Teicher: Johnson, Toribio and Lewis sit out Chiefs practice with injuries
 

Johnson, Toribio and Lewis sit out Chiefs practice with injuries
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs began their practice week Monday without four defensive starters, including their two Pro Bowl linebackers. They’re preparing to play against the Atlanta Falcons, who were seventh in the NFL in scoring last season, that could present a problem.

The situation could improve some by the time the Chiefs and Falcons open their seasons against one another on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. But even early in the week, things were far from ideal.

“You’d like to have all your guys all the time,” coach Romeo Crennel said. “But in this business you don’t have all of them all the time and so you have to depend on other guys to step up and do their part when they’re called on.”

Linebacker Derrick Johnson, nose tackle Anthony Toribio and free safety Kendrick Lewis didn’t go through team portions of practice. Johnson and Toribio have injured ankle, Lewis an injured shoulder.

Johnson, injured in the final preseason game against the Packers, appeared the most likely of the group to be ready for Sunday’s game.

“As long as I make progress every day, that’s the plan,” Johnson said when asked whether he would play against the Falcons. “I am a fast healer. Let’s hope that this week I can be even faster.”

The Chiefs’ other Pro Bowl linebacker, Tamha Hali, will not play against Atlanta. He is serving his one-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

Cornerback Brandon Flowers, who didn’t play in the preseason and hadn’t practiced for more than a month, was back to work Monday. But Flowers, who has what the Chiefs have called as bruised heel, said he didn’t know if he would play Sunday and suggested the decision might come down to day of the game.

“If I’m out there on Sunday, then that means I’m ready to go,” he said “We’ll know game day.”

For one day, at least, the Chiefs patched together a lineup that included backups in four spots. Cory Greenwood and Brandon Siler took turns at Johnson’s position. Rookie Dontari Poe is starting for Toribio and veteran Abe Elam for Lewis.

Andy Studebaker, Edgar Jones and Cameron Sheffield have been rotating in Hali’s spot.

“Particularly (in Hali’s spot), that’s what has to happen,” Crennel said. “We’ll have to rotate guys in there and we will during the course of the week and I expect all of them to step and to be able to produce. Now, are they going to produce the way Tamba is able to produce? Only time will tell that.”

All coaches have jitters the opening week of the season given the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Even before the injuries, suspension and resulting lineup changes, this would have been an anxious week for Crennel.

The Chiefs are one of the NFL’s youngest teams. They have five players who are 30 and they are the oldest. Heading into their ninth NFL seasons, guard Ryan Lilja and special teams player Terrance Copper have the most NFL experience.

“If you have a veteran team (with players) who have proven themselves and that you feel good about, I think you can be less anxious,” Crennel said. “I think everybody gets anxious when the season starts. But if you’ve got a veteran team and you’re solid all across the board, then I think you can be less anxious because you know what you have.

“(The Chiefs) have some young players who have to play and we all know that young players make mistakes. You don’t know how many mistakes they’re going to make or what a mistake might cost you during the course of the game. Some guys, when there are 70,000 or 80,000 in the stands and they know that it counts, they react differently. We’re going to have to see how all of that plays out.”

Adding to the mystery about how well the Chiefs will play on Sunday is their uneven preseason. The Chiefs went 1-3 with the starters playing well in the first and fourth games but not so in the middle two, when the defense was particularly disappointing.

Crennel said he takes comfort in the fact the Chiefs have gotten it done, even if not consistently.

“In the first preseason game, the way they executed in that game and then the last game, they showed they could execute at a good level,” he said. “So I think they gave us enough to feel good about going into the regular season.

“One of the things I wanted to do was to be able to say we could be solid and sound coming out of the last (preseason) game. I think from our play versus their first guys, we were solid and sound coming out of that game.”

Atlanta was also 1-3 in the exhibition season, losing to Baltimore, Cincinnati and Jacksonville while beating Miami. The Falcons made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, though they lost their playoff game each time.

“This is a good Atlanta team coming in,” Crennel said. “They have some skill on all sides of the ball, really. So we’re going to have to play our best to win.”

Way to mail it in, Adam.

Par for the course.

Flowers said you'd have to talk to the trainers. The players aren't allowed to go into specifics about their injuries. We will know more based on if they practice throughout the week.

Watch the video from the lockerroom.

Flowers is gonna play.

Flowers misses time every year and we are prepared for it. Also, he would struggle against White if he was 100%. We would miss him in the run defense but Berry is back

The difference between Lewis and Elam isn't much. Elam tackles better.

