Q&A with HERM EDWARDS 5/20

[hypersensitiveZO6]

May 20, 2006, 2:07:15 PM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/05/20/qa_with_herm_edwardsarbmc/

HERM EDWARDS: “I thought our players made good effort today. That’s what it’s about; it’s about when we go to practice having a mission to try and get some things done offensively, defensively and on special teams. Our tempo is so much of the game both physically and mentally, that’s what we’re trying to press upon these players to understand that’s it’s very important that we have a mindset on how we are going to take the field and how we are going to prepare for practice. I thought today it was great to go into the stadium with the fans and the fans obviously give excitement, but the fans are only one element. The fans are the 12th man on the field, but we have to do it on the field collectively as a ball club and I thought today that they practiced with a good pace and a good tempo.”



Q: Did either side of the ball dominate today?

EDWARDS: “I thought it went back and forth really. I thought the offense hit some passes, but I thought the defense hit some passes too. So I thought it was a very good effort by both units and that’s what you want, you want competition inside the drills and they both did a good job.”

Q: Are you going to have to rely a lot on QB Trent Green to be a transition person on the offense?

EDWARDS: “I don’t know about Trent, I just think offensively we have a lot of great weapons there. We have a lot of good receivers, we have runners and we have a great offensive line. I anticipate those guys to not lose step of what they’ve done over the last five years. They’ve been a very productive offense. We’ve been very prolific in scoring. I just think we might do things a little different on how we run the football and things of that nature. Other than that I anticipate our offense to continue to score points.”

Q: What do you mean by saying you are going to do things differently in running the ball?

EDWARDS: “Just in different scenarios in the game, we’re going to play the game a little differently. The game will dictate who we play and how we play. I’m not saying we’re going to just exclusively run the ball, but if you look at us last year we threw about 523 passes and ran the ball about 505 times, somewhere in that vicinity. I anticipate if we’re playing with a lead, we’re going to run the ball more than we did last year and not worry about continuing to try and get a 17 point lead. I think at times when you’re in games, especially on the road, you have to be able to run the ball if you’re going to win on the road in a hostile environment. That’s how you take care of your opponents. When you go on the road, you run the ball and control the clock. I think we have a great offensive line, we’ve got a heck of a running back and there’s going to be times when we need to pound it a little bit more.”

Q: So the offense is going to change?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, a little bit. You might not see as many passes, but at the end of the day the object is to win the game and the object is to play together as a unit. Sometimes your offense has to protect your defense. You can’t always go three-and-out and put your defense back on the field. You’d like to have your defense fresh in the fourth quarter and the way they stay fresh is you collectively, offensively, control the clock. You control the clock when you run and pass. We have to be able to do both.”

Q: What are you thoughts on tall cornerbacks, are there any advantages, what do they have to overcome?

EDWARDS: “There’re very difficult windows to throw the ball in, especially in zones. They’ve got height and length and we’ve got linebackers with height and length too, so when you try and throw the ball in between the linebackers and the safeties that length and height is an advantage to you. Now the disadvantage is that they are not as quick as a 5-10 guy and you have to compensate for that. The thing that they do is that they take up space, when you’ve got big long-armed guys. It’s very hard for QB’s to fit balls in there because they have to throw it over a guy’s head.”

Q: Does CB Lenny Walls have the quickness to compensate for his height?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, Lenny’s played in the league and he’s been a starter. It’s not like the guy hasn’t played, he got hurt. He’s really excited about being here and competing for a starting position. I think he had a pretty good day and made some plays. A lot of those guys made some pretty good plays. There were some throws that were caught; it’s amazing that this town thinks that every time the offense throws the ball they think all of them are in bounds. We had two guys catch balls out of bounds and they’re still cheering, but they were out of bounds. I think that’s great, this city is really captivated by our offense and rightly so, but they are going to have to cheer a little bit for the defense every once in a while too.”

Q: A year ago Vermeil would have said those passes were in bounds.

EDWARDS: “Yeah, they were out of bounds, trust me. I was watching closely.”

Q: Why do you want the fans to be more captivated by your defense?

