Chiefs' Gonzalez just comes to play the football game

By IVAN CARTER The Kansas City Star

Tight end Tony Gonzalez caught four passes for 28 yards and two touchdowns in the Chiefs' victory over the Chargers on Sunday in San Diego.

Tony Gonzalez just doesn't get it. This isn't how superstar pass catchers are supposed to act. Here Gonzalez is, on his way to a fifth straight Pro Bowl, and he's never cussed out his offensive coordinator with a sideline tirade like Terrell Owens. He hasn't lobbed a homophobic insult toward the greatest coach in the history of his organization the way Jeremy Shockey did.

He has yet to guarantee a victory like Chad Johnson or dog it in the fourth quarter of a close game like Randy Moss. And his coaches have never become so fed up with his selfishness that they've wanted to boot him off their team a la Keyshawn Johnson. No, all Gonzalez does is block for Priest Holmes, catch Trent Green's passes and score touchdowns. Gonzalez has emerged from an injury-plagued start to the season to pace all NFL tight ends with 48 receptions for 631 yards and eight touchdowns. Statistically, it has been Touchdown Tony's best season since 2000, when he posted career highs in receptions (93) and yards (1,203) while snagging nine touchdowns.

In terms of contributing to a winner, it clearly is his best season. So why is so much attention being devoted to the knuckleheads? “I think that's just news in general,” said Denver head coach Mike Shanahan. “Accentuate the negatives. But in the football world, believe me, all the coaches and players that are in the profession respect the Tony Gonzalezes and how they carry themselves both on and off the football field. I was around (Tony) a little bit in Hawaii and just being around him, I was jealous of what kind of leader he was just in how he handled himself in a restaurant.” When it comes to on-the-field performance, Shanahan looks at tape of the Chiefs and sees what everyone else sees: one of the game's best players. Four of Gonzalez's eight touchdowns have come in the last four games and he remains the ultimate complement to Holmes when the Chiefs near the end zone.

Gonzalez has a league-high 10 receptions and a league-high six touchdowns inside the opponent's 20-yard line, while 33 of his 48 receptions have gone for first downs.

“No. 1, he's a great player,” Shanahan said. “If you get the ball anywhere close to him with his size and his ability to beat bump coverage, it's hard to cover him one on one whether you're talking about safeties or linebackers. He's a big target, he has great concentration and then, the offensive line does such a good job of giving the quarterback time to look for him.”

Gonzalez revealed a bit of himself following Sunday's win over the Chargers in which he caught four passes for 28 yards and two touchdowns. Asked about one of the touchdowns, Gonzalez instead kicked himself for missing a block.

“Priest should've had another touchdown,” Gonzalez said. “I owe him one.”

It's safe to say that it will be a long time before you hear Owens or Moss get on themselves for missing a block. Gonzalez is taking his greatest pleasure in winning these days. The last time he tasted playoff football, he was a rookie in 1997 and the Chiefs earned home-field advantage by finishing 13-3. At the time, Gonzalez never could have guessed that it would take 91 games, 412 receptions and 43 touchdowns before he knew what it was like to claim a share of his second AFC West title. Gonzalez and his teammates did just that last Sunday in the visitor's locker room in San Diego, and can clinch a division title as well as a rare sweep of the west with a win at Denver Sunday.

“I take huge satisfaction, considering what I've been through the last seven years here, coming in here my first year and winning the AFC West, and then not even getting close to it since then,” Gonzalez said. “It's a great feeling.”

Gonzalez is well on his way to carving out a place for himself among the all-time greats. On Sunday, he'll stand across the field from arguably the best tight end ever, Denver's Shannon Sharpe. Now in his 14th and perhaps final NFL season, Sharpe is just behind Gonzalez in receptions by a tight end with 46 and is tied with Gonzalez for touchdowns by a tight end with eight.

“He's always been very, very respectful of me,” Sharpe said. “We talk when we get the opportunity to see each other and, obviously, we watch each other. I look at what he does and he looks at what I do. It's just healthy competition. No animosity when he has a great game and I don't and there's none on his part when I have a great game. I'm just a student of the game and try to pick up on some of the things he does, see how he runs particular routes and I'm sure he picks on some of the things I do.”

Right now, Sharpe and Gonzalez are separated by experience and postseason success. Sharpe picked up two Super Bowl titles with the Broncos and a third with the Ravens while Gonzalez is hoping to earn his first ring this season. Since the first day of training camp, Gonzalez has talked not about individual statistics or career milestones but of what it would feel like to end the season in Houston, carrying off the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Now that the Chiefs are 11-1 and a strong four-game finish away from earning home-field advantage, Gonzalez is more focused than ever. Perhaps that's why he's not into the war of words that is raging between some Broncos and Chiefs. Told of some disparaging comments receiver Eddie Kennison made Wednesday about the Broncos, Gonzalez shook his head.

“I'd rather just stay quiet and play the game,” Gonzalez said. “Winning is hard enough as it is.”

It was a repeat of the mantra Gonzalez preached moments after Sunday's win in San Diego.