Teicher: Edwards wants Chiefs to grow as season goes

keg in kc · 09-04-2006, 01:26 PM

Edwards wants Chiefs to grow as season goes

Coach doesn’t mind starting off against two playoff teams from last season.

By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Mon, Sep. 04, 2006

Only one AFC team begins its schedule with two games against contestants from last season’s playoffs.

Herm Edwards isn’t complaining that it’s the Chiefs. In fact, he said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think it’s great,” Edwards said. “I think you find out a lot about your football team.”

He may not feel that way in two weeks after the Chiefs play Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday and at Denver the following week.

After an offseason of indecision, the Bengals apparently will have Carson Palmer at quarterback Sunday, meaning the Chiefs will see one of the game’s rising stars rather than journeyman Anthony Wright.

The Chiefs not only haven’t won in Denver since they were coached by Gunther Cunningham, but they also haven’t been competitive with the Broncos in the new Mile High Stadium.

The Chiefs gave few clues during an erratic preseason they are ready to be competitive against such an opening schedule, a point Edwards agreed with.

“You’re not where you want to be,” he said. “No one is. That’s the great thing about our league. You build your football team as the season goes along. We have to be better after four weeks than you are the first four, and after eight you have to be a lot better football team. I think we’ll do that. There are some things that we obviously should have done better in the preseason but we didn’t.

“The thing I learned about this football team is I know the strengths and weaknesses and I think you have to make sure you go into the season not kidding yourself. You have to find the holes that you have and from there you’ve got to help the players and then play to your strengths. We have to do that now. We have to game plan. We know what our players do well. We know some things that they need some help with. That’s the process of preseason football.”

If the Chiefs can survive their first two games and, as Edwards suggests, improve as the season moves on, they might be in good shape. The schedule flattens out after the Chiefs play the Bengals and Broncos, and they will play only two more of last year’s playoff teams over the following two months.

They have plenty of work to do to get there. On offense, Edwards has had issues at times with the play-calling of coordinator Mike Solari. The line the Chiefs hope to use against the Bengals hasn’t played together once in the preseason or practiced together since the early days of training camp.

The offensive line was already trying to fill the holes from offseason retirements of starting tackles Willie Roaf and John Welbourn.

“I think it’ll work out fine,” Edwards said. “I think we have some young guys and the acquisition of Kyle (Turley) was great. In the spring people wondered why we would do that. Why another tackle? Well, I’m glad we did that. It kind of worked out. He’s gotten better. I like Kyle Turley’s presence. He’s a guy that when you play a football game you want him on your side. He’s got a good guy next to him in Brian Waters.

“(Right tackle Kevin Sampson) has a good player next to him in Will Shields. I think that helps your tackles when you have those guards. That’s what we have.”

On defense, the Chiefs never put together a consistent pass rush and were leaky at times against the run. Now they will have to face Palmer, who threw for almost 4,000 yards last season before tearing knee ligaments in the playoff loss to Pittsburgh.

His recovery was remarkably rapid.

“A lot of people were wondering in the offseason that their quarterback might not be there,” Edwards said. “You know what? I’m glad he’s playing. I want him to play. I would be disappointed if they came in here without their starting quarterback. I want to see how good we are.

“That’s just me. That’s the kind of player I was, and I’ve always been that way. I want to play against the best guys. I don’t want to sugarcoat it. Let’s find out about ourselves. They’ve scored a lot of points the last couple of weeks. They’re a machine. That’s great.”

keg in kc · 09-04-2006, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Only one AFC team begins its schedule with two games against contestants from last season’s playoffs.

Herm Edwards isn’t complaining that it’s the Chiefs. In fact, he said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think it’s great,” Edwards said. “I think you find out a lot about your football team.”

Not to start a Vermeil bash-a-thon, but that's a change.

Good or bad I don't know, but it's definitely a change. Vermeil would not have been happy with the schedule. He never was.

Crush · 09-04-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Not to start a Vermeil bash-a-thon, but that's a change.

Good or bad I don't know, but it's definitely a change. Vermeil would not have been happy with the schedule. He never was.

Even he was happy, he would still cry about it.

Mecca · 09-04-2006, 01:44 PM

Vermiels schedule bullshit always made us look like a bunch of pussies.....

Deberg_1990 · 09-04-2006, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mecca

Vermiels schedule bullshit always made us look like a bunch of pussies.....

Well, we were.......to be honest.

Hammock Parties · 09-04-2006, 02:21 PM

I want my cock to grow as the season goes on.

keg in kc · 09-04-2006, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

I want my cock to grow as the season goes on.

Try miracle grow.

The later in the season you can ghost-write a feel-good story for one of your sites about how it came from nothing and appreciates any time it can get on the playing field.

ChiefFan31 · 09-04-2006, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Try miracle grow.

