UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, August 31, 1995
3B
Improvement is key to Chiefs'success
Kansas City expects to prove critics wrong
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The number of Super Bowl rings on the hand of the quarterback is not all that's different in Kansas City.
So is the entire "attitude, philosophy, scheme and terminology" of the defense, said Gunther Cunningham, defensive coordinator.
Cunningham is new also. In the wake of a 9-7 campaign, the worst since 1989 when Marty Schottenheimer first pulled the Chiefs from the muck of back-to-back four-win seasons, Schottenheimer has eight new assistants.
The motivational play is new, too. The team that set out to accompany Joe Montana to his fifth Super Bowl in 1994 will be happy to embarrass its critics in 1995.
"The challenge was clearly set before us," said Schottenheimer, whose .620 winning percentage is a franchise record. "Most people project us as being the sixth team in a five-team division. That's all well and good.
"Nobody who's competitive likes to be put in that position."
Nevertheless, with possible short-comings at quarterback, running back, linebacker and secondary, the Chiefs give ample reason to forecast an end to their five-year playoff run.
It's true Montana in his last two years with the Chiefs was not the Montana of Super Bowl fame. But will Steve Bono, a career backup, be better?
"All I can tell you is I'm going out there to do my best, and I feel confident," said Bono, 33, who generally looked sharp in a 3-1 exhibition campaign. "I know you can't worry about what others expect of you."
Schottenheimer said Bono would be working with a corps of wide receivers who could be what he called the most talented group he's ever been around.
Replacing J.J. Birden, who signed with Atlanta, will be second-year man Lake Dawson, who is bigger and faster and showed great promise as a 1994 rookie before injuries slowed him. Ten of Dawson's 37 catches went 20 yards or more. In the off-season, the Chiefs acquired
veterans Webster Slaughter and Victor Bailey, and both could play important roles.
But not even a Bono breakthrough will make up for a lousy running game if the Chiefs don't get improvement there. That means Greg Hill, a slow-starting first-round draft choice a year ago, needs to oust aging Hall of Fame-bound Marcus Allen as the feature back. It hurts that second-year full-back Donnell Bennett still is sidelined by major knee surgery and not expected until late October.
The offensive line will be high quality, especially if former Pro Bowl left tackle John Alt avoids back miseries. Center Tim Grumhard and left guard Dave Szott are two the best. The addition of former New York Jets tackle Jeff Criswl should strengthen an already solid unit.
Defense is what's keeping Chiefs fans up at night. The new scheme, called an attack defense, is meant to be aggressive to the ball. To call it merely different is to rile Gunther Cunningham.
"It's been an attitude change, a philosophy change, a scheme change, a terminology change, a fundamental change for all of them," said Cunningham. "There are different fundamentals than these players have ever used, from stance to eye movement to body mechanics."
The most unsettled group of all is the defensive secondary, Mark Collins, who's lost too much speed to remain at cornerback, is switching to safety, but his progress was slowed by an ankle injury. And from the Jets, the Chiefs acquired defensive backs James Hasty and Brian Washington.
As the opener Sunday at Seattle draws near, the secondary still was not settled to coaches' satisfaction.
"We'll find the best five people and let them play," Schottenheimer said.
Nevertheless, as Collins, Bono and Hill set out to do things in the NFL they've never done, the Chiefs find themselves picked as low as 6-10.
You can almost hear Schotten-heimer thinking to himself, "Good." "I said from the outset, I think we've got a good football team," he said. "It been a very good camp. All the predictions don't mean a thing."
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