Tribal Warfare
07-28-2007, 02:52 AM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/07/27/qa_with_herm_edwards__727/
HERM EDWARDS: “We got through our first day. I thought it was productive especially the tests we had this morning. There are a lot of reasons why you do tests and it’s not to punish players. It’s really to bring a team together. If you were out here this morning you’d see it’s a good indicator of some camaraderie. We’ve got a lot of young players on this football team all of a sudden and they need to understand that you’re only as good as the guy standing to your left or right. It’s about team.
“Today we practiced a little bit and it was a kind of an introduction to what we’re going to try to do. It’s generally not pretty on the first day. You know that. It seems like the quarterback can’t throw the ball, the receivers can’t catch it, no one can stand up on their feet. A lot of that has to do with anxiety. We haven’t participated in football since the spring. But we can also anticipate that these guys will come out here and practice better tomorrow. That’s what you want to do every day.”
Q: Can you take us through exactly what you did in these tests today?
EDWARDS: “Basically, it was a series of patterned runs within the framework of a play. How it works is this: it’s a ten-play drive. They have to run ten consecutive at different yard marks and different directions. Once the first run is over there’s like a clock and they go into a huddle and there are 20 seconds in between each run and 10 runs to a quarter. They have to run 40 runs by the end of the day. Once they get through the first quarter they have to walk back like they’re changing quarters in a football game. Then they begin again. At halftime they get a two-minute break.
“Midway of the third quarter to the fourth quarter, that’s when it takes a toll on guys because guys are a little bit tired. It’s like a football game. Most football games are tight in the fourth quarter generally. A lot of it has to do with execution and guys not breaking down because of fatigue. It’s the first time we did it with these guys.
“It’s a good way to start a practice. It’s a way to get them out running as a group. They ran in position groups and it was great.”
Q: Derrick Johnson said you were kind of like all over them.
EDWARDS: “You need to have fun at training camp. There’s no doubt about it. It’s tough. You start out at camp with 88 guys and you get down to 53 and then you get to add eight more. You know a lot of these guys are fighting for jobs and it’s tough. Football has to be fun and when you lose sight of that you’re in trouble. I still enjoy coming to camp and being around the players.”
Q: Did you have any injuries today?
EDWARDS: “Everybody’s fine. We didn’t do a whole lot today. They did a good job of practicing for the most part but we couldn’t play a game today. We’d look like the Keystone Kops. I think if any team had to play on their first practice day it would be a Keystone Kop game.”
Q: What did today tell you then?
EDWARDS: “It tells me that once they left on the 23rd of June and they were away from our facilities they were doing something. They were working out and that’s important. You always worry about the big guys: the linemen. They have a way of all of a sudden getting heavy. The great thing about pro football players is they don’t want to embarrass themselves. You put them in that atmosphere where they’re running with their (position) group there’s pressure on them to finish. We started out purposely with the offensive and defensive linemen to see how they’d go. They did excellent.”
Q: Did they know they were going to do this?
EDWARDS: “Yes, I said it. This is my second year here and the first year you had a veteran football team and you wanted to make sure you knew more about your players. You have to set a different foundation for all these young players this year.”
Q: What is different this year as far as message?
EDWARDS: “Compete. Real simple. That’s been my message from the spring until right now and going into the season. You have to be a competitive guy if you’re going to make this team.
“When you look at Ty Law and you look at Patrick Surtain, both of those guys physically are in great shape. Ty looks about as good as he’s looked in the last five years. I’ve been with him the last two and I know his body shape. They’ve both lost a lot of weight. I told them both they looked like they were in their fifth or sixth year all of a sudden. That’s a good thing and they really worked in the off-season.”
Q: Until Larry Johnson gets here are you going to rotate your backs?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, and that’s how we’ll do it. It’s by committee and that’s ok and really good for us because they’ll get a lot of snaps with the first group especially for Michael (Bennett) and Kolby (Smith). Michael got here late last year and he was nicked and didn’t participate a whole lot. He had one of those seasons where he’s glad it’s over. Now he’s getting an opportunity with the first group as will Kolby. The rest of those guys, too. Tonight Priest will come in tonight and be on PUP (physically unable to perform status) and be over working out to see what kind of shape he’s in. When I saw him he looked in shape and we’ll take it day by day.”
Q: But if or when he’s ready to practice he’ll be in there, too?
EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, he knows the offense.”
Q: Are you going to have enough snaps to give all these guys a look?
EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, we’ll have enough. If you’re the starting tailback your snaps in the pre-season will be 25. That’s always been my rule. I did it with Curtis Martin. He’s a pretty good football player and that was my deal with him for five years. If we can make first downs we’ll have lots of plays for all those guys.”
Q: You going to limit Bennett to 25?
EDWARDS: “He’ll be limited some, a little bit. That all depends who’s here. Last year we came into camp with questions. We had the one guy and we didn’t know who the backups were. Now, we’ve got a whole team of running backs. We might be able to run the ball a little bit more (laughs).”
Q: You say Priest knows the offense. I thought you changed it?
EDWARDS: “We did, but a play’s a play. There are basically five running plays in pro football. You can call it what you want and tomorrow I’ll have offensive geniuses calling me tomorrow and telling me we’ve got more than that. But at that end of the day we’ve got five plays in my opinion. The terminology has changed but at the end of the day we know what Priest Holms can do running. We know what kind of runner he is.”
Q: How do you compare Larry Johnson to LaDainian Tomlinson?
