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CHARLES PUSHES FORWARD
October 6th – 4:32 PM

Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles has no choice but to charge forward. He’s well aware of the consequences associated with coughing up the football. His fumble on the game’s opening kickoff on Sunday allowed the N.Y. Giants to push their league-leading 38 points off opponent turnovers to 45. One fumble of the football and Kansas City burned through an offensive possession, down 7-0 on the scoreboard without taking an offensive snap.

“Jamaal was very remorseful about it,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said. “He told his teammates that and we’ve just got to move forward.“

Charles was remorseful indeed, apologizing publicly to his teammates via the media. I’m sure he was just as apologetic on the sidelines in person following the play as well. What is done is done, it is what it is. Charles knows that he can’t afford very many more coughs.

On the day following the fumble, Charles didn’t get a vow of confidence from Haley, who refused to comment on Charles’ future as the Chiefs primary return man or third-down running back.

“We’ll have to see where we’re at personnel-wise,” Haley said. “We just went through the game as a staff and we’ll talk about that as the week progresses. But starting the game that way hurts morale – hurts like a dagger in your abdomen. Not any way you want to start a game and especially since it wasn’t a big hit or a great play by a defensive player. I feel like we kind of served it up for them and we can’t do it.“

But what Haley didn’t say, he showed on game day. Just five plays after the fumble, Charles was back deep ready to field another kickoff. He hadn’t been yanked, he had been challenged to overcome. It was sink or swim time. One play later, the football was back in his hands again. This time it was a rush around the left end out of the Wildcat formation. Charles had officially been thrown back into the fire, feast or famine.

It would have been easy for Haley to point a finger at Charles, scold him send him into bleacher-seat oblivion for the remaining 59 minutes of play. That choice, however, would have been a shortsighted one. The Chiefs need Jamaal Charles to be successful. He brings an element to the Chiefs that this team lacks - electrifying, game-breaking speed and the ability to beat anyone on the field in space. Charles is a player that Kansas City will utilize unless the player leaves them with no other option.

Charles has already been inactive once this season, meaning his performance on the field has left his coaching staff searching for some sort of a push from the player. The last thing the Chiefs need is for a potential game changing player to start becoming tentative due to fumbling the rock.

Practice makes perfect. Charles has had fumbled issues in the past dating all the way back to his days at the University of Texas. His Wikipedia page even references a story about Charles’ fumble in the 2007 Red River Shootout against Oklahoma. Just as the staff runs Charles through “the gauntlet” and other ball security drills, they will also need to work on restoring Charles’ confidence in himself carrying the football. Even though it wasn’t verbally, Haley has already taken the first step.

CHIEFS/COWBOYS INJURY NEWS
October 6th – 1:28 PM

As the Chiefs charge forward into the week ahead, they already have an advantage over the Cowboys along the injury front.

The walking wounded for the Chiefs include WR Dwayne Bowe (hamstring), LB Derrick Johnson (groin) and LB Corey Mays (leg). Both Bowe and Johnson played (see post on DJ below) and Mays returned to action after injuring his leg in the second quarter.

The Cowboys, however, aren’t so clean.

The status of Dallas’ top receiver, WR Roy Williams, is uncertain after Williams injured three ribs after being “hit harder than I ever have in my life,” by Denver LB D.J. Williams. Feature back Marion Barber was limited in the second half of Sunday’s game when his left quad tightened up after halftime. Barber had already missed time due to that injury that was originally suffered vs. the N.Y. Giants in Week 2.

Cowboys S Gerald Sensabaugh won’t play this weekend after breaking his right thumb at Denver and starting center Andre Gurode underwent an MRI on his right knee Monday after injuring his MCL against the Broncos. Gurode’s playing status is uncertain.

At this point in the season, most teams begin to battle numerous injury issues. The Chiefs have certainly had key players miss game action (Cassel, Bowe, Flowers and D. Johnson), but have been fortunate that the injury bug hasn’t bitten in bunches at the same time.

O’CALLAGHAN TO STAY
October 6th – 11:22 AM

Chiefs head coach Todd Haley is a difficult man to please. The Chiefs have the NFL’s leading punter through the first month of the season and even Dustin Colquitt’s league-leading 44.5 net yards per kick have left Haley pushing for more.

“He needs to be better too,” Haley smirked. “A couple of those weren’t so pretty yesterday.“

The fact that Haley is demanding more from the NFL’s best

“Our right tackle yesterday, Ryan (O’Callagahn) was a bright spot,” Haley said. “I kind of like that guy. He competed and going against some pretty good competition. He showed some signs that he might want to stick around.“

The Chiefs are looking for stability at the right tackle position. Four different players have been listed as the club’s starting right tackle since training camp opened – Damion McIntosh, Barry Richardson, Ikechuku Ndukwe and O’Callaghan. Two of those players are no longer on the active roster.

With a front five still struggling to get on the same page four games into the season, a steady starter at what has been an unsteady position would be most beneficial. As of now, it looks like O’Callaghan has staying power.

THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOSING AND LAYING DOWN
October 6th – 7:23 AM

There is a difference between getting beat and lying down. The Chiefs got beat on Sunday. They got beat physically, mentally and athletically. There isn’t much to sugar coat that has taken place over the course of the past two weeks. The Chiefs have to get better.

