AFC

Chiefs are state champs

When the Rams play host to the Chiefs today, more than an NFL game will be at stake. This matchup is about Missouri bragging rights, and it has a trophy to go along with it: the Governor’s Cup.

The Chiefs are keepers of the cup, having won their last three games against St. Louis. But first-year Kansas City Coach Herman Edwards wasn’t immediately up to speed on the rivalry.

When he first heard about the Governor’s Cup, the coach didn’t recognize the term.

“I thought we were talking about golf,” he told reporters.

He has since learned the truth, of course, although he seemed to be a little foggy on the meaning of it when talking to reporters last week.

“At first, it was brought to my attention that it was done in the preseason,” he said. “Is it done in the regular season too? Do we have the cup? OK, then we’ve got to try to keep the cup.”

Thinking ahead

Curtis Martin has his priorities straight. The New York Jets running back reluctantly declared his season over last week because of the bone-on-bone condition in his right knee.

“Do I think I can tolerate the pain and go out there and score a touchdown? Probably,” he told reporters last week. “That’s just what I believe.

“But do I think that’s going to possibly hinder me from scoring a touchdown with my kids, or running down the field with my kids? Yes.”

Almost a left turn for L.T.

San Diego will play host to Cleveland today, and the Browns probably will get a steady dose of LaDainian Tomlinson. Things might have been much different, though, had the Browns selected Tomlinson in the 2001 draft as many people thought.

“My agent was telling me that Cleveland was a team I could go to,” he said last week in a conference call with Browns beat writers. “I was prepared for the situation. I knew they needed a running back badly.”

As it happened, then first-year Browns coach Butch Davis used his No. 3 pick to select defensive tackle Gerard Warren. Tomlinson went fifth to the Chargers.

Davis’ backup plan was to grab Mississippi’s Deuce McAllister. The Browns traded up in the second round in hopes of landing him. But McAllister went 23rd overall to the Saints.

Monday blahs

Once the kings of “Monday Night Football,” the Raiders have lost their last four Monday games by a combined 116-27. They play at Seattle on Monday, where all five of their previous Monday matchups against the Seahawks have occurred.

The good old days

Miami receiver Chris Chambers reminisced last week about what might have been had the 1-6 Dolphins kept quarterback Gus Frerotte instead of signing Daunte Culpepper.

Frerotte, remember, led the team to six consecutive victories in the final six games last season. He was released in March, mere hours after Miami had acquired Culpepper from Minnesota. The Dolphins now are considering putting Culpepper on injured reserve, a move that would end his season, so he can get his right knee healthy.

Chambers told reporters he was happy to have Culpepper on the team, “but I think we would be a lot more efficient” with Frerotte.

“We knew the way that Gus threw the ball,” Chambers said. “Gus trusted us on the outside, he knew our abilities, gave us a chance to make plays. We probably would be in a better position.”

This Colt kicks back

Among the many subplots when Indianapolis plays at New England tonight is the return to Foxborough of Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, formerly a Patriots star.

New England quarterback Tom Brady joked last week that Vinatieri doesn’t look good in his new uniform.

“Tell Tom to quit looking at me,” Vinatieri said with a laugh when informed of that comment.

Unlike Willie McGinest, who was upset when the Patriots gave his old No. 55 to Junior Seau, Vinatieri said he had no qualms about the team assigning his No. 4 to a future player.

“It’s not mine,” he said. “I rented it for 10 years.”

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-- Sam Farmer