"He is in a profession where success can be defined in different ways. Money buys luxury. Records build legacy. But championships sit at a higher elevation. They don't come with a platinum card or a pile of numbers.

"I've definitely learned," Tony Gonzalez said the other day. "You evolve as a person. When you first come into the league, you're thinking, 'When I'm done with this game, I want people to look back and say I was one of the greatest. But then you start achieving stuff and you're not winning. The stats move to the back burner the longer you play. You know the end is coming. I feel like I'm on borrowed time right now."

It's week two of season 13, and possibly the greatest tight end in NFL history can't remember the last time he felt this good. In his Falcons' debut against Miami last Sunday, Gonzalez caught one touchdown pass and set up another score with a finger-tip grab catch at the Dolphins' one-yard-line. But what stands out to him most?

"Just being in the locker room after the game," he said. "Just being on a winning team."

Everybody says this stuff. Not everybody means it. But not everybody is 33 and owns so many records but zero playoff wins.

Gonzalez has spoken in the past about his desire to get out of Kansas City. A trail of losing seasons led to an ill-fated trade request last year. But this week, five months after the Chiefs finally moved him for a draft pick, he expounded on his level of frustration in Kansas City. Maybe his perspective grew in the last few weeks. While the Falcons opened the season with a win, Kansas City lost to Baltimore and made news by firing offensive coordinator Chan Gailey a week before the game.

"Unique," Gonzalez said only when the Chiefs' firing was mentioned.

But he wasn't brief about much else."