Tribal Warfare
02-24-2011, 11:35 PM
NFL combine notebook | Lions don’t feel they tampered with Chiefs (http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/24/2680732/nfl-combine-notebook-lions-dont.html)
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
INDIANAPOLIS | Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said he believes the Lions are innocent of tampering charges brought by the Chiefs with regard to former Kansas City safety Jarrad Page. The NFL found otherwise last week, taking a seventh-round draft pick away from the Lions and ordering them to swap fifth-round picks with the Chiefs.
“I believe firmly in our case,” Schwartz said Thursday at the NFL scouting combine. “I think we’ve reached the wrong conclusion in that. We still have some more options that we can pursue in that case.”
Asked whether that meant the Lions would appeal, Schwartz said, “That’s one of the options.”
The Lions have until Monday to file an appeal with the league. Schwartz didn’t provide specifics as to why be believes Detroit didn’t tamper with Page last year.
“Probably too much has been said already about something that should be confidential,” he said. “I’m a little bit disappointed that this much has come out.”
The Chiefs have had no comment.
Their claim with the league centered on comments made last year by former Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham. Now the coordinator in Detroit, Cunningham told the Detroit Free Press that he’d like to acquire some of the Chiefs’ defensive players because of his familiarity with them. Cunningham didn’t identify specific players.
The league also said the Lions had impermissible contact with an unidentified player or his agent. But that player is known to be Page, who was later traded by the Chiefs to New England.
Winning the case won’t benefit the Chiefs much. They do get to swap fifth-round picks with the Lions in this year’s draft, meaning Kansas City gets the ninth pick in the fifth round while the Lions get the 23rd pick.
Detroit also has to forfeit the seventh-round selection it acquired in a trade with Denver last year.
Right about Charles
Buffalo coach Chan Gailey wasn’t merely the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs in 2008 when they drafted Jamaal Charles. He was also a driving force behind Charles coming to Kansas City. He believed the Chiefs needed a fast, versatile player in their backfield, and their featured runner at the time, Larry Johnson, was neither.
So he was among those who pushed the club to draft Charles, which they did in the third round with one of the picks acquired from Minnesota in the Jared Allen trade.
That move paid off for the Chiefs, but not so much for Gailey. He was with the Chiefs for only that season, and Charles, backing up Johnson, didn’t play much. The reason wasn’t that Gailey didn’t want him in the game, but the Chiefs just didn’t trust Charles to hold on to the ball. His tendency to fumble kept him off the field.
Gailey had much the same problem last year, his first with the Bills, with first-round pick C.J. Spiller. He had little impact in part because Gailey didn’t trust him not to fumble.
“The big thing for (Charles) was ball security,” Gailey said. “Where he was his first year was very similar to where C.J. was this past year. The similarities are striking. He learned to hold on to the football, Jamaal did. If C.J. can, I think he’ll have some big years.”
Charles last season finished second in the league with 1,467 rushing yards and had a spectacular per-carry average of 6.4 yards. He fumbled three times in the regular season, losing two.
That’s not bad for a guy who touched the ball 275 times between rushes and pass receptions. But he was still Kansas City’s leader, and Charles also lost a fumble at a crucial point of the playoff loss to Baltimore.
Look of a favorite
The Chiefs won the AFC West last season and were the only division team to reach the postseason, but they aren’t the one division rivals should fear heading into next season. That team would be the Raiders, who finished third at 8-8.
But Oakland was 6-0 in division games. It’s not so much that the Raiders swept the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos. It’s the way they did it. The Raiders dominated the Chiefs and Chargers in late-season games and beat the Broncos handily twice.
That should set up the Raiders as the preseason favorite in the division despite their 2-6 record in games outside the AFC West. It’s a notion new coach Hue Jackson didn’t try to downplay Thursday at the combine.
“We’re the Raiders, and I don’t want us to ever take a backseat to anybody,” said Jackson, who was Oakland’s offensive coordinator last season. “We’re back. That’s truly the way I feel. I think our players know it. I think our fans know it. Now we’ve just got to go out and prove it.
“Our players walked away with a lot of confidence in the division because we did play very well in those division games. That was one of my focuses when I came here. You’ve got to win your division before anything else. But it kind of went the other way (last year). We beat everybody in the division but didn’t beat many people outside the division. We’ve just got to find that balance in there somewhere.”
The Chiefs were 10-6, but just 2-4 in division games. They had a blowout loss against each of the other division teams, but none should have received their attention like the 31-10 defeat against Oakland in the final regular-season game at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Raiders owned the line of scrimmage that day, just as they did in most of their other AFC West games. Until the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos can stand up to Oakland’s bullying tactics, the Raiders should have everyone else’s respect
“It’s a physical game for physical people,” Jackson said. “I’m going to sell that until the day I’m not here, that the team that’s the most physical will probably win our division. That’s what I believe we’re going to be.”
