Tribal Warfare
11-21-2008, 12:10 AM
Chiefs’ defenders often get an earful from coach Cunningham (http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/901752.html)
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs’ defense is a group of haves and have-nots, but the haves sacrificed peace for their technology.
Derrick Johnson is one of the haves. He’s a linebacker with a helmet outfitted during practices with an earpiece. It allows defensive coaches to pass along instructions to a player, and that player can relay it to teammates.
The problem is, coordinator Gunther Cunningham sometimes forgets to turn off his microphone during practice. And Cunningham has a colorful way of expressing himself. He paces the field, talking about the Chiefs’ most recent shortcomings, and …
“Cussing up a storm,” Johnson said. “The cuss words are going. Big time. All the words you could think of. He’s kind of crazy.”
Which is part of the reason Cunningham doesn’t speak into the microphone during games. That’s secondary coach David Gibbs’ job. Gibbs is connected with two preselected defenders for each game; rules state that only one of those players at a time can wear the earpiece on the field. If one of the connected players is injured, which has happened often this season, the earpiece cannot be transferred.
The technology is new, put in place last year after the New England Patriots were punished for stealing the New York Jets’ signals. Before the earpiece, coaches could communicate with players only by using those signals. A coach would stand on the sideline, arms flapping and hips jerking, an intricate series of signals that tells defenders their play. Coaches still use the signals. Then again …
“Those are for people who don’t have the speaker,” said linebacker Pat Thomas, one of the Chiefs’ members of the technological upper class. “I’ll be like, ‘I don’t need that; I’ve got the speaker.’ (Defensive-line coach) Tim Krumrie is over there doing this, waving his arms like a penguin. I’m like, ‘Man, go ahead; I’ve got the call already.’ ”
Thomas and middle linebacker Rocky Boiman will use the earpiece this week against Buffalo. Johnson is the standby.
That means Johnson can rest his ears for a time; push aside the profanity and the insanity and enjoy a quiet afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium. Quieter than Thomas and Boiman will have it, anyway.
Yes, the speaker is loud, particularly with a madman sometimes screaming on the other end. Johnson said it fits into the helmet like a headphone, but there is space between the device and the player’s ear. So equipment managers crank the volume so that players can hear Gibbs’ voice over the crowd and the music and other players.
Once, Thomas said, it was so loud he thought the opposing offense could hear the Chiefs’ play call.
“A little much,” Thomas said.
But he’s not complaining. Heck, he loves the thing. Thomas said he used to envy quarterbacks and their fancy earpieces, the ease that they would listen in during the huddle, hear the play call and some advice from coaches on how to beat the defense. Quarterbacks didn’t have to worry about being confused by signals that defenders were forced to use — and perhaps wondering whether that was a wave or a shimmy, the difference between a coverage play and a blitz.
They didn’t have it so easy. Not until this year, anyway.
“It’s the best thing,” Thomas said. “I’ve never seen anything like it on defense. You get to hear all the checks. If you have anything that’s questionable, they can tell you through the speaker beforehand what to look out for.
“I love it. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Even if that means putting up with the noise that pumps through his helmet and resonates into his ear. And listening to Cunningham during practices, and all that it entails.
Thomas and Johnson each said they’ve spent parts of practices chuckling in their stances. Cunningham said something; tagged the name of a play with profanity or an odd word. Then they cut the laughing, and away they go.
Until the next time Cunningham paces around the turf, angry enough that he forgot to turn off his mike.
“He was always in our head all the time,” Johnson said. “Maybe just a little louder now.”
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs’ defense is a group of haves and have-nots, but the haves sacrificed peace for their technology.
Derrick Johnson is one of the haves. He’s a linebacker with a helmet outfitted during practices with an earpiece. It allows defensive coaches to pass along instructions to a player, and that player can relay it to teammates.
The problem is, coordinator Gunther Cunningham sometimes forgets to turn off his microphone during practice. And Cunningham has a colorful way of expressing himself. He paces the field, talking about the Chiefs’ most recent shortcomings, and …
“Cussing up a storm,” Johnson said. “The cuss words are going. Big time. All the words you could think of. He’s kind of crazy.”
Which is part of the reason Cunningham doesn’t speak into the microphone during games. That’s secondary coach David Gibbs’ job. Gibbs is connected with two preselected defenders for each game; rules state that only one of those players at a time can wear the earpiece on the field. If one of the connected players is injured, which has happened often this season, the earpiece cannot be transferred.
The technology is new, put in place last year after the New England Patriots were punished for stealing the New York Jets’ signals. Before the earpiece, coaches could communicate with players only by using those signals. A coach would stand on the sideline, arms flapping and hips jerking, an intricate series of signals that tells defenders their play. Coaches still use the signals. Then again …
“Those are for people who don’t have the speaker,” said linebacker Pat Thomas, one of the Chiefs’ members of the technological upper class. “I’ll be like, ‘I don’t need that; I’ve got the speaker.’ (Defensive-line coach) Tim Krumrie is over there doing this, waving his arms like a penguin. I’m like, ‘Man, go ahead; I’ve got the call already.’ ”
Thomas and middle linebacker Rocky Boiman will use the earpiece this week against Buffalo. Johnson is the standby.
That means Johnson can rest his ears for a time; push aside the profanity and the insanity and enjoy a quiet afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium. Quieter than Thomas and Boiman will have it, anyway.
Yes, the speaker is loud, particularly with a madman sometimes screaming on the other end. Johnson said it fits into the helmet like a headphone, but there is space between the device and the player’s ear. So equipment managers crank the volume so that players can hear Gibbs’ voice over the crowd and the music and other players.
Once, Thomas said, it was so loud he thought the opposing offense could hear the Chiefs’ play call.
“A little much,” Thomas said.
But he’s not complaining. Heck, he loves the thing. Thomas said he used to envy quarterbacks and their fancy earpieces, the ease that they would listen in during the huddle, hear the play call and some advice from coaches on how to beat the defense. Quarterbacks didn’t have to worry about being confused by signals that defenders were forced to use — and perhaps wondering whether that was a wave or a shimmy, the difference between a coverage play and a blitz.
They didn’t have it so easy. Not until this year, anyway.
“It’s the best thing,” Thomas said. “I’ve never seen anything like it on defense. You get to hear all the checks. If you have anything that’s questionable, they can tell you through the speaker beforehand what to look out for.
“I love it. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Even if that means putting up with the noise that pumps through his helmet and resonates into his ear. And listening to Cunningham during practices, and all that it entails.
Thomas and Johnson each said they’ve spent parts of practices chuckling in their stances. Cunningham said something; tagged the name of a play with profanity or an odd word. Then they cut the laughing, and away they go.
Until the next time Cunningham paces around the turf, angry enough that he forgot to turn off his mike.
“He was always in our head all the time,” Johnson said. “Maybe just a little louder now.”