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It's 'the playoffs now' for Chiefs, others in AFC
If playoffs began today, KC would be No. 5 seed in the conference
By Tully Corcoran
The Capital-Journal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After the Chiefs beat Denver on Thursday, someone asked Jared Allen if it felt like a playoff game.
Allen had no idea.
"I've never played in the playoffs," he said.
It's true Allen, a 2004 draft pick, has never tasted the playoffs. Not technically, anyway. But Chiefs cornerback Lenny Walls, a playoff veteran from his days in Denver, isn't splitting hairs.
"I tell the (defensive backs) this is the playoffs now," said Walls, who started one playoff game for Denver in 2003.
For practical purposes, Walls is right.
With five games left, the Chiefs are locked in a tight wild card race with Denver (7-4), Jacksonville (6-5), Cincinnati (6-5) and the New York Jets (6-5). Buffalo and Miami are both two games behind the Chiefs, who trail AFC West leader San Diego by two games.
Kansas City, which would be the AFC's No. 5 seed if the playoffs began today, has games remaining with San Diego (9-2), Jacksonville, Baltimore (9-2) and Oakland (2-9).
But first comes a road trip to Cleveland to play the bickering Browns (3-8).
Eleven wins would all but guarantee the Chiefs a playoff spot. Ten wins would likely put the Chiefs in the postseason, thanks to (as it stands now) a divisional record superior to Denver's.
"We're going to play some good teams down the road," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "We're going to play two division leaders down the road in San Diego and Baltimore, which is good. You find out what kind of team you are. This first one is this one though. We've got enough trouble with Cleveland right now."
The Chiefs have reason to feel good about their chances.
Kansas City is a team with no glaring weaknesses, a team that excels in the run game and against the run, an Edwards philosophy that the Chiefs have quickly adopted, and one that typically succeeds late in the year and in the playoffs.
"It's a short race to get there," guard Brian Waters said. "And I feel good about where we are."
Walls does, too. He sees some parallels between the playoff teams he played for in Denver and this year's Chiefs team.
"All playoff teams there's a similar mentality," Walls said. "Good teams, there's a lot of fight, a lot of will to win. We won a lot of tight games this year, that's the same way we were a few times in Denver."
Solid defense is another component.
"The defense has been playing well," Walls said. "The last couple games we've been holding guys under 14 points a game and we've just got to continue to do that and put the offense in good field position.
"Then they'll capitalize and we'll see how far we can take this thing."
Though the Chiefs are taking the old win-the-next-one approach, the playoff race is hard to ignore.
"I think they understand where we're at, unless you're from a different planet," Edwards said. "You know where we're sitting. We're sitting in the same place they sat last year: 7-4.
"They were able to get 10 wins and three of them were at home, and the ones they lost were on the road. So, we start off now with a road game. We'll see how we fare."
Priest's season over
With all the suspense of a Harlem Globetrotters game, Chiefs president-general manager Carl Peterson announced Tuesday that Priest Holmes' season is over.
The record-setting running back, who played just the first seven games of last season before sustaining a season-ending neck injury, will finish the season where he began it, on the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list.
The intrigue is that, according to Peterson, Holmes wants to play next season.
"I would like to emphasize that Priest indicated to me that he does not, at this point, plan to give up football in any sense," Peterson said. "We're looking for another evaluation in January or early February of '07. Based on that, there is a very good possibility he will continue his football career."
Peterson said Holmes' recent medical evaluations had been encouraging and that the Chiefs, who have Holmes, 33, signed through the 2009 season, would welcome his return.
"Ultimately this is Priest's decision, but Priest and I had a lot of discussions as well as (agent) Todd France," Peterson said. "At this point we're 12 weeks into the regular season and I think Priest's thought was perhaps there was not enough time for him to get ready to play for the remainder of the season in a fashion he wanted. That went into this decision."
