Q&A with Herm Edwards - 11/19 (Good one)

[aturnis]

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2008/11...edwards__1119/

Q&A with Herm Edwards - 11/19

Nov 19, 2008, 4:36:37 PM

Q: Why did you bring back RB Jackie Battle?

HERM EDWARDS: “Because of our return situation. We’ve got (WR Kevin) Robinson and 25 (RB Jamaal Charles). The way the numbers will shake out right now, he’s an extra guy. We’re trying to be a little bit better on special teams. He can play on the punt team and that type of situation for us. So that’s kind of where that’s at.”

Q: What’s your linebacking corps look like?

EDWARDS: “It was (LB) Rocky (Boiman), it was (LB) Derrick (Johnson) and it was (LB) Demorrio (Williams). That’s kind of where it’s at right now. It’s kind of switched the last three weeks, it kind of switches up every week. That’s okay, they’re getting a lot of playing time.”

Q: Are you pleased thus far with you 2008 draft class?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, I really am. When you think about all the starters that we’ve gotten out of that draft class that have played, that are playing and have gotten better. Think about all the kids. The only two that haven’t played, I think are (TE Michael) Merritt and (T) Barry (Richardson). Other than that, out of that class, there’s four starters out of that class, I believe. The rest of those guys are rotating in and playing a lot. So that’s what we wanted when we drafted these kids. They’re getting better. You see improvement, you see more confidence. We’ve got a couple free agents that made it. (CB Maurice) Leggett, (FB Mike) Cox; Cox has been starting since day one as a free agent. I think we’ve collected a lot of good players, young guys. They learn a lot, and that’s good for us.”

Q: How good is it for them to not have to sit out their rookie year?

EDWARDS: “Oh, it’s unbelievable. When you think about all the snaps they’ll have compared to what they would have. Most of these kids are going to have 600, 800 plays. That’s tough to have as a rookie. Half the time you’re happy if your guy gets 150. These guys have played a whole season for the most part – the guys who haven’t been injured. A lot of them are starters, and that’s good. That’s what we wanted to do. You suffer through it, and we’re suffering through it a little bit. Just like our quarterback. All of a sudden he’s started four or five games for us. We’re going to find out a lot about him, too. The more they play, the more confidence they get. But they’re just so young and there’s so many of them and that’s what you’re suffering through a little bit.”

Q: Have you seen everything you want to see out of QB Tyler Thigpen except the ability to win games?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, but I mean he can still improve. There’s certain things he needs to do to improve. It’s not all on him, it’s on all of these guys. It’s on all of us. We’ve got to find a way to finish the deal. We’ve been close. In the last four weeks it’s been a one-score game going into the fourth quarter. We’ve got to find a way to finish it, you know, win. Once you do that, it gives them another sense of confidence. I look at them now as compared to Opening Day, and they’re a different football player. Their whole demeanor is different. They’ve played a lot of snaps. At the end of the day, as coaches you try to do this, you try to put players into a position where they can be successful and put them in a position where they can make some plays. If you ask them, they’ll tell you the same thing, we’ve got to make some plays. If they do that, we’ll be able to win some games.”

Q: How much has your confidence in Tyler gone up? If he wins some games, does that make it easier to evaluate him at the end of the year?

EDWARDS: “It makes you make a hard decision, when the season is over. That’ll be the big talk when the season’s over. Let’s say he wins some games, we win some games. We finish winning. The big question will be, ‘who’s the starting quarterback?’ We’ll have to all sit down and figure that out. We have enough information to figure that out, which we wouldn’t have had if this hadn’t all transpired. You hate to lose (QB) Brodie (Croyle). You hate to lose (QB) Damon (Huard). But it ends up he comes in now, he’s playing, he’s moving the offense. We’ve changed our offense dramatically compared to what we were doing here in the spring when you guys were watching us it’s a whole different offense. That’s a credit to the players, a credit to the coaching staff. We can move the ball this way, we’re playing this way and we’re scoring points. So we’ve got to score more points and win some games. I think it’s good because we feel very comfortable doing this.”

