Chiefs looking for offensive line help

[faba]

Suspended tackle is expected to practice with the team next week.

By ELIZABETH MERRILL

The Kansas City Star

After months of inconsistency, help may be on the way for the Chiefs

[KSJets]

Those Herm quotes sound familiar somehow

[mr nyjet]

someone should send herm the phone number for j.p. machado.

[Sperm Edwards]

If he received a 6-game suspension, wouldn't that begin AFTER he un-retires? The Chiefs didn't have to have his roster spot or salary cap # accounted for while retired (other than accelerated old salary bonus, if any existed). If he retired, then he retired. When he comes back an UN-retires, then he should have to serve a 6-game suspension. You don't serve a 6-game suspension while you're out of the league. That's bull.

I want this MF'er to lose the 10 games I predicted he would when everyone said he'd probably go 10-6 & make the playoffs this year.

[Preston Howley III]

Pro Bowl running back Larry Johnson, who ran for nine straight 100-yard games at the end of 2005, had just 26 yards in 15 carries Sunday. And the Chiefs

[Sperm Edwards]

Chiefs coach calls on inner strength in times of adversity

By DOUG TUCKER - AP Sports Writer

2006-10-18 02:17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -This would be a good week for Herm Edwards to put on a disguise whenever he ventures outdoors.

Better yet, Kansas City's beleaguered head coach should sleep in the office and have his meals brought in.

Chiefs fans are seething in the wake of Pittsburgh's 45-7 demolition of Edwards' team Sunday, really seething, and the head coach is naturally the object of much of their wrath.

Even media covering the team are coming in for abuse. An outraged radio talk-show host was yelling at sports writers Tuesday for not being tough enough during the laid-back coach's weekly news conference.

It was, everyone is pointing out, the worst humiliation Kansas City has experienced in a non-strike year since Chuck Knox's Seattle Seahawks pounded John Mackovic's Chiefs 45-0 way back in 1984.

"That was 22 years ago,'' thundered one caller.

Maybe one reason so many fans are angry is because they can see that Edwards is unaffected by their cacophony.

"I know who I am. I know what I'm about,'' he said. ``I'm a positive kind of a guy. Losing is part of the deal. You're going to lose. You're not going to win every game.''

The fans' ire may not be entirely due to the beating they endured in Pittsburgh, or their 2-3 record going into this week's home game against San Diego. Some might even argue that Kansas City fans have been remarkably patient.

Week after week they snap up almost every ticket to Arrowhead Stadium, which seats more than 79,000. Voters in Jackson County earlier this year approved a sales tax to pay for more than $500 million in improvements to Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums.

That's a lot of support to lavish on an organization that hasn't won a playoff game since the 1993 season, that has appeared in the postseason only once since 1997, that raises ticket prices almost every year and plans a $3.50 surcharge on parking costs that already start at $20.

Edwards is not trying to say the Chiefs did not deserve their Steeler whipping. He just doesn't want people to overreact.

"It's one of those games. You've got to let it go,'' he said.

And he's not going to jump off a high place for being a part of it.

"I'm just happy coaching,'' he said. "I'm just happy I've been in the National Football League 27 years. I understand it's a privilege, nobody's got a right to be in this league.

"You're talking about a young kid who came out of Seaside, California. Had aspirations of playing pro football. First of all, just trying to get out of Seaside to go to college. In my lifetime, I've never really had a real job. I've been in football all my life.''

One weapon the Chiefs were missing in Pittsburgh should be back Sunday. Wide receiver and kick return specialist Dante Hall should be completely healed from a hip injury. Quarterback Trent Green is almost certainly going to miss a fifth straight game, however, and fullback could also be a problem.

Ronnie Cruz, the only fullback listed on the roster, was lost for the season to knee surgery Monday. Kris Wilson, a tight end who hasn't found a position, will move into Cruz's spot. But other fullback candidates are going to be brought in for workouts.

[Sperm Edwards]

Suspended tackle is expected to practice with the team next week.

By ELIZABETH MERRILL

The Kansas City Star

After months of inconsistency, help may be on the way for the Chiefs’ offense.

