Good morning! A short, but good Arrowheadlines today. Enjoy your Kansas City Chiefs news.
N.Y. Giants at Kansas City: September 23, 2001
It isn’t often that a loss makes any top-10 list, but the final score was meaningless in this game. September 23, 2001 was about more than football...
...On this Sunday, the opponent was treated as if it were the home team. Chiefs fans gave Giants players a standing ovation during pre-game introductions and Arrowhead’s familiar "Home of the CHIEFS" was left off the end of the National Anthem.
10 Games in 10 Days: Bigger Than Football from The Mothership
I must say this – it’s the third instance where because of a labor dispute I watched NFL players work on their own. Practices during the 1982 and 1987 strikes were jokes compared to what the players were doing in this practice during the current/2011 lockout. In those previous seasons, players walked off the field at various points and simply sat in the shade. Both of those strikes came during the regular season, so the players initially viewed the downtime as an unexpected vacation. Any motivation to work during the strike quickly disappeared and sessions continued for only a short time.
That wasn’t the case with this 2011 players’ mini-camp.
Make Work... Morning Cup O'Chiefs from Bob Gretz
KC Star Video: CHIEFS | Johnson talks about practice, lockout
The players were in shorts and t-shirts and obviously there was extremely limited physical contact, with no tackling or anything close to that. As ILB Derrick Johnson said, it was a more mental practice than physical.
Here are some of the highlights:
Watching a Lockout Practice from Bob Gretz
Thursday and the two days that preceded it were the product of a kind of leadership that was missing in the Chiefs’ locker room two years ago. Back then, when the Chiefs were trying to rebound from a 2-14 season in 2008, players just tried to get through the days. Two years later, because their quarterback asked them to, they ran around a high school field with no promise of money or that this would even help if there is a 2011 NFL season, because, many of them said, it’s what they are supposed to be doing. "Two, three years ago," veteran safety Jon McGraw said, "we had an extremely young football team. Now those guys have matured; they’re seeing what it takes to be professionals. Having guys that recognize that makes something like this a lot easier." Locked In: Cassel Leads Chiefs Players Through Workouts from KC Star
Swimming, boxing and vigorous workouts in the neighborhood gym had kept Ryan Lilja in good football shape.
He thought.
During three days of light training with about 45 teammates, the veteran right guard of the Kansas City Chiefs discovered his personal conditioning during the NFL lockout may not have been as productive as hoped.
Kansas City Chiefs Players Hold 3-Day Workout, Some Discover They're Not Quite in Shape from The Washington Post
The recent shakeup in Columbus has left interim head coach Luke Fickell with a vacancy on his coaching staff, but it doesn’t sound like Vrabel is ready to give up his spot on the field for a view from the sideline, even for a former teammate and the best man in his wedding.
"No, Luke hasn’t said he wants me on his staff," Vrabel said after showing up to support Fickell during his introductory press conference at Ohio State.
"Luke knows I still have time to play, and I’m traveling to Chicago or New York for meetings with the owners. Luke knows I’ve got a bunch on my plate right now."
Vrabel Not Ready for New Career from The O-Zone