Herm Edwards - 9/27

[talastan]

Q: Did Larry Johnson practice today?

HERM EDWARDS: “No.”

Q: Why?

EDWARDS: “Still sore, hamstring.”

Q: Is he going to play on Sunday?

EDWARDS: “I don’t know that. I would say he is. We don’t have to list him until tomorrow. He’ll be all right.”

Q: You said you were thinking about going to Croyle at QB last week during the game. Is that going to be the same situation this Sunday?

EDWARDS: “When you’re involved in the football game you have to look at what’s taking place on the field. At times there are certain situations where you are not moving the ball and you need a spark, I need to do something; I might have to make a change. But I never go into any game thinking that; that’s the last thing I’m thinking. You don’t do that. I anticipate players are going to play good. They’ve prepared to play well and you want to let them play well. Are they going to play perfect? No. That’s where your patience has to come in, especially at that position.

“When you decide to make a change at that position that’s big. It’s not like making a change at receiver.”

Q: But you would have no hesitation in making the change if you saw that…

EDWARDS: “If a guy’s struggling and I think that he can’t come out of it and we need a spark, then obviously you have to do what you deem is best for the football team at that time. That’s what every coach goes through. You never like messing with that position; you really don’t. What you don’t want to start is a quarterback deal, like now I’m going to pull him. You don’t want to do that.”

Q: Quarterback controversy?

EDWARDS: “Not controversy but indecision in what you want to do. That’s when your patience has to come in and you sit and watch and keep watching. It’s like last week. I’m not an emotional guy. I don’t get involved with emotion in making decisions. When you do that you make the wrong decision.”

Q: How hard is it when you’re in the midst of the battle and you really can’t see if it’s the QB’s fault or…

EDWARDS: “That’s a great question because the one thing you always know when things aren’t working well on offense…the first thing they look at is quarterback. Then it’s the play-calling and the head coach gets thrown in there too. You’re right. You don’t have enough information sometimes to make decisions. Now, if guys are throwing interceptions then it’s obvious. You have to understand who you’re playing, how the people around him are playing, and how you’re playing. That’s part of it too.”

Q: So you might make a change at quarterback even if he’s not playing poorly just because you need a spark?

EDWARDS: “That’s always been the position in pro football. But you see it more than you have in the past. A guy’s kind of struggling and you get him out and see if the other guy can do it.”

Q: If you make that move in the middle of the game this week or whenever that might be, you’re changing quarterbacks, right, not just for the rest of that game?

EDWARDS: “There’s a couple of reasons why you make it: the guy’s struggling right now and you want to get a spark or your making it because this is what you’re doing and you’re going to stick with it. That’s another scenario.

“But that’s the last thing on my mind. It really is.”

Q: You have to be careful though, right?

EDWARDS: “That’s exactly right. That’s why I say it’s a big decision when you decide to make it. And when you do, you want to make sure you’re doing the right thing for the football team. Damon is the right quarterback for us. We decided that on opening day. It’s not just the quarterback, believe me. It all gets laid at his feet at times and it’s not him. I look at what he did last week in the third quarter. He made some throws and I hope we can build on that. We have to do that. We have to be able to pass the football. We have to make plays in the passing game if we’re going to score points. Like I always say: you run to win and you throw to score points.”

Q: When you made changes in New York was it all because of injury or did you just make a change-change?

EDWARDS: “I made a change-change the first time. Then the last year [in New York] I had five quarterbacks [due to injury].”

Q: When you made that change that first time was it just time for a change?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, it was time. It was in the third quarter and I made the change and riding back on the airplane as I always do I sit in the back. Long plane ride home. Didn’t say anything to anybody. Came in the next day and told the coordinator that Chad Pennington would start at quarterback.”

Q: Did you look at who you were playing the next week?

EDWARDS: “We were playing [Kansas City]. We were playing at home and actually didn’t win the game although Chad played fairly well. Next week we won, then we lost again and were 2-5 going to San Diego. We beat San Diego and ended up winning the division.”

Q: Do you worry that Damon knows that he’s on a short leash?

EDWARDS: “He’s really not. He’s not on a short leash. I think we’re saying that because my biggest problem is I tell the truth. People ask me what was I thinking last week? It’s the truth. I was thinking that. But you can think a lot of things; but until you react it’s just a thought. There are a lot of things you think but you don’t react. That’s just part of football. That’s a big decision and that’s why I’m patient with it. I’m patient with most decisions when it comes to taking a player out. Who knows if there is a ripple effect, so that’s why I’m patient.

“As long as I tell the truth I don’t have to worry about going back.”

Q: What’s the difference between making the change to give you a spark and giving a guy a shot to prepare him for the future?

