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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2006
Broncos acquire new talent for season
BY ARNIE STAPLETON ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Safety John Lynch had a good feeling about this season when the Denver Broncos gathered for the first time since their fantastic flop in the AFC title game at Invesco Field.
David Zalubowsk/Associated Press
On a brilliant blue March morning, Lynch looked around the locker room and almost everybody was there for the start of the team's offseason workout regimen.
Denver Broncos running back Tatum Bell, center, slips past Houston Texans defenders for a short gain in the second quarter of an NFL exhibition football game in Denver on Aug. 27. The Broncos are preparing for their regular-season opener on Sunday, in St. Louis.
"That was an awesome sight," Lynch said. "I think we got better as a team just by our personnel and by the way we went about our work."
The Broncos simply couldn't wait to get started on 2006 following their disheartening loss to Pittsburgh in the conference championship.
"I was proud of this team throughout the entire offseason because there's a couple ways you can respond to how devastated we were after the Pittsburgh game, and one is to go into the tank, and right away," Lynch said. "We saw that wasn't the case because our offseason program set, I think, league records in terms of guys being here."
Everybody was there except for recalcitrant receiver Ashley Lelie, who decided Denver wasn't ever going to give him a shot at being the primary option in the passing game. So he got a new agent and asked for a trade.
round pick from Washington.
The Broncos eventually accommodated him, but not before he agreed to pay the Broncos about $1 million in fines and a prorated portion of the signing bonus he got in 2002.
They sent him to Atlanta last month in a three-way trade that could net Denver yet another first-
Coming off a 13-3 season in which quarterback Jake Plummer played the best ball of his career
Lelie led the league in yards per catch the last two seasons. But in newcomer Javon Walker, the Broncos have a player who can go over the middle much more adeptly, which they figure will make them more proficient on third downs because defenses can't converge on Rod Smith anymore.
— only to revert to his old ways and turn the ball over four times in the AFC championship — the Broncos sent a second-round pick to Green Bay for Walker.
He missed the final 15 games last season after tearing a ligament in his right knee in the opener. Walker quickly returned to form in Denver, routinely making spectacular, leaping grabs like he used to with the Packers that were all the rage in camp.
"I think playing with Brett Favre really helped him learn how to do that, because he has the height, and athletic ability to go get those balls," cornerback Champ Bailey said.
And Walker is determined to show both his new team and his old one that he's back to being the player he was in 2004, when he made the Pro Bowl.
"New city, new atmosphere," he said. "And the old Javon Walker."
Last year, the Broncos' tailback tandem was Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell. They dumped Anderson in a salary cap move, but it appears Bell is still second on the depth chart, this time to undrafted rookie Mike Bell. The rookie parlayed his head-turning training camp into the starting job during the preseason, something he hopes to keep going when the Broncos open at St. Louis on Sunday.
Fourth-year pros Stephen Alexander and Nate Jackson, second-round pick Tony Scheffler of Western Michigan and free agent Chad Mustard will vie for action at tight end, a position that often serves as the Broncos' No. 3 receiver.
When the Broncos jettisoned Pryce, a nine-year starter at defensive end, they knew exactly where to go for another pass rusher: Cleveland, where they landed Kenard Lang.
In four separate transactions last year, the Broncos signed former Brown's linemen Courtney Brown, Gerard Warren, Ebenezer Ekuban and Michael Myers, along with the man who coached them, Andre
The Broncos also got rid of tight end Jeb Putzier and pass rusher Trevor Price in the offseason.
Patterson.
The Broncos hope their latest "Brownco" will help them put enough pressure on the passer with their front four rotation that they won't have to resort to heavy blitzing to try to force turnovers.
Plummer, who has first-round draft pick Jay Cutler of Vanderbilt looking over his shoulder, was cited in a road rage incident while on his way to give a $100,000 check to charity.
All wasn't positive for Denver in the offseason, however.
Punter Todd Sauerbrun was suspended for the first month of the season for using the banned dietary supplement ephedra.
Second-year pro Paul Ernster, coming off surgery on his kicking leg, will fill in during Sauerbrun's suspension.
>> NFL
New coach not KC's only change to team
BY DOUG TUCKER
ASSSOCIATED PRESS
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — Their 23 new players represent only a fraction of the big changes coming this season to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gone from the NFLs most productive offense of the past five years are the head coach, offensive coordinator, left tackle, running back, fullback - and approach.
"I anticipate if we're playing with a lead, we're going to run the ball more than we did last year and not worry about continuing to try and get a 17-point lead," new coach Herman Edwards said.
Now it will be more ball control. When holding a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Chiefs will no longer be chucking it Vermeil-style down the field.
"You can't always go three-and-out and put your defense back on the field."
Anchored by those men, Kansas City from 2001-2005 rolled up more yards (30,470), scored more touchdowns (262) and rushed for more TDs (131) than any team in the league.
Even if Edwards were as devoted to the offense-first, defense-second philosophy as his predecessor, winds of change would still be gusting through Arrowhead
There was the year they shattered the NFL record with 398 first downs, and the game they scored eight touchdowns rushing.
Priest Holmes broke the NFLS single-season record with 27 TDs — since surpassed by Seattle's Shaun Alexander. Tony Gonzalez set the reception mark for tight ends with 102.
