Throughout his 12-season NFL career, Trent Green says he has developed a weekly pregame routine, one that allows him to maintain an even keel, whether the upcoming opponent is the lowly Houston Texans, the two-time defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, or, as will be the case Sunday, the AFC West-leading Broncos.
“It’s worked pretty well for me,” the quarterback said after the Kansas City Chiefs’ 26-16 win over New England last weekend.
But perhaps never as well as in the past month. The last time Green played at Arrowhead Stadium before Sunday was against Oakland on Nov. 6, shortly after the unexpected death of his father, Jim. Last Thursday, while Denver was beating Dallas and Atlanta was ending Steve Mariucci’s brief tenure in Detroit, Green spent his first Thanksgiving without his biggest fan.
Sunday, somehow, he took to the field and had what coach Dick Vermeil called his finest game of the season, completing 19-of-26 passes for 323 yards and a touchdown, and compiling a 127.6 passer rating – 158.3 is considered perfect – as the Chiefs (7-4) maintained their playoff hopes.
It was a performance that normally would have been the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.
“My family has had season tickets the whole time I’ve been here,” Green said. “He (his father) organized everything – they did the tailgating thing with all the rest of the fans; they just enjoyed home weekends.
“I constantly think about him. There’s no escaping that. But I also think about what my mom, what everybody else are going through. My concern is mainly with all of them, how they’re handling it.”
In a sense, Green can rely on his second family, his teammates, to help him through the rough patches. In a season that, between mini-camps, organized workouts and offseason conditioning, doesn’t really come to an end, players often spend more time with teammates than their immediate families.
That ever-ready support may be why, just two days after learning of his father’s death, Broncos wide receiver Todd Devoe was on the field in Oakland, or why Denver’s playoff aspirations this season may be taking on a little more urgency in the aftermath of tackle Dwayne Carswell’s season-ending automobile accident.
Since the Patriots beat the Raiders 30-20 in the opening game of the 2005 season, more than 100 players have been placed on their team’s season-ending injured reserve list. NFL players and teams accept that injuries are part of the game; they adjust and adapt. Personal tragedies are something different.
“I don’t think people understand how hard that is to play through,” Chiefs running back Tony Richardson said. “Unless you’ve been through something like that, experience something like that, you have no idea how you’ll respond. Trent has done a great job because I can’t imagine what it’s like for him not having his dad out there.”
When the Chiefs played the Raiders, Green insisted his family not come, rather than deal with “all the people and their questions, even their blessings and well-wishes.” Before the game however, he taped off his father’s seat so no one would sit there.
Against the Patriots, Green’s family returned to Arrowhead.
“We’re trying to move on,” Green said. “We try to share the stories and the good times and the enjoyment he brought to us. I’m just thankful I had a dad for as long as I did who enjoyed what it was that I did.
“He was interested in supporting me from the time I was a little kid all the way through – that’s what I value. Even though he’s gone away too soon, I value that I had that support. There are a lot of guys that either don’t know their dad or haven’t had that kind of support. I’ve been very blessed to have that for a long time.”
NFL
Games of the week
Somehow, the NFL’s schedule makers got it right, having a crucial, rivalry-tinged slate of games coming down the stretch. There’s Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, Atlanta at Carolina, Dallas at the New York Giants, Oakland at San Diego, and of course, the Broncos and Chiefs.
Instant karma
Almost three years ago, Matt Millen flaunted the NFL’s policies on making a genuine attempt to develop minority coaching candidates, setting his sights on and only interviewing Steve Mariucci when it came time to hire a coach for the Detroit Lions. The team’s president and CEO was reportedly fined at least $200,000 by the league for his transgression. On Monday, Millen fired his hand-
picked guy. Millen was a brilliant player in the NFL and a great television analyst afterward. It seemed natural for him to find success in someone’s front office, but that hasn’t been the case. The Lions are 20-55 during his tenure, which raises the question: How is it that Millen was granted a five-year contract extension earlier this season?
Trending
It will be interesting to see how Jacksonville responds to the loss of quarterback Byron Leftwich. With a remaining schedule that includes just one team with a winning record (Indianapolis), the 8-3 Jaguars should nonetheless win at least 10 games. Meanwhile, the Chiefs’ remaining foes are 38-17, so even at 7-4, Kansas City is far from a lock for the playoffs. … Even with two losses this month, the Patriots are still the most successful NFL team after Nov. 1 in the past five seasons. Since 2001, New England has won 41 games, five more than the second place Philadelphia Eagles. Pittsburgh (32) and Green Bay (30) were next on the list.
Staff writer Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
