Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley breaks up the season into quarters, which means the Chiefs first quarter is over with. The result? 0-4 and lots of improvement to be had.
Sports talk radio (Morning Rush on 610 Sports) is criticizing Haley's statement from yesterday that the team is 0-0 moving forward. I can't quite figure out why. His philosophy is to only look at the season four games at a time. The radio folks are acting as if Haley is trying to convince players the Chiefs are 0-0. "Are players buying this? Are they just forgetting the first four games and think they're 0-0?" Roger Twibell of the Morning Rush said.
No, they're not. "We closed this quarter of the season," Chiefs receiver Bobby Wade said. "We're 0-4 and that's just the truth to the matter and now we've gotta move forward and try to get this win against the Cowboys."
The first win is the focus for the team and nothing else. In fact, getting that first win goal numero uno for everyone on the team.
"We need one bad," Wade said. "It's tough to win in this league but it's really tough to drop them early. It's really in a dire need for us to get a win and we'll just keep fighting for it until we get it."
The next opponent, the Dallas Cowboys, aren't in as deep as the Chiefs but still feeling a similar desperation to win according to linebacker Keith Brooking.
"I don't know if this is going to sound right, but there's a fine line between being desperate and pushing the panic button," Brooking said. "We've got to be desperate to win."
So, the Chiefs aren't the only ones putting themselves in the desperation category, which will make Sunday's game a little more interesting.
More from Wade after the jump.
Wade said they're trying to avoid letting the 0-4 start hang over their heads. Part of being an NFL player is having a short memory and preparing each week keeping in mind that the week prior means nothing.
"It does make it tougher," Wade said of the slow start, "but I think from being a professional, and a guy who's playing and responsible for winning these games, it's just part of what you need to do. You just need to prepare yourself each week regardless of the outcome of the week prior and move forward to the next week."
Despite the slow start, the Chiefs are determined to build a base for this team. Guys off the street are on the street right now for a reason so it's unlikely there will be many big names added in the next few months.
"We had a lot of personnel changes," said Wade who has previously discussed the difficulties of having so much turnover on the team. "I'm new to this staff and this program and a lot of other guys are new to it so hopefully moving forward we've got a pretty strong nucleus of guys that are going to give us an opportunity to win in this next quarter of the season."
Bottom line? "We've got a lot of football to play and I think the guys are determined to really get this program on the right track."