Sunday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

From the New Jersey Meadowlands

There are a lot of memories in Chiefs history that have been played out in New York and its environs. Another paragraph will be written on Sunday afternoon as the Chiefs make their final visit to Giants Stadium for a game against the Jets.

It never quite seemed right that the place where the Jets played would be called Giants Stadium. But, the N.Y. Giants were there in 1976, before the N.Y. Jets who did not arrive until the 1984 season. Both teams will play in a brand new stadium that’s being built right next door to the old one and should be open for the 2010 season.

Right now it’s simply called the New Meadowlands Stadium. Price tag: $1.3 billion. That’s right, billion. Capacity will be 82,500 and the new building will host both the Jets and Giants.

Under the schedule formula pre-determined by the NFL, the Chiefs will not play in New Jersey in 2009. They will host the Giants and if they finished in the same position as the Jets in the standings, the AFC East team would come to Arrowhead.

Not that the Chiefs will complain. Coming into this game on Sunday against the Jets, they have a 2-10-1 overall record in Giants Stadium.

There’s another New York area stadium that closed its doors this fall where the Chiefs had much more success. Actually, there were two stadiums that went dark. Yankee Stadium got all the attention, but also shuttering its doors this fall was Shea Stadium. The Chiefs never played in Yankee Stadium, but they played against the Jets seven times in Shea, going 5-2. Shea’s football layout is pictured above.

 

They played there for the first time in 1964, losing to the Jets 27-14. The Chiefs won there the next five times, including a victory in the 1969 playoffs, when the Chiefs beat the defending Super Bowl champion Jets 13-6, to advance to the final AFL Championship Game against the Oakland Raiders. It was the first post-season step for the team on its way to a Super Bowl IV victory.

One of the greatest plays in team history came in that game, played on a cold, windy day December day.

“The Mets had won the World Series in October and the fans there had come down on the field and ripped up pieces of the turf to take home as souvenirs,” said Pro Football Hall of Famer Len Dawson. “The field was just dirt everywhere.

“It was always windy in there, because they had the open end of the field and the wind would blow in there and swirl around and it was tough to read sometimes.”

This post-season game was a defensive battle for the better part of four quarters, with the only scoring coming on field goals by Jan Stenerud for the Chiefs and Jim Turner for the Jets. Turner’s 7-yard FG to tie the game came after the greatest goal-line stand in club history, as the Jets were stopped on three consecutive plays with a first-and-goal at the Kansas City one-yard line.

While all that was going on, Dawson and WR Otis Taylor were on the Chiefs sidelines. Taylor drew up a pass play in the dirt with Dawson watching. It became one of the most famous pictures in Chiefs history. On the field it became a 61-yard play from Dawson to Taylor that set up the game’s only TD. Dawson found WR Gloster Richardson for a 19-yard scoring pass and the Chiefs had the victory.

“Otis had this idea and I always listened to my receivers when they had information,” said Dawson.

Football was a different game at that time, with the quarterback calling most of the plays. Dawson was never against taking suggestions. “It turned out to be the right play at the right time,” he said.

Memorable games were few and far between for the Chiefs at the Meadowlands. They can only hope they can create one today as they say good bye to the building.

FROM THE PAGES OF CHIEFS HISTORY

On October 26, 1969, the Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals 42-22 in front of 50,934 fans at Municipal Stadium. On a cool and crisp Indian summer day, the Chiefs rolled over the Bengals with over 500 yards in offense while allowing Cincinnati just 196 yards. RB Warren McVea had 141 yards on 17 carries, including an 80-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. QB Mike Livingston threw three TD passes to RB Mike Garrett, RB Robert Homes and WR Gloster Richardson. The Chiefs defense sacked Cincinnati QB Sam Wyche five times, four of those coming from DE Jerry Mays.

On October 26, 1980, the Chiefs beat the Detroit Lions 20-17 in front of 59,391 fans at Arrowhead Stadium. It was a 40-yard FG by Nick Lowery with less than two minutes to play that gave the Chiefs a victory and spoiled a strong performance by Lions RB Billy Sims, who ran for 155 yards and a pair of TDs. Offensively, the Chiefs had a three-yard TD pass from QB Steve Fuller to TE Mike Williams. Fuller also scored on a one-yard run. Defensively, the Chiefs picked off Lions QB Gary Danielson twice, with S Gary Barbaro and CB Eric Harris grabbing the picks. DEs Art Still and Dave Lindstrom had sacks.

OPPONENT TODAY/NEW YORK JETS

Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer isn’t worried much about increasing criticism of the team’s conservative offensive play calling.

New York RB Thomas Jones is trying not to act too excited about getting to run against the Chiefs No. 32 defense against the run.

Remember Jay Feely? He was a member of the Chiefs for a day back in August. Well he remembers that time and would enjoy the chance to stick it to his former team for a day.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

The NFL has rejected a contract clause in the deal signed by Rams interim head coach Jim Haslett; it allowed him to keep the job if he went 6-6 over the season’s final 12 games.

In what has turned into a very weird situation, the Browns ended  the suspension they slapped on TE Kellen Winslow.  He still will not play on Sunday because he went home to San Diego when he was suspended.

AROUND THE AFC WEST

San Diego and New Orleans hope to put on a better performance for the American football fans in London than wht they saw last year in the rain between the Giants and Dolphins.

New Raiders head coach Tom Cable has  brought a change to the team: draft status is unimportant; production is what he’s looking for on the field.