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KingPriest2
10-20-2004, 09:44 PM
Q&A with Dick Vermeil
Oct 20, 2004, 6:42:23 PM


Q: How do you handle the adversity that has come with this season so far?



DICK VERMEIL: “I think you do that as you build your roster, as you form the chemistry of your football team, the profile of the players you want on your roster. You try to surround yourself with coaches and players that can handle the adversity of tough seasons, of not meeting expectations, because no one’s immune.

“I just think back to the world championship Tampa Bay Buccaneers the next year and all of a sudden they’re struggling. Why shouldn’t they believe they can do it again or at least be a playoff team? Why shouldn’t we own the right in the off-season after 13 games the year before? But we haven’t done it, so what we have to do as coaches is make sure we’re doing a good job of coaching and players have to be held accountable, too, and they do.

“If you’ve got the right kind of people with you it isn’t as big a problem as the media can make it out. The problem is not just making the play when you’ve got the lead and you need the first down so they can’t get the ball back and those kinds of things.

“Last year we were very fortunate because we weren’t in this position very often. Most of the time the games were finished before we got to the fourth quarter. We were dominating offensively and we were ahead. There were times we had to win in the fourth quarter; we won two games in the fourth quarter with a kick return or a punt return for a touchdown. We’re not doing that right now.

“But through our 13 wins more often or not the decision had been made who’s going to win the football game.

“Adversity does a lot of things to different people. Sometimes it brings the best out of them if you’ve got the right kids who have been through it before. A lot of these guys have been through adversity so we could win 13 games last year. They handle it real well. We played our butts off last Sunday and had every opportunity to win a football game and didn’t. They’re disappointed and discouraged but their attitude is super.

“When you play a winning season you know you’re going to come back and play a different schedule than one that helped you be a winning team. Look at who we have played. Going to Denver, for example, and opening there against a playoff team that only one team has beaten there in an opener in 10 years. You know it’s going to be tough. I said all along that I thought we’d be a better football team but maybe not win as many games. I still think we can still end up being a better football team and obviously we won’t win as many games. Will we be a playoff team? I don’t know. It’s been done before but it’s never been done by a Chiefs team.”

Q: We seem to spend a lot of time talking about Larry Johnson, a guy who doesn’t play a lot. But downstairs in the locker room he and Tony Richardson sort of set up this yellow police line as a kind of joke. He talked today like he had grown up overnight a bit. He was disappointed that he didn’t get traded but have you spoken to him today?

VERMEIL: “Not to him personally. Those are things for you guys to make a living with not me. I don’t get deeply involved in it. I was brought up to date on the article this morning. The problem has been addressed. It’s not a serious problem. It never has been. It’s more a problem for him. Our posture hasn’t changed. We want the kid here. He’s a good football player and in time I think he’ll prove it to everybody. He’s got to be patient.

“Whenever things are discussed in regards to this young man the other two people within that whole scheme are not discussed: Priest Holmes and Derrick Blaylock. Before Larry gets on the field he has to do things better than those two guys are doing and play that kind of role. It’s tough for him to do it.

“I understand it. I feel sorry for him, I really do. I have compassion for the guy. I understand his frustration, but I think eventually he’ll recognize what he has to do. He had a great football practice today, a great football practice.”

Q: The things he was saying today were a little more mature and grown-up. Is it kind of happening for him?

VERMEIL: “I’ve seen it. Last week he got the Scout team player of the week award for offense and a dinner at Plaza 3. You know, it takes everybody a different amount of time to fit into a program. His expectations are so high and you want expectations to be high. Accountability, responsibility, maturity are all things that will take place within Larry Johnson’s career and one day he’ll be a real fine player.”

Q: What’s been the issue with your special teams play this year?

VERMEIL: Everybody always talks about the offensive side of it. They think things are great on special teams because you return a punt or a kickoff, but there’s a lot more to it than that. We’ve had some problems covering kickoffs but we did a great job last week – a great job. Why? Our kicker did a better job. So, there are so many facets to the kicking game.

“The defensive side of special teams to me is number one, the offensive side number two. Last year we were very, very good on the offensive side. No time in the history of the league has there ever been more than a few guys return four kicks for touchdowns and then a fifth one in the playoffs.

