National Football League

Chiefs dropping passes at alarming rate

Published Dec. 23, 2009 6:45 p.m. ET

foxsports

With two games to go, the Kansas City Chiefs will dodge an unofficial and very unwelcome NFL record only if they can - pardon the expression - hold on.

After dropping 10 passes in last week's bitter loss to Cleveland, KC's butterfingered receiving corps leads the league in balls that strike hands before striking turf.

Whether a pass is dropped or merely uncatchable is sometimes open to debate. So the NFL does not keep official records of that particular mistake.

But according to STATS LLC, the most dropped passes by any team in the past 17 years was 54 by the 1992 Dolphins.

By the unofficial count of STATS, the Chiefs have dropped 46. Head coach Todd Haley, fuming with frustration, puts the number at 49.

With road games at Cincinnati and Denver still to go in this miserable season, eight additional dropped passes would seem easily within reach.

To Haley, who worked his way up the coaching ladder tutoring wide receivers for the New York Jets, Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, this contagion of drops is galling. More than once, the emotional rookie head coach has screamed at underachieving receivers walking sheepishly back to the bench while the punting unit takes the field on fourth down.

They also work overtime and review technique over and over. It just doesn't seem to be doing any good.

``This drop thing is as frustrating as anything in coaching I've had to deal with,'' Haley said. ``You can go down through our season and wipe everything else out of the equation. If we catch the ball we're sitting here feeling a lot better about ourselves than where we're at. This has been a very frustrating situation.''

Everyone has gotten into the act. The Chiefs have dropped short, medium, and long-range passes. They've mishandled balls on corner routes, crossing routes, go patterns and fades. They've failed to score after dropping balls that would have given them first-and-goal inside the 5.

While losing 11 of 14 games, they've let sure touchdowns slip through their desperate clutches.

Dwayne Bowe is second in the NFL with 10 drops - and he missed four games. After the Cleveland game, the Chiefs had two other receivers tied for third in the league with nine drops. But now it's only one because Mark Bradley was released.

Haley insisted Bradley's departure was not due solely to the pass he dropped against the Browns. He also caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Matt Cassel that tied the game 34-34 with 2:20 to go.

``Any time you have to release a player it's not fun,'' Haley said. ``All these guys have bought in and given everything they have, worked hard. But we've got to get this right.''

Perplexed, embarrassed and frustrated, usually sure-handed receivers acknowledge they sometimes feel as though they're caught in an epidemic.

``It's contagious,'' Bowe said. ``Once one guy does it, and you don't fuss at him. And that's not going to do it. You've got to take care of the ball and don't let it hit the ground.''

Wide receiver Chris Chambers, after a terrible game against Buffalo on Dec. 13, rebounded last week and caught five passes for 114 yards and a TD against the Browns.

``Sometimes we get one dropped ball, and then we get another,'' he said. ``You need somebody to stop the bleeding. It just comes down to concentration. We've been doing this all our life, all our career. We wouldn't have made it to this point if we weren't able to catch the football. If we were winning, we would not be talking about this whatsoever.''

Haley has tried just about everything. His receivers work on catching drills before and after practice.

``That's one of the reasons why we have more third-and-longs than anybody in the league,'' he said. ``It's directly related to dropped balls. And it's why we're 31st in third-down conversion even though we've made good progress there.''

A year ago, the Chiefs went into the record book for the fewest sacks in a 16-game season, with 10. This year they're approaching dubious history from the other side of the ball.

``We have to resolve this very soon because I'm tired of answering questions about it,'' Chambers said.