--Herm Edwards understood Tony Gonzalez's frustration, but would have done nothing differently to remove it.

Gonzalez, anxious to set an NFL record before his family and fans in a home game against Denver, was unhappy about not getting the chance in the final two-minute possession to get the three yards he needed to break Shannon Sharpe's NFL record for tight end receiving yardage (10,060 career yards).

"I'll still get the record," Gonzalez noted, "but I'm a little disappointed. No, highly disappointed. I wanted to do it at home, against the Broncos, against our rivals, in front of my family, in front of our fans.

"It's just disappointing to know that with two minutes left we could have gone for the record, but for whatever reason we didn't. I'm a little upset, but I'll get over it."

He better, because Edwards -- whose touchdown return of a kill-the-clock fumbled handoff became "the Miracle at the Meadowlands" in 1978 -- wasn't backing down on his decision not to throw the ball while protecting a tenuous seven-point lead with two minutes remaining.

Recovering an onside kick at the Denver 43, KC disdained any pass attempts and ran Larry Johnson three straight times. Johnson produced a 16-yard touchdown that iced the Chiefs' first victory in 11 months, a period in which they lost 12 consecutive games.

"You wish it would have happened for him (at home against Denver)," Edwards said. "It would have been a great venue for it.

"But it didn't happen. I was in a situation in that game where, when I became aware of (the record being close), it was too late to do anything about it.

"I've always been a guy who believes team comes first. So I couldn't do it; it wouldn't be wouldn't be fair to me or the team. It wasn't anything against Tony at all. But when you're trying to win a game -- and we hadn't won a game in such a long time -- to put that in jeopardy, you cannot do it.

"Tony and I had a great conversation. I told him, I know how you feel, but the day you accept your jacket and bust at the Hall of Fame, I want you to think about this conversation we had today. I bet you'll smile."

--Edwards was not surprised that John Fox, his defensive backfield teammate at San Diego State in 1974, went into coaching, ultimately ending up with the Carolina Panthers.

"He was the captain on the defense, the safety, very analytical. You could see he was going to be a head coach," Edwards remembered. "He knew then that he probably wasn't going to play pro football. Sure enough, as soon he got out, he went to small schools and started coaching, worked his way up the chain."

It was more surprising to Edwards that he, too, would ultimately become a head coach.

"I took a hard road to get here," he said. "Somebody gave me a chance. I was a double transfer (Cal to Monterrey JC to San Diego) and had a lot of hair on my head. When the coach told us to do something, I asked why we had to do it."

--Carolina's last-second 26-24 season-opening victory over San Diego this year broke a six-game Panthers losing streak against AFC competition.

BY THE NUMBERS: 32 -- Players on the Chiefs' 53-man active roster playing in their third season or less.

16 -- Rookies on Kansas City's current roster, one more than on opening day.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "He's won a game. We hope he can win another one. If that happens, we'll have a great conversation after the bye, won't we? Stay tuned." -- Coach Herm Edwards, on QB Damon Huard, whose role as a starter is expected to end -- maybe -- if Brodie Croyle is fully recovered from his separated shoulder after next week's bye.