C-Mac
09-09-2005, 07:56 AM
Offense must answer questions
Chiefs know quick start needed to erase doubts and is essential to success
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Taken in a vacuum, last week’s news about Chiefs quarterback Trent Green’s surgery might not have set off a citywide panic.
Coming as it did during a period of anxiety for the Chiefs offense, the news did set off alarms, even at Arrowhead Stadium.
Was it a sign, yet another one, that the Chiefs’ reign as one of the great NFL offenses is about to end?
Not necessarily, but the bad omens certainly outweighed the good for the Chiefs and their offense during the preseason and training camp. Several significant players, Green included, missed practice or game time, making precious the moments when the core group worked together.
The Chiefs are also breaking in new starters at right tackle and wide receiver. At tackle, Jordan Black started four games last season but yielded the job in camp to Kevin Sampson, who is now injured.
At receiver, Samie Parker will make his first NFL start Sunday when the Chiefs open the season against the Jets at Arrowhead Stadium.
So the Chiefs have their issues, enough that offensive questions may overshadow the debut of a rebuilt defense against the Jets.
CBS is sending its crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to broadcast the game. Simms, a former NFL quarterback, is eager to watch the Chiefs, but not for reasons you might think.
“More than anything, I want to see if the offense can still be the dominant force that it’s been the last couple of years and especially the offensive line,” Simms said. “Or are they a year past their prime? I’m sure Jim and I will talk about that a lot this week and I’m curious to see it with my own eyes.”
Simms isn’t alone. The offensive preseason was decidedly disjointed. Almost all of the snaps in the last two games went to quarterbacks no longer with the team, depriving the Chiefs the chance to get into any meaningful rhythm in the passing game.
They are in the unusual and unenviable position that this week all three of their quarterbacks were listed on the weekly injury report.
“You would always like to be able to have continuity with your first group,” offensive coordinator Al Saunders said. “You want them to play as much as they can together because they play as a unit. It’s not golf or track or tennis.
“But I have no doubt we’ll be ready to play and ready to play well. We’re right where we need to be.”
The Chiefs are counting on their vast experience from the last few seasons to carry them. When last seen together, the Chiefs moved down the field for a touchdown.
“It hasn’t been as much as we would like but when we’ve been together as a group, we’ve been able to move the ball and put points up on the board, convert third downs when we needed it,” Green said. “Short-yardage situations, we’ve gotten work on. Goal-line situations, we’ve gotten work on.
“So I think everybody feels comfortable with where we are. Now it’s a matter of putting it together for four quarters.”
A sluggish offensive beginning to the 2004 season contributed heavily to an 0-3 start that doomed the Chiefs’ season. They are hopeful the defense can carry its share of the load this year but can’t count on it happening so quickly when many new pieces are still being fitted together.
So a quick offensive start is essential and the Chiefs know it.
“We’ve run a very restricted offense in preseason games, but not on the practice field,” coach Dick Vermeil said. “On the practice field I’ve been very pleased with our pass offense but the restricted version in games and especially so in the last couple of ballgames just is not what we are. What you get concerned about is, can you all of a sudden be game day what you have been on the practice field? It’s not turning anything around, it’s just executing under pressure.
“We just work on specific things in preseason games and don’t do specific things in preseason games. But we do everything on the practice field and at a pretty good tempo, especially when we have pads on and even when we don’t have pads on. But you’re not being tested like you are game day.”
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Chiefs know quick start needed to erase doubts and is essential to success
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Taken in a vacuum, last week’s news about Chiefs quarterback Trent Green’s surgery might not have set off a citywide panic.
Coming as it did during a period of anxiety for the Chiefs offense, the news did set off alarms, even at Arrowhead Stadium.
Was it a sign, yet another one, that the Chiefs’ reign as one of the great NFL offenses is about to end?
Not necessarily, but the bad omens certainly outweighed the good for the Chiefs and their offense during the preseason and training camp. Several significant players, Green included, missed practice or game time, making precious the moments when the core group worked together.
The Chiefs are also breaking in new starters at right tackle and wide receiver. At tackle, Jordan Black started four games last season but yielded the job in camp to Kevin Sampson, who is now injured.
At receiver, Samie Parker will make his first NFL start Sunday when the Chiefs open the season against the Jets at Arrowhead Stadium.
So the Chiefs have their issues, enough that offensive questions may overshadow the debut of a rebuilt defense against the Jets.
CBS is sending its crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to broadcast the game. Simms, a former NFL quarterback, is eager to watch the Chiefs, but not for reasons you might think.
“More than anything, I want to see if the offense can still be the dominant force that it’s been the last couple of years and especially the offensive line,” Simms said. “Or are they a year past their prime? I’m sure Jim and I will talk about that a lot this week and I’m curious to see it with my own eyes.”
Simms isn’t alone. The offensive preseason was decidedly disjointed. Almost all of the snaps in the last two games went to quarterbacks no longer with the team, depriving the Chiefs the chance to get into any meaningful rhythm in the passing game.
They are in the unusual and unenviable position that this week all three of their quarterbacks were listed on the weekly injury report.
“You would always like to be able to have continuity with your first group,” offensive coordinator Al Saunders said. “You want them to play as much as they can together because they play as a unit. It’s not golf or track or tennis.
“But I have no doubt we’ll be ready to play and ready to play well. We’re right where we need to be.”
The Chiefs are counting on their vast experience from the last few seasons to carry them. When last seen together, the Chiefs moved down the field for a touchdown.
“It hasn’t been as much as we would like but when we’ve been together as a group, we’ve been able to move the ball and put points up on the board, convert third downs when we needed it,” Green said. “Short-yardage situations, we’ve gotten work on. Goal-line situations, we’ve gotten work on.
“So I think everybody feels comfortable with where we are. Now it’s a matter of putting it together for four quarters.”
A sluggish offensive beginning to the 2004 season contributed heavily to an 0-3 start that doomed the Chiefs’ season. They are hopeful the defense can carry its share of the load this year but can’t count on it happening so quickly when many new pieces are still being fitted together.
So a quick offensive start is essential and the Chiefs know it.
“We’ve run a very restricted offense in preseason games, but not on the practice field,” coach Dick Vermeil said. “On the practice field I’ve been very pleased with our pass offense but the restricted version in games and especially so in the last couple of ballgames just is not what we are. What you get concerned about is, can you all of a sudden be game day what you have been on the practice field? It’s not turning anything around, it’s just executing under pressure.
“We just work on specific things in preseason games and don’t do specific things in preseason games. But we do everything on the practice field and at a pretty good tempo, especially when we have pads on and even when we don’t have pads on. But you’re not being tested like you are game day.”
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