Resurgent Gonzalez turning back the clock in KC

By Clayton Wendler  |   Tuesday, November 07, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Kansas City Chiefs
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Tony Gonzalez was so wide open he probably had time to choreograph his post-touchdown celebration.

The Kansas City Chiefs were running a pass play on first-and-goal from the St. Louis three-yard line. Running back Larry Johnson and fullback/tight end Kris Wilson flared out into the left flat, taking Rams defenders with them. Gonzalez slipped out, almost unnoticed from his tight end position, and made a break for the corner of the end zone.

Gonzalez isn't supposed to get that wide open. For years now, he's been molested by linebackers and ridden by safeties and corners trying to disrupt his release from the line of scrimmage. Opposing defenses brought saddles along when it was time to face Gonzalez.

But for whatever reason, the Rams' defense completely forgot about Gonzalez on this particular play.

Chiefs quarterback Damon Huard didn't, and flipped Gonzalez the easiest touchdown pass of his 10-year career. Just like that, the Chiefs were up 14-0, en route to a 31-17 win over the St. Louis Rams.

Gonzalez finished the day with five catches for 64 yards and two touchdowns. His second score came right before halftime, when he was, again, so wide open he could have stopped and made a sandwich before hauling in a 25-yard scoring pass.

Is someone making his morning coffee with water from the fountain of youth? After a dominating 2004 season that saw Gonzalez break the single-season record for catches by a tight end (102), the 10-year veteran's numbers slipped in 2005. He averaged less than 12 yards per catch for the first time since 1999 and, most notably, scored only two touchdowns all year.

This year, Gonzalez is averaging a healthy 13.3 yards per catch, the best mark of his professional career. Sunday's two-touchdown game was his first since December 2004.

Last year, Gonzalez scraped out just 376 yards in the first half of the season. There were whispers that he had lost a step, that Chiefs fans were finally seeing the decline that inevitably hits great tight ends once they turn 30.

But this year Gonzalez is off to one the best start starts of his professional career, with 38 catches for 504 yards and three touchdowns. It's been an eight-game stretch that is much more comparable to the way he started 2004, when he put up 576 yards in the first half of the season.

What's even more remarkable about Gonzalez's renewed vigor in the passing game this year is he's doing it under improbable circumstances. The Chiefs lost Hall of Fame left tackle Willie Roaf to retirement right before training camp. Quarterback Trent Green went down to a nasty concussion during Week 1.

Gonzalez is putting together one of his best seasons with Huard, a journeyman at quarterback who had barely thrown a pass over the previous five seasons.

It's difficult to pinpoint any one factor that has led to the return of No. 88 as the NFL's dominant tight end. Maybe it's the fact that for the first time in years, he's entered the season with a completely healthy foot. Perhaps it has something to do with KC's new offensive coordinator, Mike Solari, a former tight ends coach.

Heck, maybe Herm Edwards has Marty McFly's Delorean stashed somewhere deep inside the bowels of Arrowhead Stadium, and switched out 30-year-old Gonzalez for 26-year-old Gonzalez before the season started.

Whatever the reason, Gonzalez is back where he belongs. For the last several years, the national media promoted Jeremy Shockey, Alge Crumpler, Antonio Gates and Kellen Winslow, Jr. as the NFL's best tight ends.

As of Nov. 6, 2006, Gonzalez was leading that entire pack in receiving yards.

Kansas City Chiefs commentary, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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