Kansas.com: Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs lose to Jacksonville

KENT BABB — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:02 CST

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —The Chiefs spent two weeks working on tweaking the offense, working on fine-tuning, working on improvement. The play calls and approach looked different. The result did not.

Kansas City lost again, and it did it the same old way: poor pass protection, questionable play calls, and the appearance of a disorganized unit that couldn't adjust quickly enough. Coach Todd Haley took a magnifying glass and scalpel to his offense for two weeks. Time was supposed to help the Chiefs swerve back onto the road toward progress. But this didn't look much like progress: a 24-21 loss to Jacksonville, a team with problems and a fan base that seems leery that improvement is taking place.

Sound familiar?

Chiefs players learn perils of modern age

KENT BABB — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

The most tempting new trap in the NFL is free, attractive and alarmingly simple. Futures are promised and careers are threatened, all in 140 characters or less.

As the league, its teams and hundreds of players adjust to the newest trend in technology and fan connection, they're all learning at the same time that Twitter and other social networking sites are the league's newest Venus fly trap: come on in and get comfortable — but know that there are consequences.

Bobby Wade is a Chiefs wide receiver. His marketing man advised him last month to start a Twitter account. Said it'd be good for his future. Wade is 28, and he knows an NFL player's career can end any time. He heard that social networking might offer him exposure. He might want to do radio of television someday. It's nice to have options.

Chiefs thin at safety

ADAM TEICHER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:02 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —It doesn't take injuries to a couple of veteran safeties to summon visions of long touchdown runs by Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew against the Chiefs on Sunday.

The Chiefs already were capable of allowing long runs with Jarrad Page or Jon McGraw in their starting lineup. They've allowed a run of more than 35 yards in each of the past three games.

But the odds that the elusive Jones-Drew, one of the league's rushing leaders, could burn the Chiefs in Jacksonville seem to improve because neither Page nor McGraw will play.

Haley refuses to let up on Bowe

KENT BABB — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Their personalities clashed at first, and they can admit that now. Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe can admit this too: It was a fight he was never going to win.

Bowe said this week that his first months as coach Todd Haley's whipping boy were humbling, demeaning, confusing and.... "Interesting," he said. "Very, very interesting."

Bowe smiled.

Chiefs' quest leads to Chambers

ADAM TEICHER — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Chiefs will know in a matter of weeks whether their acquisition of wide receiver Chris Chambers fits into a category with the signing of Bobby Wade or one with Amani Toomer and Ashley Lelie.

They just know for now they're desperate to improve an ailing passing game. They're willing to try anything to get them there, even if it means taking on a wide receiver that was found lacking by another team, which was San Diego in Chambers' case.

"He came available and in our quest to improve our team (through) every avenue, we felt he could potentially help us," Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. "We have experience playing against him and preparing for him, so we had a bunch of different opinions on him and felt good about getting him in here."

Charles gets opportunity as Chiefs' featured back

ADAM TEICHER — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:04 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Sooner or later, the day will come when the Chiefs no longer build their running game around the talents of Larry Johnson.

That being the case, Jamaal Charles might be wise to consider Sunday's game against the Jaguars an audition of sorts.

Chiefs coach Todd Haley might be looking at it that way. The game in Jacksonville will be their first of the season without Johnson, who is suspended. The Chiefs confirmed Monday they have reached a settlement with Johnson that will keep him out of Sunday's game.

Johnson's future with Chiefs still up in air

KENT BABB — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:02 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Seven tumultuous days ago, Larry Johnson walked into the Chiefs locker room with a firm grip on his job. He got himself in further trouble with the team, and a day later was told to go home.

As the 1-6 Chiefs enter another game week with plenty on their minds, the team will also decide if it would be better off with or without Johnson.

According to an industry source, the team considered releasing Johnson — who has a history of misbehavior — but was cautious of the precedent it might set. The Chiefs didn't want to send the message that, if a player wants out of Kansas City, all he has to do is speak out or act up to get his way.

