KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Poked, prodded and asked about his starting quarterback just about every way possible, Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley had the same answer every time: Tyler Palko is the guy.

That doesn’t mean Kyle Orton won’t get the majority of the snaps Sunday at Chicago.

Haley said before practice Wednesday that Palko would get about 60 percent of the repetitions with the first-team offense this week. Orton, who was claimed off waivers from Denver a week ago, will get the remaining 40 percent as he tries to learn the playbook and his new teammates.

“Tyler’s our starter. We’re getting Kyle ready to play,” Haley said. “He’s not like a guy who’s been here a couple of years. It’s a different situation. So we’re getting him ready to play.” Orton didn’t arrive in Kansas City until last Friday, two days after he was claimed, which kept him from having a chance to play Sunday night against Pittsburgh.

Orton was inactive for the game, and Palko threw three interceptions and fumbled a snap in a disheartening 13-9 loss.

Palko took the first set of repetitions in quarterback drills during the few minutes of practice that the media was allowed to observe Wednesday. Orton took the second series.

“It’s not a perfect world. It’s not going to be perfect,” Orton said afterward. “You just make do the best you can, prepare yourself the best you can. That’s something that I’ve always prided myself on, being the best prepared on the field every week.”

Orton said that, contrary to some rumors, he wasn’t hoping to land in Chicago, which also was looking for a quarterback after losing Jay Cutler for the season. The Bears put in a claim on Orton, but the Chiefs got him because they had the priority by virtue of their worse win-loss record.

“That’s out of the players hands. I know a lot was made of it,” said Orton, who also denied any notion that he contemplated not reporting to Kansas City. “I didn’t say anything about that. I think people try to connect the dots and say, you know, he would love to go there.”

Palko, who was pressed into duty when Matt Cassel went down with a season-ending hand injury, tossed three interceptions in his debut as an NFL starter against New England.

The journeyman backup didn’t fare much better against the Steelers, fumbling a snap and throwing two picks in a span of three offensive plays in the first half. But he was good enough to keep Kansas City in the game, leading the offense down field in the closing minutes before his final interception sealed the Chiefs’ fourth consecutive defeat – and second straight without scoring a touchdown.

Palko said that he’s preparing to make his third straight start, even though he knows full well that the Chiefs aren’t paying the remainder of Orton’s salary – about $2.6 million – to have him sit on the bench the rest of the way.

“Every week you have to earn the right to put your hands under center and lead the team, whether we’re 2-0 and I’m playing well or what’s happened the last two weeks,” Palko said. “I’m not looking at it any different this week. It’s hard a position to play; you’re going to have your ups and downs.”

There have been a lot of downs for the Chiefs lately.

Kansas City has lost many of its best players to season-ending injuries, among them safety Eric Berry and running back Jamaal Charles. The result has been a wildly inconsistent team that lost three straight, and then managed to run off four straight wins to tie for the AFC West lead.

Turns out all that may have done is eliminate them from the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.

The Chiefs were trounced 31-3 by then-winless Miami at home, and lost 17-10 to the Broncos, when quarterback Tim Tebow threw all of two passes. It was late in that game that Cassel hurt his throwing hand, and surgery the next day landed him along with many of his buddies on injured reserve.

Kansas City lost 34-3 to New England and, combined with last weekend’s loss to Pittsburgh, hasn’t managed a touchdown since the third quarter against the Broncos – a span of nearly 50 offensive series and more than 143 minutes of game time.

Regardless who is under center Sunday, that must change if the Chiefs have any prayer of winning.

“There’s growing pains that come along with playing this position,” Palko said. “Fortunately or unfortunately, any way you look at it, you’re kind of getting baptized by fire. You can’t make the mistakes that I’ve made. They’re killing our team right now. But that’s why the quarterback position is the hardest to play in all of sports. You get the blame either way.”

