Sound bites: Chiefs take game off a week early
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs apparently decided to get a head start on their bye week, without the courtesy of letting their fans know.
And just when you thought the Chiefs-Falcons game was the worst thing you had ever seen. ...
OK, let’s have a show of hands: How many of you stuck with the Chiefs’ game until the end?
•••
“Can we get this thing over with?”
| Len Dawson, Chiefs Radio Network and KCFX, in the fourth quarter.
“None too soon.”
| Mitch Holthus, Chiefs Radio Network and KCFX.
“This was like trying to run over those tire spikes they set up for criminals. The Chiefs were running with four flat tires. Nothing worked.”
| Holthus
JF: Sometimes, Lenny and Mitch are at their best when the Chiefs are at their worst. They were both clearly disgusted by Sunday’s game, and they didn’t hide their emotions.
•••
“You hate to see this kind of game. It pushes back the program.”
| Holthus
JF: You can lay this one on the coaches. This was a team unprepared. If the program got pushed back, it was because of the programmers.
•••
“I didn’t know it could get any worse. Now I know.”
| Dawson, just after Damon Huard turned the ball over again early in the third quarter.
“What a dizz-aster!”
| Kevin Harlan, CBS play-by-play man, rather emphatically after Huard fumbled starting the third quarter
“We talked about this at the break. There’s something not right about Huard today.”
| Harlan
“We were told (Saturday night) that Huard was not physically at 100 percent.”
| Harlan
“They have to make a change at quarterback.”
| Rich Gannon, CBS game analyst, after Huard turned the ball over again.
“When we sat down with Huard (Saturday night), I didn’t feel the energy with him … they have to make a change.”
| Gannon
“He just stopped the route ... he gave up on the route.”
| Harlan on Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, who stopped running a route, leading to another Huard pick
“Bowe just quit the route.”
| Holthus
JF: There was a lot of quitting on plays throughout Sunday’s game.
•••
“They’re just dominating. Just dominating.”
| Dawson on the Panthers in the first half.
“The Chiefs have a long, long way to go.”
| Holthus, dejectedly, in the first half.
“Two backup offensive tackles for Carolina, and they’re just manhandling the Chiefs. ... not good.”
| Dawson
“The Chiefs need something good to happen.”
| Holthus in the first half.
JF: And just like that, the Chiefs forced a fumble on the next play. But a strange, inadvertent whistle stopped Tank Tyler from a few more yards on the fumble return. That was pretty much the excitement for the day.
“Nice job by Glenn Dorsey knocking the ball out.”
| Gannon
“The Chiefs’ defense gets its first red-zone turnover in 27 games.”
| Harlan
•••
“A 32-yard draw play for a touchdown. A draw play! The Chiefs are just getting blistered on third down.”
| Holthus
JF: That has been the problem for the Chiefs through five games. Gunther Cunningham has not devised a scheme to get the Chiefs off the field on third downs, no matter what the distance. And many of the third-down conversions are long-yardage ones.
•••
“They’ve got to throw the ball on first down. When (the Panthers) line up eight or nine guys on the line, they’re telling you ‘Hey, you’re not running the ball.’ ”
| Dawson, rather disgustedly, on the Chiefs’ predictable play-calling
JF: First down has been the problem for the Chiefs’ offense. Gunther’s counterpart, Chan Gailey, has been mystified as to what to call on first down and, most often, calls for off-tackle running plays that always put the Chiefs in second-and-long situations.
•••
“You just see a bunch of the guys in red jerseys just standing around.”
| Gannon, on the Chiefs in the second half
To reach Jeffrey Flanagan, call 816-234-4492 and leave a message or send e-mail to jflanagan@kcstar.com
