Even though he spent just three relatively unremarkable seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Chester McGlockton was still a part of the Chiefs family. The former defensive lineman passed away early in the morning Nov. 30. He was only 42 and serving as a defensive assistant at Stanford.

McGlockton was a big, big man. He was 6’3″ but tipped the scales at a massive 334 pounds as a defensive tackle and defensive end. He spent 12 years in the NFL from 1992 to 2003. Half of his career was with the Oakland Raiders before coming over the Chiefs in 1998 for three years before finishing out his career with the Denver Broncos and New York Jets.

When he was in Kansas City, McGlockton had seven sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles to go along with 87 solo tackles. He made the Pro Bowl four seasons, all with the Raiders. His best year was 1994 when he recorded 9 ½ sacks. He had one touchdown in his career, a fumble return in 2002 when he played for the Broncos.

McGlockton wasn’t as well known as another defensive player on the Chiefs that played with him. The giant was a teammate of linebacker Derrick Thomas for two years from 1998 to 1999. Both players were key members of the defense that anchored Kansas City’s tough teams of the era.

As compared to his years in Oakland, McGlockton was still in his prime by the time he got to the Midwest. When he got to Kansas City, he was an important focus of offensive lineman. When the opposition keyed in on McGlockton, it freed up space for Thomas to move in on quarterbacks. The big man suffered injuries throughout his 2001 and 2002 seasons, according to Sports Illustrated.

The Chiefs website states McGlockton supposedly went over to the Chiefs’ sideline during a 30-0 rout at the hands of the Raiders. The purpose of the visit was to ask then-head coach Marty Schottenheimer to sign him after the end of the year. The team made good on his promise after McGlockton was feuding with team owner Al Davis of Oakland.

McGlockton’s presence on the Stanford sideline will be missed. The Cardinal came up just short as they bid for the inaugural Pac-12 championship game. The team has yet to find out its bowl destination but will certainly be invited to a BCS bowl game later in the season.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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Kyle Orton might be active Sunday against Pittsburgh but as a third QB with his new team.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Todd Haley admits he was surprised that Kyle Orton’s name popped up on the waiver wire.

The fact it happened just after the Kansas City Chiefs lost starting quarterback Matt Cassel to a season-ending injury to his throwing hand made it almost serendipitous.

Orton joined the Chiefs on Friday, two days after he was claimed off waivers from the Broncos. He’ll have a chance to compete for the starting job for the rest of the year, though it’s unlikely he’ll be up to speed in time for Sunday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“We have to get Kyle assimilated into how we’re doing things,” Haley said, “and then make decisions as we get closer to the game, and then obviously next week.”

Haley wouldn’t rule out Orton being active against the Steelers, at least in a third quarterback role, assuming he learns enough of the playbook in just 48 hours. But the coach said Tyler Palko will make his second career start, and fifth-round draft pick Ricky Stanzi will remain the No. 2.

Palko threw for 230 yards and did a reasonable job of moving the Chiefs in a 34-3 loss to the New England Patriots last Monday night, but he also threw three interceptions that foiled promising drives.

“I have great confidence in Tyler. I really believe that he will continue to get better and give us a chance to win a big game this week,” Haley said.

Several other teams were interested in Orton, including the Chicago Bears, with whom he began his NFL career. But the Chiefs had the priority, along with plenty of room under the salary cap to absorb the roughly $2.6 million he’s owed through the rest of the season.

“I wouldn’t rule out anything at this point, other than Tyler is starting the game Sunday,” Haley said before practice Friday night. “We’ll just have to see.”

Palko said he wasn’t concerned about the arrival of Orton, who wasn’t made available to the media Friday.

“You can’t be sensitive,” Palko said. “You can’t worry about things you can’t control.”

What Palko can control is how he performs Sunday night against the Steelers.

Read More: Kyle Orton (QB – DEN), Tyler Palko (QB – KAN), Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos

One day after the Denver Broncos released Kyle Orton, the waiver process is in full swing for the rest of the league to pick up the quarterback. It appears that the Kansas City Chiefs are thinking about putting in a waiver claim for him, reports NFL.com’s Steve Wyche.

Orton would really just be a six-week rental for the Chiefs, who would pay the remainder of his contract. He would allow the team to sit Tyler Palko and keep rookie Ricky Stanzi in a development role rather than as a backup. Palko did throw three interceptions in his debut as a starter in the NFL, but he was able to throw for over 230 yards. He’s certainly not going to win the AFC West for the Chiefs, though.