EDWAQRDS: “You have the option of doing it two ways. The best option is you have a lead and you get the guy in the game. The second option is the Pittsburgh game last year and it’s not a good option. It’s the end of the game and you’re down by three touchdowns and you put that poor guy in there. It’s tough.”

Q: But you’d like to do that at some point, get him some time, right?

EDWARDS: “You’d love to be in a lead. You bring him in in the fourth quarter and you give him a series or two so he can play. That’s kind of what happened in Chicago. Damon got nicked and we put him in. He did OK. That’s four or five plays. Is that good for him? Yeah, because he had some success. But did we win? No. But the quarterback had some success. But four plays doesn’t make 60 plays.

“And people are playing a little bit different at the end of the game when they’re winning than at the beginning when it’s a tie score. You have to think about all that too when you make that decision.”

Q: It seems like the Chargers defense is another good defense.

EDWARDS: “Yeah, they’ve got a very good defense. They’re big inside and the core of their defense is solid. They do a good job against the run and don’t give up a 100 yards against the run. A little bit of their deal to date is they’ve played two pretty good quarterbacks, two Hall of Fame quarterbacks actually. They’ve been hot and they hit passes on them.”



Good boy Herm, Now follow suit.

[Zeke Ziggle]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

So we are supposed to go all Colts offense with Huard throwing the ball? I question alot of Herm and Solari's offensive plays like the rest of us, but us throwing like the Colts in the end would just hurt us.

No i'm not saying we go pass wacky but at some point you have to see whats working and whats not. Running on 9 in the box = Bad. Passing on 9 in the box works. LJ has had 1 decent run so far. Did it come before or after downfield started finding d.bowe and tony g.

[talastan]

[trndobrd]

Originally Posted by Silock

Throwing = leads to turnovers, less time for your defense to rest

Running, if you execute, usually doesn't lead to (as many) turnovers, keeps the clock running and your defense resting.

It all comes down to execution.

Makes sense to me.

What does 'running back tackled three yards behind the line of scrimmage' lead to?

[trndobrd]

Originally Posted by Zeke Ziggle

No i'm not saying we go pass wacky but at some point you have to see whats working and whats not. Running on 9 in the box = Bad. Passing on 9 in the box works. LJ has had 1 decent run so far. Did it come before or after downfield started finding d.bowe and tony g.

I say we just go all kinds of pass wacky and throw a pass to a wide receiver at least once a half.

[Zeke Ziggle]

Originally Posted by trndobrd

What does 'running back tackled three yards behind the line of scrimmage' lead to?

Thats easy Winning

[Skip Towne]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

I am going to have to agree with Herm. You run to win unless you have an all world offense. We dont have that. anymore. We have Damon ****ing Huard as our Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. lol

I doubt you will run to win very often if you are running into 8-9 man fronts and are losing 3-4 yards per attempt. But that's just me.

[Megbert]

Originally Posted by Skip Towne

I doubt you will run to win very often if you are running into 8-9 man fronts and are losing 3-4 yards per attempt. But that's just me.

BAH Field Position! You win that you win the game. OK you have a better chance that your 3 and out may in fact lead to a 40-50 yard FG attempt. Getting to the 30 and getting 3 pts is much better than going all the way to the endzone for what 4 more pts pffft. Think about it that would be another 7-8 plays thats 7-8 more chances for a turnover and you can't win a game turning the ball over. Why risk 4 pts when you have 3 just waiting to be kicked by your kicker? Also the less your O plays the fresher they'll be in the 4th quarter.

[JohnnyV13]

Originally Posted by FAX

You know, maybe I'm just having a bad brain day, but I really don't understand Herm's quote/logic. I know he's said it before, although in a slightly different way, perhaps.

Does he mean that you run "because" you're winning ... to run off the clock? Does he mean you run to wear down the enemy and that equals a win? And what about the passing part? Can you not score by running?

I'm at a loss, here.

FAX

I think Herm means that you run to put away the game when you have the lead. Sort of like the closer in baseball. You run in the fourth quarter to kill any chance of a comeback by the other team. You pass to put up scores in order to get that lead.

Now, does that really reflect the play calling we see on sundays? I am not entirely sure.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Skip Towne

I doubt you will run to win very often if you are running into 8-9 man fronts and are losing 3-4 yards per attempt. But that's just me.

NO shit, but i also said that you do have to try to go downfield, but in the end, we have to run it. Be it the 4th quarter of a game. Most teams run it in the 4th quarter. Not all but most. I can tell you just about every coach will say if we can run it and drain the clock we will.


We are just way to damn predictable in the first half of games. I was also yelling at the TV saying, but in Croyle for god sake.

[FringeNC]

so depressing....that this cretin is our head coach

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by talastan

I agree, best interview I have read from Herm. I truly feel he was honest, nice start. Keep it up Herm, we will get somewhere.