Chiefs Have Not Crashed & Burned

Aug 05, 2008, 6:13:16 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

RIVER FALLS, WI – I was ready to put on my life jacket.

I don’t know about you, but after spending the weekend hearing and reading these dire predictions for the immediate future of the Chiefs, I figured the ship was about to go down. The S.S. Herm was taking on water and any minute, it was going to slide into the NFL ocean. The only thing left would be the bubbles rising to the top and the faint cries of lost souls.

That was the reaction of some pundits and fans to the news that both of the team’s first-round draft choices – Glenn Dorsey and Branden Albert – were injured and sidelined. Dorsey with a knee and Albert with a foot seemed to be the biggest injuries in the49-year history of the franchise.

The season was over before it began, was how one e-mailer described it to me. One sportswriter who should know better wrote “it’s devastating.” Others were already eliminating the need to pay any attention to a team that was unlikely to do anything but lose because of these injuries.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the premature end of the Chiefs season. Those players who could work went out on Monday and put together the best back-to-back practices of training camp. So intense was the action in the afternoon session – without full pads – that Herm Edwards is going to back off a bit on the practice work in the next few days.

That should tell you something right there about the status of this Chiefs football team. They aren’t going down, and if they do, they aren’t going down without a fight.

Listen, the injuries that will keep Dorsey out about 10 days and Albert for probably the next month were not helpful. But they are not devastating, they have not ruined the season and they have not put the Chiefs in a position where they must hope the rest of the league takes pity on them.

It’s a funny thing about football; players get hurt. It happens every day, to every one of the 32 teams that make up the NFL. These injuries might have been devastating had they ended the season for both players, but that’s not the case. At the minimum, Dorsey should get two pre-season games in before regular season opener. Albert may not get any practice games and may in fact miss the regular season opener. But if he does, there are 15 games after that.

There’s no question that injuries can damage a team and its chances for success. When Larry Johnson went down with his foot injury last year, the Chiefs did not win another game. Now that’s devastating. But come on, two guys who have never played a game in the NFL go down for a few weeks and the season is ruined? That’s ridiculous.

One of the key things that any coach and thus any team must learn how to do is manage injuries. There’s no escaping the fact that players get hurt and miss time. It’s the nature of the beast. The successful teams are the ones that don’t allow the injuries to sink them. Every injury is an opportunity for another player to get on the field. Just ask Tank Tyler and Herb Taylor. They are playing for Dorsey and Albert.

And guess what: nobody died because those two guys moved in with the first units. In fact, they both did pretty decent jobs and will continue to get those opportunities. So will others. One man’s devastation is another man’s opportunity. From the start, this camp was about opportunity. All these injuries do is provide others with a chance to show what talents they may provide the 2008 Chiefs. Do they make things tougher on the team? Maybe. But from the start there was nothing about this season that was going to be easy for the Chiefs.

Put the life vests away. No matter what you might read or hear, Herm and his team have not raised the white flag. They are simply continuing to go about the business of getting ready for the season.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.