Teicher: LJ says ‘ego’ is the difference in loss to Giants

[Tribal Warfare]

LJ says ‘ego’ is the difference in loss to Giants
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Perhaps Larry Johnson believes that his teammates have an inflated opinion of themselves. Or maybe he thinks the Giants dominated the Chiefs 27-16 Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium because New York believes in itself and the Chiefs don’t.

Whatever the case, Johnson didn’t make himself clear afterward. Asked what the difference was in Sunday’s game, Johnson merely said, “Ego.” He repeated the word each of the five times he was asked to explain his answer.

Johnson also may have been irritated at the play-calling around the goal line. The Chiefs took six snaps inside the New York 5 in the fourth quarter, and five were passes. Only once did the Chiefs hand the ball to Johnson and try to make their way on the ground.

Johnson issued the standard player answer when asked about the play-calling.

“I’m not the coach,” he said evenly. “I can only speak for myself. I try to get out there and do the best I can.”

The offensive play-calling often left the fans at Arrowhead in wonderment, and they frequently expressed their frustration with boos.

“People are entitled to their opinion,” Johnson said.

Johnson rushed for 53 yards in 18 carries Sunday. Through four games, he still doesn’t have a touchdown and is averaging a paltry 2.6 yards per carry.

So perhaps his frustration is starting to leak through. He was quick to say he didn’t think the better team necessarily won, though the Giants are 4-0 and the Chiefs 0-4.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Johnson said. “Their defense, they really hit it hard. A couple of early mistakes we made kind of hurt us. You take what Jarrad Page (unnecessary-roughness penalty) did and take that out, and you take (Jamaal Charles’) fumble out and it’s really an even-keel game.”

Charles fumbled the opening kickoff, which set up New York’s first touchdown, and Page’s penalty set up the second one. But it’s true that after the Giants took an early 14-3 lead, each team scored 13 points.

The game was still one-sided. The Giants had more than a 2-to-1 edge in yards (429 to 193) and at one point led 27-3 before they backed off.

Johnson again remained a part of the game plan despite the big second-half deficit. He had eight carries and played more in passing situations than he normally does.

“We just start late,” Johnson said. “That seems to be our thing. We don’t score touchdowns until the second half. We’ve got to start learning how to do that in the first half, and I think we’ll be all right as soon as we learn to do that because then we’ll make points in the second half, too.”