GRETZ: Battle Gone; More to Come

[Coogs]

I know everyone knows Battle is toast, Just thought I would post the article in a new thread.

_____________________________________________________________

GRETZ: Battle Gone; More to Come
Aug 11, 2006, 7:57:03 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ


RIVER FALLS, WI – It will not go down as one of the more earth-shaking personnel moves in recent Chiefs history.



But the decision to release cornerback Julian Battle on Friday certainly caught the attention of his once fellow teammates.

And there will be more “surprises” in the coming days and weeks as Herm Edwards begins to pull out the weeds in the Chiefs roster.

“Just not good enough,” was Edwards’ reply when asked why Battle was released. “We did it now so he would have a better opportunity of catching on somewhere else.”

A spot was needed with the signing of quarterback Jeff Smoker, but there were others on the roster that could have been sent packing at this time. The decision to waive Battle was done to send the message that Edwards has stressed from Day One in Kansas City: he doesn’t want the players to feel too comfortable about their status.

Battle was one of those players who felt very comfortable. The Chiefs attempted to trade him on Friday. Actually, it’s the second time in the last few weeks they floated his name on the NFL grapevine hoping for a nibble. When they signed veteran cornerback Ty Law the week that training camp starters, Battle expressed his displeasure and asked to be traded.

They found no takers then, and none this week, so he was released.

The fact that Battle actually thought he was tradable was a symptom of his biggest problem: he thinks he’s good enough. Yet, the fourth-year pro has done nothing during his time with the Chiefs to show he could be a contributing player to the defense. His season last year was wiped out by an Achilles’ tendon injury in mini-camp. But he rehabbed and was at 100 percent through the off-season program and during two weeks of training camp.

Battle’s biggest problem was his lack of consistency. There have been times since he joined the Chiefs when he showed flashes of ability. Physically, he might be as gifted a cornerback as Dale Carter.

But the times when he displayed that ability were few and far between. He could not carry it from one play to another. Even in practice, he would handle coverage well on one play, then he would come back on the next play and completely forget about what he learned just 30 seconds earlier. Plus, he’s prone to penalties. Last Friday night in the practice against the Minnesota Vikings, on his first play of one-on-one pass coverage, he was flagged for holding by the NFL game officials who were working the affair.

Edwards isn’t going to put up with that type of inconsistency. That’s one of the major reasons that cornerback Eric Warfield was sent packing in the off-season. This defense is built on a foundation of strong, consistent fundamentals. Battle never figured that out.

His release is another defensive draft failure for the Chiefs. Battle was a third-round pick in 2003, a first-day choice and he joins recent first-day busts like DT Eric Downing (3rd-round, 2001), DT Eddie Freeman (2nd-round, 2002) and DT Junior Siavii (2nd-round, 2004), who remains missing in action in this training camp and could be the next weed pulled from the roster.

When Dick Vermeil was the head coach, his approach to player evaluation could be characterized as: we’ve seen you perform at least once, so we believe you have the ability to do it again and we’ll work with you to make that happen.

Edwards attitude is: do it once, then show me you can do it again, and again, and again, and then I’ll believe you can play.

Julian Battle never came close to achieving that performance level.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

No coach on earth can make a player faster, taller, or stronger.
He CAN make him smarter and more disciplined.

I think we're finding out now that in the current NFL you can't make them smarter or more disciplined.

You have the desire to develop that mentality when you get to the NFL level or you don't...

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by hawkchief

Careful, Laz. You are about to be labeled as making merely dumbass and stupid comments, by the board mods. It's important that we revere Carl and all that he does here on CP. Carl is a terrific GM, and we shouldn't ever question how he so effectively runs the Chiefs.

Yeah, that's the planet. One big Carl Peterson love fest. He's the man. We all love him.

PPL 2006!

[ChiefFan31]

I look forward to the day when they cut Bartee and Siavii.

Siavii, shitty attitude plus crap production.

William "ball hawk" Bartee, just dont got it, IMHO

Hicks is needed to spell and mentor Hali, gone in 07

Sims, he will make it just because we need that son of a bitch to step up so badly and show consistentcy. If we had more talent and the DT position, he would be kicked to the curb this year, IMO.

[RedandGold]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

MY point, and it's more of a theoretical on than a specific application, is that it's the coach's job to knock the clods of turd off and reveal the flash.
The level of TALENT is a variable that a coach cannot change.
Accepting less TALENT because it's easier to COACH just opens the door for another coach to amass more TALENT than you possess.
Then you end up with a team consisting of 52 Hicks and Brownings.

Of course, I was just being facetious, and I actually agree with your premise here. I just have to disagree a bit with the application of Vermeil vs. Herm.

Yes, it's the coaches job to get the most of the players on the roster, and no, you can't coach natural, physical ability. Underachievers at the collegiate level are great late-round picks, and I have no problem with trying to "coach up" these types of athletes.

My problem was that we wasted too many high draft picks during the DV era on these types of projects, and it hurt the team as a result. If Downing, Freeman, Siavii, Wilson, Battle, etc. were late-round picks, it wouldn't be a problem if they didn't work out. The problem is that we passed on talent that performed at the collegiate level to reach on "projects".