Johnson will only lose one paycheck

Kent Babb — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:03 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Larry Johnson recouped some money Saturday, but his "settlement" with the Chiefs didn't answer questions about his long-term job security with the team.

Johnson's agent, Peter Schaffer, told The Kansas City Star on Saturday night that his client and the Chiefs had agreed in principle that Johnson would remain suspended for two weeks but that he would be paid for one of those weeks.

The original suspension, which was handed down by the team Wednesday night, would have cost Johnson more than $600,000. Now it will cost him about half that, and it will keep the sides out of a grievance hearing next week.

Agent: Johnson, Chiefs working on settlement

KENT BABB — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:49 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Chiefs and running back Larry Johnson are working on a settlement that could affect his future, Johnson's agent told The Star on Thursday.

Peter Schaffer, who has represented Johnson for about a year, said in an e-mail that he was working on an appeal of Johnson's two-week suspension at the same time as he and the Chiefs are discussing a settlement.

"Full bore on both," Schaffer wrote.

Chiefs suspend Johnson for two weeks

KENT BABB — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:31 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Jamaal Charles and Kolby Smith split most of the practice time Wednesday as the Chiefs' running backs, both of them trying to prove they're ready for a more significant role.

Charles caught passes during practice, and Smith tested his surgically repaired knee at the team's indoor facility. Both appeared capable of handling a greater load.

"If they need me, I can be used," Smith said.

Chiefs tell LJ to stay away for now

KENT BABB — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:05 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —His voice comes through soft but pointed. He remembers his childhood in the Jim Crow South and understands the daggers of inequality and the tarnish of discrimination.

"I went through that," he said. "My generation."

Larry Johnson Sr. said that he vowed so many years ago that he would teach his children to treat everyone with compassion. He said he raised them to consider everyone equal, regardless of race, gender, beliefs or sexual preference. He said it hurts that his son, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson, used gay slurs in public two times in 24 hours.

Kansas City Chiefs' Larry Johnson back in trouble again

KENT BABB — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:23 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Larry Johnson didn't say much, but those few words Monday from the Kansas City Chiefs running back further stoked a fire that had been ignited the night before. Hours after the Chiefs lost 37-7 to San Diego on Sunday, Johnson made several controversial remarks on Twitter directed toward his coach, Todd Haley, and Haley's lack of football-playing experience.

A message posted on Johnson's Twitter profile about 7 p.m. stated: "My father played for the coach from 'rememeber the titans'. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn."

Johnson continued the postings and, in later responses directed toward his Twitter followers, included inflammatory remarks about gays. In a reference to someone's profile picture, Johnson called it a "fag pic" and called the person a "Christopher street boy," a reference to a predominantly gay and lesbian area in New York's Greenwich Village.

Chiefs revert to losing ways against San Diego

ADAM TEICHER — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:44 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Chiefs were in the middle of feeling good about themselves when on Sunday, reality intervened. It wasn't so much about the fact their winning streak was stopped abruptly at one as how that happened.

They reverted to their early-season ways in a 37-7 loss to San Diego at Arrowhead Stadium. That type of defeat, coming one week after their feel-good victory in Washington, seemed to blindside everyone in a throwback Dallas Texans outfit.

"I think it did,'' running back Larry Johnson said. "I don't know what was going through our heads at the time. I don't know whether it was false happiness or thinking that . . . San Diego was just going to lay down because they played the Monday night game.

Nobody safe in KC

KENT BABB — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:06 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Derrick Johnson is pacing in a hallway, trying to find the words. He says he has no idea where he stands with the Chiefs. He didn't watch television on Tuesday because that was the NFL's trade deadline. He couldn't relax on his day off at the same time he was worrying about his future.

Johnson wasn't traded. It is less than 24 hours after the deadline passed, and emotions are taking hold. Anger and confusion pinch hardest.

"You don't really know," he says, barely above a whisper. "I know I'm right for this defense. I'm right for this team. I'm versatile. I can fit in any kind of defense, really. I don't know, man. I don't know."