But then, Orton likely isn’t going to do that either. Of course, it’s a possibility that Orton could get a breath of fresh air in his career by joining the Chiefs, but I doubt we’ll hear head coach Todd Haley proclaim Orton as the guy who gives the team the best chance to win if he gets the quarterback.

For more news and notes around the league, check out SB Nation NFL.

So the Kansas City Chiefs better get plenty of rest before Monday night’s game.

“Anyone that is 300 pounds and has to run play after play and doesn’t get a break is going to get tired,” Patriots left guard Logan Mankins said.

New England has operated without a huddle on about 25 percent of its plays this season. The ball isn’t always snapped quickly since Tom Brady takes time to read the defense and get signals from offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. But the defense has little time to make substitutions, leaving it with tired players or the wrong ones for the expected play.

In the Patriots last game, a 37-16 win over the New York Jets, they led 16-9 when they got the ball with 7:36 left in the third quarter. They ran six straight plays without a huddle, gaining 37 yards, before Brady, in the shotgun formation after huddling, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski.

On their next possession, they picked up 38 yards on six consecutive plays without a huddle, moving the ball to the Jets 27-yard line. They huddled for the remaining four plays of the drive, finishing with Brady’s 8-yard scoring pass to Deion Branch for a 30-16 lead.

Brady completed all three of his passes without a huddle for a total of 39 yards against the Jets.

That win gave the Patriots (6-3) sole possession of first place in the AFC East with an easy schedule remaining. The Chiefs (4-5) are coming off a 17-10 loss to the Denver Broncos but are just one game behind AFC West leader Oakland.

The decision to run a play without a huddle depends on the game situation, not a pregame strategy.

“It’s not something you would come into the game and say, ‘we’re going to run this all game,’ ” Branch said. “You think about the Jets game. It just happened. It was during the course of a series and (the coaches) said, ‘Let’s go.’ “

For the offense, the process is more organized than it might seem.

O’Brien is allowed to use the sideline-to-helmet radio to talk to Brady until 15 seconds remain on the 40-second play clock.

“The mechanics of just huddling basically on the ball, which is really just what we’re doing, is fairly, I wouldn’t say easy, but there’s not a lot of mechanics to it,” O’Brien said. “I wouldn’t say that we’ve used it any more than we’ve used (it) in the past. Again, it’s just something that our players have executed well to this point, for the most part.”

It helps that Brady is so adept at diagnosing defenses and changing a call to one that, he feels, has a better chance of succeeding.

He also has dependable receivers like Gronkowski, Branch, Aaron Hernandez and Wes Welker, who leads the NFL with 72 receptions, to execute those plays.

“Tom looks like he’s playing at as high a level as I’ve seen him play,” Kansas City coach Todd Haley said. “He’s got a lot of good — some veterans, some young developing — players that look like they all have a chance to be really, really good. What Welker is doing to this point is phenomenal.”

The Chiefs haven’t faced a no-huddle play in their last two games.

So Tamba Hali, who has six sacks, and his defensive linemates, aren’t used to the pace of that attack. But it also can wear down the Patriots offensive linemen.

“It’s nice to do it occasionally when it’s working good. We like it,” Mankins said. “The (defensive) line, I think they get more tired than we actually do because they have to chase the ball. But it does get pretty tiring in there. You don’t have the rest between plays like in the huddle.”

And it doesn’t always work.

“If we execute well, whether we huddle or whether we don’t huddle, we’re going to be able to score points,” Brady said. “If it works, you stay with it. If it doesn’t work, you move on.”

The Patriots put their faith in the no-huddle offense from the start of the season. In a 38-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in the opener, they used the no-huddle on 27 of their 71 plays. Brady was 12 for 18 for 180 yards without a huddle.

Don’t expect the Chiefs offense to run many no-huddle plays, not with unproven Tyler Palko making his first start with Matt Cassel sidelined with an injured throwing hand.

Palko has played in four NFL games, throwing 13 passes.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “Getting a chance to get your first start and, obviously, it being Monday night football, makes it that much more exciting.

“Everybody is watching — friends and family and all that stuff. At the same time, this is my job and the guys on the team are expecting me to execute and go out and do my job and have nothing change from when Matt’s gone down and me stepping in.”

The Patriots should have plenty of time to substitute players when Palko huddles up, but he adds a dimension that could tire defensive linemen. He can scramble.

