shaneo69
10-25-2006, 01:57 PM
DAWES: Game Management - 101
Oct 25, 2006, 4:39:21 AM by Rufus Dawes
The closing minutes of the first half of the recent Chiefs-Chargers game at Arrowhead attracted more than its share of boos from the usually friendly Arrowhead Stadium audience. They were directed at the Chiefs sidelines and specifically at head coach Herm Edwards. Presumably, they were the result of Edwards’ decision to play it safe and not to go with the crowd’s favored choice of trying to go for another score right before half.
This roaring of the plebs causes one to revisit what Edwards may have had in mind as he contemplated what course of action he would take before he and his players headed to the locker room. To our benefit, the head coach revealed his strategy at his most recent weekly press conference. Since Edwards’ game management appears to be the subject-du-jour these days, and is one likely to be second-guessed time and time again this season, let’s examine what he said given the circumstances he faced and, for the sake of this now rapt audience, note how he also approached the closing minutes of the second half of this most recent game.
The Circumstances: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
With 1:02 remaining in the first half, Kansas City had the ball on its own 37-yard line following a missed San Diego field goal.
The Outcome: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
On first down Kansas City ran the ball with Larry Johnson for a two-yard gain to the 39-yard line. It was then the boos rang out, no doubt as the crowd had hoped that like in past years, the Chiefs would go for the jugular and get one more score before halftime. While Edwards did call a time-out with 0:34 seconds remaining, he elected to run it again with Johnson, who gained one yard, and the team let time run out.
The Thinking, Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
At the time Kansas City had the ball, the team was holding a two score lead (20-6) over the Chargers. According to Edwards, the defense had already been on the field for 31 plays and had just left after a long San Diego drive that had taken the Chargers from their own 27-yard line to the Kansas City 28-yard line. “With an offense like theirs that’s too productive…the thing you want to do is keep them off the field. Keep the possessions from them,” Edwards said.
Following that thought process, Edwards decided that “unless we break a big run on a (Johnson) draw and get across the 45 (yard line) I’m going to take a 14-point lead into half and I’m going to rest my defense which just came off the field in a two-minute situation where (it) had made them punt the football.” His team had momentum on its side, he believed and he didn’t want to risk losing it. “You don’t take chances when you don’t need to,” he emphasized.
Adding more insight, he noted San Diego’s status as the “leading sack team in the National Football League coming into our game,” which influenced his decision since “why the need to put (Huard) in harm’s way. You don’t need to put yourself in position to turn the ball over. Why do I need to do that when I’ve got a 14-point lead?”
Then, for the sake of comparison, he referenced the conclusion of the first half of Monday night’s Giants-Cowboys game. The Giants had crawled from their own five-yard line with 1:33 remaining to their 18 before Tiki Barber broke around right end for an 18-yard gain putting the ball on his team’s 31-yard line. Still, as Edwards saw it: “The Giants are on the road, got a little bit of a lead, Dallas is basically out of it” and there are only 0:28 second remaining
But sliding into a two-minute offense, NY quarterback Eli Manning dropped back and threw a pass right into the hands of a defender who, fortunately for the Giants, dropped the ball. Otherwise, he would have been on his way to the end-zone and the Cowboys, who had done little the first half, would have suddenly and surprisingly had the lead going into the third quarter and had the ball first when play resumed. Momentum would have clearly changed in favor of Dallas.
The Circumstances: Chiefs vs. Charges, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
With the score tied 27-27, Kansas City had stopped San Diego on its own 44-yard line after the Chargers had received the ball with 1:48 remaining. The Chiefs prepared to go on offense with 0:33 seconds left in the game.
The Outcome: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
In what was obviously a two-minute offense and the ball on his team’s 18-yard line, Huard hit Larry Johnson for a 15-yard gain, then rifled a 19-yard pass to Tony Gonzalez and, following a time-out, another 18-yard pass to Gonzalez before taking the team’s final time-out with 0:11 seconds remaining in regulation. Following a penalty, Lawrence Tynes kicked a 53-yard field goal with 0:06 seconds remaining to give Kansas City the lead and eventually the win.
