Archie Bunker
09-26-2006, 10:13 PM
Didn't see it posted.
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/09/26/herm_edwards_press_conference__926/
HERMAN EDWARDS: “It’s San Francisco week and when you look at them I think Coach Nolan has done a great job. They’re a much improved football team compared to where they were last year. I think (offensive coordinator) Norv Turner’s done a great job with the quarterback (Alex Smith).
“When you watch the kid play he’s starting to learn how to play in that system. He hasn’t turned the ball over; he hasn’t thrown any interceptions. They do have five fumbles Norv’s done a good job with him in anticipating where to go with the football.
“They’ve been a big play offense averaging about 23 points a game and really in the second half is when they’re doing a lot of their damage. They’ve actually scored 58 points in the second half of football games. They’ve fallen behind early but they’ve had a late surge and they’re third in the league in big plays. They’ve got 11 plays of 20 yards or more in passing and four of running. So they’ve had some explosion.
“Defensively, they’re playing a 3/4 or 4/3 style similar to what Coach Nolan had done in Baltimore. They bring pressure especially in their “dime” package and try to pressure the quarterback and put you in negative yardage after first down.
“They’re an improved football team and have been in every game, have the ability to score points; the defense has done a pretty good job. It’ll be a good test for us. They’re a lot better football team than they’ve been in the past and we’ve got to play a whole lot better, especially offensively. Defensively, it’ll be a test for us because they’ve made a lot of big plays throwing the ball down field.”
Q: How’s Trent Green doing?
EDWARDS: “He’s doing OK. He’s doing better as far as I know. He’s not playing this week but I think he’s doing better and we’ll see where he’s at.”
Q: The 49ers threw Alex Smith into the fire last year. How hard is it to put a rookie in that spot like that?
EDWARDS: “Sometimes you don’t have a choice. I think a lot of them go through it and some of them never recover. If you look at Peyton Manning he went through it and it obviously didn’t hurt him. Troy Aikman was another one who went through it. They became very good quarterbacks, but some of them go through it and the result is not the same. It’s the mental toughness, because that’s a position where you need not only physical toughness but it’s how you’re going to react when you don’t have a good year.
“We were fortunate with Chad (Pennington). I threw him in the second season I was there after about the fourth game. He got better and so he had a little time to grow. (Smith) got thrown in early and, to his credit, he’s been in two offenses and been with two different coordinators. But at this point I think he’s starting to learn what he needs to do in this offense and has a good teacher in Norv. He’s starting to become the player that people anticipated he would be. He was in a system where he didn’t take a lot of snaps from center. He was always in the shot gun and that’s different too. He uses his legs well, knows where to throw the ball, where not to throw it, gets outside of the pocket, he can make throws down the field.”
Q: Is there any way you can determine if a guy has that mental toughness before you put him into that situation?
EDWARDS: “You’re hoping you don’t put it all on him. When you do something like that your first instinct is you’ve got to make sure you can run the ball because that takes some of the burden off of him. Then you’ve got to play in a manner where you don’t have to play from behind a lot because that puts more pressure on him.
“In Pittsburgh they run the ball and they didn’t ask (QB) to do a whole lot (last year). He orchestrated 20 passes a game and they played great defense. They ran the ball and he didn’t have the throw a whole bunch. There weren’t too many games where they were down two scores. It was generally a score and they were close. When you play with a young guy you have to have that mindset.”
Q: When did you know with Chad that it was time?
EDWARDS: “We went through early in the season and we had Vinny (Testaverde) and he was struggling early. After the Jacksonville game, Vinny got hit and I put Chad in there the second half. He moved the team and his first start was against Kansas City and he didn’t win that game either. That was his first game he started but he played pretty good and Kansas City came back at the end to beat us. He scored some points. We actually went on and won our division that year. The next year he started out and got hurt in the pre-season game against the Giants. It’s tough to lose your quarterback, especially when it’s been a guy who’s been your leader. It’s tough for the players and they can’t figure it out right away. Once they do they know they have to play a different way.”
Q: How do you judge that Trent’s feeling better? Fewer headaches or what?
EDWARDS: “He came over for the team picture Thursday and he was a lot better than the previous Saturday before we left to go to Denver. Now, I’m just judging from what it was like to have a conversation with the guy. I could tell he wasn’t going to play, but he watched the game and saw some things. He’s coaching now. I told him I need his input this week and, hopefully, he can give us some things that he saw.
