DaFace
12-02-2005, 05:03 PM
Dec 02, 2005, 4:49:31 PM
Rookie Diary
Week 13 – December 2, 2005
Last week was a tremendous win. It was a fun game. One of the reasons I liked it so much was because the Patriots put a lot of their starters on special teams. I got to match up against LBs Mike Vrabel and Chad Brown. Brown’s not a starter, but he’s been to Pro Bowls in the past as a starter and now he’s on special teams.
We shut their return game down pretty well. They ran a return that they hadn’t shown all year Sunday against us. They double-teamed Gary Stills of course. Everybody doubles him because he’s such an unbelievable special teams player, and he gets double-teamed more than anyone on the team. So then they brought Monty Beisel from the back, right corner to try to come across the field and light me up. Usually when I’m running down on kickoffs it’s so fast and intense that I’m usually looking at the front three guys in front of me and through them to the ball carrier. Luckily Sunday though I just happen to look to the right, because you have to keep your head on a swivel. Anyway I saw him and I kind of just stopped and let him fly by. I kind of ole’d him and I saw on film that he did a nice Pete Rose slide 10 yards past me. I think he was trying to make a statement since he is from around here and used to play for the Chiefs. He was looking for the big hit, but luckily he missed me. It was one of those moments though where I definitely could have had my helmet and facemask rearranged.
One of the reasons that win over the Patriots was so big was obviously because they’re the defending World Champions. Our coaches preach that they are a championship-caliber team, and it showed in the fact that they never gave up. We were beating them badly early on, but they hung around and made it close in that fourth quarter.
Another thing I observed after the game which I thought was entertaining was the coaches greeting each other after the game. Usually both coaches meet at midfield and exchange a few words and say “good game,” whatever. Well, Coach Vermeil is such a good coach, good people person, he’s won Super Bowls and been around doing public speaking and everything. I noticed after the game that Vermeil stopped and shook Bill Belichick’s hand and just as he was opening his mouth, Belichick shook his hand and ran off in another direction. Coach Vermeil would never say anything about that, but I noticed it and just know my head coach would never do that. Belichick is a wonderful coach with three Super Bowls rings and I’m sure was just upset about the game, but that’s one of the reasons I respect Coach Vermeil so much is that even in losses he’s professional and courteous.
During the week we got a visit from Coach Gansz’s dad, Frank Gansz, Sr. That was amazing. He coached in the NFL for a long time and was even the head coach of the Chiefs for awhile in the late ‘80s. You talk about an inspiration and a guy who knows how to speak to a group of football players… he’s it. He touched on things like believing in yourself and now being the time. He kept saying, “Why can’t you win out the rest of the games. Why can’t you beat all these teams people don’t think you’re supposed to beat.”
Coach Gansz, Sr. told a lot of great stories of famous battles throughout history. In all of his stories the United States was clearly the underdog and the troops were in situations where no one thought winning or even getting out alive was possible. And then he talked of how it ended up being successful and a great moment in history.
I have always kind of had a fascination with trying to become a Navy Seal. I don’t even know if I have the mental capacity to do it, because it’s so much more than strength and athleticism. But I admire them so much. Anyway, I’ve heard this from Coach Gansz, and then now from his father too that they believe, “Inside every human being is an extraordinary person. But until you push yourself that has a lot of truth to it and my life has somewhat proved that on a much smaller scale.
Big game coming up this Sunday – the Denver Broncos. This is an opponent that we owe something. We’re looking at this game like every game because you don’t want to get over-hyped for it. But the very moment the New England game got over, Coach Vermeil addressed it right then in the locker room that our mindset needs to be on taking down the Broncos.
We’ve got a great track record at home in December and we’ve got our own 12th man here with the 80,000 fans. We’ll need them more than ever this week. They don’t realize how much of an impact they have. I also think the defense is going to try to keep the crowd pumped, but not flap the arms right away, waiting to save it until he’s under center. Then when he’s trying to talk and think, the crowd will be eye-splitting. Even Gunther will be doing it from the sidelines… just watch.
I love to hear the crowd, that’s one of my favorite noises in the world. The cheers inspire me. It makes me want to do something great for the fans. Some people play for their family, some people play for themselves, some people play for money, I think I play for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is for the people. Not to sound corny, but I play for the people that want to play, the ones who want to feel a part of something. I know there are little kids back in Canton, Illinois who are watching and believe they can be out there one day too. Maybe I watched too many Rocky movies as a kid, but I think what it all comes down to I try to be the People’s Champ.
Now I will run up the steps of Arrowhead to Eye of the Tiger.
