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Vermeil: KC will be fine

Chiefs’ former coach says things don’t look that different under Edwards from when he was there.

By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star

A full day’s work, these days, is filling 60-gallon barrels of cabernet. They give the menial jobs to the guys who know nothing, Dick Vermeil jokes, and he loaded six vessels of the red stuff on Monday. With a Chiefs cap on his head and his wife, Carol, beside him wearing a No. 88 Tony Gonzalez jersey, Vermeil is rested and happy, but it’s obvious he hasn’t forgotten.

He’s made a couple of calls to Kansas City. They used to talk every Tuesday, coach to coach, and now both of them say there’s nothing strange even though Herm Edwards has Vermeil’s old job and the franchise seems to be as different as merlot and Coors Light.

“I’m confident they’ll be fine,” Vermeil said. “There’s a period of adjustment for changeover. I don’t think it’s a dramatic changeover because Herm and I have a very similar approach to working with players and coaches. His process is a little different probably than mine. Each coach has his own way of making things more important.”

Roughly 1,800 miles from Napa Valley, Edwards spent another Tuesday trying to tell reporters that he wants to score touchdowns and he’s not Vermeil’s younger, more amped-up alter-ego. His Chiefs are 0-2 and face what many are calling a must-win Sunday against San Francisco.

Statisticians would call it a complete makeover. The Chiefs’ defense, the forgotten chapter of the Vermeil era, is ranked No. 7 in the NFL. And his beloved No. 1 offense sits near the bottom at 27th.

At one point Tuesday, Edwards said the defense is a work in progress, and that the paint hadn’t totally dried. On offense, the colors haven’t even been mixed. But Kansas City’s high-falutin’ machine has taken two serious hits recently — first 11-time Pro Bowl tackle Willie Roaf announced his retirement, then veteran quarterback Trent Green was knocked unconscious in the season opener.

What followed was 16 points in the first two games, and the new coach being labeled conservative. Edwards has taken exception to that, and so has Vermeil.

“The system’s the same,” Vermeil said. “I don’t think they’re not trying to score, you know? I know the coaches. I’ve talked with them. They’ve had some pass protection problems, and that limits you some. And sometimes there’s a little different approach to using the same scheme. But I think they’ll hit a happy medium, a very pleasant medium with the offense. It’ll be very efficient.”

Much of the offensive staff is Vermeil holdovers. He’s called to give Mike Solari, the new offensive coordinator, an ear. He knows offensive line coach John Matsko from their days in St. Louis.

Rarely does an old regime leave with so many ties. But this Edwards says, is all he knows. He met Vermeil and Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson when he was about 17 years old and they were trying to recruit him to UCLA. Throughout his career, Edwards has leaned on three people — Vermeil, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy and Peterson. He calls them family.

“They give you a perspective,” Edwards said. “When you get into this bubble as a head coach, they give you the reality check. One thing I learned when I became the head coach, when you’re an assistant guy, and it’s great being an assistant coach because you’re always hanging in the other guys’ offices going through the game plan.

“When you’re the head coach, you sit in your office and no one ever comes to see you unless they’ve got problems. So I hang out in the rooms just to talk to somebody. It’s a lonely spot, and I didn’t realize that until I learned that from Tony. He always said, ‘Every once in a while, just come down and make sure I’m alive, would you please?’ Because it’s hard. You need people you can talk to.”

Most times, Peterson says, colleagues call when something goes right. But Vermeil is there even when things go wrong. They talk on Fridays now, and maybe Vermeil will remind Edwards this week about the times he started slow in New York and made it to the playoffs. Maybe they’ll talk about everything but football.

Vermeil splits his time between his ranch in Pennsylvania and his family winery in Napa Valley, and says he doesn’t miss a lot of things about football, especially the losing. He said he’s missed the Chiefs’ first two games because he was doing “Monday Night Football” one week and his satellite dish was out the other.

He’ll do some broadcasting work for the NFL Network later this season, and one of the games he’ll work is the Chiefs-Raiders on Dec. 23. Vermeil expects to see them in a rhythm by then. And then maybe people won’t think they’re all that different.

“Everybody has their own process,” he said. “Herman never coached for me. He played for me. He’s got a heavy Dungy influence because he coached for Tony. Each coach is a little bit unique.

“I’m hoping he does it a little bit better so he can get Lamar Hunt one of those trophies.”