Siler is a better tackler than DJ. He will help in stopping Micheal Turner. The problem is that we won't have a LBer capable of even trying to cover Gonzalez. I think we run the nickel most of the day. Look for the 3-3-5 with Daniels, Elam and Berry all playing safety.

Someone tell me again why Poe is starting over Powe, when he has yet to demonstrate he has adequate knowledge of the gaps on 1st and 2nd down.

How are we prepared for it? White won't even be the biggest threat at wr for Atlanta. He as said as much himself. I don't hate Elam as a backup but people under-value Lewis.

Politics.

IMO Powe should have been the starter all offseason.

We are built to run the ball. We control the clock and we win the game. Jones is their best WR and Routt will have some problems. However, Ryan's timing with White is what's scary. It's comparable to Manning and Harrison. White gets the ball on third down alot. Harry Douglas is no slouch either and Arenas will have his hands full. We just gotta run the ball, stop the run, and get good pressure. Ryan will probably get 300 yards but completely stopping him is not how we'll win. We just need long slow drives.

There is a misunderstanding about Powe. I love the guy and I want him to be great. The truth is that he has hardly played any snaps with the starters. He probably had five snaps with the one's in preseason. He was very disruptive on two of those snaps but, again, he hardly played. I hope he's in the rotation but, Poe has shown more. It's got nothing to do with politics. Poe was at the bottom of the list a couple of weeks ago. There was even a article in the Star about him being at the bottom. It really started clicking over the past couple of weeks with him.

:shake:

poe looks like a guy that can be an effective guy aas a nickel rusher, but hasnt got a clue about maintaining his own gap to help solidify the run defense.

Powe does.

Pretty much this.

I don't think Poe ever was our NT of the future. He'd slide over there on 3rd down but that's about it. We need a Powe or a Toribio on 1st and 2nd down. Once Poe really learns gap discipline, he'll be best used at 5 tech.

man o man.

Powe is third string under a coach who probably know more about NTs than anyone else in the league. From what I saw, Poe was fine in run defense. Seattle could only run with their QB and he played most of the first half. Note that Toriibido went out after the first series. Green Bay ran 16 times for 33 yards in the entire game and Poe played the first half. He started that game.

I'm sorry but I think you are wrong. Hopefully Powe can keep moving up the chart and I do see him getting better but, Poe is doing a good job.

I hope Poe owns in this game. I really hope he doesn't embarrass himself. I think it could go either way with how raw he still is.

Then why are they playing him at NT 90% of the time? I think you are way off.

Did BlackBob really say that Siler is a better tackler than DJ?

ROFL jfc the season needs to start already.

We have people believing Tanney is on IR because we're hiding him because one day he's going to be our QBOTF.

We have people believing Brady Quinn is the best QB on the roster.

There are even people on here that think Jalil Brown is going to cause problems for Jones/White because of his physicality at the LOS.


I mean where do people come up with this shit?

Because the fans would be UBER PISSED if Pioli came out and told the truth.

That they are gonna let Dorsey walk after this season.

Whats gonna really piss people of is that when they do let Dorsey walk, he goes to a 43 team and becomes the guy everyone thought he would be coming out of LSU.

They are not wrong.

Powe was very effective in controlling the gaps and taking on the double. Poe was constantly getting stood up and directed in one on one situations. He did penetrate effectively, but when he did it was almost as a design by the offensive line as the running back, more often than not, went right into that gap leaving Poe in the backfield.

This is a mistake and a Cassel level situation where they are simply playing the guy who has the big contract and is the high pick. This is one problem with the coaching staff or management. They play the guy who got paid, versus play the guy who deserves it.

I like Poe and his work ethic has shown up as very good. He progressed well during the preseason, but he's no way shape or form ready to start at the nose against NFL centers and guards all game long. They may want him to start based on his high draft status, but it's been Powe who's been the true nose tackle on this team during this off season. Poe's shown the capability of being that third and long NT or spot usage as the five tech, but not at the nose. Bad decision from what I've seen so far this preseason.

Besides, in the Green Bay game, Jackson and Dorsey were absolutely stuffing the shit out of that line. They both looked really good, though it was a vanilla plan Green Bay ran up to that point.

It's gonna happen. I'm pretty sure Dorsey wants this to happen. I'll be surprised if he doesn't test the open market and end up with a 43 team. He's helped himself in run support these past three plus seasons and should be a terror on the inside in a 43.

