Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/19

[C-Mac]

Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/19
Aug 19, 2007, 3:31:47 PM

HERM EDWARDS: “We got a lot out of [practice] today, especially the last period when it was hot. We have to make better decisions because your focus has to be disciplined when it’s hot. We’re to the point now where mental errors can kill you. Physical errors can happen at times, but mental errors are the ones. If you’re not quite sure what to do or how to do it that’s not very good. You’ve been in camp a long time now and these things are creeping into certain players play. You’ve got to guard against it and I’ve warned them.

“Whether you’re a part-time guy or are challenging to be a starter you’ve got to get it right. You can’t make mental errors. The mental things you can do something about.

“Tomorrow we’ll put full pads on but for the big guys it doesn’t change much.”

Q: Priest Holmes didn’t receive clearance to practice today. Why?

EDWARDS: “He’s not ready. We had a long talk and the doctor said he was OK to participate. But in his mind and our mind we just felt that where he’s at right now he’s not up to 100%. He’s been laid off for a long time.

“I told him today I’m not going to rush him. I said you take your time. We don’t want to be put in a situation where all of a sudden we take him off PUP [physically unable to perform list] and he starts practicing and two days from now he says he’s not ready yet. That’s OK for you but that’s not OK for the football team.”

Q: Can you explain how the whole PUP process works? Can he practice the whole pre-season and then go back on PUP?

EDWARDS: “No, he can’t practice with us. That’s the whole thing. He can practice on the field away from us as he’s been doing, but he can not participate in [team] practice. He has to continue to do what he’s doing.

“If you take a guy off of PUP you can’t put him back.”

Q: Can you keep him on PUP once the season starts and then take him off after the six-week window?

EDWARDS: Yeah, you can lift him off of that. But you have to see where he’s at over the next two weeks. He can say over the next week or so that I’m 95%. But you can’t rush the guy. That’s not fair to the player. If you take him off now he can’t go back on [PUP]. Then you’d lose a roster spot.”

Q: Where do you say he’s at now?

EDWARDS: “He’s probably 75-80% right now probably. But for his position and the layoff he’s had that’s not good enough. That’s not fair for the player.”

Q: How do you balance that against your desire to want to see him take a few snaps in the pre-season?

EDWARDS: “Well, you’d like to but you don’t want to again put him in harm’s way. You’ve got two games left and let’s say he got well and felt really good going into the last game. Then he’d have to play.”

Q: If he can’t play at all in the pre-season what do you do?

EDWARDS: “Keep him on PUP and just go week-to-week and then eventually you have to take him off and see where he’s at.”

Q: Is it his decision or a collective decision?

EDWARDS: “It’s a collective decision and for the most part it’s being honest with Priest. I said, ‘you don’t really know me; you really haven’t been around me a whole lot, but you need to know this: I’m always going to protect the player. I look at things through a player’s eyes. That’s where my judgment comes from. A lot of times I make decisions because I’ve been in that position before and I would know what I would want from me as a player.

“[Priest] is a veteran football player who’s done a lot and played a lot of football. I’ve never rushed a guy. That’s why I never talk about injuries. When people get hurt the doctors don’t come to me with injuries. [Trainer] Dave [Price] comes up to me and says this guy’s out of the game. I don’t worry about it because there’s nothing I can do about it anyway. When a guy’s well he can participate again. I don’t rush guys back.

“I think this is good for Priest and this is good for our football team because we can settle in on what we have to do. That’s the most important thing.”

Q: There are people in the media who are saying that he’s not part of the team. What do you say about that?

EDWARDS: “He comes to work every day. He’s never been late. He went home for the pre-season game Thursday but I talked to him that day. He was working out. I didn’t anticipate he was going home; I thought he was coming to the game. He went home to see his family and I told him when he came back to just tell me so I know where you’re at. I told him, ‘I don’t have a problem with you going home.’ If you asked me I would have said, ‘yeah, you need to go home to see your family. You’re on PUP right now. You don’t need to stand on the sideline. That’s not doing you any good.’

“I treat everyone fair but I don’t treat everyone the same. That’s how life is too. Priest Holmes has not been a distraction. He has been a guy who’s been trying to come back from an injury. He’s been away from football for 16 months or something. He’s in a different situation than a lot of other players. For him to do what he’s trying to do I applaud the guy. Now we have to see if it’s going to work out. No one can walk in his shoes than Priest Holmes. But he has to make this team. That’s a judgment I have to make and others in this organization will have to make. But we’re not ready to make that decision because he’s not completely healthy.”

Q: Speaking of running backs what point does it become critical to get all your running backs into camp?

EDWARDS: “As far as stamina-wise and wind-wise, it’s like anything else even if you work out. You’re still not in football shape because you’re not in practice, you’re not going through plays and that takes a week or two. But I’ve dealt with players who came in the last week of camp and what you do is you modify what they’re going to do in the game basically. If he’s a runner he’s not going to carry the ball that much.

“The thing that’s worrisome there is he hasn’t had any contact. If he’s a defensive player he hasn’t tackled anybody. The thing about tackling it’s kind of a big deal but if you fumble the ball that’s a really big deal. It’s a turnover.

“I’ve been in the situation before and it doesn’t bother me.”

Q: Jason Dunn is back. How has he looked?

EDWARDS: “Like Jason Dunn. Jason Dunn’s not a flashy kind of guy. He’s not going to wow you. He’s basically a blocker and did a pretty good from the line of scrimmage. Now, he’s going to have to get his stamina back. It’s good for him because he’s a player who plays 10-15 plays a football game, so he’s gonna have to get his legs underneath him and get his blocking technique again.

“Players are great. They called a holding call on him [in practice] and he said it was a bad call. I’ve never heard a player say it was a good call when they get a penalty. It’s always a bad call but it’s still a penalty. Jason will be fine. It’s good to see him out there and we need him; he’s a good blocker and we need him. We’re comfortable with him there and he knows this offense.”

Q: Is the “folk hero” [Boomer Grigsby] back too?

EDWARDS: “He actually practiced. I can’t wait. I want to see him play and I’m kind of excited about seeing him play.”

Q: Are you anxious to see that number “46” [Edwards’ old number when he played and Grigsby’s now with Kansas City] on the field?

EDWARDS: “I told him that’s not a good number to wear. Every player that I’ve been involved with I’ve always said don’t embarrass that number.”

Q: What did you mean when you talked about players making better decisions?

EDWARDS: “Some of the young guys going with the first group. I said don’t that take that lightly when we put you with the first team. You’ve earned the right to be there but you can’t make mental errors.

“I told them we have to help you as coaches too. I learned when I went to school there were two busses: there’s the big bus and the little bus and it doesn’t matter which one you get on when you get to school you have to learn. I was a little bus guy and I had to learn the same stuff the guys on the big bus did. They have to understand whatever bus you ride that’s OK. You’ve got to learn.

“Then there’s that third bus. You don’t want to get on the third bus. It doesn’t stop at Arrowhead. It’s on I-70 and it just keeps going. If you’re on that bus it means you’re not going to be here. Just know what you’re doing and we’ve got to help them.”

Q: Is it tough on Alfonso Boone who’s a veteran trying to break in on a new organization? He’s been injured. Has he been set back?

EDWARDS: “Not a whole lot. He played pretty good in the game. He’s a pretty good player and very athletic who can run and has great upper body movement as far as pass rushing ability. He’s got to be more consistent. But we like him as a player. He’s shown some flashes.”