Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/1

[DeepSouth]

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/08...m_edwards__81/

HERM EDWARDS: “I thought it was good practice, especially since there were no meetings last night. You always are a bit concerned when you come back the next morning, but the players handled it very, very well. They came back and we had another good physical practice. We got into the four-minute mode and that’s important if you’re winning the game and are trying to keep the ball away, or trying to get it back.

“We’ve had some good physical days with pads on and that’s necessary. We’ll see where that’s at when we go to Minnesota and Minnesota comes here. That’s sort of the next phase of being physical. The next practice will be more of a speed practice.

“But we’ve gotten some good things done when we put on pads and that was the intent of it. It’s not to try to beat your players up but to make them understand that when you go in pads it’s physical and you have to be a physical player if you’re going to be on this football team.”

Q: Will you talk about the incident with the fan [who yelled encouragement to a player when two players tangled after a play was over.]

EDWARDS: “I don’t want players to think that all of a sudden it’s good to fight. It’s never good to fight. Bad things always happen. In practice you don’t get kicked out of the game but generally what I do is I kick guys off the practice field. So you miss practice.

“The second thing that can happen is you can break a hand. I’ve seen a lot of hands broken on fights. Now you can’t practice. In a game the obvious happens to you. The last time I checked you fight you get kicked out and it’s a penalty and you hurt the team.

“You have to keep your composure. That’s what practice is about. These are situations where you’ve got to walk away and keep your composure. Because you fight it doesn’t make you a tough guy. I think sometimes we think that means he’s a tough guy. The tough guy’s the smart guy. In football you get another play to hit that guy – legally. Legally is how you should do it. I’m not a big believer in fighting in practice and fighting in games. We don’t fight. We play football.”

Q: Did you worry a bit about Will [Svitek] since he seems to have….

EDWARDS: “He has that temper and he has been a defensive guy and has a short fuse. He’s got a chance to play in this league and does a good job of developing; he’s tough and physical and wants to get after guys. But he has to understand you have to keep your composure.”

Q: Have you ever yelled at a fan like that before?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you’ve got something to say at least think about what you’re saying. That’s never smart, never smart to say something like that because if you think that’s right you’re watching the wrong sport. When you fight in our league, basketball, baseball and any organized sport the last time I checked you get kicked out. There’s nothing good about fighting unless you want to see a guy get kicked out. That’s not smart.”

Q: When you yelled at the fan….

EDWARDS: “I was speaking to the football fan. He just happened to say the right thing at the right time which is great.”

Q: You’ve yelled at a fan like that.

EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, in New York you do that all the time.”

Q: There are a lot of cameras out here right now and everybody knows you’re going to be on HBO and it’s going to take the best stuff. Are you fully confident that none of your players or coaches are doing anything with that awareness, thinking they’re going to get on television?

EDWARDS: “Nah. What we do gets on television anyway. Before [HBO’s] Hard Knocks was here Will Svitek was always wanting to throw a punch. That’s Will Svitek and he’s got to learn not to do that. If you’re a practice squad player and you’re not on the 53-man roster and you throw punches in practices it really doesn’t matter because you’re not playing the game. But the problem is he’s got a chance to be one of our tackles – a backup guy – and he might have to play in a football game for us when someone goes down. He throws a punch and all of a sudden we’re in trouble. He just let our whole team down because he couldn’t keep his composure. I like him; I think he’s a tough guy, but there comes a point where you have to draw the line. When that [fan yelled] it was great for me because I can use it as an example. First, they made the comment, everyone heard it, and I’m going to make sure that we understand it’s never good to fight.”

Q: When you decide on a guy does that sort of thing work against him when he’s on the cusp of making the team?

EDWARDS: “It’s about trust because when you put a player on the football field you have to trust the player because he has the whole team in his hands when he does things like that. I’m not going to say that’s never going to happen. It happens some times but you have to address it when it happens. You can’t say, ‘atta boy, good job.’ It’s not a good job. It doesn’t do any good.

“Why are we asking the question? It’s real simple: you get kicked out of the game and you get fined.”

Q: We’re asking the question because you were yelling at the fan?

EDWARDS: “I wasn’t yelling at the fan. I was yelling at our football team. It’s never smart to get in a fight.”

Q: You said the last three days you were going to see what this football team was made of, especially the young guys. What have you seen?

EDWARDS: “Obviously you watch film to see what we’re asking guys to do. There is a lot of pressure put on players and it’s intended to be that way when we practice. A lot of them are handling it well. It’s trial and error. A lot of guys make some errors but you correct them and put them in that situation again to see how they’re going to respond. I think it’s all a matter of putting pressure on them and if you put enough on them when they get in the game it becomes a calming situation rather than they’ve never gone through it before.

“That’s the job of a football staff. You put them in situations where you put pressure on them so that when it occurs in a game they can handle it.”

Q: I know you don’t talk about players who aren’t here. But with Dwayne Bowe not being here when does it put him in trouble working with others? When is that date?

EDWARDS: “The guys that are working are the guys that you coach. When the players who are not here get here then we’ll see where they’re at, and see how they catch up. That’s the whole key. The longer you’re away the longer you lose the ability to practice and you need to practice in our profession, especially at certain positions because of timing. So, that’ll unfold when it unfolds.”

Q: Comment on Derrick Johnson’s pick?