EDWARDS: “I just want them to be captivated for this football team. It is a team and I don’t want this to be a one-sided team and I think that’s what wins, a complete team.”

Q: Is DE Carlos Hall a starter at this point?

EDWARDS: “He’s in the rotation at the end position. I think we’re in pretty good shape. We’ve got four ends right now who I think are pretty good players. You’re going to need four, especially when we’re talking about how we’re going to play with our defensive linemen, there will be a rotation system where we will ask them to run and run fast. You have to be able to have a great rotation system, especially at the beginning of the year when it’s hot. When you have linemen that can rotate it helps.”

Q: Can you gauge the defense at this point?

EDWARDS: “Well right now we’re not in pads, we’re just working on technique and movement and how we are running, how we are using our hands and our footwork. When we get up to River Falls there’s some guys who don’t show up as good as when they’re in shorts. When you really start playing football is when you put the pads on and we’ll see where we are at then. That’s the next step, but we’re not at that step yet, we’re still in the step of trying to build something, especially on defense on how we’re going to play. For the most part guys are buying in and they understand that if you’re going to be a lineman, especially a defensive lineman, you have to be in shape, you have to run. It’s required for you to run. If you can’t run it’s very difficult for you to get on the field for us, whether it’s a defensive lineman or any defensive player period.

[FAX]

Q: So the offense is going to change?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, a little bit. You might not see as many passes, but at the end of the day the object is to win the game and the object is to play together as a unit. Sometimes your offense has to protect your defense. ... "

Herm has declared himself to be a liar with this statement.

FAX

[Rain Man]

I anticipate if we’re playing with a lead, we’re going to run the ball more than we did last year and not worry about continuing to try and get a 17 point lead.


AAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! My Post-TraMarty Stress Disorder is resurfacing! AAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[hypersensitiveZO6]

When he says change, I hope he means better goaline decisions.

[FAX]

AAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! My Post-TraMarty Stress Disorder is resurfacing! AAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I'm with you on this, Mr. Rain Man. What in God's heaven is wrong with averaging 24 points a game if you have the team to do it?

This proves that Herm is nothing but a big, fat liar, too.

FAX

[hypersensitiveZO6]

I'm with you on this, Mr. Rain Man. What in God's heaven is wrong with averaging 24 points a game if you have the team to do it?

This proves that Herm is nothing but a big, fat liar, too.

FAX


Mr. Fax, sssshhhhhhh.... you will start germ warefare again.
hyperlite

[go bo]

AAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! My Post-TraMarty Stress Disorder is resurfacing! AAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!it is distressing to hear that we won't try to score as many points as we can...

but he has a point about keeping the defense fresh and it's not like lj is donnell bennett...

[FAX]

Mr. Fax, sssshhhhhhh.... you will start germ warefare again.
hyperlite

I understand the risk, Mr. hyperliteZO6. But, how many times has the Hermiliar publicly stated that he will NOT change the offense?

He is a false and untrustworthy pud.

FAX

[beer bacon]

That is a great point Mr. Edwards. Why score more points when you already have the lead? I don't really see the sense in trying to get some kind of cushion. Especially when you have a mistake free defense like ours.

[hypersensitiveZO6]

I understand the risk, Mr. hyperliteZO6. But, how many times has the Hermiliar publicly stated that he will NOT change the offense?

He is a false and untrustworthy pud.

FAX

Agreed.

[the Talking Can]

only a month to go from "the offense isn't broke, don't fix it" to "once we have a lead we'll play to lose"

[Chan93lx50]

F*ck I knew he was wanting to bring Marty ball back!

[hypersensitiveZO6]

That is a great point Mr. Edwards. Why score more points when you already have the lead? I don't really see the sense in trying to get some kind of cushion. Especially when you have a mistake free defense like ours.


This board meltsdowns when Herm is talking about changing the offense, even the slightest bit, with good reason.

[NewChief]

I can't say I'm surprised. I knew that we were going to change our situational playcalling quite a bit, but the quotes today sounded a little more emphatic that what I've heard previously, unfortunately. I also don't understand what he meant when he said:


I don’t know about Trent

What does that mean?