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Poked, prodded and asked about his starting quarterback just about every way possible, Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley had the same answer every time: Tyler Palko is the guy.
That doesn’t mean Kyle Orton won’t get the majority of the snaps Sunday at Chicago.
Haley said before practice Wednesday that Palko would get about 60 percent of the repetitions with the first-team offense this week. Orton, who was claimed off waivers from Denver a week ago, will get the remaining 40 percent as he tries to learn the playbook and his new teammates.
“Tyler’s our starter. We’re getting Kyle ready to play,” Haley said. “He’s not like a guy who’s been here a couple of years. It’s a different situation. So we’re getting him ready to play.”
Orton didn’t arrive in Kansas City until last Friday, two days after he was claimed, which kept him from having a chance to play Sunday night against Pittsburgh. Orton was inactive for the game, and Palko threw three interceptions and fumbled a snap in a disheartening 13-9 loss.
Palko took the first set of repetitions in quarterback drills during the few minutes of practice that the media was allowed to observe Wednesday. Orton took the second series.
“It’s not a perfect world. It’s not going to be perfect,” Orton said afterward. “You just make do the best you can, prepare yourself the best you can. That’s something that I’ve always prided myself on, being the best prepared on the field every week.”
Orton said that, contrary to some rumors, he wasn’t hoping to land in Chicago, which also was looking for a quarterback after losing Jay Cutler for the season. The Bears put in a claim on Orton, but the Chiefs got him because they had the priority by virtue of their worse win-loss record.
“That’s out of the players hands. I know a lot was made of it,” said Orton, who also denied any notion that he contemplated not reporting to Kansas City. “I didn’t say anything about that. I think people try to connect the dots and say, you know, he would love to go there.”
Palko, who was pressed into duty when Matt Cassel went down with a season-ending hand injury, tossed three interceptions in his debut as an NFL starter against New England.
The journeyman backup didn’t fare much better against the Steelers, fumbling a snap and throwing two picks in a span of three offensive plays in the first half. But he was good enough to keep Kansas City in the game, leading the offense down field in the closing minutes before his final interception sealed the Chiefs’ fourth consecutive defeat — and second straight without scoring a touchdown.
Palko said that he’s preparing to make his third straight start, even though he knows full well that the Chiefs aren’t paying the remainder of Orton’s salary — about $2.6 million — to have him sit on the bench the rest of the way.
“Every week you have to earn the right to put your hands under center and lead the team, whether we’re 2-0 and I’m playing well or what’s happened the last two weeks,” Palko said. “I’m not looking at it any different this week. It’s hard a position to play; you’re going to have your ups and downs.”
There have been a lot of downs for the Chiefs lately.
Kansas City has lost many of its best players to season-ending injuries, among them safety Eric Berry and running back Jamaal Charles. The result has been a wildly inconsistent team that lost three straight, and then managed to run off four straight wins to tie for the AFC West lead.
Turns out all that may have done is eliminate them from the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.
The Chiefs were trounced 31-3 by then-winless Miami at home, and lost 17-10 to the Broncos, when quarterback Tim Tebow threw all of two passes. It was late in that game that Cassel hurt his throwing hand, and surgery the next day landed him along with many of his buddies on injured reserve.
Kansas City lost 34-3 to New England and, combined with last weekend’s loss to Pittsburgh, hasn’t managed a touchdown since the third quarter against the Broncos — a span of nearly 50 offensive series and more than 143 minutes of game time.
Regardless who is under center Sunday, that must change if the Chiefs have any prayer of winning.
“There’s growing pains that come along with playing this position,” Palko said. “Fortunately or unfortunately, any way you look at it, you’re kind of getting baptized by fire. You can’t make the mistakes that I’ve made. They’re killing our team right now. But that’s why the quarterback position is the hardest to play in all of sports. You get the blame either way.”

CBSSports.com wire reports
Nov. 27, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ben Roethlisberger joked that the broken thumb on his throwing hand was “still attached” Sunday night. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin thought the injury was a non-issue, and perhaps it was given the way the former Pro Bowl quarterback played.

One thing is certain: The Chiefs sure wish it had been a bigger problem.

Roethlisberger threw a short touchdown pass to Weslye Saunders in the first half, and the Steelers took advantage of four turnovers by Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko in a 13-9 victory that allowed them to keep pace with Baltimore atop the loaded AFC North.

“They’re a good football team, good defense,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s tough because it’s a mixed feeling type of thing: You’re happy to get the win, but you’re disappointed the way the offense played. I think that’s what team’s all about. The defense stepped up huge today.”

Roethlisberger finished 21 of 31 for 193 yards and an interception for the Steelers (8-3), whose defense lost All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu to a head injury in the first quarter yet still managed to keep the bumbling Chiefs (4-7) from scoring a touchdown.

Kansas City has reached the end zone only once since beating San Diego on Oct. 31.

The Chiefs nearly did on their final possession, marching across midfield to the 37. That’s when Palko dropped back and looked for Dwayne Bowe, but his throw was high and behind him, and Keenan Lewis hauled in the interception with 29 seconds left to seal the win.

