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RAIDERS RULE OUT THREE
November 13th – 3:14 PM

Three Raiders have been ruled out for Sunday’s game - LB Ricky Brown (ankle), WR Nick Miller (shin) and WR Javon Walker (hamstring).

The Raiders also listed DE Greg Ellis (knee/shoulder) as questionable. All other players on Oakland’s injury report, including RB Darren McFadden (knee) and G Robert Gallery (fibula), are listed as probable for Sunday.

GILBERRY GAINS ATTENTION
November 13th – 1:25 PM

Chiefs fans seem to have taken a liking for DE Wallace Gilberry (especially on the Chiefs 365 Message Boards). Really, what’s not to like about Gilberry? He’s always playing with a high motor, has performed at a high level when asked to contribute and is a bit of an underdog.

I distinctly remember sending out a tweet during training camp that Gilberry had scooped up a loose football, and gone 50-plus yards for a defensive score during the Chiefs annual Saturday scrimmage. The replies came almost immediately…who? Is he a rookie?

Gilberry has come a long way since that humid day in early August. First, he made the football team. Second, he excelled when asked to play a limited role behind DEs Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson. Third, as a result of two, Chiefs fans began to take notice. Wallace Gilberry was no longer an invisible man.

”I think Wallace has really come a long way in our minds and probably in his mind,” Haley said today. ”He’s probably not the prototypical size for the defense. He could have easily gotten lost in the shuffle but what he’s done is come to practice every day.“

At 6-2, 268 pounds, Gilberry is certainly an undersized defensive end by NFL standards. Gilberry’s stature, however, hasn’t been the only uphill battle to climb. He was a long shot to make an NFL roster after going undrafted in 2008, following a standout college career at Alabama. Obviously, his size played a role in that. In fact, Gilberry produced at such a high level in college that he left Alabama as that historic football program’s second leading tackler behind the line of scrimmage (60.5 tackles for loss). Only one man logged more tackles behind the line for the Crimson Tide - LB Derrick Thomas (74.0).

Gilberry got an invite to training camp with the Giants in 2008 and, as expected from a rookie free agent, was released. He did end up signing onto the Giants practice squad though. But on November 5th of last year, Gilberry got his professional “break.” That’s when Kansas City plucked him from the Giants practice squad and signed him to the Chiefs active roster.

During the second half of last year, Gilberry was essentially anonymous for the club. He got into five games and recorded two tackles. His performance with Kansas City was a start, but it certainly didn’t spell job security with a new head coach coming into town. He obviously had to prove himself all over again.

There was a lot to like from Gilberry’s training camp performance in River Falls this summer. On the field, Gilberry pitched in as well with a preseason sack as well. But it wasn’t the TD return in camp or the sack during the preseason that Haley took notice of the most. What Haley noticed was simply how Gilberry came prepared each day to work.

“He’s the epitome of the same guy every day,” Haley said. ”There is no up and down to him, he’s giving it everything he has and he’s getting better.“

We heard Haley utter the now infamous phrase, “Yo-Yo Player,” on a number of occasions throughout the preseason. Gilberry obviously didn’t fall into that category. That, without a doubt, was a good thing for Gilberry.

Since making the team, Gilberry has served a number of roles up front for the Chiefs defense. He’s played as many as 40 snaps and as few as zero plays on defense over the course of games this season. But the role he has continued to serve is one of reliability. In his limited role, Gilberry has the second-most tackles among Chiefs defensive linemen and leads the team with three sacks.

Let’s say that one more time just to be clear. Wallace Gilberry leads the Chiefs with three sacks. This is a guy who is certainly outperforming the perceived role, if any, that the majority of people thought he would fall into before the season began.

“He’s playing with better technique so I think he’s come a long way and put himself in the mix as a player we can depend on,” Haley said.  “I think he’s got to continue to work on all areas of his game and continue to play with that motor and energy that gives him an edge.“

He’s also being tutored daily by another perceived underdog, Anthony Pleasant. Although he was a third-round pick in 1990, Pleasant was still thought to be undersized. He ended up being an “undersized defensive lineman” in the NFL for the next 14 seasons. Not a bad guy to learn from.

Gilberry may play a handful of snaps on Sunday, or he may not play at all. One thing we can all be certain about is that #92 will be ready to go if/when his number is called.

HERRON A SCRATCH FOR SUNDAY
November 13th – 12:55 PM

LB David Herron may not be a household name among Chiefs fans, but he’s played an important role with Kansas City’s special teams units since signing with the team on September 30th. Herron injured his knee while covering on special teams last weekend in Jacksonville, an injury that will sideline him this weekend in Oakland.

“He’s done a good job for us,” Haley said of Herron. “That will definitely be a dent. We signed LB Justin Rogers, who has been a pretty good special teamer and we’re going to have to make a decision as to who most likely will fill that role.“

Rogers is, overwhelmingly, the leading candidate to be active in Herron’s place this Sunday in Oakland. The only linebacker not active last Sunday was rookie free agent Pierre Walters. Rogers, however, was not on the active roster at that time.

All other Chiefs are listed as probable.

FRIDAY PRACTICE REPORT
November 13th – 10:57 AM

The Chiefs practiced indoors today despite the gorgeous Kansas City weather. LB David Herron (knee) was once again on the stationary bikes today and, considering he hasn’t left the bikes all week, doesn’t look like he’ll play this Sunday. He was the only Chief on the injury report to be held out today.

LB Mike Vrabel (hip), who had been limited in practice throughout the week, participated in all early drills. He still had a bit of a hiccup in his step, but he was moving much better throughout today’s early portion of practice.