The Chiefs also placed cornerback William Bartee on reserve/PUP.
http://cjonline.com/stories/112906/chi_playoffs.shtml
If playoffs began today, KC would be No. 5 seed in the conference
By Tully Corcoran
The Capital-Journal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After the Chiefs beat Denver on Thursday, someone asked Jared Allen if it felt like a playoff game.
Allen had no idea.
"I've never played in the playoffs," he said.
It's true Allen, a 2004 draft pick, has never tasted the playoffs. Not technically, anyway. But Chiefs cornerback Lenny Walls, a playoff veteran from his days in Denver, isn't splitting hairs.
"I tell the (defensive backs) this is the playoffs now," said Walls, who started one playoff game for Denver in 2003.
For practical purposes, Walls is right.
With five games left, the Chiefs are locked in a tight wild card race with Denver (7-4), Jacksonville (6-5), Cincinnati (6-5) and the New York Jets (6-5). Buffalo and Miami are both two games behind the Chiefs, who trail AFC West leader San Diego by two games.
Kansas City, which would be the AFC's No. 5 seed if the playoffs began today, has games remaining with San Diego (9-2), Jacksonville, Baltimore (9-2) and Oakland (2-9).
But first comes a road trip to Cleveland to play the bickering Browns (3-8).
Eleven wins would all but guarantee the Chiefs a playoff spot. Ten wins would likely put the Chiefs in the postseason, thanks to (as it stands now) a divisional record superior to Denver's.
"We're going to play some good teams down the road," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "We're going to play two division leaders down the road in San Diego and Baltimore, which is good. You find out what kind of team you are. This first one is this one though. We've got enough trouble with Cleveland right now."
The Chiefs have reason to feel good about their chances.
Kansas City is a team with no glaring weaknesses, a team that excels in the run game and against the run, an Edwards philosophy that the Chiefs have quickly adopted, and one that typically succeeds late in the year and in the playoffs.
"It's a short race to get there," guard Brian Waters said. "And I feel good about where we are."
Walls does, too. He sees some parallels between the playoff teams he played for in Denver and this year's Chiefs team.
"All playoff teams there's a similar mentality," Walls said. "Good teams, there's a lot of fight, a lot of will to win. We won a lot of tight games this year, that's the same way we were a few times in Denver."
Solid defense is another component.
"The defense has been playing well," Walls said. "The last couple games we've been holding guys under 14 points a game and we've just got to continue to do that and put the offense in good field position.
"Then they'll capitalize and we'll see how far we can take this thing."
Though the Chiefs are taking the old win-the-next-one approach, the playoff race is hard to ignore.
"I think they understand where we're at, unless you're from a different planet," Edwards said. "You know where we're sitting. We're sitting in the same place they sat last year: 7-4.
"They were able to get 10 wins and three of them were at home, and the ones they lost were on the road. So, we start off now with a road game. We'll see how we fare."
Priest's season over
With all the suspense of a Harlem Globetrotters game, Chiefs president-general manager Carl Peterson announced Tuesday that Priest Holmes' season is over.
The record-setting running back, who played just the first seven games of last season before sustaining a season-ending neck injury, will finish the season where he began it, on the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list.
The intrigue is that, according to Peterson, Holmes wants to play next season.
"I would like to emphasize that Priest indicated to me that he does not, at this point, plan to give up football in any sense," Peterson said. "We're looking for another evaluation in January or early February of '07. Based on that, there is a very good possibility he will continue his football career."
Peterson said Holmes' recent medical evaluations had been encouraging and that the Chiefs, who have Holmes, 33, signed through the 2009 season, would welcome his return.
"Ultimately this is Priest's decision, but Priest and I had a lot of discussions as well as (agent) Todd France," Peterson said. "At this point we're 12 weeks into the regular season and I think Priest's thought was perhaps there was not enough time for him to get ready to play for the remainder of the season in a fashion he wanted. That went into this decision."
The Chiefs also placed cornerback William Bartee on reserve/PUP.
http://cjonline.com/stories/112906/chi_playoffs.shtml