smittysbar
10-19-2008, 11:06 PM
Chiefs’ season goes from bad to worse as Croyle suffers season-ending injury
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
The man who was the Chiefs’ hope is gone, and now they don’t know where to turn.
The players? They say coaches have to get this thing in order.
Coaches? Well, they say players aren’t executing, and that has to improve.
For five weeks, the Chiefs had reason to believe this season might get better. They always had the fact that quarterback Brodie Croyle would return from his separated right shoulder, and then they’d be back on track.
The offense would move the ball, the defense would be confident, and heck, maybe they’d win a few here and there.
That hope is gone, helped off the field again, covered in a plastic cast and assisted out of the stadium for the rest of the season and maybe longer. Coach Herm Edwards said Croyle tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and won’t play again this year.
His comeback lasted 14 plays. That didn’t make the Chiefs’ 34-10 loss to Tennessee any easier, and now Kansas City has no reason to think 2008 has anything left to feel good about.
“Just gut-wrenching,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said.
“It certainly doesn’t look good,” backup quarterback Damon Huard said.
“We don’t have any strengths right now,” coach Herm Edwards said.
And the worst part is, there’s nothing else to look forward to. Larry Johnson will probably play next week, but based on the last two games — the Chiefs rushed for 58 yards Sunday, 17 more than they had two weeks ago with Johnson — it doesn’t seem to matter who lines up in the Chiefs’ backfield.
No, the Chiefs needed Croyle to finish Sunday’s game and keep on playing until this nightmare is over. That’s what they were thinking the last five weeks. He was their missing piece, they thought. They’d watch him and try to learn his strengths; decide whether he would be their man for the long haul.
Coaches decided before Sunday that if he were injured once more, they’d have their answer. They’d draft someone next year and try to make him into their franchise passer. Then Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and end Jacob Ford wrapped up Croyle after a pass early in the second quarter, and Croyle’s legs were pinned together as he fell. He struggled to stand, slamming his helmet to the Arrowhead Stadium turf, and then he needed help reaching the locker room.
Edwards knew within a few minutes that Croyle’s season was over. Now so might be his future as a starter in Kansas City.
“This is a tough one, here,” Edwards said. “Tough for him, tough for the football team.”
Now, whether the Chiefs want to or not, they have to move forward. They have to do it without Croyle and without hope that anything or anyone will come along to make this season easier.
Until later this week, they won’t even know who will start in Croyle’s place next Sunday at the New York Jets. It might be Huard, but he hit his right thumb on a helmet or shoulder pad in the first half Sunday and stepped aside for Tyler Thigpen.
It was Thigpen who led the Chiefs’ only scoring drives against the Titans, but then again, he’s the same quarterback who was erratic and unreliable in his previous time running Kansas City’s offense.
“We didn’t get shut out again,” Thigpen said, “so that was really nice.”
He wasn’t being sarcastic when he said that. He was serious, and that’s the kind of thing the Chiefs might have to take pride in as they continue what is shaping up to be the worst season in franchise history.
With hope headed to rehab and the NFL draft still six months away, the Chiefs have begun to question themselves, deflect blame and try to figure out where this went wrong and how it could possibly get better.
“It’s the coaches’ job to figure that out,” linebacker Derrick Johnson said.
“Players didn’t quite do what they were supposed to do,” Edwards said.
What could they do? They watched as Croyle limped away, his fourth injury in 13 games and perhaps proof the kid with the strong arm and the tough mind isn’t built for the grind of this league after all. It was painful for the Chiefs to watch him go, and some players stood in the locker room Sunday afternoon and spoke about the game and Croyle’s injury as if they were meeting reporters on the church steps after a funeral.
“That’s really the toughest thing for me,” Huard said, “walking away from today. He’s a kid who put a lot of time and effort and energy and work into this season.”
So did the Chiefs. They might sign another quarterback this season or they might stick with Huard or Thigpen — Edwards said reserve quarterback Ingle Martin just isn’t ready, even with six weeks in the system — to lift their spirits for the next 10 weeks.
For now, there are no answers on the horizon. The Chiefs still don’t have a quarterback. They still don’t know how they’ll rush the ball. They still don’t know how to stop another team’s offense.
And Croyle’s time as Kansas City’s starter is probably finished. That’s enough for a whole team to feel hopeless.
“We’re not a strong offense; we’re not a strong defense,” Edwards said.