“He was a little bit shocked when he watched us play. He rubbed his eyes a couple of times and thought he was delirious again. He saw three tight ends out there and it was early in the game. I said, ‘you like that, huh?’ He was watching and is getting better. Where that is, no one knows yet.
Q: Is he going to be at the game?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know that yet. I know he’s supposed to come over this week sometime. When, I don’t know. I know it’s later in the week and if he can come to the game I’d love to have him there.”
Q: Have you put a timetable on his return?
EDWARDS: “No, I have not.”
Q: Do you expect him back this season?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. Yeah. I anticipate that. When, I don’t know.”
Q: You spent a lot of time watching video over this bye weekend. Is there anything you discovered while you were doing that?
EDWARDS: “We have to be a little bit more aggressive and I think we can do that offensively – as far as getting some big plays down the field. You have to take some chances but the first time Damon (Huard) had to start it was a pretty tough place. You don’t want unleash those lions when you don’t have to and you try to keep them in the cage. We did a pretty good job of orchestrating. We didn’t make any plays down the stretch to win it. I think he’s more comfortable and I think the players around him are more comfortable. He’s gained some confidence out of that.
“So, we’ve got to open it up a little bit more. We’ve got to score some more points. You can’t average eight points a game and win a whole lot of games in this league. That’s where we are after two games.
“Defensively we’ve done a pretty good job of holding the points down. We’re only averaging (giving up) 16 points a game. If you can do that for a season you’re going to be in the top five in points allowed in the league. We’ve got to continue to hold the points down and score some points, especially in the Red (Zone) area. We’re not very good in the Red area. We’ve turned the ball over and we haven’t scored points. We’ve been down there and we’ve left some points on the field.
“When we get down there we’ve got to score touchdowns. For some reason people think I’m getting labeled a field goal kicker. I want to score touchdowns, I really do. This teams needs to do this. We need to play with a lead, with more than a three-point lead and see how we play. You can play a whole lot different on defense when you’re playing with a ten-point lead rather than a three-point lead. Your whole mindset changes as a football team and we haven’t been able to do that yet and that’s something we have to do.
“Now, we’re not going to run out there with no backs and four wideouts. Going through the bye week you know a little bit more about your strengths and you’ve got to play to your strengths and with the players that you have.”
Q: Why do you think you’re getting labeled a field goal kicker?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know, I suppose because we get down there and kick field goals every once in a while.”
Q: But doesn’t that come from your conservative nature?
EDWARDS: “Why do people say I’m conservative?”
Q: How did that all get started?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I don’t write the stuff. I want to score touchdowns. They’re worth more than field goals, right?”
Q: All the players and coaches say that every game is a must win, but did you think the third game of the season was going to be a must win?
EDWARDS: “I thought we’d have a better record than this. But we don’t. We need to win a game. We need to win a game for a lot of reasons. We need to win a game so we can get some confidence. When you win a game you gain more confidence as a football team. We played against two pretty good football teams but that’s no excuse. We had a chance in both games to win and we didn’t do it. So, we have to win a football game. It’s important for us to get going and it’s going to take all three phases. The good thing is we’re playing at home and we’ve got to take advantage of that. We’ve got to get our crowd in the game, but the only way you get them in the game is to play good. So, we have to do that.”
Q: Were you labeled conservative in New York?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, probably. I guess I got it from Tampa.”
Q: Is that because you were a defensive back and then a defensive backs coach?
EDWARDS: “They always think defensive coaches are conservative and at Tampa we used to win games 6-3 all the time. We were elated.”
Q: Are there are any defensive coaches who aren’t conservative?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. Defensive coaches always have the mindset that you always think the offense is going to screw it up. You get these pass-happy guys who are always looking for stats and it always kind of backfires. Something bad happens and then you say, ‘why did I fall into that trap?’ But no, we want to score touchdowns and I think we have a pretty good plan if we get down there.
Q: Do you have the players that you want to score touchdowns?
EDWARDS: “Absolutely.”
Q: How much better do you know Damon Huard now and are there some things you’ll be able to do this week that you wouldn’t have tried last week?
