Bronco Blame Game

Although he finally made the obvious move and benched Brian Griese in favor of Bubby Brister, Coach Mike Shanahan said Griese is not the only one responsible for the Denver Broncos’ 0-4 start.

“When you lose four games in a row, it’s easy to blame it on a young quarterback,” he said. “I think it’s best for our team to take some of that pressure away from the quarterback position and disperse it among everybody on the team.”

The Oakland Raider defense has improved dramatically under coordinator Willie Shaw, who works from the field rather than the press box.

“That’s the nature of who I am,” said Shaw, who was hired after the Raiders ranked last in the NFL in total defense, passing defense and rushing defense in 1997, and helped them improve to fifth last season. “I have military training as a sergeant. I have to be in the middle of the action. When a guy comes off the field and I want to talk to him, I want to look in his eyes.”

The Kansas City Chiefs, who host the Patriots on Sunday, haven’t forgotten their 40-10 loss at Foxboro last season.

“It’s still on our mind that they beat us the way they did last year and really didn’t show us any respect, either,” said safety Reggie Tongue. “We kind of deserved what we got. But if there’s one game we have something to prove, it would probably be this one.”