Chiefs assistant coaches praise Royals’ World Series run

The Royals aren’t the only professional team in Kansas City with players — and coaches — who know what it’s like to come up just short of the mountaintop.

Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub knows the feeling well. Toub was a part of a Chicago Bears team that lost in the Super Bowl in 2007.

“You never get over that,” Toub said. “Really, it’s probably a good thing, because it stays with you. You know the next time you go, you’ve got to win the thing. It’s more than just getting to the Super Bowl, you’ve got to win it.”

Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, who was a member of the 1997 Super Bowl-champion Green Bay Packers, said he was living vicariously through the Royals on Wednesday, when they dropped game seven of the World Series to the San Francisco Giants by a 3-2 margin.

“I was on the edge of my seat the whole night,” Pederson said. “What a tremendous series. Gosh, it’s a tough way to lose, but hats off to the Giants. They played a great series as well.

“For a team that was obviously an underdog to win to do what (the Royals) did, the runs, the hits and the way they came back in that game six, I thought in my mind there was no doubt they were going to take the series and get game seven.”

Defensive coordinator Bob Sutton has never been to the Super Bowl, but he said the Chiefs’ neighbors have plenty to be proud of.

“I don’t know much about it, but it just appears to be, they have a great team, they seem to be very close together and they’ve got that dynamic thing that happens when you have confidence,” Sutton said. “That’s some kind of electrifying force that goes through your whole organization and when you have you know it. It’s a force multiplier. It allows you to do things you can’t normally. I think they’ve demonstrated that.

“When you go down to the seventh game to the last inning and you’ve got a guy on third base 90 feet from tying it up ... it’s unfortunate that somebody’s got to lose. That’s the risk you take every time you go out there. I think they did a great job, and to me it’s inspiring for everybody.”

Toub agreed.

“I felt bad for those guys; I was with them, our whole team was,” Toub said. “I think a lot of our players were talking about it; they went to the game last night.”

Injury report

Outside linebacker Josh Martin and cornerback Jamell Fleming missed practice for the second straight day Thursday due to hamstring injuries.

Cornerback Chris Owens (knee) and Eric Berry (high-ankle sprain) were limited in practice for the second straight day. Tight end Travis Kelce (rib) went from being a limited participant Wednesday to a full participant Thursday. Receiver Donnie Avery (groin) has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Chiefs assistant coaches praise Royals’ World Series run."