Polleo Pit Man
10-09-2007, 09:19 PM
Chiefs running game could use Priest
By JOE POSNANSKI
function PopupPic(sPicURL, sHeight, sWidth) { window.open( "http://media.kansascity.com/static/popup.html?"+sPicURL, "", "resizable=1,HEIGHT=" +sHeight+ ",WIDTH=" +sWidth); }
After this latest Chiefs shipwreck, Priest Holmes stood at his locker, and he looked awfully good. There were a couple of reasons for this. One, Holmes has noticeably slimmed down and put on some muscle. It is amazing how much his body has changed in a few short weeks. He is apparently serious about his comeback.
“I’m about 90 percent now,” he says. “I’m ready to go.”
Two, the Chiefs ran for 10 total yards Sunday against Jacksonville. Ten stinking yards. This means that the entire Chiefs running game could not have gotten you from the entrance of the movie theater to the popcorn stand.
Priest Holmes has rarely looked better.
Why has the Chiefs’ running game gone into the sewer? That was the talk of the locker room after the Chiefs’ dead-battery 17-7 loss to the Jaguars. Offensive lineman Brian Waters said it is because of breakdowns. Coach Herm Edwards said it comes down to inconsistency. Running back Larry Johnson rather eloquently said nothing, which was fitting after his performance of nine carries, 12 yards and two disgusted helmet throws. Some blamed the offensive line, some blamed the play calling (which is getting old), some gave credit to Jacksonville’s tough defense.
Nobody wanted to come out and say Larry Johnson isn’t running well.
Nobody, that is, except Priest Holmes.
“I talk to Larry about being more creative,” Holmes said. “I think that’s something he needs to work on. When the other team is putting everything to trying to stop you, you can’t get frustrated. That’s the worst thing you can do. You have to study them and find their weaknesses, and exploit those. There are no excuses. You have to find a way to get yards. And when you get your opening, you have to hit the home run.”
Larry Johnson should cut out that quote, blow it up, put it on his wall and read it every day. He shouldn’t read it to get mad (that strategy obviously isn’t working). He should read it because in that one paragraph is the essence of what made Priest Holmes a great football player. Holmes came to beat you.
Look: Holmes did not have the skills and talents of Larry Johnson. He did not have Johnson’s size, his strength, his speed. Holmes had to overcome devastating injuries and unending doubts. But he became the best running back in the NFL, he set a bunch of records, he scored 66 touchdowns in three seasons, all because of those words — he studied, and he found weaknesses in defenses, and he made no excuses, and he got yards.
People never wanted to give him credit for it. Even now, you will hear people say, “Oh, it was just that Holmes was running behind a great offensive line.”
Baloney. In 2000, the Chiefs were one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL. Their leading rusher had 697 yards. In 2001, with the same caliber of offensive line, Priest Holmes led the NFL in rushing. The next year, the Chiefs added Willie Roaf, Brian Waters came into his own, and Holmes had one of the greatest years in NFL history. The line was good, no doubt. The running back, though, was absolutely fabulous.
Now, watching Johnson fume and mope and get tackled for losses, you can appreciate even more just what Holmes is about. This guy wasn’t even drafted. He overcame two injuries to his ACLs. He came back from a hip injury that doctors thought would end his career. Now, at age 34 (Sunday was his birthday), he shows up at the stadium every day for workouts and team meetings and film sessions, this after a concussion and neck injury so severe he lost feeling in his arms and legs and missed almost two full seasons.
By JOE POSNANSKI
function PopupPic(sPicURL, sHeight, sWidth) { window.open( "http://media.kansascity.com/static/popup.html?"+sPicURL, "", "resizable=1,HEIGHT=" +sHeight+ ",WIDTH=" +sWidth); }
After this latest Chiefs shipwreck, Priest Holmes stood at his locker, and he looked awfully good. There were a couple of reasons for this. One, Holmes has noticeably slimmed down and put on some muscle. It is amazing how much his body has changed in a few short weeks. He is apparently serious about his comeback.
“I’m about 90 percent now,” he says. “I’m ready to go.”
Two, the Chiefs ran for 10 total yards Sunday against Jacksonville. Ten stinking yards. This means that the entire Chiefs running game could not have gotten you from the entrance of the movie theater to the popcorn stand.
Priest Holmes has rarely looked better.
Why has the Chiefs’ running game gone into the sewer? That was the talk of the locker room after the Chiefs’ dead-battery 17-7 loss to the Jaguars. Offensive lineman Brian Waters said it is because of breakdowns. Coach Herm Edwards said it comes down to inconsistency. Running back Larry Johnson rather eloquently said nothing, which was fitting after his performance of nine carries, 12 yards and two disgusted helmet throws. Some blamed the offensive line, some blamed the play calling (which is getting old), some gave credit to Jacksonville’s tough defense.
Nobody wanted to come out and say Larry Johnson isn’t running well.
Nobody, that is, except Priest Holmes.
“I talk to Larry about being more creative,” Holmes said. “I think that’s something he needs to work on. When the other team is putting everything to trying to stop you, you can’t get frustrated. That’s the worst thing you can do. You have to study them and find their weaknesses, and exploit those. There are no excuses. You have to find a way to get yards. And when you get your opening, you have to hit the home run.”
Larry Johnson should cut out that quote, blow it up, put it on his wall and read it every day. He shouldn’t read it to get mad (that strategy obviously isn’t working). He should read it because in that one paragraph is the essence of what made Priest Holmes a great football player. Holmes came to beat you.
Look: Holmes did not have the skills and talents of Larry Johnson. He did not have Johnson’s size, his strength, his speed. Holmes had to overcome devastating injuries and unending doubts. But he became the best running back in the NFL, he set a bunch of records, he scored 66 touchdowns in three seasons, all because of those words — he studied, and he found weaknesses in defenses, and he made no excuses, and he got yards.
People never wanted to give him credit for it. Even now, you will hear people say, “Oh, it was just that Holmes was running behind a great offensive line.”
Baloney. In 2000, the Chiefs were one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL. Their leading rusher had 697 yards. In 2001, with the same caliber of offensive line, Priest Holmes led the NFL in rushing. The next year, the Chiefs added Willie Roaf, Brian Waters came into his own, and Holmes had one of the greatest years in NFL history. The line was good, no doubt. The running back, though, was absolutely fabulous.
Now, watching Johnson fume and mope and get tackled for losses, you can appreciate even more just what Holmes is about. This guy wasn’t even drafted. He overcame two injuries to his ACLs. He came back from a hip injury that doctors thought would end his career. Now, at age 34 (Sunday was his birthday), he shows up at the stadium every day for workouts and team meetings and film sessions, this after a concussion and neck injury so severe he lost feeling in his arms and legs and missed almost two full seasons.