[hypersensitiveZO6]

I can't say I'm surprised. I knew that we were going to change our situational playcalling quite a bit, but the quotes today sounded a little more emphatic that what I've heard previously, unfortunately. I also don't understand what he meant when he said:



What does that mean?

i saw that too. Makes you wonder.

[Demonpenz]

The offense looks like it is getting worse and the Defence is getting better.

[hypersensitiveZO6]

The offense looks like it is getting worse and the Defense is getting better.

Most likely

[Bowser]

Why would any coach want to tinker with this offense? If the pass is working, keep passing it. If the run is working, keep running it. It doesn't seem to sound hard.

[tk13]

Brodie Croyle's starting Week 1. We're playing the young players, dang it. :)

[FringeNC]

I anticipate if we’re playing with a lead, we’re going to run the ball more than we did last year and not worry about continuing to try and get a 17 point lead.

Stupid strategy. What makes it even worse is pre-announcing it to the rest of the league.

During the draft, Trent commented that the offense isn't going to change at all. I hoped at the time he was correct. Perhaps Trent will be given more authority to audible, and can overrule Herm like Peyton does in Indy.

[keg in kc]

Why would any coach want to tinker with this offense? If the pass is working, keep passing it. If the run is working, keep running it. It doesn't seem to sound hard.There's some tinkering that needs to be done. He's right in some ways that the offense hasn't helped the defense a whole lot. As productive as it is, there's times when it goes 3-and-out for whole quarters at a time. Clock management has never been anything but horrible. There's other things that could use some work. It was never perfect.

That said, if we're seeing a transition back to WCO and 0.3 yards and a cloud of dust, shoot me now.

I just hope Herm isn't making the same mistake that Vermeil made, which is the same mistake that Marty made: you can't favor one side of the ball and not expect the other to go to shit. I hope he's smart enough to learn that lesson. God knows it's been made evident for a long time here.

[tk13]

We'll see. I have no problem with running the ball in the 4th quarter. When we did it with Donnell Bennett, we didn't have the personnel. Now we do, that's our strength, to have the line and LJ beat the crud out of people in the 4th quarter. The Denver game was a great example of it... that was a pretty good defense and we still ran them over. I just don't want to be too predictable early on and wear LJ down... LJ tends to just run like a battering ram and not pace himself.

[FAX]

If we're counting on the Hermiliar to improve clock management, we might as well start setting our watches to Greenwich mean time.

As far as I can tell, he is nothing but an obvious and blatant hypocrite and fraud in respect to his public statements regarding the offense. His past claims that he won't change our O stand as nothing more than insults thrown in the face of Chiefs fans everywhere.

FAX

[keg in kc]

As far as I can tell, he is nothing but an obvious and blatant hypocrite and fraud in respect to his public statements regarding the offense. His past claims that he won't change our O stand as nothing more than insults thrown in the face of Chiefs fans everywhere.I'm going to wait until I actually see the offense in action before I go overboard.

The offense has been too good to scrap, and I think (hope) Herm has to know that.

[htismaqe]

ROFL

This is gonna be the best 6 months in the history of CP...

[Rain Man]

If we're counting on the Hermiliar to improve clock management, we might as well start setting our watches to Greenwich mean time.

As far as I can tell, he is nothing but an obvious and blatant hypocrite and fraud in respect to his public statements regarding the offense. His past claims that he won't change our O stand as nothing more than insults thrown in the face of Chiefs fans everywhere.

FAX

If he moves Will Shields to wide receiver to improve our edge blocking, I swear I'm going to go ballistic.

[BigRock]

Why are people acting like this is the first time Herm has ever said these things? This is at least the 15th "OMG BACK TO MARTYBALL" thread since Herm was named head coach, and that's probably underestimating it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I preferred the style we used in the Philly game, where we went 3 and out over and over with cute little reverses and WR screens and blew a 20 point lead. Running it down their throat late in the game, like we did against Denver, was just boring. I sure hope Herm comes to his senses.

Plus, nobody is considering what Herm said just the other day about wanting to get the offense up to the line faster to give Trent a chance to change the play, something he never did in Saunders' system. And Trent isn't stupid. If they're running the ball late and Trent sees the D stacked up to stop LJ, he can call something new. Call a pass and burn 'em. Won't that be awful?

