2 hour old Arrowhead report

[LaChapelle]

You will all be trusted to discipline yourselves -flogging accepted

update for 11/3/10 follows


Arrowhead Report: Friday, October 29th

By Josh Looney
Posted 2 hours ago

WR Dexter McCluster and RG Ryan Lilja both questionable for Sunday

The Chiefs finished a week of Buffalo game-planning with two major offensive contributors nursing injuries. WR Dexter McCluster, who left last week’s game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, was in full dress for practice, but headed to work out on the stationary bikes following the conclusion of stretching. The ankle injury has limited kept him limited all week.

Veteran WR Chris Chambers (finger) is expected to play this weekend and could see his role in the offensive game plan expand, particularly if McCluster is unable to play. Chambers has been inactive each of the past two weeks, but was a healthy scratch last Sunday against Jacksonville.

“I know how to rebound and I know how to come back from it,” Chambers said. “I’m just looking forward to having those opportunities again. When my chance comes and the window opens, I just have to take advantage of it.”

Starting right guard Ryan Lilja (thumb) is also fighting through injury and has been limited throughout the week. Lilja took mental reps next to offensive line coach Bill Muir during Friday’s practice while rookie Jon Asamoah handled the first-team duties at right guard.

“Jon’s got a bunch of reps through the pre-season and regular season,” head coach Todd Haley said. “He gets consistent reps along with other guys who aren’t in there. Whoever is playing should be prepared. That’s our job.”

Most of Asamoah’s offensive snaps have come as an extra lineman in goal line and short-yardage situations.

The Chiefs have yet to rule out Lilja or McCluster for this Sunday’s game. Both are officially listed as “questionable,” alongside reserve safety Reshard Langford (ankle).

Tucker Contributes Immediately; May be In Line For More

Last weekend, less than 24 hours separated rookie WR Verran Tucker from seat on the practice squad and his NFL debut. Tucker, undrafted out of California, was promoted to Kansas City’s active roster last Saturday evening and then found himself in the lineup for Sunday’s game.

Haley said today that Tucker’s promotion was primarily the result of an ability to play on special teams, but the rookie receiver ended up playing some offensive snaps as well.

“That gameday 45 is critical to us having any kind of chance to compete on a weekly basis,” Haley said. “We need to have the best possible mix and a big factor in that is special teams. We need to win on special teams every week, in my opinion to win these games.”

Tucker tallied over 20 snaps last Sunday and actually finished with more offensive repetitions than special teams.

At 6-1, 204, Tucker is a bigger receiver who can make an impact on coverage units, but it’s his mismatch problems as a wide receiver that have had Kansas City’s defensive backs talking. Even prior to his promotion last weekend, a few DBs had raved about Tucker’s ability to make plays in practice. Today, Haley pitched in today with some complimentary words as well.

“He’s got some skill as a receiver,” Haley said. “I’ve been quietly excited about him from a week or so into training camp,” Haley said. “He’s got some unique skills that are not coachable.”

Tucker was targeted one time last week in the passing game, but did not record any statistics. With McCluster’s health is question this weekend, there’s a good chance that Tucker will get another chance to contribute this weekend.

Weis Remembers Fallen Videographer

The tragic death of Notre Dame videographer Declan Sullivan sent shockwaves across the country earlier this week. Sullivan was killed when the hydraulic lift he filmed practice atop collapsed during a period of high winds in South Bend, Indiana.

The 20-yaer old Sullivan entered the Irish football program when Chiefs offensive coordinator Charlie Weis was serving as Notre Dame’s head coach.

“I know that my family, we’ve been a little bit in the tank about this for a couple of days now,” Weis said. “Obviously the Weis family thoughts and prayers are both with Declan’s family but the whole Notre Dame family, in addition. It’s just awful.”

Crennel Eyes Experience in Simoneau Signing

When the Chiefs signed veteran LB Mark Simoneau earlier this week, the move was somewhat surprising. Not necessarily surprising because of Simoneau’s ability as a player, but rather the Chiefs current situation at linebacker.

From a numbers perspective, inside linebacker is one of the deepest positions on the team. The Chiefs were already three-deep at the position before Simoneau was added to the roster and no one in the position group has been fighting injury.

The numbers game at inside linebacker has also factored into rookie LB Justin Cole being the only player on the roster to have been a healthy scratch in each of the six games this season. Adding Simoneau to the mix brings the position’s tally to seven players.
Even so, defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel feels that Simoneau’s brings both physical traits and intangibles that are important to the Kansas City roster.