Thanks for reading… your buddy,
Boomer
Rookie Diary
Week 13 – December 2, 2005
Last week was a tremendous win. It was a fun game. One of the reasons I liked it so much was because the Patriots put a lot of their starters on special teams. I got to match up against LBs Mike Vrabel and Chad Brown. Brown’s not a starter, but he’s been to Pro Bowls in the past as a starter and now he’s on special teams.
We shut their return game down pretty well. They ran a return that they hadn’t shown all year Sunday against us. They double-teamed Gary Stills of course. Everybody doubles him because he’s such an unbelievable special teams player, and he gets double-teamed more than anyone on the team. So then they brought Monty Beisel from the back, right corner to try to come across the field and light me up. Usually when I’m running down on kickoffs it’s so fast and intense that I’m usually looking at the front three guys in front of me and through them to the ball carrier. Luckily Sunday though I just happen to look to the right, because you have to keep your head on a swivel. Anyway I saw him and I kind of just stopped and let him fly by. I kind of ole’d him and I saw on film that he did a nice Pete Rose slide 10 yards past me. I think he was trying to make a statement since he is from around here and used to play for the Chiefs. He was looking for the big hit, but luckily he missed me. It was one of those moments though where I definitely could have had my helmet and facemask rearranged.
One of the reasons that win over the Patriots was so big was obviously because they’re the defending World Champions. Our coaches preach that they are a championship-caliber team, and it showed in the fact that they never gave up. We were beating them badly early on, but they hung around and made it close in that fourth quarter.
Another thing I observed after the game which I thought was entertaining was the coaches greeting each other after the game. Usually both coaches meet at midfield and exchange a few words and say “good game,” whatever. Well, Coach Vermeil is such a good coach, good people person, he’s won Super Bowls and been around doing public speaking and everything. I noticed after the game that Vermeil stopped and shook Bill Belichick’s hand and just as he was opening his mouth, Belichick shook his hand and ran off in another direction. Coach Vermeil would never say anything about that, but I noticed it and just know my head coach would never do that. Belichick is a wonderful coach with three Super Bowls rings and I’m sure was just upset about the game, but that’s one of the reasons I respect Coach Vermeil so much is that even in losses he’s professional and courteous.
During the week we got a visit from Coach Gansz’s dad, Frank Gansz, Sr. That was amazing. He coached in the NFL for a long time and was even the head coach of the Chiefs for awhile in the late ‘80s. You talk about an inspiration and a guy who knows how to speak to a group of football players… he’s it. He touched on things like believing in yourself and now being the time. He kept saying, “Why can’t you win out the rest of the games. Why can’t you beat all these teams people don’t think you’re supposed to beat.”
Coach Gansz, Sr. told a lot of great stories of famous battles throughout history. In all of his stories the United States was clearly the underdog and the troops were in situations where no one thought winning or even getting out alive was possible. And then he talked of how it ended up being successful and a great moment in history.
I have always kind of had a fascination with trying to become a Navy Seal. I don’t even know if I have the mental capacity to do it, because it’s so much more than strength and athleticism. But I admire them so much. Anyway, I’ve heard this from Coach Gansz, and then now from his father too that they believe, “Inside every human being is an extraordinary person. But until you push yourself that has a lot of truth to it and my life has somewhat proved that on a much smaller scale.
Big game coming up this Sunday – the Denver Broncos. This is an opponent that we owe something. We’re looking at this game like every game because you don’t want to get over-hyped for it. But the very moment the New England game got over, Coach Vermeil addressed it right then in the locker room that our mindset needs to be on taking down the Broncos.
We’ve got a great track record at home in December and we’ve got our own 12th man here with the 80,000 fans. We’ll need them more than ever this week. They don’t realize how much of an impact they have. I also think the defense is going to try to keep the crowd pumped, but not flap the arms right away, waiting to save it until he’s under center. Then when he’s trying to talk and think, the crowd will be eye-splitting. Even Gunther will be doing it from the sidelines… just watch.
I love to hear the crowd, that’s one of my favorite noises in the world. The cheers inspire me. It makes me want to do something great for the fans. Some people play for their family, some people play for themselves, some people play for money, I think I play for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is for the people. Not to sound corny, but I play for the people that want to play, the ones who want to feel a part of something. I know there are little kids back in Canton, Illinois who are watching and believe they can be out there one day too. Maybe I watched too many Rocky movies as a kid, but I think what it all comes down to I try to be the People’s Champ.
Now I will run up the steps of Arrowhead to Eye of the Tiger.
Thanks for reading… your buddy,
Boomer