EDWARDS: “The circumstances will dictate that but going into this game is different than going into (Denver) game. The history of what happened to us (Denver) wasn’t very good and we were generally – the games I watched – climbing up hill by the first half. That’s not a good place to climb up hill from.”
Q: How is Damon’s confidence?
EDWARDS: “I think it’s good. He went through it and did a good job and I think the team rallied around him. We’ve got to continue to rally around him because he’s our quarterback. You’ve got to rally around the quarterback and we’ve got to help him to be a good quarterback – coaches and players. And then he’s got to orchestrate some things and he’s got to make some throws that he needs to make, period. We’ve got to give him the ability to do that and when we do he has to throw it, we’ve got to catch it, and we’ve got to block for him – we’ve got to do all those things to help to make him successful. But at the end he’s going to have to make some plays throwing the ball.”
Q: Will Gardner be part of this week’s plan?
EDWARDS: “He’s a fast study and could be playing this week. No doubt about it.”
Q: Where is Tony Gonzalez in the Red Zone?
EDWARDS: “Down there with those other ten guys. We like to get him the ball, yeah, but there are some other guys we’d like to get the ball to, too.
“It’s kind funny. When you get down there some people think – and it’s according to where they think the Red Zone is: the 20, the 30 or some people it’s at the 10 (yard line) – to get Tony the ball or LJ the ball it’s dictated by what teams do to you. Certain defenses play you different from different points on the field, certain coverages they play you differently from the 20 in, from the 15, from the 10 in, to the five in. You have different organizational thoughts on how you’re going to attack what they’re going to do. It’s an odds game. You’re playing odds. They like to blitz inside the five. Or they’ll play coverage or play zone and make you throw into zone. So, it’s a different factor every week. You have a little window of opportunity when you catch them in the right coverage and you have the right play called, you’ve got to hit it. You’re not going to get a second chance in the red area.
“We’ve been pretty good down there defensively – 20 percent being scored on. As the field gets shorter – for me, and I’ve always thought this way – it works better for the defense because you have less room to maneuver. You want to hold them to what? You know what it is? My supposedly favorite deal…
Q: Field goals.
EDWARDS: “There you go. Then you’re always in the football game. Offensively, we don’t want to kick what?
Q: Field goals.
EDWARDS: “We want to score touchdowns right.”
Q: Was Tony Dungy a field goal guy before he had Peyton Manning?
EDWARDS: “He was in Tampa. Trust me. We were there together.”
Q: Do you still talk to Dick Vermeil like you did? Is that still there and have you spoken to him this year?
EDWARDS: “He’s Fridays instead of Tuesdays now. He’s a guy I can always lean on and there are two guys that I have always leaned on throughout my career. One is Dick Vermeil and the other is sitting in the back of the room (points to Carl Peterson). I’ve known them a long, long time. The other guy is at Indy (Tony Dungy).
“When you become a head coach they give you a reality check. They’re going to give you the truth when you’re in this bubble. That’s all you want. It’s always good to have people like that especially when you’re a head coach.
“When you’re an assistant coach it’s always great because you’re always hanging in the other guys’ offices and going through the game plan. You just kind of sit in there all day. When you’re the head guy nobody ever comes to see you unless they’ve got a problem. So, I’ve got to go out of my office and hang out and sit in their offices and talk to the guys. They’re all into their own things. The poor special teams coach has nobody with him and I always go in there and mess with him a little while. It’s a lonely spot and I didn’t realize that until I learned it from Tony. He always said every once in a while come down and check if I’m alive. You sit in that room by yourself and you need people you can talk to.
“My relationship with Dick and Carl go back to when I was 17 years old. So, it’s kind of like I’ve been around them my whole career. I’ve kind of always been around them and this is just what you do. It’s kind of like we’re family.”
Q: You’ve had one sack and two takeaways…
EDWARDS: “The sacks will come. I just think what happens to us a little bit is they know we’re going to bring pressure so they get the ball out of their hands. They’re not holding the ball as long. Denver was a little bit different than Cincinnati, who once they got a lead they’re going to do what I would do: run the ball. They’re not going to go back there and throw passes. They’re not going to let you get back in the game.
“We have to get a little bit better pressure in the middle – push the quarterback back. A lot of times you can have really good ends but if you don’t have pressure in the middle and force the quarterback – and you don’t want him to step up in the pocket — bad things can happen. Bad things can happen when the guy can step forward and look down the field. You never like a quarterback to step up.”
