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Crennel: “I wasn’t able to reach the young man”

Posted by Mike Florio on December 2, 2012, 7:42 PM EST

To cap an emotional and informative opening segment to Football Night in America, Peter King of Sports Illustrated supplied some new details regarding Saturday’s tragic events in Kansas City.

Citing a source close to law enforcement on the scene, King explained that Jovan Belcher and Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli separately arrived at the parking lot outside the team’s facility, at approximately 8:00 a.m. local time.  Pioli noticed that Belcher seemed very upset.  Police say Pioli tried to calm him down.
At the same time, a Chiefs security officer saw that Belcher had a gun in his possession.  The security officer called police.
During a short conversation, Belcher thanked Pioli for giving him an opportunity as an undrafted free agent from Maine in 2009.  Belcher then asked Pioli to call coach Romeo Crennel and defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs so that he could thank them, too.
Crennel and Gibbs came outside, and Belcher thanked them profusely.  He wasn’t willing to talk to them or to be reasoned with.  Instead, he repeatedly thanked them.
“I wasn’t able able to reach the young man,” Crennel told King after the game, but Crennel declined to be specific about what Belcher had said.
Belcher then turned around, began to walk away and shot himself in the head.

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Chiefs will have a moment of silence for all domestic violence victims

Posted by Mike Florio on December 2, 2012, 10:09 AM EST

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After wrestling with how to properly acknowledge a player who killed the mother of his infant daughter then killed himself on Saturday, the Chiefs have decided to conduct a moment of silence on Sunday for all victims of domestic violence.
According to Randy Moss of NFL Network, the Chiefs also will keep linebacker Jovan Belcher’s locker intact, at least for now.
The situation surely creates many conflicting emotions and thoughts for Chiefs players, who lost a teammate under unprecedented circumstances.  We continue to wish them well as they struggle with this tragedy.

Chiefs get second win, a moment’s relief

Posted by Darin Gantt on December 2, 2012, 3:59 PM EST

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Nothing that happened on the field is going to comfort the Chiefs.
But for a moment, this will help.
A day after one of their own committed murder and then suicide, the Chiefs held on for a 27-21 win over the Panthers.
The Chiefs played a clean game from start to finish, with Brady Quinn completing 19-of-23 passes  for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Coupled with a 127-yard day for running back Jamaal Charles, it was the kind of game Kansas City fans haven’t enjoyed much.
It snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Chiefs (2-10), and marked their first win in regulation this season.
The Panthers (3-9) problems were with a defense that couldn’t stop anyone, ruining another in a string of positive games for quarterback Cam Newton, who threw for three touchdowns, with no turnovers.