“He’s just a very elusive quarterback,” New England defensive end Andre Carter said.

The Patriots defense has experience with

Read More: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos

The Kansas City Chiefs dropped a tough one against the Denver Broncos on Sunday in Kansas City by a score of 17-10. I went ahead and charted the Chiefs personnel packages each play and the results from those plays in a hope to find some useful information. Over the next few days that information will materialize in some stories here on SB Nation Kansas City. I didn’t include the last four minutes of the game when the Chiefs went into desperation mode and the Broncos started playing the clock, instead of the Chiefs. I wanted to see what things were working and what things weren’t when the teams were playing straight-up. One thing that clearly wasn’t working for the Chiefs was the shotgun.

It would be easy to say that with all the pressure around Cassel all day that switching to the shotgun would be a better plan to give him more time to make a play. But that wasn’t the case on Sunday. Cassel finished 1-13 out of the shotgun (not including the last four minutes). Cassel scrambled twice when facing pressure out of the shotgun that led to his two carries for 18 yards. The Denver Broncos had four sacks on the day, two of those came when Cassel was in the shotgun.

Of the 53 plays that I charted on Sunday, 31 of the plays had the Chiefs running a single back, single tight-end set. Also called 11-personnel. (1 running back, 1 tight end). More often than not in this game the Chiefs two tight-ends that were rotating in the game, Leonard Pope and Jake O’ Connell, were playing off the line of scrimmage. 17 plays had the Chiefs in a 21-personnel (two running backs, 1 tight-end) and five plays had the Chiefs in a 12-personnel, where Pope and O’Connell were on the field at the same time. So for those who like percentages out there. 58% of the plays were in the 11-personnel, 32% in the 21-personnel and 10% in the 12-personnel.

The Chiefs did some very interesting things with their personnel packages in an attempt to get the matchups they were looking for in certain situations. There were eight different plays that had rookie wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin motioning into the backfield and set up as a fullback would. Six of those plays were passes and Cassel went 3-6 in those plays, including Dexter McCluster’s big 3rd down catch that led to the Chiefs only touchdown.

The two running plays netted the Chiefs 16 yards and were both draws, most likely in an attempt to have Baldwin only need to shuffle his guy upfield rather than having him drive-block a front-seven defender. More interestingly when the Chiefs had Jake O’ Connell doing this same motion into the backfield as Baldwin, they had Le’Ron McClain lined up as a wideout. McClain was split out as a wideout on Jackie Battle’s 34 yard run to start the Chiefs’ second half, and he threw a key block in helping that play develop.

Another interesting way to look at the personnel packages is to see the difference in the second half as compared to the first half. The Chiefs players and coaches get time during the half to talk about the weaknesses and areas they think they could find an advantage. One of those areas for the Chiefs had to be passing out of the 11-personnel. In the first half the Chiefs threw nine passes and had eight runs out of this personnel grouping. In the second half the Chiefs threw the ball 11 times and ran it just three out of the 11-personnel.

The total for the game was 11 runs and 20 passes out of the 11-personnel. That’s definitely enough information for a defensive coordinator to consider a tendancy. And remember, I didn’t chart the last four minutes because I didn’t want to skew these kinds of numbers. The Chiefs came out firing in the one-back set in the second half because they obviously felt as if they had an advantage in this area.

In the Chiefs first three possessions after halftime they threw in the 11-personnel six times, including three in the opening touchdown drive. Cassel was 4-6 on those plays and the two incompletions were on the players execution, not the play-call. The Dexter McCluster wheel route that Cassel threw just a couple of feet too far in front of a fully-stretched out McCluster was one of them, as well as one of the Dwayne Bowe drops. The McCluster wheel route is something that all Chiefs fans have been waiting for this year as they try to find a way to get McCluster down the field and not just catching passes in the flat. It was a perfect play at the perfect time and Cassel just missed it.

There will be more information on the Chiefs personnel packages and tendencies later in the week.

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Read More: Demorrio Williams (LB – KAN), Jon McGraw (S – KAN), Donald Washington (CB – KAN), Javier Arenas (DB – KAN), Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs, Nov 13, 2011 11:00 AM MST

The Kansas City Chiefs, coming off their stunning 3-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins, have only a few injured players and only one injured starter as they prepare for their game against the Denver Broncos this Sunday.

