11-TIME PRO BOWL G WILL SHIELDS NAMED KANSAS CITY'S 2005 ED BLOCK COURAGE AWARD WINNER

Jan 25, 2006, 8:55:04 AM

Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Wednesday that G Will Shields is the recipient of the club’s 2005 Ed Block Courage Award. Dating back to ‘83, the Ed Block Courage Award has annually honored one player from every NFL team who exemplifies commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage.

Named in honor of longtime Colts athletic trainer Ed Block, recipients of the award are selected by a vote of their teammates. Shields and the NFL’s other 31 Ed Block Courage Award winners will be honored at the annual Courage Award Banquet in Baltimore on March 7, 2006.

Shields is unquestionably the top ironman in Chiefs history, starting a franchise-record 207 consecutive games dating back to the second game of his rookie season in ‘93. Those 207 straight starts represent the second-longest active streak in the NFL, trailing only Green Bay QB Brett Favre (221). Since the AFL-NFL merger in ‘70, only OL Bruce Matthews (229) and Favre (221) have made more consecutive starts than Shields. The University of Nebraska product has also appeared in 208 games, ranking second in Chiefs history.

In 2005, Shields helped anchor a Chiefs squad that led the NFL in total offense for a second consecutive season, averaging an impressive 387.0 yards per game. In the process, Shields was voted to his 11th consecutive Pro Bowl, giving him the most total Pro Bowl appearances of any player in Kansas City history.

While Shields continued to rack up mile after mile on his NFL odometer, he also helped pave the way for one of the most remarkable stretches by a running back in NFL history. Thanks to the efforts of Shields and the rest of the Chiefs offensive line, RB Larry Johnson went on a rushing rampage during the second half of the 2005 campaign, topping the 100-yard rushing mark in each of the season’s final nine contests and finishing the season with a franchise-record 1,750 rushing yards, as well as 20 rushing TDs.

The 2003 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award winner, Shields was a three-time All-Big Eight choice and a two-time All-America pick playing under Tom Osborne at Nebraska. As a senior Shields won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman. He became the first player from the state of Oklahoma to play for the Cornhuskers after an outstanding career at Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma.