Flowers Ready to Bloom

From The Truman Sports Complex

The injury occurred at the end of the 2009 pre-season. Brandon Flowers landed badly and what happened in his shoulder was not good. It was messed up, with the exact nature of the mess one of those state secrets around the Chiefs.

It’s safe to say that the pain never went away. Flowers was scratched from the season opener in Baltimore, but then played the final 15 games on the schedule. He did it with a great deal of discomfort, probably a pain killing shot or two, but with the attitude that he had to play. There was never a consideration on his part of shut down his season, even in the second half of the season when the Chiefs were so far out of contention they couldn’t see first place in the AFC West.

“All the guys I went through training camp with and all the off-season workouts, they had been with me the whole time and that would have been selfish of me to sit down and just tell them they’ve got the last few games because I want to rest my shoulder and make sure I’m alright,” Flowers said. “I was going to go out there and spill my blood, sweat and tears with my brothers.”

Had Flowers not been on Twitter and let the public know that he was laying on a gurney, waiting to have surgery on his shoulder. That went down in January and now Flowers said he’s 100 percent. But it’s unlikely that the Chiefs doctors and trainers have him marked down as 100 percent at the end of March. Flowers expects they will ease him back into any on-field work in OTAs and mini-camps, rather than throw him out on the field to test the shoulder in May and June.

That’s key because Flowers is one of the few playmakers on the Chiefs defense and they can’t afford to be without him for any period of time. In 29 games over his two seasons, Flowers has 143 total tackles, seven interceptions, three forced fumbles, four recovered fumbles and an INT that he returned 91 yards for a touchdown.

Here’s the impressive factoid: those 143 tackles in the last two seasons are topped by only one other member of the Chiefs defense, and that’s inside linebacker Demorrio Williams with 212. Flowers and his seven interceptions in ‘09-10 are three more than any other defenders.

At 5-9, 187 pounds, Flowers is constantly throwing his body into players that are bigger and stronger. One of the keys to his success in two NFL seasons is that he doesn’t shy away from contact, especially when he’s coming up to support the run defense. He has and will continue to fly around the field and throw that shoulder into opponents.

“I’m just going out there like I never hurt my shoulder,” said Flowers. “In the off-season I just have to work harder to strengthen up my shoulder and strengthen the muscles around my shoulder to make sure it would be less of a chance that I hurt my shoulder again.

“As far as being less aggressive and not flying around, I’m not going to do that at all.”