I don’t know about Trent

The question was would he have to rely a lot on Trent as a "transition person" in the offense. He said "I don't know about Trent", like it's not just Trent he'll be relying on. He's relying on the whole offense. He wasn't saying anything bad about Trent.

[Bob Dole]

...this city is really captivated by our offense and rightly so, but they are going to have to cheer a little bit for the defense every once in a while too.

Here's a tip, Herm. After the 12th time the defense lets the opponent convert a 3rd and long, it gets really hard to muster the strength to make a lot of noise.

[FAX]

Why are people acting like this is the first time Herm has ever said these things? This is at least the 15th "OMG BACK TO MARTYBALL" thread since Herm was named head coach, and that's probably underestimating it.

Look here, you crazy N00b (sp?). You barely have any posts at all and already you have irked me unmercifully. Plus, it's Saturday, a slow news day and I'm low on lortab, too.

I will use N00bspeak (sp?) to try and explain this to you. With numbers and things.

1. The Hermiliar has said publicly and repeatedly and unequivocally and on numerous occasions that he will not change the offense.

2. Now he is saying he will.

Please. You must admit that he is deceitful, dishonest and fraudulent in his dealings with the press, the fans, the team, and all our families, too. There are lonely, little old ladies throughout the Midwest who love our offense the way it was for God's sake.

FAX

[milkman]

It comes down to this.

Hermie is a defensive minded coach, and as is their nature, he believes in protecting a lead.

The way to do that is to minimize mistakes with ball control and clock management.

What you hope for is that he realizes that you can't mange the clock and protect that lead effectively if you don't move the chains, and to do so, you can not simply abandon the pass, and become a predictable offense.

I have my reservations about that, which is one of the reasons I wasn't happy with him from the first day that rumors surfaced that he would be the next HC in KC.

[Bwana]

1. The Hermiliar has said publicly and repeatedly and unequivocally and on numerous occasions that he will not change the offense.

2. Now he is saying he will.



Indeed, lets hope he doesn't fug with it to much. It's not broke, don't try to fix it Herm.

[jlscorpio]

here's what I know to be true. Martyball won 100 games in the 90's, got us to an AFC Championship game, and won probably 5 or 6 playoff games. Vermiel/Sainders had more losing seasons than winning, and lost their only playoff game.

[Bwana]

here's what I know to be true. Martyball won 100 games in the 90's, got us to an AFC Championship game, and won probably 5 or 6 playoff games. Vermiel/Sainders had more losing seasons than winning, and lost their only playoff game.

We also had a decent D in that part of the 90's.

[BigRock]

1. The Hermiliar has said publicly and repeatedly and unequivocally and on numerous occasions that he will not change the offense.
Except for the 3 or 4 dozen times he's said that they'll run the ball more to protect a lead late in the game, just like he said today. He's been saying it ever since he came here. I mean, I'm just a silly n00b with no posts, and even I know that.

[unlurking]

Oh if only we could have combined some of those defenses from the 90's with one of Dick's offenses. Sad we can never seem to get a top 5 offense and a top 5 defense the same year.

[milkman]

here's what I know to be true. Martyball won 100 games in the 90's, got us to an AFC Championship game, and won probably 5 or 6 playoff games. Vermiel/Sainders had more losing seasons than winning, and lost their only playoff game.

Somone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that there were only three playoff wins in the 90s, two led by Joe Montana in '93, and none since.

[FAX]

Except for the 3 or 4 dozen times he's said that they'll run the ball more to protect a lead late in the game, just like he said today. He's been saying it ever since he came here. I mean, I'm just a silly n00b with no posts, and even I know that.

If you will produce a quote from the Hermiliar dated before this week stating the above, I will apologize to you with both humility and sincerity, Mr. BigRock.

The only statements of which I am aware in this respect indicated that he was planning on not changing the offense.

FAX

[CoMoChief]

We could afford to play Marty-ball back in the day because our defense could stop teams. We have a defense right now that couldnt stop some college teams IMO. Okay maybe thats a little far fetched, but you get my point. I think theres a reason why we need a 14+ point cushion on teams because our defense can meltdown at anytime in the game. Yes I understand that there are sometimes you need to run run run run to keep the clock going, IMO the object of the game on offense is to score everytime down the field. Theres no reason why we need to tinker with this offense now. One of the main reasons why our offense was so good was because we had teams on their heels on defense, meaning they at times didnt know what to expect from us. We had offensive balance. 523 passes to 505 runs. I just dont think we need to tinker with anything. Ladies and Gents, Marty ball is back.

[FAX]

We could afford to play Marty-ball back in the day because our defense could stop teams. We have a defense right now that couldnt stop some college teams IMO. Okay maybe thats a little far fetched, but you get my point. I think theres a reason why we need a 14+ point cushion on teams because our defense can meltdown at anytime in the game. Yes I understand that there are sometimes you need to run run run run to keep the clock going, IMO the object of the game on offense is to score everytime down the field. Theres no reason why we need to tinker with this offense now. One of the main reasons why our offense was so good was because we had teams on their heels on defense, meaning they at times didnt know what to expect from us. We had offensive balance. 523 passes to 505 runs. I just dont think we need to tinker with anything. Ladies and Gents, Marty ball is back.

Excellent post, Mr. BSPimpDude. My compliments. The Philly game comes to mind when I read this.

What I want to know is this; what in heaven's name is wrong with an offense that is balanced, averages practically 390 ypg, and scores in the mid 20s? Plus, if I remember correctly, we led the league in TOP and isn't that what this two-faced fraud of a head coach is talking about?

The really bad thing is that having a liar as a head coach is rotten karma.

Edit: 3rd in TOP with 32:09. 28 seconds behind #1 Dallas and 15 seconds behind #2 goats.

FAX

[hypersensitiveZO6]

I hope Herm now knows that any decline whatsoever in our offensive output is going to be immediately blamed on him.
hyperlite

[htismaqe]

We could afford to play Marty-ball back in the day because our defense could stop teams. We have a defense right now that couldnt stop some college teams IMO. Okay maybe thats a little far fetched, but you get my point. I think theres a reason why we need a 14+ point cushion on teams because our defense can meltdown at anytime in the game. Yes I understand that there are sometimes you need to run run run run to keep the clock going, IMO the object of the game on offense is to score everytime down the field. Theres no reason why we need to tinker with this offense now. One of the main reasons why our offense was so good was because we had teams on their heels on defense, meaning they at times didnt know what to expect from us. We had offensive balance. 523 passes to 505 runs. I just dont think we need to tinker with anything. Ladies and Gents, Marty ball is back.

You were 100% correct until your last sentence.

[J Diddy]

Please. You must admit that he is deceitful, dishonest and fraudulent in his dealings with the press, the fans, the team, and all our families, too. There are lonely, little old ladies throughout the Midwest who love our offense the way it was for God's sake.

FAX


Um, jesus, little melodramatic much?

[FringeNC]

Excellent post, Mr. BSPimpDude. My compliments. The Philly game comes to mind when I read this.

What I want to know is this; what in heaven's name is wrong with an offense that is balanced, averages practically 390 ypg, and scores in the mid 20s? Plus, if I remember correctly, we led the league in TOP and isn't that what this two-faced fraud of a head coach is talking about?

The really bad thing is that having a liar as a head coach is rotten karma.

Edit: 3rd in TOP with 32:09. 28 seconds behind #1 Dallas and 15 seconds behind #2 goats.

FAX

Yeah...

I really don't understand what Herm is talking about. We were already a running team (by current NFL standards), and #3 in TOP. Herm's comments make little sense. Running a lot more is going to lead to less TOP, not more, because of the 3 and outs.

Why can't Herm just say the obvious: "the Chiefs problems were on D, and I aim to fix that."

But...just because Herm says something doesn't necessarily make it true. Our offense may not change at all. Herm is not a 'hands-on' coach and may very well let Solari do what he wants. Herm in his gut is a "play not to lose" coach, but so was Dungy. Dungy doesn't **** with the offense and Peyton Manning. We'll just have to wait and see if Herm is really stupid enough to try to impose his timid offensive philosophy on the team.