The Thinking: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
The major focus of this sequence of events should be Edwards’ use of timeouts. If you recall from an earlier press conference, he noted that it is his preference to save his timeouts for the second and fourth quarters for reasons that should be obvious.
In this instance, the key timeout occurred when San Diego was on offense and Kansas City, with all three timeouts remaining, called its first following the sacking of QB Philip Rivers’ on third down at his team’s 43-yard line with 0:52 seconds remaining. Why so important? It did not permit the Chargers to run the clock down as they prepared to punt and it gave the Chief the ball with something approximating a reasonable chance to do something with it.
With still two timeouts remaining, San Diego did not have the luxury of having to defend only the sidelines to prevent Kansas City from getting out of bounds and stopping the clock. With more of the field available to play, the Chiefs had more options and played them with two consecutive middle-of-the-field passes to Gonzalez totaling 37 yards squeezed between their two final time-outs.
With the ball now on San Diego’s 30-yard line and 0:11 left they could risk one more play but now, without a timeout to use, Edwards noted his reluctance to risk it on one more play. Looking back at it now, he said he was reminded of the situation he faced in Denver earlier in the year as time ran down in regulation.
“Same exact game,” he noted. “We don’t do it. Same players. Different mindset.”
A “different mindset”
While it is more than a bit presumptuous to put oneself inside the head of another, particularly an NFL head coach engaged in a heated football game in a full stadium in a game with a division foe, it is an exercise that more than a few of us enjoy, provided we take into consideration that it is at best hindsight. In this instance, however, Edward laid out his thinking and rationale and while it probably wouldn’t pass muster with the fellow who sat next to me in the stands last Sunday, and who jumped up, screamed out a couple of invectives at Edwards and spilled beer all over my new parka as halftime approached, it’s good enough for me and it should be good enough for you.
It’s a new way of playing football in Kansas City, but if you have been listening carefully it’s an approach that Edwards laid out almost from the first day he got here. “Understand the flow of the game,” he cautioned. “I have more information than anybody else on which to make my decisions. I don’t make it on a series.”
Neither should we.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Carl Peterson.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/10/25/dawes_game_management__101/
Oct 25, 2006, 4:39:21 AM by Rufus Dawes
The closing minutes of the first half of the recent Chiefs-Chargers game at Arrowhead attracted more than its share of boos from the usually friendly Arrowhead Stadium audience. They were directed at the Chiefs sidelines and specifically at head coach Herm Edwards. Presumably, they were the result of Edwards’ decision to play it safe and not to go with the crowd’s favored choice of trying to go for another score right before half.
This roaring of the plebs causes one to revisit what Edwards may have had in mind as he contemplated what course of action he would take before he and his players headed to the locker room. To our benefit, the head coach revealed his strategy at his most recent weekly press conference. Since Edwards’ game management appears to be the subject-du-jour these days, and is one likely to be second-guessed time and time again this season, let’s examine what he said given the circumstances he faced and, for the sake of this now rapt audience, note how he also approached the closing minutes of the second half of this most recent game.
The Circumstances: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
With 1:02 remaining in the first half, Kansas City had the ball on its own 37-yard line following a missed San Diego field goal.
The Outcome: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
On first down Kansas City ran the ball with Larry Johnson for a two-yard gain to the 39-yard line. It was then the boos rang out, no doubt as the crowd had hoped that like in past years, the Chiefs would go for the jugular and get one more score before halftime. While Edwards did call a time-out with 0:34 seconds remaining, he elected to run it again with Johnson, who gained one yard, and the team let time run out.
The Thinking, Chiefs vs. Chargers, 1st half, October 22, 2006
At the time Kansas City had the ball, the team was holding a two score lead (20-6) over the Chargers. According to Edwards, the defense had already been on the field for 31 plays and had just left after a long San Diego drive that had taken the Chargers from their own 27-yard line to the Kansas City 28-yard line. “With an offense like theirs that’s too productive…the thing you want to do is keep them off the field. Keep the possessions from them,” Edwards said.
Following that thought process, Edwards decided that “unless we break a big run on a (Johnson) draw and get across the 45 (yard line) I’m going to take a 14-point lead into half and I’m going to rest my defense which just came off the field in a two-minute situation where (it) had made them punt the football.” His team had momentum on its side, he believed and he didn’t want to risk losing it. “You don’t take chances when you don’t need to,” he emphasized.