We started doing it last year late, but I would love for us to throw some packages where we throw Dorsey and Poe/Powe down inside and Houston and Hali with a hand in the dirt.

If Dontari Poe starts against Atlanta our run defense will get ****ing killed.

Romeo's gonna look stupid if he puts that kid out there for 45 snaps in his first game. He's not ready.

Go back and look at Seattle's first drive of the third quarter in preseason week 3.

We got ****ing killed on the ground.

Dontari Poe got his ass massacred on two snaps in that drive. Literally pushed five yards off the ball on both snaps.

He sucks ass as a 1st and 2nd down run stopping NT right now.

The Atlanta game is gonna be ugly...:facepalm:

So, preseason matters when its poor play, and doesn't when its good?

Whatever supports your agenda, I suppose.

Flowers is one of the best man coverage corners in the NFL. One reason we ditched Carr was because Carr was weak in man and we had to play a lot of zones. With Rout we can let Flowers play man... Height isn't that important until you're past the 50

However, i do agree with your logic that even second stringers have different skillsets and are better at some things than their starters.

I gave Dontari Poe credit for flashing some nice pass rush skills in game two.

The dude showed precious little as a real NT, though.

That's fair.

We basically had one preseason game where the team showed anything, so please realize that I credit the Chiefs fully for looking good against the Arizona Cardinals.

This team was dogshit against the Rams and Seahawks.

Dog. Shit.

Exactly. There is a common misconception among Chiefs fans (specifically blind Pioli supporters) according to them the Cardinals game was just a small showing of what the Chiefs are capable of, but the Rams and Seahawk games are blown off as "Only Preseason."

Good post and spot on about Flowers and Carr. Routt is a decent man coverage guy and I've got hope about Brown. He's not a #1 CB, but he's got the same skillset as Carr when he came into the league. The potential is there.

Clay's perceived biases don't change the fact that Dontari Poe will suck complete ass against the run.

He's not ready.

This is wrong. Carr is better in man. Rob Ryan plays man defense. You have it backwards.

and Brandon Siler is a better tackler than ****ing Derrick Johnson our best all around Pro Bowl veteran to our defense?

If that isnt true denial homerism I dont know what is. holy shit whatever people need to grasp on to have a glimmer of false hope but come on, that might be worse than saying Demorrio Williams is a better tackler than DJ.

You can see into the future, too?

Wow.

I know DTs take a few yrs to fully develop, but I'll at least wait until the season to begin before saying he'll 'completely suck'.

If Romeo believes Poe deserves to be the primary 1st and 2nd down NT instead of Powe, he's kowtowing to contract and NOT playing the best guy for the job. I thought that's what the Patriot Way was all about, but it's apparent that it's just as fickle and full of shit as the other NFL team-building "philosophies" out there.

There are of course, two other options:

1. Romeo is stupid

2. Poe has been playing better against the run at the 0 in the super ultra top secret practices that are closed to the media, and chooses to let Powe look more experienced and consistent in preseason games and training camp. In private conversations with Romeo, he has assured the coach that the awesome Poe in the super secret practices will be the one we all see during the regular season, or at least until Toribio is healthy again.

He's not the best guy for the job. You disagree?

Based on everything we've seen to date, he will suck as a true NT.

It's nothing but pure, blind homerism to say otherwise.

Hey C.E., it must be nice having your mom follow up all your posts.

Is outright trolling actually banable?

Powe is certainly better for it this season.

Which I was happy to see.

Will?

So he'll always suck at NT?

Or just the near future?

.

Obviously not.

Clay and Knowmo have several thousand posts that prove otherwise.

LMAO

I do appreciate my new ally.

I'm planning a nice thank you thread for the "accused mults" who did such great work in my absence.

It was enjoyable reading.

I think he was referring to when in response to a post on preseason that hurt your argument you said "**** preseason" and then when it helped you referenced preseason in your argument. Like when you said stats were for fools but then post stats upon stats when it helps you. Its really the poor way you argue in both over-exaggerating to make points and your clear contradictions that kill your points more so than your actual takes. Even though they themselves can be overly dramatic.

jesus

;)

DJ has never been a good tackler. He was never even scouted as a good tackler at Texas. He takes bad angles. He's gotten better but Siler is a better tackler. He's just not good in coverage and he's not a playmaker.