Q: How hard is it for young guys to do the right thing all week and still not win?

EDWARDS: “These guys want to win. It’s killing them. The good thing is, they’re very resilient. Until we play Oakland and Denver and San Diego again, it’s the first time they’ve played these teams. They have no idea who these guys are. That’s the majority of our football team anymore. They’re excited about playing. They’re excited to have an opportunity. I think they understand that the more we play, and the way we play, they’re going to have a chance. That’s all you can ask for, is to have a chance, and we’re going to get one pretty quick.”

Q: With the defense faltering, how easy is it to say it’s not Tyler’s fault, it’s the defense’s fault?

EDWARDS: “There’s no fault. When the team loses, the team loses. And when they win, they win. I just think every individual is kind of looked upon by how he plays his position. You can’t throw that into the mix. He’s going to get evaluated on how he plays and we all can look at where he started at in Atlanta compared to where he’s gone now, and you see progress in him. But there’s also progress in a lot of other guys, too. That’s the good part.”

Q: How surprising was that for you?

EDWARDS: “I think what helped him was that he went through the experience of that. I think when you go through that, the thing that he knew is that we didn’t give up on him, we said we weren’t giving up on him. But Damon got well and Damon was the guy we needed to play until Brodie got well because he was the number two. We just told him to keep practicing and we told him you’re going to get another opportunity. Lo and behold, he got another opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it. He’s growing, he’s grown up. Good for him.”

Q: Is Buffalo a little hungrier after the way they lost that game on Monday night?

EDWARDS: “Yeah. They were playing very well and they’re still playing well. They’ve lost some games at the end kind of like we’ve lost them. They were 5-1 and rolling and then they hit a skid. They’ve got a young quarterback. It’s not only on the quarterback, but he’s a young guy. He looks like he’s going to be a good player. They’re going through that. And they’ve turned the ball over a bunch. That’s hurt. Those are the kinds of things they’re dealing with. Yeah, they’ll be excited about playing us, why shouldn’t they be? They look at us, they look at our schedule, they look at what we’ve done and they go hey, we’ve got a chance to beat these guys. They’ll play tough, this is a game that is going to go down to the fourth quarter and we’ve got to win it. That’s where they’ve been. In the fourth quarter they couldn’t quite get over the hump in the last four. That’s kind of where we’ve been in the last four.”

Q: Will winning help Tyler’s game out? Will it help his confidence?

EDWARDS: “Well, I think winning helps everything. If you’re a player it obviously helps your confidence. I’ve seen it. I’ve been on teams like that. It’s kind of ironic because John Bunting and myself, we were talking about it today, we were in Philadelphia. We kind of went through that. When Dick (Vermeil) took over there, our first year there we only won four games. We had lost a bunch of close games. The next year, it was actually 30 years ago today, we were kind of that team, kind of winning some games, losing some games. We never won one real close. Then all of a sudden we win a tight game, the fumble game (Miracle of the Meadowlands), that we had no business winning at all. Then we got going. I can remember it like it was yesterday, it was 30 years ago. From that game, we took off as a football team, we just took off and got into the playoffs. We had a run of four playoff appearances. We got into a Super Bowl on top of it. I just think that when you do that, when that hits this team, they’ll get it. They’ll figure it out. It’s hard to put your thumb on it, but it just happens. It happened to us in Tampa that way. It happens wherever I’ve been in trying to rebuild a team. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Q: So what you’ve got to do is put in a fumblerooskie?

EDWARDS: “Yeah. Can you imagine, if you make the two-point play against San Diego? Can you imagine how these guys would feel? Can you imagine the games that we’ve been very close? Can you imagine that we stop them on a drive in New York? Can you imagine if we stop them on the two-point play against Tampa? All those little things, it just comes down to a couple plays. We just have to keep putting them into position, and we’ll make them.”