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2006/09/26/herm_edwards_press_conference__926/
HERMAN EDWARDS: “It’s San Francisco week and when you look at them I think Coach Nolan has done a great job. They’re a much improved football team compared to where they were last year. I think (offensive coordinator) Norv Turner’s done a great job with the quarterback (Alex Smith).
“When you watch the kid play he’s starting to learn how to play in that system. He hasn’t turned the ball over; he hasn’t thrown any interceptions. They do have five fumbles Norv’s done a good job with him in anticipating where to go with the football.
“They’ve been a big play offense averaging about 23 points a game and really in the second half is when they’re doing a lot of their damage. They’ve actually scored 58 points in the second half of football games. They’ve fallen behind early but they’ve had a late surge and they’re third in the league in big plays. They’ve got 11 plays of 20 yards or more in passing and four of running. So they’ve had some explosion.
“Defensively, they’re playing a 3/4 or 4/3 style similar to what Coach Nolan had done in Baltimore. They bring pressure especially in their “dime” package and try to pressure the quarterback and put you in negative yardage after first down.
“They’re an improved football team and have been in every game, have the ability to score points; the defense has done a pretty good job. It’ll be a good test for us. They’re a lot better football team than they’ve been in the past and we’ve got to play a whole lot better, especially offensively. Defensively, it’ll be a test for us because they’ve made a lot of big plays throwing the ball down field.”
Q: How’s Trent Green doing?
EDWARDS: “He’s doing OK. He’s doing better as far as I know. He’s not playing this week but I think he’s doing better and we’ll see where he’s at.”
Q: The 49ers threw Alex Smith into the fire last year. How hard is it to put a rookie in that spot like that?
EDWARDS: “Sometimes you don’t have a choice. I think a lot of them go through it and some of them never recover. If you look at Peyton Manning he went through it and it obviously didn’t hurt him. Troy Aikman was another one who went through it. They became very good quarterbacks, but some of them go through it and the result is not the same. It’s the mental toughness, because that’s a position where you need not only physical toughness but it’s how you’re going to react when you don’t have a good year.
“We were fortunate with Chad (Pennington). I threw him in the second season I was there after about the fourth game. He got better and so he had a little time to grow. (Smith) got thrown in early and, to his credit, he’s been in two offenses and been with two different coordinators. But at this point I think he’s starting to learn what he needs to do in this offense and has a good teacher in Norv. He’s starting to become the player that people anticipated he would be. He was in a system where he didn’t take a lot of snaps from center. He was always in the shot gun and that’s different too. He uses his legs well, knows where to throw the ball, where not to throw it, gets outside of the pocket, he can make throws down the field.”
Q: Is there any way you can determine if a guy has that mental toughness before you put him into that situation?
EDWARDS: “You’re hoping you don’t put it all on him. When you do something like that your first instinct is you’ve got to make sure you can run the ball because that takes some of the burden off of him. Then you’ve got to play in a manner where you don’t have to play from behind a lot because that puts more pressure on him.
“In Pittsburgh they run the ball and they didn’t ask (QB) to do a whole lot (last year). He orchestrated 20 passes a game and they played great defense. They ran the ball and he didn’t have the throw a whole bunch. There weren’t too many games where they were down two scores. It was generally a score and they were close. When you play with a young guy you have to have that mindset.”
Q: When did you know with Chad that it was time?
EDWARDS: “We went through early in the season and we had Vinny (Testaverde) and he was struggling early. After the Jacksonville game, Vinny got hit and I put Chad in there the second half. He moved the team and his first start was against Kansas City and he didn’t win that game either. That was his first game he started but he played pretty good and Kansas City came back at the end to beat us. He scored some points. We actually went on and won our division that year. The next year he started out and got hurt in the pre-season game against the Giants. It’s tough to lose your quarterback, especially when it’s been a guy who’s been your leader. It’s tough for the players and they can’t figure it out right away. Once they do they know they have to play a different way.”
Q: How do you judge that Trent’s feeling better? Fewer headaches or what?
EDWARDS: “He came over for the team picture Thursday and he was a lot better than the previous Saturday before we left to go to Denver. Now, I’m just judging from what it was like to have a conversation with the guy. I could tell he wasn’t going to play, but he watched the game and saw some things. He’s coaching now. I told him I need his input this week and, hopefully, he can give us some things that he saw.
