ChiefsPlanet - DV Q&A 8/22 *J Quinn?

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/08...ick_vermeil20/

Q&A with DICK VERMEIL

Aug 22, 2005, 3:42:54 PM

DICK VERMEIL: “We’re back at it having finished analyzing the (Arizona) game from a scheme standpoint and a personnel standpoint, young players as well as vets. Now we’re in preparation for the next two days of real football practice and not preparation for any specific game. Thursday we’ll go into a little game-plan type practice vs. Seattle.

“Saturday night we’ll play our veterans a little longer and maybe into a series in the third quarter. We’ll rotate some guys that we want to see with the veterans in the first half. Fortunately, we’re getting some veterans back to play. We had a lot of guys out last Saturday night, but this week we won’t have as many.

“Offensively, I think we’ll give Will Shields some playing time for the first time. We should have Tony Gonzalez and Jason Dunn back which is going to help us. I think John Welbourn has done a pretty good job at guard even though he’s normally a left guard or right tackle. Jordan Black we’ll prepare to play more at right tackle because if Sampson isn’t ready to go we’ll have him ready to go for the Jets game.

“Defensively, we should get both defensive tackles back. John Browning we’ll hold out of contact work and not play in the game, but we’ll get Junior Siavii back. We’ll get Carlos Hall back and I think Kendrell Bell back. We’ll get Jerome Woods back, too, I think. So, there’ll be some new faces on the practice field tomorrow.

“Special teams-wise, Dante (Hall) banged his knee a little bit but the MRI was found. He had a visit to make to Houston so he was excused today.

Q: You said after the game the other night you’re going to get your first-team a little more work. Is that because they need it or…

VERMEIL: “Sure they need it. Some guys need it more than others, but we need unit work, we need cohesiveness work, we need to improve our pass protection. Therefore, that will help Trent (Green) improve his rhythm and accuracy. He’s got to get sharper and has to practice more and play more. Our receivers have to do a better job – our young guys especially. When they get in a game they break the route short and it fouls the quarterback up. All those things can be ironed out within the next three weeks.”

Q: The things you mentioned were all offensive things. Is that where your attention is?

VERMEIL: “No, that’s where I just stopped talking. We have a lot of things to do on defense yet. I thought we played better last week. I told the guys it’s glaring the way people are making improvement. But we had a shut-out in the pre-season last year in the first half. We’re not taking anything for granted.

“We had a mistake in the secondary and gave up a big play that was called. A corner was supposed to get safety deep help and he didn’t get safety deep help. In a real game if they didn’t call it back you could get beat by that one play. We have a ways to go on defense but I think it’s coming. This week we play a more experienced, gifted, successful offensive team. It’ll be a bigger challenge but I did like the growth.”

Q: You expressed some concern Saturday night with your place kicker. Has that changed at all?

VERMEIL: “No, I have concern about it. We’ve gone back and analyzed every field goal he made and missed over the last two years. We’re working around his plant and making sure it gets more consistent. When he misses it looks like he has a little different placement of his plant foot than he does when he makes it. Plus, the one he got credited for a miss the other day was tipped. So, it really wasn’t his fault, but at the same time, if it had been down the middle it wouldn’t have gotten tipped. He has a ways to go and he knows the pressure is on him.”

Q: Any plans to look at anybody right now?

VERMEIL: “Anybody that was worth bringing in we’d bring in. But that might not happen for a while. Right now it’s to see if we can’t get

Tynes through the slump. I’ve been through this so many times it seems like I have that disease, that I should know how to handle it by now.”

Q: What do you expect out of Kendrell Bell this week?

VERMEIL: “I expect him to participate in the game unless I get notice from the doctor. I think he’s sort of excited about picking up the tempo and getting more involved.”

Q: You’ve only scored one touchdown with your first team offense in two games. The one was a gift. What can you point to?

VERMEIL: “We’re just not functioning as a unit as efficiently as we did last year in the first two pre-season games. We’re aware of that and not making excuses for it. We’ve got guys not in there. You take Tony Gonzalez out of there, you take Jason Dunn out of there; you get in your goal line and short yardage and it’s a different ball game. You take your right tackle out of there; you add the experience of a Will Shields who’s out…all those things make a difference.

“Our emphasis hasn’t been placed on game planning and the typical approach we take to scoring plays. We’ve been looking at different things with different people each week. There are certain things we wanted to accomplish last week. One thing we wanted to do was score more points than we did, but we wanted to see how Kris Wilson could handle the blocking as a tight end inside. So, we found out about that.

“We wanted to do some specific things with Samie Parker and emphasize him in a game. There were different scenarios, but within those scenarios you’d like to score more points and we didn’t.”

Q: What about Warfield’s condition?

VERMEIL: “He said he could have played Saturday night but the medical staff said no.”

Q: Todd Collins?

VERMEIL: “Not ready.”

Q: Will Huard practice tomorrow?

VERMEIL: “No, he’ll be out. He’s doubtful for the week.”

Q: So, you’ve just got two quarterbacks.

VERMEIL: “I think we will bring in Jonathan Quinn sometime today or tomorrow. At least bring him in for a couple of weeks. He knows the offense and lives in town. He’s convenient and a smart guy.”

Q: We’ll Todd be ready by September 11?

VERMEIL: “I can’t tell you that. I don’t know.”

Q: What about Freddie Mitchell?

VERMEIL: “I don’t know. I talked to him today and I don’t know when he’ll be ready to go full bore.”

Q: What would be his time frame?

VERMEIL: “You know, it’s hard for him to compete when he can’t compete. It’s different if someone is on your roster and misses three weeks and you had three years with him and he’s been a starter all along. You know where he ranks. But when someone’s off the street like (Mitchell) is, it’s tough for him. We talked about him. Hopefully, he’ll be back to compete 100% next week going into the last game.”