Carl's propaganda foot soldiers out in full force

[FloridaMan88]

So predictable.

RAND: Protecting the quarterback
Sep 14, 2006, 4:24:42 AM by Jonathan Rand

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/09...e_quarterback/


Getting quarterback Trent Green healthy will be only half the battle for him and the Chiefs. Keeping him healthy will be just as much of a challenge.



It’s hoped that the symptoms of Green’s concussion will disappear and he’ll be 100 percent healthy again, for this season and the rest of his life. But getting him back on the field could prove a fleeting triumph if the Chiefs’ pass protection woes aren’t cured, too.

We all know that quarterbacks have bull’s-eyes on their backs. Green knew that all too well long before he was hurt in a 23-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He suffered a career-threatening knee injury when he started for the Rams during the 1999 preseason.

A lot of quarterback injuries result from an unlucky roll of the dice in a high-risk game. He gets nailed when in a vulnerable position, his knee bends the wrong way upon contact or he’s on the losing end of a helmet-to-helmet collision. Whether the injury seems deliberate or not, there’s not a great deal the quarterback or a teammate could have done to prevent it. The protection might even have been excellent most of the day.

Green’s injury, however, was an accident waiting to happen. On the same possession he was injured by end Robert Geathers, Green had to scramble on back-to-back plays because his protection broke down. He and Damon Huard were sacked seven times.

Fixing their pass protection, clearly, should be the Chiefs’ top priority as Huard gets ready to lead them into Denver. Perhaps the return of right tackle Kevin Sampson, who sat out with a hamstring injury while Jordan Black filled in, can slow opposing pass rushers.

But how can the Chiefs protect Green when he returns if the blocking doesn’t dramatically improve?

Emphasizing the running game is the most obvious solution. But as we saw Sunday, the Chiefs can’t pound the ball if they’re in a catch-up mode. Asking one or two tight ends and a back to block enhances the protection, but also limits the number of receivers in the pattern and restricts the passing game.

If all else fails, the Chiefs just might have to ask Green to turn down his competitive fire by a few degrees.

Here’s a 36-year-old quarterback without much speed and who’s seen an injury almost ruin his career, yet he competes like a fearless pup. That’s helped the Chiefs win and elevates him in the eyes of teammates, but for Green, discretion might be the better part of valor right now.

We’ve all seen Green throw a block to spring a teammate. That may seem like a foolish risk for a franchise player, but the respect it earns him in the locker room is incalculable. Even when Green slides, it’s often not until the last possible moment.

In the NFL, playing it safe can be a losing proposition. In the January 2001 Super Bowl, the Giants tried to keep quarterback Kerry Collins in one piece by having him slide every time he entered the same zip code as Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. That was akin to waving a white flag in a 34-7 Baltimore victory.

The Chiefs just may have to reach some compromises with Green. He may have to slide sooner, even if that means stopping short of a first down. He may have to curl up and take a sack rather than charge into the teeth of a defense. He may have to throw the ball away or run out of bounds more often.

Having said that, there’s not a lot, aside from flawless blocking, that can be done to protect the quarterback. NFL rules makers are on an eternal mission to come up with new wrinkles for protecting quarterbacks, but nothing really seems to work. Green, sad to say, is one more glaring example of that.

DAWES: GROUNDED LOGIC
Sep 14, 2006, 6:11:13 AM by Rufus Dawes

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/09...rounded_logic/



The first week of this NFL season has been wasted measuring alleged blunders of one kind or another. Why didn’t the Chiefs have a suitable, experienced back-up to Trent Green ready to go? Why, pray tell, did they waste valuable time not getting their defense to at least approach the quality of their offense these past few years? Why didn’t they know that Willie Roaf was contemplating retirement and seek to find a replacement or lure him back with more money? Why this return to MartyBall, for goodness sake?



For the past week, the media and not a few fans have been consumed by the hysteria of the Green injury and what it portends for the remainder of this NFL season. This attitude has brought to the surface all sorts of other ills they believe have been laid on the franchise in what is still the early days of the 2006 campaign.

History is predictive, not determinative. It shapes choices but does not make them. Teams are empowered to make choices and responsible for those they make, and no team in today’s NFL can be expected to field a defense and offense of equal greatness or, for that matter have a backup that even approaches the quality of the starter.

The examples are legion. Tampa Bay finished 24th in the NFL in offense and won the Super Bowl in 2002. Pittsburgh won last year with the NFL’s 24th-ranked passing offense. Denver won in 1998 with the 26th-ranked pass defense, and in ‘97 with the league’s 16th-ranked run defense, as did the Cowboys in 1995. Good on one side, not as good on the other. You truly can’t have it both ways.

As for the choice of offense over defense, know this: the Super Bowl champions, indeed, even most of the successful playoff teams, have been defense-based and largely conservative on offense. Since 1983 no NFL champion has finished outside of the top ten in scoring defense and 37 out of 44 teams that reached the Super Bowl have ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense. Rave on, as many do, about the Washington Redskins offensive playbook, but it is the defense that keeps them in games and probably will win them – that unit along with running back Clinton Portis who powers the team’s offense. Herm Edwards isn’t plowing any new ground here.

Consider this: 12 teams controlled the ball for 32 minutes or more this opening weekend of the season and those teams went 12-0. Herm’s way is the way, if you follow this logic. It rests your defense for the fourth quarter and it keeps the ball out of the hands of the unit that is supposed to score the points.

And what if the starting quarterback leading this offense should fall? Who might these experienced backup quarterbacks be? Take your pick from among Brian Griese, Joey Harrington and the usual lot of rookie to young high draft picks that dot the league’s teams as backups to the starters. You want Tommy Maddox or Jeff George. They’re out there. Look for Kerry Collins to surface. The truth is there aren’t that many franchise starting quarterbacks much less accomplished backups. There was a time when there were six or seven who could truly be called “franchise” and now you’d be hard pressed to find four. Take away backup Charlie Batch’s performance in week one of the season and the question most likely would never have surfaced.

Finally, age catches up with all teams and realizing that before it matters is the key. Teams that can see the future years out are more prepared to meet it when it comes. Whether it was this year or next, Willie Roaf’s time was up and could have been predicted almost from the moment he arrived in Kansas City. As to a comparable replacement, don’t kid yourself; there aren’t any out there of his quality.

We must always remember what wins and any front office and coaching staff who wants to be taken seriously must study the past, not seek to rewrite it, and use what it learns to steer its team toward success.