KingPriest2
10-20-2004, 09:41 PM
GRETZ: You Are What You Are
Oct 20, 2004, 5:59:31 AM by Bob Gretz
Bill Parcells has developed a view of football that is without frills. Being a head coach as long as he’s been will do that to anyone.
One of Parcells favorite sayings when talking about teams and their records is:
“You are what you are.”
Now, generally Parcells uses that line when talking about a full season. He’s aware of the ups and downs that can inflict a team in this parity driven world of the NFL. But over a 16-game schedule, the good and bad bounces even out; so do the good and bad officiating, etc. His feeling is that if a team finishes the season 8-8, it’s because they are an 8-8 team with that type of talent and performance.
Right now Parcells is up to his “you know what” in alligators with the Cowboys starting 2-3 and coming off a last-minute loss last Sunday to Pittsburgh. He probably hasn’t had much time to evaluate the Chiefs season.
Yet, I wonder what he would say about the Chiefs 1-4 start?
“You are what you are.”
Everyone, from Carl Peterson, to Dick Vermeil, to the players in the locker room say they believe they are far better than their 1-4 record. Vermeil is quick to pull out stats that show this year’s offense is producing at the same rate or slightly better than last year’s team that started 9-0. There’s no doubt the Chiefs defense has been better in the last three games than at any time in the last three seasons. We all know the special teams have not held up their end of the bargain over the first five games.
Plus there’s no question the schedule has been tougher, and gets even harder in the next two weeks with visits from Atlanta (5-1) and Indianapolis (now 4-1.) Last year, the Chiefs were 5-0 with three victories over teams that were not very good (San Diego, Pittsburgh and Houston) and two over teams that made the playoffs (Baltimore and Denver.) This year, they’ve fallen to Denver (5-1), Carolina (1-4), Houston (3-3) and Jacksonville (4-2) while beating Baltimore (3-2.)
There has to be more than the kicking game and a tougher schedule that’s the difference in 1-4 this year and 5-0 last year. That difference is a handful of plays that if they go the Chiefs way, they might not be 5-0, but they wouldn’t be 1-4.
But that’s what teams that lose do: talk about the plays that would have turned the tide. When you win games and make those plays, the fans and media don’t often zero in on the turning points. They just dub you one of the league’s best teams because you keep on winning.
“You are what you are.”
Right now, I would agree that the Chiefs are a better team than others holding 1-4 records, clubs like Buffalo, Chicago, Tampa Bay, Arizona and San Francisco (at 1-5.) Cincinnati and Carolina are also 1-4 and in much the same boat as the Chiefs: based on last year’s performance, they are better than the record they now hold.
I would also say that in 2003 the Chiefs were not the classic 5-0 team. They were fortunate to be undefeated at this point last year, thanks in large part to the greatest four-game stretch for a return man in the history of the NFL; they road Dante Hall’s tiny shoulders to that great start, pure and simple.
It’s interesting that in the last 16 games the Chiefs have played (five this year, one game in the playoffs and the final 10 games of last season) they are 8-8. In that stretch they had only one return for a touchdown by Hall and that one came in a game they lost in the playoffs to Indianapolis.
Maybe more than 13-3 with a 5-0 start, or this year’s 1-4 beginning, that .500 record over the last 16 games might say more about what the Chiefs are right now than anything el
Oct 20, 2004, 5:59:31 AM by Bob Gretz
Bill Parcells has developed a view of football that is without frills. Being a head coach as long as he’s been will do that to anyone.
One of Parcells favorite sayings when talking about teams and their records is:
“You are what you are.”
Now, generally Parcells uses that line when talking about a full season. He’s aware of the ups and downs that can inflict a team in this parity driven world of the NFL. But over a 16-game schedule, the good and bad bounces even out; so do the good and bad officiating, etc. His feeling is that if a team finishes the season 8-8, it’s because they are an 8-8 team with that type of talent and performance.
Right now Parcells is up to his “you know what” in alligators with the Cowboys starting 2-3 and coming off a last-minute loss last Sunday to Pittsburgh. He probably hasn’t had much time to evaluate the Chiefs season.
Yet, I wonder what he would say about the Chiefs 1-4 start?
“You are what you are.”
Everyone, from Carl Peterson, to Dick Vermeil, to the players in the locker room say they believe they are far better than their 1-4 record. Vermeil is quick to pull out stats that show this year’s offense is producing at the same rate or slightly better than last year’s team that started 9-0. There’s no doubt the Chiefs defense has been better in the last three games than at any time in the last three seasons. We all know the special teams have not held up their end of the bargain over the first five games.
Plus there’s no question the schedule has been tougher, and gets even harder in the next two weeks with visits from Atlanta (5-1) and Indianapolis (now 4-1.) Last year, the Chiefs were 5-0 with three victories over teams that were not very good (San Diego, Pittsburgh and Houston) and two over teams that made the playoffs (Baltimore and Denver.) This year, they’ve fallen to Denver (5-1), Carolina (1-4), Houston (3-3) and Jacksonville (4-2) while beating Baltimore (3-2.)
There has to be more than the kicking game and a tougher schedule that’s the difference in 1-4 this year and 5-0 last year. That difference is a handful of plays that if they go the Chiefs way, they might not be 5-0, but they wouldn’t be 1-4.
But that’s what teams that lose do: talk about the plays that would have turned the tide. When you win games and make those plays, the fans and media don’t often zero in on the turning points. They just dub you one of the league’s best teams because you keep on winning.
“You are what you are.”
Right now, I would agree that the Chiefs are a better team than others holding 1-4 records, clubs like Buffalo, Chicago, Tampa Bay, Arizona and San Francisco (at 1-5.) Cincinnati and Carolina are also 1-4 and in much the same boat as the Chiefs: based on last year’s performance, they are better than the record they now hold.
I would also say that in 2003 the Chiefs were not the classic 5-0 team. They were fortunate to be undefeated at this point last year, thanks in large part to the greatest four-game stretch for a return man in the history of the NFL; they road Dante Hall’s tiny shoulders to that great start, pure and simple.
It’s interesting that in the last 16 games the Chiefs have played (five this year, one game in the playoffs and the final 10 games of last season) they are 8-8. In that stretch they had only one return for a touchdown by Hall and that one came in a game they lost in the playoffs to Indianapolis.
Maybe more than 13-3 with a 5-0 start, or this year’s 1-4 beginning, that .500 record over the last 16 games might say more about what the Chiefs are right now than anything el