CASHMAN
11-14-2004, 12:14 PM
Posted on Sun, Nov. 14, 2004
JOE LEDFORD/The Kansas City Star
When Priest Holmes isn't around to pick his way through the holes downfield, the Chiefs have struggled to score points.
For the Chiefs, Holmes more than foots the bill
A reporter was talking to Vince Dooley, the football coach at Georgia, about his amazing running back Herschel Walker. This was 1981. It is hard to describe just how unstoppable Walker was the year before, when he was 18 years old. He was the best college football player I ever saw.
Put it this way: In the Sugar Bowl, with Georgia playing for the national championship, Walker ran for 150 yards against Notre Dame with a separated shoulder.
The reporter suggested that Walker was a one-man team. Dooley shook his head.
“No such thing as a one-man team,” he said. “It's just that with him, I'm the genius coach of a national champion. And without him, I'm coaching high school football in Mobile, Alabama.”
Today in New Orleans we find out just how smart Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil and offensive coordinator Al Saunders really are, because it looks as if they will be without Mr. Everything, Priest Holmes. Everybody knows just how much Holmes means to the Chiefs, although one quick stat here might help:
The last two and a half seasons, Holmes has scored 66 touchdowns.
The next guy on the list, Seattle's Shaun Alexander, has scored 46.
Since football, at its core, is about scoring touchdowns, Priest Holmes is the Michael Jordan of his game. He's Tom Seaver, Danny Manning, Kelly Leak, Bill Walton, Batman, Jackie Stiles, Wilt Chamberlain, Orel Hershiser, Jimmy Chitwood, Diana Ross, Barry Bonds, Paul Simon, Larry Bird, Dominik Hasek and every other one-man (or one-woman) team you can think of in history.
(For a key to one-man teams, see the end of the column).
People will quickly say that Holmes isn't a one-man team. He has two future hall of famers — Will Shields and Willie Roaf — blocking for him. The Chiefs have a Pro Bowl quarterback and the best tight end in the business and a great blocking fullback and so on.
Still, when you look at the limited evidence, you find something pretty striking.
The Chiefs have been pretty lousy without Priest Holmes.
***
Here's a weird thing about one-man teams: The star often raises everybody else's game so much that, in a strange way, the star becomes underrated and overlooked. Take Michael Jordan. From 1991-93, and again from 1996-98, Jordan was very obviously the NBA's most valuable, most dominating and best player. No one else was close. Yet, twice he did not win the MVP award; and there actually was a school of thought that Scottie Pippen was almost as important to the Bulls' success.
Scottie Pippen, for crying out loud.
This is a common theme. Whenever football experts talk about Priest Holmes, they concede that he's a great player, but they always talk about how devastating his offensive line is, how much he is helped by the Chiefs great passing attack and how well he fits into the Chiefs' brilliant offensive system.
Yes, his offensive line is great. But it should be noted that for the nine seasons before he arrived (when the offensive line was plenty good) the Chiefs did not have a 1,000-yard rusher.
Yes, the passing game is helpful. But when Trent Green had his fairly abysmal 2001 season — he threw more interceptions than touchdowns passes — and the Chiefs' best wide receiver was Snoop Minnis, Holmes still led the NFL in rushing.
Finally, yes, Holmes does thrive in the multifaceted Saunders/Vermeil system. But it's worth pointing out just how well that system has done when Holmes was out.
As best I can tell, Holmes has been out with injuries for about 11 quarters in his Chiefs career — two quarters this year (one against Carolina, the other last week at Tampa Bay) and nine more quarters in 2002 when he hurt his hip.
In those 11 quarters, the Chiefs have scored four touchdowns, three of them against the atrocious 2002 San Diego defense. Green has been pretty mediocre, completing about 53 percent of his passes and throwing as many interceptions as touchdowns.
What's eye-catching, though, is the Chiefs running game without Holmes; in those 11 quarters, Chiefs running backs averaged less than 3 yards per carry and did not rush for a single touchdown.
Now, 11 quarters is a too small sample to make definite conclusions. And it's hard to compare the Chiefs from 2002 to this team now. But one thing seems clear: As important as you think Holmes is to the Chiefs offense, he's actually much, much more important.
***
So, how will the Chiefs respond today without Holmes? “We all know how valuable Priest Holmes is,” Vermeil says. “But we're thinking we're just going to go out and play football.”