Q: Do you still say to yourself, I can’t believe they handed that ball off 30 years ago?

EDWARDS: “No, I say, I can’t believe I was the fortunate guy to be in the right place at the right time. I was very fortunate. It’s just one of those things that you don’t anticipate, you just react. I’m glad I was aware and had focus and reacted the right way.”

Q: We had a chance to talk with LB Kawika Mitchell. Can you go back and describe why it didn’t work out for him in Kansas City?

EDWARDS: “It was a process of building, not as far as football-wise, we knew he was a good player. It was a matter of both parties getting together and feeling comfortable with the contract. That didn’t work out, and that’s how it works with free agency. You know that. It doesn’t always work out. It worked out good for Kawika, he went to the Giants and got on the team and won the Super Bowl and now he’s in Buffalo.”

Q: Is he a guy that you’d like to have back now?

EDWARDS: “You’d like to keep all your good players. But that’s not reality in this league. That doesn’t happen You’re going to lose some for a lot of different reasons. When that happens, you’ve got to adjust. That’s part of the game. That’s part of football.”

[Hammock Parties]

I look at them now as compared to Opening Day, and they’re a different football player.

Grammatically incorrect.

[chiefzilla1501]

"Q: Will winning help Tyler’s game out? Will it help his confidence?"

Seriously... who the hell lets these morons ask questions?

[chiefs1111]

I hope Battle will get to run the ball a couple times this week....

[The Bad Guy]

Please remind me why the Chiefs couldn't have kept Kawika Mitchell?

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

Please remind me why the Chiefs couldn't have kept Kawika Mitchell?

Herm danced around the truth that he didn't think he was good enough to be a Cover 2 MLB.

A real coach would have seen Kawika's potential as a WLB and moved him to that spot immediately, instead of bringing in Donnie Edwards for two years.

However, I do wonder if the gap between DeMorrio Williams and Kawika Mitchell is all that great. Of course having both would be nice.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

Please remind me why the Chiefs couldn't have kept Kawika Mitchell?

Probably that he kept whiffing QB's and RB's when the play was obvious a loss of yards/sack.

Oh, and there was that one incident where he tried to fire up the team, but everybody on the defense just went like "What?" on him or something.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Coach

Probably that he kept whiffing QB's and RB's when the play was obvious a loss of yards/sack.

Oh, and there was that one incident where he tried to fire up the team, but everybody on the defense just went like "What?" on him or something.

[Hammock Parties]

Remember all that time and energy Gunther invested in turning Kawika into a good player? Herm basically came here for one year and pissed all that away so we could sign Napoleon Harris...****ing awesome.

[Hydrae]

I just think that when you do that, when that hits this team, they’ll get it. They’ll figure it out. It’s hard to put your thumb on it, but it just happens. It happened to us in Tampa that way. It happens wherever I’ve been in trying to rebuild a team. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

So you just keep plugging away and someday, someway, the light will turn on and we will be a good team! The coach just has no clue how to turn on the light, it just sort of happens.

[Hammock Parties]

Christ, Herm is ****ing INCAPABLE of shutting up about Tampa Bay. He is OBSESSED with that era of his life. He must think it was AWESOME.

[Nero's Neptune]

Originally Posted by Claythan

Christ, Herm is ****ing INCAPABLE of shutting up about Tampa Bay. He is OBSESSED with that era of his life. He must think it was AWESOME.

don't blame Herm, that's just where he's at right now.

I think my head is going to explode if I read or hear Herm say "so that's where we're at" one more freakin' time.

[Dylan]

If you ask me, Kawika Mitchell was just unbelievable. He didn't look good at first, but I'm glad he changed my mind.

Here's an old article on Mitchell that was published in the Star Ledger last December:

Sunday, December 16, 2007
BY MIKE GARAFOLO

EAST RUTHERFORD -- Kawika Mitchell said the first three weeks of free agency were 21 days of "silence."