According to the official Denver Broncos Twitter, the one notable name on the Chiefs injury report appears to be safety Jon McGraw:

@Denver_Broncos: Chiefs Friday injury report: OUT: LB Demorrio Williams (groin); QUESTIONABLE: S Jon McGraw (shoulder); PROBABLE CB Javier Arenas (ankle).

Backup linebacker Demarrio Williams has been ruled out, and nickle cornerback Javier Arenas — who has already scored a touchdown this year — should play, but the big name to watch is McGraw, whose shoulder injury has limited him to only six games this year.

McGraw has a pair of interceptions to go with a forced fumble this year. If he is again unable to go, the Chiefs will turn to three-year veteran Donald Washington.

For more on Sunday’s game, check out Mile High Report, SB Nation’s Denver Broncos blog, and Arrowhead Pride, SB Nation’s Kansas City Chiefs blog. Stay tuned to SB Nation Denver, too, for the latest.

The Denver Broncos are the perfect remedy for the Kansas City Chiefs as they look to rebound from a humiliating loss. When the Chiefs were downed 31-3 at home by the winless Miami Dolphins Nov. 6, it was the third blowout of the year suffered by the Chiefs.

Tamba Hali of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Wikimedia Commons

Now the Broncos come to Arrowhead Stadium in a key AFC West matchup Nov. 13. Three of the four teams in the AFC West are all tied at 4-4. Kansas City is about to enter its most brutal part of the schedule.

The perfect remedy, and the best send-off for the Chiefs, is a game against the Broncos.

The one thing Kansas City has done well this year is get to quarterbacks that are struggling. Against the Oakland Raiders Oct. 23, the Chiefs intercepted Carson Palmer(notes) and Kyle Boller(notes) three times each. Both men were adjusting to the offense after Jason Campbell(notes) went down with an injury.

The following week on Halloween, the Chiefs and their fans got to San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers(notes). He was sacked three times and had two interceptions. His fumble from center with 48 seconds to go was recovered by the Chiefs and allowed them to hang on for a 23-20 victory in overtime.

The Broncos had a quarterback controversy earlier this year before Tim Tebow(notes) took over the starting quarterback duties from Kyle Orton(notes). Tebow had 118 yards rushing for Denver in a 38-24 victory where he had touchdown passes. He is a second-year quarterback still learning how to play in the NFL.

The secondary of the Chiefs need to step up big and make it hard for Tebow to complete his passes early on. The sooner he gets flustered, the more he will panic and start to make more mistakes. Tamba Hali(notes) and the defensive line also need to get into Tebow’s backfield early as well. Head coach Todd Haley might consider trying to rattle the young quarterback with some blitzes on the first drive of the game for Denver.

Kansas City needs to stop Tebow early. If they can put him on ice, then they can focus on the running game of Denver which is the fifth-best in the NFL. Matt Cassel(notes), as the more experienced quarterback, should be able to use this game to get better this season as well. The Broncos give up 258 yards passing per game.

Bring on Tebow and the Broncos. They are the perfect remedy for the midseason blues of the Chiefs.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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By Jonathan Tjarks

– Newsdesk contributor

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Nov 8, 2011 – Despite an embarrassing 31-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs slipped only four spots in SBNation’s latest NFL Power Rankings, mainly because of the weakness of the AFC West:

19. Kansas City Chiefs (4-4, LW: 15): I had all three AFC West teams ranked in a row right here last week, with the Chiefs at the top. All three of those teams lost but the Chiefs get downgraded for a blowout to the winless Dolphins.

And while the Chiefs are still at .500, they have the third worst point differential (-70) in the NFL.

The good news is their competitors aren’t much better, as the AFC West is the only division in the NFL that doesn’t have a team with a winning record.

Now, Kansas City has to put the Miami defeat in the rear-view, as they head into a crucial divisional showdown with the Denver Broncos, who are only one game behind at 3-5.

For the latest news and notes on the Chiefs, check out Arrowhead Pride.

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Tamarick Vanover was, at one time, the best thing going for the Kansas City Chiefs in the late 1990s. He scored eight touchdowns in five years, four on punt returns and four on kickoffs. He was the backbone of the vaunted special teams unit that led the Chiefs to a couple of AFC West titles.

Then Vanover was arrested, charged and convicted for financing a car theft ring in 2000. CBS Sports reported in 2007 he became the high school football coach at Lake City Christian Academy in Florida.

