2. Kansas City Chiefs
Not only was Andre Rison's attendance at meetings perfect in the preseason, but the Chiefs' new wideout also remained awake during them. What's up with that? What has become of the malcontent who emerged as a game-breaker for the Falcons early in his eight-year NFL career while also becoming notorious for blowing off meetings, popping off at coaches and, when his girlfriend burned down his house in a lovers' quarrel, redefining the term domestic dispute.
There's been no sign of that bad apple during Rison's brief tenure with Kansas City, his fifth NFL team in four years. "Our evening meeting is over at 10 p.m.," says receivers coach Al Saunders. "Typically, Andre stays late to watch extra film. No one has worked harder, on or off the field. He's been exemplary."
Despite Rison's reputation, the Chiefs were willing to roll the dice, signing him to a two-year, $2 million contract in June, three months after he had been released by the Packers. Last season the Chiefs averaged only 18.6 points a game and in their final five games had just five pass plays that covered 20 or more yards. So after missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years, coach Marty Schottenheimer vowed to make his offense more "point productive." Apparently he also vowed to use the word chunks at least once in every third sentence. As in his assessment of Rison: "He makes yardage in chunks, big chunks."
Running under passes thrown by new quarterback Elvis Grbac, Rison, who caught only six touchdowns in his last two seasons, is looking forward to a big comeback. The addition of Rison and former Lion Brett Perriman—they have combined for 1,069 catches, 13,944 yards and 95 touchdowns in their NFL careers—makes wide receiver the Chiefs' second-most-improved position.
Kansas City is most improved at tight end, a position that, according to Schottenheimer, "creates opportunities to make yardage in chunks." (May we suggest an official candy bar for the '97 Chiefs: Chunky). Since blocking tight end Derrick Walker is basically a tackle with a receiver's number, the team traded up in the first round of the draft to take Cal tight end Tony Gonzalez, a terrific athlete who was also a starting forward on the Golden Bears' basketball team. (After a spectacular, one-handed catch during a preseason game against the Panthers, Gonzalez said, "It was like going for a rebound. I knew I couldn't catch it clean, so I tipped it to myself.") Kansas City also signed former 49ers reserve tight end Ted Popson, who had an impressive preseason. It helps that he was a San Francisco teammate of Grbac, who says, "I know his every move."
Grbac will not have to be great to be an improvement over his predecessor. Steve Bono completed only 53.7% of his passes last season, a pathetic figure considering the Chiefs run the West Coast offense, which is built on high-percentage passes. Nor was Bono much of a leader. By showing up for all of the team's off-season conditioning workouts, which started in late March and ran through June, Grbac quickly distinguished himself from Bono, whose reluctance to attend those workouts in previous seasons had created dissension.
"He's got the emotional makeup of a leader," says offensive coordinator Paul Hackett of this latest former San Francisco quarterback now starting for Kansas City. "He just needs to play." After serving primarily as Steve Young's clipboard caddie for four years, Grbac reached the same conclusion. "I got sick of it," he says. "I wanted to be the starter."
What was it like, seeing spot duty, knowing no matter how well he played, the clipboard awaited? Says Grbac, "It's like taking a bite of an apple, then giving it away."
He says "bite." His boss would say "chunk."
—Austin Murphy
SCHEDULE SKINNY
The Chiefs bolted to a 4-0 start in '96, then hit the wall, losing four of their last five games and missing the playoffs for the first time since '89. How Kansas City handles its first six games—at Denver, at Oakland, Buffalo, at Carolina, Seattle and at Miami—may tell us if last season's collapse was the start of a downward cycle.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
NFL rank: 2
Opponents' 1996 winning percentage: .547
Games against playoff teams: 7
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