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 PGM

Sooooo many ****ing trolls

Not many realistic fans and I agree. The trolls are out in this thread.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Clay is Cassel's Reckoning. He created those GIFs that you're using.

That's funny... Why does he act like DJ is a good tackler then? I guess he's just trolling.

Good night all...

[Rain Man]

It's as if God looked down from heaven and said, "I'm going to injure all of their best players on defense. And I'm going to rat on Hali's reefer madness."

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by SNR

Good ****ing Christ.

Nobody can be this goddamned stupid.

I'm telling you this is a KCJohnny Mult. It HAS to be.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Quick, someone bait him with pie...

[mcaj22]

where do you think he found the gifs he used if he didnt get them here/had no idea who Clay was

he sat in google and typed in the image search: DJ Missed Tackles Animated .GIFs and crossed his fingers they existed? lol

[Brock]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

Not many realistic fans and I agree. The trolls are out in this thread.

Says the total gomer predicting 5-0.

[The Franchise]

When Brandon Siler gets his hand on you.....you're going nowhere...



But right past him...

[The Franchise]

That's ****ing technique that can't be taught.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

Maybe? But why is it so easy to find gifs of DJ missing tackles?

because chiefs fans care about chiefs players, dissect their play, and talk about them on a chiefs message board you ****ing dumbass...

nobody gives a shit about a bench warming nobody named Siler...

it never occurred to anyone that someone as ****ing stupid as you would show up and claim that Siler - a bench warmer - is a better tackler than the Franchise record holder in tackles...

it is so insanely ****ing stupid that I still believe I'm going to wake up in the morning and this will have been just a bad ****ing dream

[mcaj22]

instead of getting KING KONG on his arms it should have been CANT TACKLE

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

There it is courtesy of cassel's reckoning

Give me a break man. You can't list missed tackles per SNAP. You need to list missed tackles compared to actual tackles. If you stand on the field and don't get to any tackles, you aren't going to have misses. Please tell me that missed tackles per snap is not the whole set of stats you are referring to.

[Gravedigger]

If we start sucking in the first half of this year I just want to clear house and start from scratch with the pieces we have -Cassel -Pioli -Romeo -Any coach that's come into this organization since the Dick Vermeil era. Clark needs to show some big boy balls and understand he writes the checks for winning franchises, not "psuedo-secretive poorly drafted always blaming injuries as the reason we couldn't get it done" franchises. Before Preseason we were saying how deep we've gotten, outside of QB and some other positions, in Free Agency and the Draft. Now we're down three, maybe four guys after preseason and our defense doesn't look deep at all. Same shit, different year.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

Give me a break man. You can't list missed tackles per SNAP. You need to list missed tackles compared to actual tackles. If you stand on the field and don't get to any tackles, you aren't going to have misses. Please tell me that missed tackles per snap is not the whole set of stats you are referring to.

Siler has enough stats over his career to say otherwise. BTW, the stats compared Siler's career stats to DJ's stats last season. What would it look like if we did DJ's whole career?

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Question.....who is judging and determining missed tackles?

You? The guy who couldn't tell the difference between Stanzi and Tanney? The guy who thought Pitoitua was playing NT?

I owned up to the Tanney mistake. I know you saw it. Pitoitua plays NT when we go with two down linemen. I know you saw what I wrote about this to. By definition a NT lines up between the center and guard. Pitoitua has lined up between the center and the right guard every time this preseason. That's what NT do.