“We’re not doing that right now. Teams won’t kick the ball to us and allow us to get started. We’ve met punters who punt the ball and don’t let us get started. (Dante Hall) hasn’t returned many this year. But sooner or later it’ll happen because he’s a great football player.”

Q: What problems does Michael Vick provide to your team?

VERMEIL: “When he goes back to throw you’ve got to defense the pass and run, too. He may not give the ball on a running play. He may be coming out on something else or throwing. I’ve never seen anybody like it in that position since I coached in the National Football League.

“Randall Cunningham was one of those guys when he came into the league. He had a big running average and did all kinds of great things and made a lot of yards off all sorts of broken plays. But this guy is more a true running back in talent, not that he isn’t a quarterback. But he has running back talent as well. He is 33% of their running game.”

Q: But their defense is as much a reason for their success.

VERMEIL: “No question. Their down four is attacking. They can all hit and run. Even the backups hit and run. They’re very, very aggressive and are very well coached fundamentally. They keep their feet and fly to the football. Very typical Jimmy Mora coached football team.

“You know I coached against him when I was with the Rams and he was the 49ers defensive coordinator. The linebackers coming down hill flying. The coverage schemes are different than what we’ve seen before, same as Green Bay had last year. The big thing is they’re playing with tremendous energy, tremendous energy.”

Q: Does having experience against Alex Gibbs’ offensive lines in Denver help you prepare for Atlanta now that he’s there?

VERMEIL: “I think so. I think right now they’re maybe in the earlier stages of an Alex Gibbs running attack rather than the full boat you would see in Denver over the time we’ve coached against them. Nobody does it any better than Alex, nobody does it with any better definition than Alex in fundamentals. You see his influence, no question.”

Q: Is there any way to explain his system to the layman?

VERMEIL: “First off, their philosophy is so deep in going downhill with the ball that they spend almost no time running parallel to the line of scrimmage. So, they’re always going forward. The worst you can do is zero yards; it’s one, two, three, crack, bang 60 yards. They keep doing it and are very patient.

“Their zone blocking concepts get the defensive front stretched from sideline to sideline as they do to try and knock you back. They’ll get you cut down from the backside and do a good job of coming off in their co-op blocks to knock off the linebacker and the back makes a cutback. The other part of it is the quarterback keeping the ball as the linebackers and safeties all flow downhill and, all of a sudden, the quarterback’s coming out the other side. It breaks your confidence in your run support with your safeties. That’s what happened to us in Denver and they do it now with a running back playing quarterback.”

Q: Is it kind of inaccurate then when people say they run strictly a West Coast offense?

VERMEIL: “No, they’re really not.”

Q: Is it a Mike Shanahan style offense then?

VERMEIL: “No, it’s an Alex Gibbs. You can see some of the things in the passing game that reflect the offensive coordinator in San Francisco. Also, they are trying to do more of what Michael Vick can do well.”

Q: Other than Sims and Kris Wilson is everybody else ready to go?

VERMEIL: “We might be healthier than we’ve been all year.”

Q: Is Sammie Parker’s role the same? Where’s he at?

VERMEIL: “I have asked Charlie (Joiner) to make sure that he gets coached every week as if he’s getting ready to play. He has a dimension we can’t coach and that’s great speed. What he doesn’t have is experience but we want him prepared to play as if he’s going to be active on the roster and have to play. Charlie is spending extra time with him.”

Q: Do you see him being ready before the year is out?

VERMEIL: “It wouldn’t surprise me. I think he could play this week if we needed him.”

Q: Can you keep five receivers on the active roster?

VERMEIL: “No, not unless you’re a great special teams player. It’s hard to and now with Keyeron Fox healthy and growing up and becoming a pro football player and not a rookie and going in and doing what he did on special teams last week in contrast to how he handled it in the preseason, you’ve got to keep him active. He can make a contribution. Did a great job.”

Q: Are there other younger players stepping up?

VERMEIL: “Junior Siavii grows every day. When the light comes on with that guy and it does a little bit every ballgame. I do believe it and I’m not being facetious: when the game is over the guy lining up on him must say, ‘I wonder who that guy was. Wow.’ Maybe not every snap but all of a sudden he’s doing it all right, you can imagine a man that size that can move like he can and the power he can generate. When he does it right it’s impressive.”