The later in the season you can ghost-write a feel-good story for one of your sites about how it came from nothing and appreciates any time it can get on the playing field.

ChiefFan31 · 09-04-2006, 03:50 PM

And oh yeah. All he did was paraphrase everything that Herm said.

Is that all it takes to be a sportswriter for a "major" newspaper these days? I mean really, everything in that article was said by someone else except for a sentence or two.

Hammock Parties · 09-04-2006, 03:57 PM

That's the job of a beat writer. Teicher isn't a columnist. Teicher's job is to bring us the news, i.e. what happened or what the coaches/players are talking about.

tk13 · 09-04-2006, 04:11 PM

Vermeil was too smart for his own good in that regard. Sometimes in football it's better to just be stupid about certain things. Statistically speaking, our schedule last year was brutal, and we got a pretty unfair shake being the only team with 4 sets of back/back road games, and Vermeil probably knew that. He shouldn't have said that publicly, people just pass that off as whining, but we've not had a lot of luck with the schedulemakers the last couple years.

There are really a lot of misperceptions about scheduling that people have, all the way from fans on these boards, to coaches, to even guys like Bob Gretz. He had some article a while back about how the Chiefs hadn't won a road game against a playoff team in December in a decade, or some garbage like that. And everybody was like "Oh yeah! No wonder we suck"... when in reality you look at last season, and there really weren't many playoff teams that won road games against playoff teams at the end of the year. And of the 2 or 3 who did, they lost their first playoff game. It had no bearing on playoff success. The easy road schedule in the 2nd half is why those teams made the playoffs in the first place! It's not rocket science. Just like last season, we were out there playing Denver, Giants, Cowboys, San Diego, etc... and SD had a tough schedule... and Pittsburgh was out there playing Detroit and Minnesota and Cleveland. And Pittsburgh was the one who made the playoffs. Not a shocker.

You have to play the schedule in front of you, and you shouldn't complain about it, but I think with the watered down level of play in the NFL, everybody is so close, and 1 single play can make a difference, scheduling is important. I mean that's why everybody loves the NFL, it almost comes down to luck.

ChiefFan31 · 09-04-2006, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

That's the job of a beat writer. Teicher isn't a columnist. Teicher's job is to bring us the news, i.e. what happened or what the coaches/players are talking about.

Thanks for the heads up on that. That does make sense.

TK - good points about the schedule. Vermeil was a stats guy to the bone. I do agree its better handled the way Herm did it. Bitching about that stuff in private is better than doing it to the media, it comes off as whining. At the time it sounded like DV had an agenda to bitch about it in an attempt to make it change. It obviously did not work judging by our first two games this year...

**OnTheWarpath15** · 09-04-2006, 04:27 PM

We have 3 sets of back-to-backs this year.....

Haven't heard one peep from Herm.....

Sooner or later, his attitude will start to show in his players.....

tk13 · 09-04-2006, 04:38 PM

Yeah, I mean, stats aren't everything, but I think there are some trends there. But there are always exceptions... like the Steelers last year ran through the playoffs on the road. That was amazing. And it shows anything can happen. But that's never happened before, that is the exception, somebody winning 3 straight road playoff games like that. In fact, as far as I remember, no team actually won back/back road games against two teams with winning records in the entire regular season. That's what I'm talking about.

It's rare to win back/back road games, period, unless you're playing really weak teams. And you look at the schedules last year, and the Chiefs had 4 sets of back/back road games. The Broncos did that only once, and they won the division. Not a coincidence. The only time they played a 2nd consecutive road game was when they came to Arrowhead, and we beat them. Same thing with San Diego, they played Indy, then a 2nd consecutive road game in KC, and we thumped them on Christmas Eve. Then you look at the teams Herm cites as good road teams, Cincy and Pittsburgh, and they didn't really have strong schedules, they played the NFC North, which was the weakest division in football. And when the Steelers did go on the road against good teams, it wasn't always pretty. The Colts trounced them, they lost to the Ravens, etc.

We have three sets of back/back road games this year. And they won't be easy... those 2nd games come @ Pittsburgh, @ Miami, and @ Oakland on a short week. I think we're going to have a tough time going better than 4-4 on the road this year. But that's fine, I think you should go 8-0 at home and 4-4 on the road, and that's good. You're 12-4, and you should be in a spot to get a home playoff game, where you obviously play well... unless you're the Chiefs. That's the far greater crime than winning road games against playoff teams. Usually the good teams are the ones that play well enough so they don't have to worry about winning a lot of tough road games, and don't lose big games at home.

**RealSNR** · 09-04-2006, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tk13

Yeah, I mean, stats aren't everything, but I think there are some trends there. But there are always exceptions... like the Steelers last year ran through the playoffs on the road. That was amazing. And it shows anything can happen. But that's never happened before, that is the exception, somebody winning 3 straight road playoff games like that. In fact, as far as I remember, no team actually won back/back road games against two teams with winning records in the entire regular season. That's what I'm talking about.