The Chiefs do have a couple of things going for them. One, Derrick Blaylock appears to be healthy, and he has played very well in combination with Holmes. Blaylock has occupied the locker next to Holmes for quite a while, and has spent a lot of time studying the man. Blaylock has even refused to talk to the media after good games, wanting instead to pass credit to his offensive line, a clear homage to Priest.
The second thing is that Green has turned himself into one of the game's better quarterbacks. He has added a little something to his game each season — the first season, was just trying to establish himself as a starter. His second season, he made better decisions. Last season he led this team.
This season he is making plays when nothing appears open. This is the big step, the one few quarterbacks can take. Several times this year, Green has somehow avoided a sack, or stood in the pocket for an instant longer, and made something good happen. The last six weeks, he is completing 73 percent of his passes, has thrown 12 touchdown passes and is playing as well as anybody in the NFL.
Still, Dean Martin was not funny without Jerry Lewis, “ER” has never been a good show without George Clooney, and the Police did not survive without Sting.
“You don't replace Priest Holmes,” Vermeil says. “You take him out of the offense, you lose something — that's all there is to it.”
***
OK, here's the key to our one-man teams: Tom Seaver was the soul of the 1969 Miracle Mets; Danny Manning, of course, was the only great player of the 1988 Kansas national champions; Kelly Leak was the only decent everyday player on the Bad News Bears; Bill Walton single-handedly guided Portland to the NBA championship in 1977; Batman clearly was carrying Robin; Jackie Stiles set the NCAA scoring record for women's basketball at Southwest Missouri State; in 1962, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game and, perhaps even more impressive, 48.5 minutes per game.
And more: Orel Hershiser led the astonishingly mediocre 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers to a world championship; Jimmy Chitwood was the star, and the guy who hit the big shot, for Hickory High in the movie “Hoosiers;” Diana Ross was so dominant that in 1968, they changed the name of the group from “The Supremes” to “Diana Ross and the Supremes;” Last year Barry Bonds walked more than his top four San Francisco teammates combined; Paul Simon dragged Art Garfunkel to stardom; Larry Bird and four guys found on an Indiana playground reached the NCAA championship game in 1979; Dominik Hasek is one of the great playoff hockey goalies ever. Remember hockey?
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JOE LEDFORD/The Kansas City Star
When Priest Holmes isn't around to pick his way through the holes downfield, the Chiefs have struggled to score points.
For the Chiefs, Holmes more than foots the bill
A reporter was talking to Vince Dooley, the football coach at Georgia, about his amazing running back Herschel Walker. This was 1981. It is hard to describe just how unstoppable Walker was the year before, when he was 18 years old. He was the best college football player I ever saw.
Put it this way: In the Sugar Bowl, with Georgia playing for the national championship, Walker ran for 150 yards against Notre Dame with a separated shoulder.
The reporter suggested that Walker was a one-man team. Dooley shook his head.
“No such thing as a one-man team,” he said. “It's just that with him, I'm the genius coach of a national champion. And without him, I'm coaching high school football in Mobile, Alabama.”
Today in New Orleans we find out just how smart Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil and offensive coordinator Al Saunders really are, because it looks as if they will be without Mr. Everything, Priest Holmes. Everybody knows just how much Holmes means to the Chiefs, although one quick stat here might help:
The last two and a half seasons, Holmes has scored 66 touchdowns.
The next guy on the list, Seattle's Shaun Alexander, has scored 46.
Since football, at its core, is about scoring touchdowns, Priest Holmes is the Michael Jordan of his game. He's Tom Seaver, Danny Manning, Kelly Leak, Bill Walton, Batman, Jackie Stiles, Wilt Chamberlain, Orel Hershiser, Jimmy Chitwood, Diana Ross, Barry Bonds, Paul Simon, Larry Bird, Dominik Hasek and every other one-man (or one-woman) team you can think of in history.
(For a key to one-man teams, see the end of the column).
People will quickly say that Holmes isn't a one-man team. He has two future hall of famers — Will Shields and Willie Roaf — blocking for him. The Chiefs have a Pro Bowl quarterback and the best tight end in the business and a great blocking fullback and so on.
Still, when you look at the limited evidence, you find something pretty striking.
The Chiefs have been pretty lousy without Priest Holmes.