KC trade puts Edwards front and center

Kent Babb — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:09 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Ron Edwards said he needs to work on repetition, and he didn't break from his training Thursday. He kept saying it. Question after question, he had the same thing on his mind.

"Just reps and reps and reps," said Edwards, the Chiefs' nose tackle. "Just the repetition, it always helps. Doing the same things again and again makes me better."

The Chiefs gambled this week. They traded backup nose tackle Tank Tyler on Monday to the Carolina Panthers for a fifth-round pick in next year's NFL draft. That left Edwards as not only the team's undisputed starter but, for a while anyway, the team's only true nose tackle as well.

Hunt expresses confidence in Chiefs' management

ADAM TEICHER — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:09 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The developments with his team's AFC West rival in Denver haven't escaped Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt. He's seen the Broncos — who embarked on their own rebuilding project last winter after ousting longtime coach Mike Shanahan and replacing him with Josh McDaniels — shock the NFL by jumping to a 6-0 start.

But Hunt insisted in an interview Wednesday that no part of him looks at Denver's success and wonders: Why not the Chiefs?

While disappointed in Kansas City's 1-5 record, Hunt said he's not discouraged about where the Chiefs are headed or their ability to catch and even surpass the Broncos someday.

Broncos' brain trust hits the ground running

KENT BABB — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:09 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Todd Haley looked relieved. His arms were crossed late in Sunday's game at Washington, and he didn't let a smile break through until the Chiefs had their first victory — and Haley's first as a head coach — clinched.

"It just felt like what we should have been doing anyway," Haley said this week.

On the opposite side of the country, Denver coach Josh McDaniels looked like it was nothing new. Eight days after his first-pumping outburst following the Broncos' win against New England, another first-time head coach had the look Monday night of a coach who now expected to win. Not that Denver is slowing.

Kansas City gets right back to work after win over Washington

ADAM TEICHER — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:09 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —This is uncharted territory for the Chiefs, at least for the time they've been coached by Todd Haley.

The Chiefs won their first game under Haley on Sunday, beating Washington 14-6. Given that Haley has turned everything about the Chiefs upside down during his brief time in Kansas City, nobody was quite certain how to react.

On the first day afterward, they handled it as if they've been there before — even if they haven't been there before.

It's about time: Haley gets first win as Chiefs' head coach

KENT BABB — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:12 CDT

LANDOVER, Md. —Todd Haley stepped into a hallway, the tears still in his eyes and the praise still coming. Somebody handed him a cell phone. It was his wife. That didn't help the overflow of emotion that he was experiencing.

"I've been waiting to enjoy one of these," said Haley, the Chiefs' coach.

The postgame meeting and a different kind of news conference behind him, Haley took a breath and absorbed what it meant to get his first victory as Kansas City's head coach, a 14-6 win at Washington. His shirt was still soaked after an ice bath, and his eyes remained red from four hours of cold and ending five weeks of losses. Haley, 42, leaned against a wall and was honest about the day's importance.

Chiefs' Dorsey has hopes at last

KENT BABB — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:30 CDT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Glenn Dorsey is at a strange place, the crossroads of being ashamed of where he's been but proud he made it back. The Chiefs defensive end sits in the team's locker room, remembering the careless times that seemed so innocent — and the hard time he did as punishment.

Beads of sweat are still fresh on his forehead after his latest weightlifting session. He is as fit as he's been in years, a trim 298 pounds. Somehow, he's done it. He worked himself into shape after Chiefs coach Todd Haley thought it would be impossible. Dorsey has adjusted to a position that his body type, experience and skills didn't seem to match. He looks powerful, quick and dominant — if only occasionally — for a team that, months ago, thought his weaknesses might overcome his strengths.

Dorsey has started each of the Chiefs' five games in 2009. Haley says the second-year defender has improved in each of them. For the first time since Kansas City drafted Dorsey last year with the fifth overall pick, he is showing signs that his potential, once shadowed by sloppy play and bad habits, might soon be within his reach.