It's rare to win back/back road games, period, unless you're playing really weak teams. And you look at the schedules last year, and the Chiefs had 4 sets of back/back road games. The Broncos did that only once, and they won the division. Not a coincidence. The only time they played a 2nd consecutive road game was when they came to Arrowhead, and we beat them. Same thing with San Diego, they played Indy, then a 2nd consecutive road game in KC, and we thumped them on Christmas Eve. Then you look at the teams Herm cites as good road teams, Cincy and Pittsburgh, and they didn't really have strong schedules, they played the NFC North, which was the weakest division in football. And when the Steelers did go on the road against good teams, it wasn't always pretty. The Colts trounced them, they lost to the Ravens, etc.

We have three sets of back/back road games this year. And they won't be easy... those 2nd games come @ Pittsburgh, @ Miami, and @ Oakland on a short week. I think we're going to have a tough time going better than 4-4 on the road this year. But that's fine, I think you should go 8-0 at home and 4-4 on the road, and that's good. You're 12-4, and you should be in a spot to get a home playoff game, where you obviously play well... unless you're the Chiefs. That's the far greater crime than winning road games against playoff teams. Usually the good teams are the ones that play well enough so they don't have to worry about winning a lot of tough road games, and don't lose big games at home.

Homer

09-04-2006, 01:26 PM
keg in kc oxymoron Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: OP/KC/Whatever Casino cash: $9556299	Teicher: Edwards wants Chiefs to grow as season goes Edwards wants Chiefs to grow as season goes Coach doesn’t mind starting off against two playoff teams from last season. By ADAM TEICHER The Kansas City Star Posted on Mon, Sep. 04, 2006 Only one AFC team begins its schedule with two games against contestants from last season’s playoffs. Herm Edwards isn’t complaining that it’s the Chiefs. In fact, he said he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I think it’s great,” Edwards said. “I think you find out a lot about your football team.” He may not feel that way in two weeks after the Chiefs play Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday and at Denver the following week. After an offseason of indecision, the Bengals apparently will have Carson Palmer at quarterback Sunday, meaning the Chiefs will see one of the game’s rising stars rather than journeyman Anthony Wright. The Chiefs not only haven’t won in Denver since they were coached by Gunther Cunningham, but they also haven’t been competitive with the Broncos in the new Mile High Stadium. The Chiefs gave few clues during an erratic preseason they are ready to be competitive against such an opening schedule, a point Edwards agreed with. “You’re not where you want to be,” he said. “No one is. That’s the great thing about our league. You build your football team as the season goes along. We have to be better after four weeks than you are the first four, and after eight you have to be a lot better football team. I think we’ll do that. There are some things that we obviously should have done better in the preseason but we didn’t. “The thing I learned about this football team is I know the strengths and weaknesses and I think you have to make sure you go into the season not kidding yourself. You have to find the holes that you have and from there you’ve got to help the players and then play to your strengths. We have to do that now. We have to game plan. We know what our players do well. We know some things that they need some help with. That’s the process of preseason football.” If the Chiefs can survive their first two games and, as Edwards suggests, improve as the season moves on, they might be in good shape. The schedule flattens out after the Chiefs play the Bengals and Broncos, and they will play only two more of last year’s playoff teams over the following two months. They have plenty of work to do to get there. On offense, Edwards has had issues at times with the play-calling of coordinator Mike Solari. The line the Chiefs hope to use against the Bengals hasn’t played together once in the preseason or practiced together since the early days of training camp. The offensive line was already trying to fill the holes from offseason retirements of starting tackles Willie Roaf and John Welbourn. “I think it’ll work out fine,” Edwards said. “I think we have some young guys and the acquisition of Kyle (Turley) was great. In the spring people wondered why we would do that. Why another tackle? Well, I’m glad we did that. It kind of worked out. He’s gotten better. I like Kyle Turley’s presence. He’s a guy that when you play a football game you want him on your side. He’s got a good guy next to him in Brian Waters. “(Right tackle Kevin Sampson) has a good player next to him in Will Shields. I think that helps your tackles when you have those guards. That’s what we have.” On defense, the Chiefs never put together a consistent pass rush and were leaky at times against the run. Now they will have to face Palmer, who threw for almost 4,000 yards last season before tearing knee ligaments in the playoff loss to Pittsburgh. His recovery was remarkably rapid. “A lot of people were wondering in the offseason that their quarterback might not be there,” Edwards said. “You know what? I’m glad he’s playing. I want him to play. I would be disappointed if they came in here without their starting quarterback. I want to see how good we are. “That’s just me. That’s the kind of player I was, and I’ve always been that way. I want to play against the best guys. I don’t want to sugarcoat it. Let’s find out about ourselves. They’ve scored a lot of points the last couple of weeks. They’re a machine. That’s great.”
Posts: 58,682