[FAX]

I guess you're right, Mr. FringeNC. You are very wise. What Herm has said before is so inconsistent with these remarks that there's no way to know what he's going to do.

And, I suppose Mr. J Diddy's right too. I'm being overly dramatic. Why should I care if thousands of poor, feeble, old widows whose only joy in life is to watch the Chiefs offense on the little tvs in the nursing home common room, die of heartbreak and shame when we lose to inferior teams because we run draws on 3rd and 9.

FAX

[htismaqe]

Yeah...

I really don't understand what Herm is talking about. We were already a running team (by current NFL standards), and #3 in TOP. Herm's comments make little sense. Running a lot more is going to lead to less TOP, not more, because of the 3 and outs.

Why can't Herm just say the obvious: "the Chiefs problems were on D, and I aim to fix that."

But...just because Herm says something doesn't necessarily make it true. Our offense may not change at all. Herm is not a 'hands-on' coach and may very well let Solari do what he wants. Herm in his gut is a "play not to lose" coach, but so was Dungy. Dungy doesn't **** with the offense and Peyton Manning. We'll just have to wait and see if Herm is really stupid enough to try to impose his timid offensive philosophy on the team.

For all we know, Herm is just like Vermeil.

Say you're going to do something and then do the opposite.

[BigRock]

If you will produce a quote from the Hermiliar dated before this week stating the above, I will apologize to you with both humility and sincerity, Mr. BigRock.
Fair enough, sir.

This is from a Teicher column called <a href=http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14209535.htm>"Chiefs don't plan on Priest"</a> from the end of March.

“If you see a change (on offense), it will probably be how we play the game as far as using the clock to our advantage when we’re ahead,” Edwards said. “We might run the ball by the end of the game maybe 10 more times than we throw the ball. That would help the defense."

And it's not an direct quote, but a quick search of the forum for "Martyball" brought up <a href=http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=136895>this thread</a> from early March discussing a Herm interview with Jack Harry. The summary said:

A few key points.

Edwards indicated we may rush the ball up to 10 more times a game to utilize our offensive line and RB better, plus keep the defense on the sideline longer.

The play action pass may be used more.

I know there was some other stuff, like a Len Pastabelly column on ESPN.com, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.

[FAX]

Well, it's not 3 or 4 dozen, Mr. BigRock, but it's good enough for me. Please accept my heartfelt apology for calling you a crazy N00b (sp?) and incorrectly implying that you were an ill-informed and likely illiterate nutcase.

You were right about the quote. I concede that point readily. However, I remain concerned that Herm will, in fact, stick his marty fingers in our heretofore very tasty offensive pie.

Now, all we can do is pray for the feeble, old widows whose lives are in jeopardy this season.

FAX THE SORRY

[htismaqe]

Well, it's not 3 or 4 dozen, Mr. BigRock, but it's good enough for me. Please accept my heartfelt apology for calling you a crazy N00b (sp?) and incorrectly implying that you were an ill-informed and likely illiterate nutcase.

You were right about the quote. I concede that point readily. However, I remain concerned that Herm will, in fact, stick his marty fingers in our heretofore very tasty offensive pie.

Now, all we can do is pray for the feeble, old widows whose lives are in jeopardy this season.

FAX THE SORRY

Running the ball, especially to protect a lead, does not equal Martyball. Running a draw on 3rd and 8 does not equal Martyball - hell, Al Saunders was prone to call a draw on 3rd down once in a while too.

Martyball in fact has very little to do with running or passing. Martyball is when your coach abandons everything he's taught, everything that's worked, and crawls into a shell when the game is on the line.

[HemiEd]

I understand the risk, Mr. hyperliteZO6. But, how many times has the Hermiliar publicly stated that he will NOT change the offense?

He is a false and untrustworthy pud.

FAX

Not Herm!

[OnTheWarpath15]

For all we know, Herm is just like Vermeil.

Say you're going to do something and then do the opposite.

Wow....

Hit the nail on the head there, Parker......