“He was a little bit shocked when he watched us play. He rubbed his eyes a couple of times and thought he was delirious again. He saw three tight ends out there and it was early in the game. I said, ‘you like that, huh?’ He was watching and is getting better. Where that is, no one knows yet.
Q: Is he going to be at the game?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know that yet. I know he’s supposed to come over this week sometime. When, I don’t know. I know it’s later in the week and if he can come to the game I’d love to have him there.”
Q: Have you put a timetable on his return?
EDWARDS: “No, I have not.”
Q: Do you expect him back this season?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. Yeah. I anticipate that. When, I don’t know.”
Q: You spent a lot of time watching video over this bye weekend. Is there anything you discovered while you were doing that?
EDWARDS: “We have to be a little bit more aggressive and I think we can do that offensively – as far as getting some big plays down the field. You have to take some chances but the first time Damon (Huard) had to start it was a pretty tough place. You don’t want unleash those lions when you don’t have to and you try to keep them in the cage. We did a pretty good job of orchestrating. We didn’t make any plays down the stretch to win it. I think he’s more comfortable and I think the players around him are more comfortable. He’s gained some confidence out of that.
“So, we’ve got to open it up a little bit more. We’ve got to score some more points. You can’t average eight points a game and win a whole lot of games in this league. That’s where we are after two games.
“Defensively we’ve done a pretty good job of holding the points down. We’re only averaging (giving up) 16 points a game. If you can do that for a season you’re going to be in the top five in points allowed in the league. We’ve got to continue to hold the points down and score some points, especially in the Red (Zone) area. We’re not very good in the Red area. We’ve turned the ball over and we haven’t scored points. We’ve been down there and we’ve left some points on the field.
“When we get down there we’ve got to score touchdowns. For some reason people think I’m getting labeled a field goal kicker. I want to score touchdowns, I really do. This teams needs to do this. We need to play with a lead, with more than a three-point lead and see how we play. You can play a whole lot different on defense when you’re playing with a ten-point lead rather than a three-point lead. Your whole mindset changes as a football team and we haven’t been able to do that yet and that’s something we have to do.
“Now, we’re not going to run out there with no backs and four wideouts. Going through the bye week you know a little bit more about your strengths and you’ve got to play to your strengths and with the players that you have.”
Q: Why do you think you’re getting labeled a field goal kicker?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know, I suppose because we get down there and kick field goals every once in a while.”
Q: But doesn’t that come from your conservative nature?
EDWARDS: “Why do people say I’m conservative?”
Q: How did that all get started?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I don’t write the stuff. I want to score touchdowns. They’re worth more than field goals, right?”
Q: All the players and coaches say that every game is a must win, but did you think the third game of the season was going to be a must win?
EDWARDS: “I thought we’d have a better record than this. But we don’t. We need to win a game. We need to win a game for a lot of reasons. We need to win a game so we can get some confidence. When you win a game you gain more confidence as a football team. We played against two pretty good football teams but that’s no excuse. We had a chance in both games to win and we didn’t do it. So, we have to win a football game. It’s important for us to get going and it’s going to take all three phases. The good thing is we’re playing at home and we’ve got to take advantage of that. We’ve got to get our crowd in the game, but the only way you get them in the game is to play good. So, we have to do that.”
Q: Were you labeled conservative in New York?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, probably. I guess I got it from Tampa.”
Q: Is that because you were a defensive back and then a defensive backs coach?
EDWARDS: “They always think defensive coaches are conservative and at Tampa we used to win games 6-3 all the time. We were elated.”
Q: Are there are any defensive coaches who aren’t conservative?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. Defensive coaches always have the mindset that you always think the offense is going to screw it up. You get these pass-happy guys who are always looking for stats and it always kind of backfires. Something bad happens and then you say, ‘why did I fall into that trap?’ But no, we want to score touchdowns and I think we have a pretty good plan if we get down there.
Q: Do you have the players that you want to score touchdowns?
EDWARDS: “Absolutely.”
Q: How much better do you know Damon Huard now and are there some things you’ll be able to do this week that you wouldn’t have tried last week?
EDWARDS: “The circumstances will dictate that but going into this game is different than going into (Denver) game. The history of what happened to us (Denver) wasn’t very good and we were generally – the games I watched – climbing up hill by the first half. That’s not a good place to climb up hill from.”
