JACKSONVILLE, Fla. | It took eight games and countless wide-receiver combinations, but the Chiefs finally hit on one that worked in Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the Jaguars.
The most recent additions to the group, Chris Chambers and Lance Long, led the way. Chambers, who joined the Chiefs only last week, scored two touchdowns — both in the last 3 minutes of the game.
Long, promoted last month from the practice squad, was the game’s leader in catches with eight. He also cost the Chiefs when he failed to get out of bounds to stop the clock when they were trying to get into field-goal range late in the first half.
The Chiefs had to settle for a 56-yard attempt by Ryan Succop that fell short.
“It was a bad play by me,” Long said. “I thought we had two timeouts. I should have stepped out of bounds. I was getting greedy, trying to get more yardage. I just wasn’t thinking.”
Otherwise, the Chiefs were pleased with both players. Chambers joined Dwayne Bowe in the starting lineup, though Mark Bradley got some snaps in Chambers’ place. Long played as the slot receiver when the Chiefs went with three wide receivers.
Bobby Wade, who had been second on the Chiefs behind Bowe in catches, was a surprise inactive.
Todd Haley, a former wide receivers coach, said it was “overrated” to have a receiver spend a lot of time practicing with a quarterback.
That at least appeared to be true Sunday in the case of quarterback Matt Cassel, Chambers and Long.
Chambers only started practicing with the Chiefs on Wednesday.
“He had a tough week trying to get up to speed,” Haley said. “There were some situations out there we were forcing him into, situations where we weren’t being fair to him.”
Chambers didn’t seem to mind. He got behind the Jacksonville defense for a 54-yard touchdown pass and moments later hauled in a 5-yard scoring toss.
“I’ve had 11 or 12 quarterbacks in my career, so I’ve always had to develop on the run with guys,” Chambers said.
“I have a lot of experience — and definitely a lot of experience with new quarterbacks. Matt has a ton of talent. You can see him maturing and growing. It will take awhile before he hits his peak. We didn’t get a lot of reps together but we were able to make plays when we did. We ran that play we scored (the first) touchdown on and it came open the exact same way.”
Long has slightly more experience with Cassel than Chambers. Long joined the Chiefs on their practice squad in September and played in his first game in their previous game against San Diego.
“Last game I was feeling comfortable and this week a little more comfortable,” Long said. “I really started to relax and just play (naturally).
“There hasn’t been a lot of work with Matt, but it’s not really hard. As long as you’re coached to do the right thing, if you do what you’re supposed to do, the chemistry doesn’t really need to be there. If I’m supposed to be in a certain spot and Matt is expecting me to be in a certain spot, then the chemistry is there.”
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