“These are difficult times,” Haley said. “It’s rough. No one said it’s going to be easy.”

There are issues with this football team; that much is obvious. An 0-4 record doesn’t shield much from debate regardless of the level of competition. Sure, there are personnel and performance issues, third down conversions have been non-existent the past two weeks and consistency tune-ups are needed on both sides of the football. But be certain of one thing - There are no PRIDE issues plaguing the Kansas City Chiefs.

We’re just four games into the Todd Haley era and the club’s first-year head coach is already fielding questions about potentially losing the team, and as to whether this team is about to implode. Really?

There is a big difference between simply losing a game and losing game without caring. If the hurt stops, that’s when you have a problem. There is no lack of hurt inside this locker room. Football players are a prideful bunch and this group is no exception. Yeah, the losses take a toll on these players just as they do on the fans.

This team may need a dose of confidence, but they certainly don’t require a heart transplant.

“I know from past history of we can get something positive to happen and start to get a little confidence and go forward that way that’s our only chance of success,” Haley said. “If we think about what happened in the past and get caught up in it and compare it to other times…we’re right now in this day and time. We’ve got to stay in the present tense and try to get better while at the same time building the core of our franchise and what it’s going to be with the types of players we want to have and the types we’re going to win a lot of games with.”

You can’t look back because it hurts when you’re winless. You can’t look forward because, quite frankly, who would you look past? That’s why you live in the now. If you stop caring about the present, then you have a major problem on your hands; one that is uncorrectable. The Chiefs are far, far away from that. Fortunately, the Chiefs issues are all correctable. Unfortunately, they have a bundle to sort through.

“You can’t look ahead in the NFL,” TE Sean Ryan said. “If you do, it’s not smart. It’s a challenge for all of us and we need to meet the challenge.”

This coaching staff and locker room aren’t blind to what has happened over the past two weeks, but they’re not going to dwell on it and feel sorry for themselves either. Breaking out of a two-year tailspin is a difficult task.

“All I know is I coach the way that I coach and we’re going to continue to stay the course,” Haley said. “We’ll continue to try to have better and better practices, we’re going to continue to try to get that to carry over into the game.

“That’s all we can do, Haley continued. “That’s all we can control. We’ve got to continue trying to be a smart football team, eliminating dumb penalties or turnovers. We need to be a better coaching staff and more efficient so we don’t burn timeouts like we did late in the game. We need to be more efficient with personnel going in and out of the game. We need to do a lot of things.”

Kansas City (as a whole) also needs a win. Winning sure does seem to cure a lot of things.

PHANTOM DJ
October 5th – 5:31 PM

Where ‘o where has Derrick Johnson gone? That’s been the most common question to appear on the Chiefs 365 message boards, submitted via Twitter and phoned in on the Chiefs call-in show (LIVE on kcchiefs.com tomorrow at 12:00 Noon CST). What’s the deal? Why is Derrick Johnson not seeing more time on this defensive unit?

Johnson has appeared in just 46 defensive plays this season, spanning over the course of three games (15.33 plays per game). The former first-round pick moved permanently into an inside linebacker post this offseason when the Chiefs transformed into a 3-4 defensive scheme. After beginning training camp as the club’s starter, Johnson slowly found his way sliding down the Chiefs pecking order and was challenged by his head coach to be a more consistent performer.

Johnson eventually found himself listed as a third-teamer, playing behind starter Demorrio Williams and back-up Monty Beisel (although it should be noted that Johnson played in more overall plays than Beisel). It has been a tough overall stretch for Johnson since the final week of training camp in River Falls, but DJ has kept his head down, his mouth shut and quietly gone to work.

In the Baltimore game, Johnson made his case for more playing time with his on-field play. Johnson turned in a 70-yard INT that set-up a Chiefs score which ultimately gave Kansas City a 14-10 lead at the time. He followed that up that performance with a sack vs. Oakland. His efforts awarded him a move up the depth chart and eventually Beisel was released. Things had begun to change for DJ after a slow start to the preseason.

Just when it seemed Johnson had worked his way back into the regular playing rotation, DJ caught a bad break. A groin injury suffered vs. Oakland tightened up wouldn’t go away. The injury caused him to miss the game in Philadelphia and ultimately slowed him down heading into Giants week. Johnson could be seen trying to keep his groin warm throughout the week in practice and on the sidelines this past Sunday as well.

“We had a plan for Derrick,” Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said this afternoon. “We ran the plan and it ended up not being a lot of plays, more because of the type of game we were in.”

Johnson logged just 10 defensive snaps vs. New York, with most of those plays coming in the fourth quarter. From the Haley’s comments, it sounds as if the Chiefs had a plan to limit Johnson’s plays to specific defensive packages while DJ continues to rehab the groin injury that has slowed his progression.

“We need him healthy,” Haley said. “We need him at full speed and we need him playing at a high level.”

Expect to see more of Johnson as his health continues to improve. Within a limited role, Johnson has been one of Kansas City’s biggest defensive playmakers - at times. Getting back to full speed and showing consistent play in both practice and game situations will ultimately remove the phantom status from #56.