“I just read the quarterback. I knew I had help underneath, so I could stay back and protect deep,” Lewis said. “When the ball came out of the quarterback’s hand, I saw that Bowe had already made his move. That’s when I knew I could make a play.”

Palko, making his second successive start in place of the injured Matt Cassel, also fumbled a snap and threw interceptions to Ike Taylor and Ryan Mundy on back-to-back passes in the first half.

Palko fared little better than he did last week against New England, when he tossed three picks in his first NFL start. He finished 18 of 28 for 167 yards in what was likely his last chance.

The Chiefs claimed former Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton off waivers Wednesday with the intention of having him compete with Palko for the starting job. Orton didn’t arrive in town until Friday, though, and he was inactive Sunday night after participating in only one practice.

“He’ll have a much better chance this week to compete,” Chiefs coach Todd Haley said, “and like I said, Tyler is the starter, but whatever position we say, if someone gives us a better chance to win, that’s the guideline we generally follow.”

Kansas City led 3-0 in the second quarter when Palko’s first interception, which Taylor returned to the Chiefs 8, resulted in a 21-yard field goal by the Steelers’ Shaun Suisham.

The second pick was returned by Mundy, who had taken over at safety for Polamalu, to the Kansas City 24. The defense appeared to hold Pittsburgh when Tamba Hali sacked Roethlisberger on third-and-7, but safety Jon McGraw was called for defensive holding to give the Steelers a first down.

Three plays later, Roethlisberger found Saunders in the back of the end zone.

“He was kind of one of the last options,” Roethlisberger said. “I saw Wes coming in the back of the end zone, he’s kind of a big target, so I just kind of threw it up to him.”

Ryan Succop added a 49-yard field goal later in the second quarter for Kansas City, his second of the game, but Suisham answered with his own 49-yarder on the final play of the first half.

Succop added a 40-yard field goal with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter.

Polamalu left the game in the first quarter when he tackled 290-pound Chiefs offensive tackle Steve Maneri, who had caught a pass in the flat after lining up in the backfield.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year’s head hit Maneri’s knee and he crumpled to the turf, where he lay while trainers came out to check on him. Polamalu was a bit wobbly when he stood up and Tomlin said after the game that he was experiencing “concussion-like symptoms.”

Roethlisberger showed little evidence of the broken thumb that caused him to be somewhat limited in practice, hitting 10 different receivers. He got some help from Rashard Mendenhall, who ran for 57 yards, and a defense that kept giving the Pittsburgh offense prime field position.

The Steelers squandered a promising opportunity in the first quarter, driving inside the Chiefs 10-yard line. But backup running back Mewelde Moore had the ball poked out by Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali and it was recovered by Javier Arenas in the end zone for a touchback.

Kansas City gave the ball right back when Palko fumbled the snap moments later.

Pittsburgh also had a decent drive end midway through the scoreless third when Roethlisberger underthrew Antonio Brown down the sideline. Kansas City safety Travis Daniels swooped in to make the interception, but the Chiefs’ bumbling offense couldn’t capitalize.

That wound up being the story of the game.

“We’re excited about winning — and winning on the road — and making the necessary plays,” Tomlin said. “We produced turnovers tonight, and that was big for us.”

Notes

• Kansas native Martina McBride sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Modern Family‘s Eric Stonestreet, who attended Kansas State, threw the ceremonial first pass.
• Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey left in the first half with an illness.
• The Chiefs finished with 252 yards of total offense.

More In Sports

‘);
$(‘#ody-nextstoryslider’).append(‘Read More’);
return;
}
var _art,_right,wpElem;
var _beenzagged=(function(){
var _u = GEL.env.user;
return(_u.state || _u.yob || _u.zip )?true:false;
})();
var _laststate=(function(){
var _t = new GEL.util.Cookie(‘GCIONSN’);
var _closed = _t.getValue(‘lastNextStoryState’);
return _closed;
})();
if(!_beenzagged){
getContent();
var _slidestate=_laststate==’false’?'handle’:”;
_art=$(‘.ody-skin .content-container .ody-article’);
_right=$(‘.ody-skin .ody-aside’);
wpElem=_art.height()>_right.height()?_art:_right;
var slider=GEL.widget.slider(wpElem,’ody-nextstoryslider’,{
close: ‘‘,
closeCallback: function(){
var _t = new GEL.util.Cookie(‘GCIONSN’)
_t.setValue(‘lastNextStoryState’,'false’)
},
direction: ‘right’,
handle: ‘‘,
openCallback: function(){
var _t = new GEL.util.Cookie(‘GCIONSN’)
_t.setValue(‘lastNextStoryState’,'true’)
},
offset: function(){
var offSet=$.waypoints(‘viewportHeight’)-($(‘.ody-skin .content-container .ody-article .ody-article-bodytext’).height()-$(‘.ody-skin .content-container .ody-article .ody-ob-taboola-wrapper’).height());
if(($(‘.ody-skin .content-container .ody-article .ody-article-bodytext’).height()-$(‘.ody-skin .content-container .ody-article .ody-ob-taboola-wrapper’).height())