09-04-2006, 01:44 PM	#4
Mecca Hockey Town Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kansas City, Missouri Casino cash: $2377050	Vermiels schedule bullshit always made us look like a bunch of pussies.....
Posts: 111,108

09-04-2006, 02:21 PM	#6
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4470478	I want my cock to grow as the season goes on. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 278,550

09-04-2006, 03:50 PM	#9
ChiefFan31 Keeping a close eye Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: San Diego Casino cash: $10004900	And oh yeah. All he did was paraphrase everything that Herm said. Is that all it takes to be a sportswriter for a "major" newspaper these days? I mean really, everything in that article was said by someone else except for a sentence or two.
Posts: 1,596

09-04-2006, 03:57 PM	#10
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4470478	That's the job of a beat writer. Teicher isn't a columnist. Teicher's job is to bring us the news, i.e. what happened or what the coaches/players are talking about. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 278,550

09-04-2006, 04:11 PM	#11
tk13 ... Join Date: Nov 2001 Casino cash: $1762500	Vermeil was too smart for his own good in that regard. Sometimes in football it's better to just be stupid about certain things. Statistically speaking, our schedule last year was brutal, and we got a pretty unfair shake being the only team with 4 sets of back/back road games, and Vermeil probably knew that. He shouldn't have said that publicly, people just pass that off as whining, but we've not had a lot of luck with the schedulemakers the last couple years. There are really a lot of misperceptions about scheduling that people have, all the way from fans on these boards, to coaches, to even guys like Bob Gretz. He had some article a while back about how the Chiefs hadn't won a road game against a playoff team in December in a decade, or some garbage like that. And everybody was like "Oh yeah! No wonder we suck"... when in reality you look at last season, and there really weren't many playoff teams that won road games against playoff teams at the end of the year. And of the 2 or 3 who did, they lost their first playoff game. It had no bearing on playoff success. The easy road schedule in the 2nd half is why those teams made the playoffs in the first place! It's not rocket science. Just like last season, we were out there playing Denver, Giants, Cowboys, San Diego, etc... and SD had a tough schedule... and Pittsburgh was out there playing Detroit and Minnesota and Cleveland. And Pittsburgh was the one who made the playoffs. Not a shocker. You have to play the schedule in front of you, and you shouldn't complain about it, but I think with the watered down level of play in the NFL, everybody is so close, and 1 single play can make a difference, scheduling is important. I mean that's why everybody loves the NFL, it almost comes down to luck.
Posts: 54,980

09-04-2006, 04:27 PM	#13
OnTheWarpath15 MVP Join Date: Sep 2005 Casino cash: $4811115	We have 3 sets of back-to-backs this year..... Haven't heard one peep from Herm..... Sooner or later, his attitude will start to show in his players.....
Posts: 60,272

09-04-2006, 04:38 PM	#14
tk13 ... Join Date: Nov 2001 Casino cash: $1762500	Yeah, I mean, stats aren't everything, but I think there are some trends there. But there are always exceptions... like the Steelers last year ran through the playoffs on the road. That was amazing. And it shows anything can happen. But that's never happened before, that is the exception, somebody winning 3 straight road playoff games like that. In fact, as far as I remember, no team actually won back/back road games against two teams with winning records in the entire regular season. That's what I'm talking about. It's rare to win back/back road games, period, unless you're playing really weak teams. And you look at the schedules last year, and the Chiefs had 4 sets of back/back road games. The Broncos did that only once, and they won the division. Not a coincidence. The only time they played a 2nd consecutive road game was when they came to Arrowhead, and we beat them. Same thing with San Diego, they played Indy, then a 2nd consecutive road game in KC, and we thumped them on Christmas Eve. Then you look at the teams Herm cites as good road teams, Cincy and Pittsburgh, and they didn't really have strong schedules, they played the NFC North, which was the weakest division in football. And when the Steelers did go on the road against good teams, it wasn't always pretty. The Colts trounced them, they lost to the Ravens, etc. We have three sets of back/back road games this year. And they won't be easy... those 2nd games come @ Pittsburgh, @ Miami, and @ Oakland on a short week. I think we're going to have a tough time going better than 4-4 on the road this year. But that's fine, I think you should go 8-0 at home and 4-4 on the road, and that's good. You're 12-4, and you should be in a spot to get a home playoff game, where you obviously play well... unless you're the Chiefs. That's the far greater crime than winning road games against playoff teams. Usually the good teams are the ones that play well enough so they don't have to worry about winning a lot of tough road games, and don't lose big games at home.
Posts: 54,980