Adding more insight, he noted San Diego’s status as the “leading sack team in the National Football League coming into our game,” which influenced his decision since “why the need to put (Huard) in harm’s way. You don’t need to put yourself in position to turn the ball over. Why do I need to do that when I’ve got a 14-point lead?”
Then, for the sake of comparison, he referenced the conclusion of the first half of Monday night’s Giants-Cowboys game. The Giants had crawled from their own five-yard line with 1:33 remaining to their 18 before Tiki Barber broke around right end for an 18-yard gain putting the ball on his team’s 31-yard line. Still, as Edwards saw it: “The Giants are on the road, got a little bit of a lead, Dallas is basically out of it” and there are only 0:28 second remaining
But sliding into a two-minute offense, NY quarterback Eli Manning dropped back and threw a pass right into the hands of a defender who, fortunately for the Giants, dropped the ball. Otherwise, he would have been on his way to the end-zone and the Cowboys, who had done little the first half, would have suddenly and surprisingly had the lead going into the third quarter and had the ball first when play resumed. Momentum would have clearly changed in favor of Dallas.
The Circumstances: Chiefs vs. Charges, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
With the score tied 27-27, Kansas City had stopped San Diego on its own 44-yard line after the Chargers had received the ball with 1:48 remaining. The Chiefs prepared to go on offense with 0:33 seconds left in the game.
The Outcome: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
In what was obviously a two-minute offense and the ball on his team’s 18-yard line, Huard hit Larry Johnson for a 15-yard gain, then rifled a 19-yard pass to Tony Gonzalez and, following a time-out, another 18-yard pass to Gonzalez before taking the team’s final time-out with 0:11 seconds remaining in regulation. Following a penalty, Lawrence Tynes kicked a 53-yard field goal with 0:06 seconds remaining to give Kansas City the lead and eventually the win.
The Thinking: Chiefs vs. Chargers, 2nd half, October 22, 2006
The major focus of this sequence of events should be Edwards’ use of timeouts. If you recall from an earlier press conference, he noted that it is his preference to save his timeouts for the second and fourth quarters for reasons that should be obvious.
In this instance, the key timeout occurred when San Diego was on offense and Kansas City, with all three timeouts remaining, called its first following the sacking of QB Philip Rivers’ on third down at his team’s 43-yard line with 0:52 seconds remaining. Why so important? It did not permit the Chargers to run the clock down as they prepared to punt and it gave the Chief the ball with something approximating a reasonable chance to do something with it.
With still two timeouts remaining, San Diego did not have the luxury of having to defend only the sidelines to prevent Kansas City from getting out of bounds and stopping the clock. With more of the field available to play, the Chiefs had more options and played them with two consecutive middle-of-the-field passes to Gonzalez totaling 37 yards squeezed between their two final time-outs.
With the ball now on San Diego’s 30-yard line and 0:11 left they could risk one more play but now, without a timeout to use, Edwards noted his reluctance to risk it on one more play. Looking back at it now, he said he was reminded of the situation he faced in Denver earlier in the year as time ran down in regulation.
“Same exact game,” he noted. “We don’t do it. Same players. Different mindset.”
A “different mindset”
While it is more than a bit presumptuous to put oneself inside the head of another, particularly an NFL head coach engaged in a heated football game in a full stadium in a game with a division foe, it is an exercise that more than a few of us enjoy, provided we take into consideration that it is at best hindsight. In this instance, however, Edward laid out his thinking and rationale and while it probably wouldn’t pass muster with the fellow who sat next to me in the stands last Sunday, and who jumped up, screamed out a couple of invectives at Edwards and spilled beer all over my new parka as halftime approached, it’s good enough for me and it should be good enough for you.
It’s a new way of playing football in Kansas City, but if you have been listening carefully it’s an approach that Edwards laid out almost from the first day he got here. “Understand the flow of the game,” he cautioned. “I have more information than anybody else on which to make my decisions. I don’t make it on a series.”
Neither should we.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of Carl Peterson.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/10/25/dawes_game_management__101/