We aren't starting Powe because Dorsey is going to leave after this season? Is that what you are saying? So Pioli and Crennel aren't worried about winning? It's a political decision? Listen to yourself man. Is Kolb starting in Arizona? It's about winning. Poe played DE most of the time at Memphis. All they have been doing since he got here is playing him at NT. He's here to play NT. Crennel and Pioli have said it. I don't know what in the hell you are talking about? He might play DE on some packages but his main position will be NT.

Again, Powe hardly played with the starters. It is highly unlikely that he will move ahead of Poe. At this point, Poe has more experience. If you check out Romeo's press conference last week (Monday?), you will find that Romeo was trying to get Poe one on one some of the time.

I don't care what he did in the 3rd quarter. He looked good with the ones.

You have this completely backwards. Flowers is one of the best zone corners in the NFL. Carr is one of the best cover corners. Flowers has never been a cover corner. I'm not sure how people miss this. Just watch Carr tomorrow night against Cruz and Nicks and tell me he's not a cover corner. He should have been playing LCB all the time in KC imo.

Exactly. Thank you.

It's not trolling. It's the truth.

I don't know how any of you idiots can say Powe is the better choice when he has hardly played with the ones. In two years he has hardly played with the ones. I want him to work out and I like what I see but let's be realistic. How can you even compare the two?

How long has DJ been a Chief? Do you guys watch him? He misses tackles like every game....


You guys are some serious homers. Probably the worst I have ever seen. Can't admit DJ is a sucky tackler or Carr is a better cover corner? Acting like Poe is our biggest weakness? You need to think about things and understand this isn't Madden.

You must be new here.

you're the most hilarious homer on this board...the shit you say

and siler is not a better tackler than DJ...he's not a better anything than the probowler who set a franchise record for tackles with 179 (even though most stats only credit him with a measly 131)

Don't believe Jamaal Charles isn't as quick as Dexter McCluster? You're a homer.

Don't believe DJ is an iffy tackler? You're a homer.

Don't have Down's Syndrome? You're a homer

/BlackBoob

remember, Charles can't juke anyone...

and cassel is going to have a break out season...

That's just stupid. So what if he lead the team in tacklers? Roddy White had 100 catches last year and a ton of drops. Gonzalez catches the ball better. Does that mean Gonzo is better than White? Hell no it doesn't. Ever notice how DJ doesn't play special teams and guys like Berry do? it's because of the ****ing tackling.

The inability to see the weaknesses in your team's players is the #1 sign of homerism imo. I picked us to win and I think we'll be good. However, in my short time here the homerism is far and away the highest I have ever seen amoung Chiefs fans. It's like everything is Cassel's fault and the rest of the team is fantastic and their shit doesn't stink.

McCluster is quicker. Even Berry said it the day after I did.

I absolutely believe DJ is an iffy tackler. He always has been. It's why Pioli tried to trade him when he got here. DJ has improved and become more of a playmaker but, he still misses tackles every week.

You are just pissed because someone is calling out the bullshit you say.

BlackBob attempts to look cool and smart by taking obtuse stances on things everybody else can agree about. Examples: Derrick Johnson IS, in fact, a better tackler than Brandon Siler; Jamaal Charles possesses more elite quickness to outjuke defenders than Dexter McCluster.

At first people laugh at him, then yell at him, then they get pissed off. Then the debate is REALLY hashed out, and in about a dozen posts or so it's proven that Jamaal Charles has sex with Dex's mother every night, and that 1+1=2. Then BlackBob slinks away until he comes out of the shadows again to say something unbelievably idiotic.

is this a joke?

all we do here is trash players...and dumb homers like you

and siler is a god damn nobody...stop it

You still ****ing believe that shit LMAO LMAO LMAO

GoChiefs posted about 84 gifs that say otherwise, and now you're cavalierly carrying that poop pile again because Eric Berry blew smoke up a team mate's ass?

Also, Eric Berry didn't say Dexter McCluster was quicker than Jamaal Charles. He said Dexter McCluster was the most difficult receiver for him to cover. Which is a ****ing lie as well, but go ahead and believe that shit as long as it rings true in your Candy Land imagination.

Wow SNR, you sure got me pegged. You got nothing and you take from madden and bring it to the boards. I'm not the only one who sees it. I won't back down from the bullying bullshit.

You are dickhead and you deserve to be called out.

If we don't replace DJ because "he's a shitty tackler", the Chiefs can absolutely win a Super Bowl

If we don't replace Cassel because he sucks at everything QBs are supposed to do, the Chiefs will never win a Super Bowl.

Only a complete and ****ing utter moron like yourself would try to claim that we need to replace our best players on the team because they could be better, but that we need to keep our shitty QB because not everything is his fault.

