Post by MizzouTiger on Jan 1, 2008 10:47:43 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/426046.html
Chiefs ready to put 2007 behind them
By CANDACE BUCKNER
The Kansas City Star
When the Chiefs wake up this morning, they hope to be over this hangover. And it has nothing to do with popping bottles of champagne till midnight. This one comes from finishing the 2007 season on a nine-game losing streak. And on the morning of New Year’s Eve, with another disappointing year completed, the recovery began.
“I’m looking forward to the offseason, I think everybody is. It’s a relief, let’s just get this whole nightmare over with and wake up and start new,” Tony Gonzalez said. “No one’s ever been a part of this. Not too many people are a part of losing nine games in a row. ... (We’re) talking chess, checkers, Madden football. It doesn’t matter. ... You don’t lose nine games in a row, especially in football.”
After attending a team meeting Monday where coach Herm Edwards assured changes were coming, players cleaned out their lockers and entertained reporters’ questions. Or so it was supposed to be. When the cameras turned on, the room was quiet and the pickings were slim. The players who were available wore black and other drab colors with moods to match. The only thing missing inside this locker room was a funeral director and the instrumental of “Precious Lord” playing softly in the background.
“That’s new,” Brian Waters said of the team’s December dismissal.
Some guys said their goodbyes and promised to “holla” later. Another asked for a ride to the airport. Boomer Grisgby asked certain teammates to sign his Chiefs mini-helmets.
Safety Jarrad Page and cornerback Dimitri Patterson slipped out fairly unnoticed. Both were clad in the black dress code, of course. Dwayne Bowe threw a trash bag that contained his possessions over his shoulder and announced, “I’m out!” to no one in particular. Gonzalez and Waters, the unofficial team spokesmen, attracted all the reporters their way. As usual. Nothing new for Waters, who throughout the season had to figure out different ways to express the same frustration.
“It got worse and worse as it went on,” Waters said. “You play this game long enough, you’re going to have tough seasons like this. You got to take it as the same. … It’s easier to pat ourselves on the back when you win nine games straight but it’s hard to find fault when you lose nine games straight.”
Actually, it’s not that hard. There’s plenty to blame. The injuries, the kicker fiasco, Mike Solari’s predictable game plan, the offensive line that turned Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle into human piñatas. This winter, Croyle finally gets his turn to be the hunter, not the hunted, and plans to shoot at as many ducks as possible.
Every offseason has change. This one is no different. Maybe even more so.
“You gotta have changes,” Gonzalez said. “(If) you lost nine games in a row, you only win four games in a season and you don’t do anything to make a change, then shame on you. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Herm’s going to do some things to shake it up around here, and he’s got to because it’s not working. The way it’s going right now, the reality is it’s just not working so we’ve got to do something else.”
Chiefs ready to put 2007 behind them
By CANDACE BUCKNER
The Kansas City Star
When the Chiefs wake up this morning, they hope to be over this hangover. And it has nothing to do with popping bottles of champagne till midnight. This one comes from finishing the 2007 season on a nine-game losing streak. And on the morning of New Year’s Eve, with another disappointing year completed, the recovery began.
“I’m looking forward to the offseason, I think everybody is. It’s a relief, let’s just get this whole nightmare over with and wake up and start new,” Tony Gonzalez said. “No one’s ever been a part of this. Not too many people are a part of losing nine games in a row. ... (We’re) talking chess, checkers, Madden football. It doesn’t matter. ... You don’t lose nine games in a row, especially in football.”
After attending a team meeting Monday where coach Herm Edwards assured changes were coming, players cleaned out their lockers and entertained reporters’ questions. Or so it was supposed to be. When the cameras turned on, the room was quiet and the pickings were slim. The players who were available wore black and other drab colors with moods to match. The only thing missing inside this locker room was a funeral director and the instrumental of “Precious Lord” playing softly in the background.
“That’s new,” Brian Waters said of the team’s December dismissal.
Some guys said their goodbyes and promised to “holla” later. Another asked for a ride to the airport. Boomer Grisgby asked certain teammates to sign his Chiefs mini-helmets.
Safety Jarrad Page and cornerback Dimitri Patterson slipped out fairly unnoticed. Both were clad in the black dress code, of course. Dwayne Bowe threw a trash bag that contained his possessions over his shoulder and announced, “I’m out!” to no one in particular. Gonzalez and Waters, the unofficial team spokesmen, attracted all the reporters their way. As usual. Nothing new for Waters, who throughout the season had to figure out different ways to express the same frustration.
“It got worse and worse as it went on,” Waters said. “You play this game long enough, you’re going to have tough seasons like this. You got to take it as the same. … It’s easier to pat ourselves on the back when you win nine games straight but it’s hard to find fault when you lose nine games straight.”
Actually, it’s not that hard. There’s plenty to blame. The injuries, the kicker fiasco, Mike Solari’s predictable game plan, the offensive line that turned Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle into human piñatas. This winter, Croyle finally gets his turn to be the hunter, not the hunted, and plans to shoot at as many ducks as possible.
Every offseason has change. This one is no different. Maybe even more so.
“You gotta have changes,” Gonzalez said. “(If) you lost nine games in a row, you only win four games in a season and you don’t do anything to make a change, then shame on you. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Herm’s going to do some things to shake it up around here, and he’s got to because it’s not working. The way it’s going right now, the reality is it’s just not working so we’ve got to do something else.”