Chiefs Respond to Dirty Charges

Kansas City Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer is angry over charges that his team plays dirty.

Schottenheimer denied complaints on Tuesday by Denver Coach Mike Shanahan that the Chiefs are guilty of unethical blocking techniques.

The charges were raised anew Sunday after Kansas City’s Dale Carter injured Denver cornerback Lionel Washington while blocking him low on a running play late in the Broncos’ 34-7 victory. Washington suffered a partial tear of ligaments in his left knee and is expected to miss two-four weeks.

Carter fueled the controversy by taunting Washington as he lay in pain on the turf.

“We’ve got a lot of people in the AFC implying that we are coaching things that are on the edge. that are on the brink, that are unethical,” said Schottenheimer, his voice rising. “And they’re not. We have football players who play hard. They play until the whistle blows. I make no apologies for that.

“I resent the statement that what we do is unethical,” the Chiefs coach said, pounding his finger on a table top. “Our players are not--I repeat, they are not--doing anything illegal or unethical.”

“It’s a legal play,” Shanahan said Monday. “There’s nothing the league can do about it. It’s something we have to do as coaches to protect players. Obviously, it’s something I believe is unethical.”

It is legal for a receiver to block down at the defensive back’s legs if the defensive back is in front of the receiver.

Schottenheimer showed reporters films of Denver wide receivers using similar techniques.

“That man is looking at Dale Carter as Dale gets closer to him, or I think should be,” he said. “And he has the ability to defend himself. The Denver Broncos do it just like we do it.”

*

Work has finally begun on Nashville’s stadium that will house the Oilers by the end of this century. Demolition likely won’t start until next month, but city officials closed the sale Monday on the first of 49 businesses that must be relocated to build the 65,000-seat stadium for the state’s first major pro sports franchise.