Not everything is Eli Manning's fault, either. But guess what happens if he never takes responsibility for those little things? The Giants never get close to the Super Bowl. Alex Smith wasn't at fault for the NFC Championship game. Big ****ing whoop, who cares? His team still lost the ****ing game, and it wasn't because Navarro Bowman wasn't as good of a tackler as his back up counterpart who plays special teams and gets injured every time a crack whore sniffs his butthole.

I'll be sure and point it out to you when DJ misses a tackle this week. However, I'm sure you are going to say it's because of the injury right?

This is just pathetic right here. Speculating that Berry is trying to make McCluster feel better? LMAO Charles is the one coming off an injury. Not McCluster. You think Berry is just a bullshitter huh? Is that why he said he thought Stevie Johnson cheap shotted him when asked about it? I have followed him for a long time and he is not a bullshitter. If you are going to speculate, do better than that.

"You got nothing". Can you ****ing read?

I would say that's the dumbest shit I've ever read on this board, but then again I'm talking to the guy who says at least a dozen dumbshit things before he even has breakfast.

It makes sense I guess. The same guy who believes Jamaal Charles isn't as elusively quick as Dexter McCluster also believes that Derrick Johnson isn't as good of a tackler as brokedick Brandon Siler, and also believes that I've brought nothing to the argument.

Go kill yourself.

You're idiot and are putting words in mouth just like the rest of the dumb ****s in this thread that don't have an argument. I never wanted Siler to start over DJ. All I said was that we have good depth this year and it won't be that bad of a transition. In doing so, I stated that Siler was a better tackler than DJ.

To win the Superbowl, you must have good depth. It's one of the most important pieces to the puzzle. This entire conversation was started because I said we were competent in replacing Lewis, Toribio, and DJ. We are much better prepared than last year. In no way did I say that any of the back ups were better players.

Some of you guys were the delusional dub****s who thought we should bench Cassel for Stanzi or Quinn. I got nothing to with that....

You do realize that Siler missed a BUNCH of tackles in these preseason games, right? The ****ing Rams and Seahawks pushed his shit in repeatedly.



Players blow smoke up each other's asses all the ****ing time.

And Berry never said he thought Steve Johnson cheapshotted him you ****ing reerun. There you go making shit up again. Do I really have to bring up the fact that you claim you saw Alex Tanney relieve Stanzi for a series in one of the preseason games? Then when I posted the game log that showed Tanney had never entered the game you didn't believe me?

So yeah, I don't believe Berry on this one. And you don't believe cold hard facts from ****ing game logs. Who's the real idiot here? Hint: it's not me.

I never said you thought Siler should replace DJ. Though it wouldn't surprise me if you held that opinion.

You think DJ sucks at tackling and have given no evidence other than "He sucked at it in college." If I remember correctly Dex's college production was your main evidence for the Jamaal Charles opinion.

Derrick Johnson is not the best tackler in the NFL. That doesn't mean some slapdick like Siler is better at it than him.

You're a moron.

DJ had 104 total tackles last season.

To put that into perspective, Ray Lewis' best yr was 120.

Ray Lewis is a 1st ballot HOF.

Again, you're a moron.

Siler looked fine to me.

Berry has talked about a possible bounty on him in that Buffalo game twice.

Go read what I wrote about Roddy White above. It's the same ****ing thing.

So what you are really saying is that DJ tackles at an 83 on Madden and Siler tackles at a 79 then right? LMAO

My main evidence in the McCluster vs. Charles quickness argument was my eyes. You'll see it this year. Daboll won't run him up the middle like Haley did. He will be good in space.

I'm not looking for shit.

You're a dumbass for saying a guy with 104 total tackles can't tackle as well as a back up.

Think about what you are saying man.

I always thought DJ used to miss a lot of tackles until Romeo came in.


He has been a LOT better since then.

If this were Madden, DJ would be a high 80s tackler. He's not even close to the same player he was his rookie year. Which is adequate for this team thanks to his other elite attributes, and certainly good enough to be better at tackling than Brandon ****ing Siler.

So I have a question for you.

Have you ever even ****ing seen Jamaal Charles play the game of football?

I know, I'm saying you're an idiot.

This quote proves it:

What a maroon

black bob.

http://i.imgur.com/nC4c3.gif

Blackbob is baiting people and will come out swinging PFF stats that show DJ is in the top 10 group of LB's in terms of total number of missed tackles over the last 3 years.

FYP