If Waters goes, we still have a leader.

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Gotta' love Big Al!

His World Has Stopped Spinning

Apr 15, 2009, 9:19:29 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ


For any rookie that comes into the NFL, that first season is a whirlwind.
For any rookie coming into pro football and playing a new position, the first year can be like getting caught in a tornado.
And for any rookie coming into pro football and playing a new position that happens to be left tackle, the first year is a lot like getting smacked by a hurricane.
Branden Albert sat at the Chiefs facility on Tuesday looking none the worse for wear after surviving the hurricane that was his 2008 rookie season. As a first-round draft choice that moved from his college position of guard to tackle, and left tackle at that, Albert had a lot to handle last fall.
He fought his way through a training camp foot injury that limited his snaps during the pre-season. Once he got into the season, he picked up the normal bumps and bruises that come from banging into grown men at full speed. The worst was a hyper-extended elbow that cost him one game.
Albert ended up starting 15 games and he allowed 4.5 quarterback sacks over the season.
It was to say the least, a learning experience for the young man out of the University of Virginia and Rochester, New York.
“Every week there was something new,” Albert said. “My head was spinning. I was a rookie and I was just trying to do my job.
“At first I didn’t know if I could play left tackle. Then, I started learning the position, I started listening to some of the older guys like Damion McIntosh and Brian Waters. I started to become more comfortable each week.”
Every rookie speaks of the moment in that first year when the speed of the game slows and he begins to feel comfortable with what’s happening around them. Speed was never a problem for Albert.
“The game was never too fast,” he said. “I just had a lot of setbacks that really slowed my learning curve down more than anything. As a rookie coming in and playing a new position, I needed every down in practice and games to get better and I didn’t get that at first.
“I had to learn a lot of things on the run.”
Every rookie also has that moment when he realizes he’s no longer playing college ball; he’s in the NFL.
“Oh that came in the first game when I was playing against Richard Seymour,” Albert said of the Pro Bowl defensive lineman of the Patriots. “That was the lesson right off the bat. In college, you might have a lesser opponent here or there, but I learned from the first week that there was always somebody on the other side of the ball that was pretty good.
“There’s a reason the guys on the other side of the ball are getting paid money too.”
When trapped in a rookie hurricane, a player just tries to survive from week-to-week; there’s little time to ponder what’s going on around him. That comes with the off-season and the chance for reflection has not erased the bad taste in his mouth from the 2-14 season.
“I don’t think it’s going to leave until things change around here and we start winning games,” Albert said. “Going 2-14 and being at the bottom of the league is not a fun thing. There’s only one way to change that.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Albert is excited about this weekend’s mini-camp and getting on the field and starting the process of football again under Todd Haley. “I got a lot of confidence in him,” Albert said of his new head coach. “I think he’s going to be pretty good.”
Albert spent the off-season back in Charlottesville, Virginia taking some classes at UVA. But he decided that it was important that he have his head into the game in Kansas City with the new coaching staff.
“This is where I need to be, because this is what’s most important right now,” Albert said. “I’ve got to build on what I was able to get done last year. I need to be here and we need to pull this team together and get headed in the right direction.”
The travails of his rookie season are behind him.
“After awhile, I felt real comfortable at left tackle at the end of last year,” he said. “That’s what I build on now. I’ve got to improve my techniques and my understanding of the offense.”
Branden Albert isn’t expecting soft spring breezes in the weeks and months ahead of him. He knows the Midwest wind can be fickle and biting. But he’s also pretty sure he will not be fighting the hurricane he faced last year.
Some rookie will have that chore.

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