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
INDIANAPOLIS | Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said he believes the Lions are innocent of tampering charges brought by the Chiefs with regard to former Kansas City safety Jarrad Page. The NFL found otherwise last week, taking a seventh-round draft pick away from the Lions and ordering them to swap fifth-round picks with the Chiefs.
“I believe firmly in our case,” Schwartz said Thursday at the NFL scouting combine. “I think we’ve reached the wrong conclusion in that. We still have some more options that we can pursue in that case.”
Asked whether that meant the Lions would appeal, Schwartz said, “That’s one of the options.”
The Lions have until Monday to file an appeal with the league. Schwartz didn’t provide specifics as to why be believes Detroit didn’t tamper with Page last year.
“Probably too much has been said already about something that should be confidential,” he said. “I’m a little bit disappointed that this much has come out.”
The Chiefs have had no comment.
Their claim with the league centered on comments made last year by former Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham. Now the coordinator in Detroit, Cunningham told the Detroit Free Press that he’d like to acquire some of the Chiefs’ defensive players because of his familiarity with them. Cunningham didn’t identify specific players.
The league also said the Lions had impermissible contact with an unidentified player or his agent. But that player is known to be Page, who was later traded by the Chiefs to New England.
Winning the case won’t benefit the Chiefs much. They do get to swap fifth-round picks with the Lions in this year’s draft, meaning Kansas City gets the ninth pick in the fifth round while the Lions get the 23rd pick.
Detroit also has to forfeit the seventh-round selection it acquired in a trade with Denver last year.
Right about Charles
Buffalo coach Chan Gailey wasn’t merely the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs in 2008 when they drafted Jamaal Charles. He was also a driving force behind Charles coming to Kansas City. He believed the Chiefs needed a fast, versatile player in their backfield, and their featured runner at the time, Larry Johnson, was neither.
So he was among those who pushed the club to draft Charles, which they did in the third round with one of the picks acquired from Minnesota in the Jared Allen trade.
That move paid off for the Chiefs, but not so much for Gailey. He was with the Chiefs for only that season, and Charles, backing up Johnson, didn’t play much. The reason wasn’t that Gailey didn’t want him in the game, but the Chiefs just didn’t trust Charles to hold on to the ball. His tendency to fumble kept him off the field.
Gailey had much the same problem last year, his first with the Bills, with first-round pick C.J. Spiller. He had little impact in part because Gailey didn’t trust him not to fumble.
“The big thing for (Charles) was ball security,” Gailey said. “Where he was his first year was very similar to where C.J. was this past year. The similarities are striking. He learned to hold on to the football, Jamaal did. If C.J. can, I think he’ll have some big years.”
Charles last season finished second in the league with 1,467 rushing yards and had a spectacular per-carry average of 6.4 yards. He fumbled three times in the regular season, losing two.
That’s not bad for a guy who touched the ball 275 times between rushes and pass receptions. But he was still Kansas City’s leader, and Charles also lost a fumble at a crucial point of the playoff loss to Baltimore.
Look of a favorite
The Chiefs won the AFC West last season and were the only division team to reach the postseason, but they aren’t the one division rivals should fear heading into next season. That team would be the Raiders, who finished third at 8-8.
But Oakland was 6-0 in division games. It’s not so much that the Raiders swept the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos. It’s the way they did it. The Raiders dominated the Chiefs and Chargers in late-season games and beat the Broncos handily twice.
That should set up the Raiders as the preseason favorite in the division despite their 2-6 record in games outside the AFC West. It’s a notion new coach Hue Jackson didn’t try to downplay Thursday at the combine.
“We’re the Raiders, and I don’t want us to ever take a backseat to anybody,” said Jackson, who was Oakland’s offensive coordinator last season. “We’re back. That’s truly the way I feel. I think our players know it. I think our fans know it. Now we’ve just got to go out and prove it.
“Our players walked away with a lot of confidence in the division because we did play very well in those division games. That was one of my focuses when I came here. You’ve got to win your division before anything else. But it kind of went the other way (last year). We beat everybody in the division but didn’t beat many people outside the division. We’ve just got to find that balance in there somewhere.”
The Chiefs were 10-6, but just 2-4 in division games. They had a blowout loss against each of the other division teams, but none should have received their attention like the 31-10 defeat against Oakland in the final regular-season game at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Raiders owned the line of scrimmage that day, just as they did in most of their other AFC West games. Until the Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos can stand up to Oakland’s bullying tactics, the Raiders should have everyone else’s respect
“It’s a physical game for physical people,” Jackson said. “I’m going to sell that until the day I’m not here, that the team that’s the most physical will probably win our division. That’s what I believe we’re going to be.”