By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Trent Green is the Sports Illustrated cover boy this week for a story about the Kansas City Chiefs titled, "Perfect - so far."

But in the team's star-studded offense, the 10th-year quarterback appears - amazingly - to be almost an afterthought.

Touchdown machine tailback Priest Holmes gets much of the attention - so do tight end Tony Gonzalez and Dante Hall, the wide receiver-kick return specialist. Even the offensive line, which will be missing one of its five starters, right guard John Tait, for the first time in 25 games, is well-known.

But the word around Kansas City is that Green's having a Pro Bowl season - the Chiefs will try to go 10-0 Sunday against the Bengals - and his supporters point to the last four games as evidence.

In victories at Green Bay and Oakland and against Buffalo and Cleveland, Green has thrown for more than 1,200 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception.

Green, in his second stop with coach Dick Vermeil, doesn't mind the relative anonymity as long as the Chiefs keep winning.

"I actually prefer it," Green said. "I have no problem being the guy that leads this team and does my thing on the sidelines. I don't have to be out front, and I'm very comfortable doing what I do."

Bengals quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese was a Rams offensive assistant in 2000 and worked with Green.

"He doesn't need the attention to work hard," Zampese said. "For Trent, attention is a distraction. He's just concerned about getting the ball out to his receivers."

Vermeil, before he had coached a game for the Chiefs, sent Kansas City's first-round 2001 draft pick to St. Louis for Green. The Rams, under Vermeil, had acquired Green before the 1999 Super Bowl season, but Green suffered multiple major knee injuries in the third preseason game. Kurt Warner took over and led the Rams to the title.

Green also had endured a fruitless year in the Canadian Football League before getting his chance in Washington in 1998.

He has found a home in Kansas City. He has won 23 of 41 starts with 57 touchdown passes. The Chiefs have averaged 26.2 points in Green's 41 starts, including a league best 31.9 in nine games this season.

"He's a guy that was very persistent in his career," Vermeil said of Green. "He hung in there and . . . was patient. Each year he didn't get to play, he still got better."

Green also is working for the fifth consecutive season with Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, former Rams wide receivers coach.

"It has definitely carried over," Green said of the comfort level with the coaches. "We've been able to be in the third year of this system."

To Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, the comfort Green has with the offense and coaches is evident.

"I'm sure that when they install something on Wednesday morning, and (Green's) not comfortable with it, I'm sure he's a big enough man to say, 'I don't quite see that the way you guys do,' " Lewis said. "That's the same way with (Jon) Kitna. Jon is able to direct traffic in our offense and get guys lined up."

Though the coaches and quarterback are the same, the Chiefs' offense is not the Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" moved west.

The terminology is the same, Green said, but Vermeil and Saunders adapted to Kansas City's personnel - namely tight end Gonzalez. They signed their Marshall Faulk piece, Holmes, as an unrestricted free agent from Baltimore in April 2001.

As a result, Green said, the K.C. offense is more akin to the "Air Coryell" attack when San Diego had tight end Kellen Winslow or the Dallas scheme under Jimmy Johnson that utilized a dominant tight end and fullback.

"I think that's a more equal comparison to say we spread it around as much as St. Louis does," Green said.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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