Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Chiefs suspend cornerback Peters for Raiders game
KANSAS CITY, MO. » Marcus Peters chucked an official’s flag into the stands, stalked off the field wearing a smile, then ran back onto it without wearing socks when he realized he hadn’t been ejected.
Well, he won’t have to worry about socks on Sunday.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid suspended the volatile young cornerback for their game against Oakland after a series of antics that have humiliated not only Peters but the entire organization.
The latest came in last week’s loss to the New York Jets, when a late penalty was called and Peters picked up the flag and flung it into the stands. Peters proceeded to leave the field, assuming that he’d been kicked out of the game, and was evidently undressing when he realized his mistake.
So Peters ran back onto the sideline without wearing socks, only to watch the Chiefs’ last-ditch drive fall short in a 38-31 loss — their sixth in the last seven games.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking and come to the conclusion I’m going to suspend him for this game,” Reid said after Wednesday morning’s walkthrough. “I’m not going to get into detail on it. I did have the opportunity to talk to Marcus and some of the players, and I’ve got a good locker room. I fully trust them. We’ll be OK there. So that’s where I’m at.”
The team was informed of the suspension earlier Wednesday, and several players seemed to be trying to digest the news. Fellow cornerback Terrance Mitchell was asked whether a message had been sent to a team lacking discipline, and replied: “I’m not really sure.”
“You know, listen, nobody likes to lose, and when you’ve lost a few in a row sometimes funny things happen,” said quarterback Alex Smith, who typically acts as the team’s spokesman because few players are ever in the locker room when reporters are present.
“Coach made a decision and we’re going with it,” Smith said. “The stakes are too big right now with what we have in front of us. I think we have a good locker room, a mature locker room. Guys are going to handle it the right way. And we have to go as a team.”
Peters has been selected to the Pro Bowl his first two seasons, and was an All-Pro last year, so his loss even for a week is crucial. Not only did the Raiders’ Derek Carr throw for 417 yards and three TDs against the Chiefs in their October matchup, both teams are 6-6 and tied atop the AFC West.
“I made it off the things that happened Sunday,” Reid said of the suspension. “I’m not going to get into the details. That’s not how I roll with these things. I deal with the player man to man, we discuss it, inevitably he’ll come back and we’ll move on from there.”
This is hardly the first time Reid has suspended his star players.
In 2005, he sat wide receiver Teammates of the Chiefs’ Marcus Peters, left, try to prevent him from leaving the field after a penalty against the Jets Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. Terrell Owens the second half of the season for an accumulation of incidents that had corroded the locker room. In 2011, it was wide receiver DeSean Jackson who got a one-game suspension after being late to team meetings.
“Any time you have to do one of these things, that’s not the best part of the job,” Reid said, “but I’m going to do what is best for this organization, for that time. Try to sit back and evaluate it, and that’s what I did with this, and this is the conclusion I came to.”
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