Twice-suspended offensive tackle John Welbourn will join the team next week for practice, a source close to the situation said Tuesday. Welbourn, a staple on a line that paved the way for the NFL’s No. 1 offense last year, retired unexpectedly last summer, then was suspended for six weeks for violating the league’s drug policy.

Welbourn also sat for four games at the start of 2005 for steroid use. At the time of his second suspension in September, the Chiefs said they’d wait to decide whether to take him back. Now Welbourn will work out Oct. 23, and the club will have a two-week commissioner’s exemption to determine his physical status.

The Chiefs lost both of their starting tackles by training camp, as 11-time Pro Bowler Willie Roaf announced his retirement just as the team was heading for River Falls, Wis. It got worse from there. Quarterback Trent Green was knocked unconscious in the season opener and still hasn’t returned to the field.

Then left tackle Kyle Turley’s back problems flared up, and on Sunday, the Chiefs lost starting fullback Ronnie Cruz for the season because of a knee injury. So Welbourn, who was steady at right tackle last year, would be a welcome addition, assuming he’s stayed in football shape.

During last year’s time away from the team, Welbourn worked out daily at Athletes Performance in Carson, Calif. He slid into the rotation in his first week back.

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, whose team is coming off a 45-7 pasting at Pittsburgh, repeated his mantra Tuesday about how he doesn’t use excuses or worry about who’s in or out — he just coaches the 11 players available on the field. But it’s obvious the doctors’ notes are piling up.

Pro Bowl running back Larry Johnson, who ran for nine straight 100-yard games at the end of 2005, had just 26 yards in 15 carries Sunday. And the Chiefs’ once-vaunted offense is now 26th in the NFL.

“We’re all frustrated because of the way we played last week,” Edwards said. “Prior to that, we played halfway decent. We didn’t play well, and I can’t worry about why because I’ve got to worry about San Diego. You never know why.

“We’ve got to play better, and I anticipate we’ll play better. We have no choice. It’s a division game. We know it.”

Ah, the Chargers. They’re not exactly a get-well-soon matchup for the offense since they have the No. 1 defense in the NFL. But Edwards put on a happy face Tuesday and compared last weekend’s events to a playoff game he had in New York when his Jets beat the Colts 41-0.

Sometimes, he said, it’s just one team’s day.

“They hit us, and we didn’t react,” Edwards said.

“At halftime, it’s 31-0, and what do you tell your football team? What does the chalkboard say? You don’t need to worry about the play. You know what you need to do? You’d better play the second half or you might get hurt. To this football team’s credit, they played the second half.”

Long before the team got on a flight back to Kansas City, the airwaves were crackling with criticism. Edwards came to town in January to take the Chiefs to the playoffs and beyond with a defense-first mentality. In the months that have followed, he’s been blasted for a conservative offense and predictable play-calling.

He bristled Tuesday at the notion that his team was predictable. The Chiefs threw the ball 39 times, more than twice as much as they ran it. And in this 2-3 start, nothing has gone to script.

“It’s no different than when I went to New York,” Edwards said. “I was going to do it a certain way, and I didn’t bat an eye up there and I’m not going to bat an eye here, believe me. They hired me to come here and really be who I am. That’s what I’m gonna do, and there’s going to be some ups and downs and you know it.

“The thing you can’t do is you can’t get distracted by all of the sudden everyone telling you how to run your program. Because there’s only 32 head coaches last time I checked, and my name’s on the door and I’ve got to make sure that I do it the way I want to do it, because, if not, then it becomes coach of the week. I’m going to do it my way. I get that from my mom. I’m stubborn.”

Why did Ricky Williams have to serve a 4-game suspension after he un-retired (after being retired for much more than 4 games), but Welbourn gets to count his retirement as "time served"?

Not that I'm their biggest advocate, but Fins fans should be screaming :bs:over this, which is what it is.

[Bugg]

Why did Ricky Williams have to serve a 4-game suspension after he un-retired (after being retired for much more than 4 games), but Welbourn gets to count his retirement as "time served"?

Not that I'm their biggest advocate, but Fins fans should be screaming :bs:over this, which is what it is.

Only thing I can think is they worked this out with the NFL back in July when Wellbourne "retired". And since Edwards' rabbi Tagliabue was in charge then, anything goes to help the short bus coach.

Does this a-hole ever STFU?