When we drafted Battle, he had all of the tangible assets we wanted in a CB. Unfortunately, he didn't have the mental aspect that would make him reach his potential. I seriously doubt that he would have been cut if he was truly a better player than the CBs that we plan on keeping.

We all know that the NFL has been littered with players possessing all of the physical tools necessary to be stars, but could never reach their potential due to the mental aspect of the game (see E. Grbac). All of the coaching in the world wouldn't turn Elvis into Joe Montana, and I think it's safe to say the 49'ers understood that as well.

Herm is recognizing which players are coachable and which ones are not, and he is simply weeding out the ones that are not.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

But clay is fungible, and talent isn't.
This is the 00's, the old story of getting a bunch of average Joes to play with heart and grit and take on the world is now a relic of a bygone era.
You want a championship these days, you gotta do it like Phil Jackson, and assemble the guys with the most physical gifts you can fit under one roof, then go to work making them fit the mold of a consistent, successful team.
No coach on earth can make a player faster, taller, or stronger.
He CAN make him smarter and more disciplined.

See, I feel that's PRECISELY what Vermeil did (and did not) do.

He tried to coach up guys that weren't faster, taller, or stronger. And in the process, he made them LESS disciplined because they didn't feel like they had to earn anything, let alone their starting job.

To add to the analogy, sculpting rock requires a hammer and chisel. When sculpting clay, you have to handle it with kid gloves for fear you ruin it...

[melbar]

Battle was also a Robinson pick.

[Chief Faithful]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Not speaking specifically to the Battle situation, but I actually prefer the DV approach to the Herm approach here.
Players are the vessels, coaches are the ones to fill the vessel.
Analogize this to sculpting
DV's approach - give me the best marble in the land and I'll sculpt 'David.'
Herm's? - sculpting's hard. that piece of rock over there looks pretty much like a man. Stick it in my museum.

I prefer Herman's approach, if they can play then they can play day one. No need to sculpt shit when you can sculpt marble.

[Chief Faithful]

Remember, Battle could not beat out McCleon or Bartee as a rookie, but Sapp got on the field. Battle was not good enough to get on the field with the worst defense in the NFL and Edwards doesn't think he is good enough after 3 years of sculpting. Sounds to me like a good release.

[ct]

DV got us 1 playoff game, an embarrasing loss at home. I see a pretty decent chance that Herm can at least match that in his 1st year. For me, speaking just for right now, Herm wins.

But I'll give DV this, he made this Chiefs organization competitive again, after we were in a sad sad state when he took over.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

To add to the analogy, sculpting rock requires a hammer and chisel. When sculpting clay, you have to handle it with kid gloves for fear you ruin it...

Damn that was deep.

[keg in kc]

I'm starting to see Vermeil as a bridge between the kind of thug team that Marty had and the kind of team that Edwards appears to want to build.

Marty went for talent over character with a defensive (aggressive, violent) attitude, Vermeil went for character over talent with an offensive (cerebral) attitude, and Edwards appears to want both talent and character with a return to defensive attitude.

And by defensive attitude, I mean the mindset of the team, not necessarily an emphasis on defense. I think the team will be tougher and more violent on both sides of the ball. For instance, I see Larry Johnson as a player with a defensive attitude, although he's a running back...

Either way, while Vermeil did improve the character of the team, and help us recover from a salary cap hell in 2001, ultimately, we're headed for another salary cap hell in the next 2 years, and the end result of his 5 years here was failure, every bit as much as Marty and Gun's tenure.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

His job isn't to win games. He's a GENERAL manager.

His job is to hire people to win games. And that assumes that winning games is even part of the company charter handed down by the owner. Given what we've seen over the last 20 years, I'm gonna guess that winning games isn't priority #1.

While I agree his job isnt to 'win' games...that's for the coaches and more to the point the PLAYERS, I do disagree that this team doesnt have winning as it's top priority.

Ive heard him say time after time that winning is exactly their priority, but they just havent succeeded in that.

The draft is a crapshoot and KC's had more than their fair share of duds, but it's obvious that they do draft to fill holes/weaknesses in the club.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by KCTitus

While I agree his job isnt to 'win' games...that's for the coaches and more to the point the PLAYERS, I do disagree that this team doesnt have winning as it's top priority.

Ive heard him say time after time that winning is exactly their priority, but they just havent succeeded in that.

The draft is a crapshoot and KC's had more than their fair share of duds, but it's obvious that they do draft to fill holes/weaknesses in the club.

Let me rephrase my last sentence.

Considering what we've seen the last 20 years, winning is the top priority ONLY if it doesn't interfere with making money...

[chief2000]

Blame goes to Carl for allowing power to Vermeil.

Carl again.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Let me rephrase my last sentence.

Considering what we've seen the last 20 years, winning is the top priority ONLY if it doesn't interfere with making money...

LOL...I still disagree. I point to the truckloads of money and draft picks forfeited for players like Chester McGlockton, Lew Bush, Gray, et al. Overpaying for FA's is a Lexicon staple.

Again, the team, front office all want to win...they've just sucked at putting together the pieces to get it done.