Teicher: Flowers working to have breakout season
 

Flowers working to have a breakout season
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star


Brandon Flowers intercepted five passes last season, but he admitted he should have had twice that many.

It hasn’t escaped the notice of talented Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers that one of the league’s top players at his position, Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets, made a huge leap in 2009.

“It was his third year and he just exploded on the scene last year, separated himself from the pack,” Flowers said. “He wasn’t content to be just an NFL starter.”

Flowers intends to make a similar jump in 2010, his third NFL season. If so, he could become the first Chiefs cornerback to reach the Pro Bowl since James Hasty in 1999.

His work toward that end started in earnest this week when the Chiefs convened for the first time this year for their offseason conditioning program.

“People say the more years you play in the league, the slower you get,” Flowers said. “But I feel you can always train harder, get your endurance up even more. I haven’t been eating as well as I should these past few years. This year, I plan on eating all the way right the whole season. That will help prevent injuries. All that fried food, fried chicken, all that soul food, you’ve got to throw that out the window. Eat a lot of baked foods. Stay on a chicken and fish diet.

“Then, get smart in the film room. Seventy-five percent of the game is just knowing where your teammates are.”

Flowers was arguably the Chiefs’ best defensive player last season. He started 15 games, missing only the season opener because of injury. Flowers led the Chiefs in interceptions with five.

“When a play comes to me this year, I’ve got to make it,” he said. “I dropped a lot of interceptions last year. If I just make those plays, I could have come away with nine or 10 interceptions last year. Then people would be looking at me as a whole different ballplayer. Even if plays don’t come my way, just dominate my side of the field. Be more aggressive with the receiver. Do something positive for the team on every play.

“I left some plays on the field. I could have had a lot more interceptions to give the ball back to the offense so they could score some points. You can always get better. I think I had a solid season, but I’m ready to turn it up for this season.

“I just can’t wait to get out there and show people what I can do when I’m healthy.”

Flowers was never quite right physically last season after injuring a shoulder while scoring a touchdown in a preseason game. He missed that first regular-season game, and though he returned the next week, the injury bothered him all season and occasionally prevented him from practicing.

He gained plenty of respect from his coaches and teammates for his refusal to shut down his season, even late in the year when the Chiefs were hopelessly out of playoff contention.

“To be honest, I didn’t (ask out of the lineup) because all the guys that I went through training camp, all these offseason workouts with, they’d been with me through this whole time,” Flowers said. “I think it would have been selfish for me to just sit down and just say you guys can finish the last two games just because I want to rest my shoulder and make sure I’m all right. I just wanted to go out there, put my blood, sweat and tears into it with my brothers that I grind it out with during the offseason.”

Chiefs coach Todd Haley said: “Brandon showed some things that really left me encouraged about what’s ahead for him. He’s a very competitive guy that played hurt most of the year and still was able to play at a pretty high level.

“Brandon has set the bar high. He’s not going to be content to just be another guy. He wants to stand out and be a special player and be on a team that wins a lot of games.”

Flowers was drafted by former coach Herm Edwards and former general manager Carl Peterson, but he bought in quickly to the methods of their successors, Haley and Scott Pioli. Flowers isn’t a natural leader, but his biggest task off the field is to persuade more of his teammates to embrace the new ways.

“You’ve got to accept change,” Flowers said. “I think I accepted change so well because in high school a whole new coaching staff came in. In college, I had a certain position coach and another one came in. I’ve always had change.

“I think I lead by example more than being vocal. I’m a laid-back guy, but once I get on the field, I pride myself on not trying to make mistakes and trying to get the guys riled up to go out on the field and have fun.”



To reach Adam Teicher, call 816-234-4875 or send e-mail to ateicher@kcstar.com

Posted on Sat, Apr. 03, 2010 01:51 AM

Of all the Brandon's, he is most impressive. As for having a breakout season though, I really hope Carr does. Other teams just relentlessly picked on him or whoever else was over there. Carr had some good plays; hope he can pull it all together.

Trading back a bit and picking up Haden would just about solve our coverage issues. Berry helps as well, but imho not as much as another top notch CB and I am starting to think the dropoff in CB's is faster than the dropoff in safeties.

Damn, I love this kid. Wish we had 52 more just like him.

corner who can tackle. sticks his nose in there. good work son!

The Right 53.

I always find these stories odd. Was he not working hard before? If not, why?

He's a good player but I think it's more difficult for a corner to have a breakout season than most other positions. It depends on the front seven getting pressure.

I'd love to see Flowers get 7 or 8 picks and return a couple for scores but it's not going to happen unless the pass rush really improves.

That said, how this guy got 5 last year with one legit pass rusher and terrible safeties still boggles the mind.

Exactly my thoughts as I read the article, Mr. OnTheWarpath58.

Drafting Flowers was, by far, the best thing Herm did.

FAX

Don't forget Mr. Charles now, Mr. FAX.

Thank you Carl and Herm...Because of you, at least we had a <i>few</i> talented players on the team last year...

Herman ****ing Edwards gets some credit for that draft, but the majority of credit should go to Bull Kuharich.

Carl was essentially removed from the process by Clark Hunt.

When a player makes statements like this, their next year ends up being very average.




STFU and play ball. Let your play on the field do the talking.

At the end of the day, this team would very likely be much further along in the building process if Hunt had simply promoted Bill Kuharich and Kuharich had in turn hired Jim Swartz or Leslie Frazier to take over the as HC.

The problem with that, however, is that Kuharich would most likely have retained Herman ****ing Edwards, and no one wants that.

Berry & Flowers=JIMP