EDWARDS: “It was a good catch. He’s a great player, a great talent. We anticipated he’s should make a lot of plays like that. When you make plays like that it gives your football team a great lift it also gives the player a great lift. We expect him to do that. He’s has that kind of talent.”

Q: With the two veterans you put along side him is this his opportunity to take another step?

EDWARDS: “Well, it’s two veterans that have played a lot of football that can help him and teach him along with our staff. They eat lunch together; they’re always visiting when they’re on the sideline together. He’s gaining a lot of wisdom being around those guys.”

Q: Is he a big part of the plan?

EDWARDS: “He’s now going into his third year and you anticipate that with a player. This is his second year in this system. So he understands the system a lot better. The first game of the year last year he was fantastic. Then he got nicked a little bit in his ankle. That slowed him down a little bit and he started pressing some.”

Q: Anything new on the quarterback competition?

EDWARDS: “They’re still competing as far as I know. You guys can figure that out; you watch them out there every day. You guys should figure that out and let me know who you would like me to start. I just like competition period. It puts players in a proper frame of mind. I don’t like players getting complacent.”

Q: Has the HBO guys been a distraction or fun?

EDWARDS: “Hasn’t been really a distraction at all. I think these cameras [points to local camera] are here whether HBO is here or not. You’re here. HBO, it just so happens, is going to show an hour of…I don’t know how they’re going to cut up the footage ‘cause they’ve got a lot of footage.

“The thing that’s going to happen — and that players are going to figure out — is they’ve got all this footage and done all these interviews. Players are going to watch it and if they’re not on it it they’re going to be mad. It’ll be kind of interesting the second week how many players want to wear that mic or how many coaches want to talk to HBO. It’s not a distraction; it’s part of what we do.

“As I said before, we’re sitting in a very good light to represent the National Football League – this organization as a whole from players to staff to everyone who works for the Chiefs. They’ll see how we run things and how we do things and that’s important.”

Q: When does Boone gets back?

EDWARDS: “Probably a week or two. He’s got a tendon [injury]. He can practice but can’t grab anything.”

Q: Looks like Chris Hannon’s made some nice progress. Does he figure in the mix?

EDWARDS: “Yes he does. He’s a free agent kid we had on our practice squad last year who is very, very fast. He’s a vertical guy who can run fast and has good ability to adjust on the football.”

Q: You gonna have fans give their opinion on the quarterback situation?

EDWARDS: “You guys run the papers, you just put it in there. Have Jason do it. He’s not here at practice and he can sit at the hotel and do what he does and kind of figure out how he wants to write it.”

[DeepSouth]

Herm's answer to the last question is a freaking classic. If that's not a dig at JW making crap up, there has never been one.

[Kylo Ren]

Herm talks a lot of crap, but I do like this:

EDWARDS: “You guys run the papers, you just put it in there. Have Jason do it. He’s not here at practice and he can sit at the hotel and do what he does and kind of figure out how he wants to write it.”

[Silock]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

Herm's answer to the last question is a freaking classic. If that's not a dig at JW making crap up, there has never been one.

LOFL

[ct]

Last one is a beaut!!

[the Talking Can]

rack em

[FAX]

EDWARDS: “You guys run the papers, you just put it in there. Have Jason do it. He’s not here at practice and he can sit at the hotel and do what he does and kind of figure out how he wants to write it.”

Awesome. A quote like this is enough to make a Hermione hater like me change his mind.

FAX

[Crashride]

herms interviews are getting better and better

[Hydrae]

I want to know what the fan said that got Herm riled up. Any bets about whether this makes the cut for the HBO show?

[DeepSouth]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

I want to know what the fan said that got Herm riled up. Any bets about whether this makes the but for the HBO show?

Tackle Will Svitek and defensive end Claude McBride had a short scuffle after a hard-hitting play during the second session of 11-on-11. Svitek was told by Coach Herm Edwards to walk away. A fan from the stands shouted "Way to go Will." Edwards was quick to respond to the fan that that kind of football is not the style of his team. "That's the way to go? That's embarrassing; he just got kicked out of the game. That's what you call way to go?" asked Edwards of the fan. After practice Svitek took some time to talk to the press about the incident. "I was being physical and I didn't retaliate. Coach Edwards may have thought I retaliated, but I was being smart about it." Svitek went on to explain that he is going to play rough but that he also has to know when to stop. The last few days in full pads have been physical and Svitek says he just wants to play hard. Edwards also discussed the incident at his post-practice press conference. "I don't want players to all of a sudden think it's OK to fight; it's never good to fight. If it's practice you don't get kicked out. What I do is I kick guys off the practice field. I see a lot of hands broken in fights, then all of a sudden you can't practice. Last time I checked if you fight you get kicked out and it's a penalty and that hurts your team." As far as responding to the fan Edwards said, "If you've got something to say at least think about what you're saying. It's never a smart thing. If you think that's right, you're watching the wrong sport."

[InChiefsHeaven]

The fan basically said Way to go Will, and Herm shut him down for saying that.

[StcChief]

any bet's if it makes it on Hard Knocks show?

[PastorMikH]

Originally Posted by DeepSouth

EDWARDS: “You guys run the papers, you just put it in there. Have Jason do it. He’s not here at practice and he can sit at the hotel and do what he does and kind of figure out how he wants to write it.”

Touche'

[HemiEd]

I gotta give Herm some credit, great job on the interview. Touche' JWhit!

[Direckshun]

Go get 'em, Herm.