For the many fans interested in handicapping which five receivers will be active on Sunday, and which receiver will be inactive…this is how the Chiefs lined up to open passing routes. Chambers, Long, Pope and Bowe. Really, it doesn’t give us much new insight other than the fact that Long appears to be holding on to that slot position despite yesterday’s comments about Long’s Sunday mistake brought up by Todd Haley.

QUICK COMFORT
November 13th – 6:08 AM

After Sunday’s game in Jacksonville, Chiefs head coach Todd Haley said that a tenured quarterback-wide receiver relationship was “overrated.” Case in point was the fact that WR Chris Chambers turned in a two-touchdown performance that afternoon, despite being with the club just five days. Fair enough.

Yesterday, however, Haley backed off of that statement a bit. He indicated that the relationship is indeed important, and that his sarcastic post-game comments matched that of his mood following the 24-21 loss in Jacksonville.

“Because we picked a guy up off the street (Chambers) and hit him for two touchdowns,” Haley said of his rationale by saying such a relationship was overrated. “I was kind of making a sarcastic comment in the mood that I was in.”

Obviously, that relationship is important. Just look at previous quarterback/receiver combinations around the league like Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. But as Chambers and QB Matt Cassel demonstrated last Sunday, that relationship isn’t THE most important thing.

“We try to accelerate the learning curve with a guy like WR (Chris) Chambers who just came in last week,” Cassel said. “I’ve watched some film on him, I know that he’s a good player and he does certain things well, and maybe certain routes that you don’t throw as much to him.”

That’s correct. Cassel said that he actually watched San Diego offensive game film to familiarize himself with Chambers’ skill set.

“Just watched him a little bit throughout the course of the last year, you know he played for San Diego so it was really easy to get that film and watch some of the things he did in route running and how he caught the ball in certain situations,” Cassel explained.

One week later, Cassel has been able to put the Charger game tape away. He has now worked with Chambers in a live game setting and gets to move forward with their relationship each day at practice.

“I think with time you start to realize what somebody does well, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what routes you like them on, what you don’t,” Cassel said.

There were times on Sunday when Chambers needed a bit of an on-field refresher as to exactly which route to run. Coming from a numbers system in San Diego, a transfer in terminology can fog the translation.

“I’m a lot more comfortable, and I think I know the offense now,” Chambers laughed. “The guys did a good job with the game plan in helping me know exactly what to do on the field.

“For the most part it’s just football,” Chambers continued. “We all played the game, but I have a lot of experience in kind of jumping in and playing around. The experience that I have with playing with different quarterbacks over the last nine years makes it a little bit easier for me.”

Chambers isn’t the first Chiefs receiver to successfully make a quick impact with the club. In the last matchup against Oakland, WR Bobby Wade led the Chiefs in receiving by turning in a six-catch, 72-yard performance just days after joining the team. Wade currently ranks second among the Chiefs receivers in both receptions and yards.

Another quick learner has been WR Lance Long. After joining the Chiefs practice squad on September 16th, Long put in his work at practice before getting a call up to the “bigs” a day before the San Diego game (10/25). Long, however, had the advantage of already knowing Haley’s offensive playbook from his time with the Chiefs head coach in Arizona.

“It was a huge advantage,” Long said. “I’d say about 80-85 percent of it I was already familiar with.”

Just like Chambers and Wade, Long also impressed in his Chiefs debut. He had a pair of catches against the Chargers and came up just inches shy of what would have been the team’s most impressive catch of the year on a diving play in the end zone. He ended up exiting that game early after getting a little loopy following a meeting with LB Tim Robbins on a crossing route over the middle. Long got another opportunity in Jacksonville last Sunday and ended up leading the team with eight receptions.

“Well there’s a reason why he’s on the field on Sunday,” Cassel said of Long. “Obviously the coaches noticed something and noticed that he had a spark and he’s definitely got a great skill-set and a great skill level. He came out Sunday, he prepares hard, he works hard, he’s diligent about what he does, and he came out and he performed. Anytime he gets open and I’m able to get him the ball, that’s a good thing.”

Not a bad first impression made from a player who owns just three games of NFL experience (one with Arizona, two with Kansas City). Cassel was so impressed by Long last weekend, he just couldn’t help but go on about the first-year pro who spent his entire rookie season on Arizona’s practice squad.

“He’s a great slot receiver,” Cassel said. “He’s got tremendous quickness, he gets in and out of his breaks well, he catches the ball, he’s a tough guy – he’s not afraid to lay in a block on a linebacker or a safety. He’s a great player and he’s been helping us, there’s no doubt about that.”

Cassel knows a bit about what a great slot receiver looks like. He did, after all, play with WR Wes Welker in New England. Welker was on the receiving end of 111 footballs last year for the Patriots – just one short of his career-high 112 in 2007 when working under a full season with QB Tom Brady.

“You know, he’s got a similar mentality in that he’s a bulldog,” Cassel remarked with comparing Long’s attributes with Welker’s. “He just goes out there and he works hard. Like I said, he’s a guy that you really do want to see in the slot in terms of his quickness and how he goes about his business. There are definitely some resemblances between Welker and Lance.”

With eight catches in his first full game of duty out of the slot and Cassel drawing comparisons to his favorite target in New England, could we be seeing the beginning of Cassel’s new favorite receiving target? It’s obviously still way too early to tell.

One thing that isn’t too early to tell, however, is Cassel’s ability to connect with receivers despite short acclimation periods. There have been three such cases to study already in 2009.