebration of Chiefs history. Culp becomes No. 38 in the Chiefs Hall and the eighth starter from the great defense that the Chiefs fielded in the late 1960s. Because the team won only one Super Bowl title in that time, those Chiefs are often forgotten in the discussion of great defenses.

They shouldn’t be. They are just one of four defenses in pro football history that now have a Hall of Famer at every position group: defensive line, linebacker and secondary.

The defense’s best season was 1968, but where they really stood out as a group was in the ’69 playoffs. Playing on the road in New York and Oakland, and then in New Orleans for Super Bowl IV, the Chiefs defense simply dominated the Jets, Raiders and Vikings:

There were no receptions by an opponent in the playoffs for more than 30 yards and the longest run against the Chiefs was 17 yards.

It was a remarkable defense, built almost entirely through the draft. Playing along the line with Culp were Buck Buchanan (1^st-round ’63) at tackle and Jerry Mays (5^th-round ’61) and Aaron Brown (1^st-round ’66) at end.

At linebacker, it was Bobby Bell (7^th-round ’63), Willie Lanier (2^nd-round ’67) and Jim Lynch (2^nd-round, ’67). In the secondary it was Thomas (college free agent ’67), Jim Marsalis (1^st-round ’69), Johnny Robinson (1^st selection ’60) and Jim Kearney (signed as veteran free agent in ’67, after two seasons in the NFL with Detroit.)

That’s 11 starters and eight were drafted. Thomas was a college free agent, Kearney was a veteran free agent and Culp was picked up in a trade as a rookie with Denver. By the time that group ended their careers with the Chiefs, they averaged 135 games played in the red and gold, or almost 10 years playing 14-game seasons for the Chiefs.

FROM THE PAGES OF CHIEFS HISTORY

On October 19, 1969, the Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins 17-10 in front of 49,809 fans at Municipal Stadium. The Chiefs defense stifled the young Dolphins offense, sacking QB Bob Griese four times and picking off three of his passes. Miami’s running game with Larry Csnoka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris had just 83 yards on the game. CB Emmitt Thomas had a pair of INTs and S Jim Kearney got the other. The Chiefs touchdowns came on a pass from QB Mike Livingston to WR Otis Taylor, who then lateraled to RB Robert Holmes who scored. The play covered 93 yards, 79 on the pass and then 14 on the lateral. RB Mike Garrett had the other TD on a 9-yard run. Taylor finished the game with four catches for 131 yards.

On October 19, 1980, the Chiefs beat the Broncos 23-17 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. The Chiefs fell behind 14-3 in the first half, but got one TD back right before half-time when QB Steve Fuller and TE Al Dixon combined on a 26-yard pass play. On the last play of the third quarter, Fuller connected with WR Henry Marshall for a 46-yard TD play. Marshall finished the game with six catches for 103 yards. The Chiefs picked off Denver QB’s Craig Morton and Matt Robinson twice, with CB Eric Harris and S Herb Christopher grabbing the interceptions. DE Art Still had two sacks for the Kansas City defense.

OPPONENT TODAY/TENNESSEE TITANS

Here’s the view from Nashville on five things the Titans can improve, despite their 5-0 record.

New return man Chris Carr is starting to produce for the Titans.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

With the Cowboys, QB Tony Romo will be active for Sunday’s game, but he will not start. 

It looks like Carson Palmer is going to be out for sometime with the Bengals because of his bum elbow.  He won’t play on Sunday against Pittsburgh.

Seneca Wallace will be in the starting lineup for the Seahawks tonight when they play at Tampa Bay.

AROUND THE AFC WEST

The Chargers are hoping that Buster Davis, an old teammate of Dwayne Bowe’s at LSU, can break out now like his teammate Vincent Jackson has.

The Raiders have benched veteran receiver Ronald  Curry and will start a rookie seventh-round draft choice on Sunday.

Broncos running back Michael Pittman is apparently some sort of workout king.