But although they guzzled yardage and pigged out on points, Dick Vermeil's Chiefs never even caught sight of the Super Bowl. Their only playoff appearance was a 38-31 loss to the Colts.
Stadium.
Imaginative AI Saunders is now drawing up plays on cocktail napkins for the Washington Redskins. First-year offensive coordinator Mike Solari, promoted from line coach, admittedly lacks experience in the nuanced passing game that's been so key for KC.
Holmes is probably done. From 2001-05, he averaged more yards from scrimmage (136) than any other running back in the league. But he's now listed as physically unable to perform, and probably headed for retirement.
His absence was expected. But Willie Roaf's was not. The Chiefs were 3-3 without their 11-time Pro Bowl left tackle last year and 7-3 with him. His retirement on the eve of training camp stunned everybody.
Former Pro Bowler Kyle Turley, trying to resurrect his career after a two-year absence brought on by a back injury, was signed to compete at right tackle. But he was quickly shifted into Roaf's spot while everyone hopes for the best.
If Turley's back holds up and he performs well, it will be one of the great comeback stories of the season. But slimmed down to 275 pounds, he looks awfully light trying to beat back 325-pound defensive ends.
Another key loss could be former Pro Bowl fullback Tony Richardson, a locker room leader and one of the steadiest blocking backs in the league.
There still are stars. Trent Green is back for a sixth straight season after passing for more yards (20,117) and touchdowns (111) from 2001-05 than anybody but Peyton Manning.
And he'll be handing off to Larry Johnson, who had a brilliant nine-game spree after Holmes went out last year with neck and spinal trauma.
GOALPOSTS (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
And at Minnesota-Morris last year, a student was killed during a postgame celebration.
The tradition of fans tearing down the goalposts after an upset is practiced across the country.
It's a tradition that is usually reserved for fans of a team that has pulled off a major upset. Shelby Scholz, Atchison senior, said fans weren't thinking about the dangers of rushing the field after a big victory.
"It's real exciting for every fan and it's hard for people outside to see how the students are, just because they're not there." Scholz said. "They're not in the moment."
Whether the Jayhawks three final home victories last season were upsets is up for debate. The victory against Missouri was the third in a row by Kansas. The Cornhuskers were only 5-3 last year before the Jayhawks defeated them 40-15, but, it was Kansas' first victory against the Cornhuskers since 1968. Iowa State was 7-3 when Kansas defeated it to qualify for a bowl game.
But Marchiony and Scholz agreed that they wouldn't have called any of the three victories upsets.
"We need to act like we've been there before," Marchiony said. "We need to send the team a message
that we expect them to win. Every time the students come on the field, we're telling the team, 'Hey, you just won a game we didn't think you could win."
KU Chief of Police Ralph Oliver said that he didn't plan to increase
security and that he wasn't taking any drastic measures this year to prevent students from rushing the field. Al t h o u g h Olivercouldn't disclose his department's plan for dealing with fans who rush the field, he had a
Marchiony couldn't pinpoint one game as a potential tearing-down-of-the-goalposts game, although he said he anticipated every game being a problem until fans proved otherwise. If Marchiony had his
"Every time the students come on the field, we're telling the team,'Hey, you just won a game we didn't think you could win."
JIM MARCHIONY Associate athletics director
at Memorial Stadium last year.
message to send to the students
"It's not a God-given student right to tear down the goalpost," Oliver said. "It is illegal. It is criminal damage to property and it is trespassing to come out of the stands."
Oliver echoed Marchiony's sentiments that KU students should be used to winning home football games. The team went undefeated
way, the only students on the field would be the student athletes.
"The way we should celebrate is the way we celebrate in Allen Fieldhouse," Marchiony said. "We don't have this problem in Allen Fieldhouse. We just stay in the stands and
scream and yell, sing the alma mater with the band and go out afterwards and have a good time."
Kansan staff writer C.J. Moore can be contacted at cjmoore@ kansan.com.
Edited by Derek Korte
SOCCER (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
What's really scary is how Gault can still influence the defense at her new offensive position. The midfield line might as well be a force field when Gault is in the game. She prevents opposing attackers from moving the ball by using her old defensive skills. Her impenetrable play in the middle is part of the reason the Jayhawks' opponents have been averaging only seven shots per game.
One play during the second half of the Furman game on Friday, Aug. 25, showcased how she could combine her attacking and defending talents at her new position.
Gault picked the ball clean
from a Paladin attacker at midfield and sprinted down the right side of the field.
The early success of Gault's midfield play makes it look like she's been playing midfield for her entire career but her progress stems from the help of others.
She weaved in and out of a few defenders then flipped the ball into the center of the box to the trailing Lacey Novak, senior forward. Novak easily scored and Gault was credited with the assist.
"We've had great midfielders in the past," Gault said. "Just being able to watch them has helped me out a lot."
The season is still young but Gault has helped lead her team to a 2-1-0 record, with the only loss coming against nationally ranked California. Gault wants to guide Kansas to a Big 12 Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth this season.
"Each week gives us more time to fine tune," she said. "The attacking side just comes with experience."
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@ kansan.com.
Edited by Natalie Johnson