Surviving the Bad Times

Oct 10, 2008, 9:49:09 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

In four seasons at Louisiana State University, Glenn Dorsey was on the losing side nine times in 52 games as part of the Bayou Bengals. In three seasons at the University of Texas, Jamaal Charles walked off the field disappointed six times in 39 games with the Longhorns. While part of the program at Virginia Tech, Brandon Flowers saw the Hokies lose 11 of 53 games.

And, at Grand Valley State, Brandon Carr tasted defeat four times in 54 games with the Lakers.

Carr was part of two national championship teams on the Division II level. Dorsey and Charles both were part of teams that won national championships at the Division I level.

Now, they are all rookies playing for the Chiefs and there are no national championships on the immediate horizon. No division titles. No playoffs. Right now, they would settle for some victories. Already in just the first five games of his pro career, Carr has been on the losing side as many times as he was in four years of college.

Dorsey, Charles and Flowers hope they don’t join him any time soon.

The Chiefs 2008 class from the NFL Draft is showing their talent on the field. Of the dozen players selected back in April, 10 are on the active roster, nine are getting regular playing time and four are starters.

They are dealing with many issues during their transition to the NFL. For most of these guys, one of toughest issues is dealing with losing.

“When you evaluate players coming out of college, you look at their individual talents,” said head coach Herm Edwards. “But we pay attention to what type of program they are coming from. We like guys that have been part of a successful team.”

Winning and doing the things necessary to achieve success are a habit, whether individually or collectively. Most of these rookies have come from programs that are habitual winners.

But just as winning and success are habits, so to can losing and failure become a habit. The Chiefs are coming off a 4-12 season. They are now 1-4. One of the tasks on the head coach’s to do list is dealing with the psyche of his rookies and making sure their frustration with defeat doesn’t get in the way of their improvement.

“They just need to improve and not get caught up in all the other stuff,” Edwards said. “The record, the winning will take care of itself. To get there, they need to work hard every day to get better, to understand the game more, to elevate themselves to the point where they can have an effect on the outcome of games.

“The message I keep preaching to them is not to get distracted. Keep working. Develop some consistency. As a team, that’s our problem right now, we are not consistent in what we do. We’ve shown what we can do, but we can’t produce that every time.

“I just keep in their ear about being a better player this week than they were last week. Improving in one little thing that we picked out for this week. If they just worry about doing that, then they’ll get better. They’ll become a more consistent player and we’ll become a more consistent team.

“Collectively, if every one of our guys, not just the rookies but every one of them, does that, then we’ll become consistent and that will lead to success.”

Is Herm Edwards worried about the losing become a habit for these young players, who are the foundation blocks for the franchise’s rebuilding effort?

“If you are around these guys every day and you see how they work, you see the effort they put into getting better, then you don’t worry about that,” said Edwards. “It’s when guys suddenly have all the answers, when they start thinking they can do somebody else’s job better and they forget about their own job, that’s when you worry.

“Do your job. These young guys understand that.”

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

---

A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.