Well, maybe he just wasn't listening close enough.

"We were interested in him. I know I was," Vikings linebackers coach Fred Pagac, who coached Mitchell for two years with the Chiefs, said the other day. "He's a good football player and you want him on your team."

Mitchell isn't on Pagac's team because he signed with the Giants in late March after four seasons as the Chiefs' starting middle linebacker. It was a bargain of a deal for the Giants at the time -- one year, $1 million for a veteran starter who could easily be cut if he didn't impress in training camp.

Now, the contract looks like a flat-out steal.

Over the last two weeks, Mitchell has been one of the best players on the field for the Giants' defense, as he's recorded 22 tackles (including two for a loss) and a half-sack in wins over the Bears and the Eagles. Now settled into his new spot as the weak side on the Giants' defense, Mitchell has helped a corps of linebackers that lost Mathias Kiwanuka for the season and includes a somewhat hobbled Antonio Pierce.

Not a bad spot for a player who thought he might have played his last game in the NFL when he received no offers from teams by mid-March.

"Silence is a hard thing to go through because you start coming up with other things in your head," Mitchell said. "I put myself in a category of, 'I might not work again.'"

Soon, he realized he was in a different category: A player teams were interested in signing, but only at a different position. For the Giants, that position was weak-side linebacker, which is similar to inside linebacker because Mitchell is asked to line up behind the line -- or "stacked," in football terms -- instead of next to it.

Of course, there were a few adjustments he needed to make, but he made them quickly. After shaking off a groin injury he suffered late in the preseason, Mitchell began feeling more comfortable in a Week 3 win over the Redskins, whom the Giants face tonight at the Meadowlands.

In the teams' first meeting, Mitchell defensed two passes, including one on the fourth-quarter goal-line stand. He also had a key tackle on the series.

"At 'Mike' linebacker, you inside-out everything. Being on the outside, you have to be more outside-in," Mitchell said of the early adjustments. "It's a little bit different as far as angles and things like that.

"I'm constantly learning. At this position, I've learned that if you're not cheating, you're not trying."

By "cheating," Mitchell meant "shortcuts, ways of taking on the fullback" and other "angles" he can take to disrupt the offense's plays. Pagac agreed, saying an outside linebacker can often be more aggressive in making a play because he has fewer responsibilities than the guy in the middle.

"It's easier to move to an outside position than an inside position," said Pagac, who would have played Mitchell at all three linebacker spots if he had signed with Minnesota. "Inside, you have blocks coming at you from all sides. When you play outside 'backer, you have only half the field to concern yourself with."

Pagac said he's not surprised the switch was easy for Mitchell, who would often sit with his position coach in the film room for several hours.

"If you sit down and talk with him along those lines, you get the impression that he knows the game enough to play all three spots," Pagac said. "He's a smart guy and a very good athlete."

It's unclear if the Giants feel the same way. Well, at least enough to sign Mitchell to a long-term deal after the season. Both sides have said they're not worried about an extension at this point and that making the playoffs is currently their primary concern.
But Mitchell said when the time comes, he hopes the Giants, especially general manager Jerry Reese, aren't quiet.

"Hopefully, their eyes are open," he said. "I like the team, the city, the coaches are a good group of guys and management, I talk to Mr. Reese all the time. I like the program.
"But thanks to last year, I learned you don't ever assume anything. That's really helped me out a lot -- that (21) days of silence."

Mike Garafolo may be reached at mgarafolo@starledger.com.

[CupidStunt]

Originally Posted by aturnis

That’s kind of where it’s at right now.

Why don't you kind of kill yourself, you SOB.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

Please remind me why the Chiefs couldn't have kept Kawika Mitchell?

I think they extended him a contract that was more than he got from the Giants, but he thought he was worth more and wanted to test free agency.