By BJ Kissel

– Staff Writer

Follow , and

Like SB Nation Kansas City on Facebook.

Nov 28, 2011 – The Kansas City Chiefs are right in the middle of a brutal part of their schedule that includes the final four teams in last seasons’ playoff picture. That’s not including last weeks’ game against the New England Patriots. After losing to the Steelers on Sunday night, the Chiefs can look forward to the Bears, Jets and Packers over the next three weeks. Most Chiefs fans knew coming into this season and taking a look at that schedule that we would truly learn how far this team has come along after this current stretch of games. Then the injuries happened. First it was Tony Moeaki, then Eric Berry, then Jamaal Charles and finally Matt Cassel.

It’s hard to get a read on how good of a team we actually had when everyone was healthy because we didn’t see it this year, and we still won’t see it. But this is the NFL and nobody was going to feel sorry for the Chiefs. I don’t see the Houston Texans struggling after losing Mario Williams, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Matt Schaub and now, Matt Leinart. Obviously some of those weren’t season-ending injuries, but all teams have to deal with injuries and while most teams around the NFL couldn’t bounce-back from the injuries the Chiefs have suffered this year, that doesn’t change the schedule laid out on front of them.

And for the Chiefs, that didn’t change from them playing back-to-back primetime games in front of the entire country. It’s one thing to be struggling and have to play good teams when you don’t have your star players healthy, it’s quite another to have to do it in front of the entire country against two of the best teams teams in the AFC, in primetime, in consecutive weeks. 

But it took a pretty special effort from the Kansas City Chiefs defense to go out there and perform the way that they did over the last two weeks. Especially considering the Chiefs offense gave away seven, yes SEVEN, turnovers in the last two games. So while the Chiefs offense was embarrassing itself and all Chiefs fans around the country, the defense gave all of us something we could hang our hat on at the end of the day. The Chiefs went to Foxboro and gave Tom Brady and the Patriots offense all they could handle for the first half of that game. The Eagles couldn’t do that at home with their “dream team” defensive backfield.

The Patriots may have won the game by a final score of 34-3, but anyone who watched that game will know that Tom Brady’s 15-27 performance for 234 yards and two touchdowns wasn’t very Brady-like. Only two other times this season was he held to fewer than 234 yards passing. Brady had 198 yards passing in a loss to the Steelers and 226 in a win against the Raiders. It was a couple of big plays in the second half that broke that game open, but it was obvious that the Chiefs had Brady struggling for a good portion of that game and not many teams around the NFL can say that, let alone do it on Monday night football in Foxboro. 

It was mentioned several times on the Sunday night broadcast how well the Chiefs defense was playing and keeping them in the game against the Steelers. I don’t think it can be stated enough how proud Chiefs fans should be of the defense right now. They held the Pittsburgh Steelers to 291 yards of total offense and just one touchdown, all while having the Chiefs offense hand them four turnovers. (The last was at the end of the game, but still) If it hadn’t of been for the defense against the Patriots and Steelers, I’d be struggling to look forward to the rest of the season.

But as it stands now, I know that former Broncos quarterback, Kyle Orton will have a full week of practice to get acclimated to this team and hopefully he picks up the offense quickly. Because with the way this defense has played over the last two weeks, there is reason to be optimistic if Orton can come in and at-worst, be average for the final five games of the season. So while playoff chances may be hanging on by a very small thread, I still find good reason to feel good about a particular part of the Chiefs team right now. I wasn’t sure that would have been the case a few weeks ago.

Read More: Tom Brady (QB – NEP), Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots

Follow , and

Like SB Nation Kansas City on Facebook.

Do you like this story?