“We have a young team and Simoneau brings a lot of experience,” Crennel said. “His experience and knowledge can help these young guys. You always try to improve your team however you can. Veteran players who can still do can really improve your team and we’re always looking for guys that can help us.”

Simoneau is currently listed as fourth on Kansas City’s depth chart at “Mike” linebacker behind Jovan Belcher, Corey Mays and Justin Cole.

Behind The Scenes: Thomas Jones

Chiefs RB Thomas Jones seems to leave a lasting impression anywhere he goes.

His new teammates constantly recognize the impact that Jones’ arrival has made on the organization and Jones’ former employer, the N.Y. Jets, took out a full-page ad in the Kansas City Star shortly after his signing to thank him for his contributions to that organization. Everywhere he goes, people say the same thing about him: “he’s a special teammate.”

Today, Haley gave us a behind-the-scenes story about Jones following the Chiefs painful 35-31 loss in Houston several weeks ago.

“I don’t like to talk about guys’ private stuff, but this to me is such a clear picture of Thomas: after that Houston game, we’re flying home and like I said you could tell that we were making progress as a team by how the players were acting on the plane, you could see that it was a painful, painful flight home but I made a couple passes back through there just to talk to all the guys just like I usually do and Thomas is watching a DVD, he’s got a DVD with headphones on and I just took a peak to see what movie he was watching and he was watching high school football. And I was like, ‘What are you watching?” He said, “I’m watching my brother.” I’m like, “Your brother? You just have Julius, right?

“We had drafted Julius in Dallas and I’m doing the math quickly of knowing when Julius was a high school player and I’m going, ‘You’re watching Julius?’ So he’s got a bag full of DVDs of his brother playing high school football. He said, ‘This is what cheers me up.’

“That’s pretty unique and it tells you so much about the guy and on top of all the other things, he does a lot of work with the mining and things like that. Here’s a guy, of all the options to keep your mind active after a difficult loss, he said this is what gets me in a good mood when I’m down and it’s his brother from the ’90s playing high school football and he’s got DVD after DVD and he’s rewinding it watching runs. Amazing. Amazing.”

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Arrowhead Report: Wednesday, November 3rd

By Josh Looney

Posted 2 hours ago

• a
• a

Chiefs get back Ryan Lilja, weren't interested in Randy Moss and feel the excitement of Raider Week

Raider Week is officially underway at Arrowhead. The anticipation for this Sunday’s game, one that pits the first and second-ranked teams in the division against one another, is as high as any Raider Week in recent memory. That excitement is building some 1,800 miles to the west as well.

“It’s a big deal to us,” Raiders head coach Tom Cable said today via conference call.

Kansas City and Oakland haven’t played a game this meaningful against one another since the “Y2K Bowl” at Arrowhead on 1/2/00. If the Chiefs would have won that game, they would have won the division. Instead, Kansas City blew a 17-0 first quarter lead and lost 41-38 on a Joe Nedney overtime field goal. Oakland’s victory gave Seattle the division and Kansas City stayed home for the playoffs.

Since then, the Chiefs/Raiders matchups haven’t carried nearly as much meaning. The rivalry has always been there, but the games have lacked the extra implications. This Sunday, that won’t be the case.

“Absolutely, it’s a pivotal game,” Chiefs QB Matt Cassel said. “Going into this game you look at the records of both teams and you also look at where we are in the division and I think that as we move forward this is a game that can kind of either separate us or keep us in the pack.”

A Chiefs victory would drop Oakland a full three games behind Kansas City with only seven games remaining on their schedule. Asking any team to make up that type of ground is a difficult thing to do.

“That’s what both teams have been working for; get yourselves back into a position where when you go out on Sunday it means something,” Cable said.

Raider Week is back!

No Claim Placed On Moss

Reading between the lines, Kansas City did not put in a waiver claim for former Vikings/Patriots/Raiders/Vikings WR Randy Moss. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Moss’ new home will be Tennessee, Kansas City’s opponent at Arrowhead in Week 16 (12/26/10). Tennessee was 23^rd on the waiver list, one slot ahead of Kansas City. Prior to the news of the Titans’ claim, Haley said that the Chiefs weren’t interested in acquiring moss “at this time.”

"All personnel decisions we make around here, there's a number of different factors," Haley said. "Whenever there are names on the wire, we have discussion. But really, it is private discussion of what we think, and how we think different guys can help us."

