Flowers shows Chiefs is up for starting job

The ball was coming.
He knew that.
How could you not?
When you’re a rookie cornerback, going up against two Pro Bowl caliber wide receivers, the ball’s coming your way.
And it did for Chiefs rookie Brandon Flowers in Saturday’s exhibition against the Arizona Cardinals at Arrowhead Stadium.
After facing the offensively inept Chicago Bears in his first exhibition game, Flowers faced two of the best in the game in receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.
And on the first play of the game, he was tested with a pass down the field intended for Fitzgerald that went incomplete.
They tested him the rest of the time he played. He ended the game with three tackles, a pair of passes defended.
Not bad for a guy finally getting his first NFL test.
“I feel I played well,” Flowers said. “I left a lot of plays on the table.”
After the game, coach Herm Edwards said he and Flowers knew the rookie was going to see some action against the high-octane passing offense of Arizona.
Flowers said he was comfortable with it, as it gives him an idea of what this season is truly going to be like.
“I was really excited,” Flowers said. “I trained with Boldin down in Miami. I couldn’t wait to play against him on the field.”
And the challenges are going to keep coming this season. When the regular season starts, the Chiefs are going to face New England and Randy Moss, who set a record for touchdown catches in a season last year.
“You can’t look at the name on the back of the jersey,” Flowers said. “You have to play it like another receiver. You just play your technique.
“You’re always going to know it’s a Randy Moss. But you can’t have fear or back down.”
That’s a great thing about Flowers. He sees challenges as well as opportunities. And he knows what is in store for this season, especially playing alongside a good cornerback in Patrick Surtain.
A lot has been made – and rightly so – about first-round picks Glenn Dorsey and Branden Albert and how important they are to the team.
Right now, I think Flowers’ impact may be the most important. It will at the very least be the most noticeable with him being a cornerback.
Saturday was an opportunity to see what Flowers could do. I liked what I saw.
Did they catch some passes? Yeah. But these guys are going to do that to everybody.
Larry Fitzgerald is going to catch near 100 passes this year. Boldin could as well – and he didn’t catch a single pass Saturday night.
I like Flowers’ confidence, which is one of the essential skills of a cornerback. You have to want the ball to come to you, to know you’re going to make a play, to know that if that ball comes your way, there’s a chance it’s going the other way.
He’s confident, but realistic. He knows he’s a rookie. He knows there is still a lot of room to grow as a player – and not just this year.
“I just want to learn more and more,” he said.
And that’s a great attribute to hear from a young player who appears to have a bright future in Kansas City.
n It was nice to see Dorsey on the field – even though it wasn’t for long Saturday.
I’m sure some Chiefs fans are seeing nightmares of Ryan Sims running through their heads. Sims, for those who forced themselves to forget, missed most of his rookie year with an injury and was either injured most of his time with the Chiefs or just plain lost on the field, never living up to his top-10 pick status.
Personally, I think Dorsey is much more talented than Sims and will make Chiefs fans happy he fell to them at No. 5 this year.
n The other thing I took away from Saturday night’s exhibition is that Tyler Thigpen is fun to watch.
After watching starting quarterback Brodie Croyle not complete a pass further than 8 yards down the field, it was nice seeing Thigpen routinely throw it at least sort of deep.
And I don’t know if the Chiefs have had a quarterback with the ability to run the ball like that since Scramblin’ Steve Pelleur in the 1980s.
I’m not saying he should be the starter. But I don’t mind him as the backup right now. He seems to have a little bit of upside. Why not try to develop him and see how good this kid could be?