Q: How is Damon’s confidence?
EDWARDS: “I think it’s good. He went through it and did a good job and I think the team rallied around him. We’ve got to continue to rally around him because he’s our quarterback. You’ve got to rally around the quarterback and we’ve got to help him to be a good quarterback – coaches and players. And then he’s got to orchestrate some things and he’s got to make some throws that he needs to make, period. We’ve got to give him the ability to do that and when we do he has to throw it, we’ve got to catch it, and we’ve got to block for him – we’ve got to do all those things to help to make him successful. But at the end he’s going to have to make some plays throwing the ball.”
Q: Will Gardner be part of this week’s plan?
EDWARDS: “He’s a fast study and could be playing this week. No doubt about it.”
Q: Where is Tony Gonzalez in the Red Zone?
EDWARDS: “Down there with those other ten guys. We like to get him the ball, yeah, but there are some other guys we’d like to get the ball to, too.
“It’s kind funny. When you get down there some people think – and it’s according to where they think the Red Zone is: the 20, the 30 or some people it’s at the 10 (yard line) – to get Tony the ball or LJ the ball it’s dictated by what teams do to you. Certain defenses play you different from different points on the field, certain coverages they play you differently from the 20 in, from the 15, from the 10 in, to the five in. You have different organizational thoughts on how you’re going to attack what they’re going to do. It’s an odds game. You’re playing odds. They like to blitz inside the five. Or they’ll play coverage or play zone and make you throw into zone. So, it’s a different factor every week. You have a little window of opportunity when you catch them in the right coverage and you have the right play called, you’ve got to hit it. You’re not going to get a second chance in the red area.
“We’ve been pretty good down there defensively – 20 percent being scored on. As the field gets shorter – for me, and I’ve always thought this way – it works better for the defense because you have less room to maneuver. You want to hold them to what? You know what it is? My supposedly favorite deal…
Q: Field goals.
EDWARDS: “There you go. Then you’re always in the football game. Offensively, we don’t want to kick what?
Q: Field goals.
EDWARDS: “We want to score touchdowns right.”
Q: Was Tony Dungy a field goal guy before he had Peyton Manning?
EDWARDS: “He was in Tampa. Trust me. We were there together.”
Q: Do you still talk to Dick Vermeil like you did? Is that still there and have you spoken to him this year?
EDWARDS: “He’s Fridays instead of Tuesdays now. He’s a guy I can always lean on and there are two guys that I have always leaned on throughout my career. One is Dick Vermeil and the other is sitting in the back of the room (points to Carl Peterson). I’ve known them a long, long time. The other guy is at Indy (Tony Dungy).
“When you become a head coach they give you a reality check. They’re going to give you the truth when you’re in this bubble. That’s all you want. It’s always good to have people like that especially when you’re a head coach.
“When you’re an assistant coach it’s always great because you’re always hanging in the other guys’ offices and going through the game plan. You just kind of sit in there all day. When you’re the head guy nobody ever comes to see you unless they’ve got a problem. So, I’ve got to go out of my office and hang out and sit in their offices and talk to the guys. They’re all into their own things. The poor special teams coach has nobody with him and I always go in there and mess with him a little while. It’s a lonely spot and I didn’t realize that until I learned it from Tony. He always said every once in a while come down and check if I’m alive. You sit in that room by yourself and you need people you can talk to.
“My relationship with Dick and Carl go back to when I was 17 years old. So, it’s kind of like I’ve been around them my whole career. I’ve kind of always been around them and this is just what you do. It’s kind of like we’re family.”
Q: You’ve had one sack and two takeaways…
EDWARDS: “The sacks will come. I just think what happens to us a little bit is they know we’re going to bring pressure so they get the ball out of their hands. They’re not holding the ball as long. Denver was a little bit different than Cincinnati, who once they got a lead they’re going to do what I would do: run the ball. They’re not going to go back there and throw passes. They’re not going to let you get back in the game.
“We have to get a little bit better pressure in the middle – push the quarterback back. A lot of times you can have really good ends but if you don’t have pressure in the middle and force the quarterback – and you don’t want him to step up in the pocket — bad things can happen. Bad things can happen when the guy can step forward and look down the field. You never like a quarterback to step up.”