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

[Tribal Warfare]

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.”

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by SNR

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.

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.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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.

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.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

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

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?

You still ****ing believe that shit

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.

This is just pathetic right here. Speculating that Berry is trying to make McCluster feel better? 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.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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.

"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.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by SNR

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.

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....

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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?

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.

Originally Posted by BlackBob

This is just pathetic right here. Speculating that Berry is trying to make McCluster feel better? 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.

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.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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.

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.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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?
.

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.

[Black Bob]

Siler looked fine to me.

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

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by Dave

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.

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

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by SNR

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.

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

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.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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

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.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by Dave

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.

[notorious]

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


He has been a LOT better since then.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

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

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.

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?