Last Sunday wasn’t the best example of reality, at least after Denver zipped to a huge lead up (35-0 at half and up 49-17 late in the game), but that didn’t mean the Chiefs stopped paying attention to how some players reacted.Coach Todd Haley said this week that his starters were given the option late in the game of calling it a night. That game was finished, and perhaps it was best to bid Denver adieu.
Not everyone saw it that way.
“We have to continue to fight,” quarterback Matt Cassel said this week. “You’re paid to play for 60 minutes.”
But in that game and in these early seasons of the team’s transition, Haley said the Chiefs need players who don’t quit, even when there’s every reason to.
“You just see who your leaders are,” Haley said. “He wanted to continue to lead the team.
“The leader’s got to go down with the ship occasionally.
“He felt like he was part of it from the start and didn’t want to not be part of it in the end,” Haley said. “It just reconfirms my belief and knowledge that Matt is a truly competitive, competitive guy who wants to be a real good quarterback in the league and wants to be the leader of a team that wins a bunch of games.
“He shows that every day out here (at practice), and he shows it in games like that.
“It just shows your teammates that you care and that it’s important to you. And you care about your team, in good times and in bad,” Haley said. “Sometimes it’s even better tested in bad times.”