***
Here's a weird thing about one-man teams: The star often raises everybody else's game so much that, in a strange way, the star becomes underrated and overlooked. Take Michael Jordan. From 1991-93, and again from 1996-98, Jordan was very obviously the NBA's most valuable, most dominating and best player. No one else was close. Yet, twice he did not win the MVP award; and there actually was a school of thought that Scottie Pippen was almost as important to the Bulls' success.
Scottie Pippen, for crying out loud.
This is a common theme. Whenever football experts talk about Priest Holmes, they concede that he's a great player, but they always talk about how devastating his offensive line is, how much he is helped by the Chiefs great passing attack and how well he fits into the Chiefs' brilliant offensive system.
Yes, his offensive line is great. But it should be noted that for the nine seasons before he arrived (when the offensive line was plenty good) the Chiefs did not have a 1,000-yard rusher.
Yes, the passing game is helpful. But when Trent Green had his fairly abysmal 2001 season — he threw more interceptions than touchdowns passes — and the Chiefs' best wide receiver was Snoop Minnis, Holmes still led the NFL in rushing.
Finally, yes, Holmes does thrive in the multifaceted Saunders/Vermeil system. But it's worth pointing out just how well that system has done when Holmes was out.
As best I can tell, Holmes has been out with injuries for about 11 quarters in his Chiefs career — two quarters this year (one against Carolina, the other last week at Tampa Bay) and nine more quarters in 2002 when he hurt his hip.
In those 11 quarters, the Chiefs have scored four touchdowns, three of them against the atrocious 2002 San Diego defense. Green has been pretty mediocre, completing about 53 percent of his passes and throwing as many interceptions as touchdowns.
What's eye-catching, though, is the Chiefs running game without Holmes; in those 11 quarters, Chiefs running backs averaged less than 3 yards per carry and did not rush for a single touchdown.
Now, 11 quarters is a too small sample to make definite conclusions. And it's hard to compare the Chiefs from 2002 to this team now. But one thing seems clear: As important as you think Holmes is to the Chiefs offense, he's actually much, much more important.
***
So, how will the Chiefs respond today without Holmes? “We all know how valuable Priest Holmes is,” Vermeil says. “But we're thinking we're just going to go out and play football.”
The Chiefs do have a couple of things going for them. One, Derrick Blaylock appears to be healthy, and he has played very well in combination with Holmes. Blaylock has occupied the locker next to Holmes for quite a while, and has spent a lot of time studying the man. Blaylock has even refused to talk to the media after good games, wanting instead to pass credit to his offensive line, a clear homage to Priest.
The second thing is that Green has turned himself into one of the game's better quarterbacks. He has added a little something to his game each season — the first season, was just trying to establish himself as a starter. His second season, he made better decisions. Last season he led this team.
This season he is making plays when nothing appears open. This is the big step, the one few quarterbacks can take. Several times this year, Green has somehow avoided a sack, or stood in the pocket for an instant longer, and made something good happen. The last six weeks, he is completing 73 percent of his passes, has thrown 12 touchdown passes and is playing as well as anybody in the NFL.
Still, Dean Martin was not funny without Jerry Lewis, “ER” has never been a good show without George Clooney, and the Police did not survive without Sting.
“You don't replace Priest Holmes,” Vermeil says. “You take him out of the offense, you lose something — that's all there is to it.”
***
OK, here's the key to our one-man teams: Tom Seaver was the soul of the 1969 Miracle Mets; Danny Manning, of course, was the only great player of the 1988 Kansas national champions; Kelly Leak was the only decent everyday player on the Bad News Bears; Bill Walton single-handedly guided Portland to the NBA championship in 1977; Batman clearly was carrying Robin; Jackie Stiles set the NCAA scoring record for women's basketball at Southwest Missouri State; in 1962, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game and, perhaps even more impressive, 48.5 minutes per game.
And more: Orel Hershiser led the astonishingly mediocre 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers to a world championship; Jimmy Chitwood was the star, and the guy who hit the big shot, for Hickory High in the movie “Hoosiers;” Diana Ross was so dominant that in 1968, they changed the name of the group from “The Supremes” to “Diana Ross and the Supremes;” Last year Barry Bonds walked more than his top four San Francisco teammates combined; Paul Simon dragged Art Garfunkel to stardom; Larry Bird and four guys found on an Indiana playground reached the NCAA championship game in 1979; Dominik Hasek is one of the great playoff hockey goalies ever. Remember hockey?
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