Brodie Croyle stood at a podium, his hands buried deep in his pockets, as he calmly and politely answered questions in his Dixie drawl.
On the outside, Croyle was calm, composed and as laid back as a country boy from Alabama could be.
On the inside, he was churning.
Croyle, the Chiefs’ third-round pick from Alabama in 2006, will make his first NFL start this Sunday at Indianapolis against Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl champion Colts.
And the day can’t get here soon enough.
“I’m anxious,” said Croyle, 24. “What better stage can you go onto? Going in there and playing one of the best quarterbacks who has ever played, playing a great defense and the defending Super Bowl champs.
“This is something that I’ve been working for since I was a young kid. It’s finally here.”
Croyle’s first full work day as the Chiefs’ No. 1 quarterback began with some razzing from his teammates, who formally initiated him as the starter with some good-natured ribbing — especially from defensive end Jared Allen, who proclaimed him “The Golden Boy.”
“He promised six touchdown passes this week,” Allen boasted.
Croyle rolled his eyes.
“I’m so ready for this week to be over so Jared Allen will be quiet,” Croyle said. “He’s always got something smart to say. … Every wisecrack the quarterback gets, I’ve heard every one at least 10 times.”
It was more serious on the practice field, when Croyle worked exclusively with the No. 1 unit as opposed to dividing time as the backup to Damon Huard.
“Obviously, it’s a different feeling,” Croyle said. “Knowing you’re the backup, you have to be ready to go in at any point in time. Now, they’re saying, ‘Here’s the ball, go score some points, go win some games.’ It’s definitely different from that point of view.
“There are still some things I’m trying to figure out about certain receivers.”
And there are some adjustments the receivers have to make to Croyle, who throws with more velocity than Huard.
“Brodie has that young arm,” said tight end Tony Gonzalez, the Chiefs’ leading receiver with 55 catches and four touchdowns. “That ball is coming. It’s coming. It’s one thing I kid him about, and I’m half-serious, too: ‘Hey, sometime take a little off that ball. Make it a little easy on us.’ That’s just him. That’s just how he’s thrown ever since I’ve been playing with him, like a Brett Favre throw, and it’s something you have to prepare for.
“He’s going to give us a different dimension. He’s more mobile. Damon has been beat up. He’s a little bit older. With Brodie coming in, he has fresh legs, he can get out of the pocket, he can move around. We need him to do that. He’ll make plays with his feet.”
Croyle has appeared in three games in relief of Huard, all in desperate situations in losses to the Bears, Jaguars and Broncos. He has completed 27 of 47 passes for 300 yards, one touchdown and one interception, but it will be a whole new ballgame as the starter.
“Every game, I’ve been trying to play catch-up,” he said. “They knew we were going to throw the ball. There have been some small windows here and there, but I’m excited about the opportunity to have them off-balance and have our whole playbook to throw at them instead of our two-minute offense.”
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Croyle had an opportunity to claim the starting job in training camp, but some untimely interceptions in exhibition games derailed that opportunity.
“I learned a lot of things not to do,” Croyle said.