“This is not a step in the right direction,” Johnson said.
“It’s reality,” Thigpen said.
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
The man who was the Chiefs’ hope is gone, and now they don’t know where to turn.
The players? They say coaches have to get this thing in order.
Coaches? Well, they say players aren’t executing, and that has to improve.
For five weeks, the Chiefs had reason to believe this season might get better. They always had the fact that quarterback Brodie Croyle would return from his separated right shoulder, and then they’d be back on track.
The offense would move the ball, the defense would be confident, and heck, maybe they’d win a few here and there.
That hope is gone, helped off the field again, covered in a plastic cast and assisted out of the stadium for the rest of the season and maybe longer. Coach Herm Edwards said Croyle tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and won’t play again this year.
His comeback lasted 14 plays. That didn’t make the Chiefs’ 34-10 loss to Tennessee any easier, and now Kansas City has no reason to think 2008 has anything left to feel good about.
“Just gut-wrenching,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said.
“It certainly doesn’t look good,” backup quarterback Damon Huard said.
“We don’t have any strengths right now,” coach Herm Edwards said.
And the worst part is, there’s nothing else to look forward to. Larry Johnson will probably play next week, but based on the last two games — the Chiefs rushed for 58 yards Sunday, 17 more than they had two weeks ago with Johnson — it doesn’t seem to matter who lines up in the Chiefs’ backfield.
No, the Chiefs needed Croyle to finish Sunday’s game and keep on playing until this nightmare is over. That’s what they were thinking the last five weeks. He was their missing piece, they thought. They’d watch him and try to learn his strengths; decide whether he would be their man for the long haul.
Coaches decided before Sunday that if he were injured once more, they’d have their answer. They’d draft someone next year and try to make him into their franchise passer. Then Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and end Jacob Ford wrapped up Croyle after a pass early in the second quarter, and Croyle’s legs were pinned together as he fell. He struggled to stand, slamming his helmet to the Arrowhead Stadium turf, and then he needed help reaching the locker room.
Edwards knew within a few minutes that Croyle’s season was over. Now so might be his future as a starter in Kansas City.
“This is a tough one, here,” Edwards said. “Tough for him, tough for the football team.”
Now, whether the Chiefs want to or not, they have to move forward. They have to do it without Croyle and without hope that anything or anyone will come along to make this season easier.
Until later this week, they won’t even know who will start in Croyle’s place next Sunday at the New York Jets. It might be Huard, but he hit his right thumb on a helmet or shoulder pad in the first half Sunday and stepped aside for Tyler Thigpen.
It was Thigpen who led the Chiefs’ only scoring drives against the Titans, but then again, he’s the same quarterback who was erratic and unreliable in his previous time running Kansas City’s offense.
“We didn’t get shut out again,” Thigpen said, “so that was really nice.”
He wasn’t being sarcastic when he said that. He was serious, and that’s the kind of thing the Chiefs might have to take pride in as they continue what is shaping up to be the worst season in franchise history.
With hope headed to rehab and the NFL draft still six months away, the Chiefs have begun to question themselves, deflect blame and try to figure out where this went wrong and how it could possibly get better.
“It’s the coaches’ job to figure that out,” linebacker Derrick Johnson said.
“Players didn’t quite do what they were supposed to do,” Edwards said.
What could they do? They watched as Croyle limped away, his fourth injury in 13 games and perhaps proof the kid with the strong arm and the tough mind isn’t built for the grind of this league after all. It was painful for the Chiefs to watch him go, and some players stood in the locker room Sunday afternoon and spoke about the game and Croyle’s injury as if they were meeting reporters on the church steps after a funeral.
“That’s really the toughest thing for me,” Huard said, “walking away from today. He’s a kid who put a lot of time and effort and energy and work into this season.”
So did the Chiefs. They might sign another quarterback this season or they might stick with Huard or Thigpen — Edwards said reserve quarterback Ingle Martin just isn’t ready, even with six weeks in the system — to lift their spirits for the next 10 weeks.
For now, there are no answers on the horizon. The Chiefs still don’t have a quarterback. They still don’t know how they’ll rush the ball. They still don’t know how to stop another team’s offense.
And Croyle’s time as Kansas City’s starter is probably finished. That’s enough for a whole team to feel hopeless.
“We’re not a strong offense; we’re not a strong defense,” Edwards said.
“This is not a step in the right direction,” Johnson said.
“It’s reality,” Thigpen said.