Until 2011, Vanover held a one-of-a-kind record in the annals of NFL football. At home in Arrowhead Stadium against the San Diego Chargers, Vanover took a punt and returned it 86 yards to win in overtime 29-23. His return was the one and only time a punt return ended an NFL game in overtime Oct. 9, 1995. There have been sudden-death games ended by runs, passes, interceptions and even safeties on more than one occasion.

A punt return for a touchdown was the anomaly and Vanover was the only person to do it. Until Nov. 6, 2011.

Patrick Peterson(notes) returned a punt 99 yards in overtime for the Arizona Cardinals as they defeated the St. Louis Rams 19-13. Peterson is a rookie, like Vanover was in 1995. The only difference is that the Cardinals are now 2-6 on the year and likely out of the NFL playoffs. The Chiefs were a contending team in 1995. Hopefully Peterson will fare better in his NFL career.

But still, on a day when the Chiefs looked like a regular NFL team that is struggling to find its identity, it was fitting that another of their flops in Vanover looked less than ordinary in the history of the NFL.

Vanover started out with great potential in the Chiefs organization. The 2011 season for Kansas City had great potential going into a game against the previously-winless Miami Dolphins and a 4-3 record. On the same day, both Vanover and his former team were relegated to just average teams on an average day.

It had to happen sometime. As with any NFL team, next Sunday is a new day. The Chiefs can get better with a win against the Denver Broncos Nov. 13.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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Read More: Kyle Boller (QB – OAK), Carson Palmer (QB – OAK), Aaron Curry (LB – OAK), Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos

Traditional logic would dictate that the Oakland Raiders’ new quarterback, Carson Palmer, will take a week or two to learn the Raiders’ playbook and become comfortable with the offense enough to get a start. That would mean that Kyle Boller would start this weekend against the Kansas City Chiefs and Palmer would get his first start after the Raiders’ bye week, at home against the Denver Broncos.

However, as this season has shown, Raiders coach Hue Jackson is anything but predictable.

This is the same guy who ran a fake punt and a fake field goal two weeks in a row. The same guy that traded for outside linebacker Aaron Curry, then gave him the start after only one day of practice with the team. The same guy who went for it on fourth down late in the game against the Cleveland Browns when the chip shot field goal would have given them a three score lead and all but assured a win. With Hue Jackson, you can throw traditional logic out the window like caution to the wind.

I highly doubt that Jackson would start Carson Palmer on Sunday unless he was sure that Palmer was ready to start. By all reports, Palmer is in good physical condition and has spent his time off practicing in Los Angeles with TJ Houshmandzadeh. Therefore, Palmer is probably ready to go physically. All that leaves is how long it will take Palmer to get comfortable with the terminology and playbook in Oakland.

Given the fact that Hue Jackson has worked with Palmer both at USC and when they were both with the Cincinnati Bengals, I would not put it past Jackson to have more faith in Palmer than most would. If Jackson likes what he sees out of Palmer this week, I could very well see Jackson using a dumbed down version of the passing game against the Chiefs so that Palmer could get his feet wet in Oakland sooner rather than later.

Needless to say, regardless of what I or anyone else thinks, it is near impossible to guess what Hue Jackson is going to do next.

By Kris Willis

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Oct 4, 2011 – After four weeks of the NFL Football Season, the Kansas City Chiefs finally grabbed their first victory of the season and now are now tied with with Denver Broncos for third place in the AFC West. The Chiefs find themselves one game behind the 2-2 Oakland Raiders and two games behind the division leading San Diego Chargers. 

Kansas City grabbed its first win of the season by defeating the winless Minnesota Vikings 22-17 improving their record to 1-3. In Week 5, the Chiefs will travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts who are without Peyton Manning. Denver fell to 1-3 after being shredded by Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers 49-23. Rodgers threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns in the game. 

The Raiders saw their record fall to 2-2 as they fell to the Patriots at home 31-19 despite Jason Campbell’s 344 yards passing. Oakland travels to Reliant Stadium in Week 5 to take on the 3-1 Houston Texans. The San Diego Chargers take over the top spot in the division with a 26-16 win over the now 0-4 Miami Dolphins. Philip Rivers threw for over 300 yards and a touchdown for the Chargers who Mile High next week for a division match up with the Broncos. 

Read More: 2011 nfl standings, Jason Campbell (QB – OAK), Aaron Rodgers (QB – GBP), Peyton Manning (QB – IND), Philip Rivers (QB – SDC), San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos

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