Flanagan: Chiefs wide receiver didn’t think, he just threw it
 

Chiefs wide receiver didn’t think, he just threw it
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star

First, Chiefs wide receiver Mark Bradley had to snare a difficult pitch from running back Jamaal Charles. Once he secured the ball, Bradley looked up and saw a wide open Tyler Thigpen running toward the end zone.

Quarterbacks often tell themselves in that split second of decision making to put a little extra air under the ball so they don’t overthrow the open man.

Apparently, wide receivers don’t have those mental checkdowns.

“Actually, I didn’t think about nothing,” Bradley said. “I just went back and threw it. It just happened to drop in his arms.”

When it was over, the razzle-dazzle play went for a 37-yard touchdown Sunday that stunned everyone at Arrowhead, most notably the Tampa Bay Bucs.

It was a play the Chiefs had just put into the offense last week.

“We didn’t work on it that much,” Bradley said. “We worked on it the past week, ran it a few times. (Offensive coordinator) Chan (Gailey) called it, and we executed it.”

Bradley said he didn’t get especially excited when the play was called in the huddle.

“Not really. We ran it in practice, and what we do in practice is what we should do in the game,” he said.

Bradley, who played in college at Oklahoma, said he last threw a touchdown pass in a game against Oklahoma State on a similar play. Another time, he said he completed a pass in college that was stopped just short of the goal line.

Was it Bradley’s passing skills in college that led the Chiefs to design the play?

“Well, nobody said anything to me about it last week,” Bradley said. “It just came up in practice.”

Maybe the Chiefs remembered that Bradley’s father, Danny, was an option quarterback at Oklahoma and figured he was a genetic fit to make such a play.

“Well, (my dad) taught me a few things,” Bradley said. “He ran the option there. He taught me some things.”

Getting better

Chiefs rookie tackle Branden Albert was asked Monday if he could see beyond the last two stinging losses and see improvement in the team.

“Definitely. We’ve been improving each week since the Carolina game,” he said. “It’s difficult to recognize when you’re losing, but we’re making progress.”

That progress includes Thigpen.

“It’s not surprising to me that he’s getting better,” Albert said. “We see it in practice. We see how mobile he is, and we knew once he got comfortable with the offense, he’d be OK.”

Gailey’s tricks

The Bucs apparently had a notion that the Chiefs might try some trickery on Sunday, yet they couldn’t stop it.

“We expected some of that from Chan Gailey,” Bucs coach Jon Gruden said after the game. “He’s got a history of being very creative.

“They mixed it up quite well. They had a unique package.”

He's awfully humble. That was seriously the best deep ball a Chiefs QB has thrown in years.

thigpen is the best thing to happen to this team all year. it seems like Herm just needed an ounce of confidence in a QB to let Gailey take the chains off the offense and it helped out a lot.

i just wish we had a good QB coach to work on his consistency and whatever makes those passes sail sometimes

More playing time will help with both.

The ball Thiggy threw to him was ok as well.

Why do i get the feeling that the only plays that get run with much reps in Chiefs practice are the runs between the tackles?

Because the one in twenty of those runs that goes for over 5 yards, Herm can say, "In your face, defense!"

Sadly I wouldnt doubt this...


I wouldnt be surprised if Herm spends most of the practice trying to perfect the 4 minute punt offense...

did he use a double negative? That is using that scholorship!

ROFL

Actually Thiggy's throw to a covered Bradley for 56 yards was a hell of a lot more impressive. Perfect throw.