Moss had a handful off connections to the Chiefs from his days as a New England Patriot, beginning with GM Scott Pioli and trickling down to Matt Cassel, Mike Vrabel, Corey Mays and Ryan O’Callaghan.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Randy,” Cassel said. He was a teammate of mine for a few years and a guy that I really enjoyed being around as a professional. He’s a guy that works extremely hard and did a great job for us. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about Randy Moss and wish him nothing but the best.”

Cassel went on to say that he didn’t petition for the Chiefs to put in a waiver claim on his former teammate. As a starter with New England, Cassel connected with Moss on 63 passes for 892 yards (14.2 avg.) and 10 TDs.

Injury Report

The services of veteran RG Ryan Lilja returned to the Chiefs at practice today. Lilja missed last week’s game with a hand injury, but practiced in full with the first-team offense. Rookie Jon Asamoah did an admirable job filing in at right guard for Lilja last Sunday, but it appears that Lilja is in line to return to his starting role.

“It’s a good sign for our team that when guys are asked to step up, they do,” Haley said. “That’s what their teammates expect of them and what their coaches expect. That’s what has occurred for the most part and that’s a good sign for our team.”

Asamoah looked particularly comfortable blocking in space against the Bills. The rookie had several key “kick” blocks on the edge that helped spring Chiefs ball carriers for big yardage.

“It was a real exciting experience and I was just trying to go out there and do my best not to have a drop-off because Ryan was playing at such a high level,” Asamoah said. “I just went out there and tried to be physical and win the game.”

As for injured WR Dexter McCluster, there wasn’t much of a change in status. McCluster remains sidelined with an ankle injury and attended practice only in a limited capacity. Rookie S Kendrick Lewis is also listed on the Chiefs injury report as “limited” with a hamstring injury. Lewis went through drills during the portion of practice open to the media.
In Oakland, it’s worth tracking the injury status of two big names throughout the week.

Today, Raiders head coach Tom Cable said that TE Zach Miller was off of crutches from a Sunday foot injury and that All-Pro CB Nnamdi Asomugha’s ankle injury was feeling much better. Asomugha is reportedly suffering from a high ankle sprain and underwent an MRI on Monday.

Number One vs. Number Two

This Sunday’s matchup not only features the first and second ranked teams in the AFC West, but also pits the NFL’s first and second ranked rushing offenses against one another. Kansas City leads the league with 190.4 rushing yards per game, while Oakland comes in a distant second with a 168.5 yards per game average.

Over the past two weeks, however, Oakland is actually the better rushing offense. Over that timeframe, the Raiders have outrushed the Chiefs 567-510 and have put up 92 points in the process.

“This looks like the best running team in the NFL to me,” Haley said of the Raiders.

[Shogun]

Thomas Jones continues to amaze me, what a guy.

[BigRedChief]

DMC is out. He can't even run yet.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Thomas Jones continues to amaze me, what a guy.

How is watching old video of your brothers high school games amazing?

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

How is watching old video of your brothers high school games amazing?

Its not that, its his demeanor, and how humble of a guy he is, from the things I've read of him he is just a really zen guy who puts his team ahead of him, enjoys a bitch here and there, loves football and wants to succeed. I just think he's a stand up dude.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

I don't know how Lilja would be questionable. It's a thumb.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

I don't know how Lilja would be questionable. It's a thumb.

Take it easy because its Buffalo.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Take it easy because its Buffalo.

lol I hear ya. But that's what the Ravens thought until they woke up midway through the 3rd quarter. I know they're 0-6 but an 0-6 team scares me more than a 6-0 team would. Desperation is something else.

[Dante84]

Thumb is a big deal when you are a lineman

[-King-]

Yeah, Nick Wright told the Thomas Jones story today. Pretty good ****ing story. That dude is pretty awesome.

[WhitiE]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

I don't know how Lilja would be questionable. It's a thumb.

im pretty sure thumbs are important when trying to grab something.....

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Hopefully Asamoah is prepared. With our running game we don't give many opportunities to the other team's offense controlling the clock. We can't give Fitzpatrick and their offense many reps because they'll get going. It's been said that Asamoah is better in the running game than pass protection. If we run the ball well we win.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by KcChiefsKing

Yeah, Nick Wright told the Thomas Jones story today. Pretty good ****ing story. That dude is pretty awesome.

I'm still confused? How is watching old video of your brothers high school football games an amazing story?

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Take it easy because its Buffalo.

The Chiefs are so ****ed now.

[Simply Red]