EDWARDS: “They’re different backs. They’re both fantastic football players. It’s just what type of back that you want. If I had to flip a coin I’d take either one. You can win football games with both of them. They’re both explosive. They both make plays. LT has things that he does a little bit different than Larry but Larry does some things different than LT. They’re two of the better backs in the National Football League. The key to running backs is longevity and both of those guys have done a great job so far. They’ll be measured by how long they can do it. I look at Curtis Martin as my guy, and Marcus Allen, and how they continued to play at a high level.”
Q: Can LJ be LT some day?
EDWARDS: “He doesn’t need to be. He needs to be LJ and that’s good enough. I never ask a player to be another player. You know they’re good when you call them by their last name or their initials. Last time I looked they had the initials: LT and LJ.”
HERM EDWARDS: “We got through our first day. I thought it was productive especially the tests we had this morning. There are a lot of reasons why you do tests and it’s not to punish players. It’s really to bring a team together. If you were out here this morning you’d see it’s a good indicator of some camaraderie. We’ve got a lot of young players on this football team all of a sudden and they need to understand that you’re only as good as the guy standing to your left or right. It’s about team.
“Today we practiced a little bit and it was a kind of an introduction to what we’re going to try to do. It’s generally not pretty on the first day. You know that. It seems like the quarterback can’t throw the ball, the receivers can’t catch it, no one can stand up on their feet. A lot of that has to do with anxiety. We haven’t participated in football since the spring. But we can also anticipate that these guys will come out here and practice better tomorrow. That’s what you want to do every day.”
Q: Can you take us through exactly what you did in these tests today?
EDWARDS: “Basically, it was a series of patterned runs within the framework of a play. How it works is this: it’s a ten-play drive. They have to run ten consecutive at different yard marks and different directions. Once the first run is over there’s like a clock and they go into a huddle and there are 20 seconds in between each run and 10 runs to a quarter. They have to run 40 runs by the end of the day. Once they get through the first quarter they have to walk back like they’re changing quarters in a football game. Then they begin again. At halftime they get a two-minute break.
“Midway of the third quarter to the fourth quarter, that’s when it takes a toll on guys because guys are a little bit tired. It’s like a football game. Most football games are tight in the fourth quarter generally. A lot of it has to do with execution and guys not breaking down because of fatigue. It’s the first time we did it with these guys.
“It’s a good way to start a practice. It’s a way to get them out running as a group. They ran in position groups and it was great.”
Q: Derrick Johnson said you were kind of like all over them.
EDWARDS: “You need to have fun at training camp. There’s no doubt about it. It’s tough. You start out at camp with 88 guys and you get down to 53 and then you get to add eight more. You know a lot of these guys are fighting for jobs and it’s tough. Football has to be fun and when you lose sight of that you’re in trouble. I still enjoy coming to camp and being around the players.”
Q: Did you have any injuries today?
EDWARDS: “Everybody’s fine. We didn’t do a whole lot today. They did a good job of practicing for the most part but we couldn’t play a game today. We’d look like the Keystone Kops. I think if any team had to play on their first practice day it would be a Keystone Kop game.”
Q: What did today tell you then?
EDWARDS: “It tells me that once they left on the 23rd of June and they were away from our facilities they were doing something. They were working out and that’s important. You always worry about the big guys: the linemen. They have a way of all of a sudden getting heavy. The great thing about pro football players is they don’t want to embarrass themselves. You put them in that atmosphere where they’re running with their (position) group there’s pressure on them to finish. We started out purposely with the offensive and defensive linemen to see how they’d go. They did excellent.”
Q: Did they know they were going to do this?
EDWARDS: “Yes, I said it. This is my second year here and the first year you had a veteran football team and you wanted to make sure you knew more about your players. You have to set a different foundation for all these young players this year.”
Q: What is different this year as far as message?
EDWARDS: “Compete. Real simple. That’s been my message from the spring until right now and going into the season. You have to be a competitive guy if you’re going to make this team.
“When you look at Ty Law and you look at Patrick Surtain, both of those guys physically are in great shape. Ty looks about as good as he’s looked in the last five years. I’ve been with him the last two and I know his body shape. They’ve both lost a lot of weight. I told them both they looked like they were in their fifth or sixth year all of a sudden. That’s a good thing and they really worked in the off-season.”
Q: Until Larry Johnson gets here are you going to rotate your backs?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, and that’s how we’ll do it. It’s by committee and that’s ok and really good for us because they’ll get a lot of snaps with the first group especially for Michael (Bennett) and Kolby (Smith). Michael got here late last year and he was nicked and didn’t participate a whole lot. He had one of those seasons where he’s glad it’s over. Now he’s getting an opportunity with the first group as will Kolby. The rest of those guys, too. Tonight Priest will come in tonight and be on PUP (physically unable to perform status) and be over working out to see what kind of shape he’s in. When I saw him he looked in shape and we’ll take it day by day.”
Q: But if or when he’s ready to practice he’ll be in there, too?
EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, he knows the offense.”
Q: Are you going to have enough snaps to give all these guys a look?
EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, we’ll have enough. If you’re the starting tailback your snaps in the pre-season will be 25. That’s always been my rule. I did it with Curtis Martin. He’s a pretty good football player and that was my deal with him for five years. If we can make first downs we’ll have lots of plays for all those guys.”
Q: You going to limit Bennett to 25?
EDWARDS: “He’ll be limited some, a little bit. That all depends who’s here. Last year we came into camp with questions. We had the one guy and we didn’t know who the backups were. Now, we’ve got a whole team of running backs. We might be able to run the ball a little bit more (laughs).”
Q: You say Priest knows the offense. I thought you changed it?
EDWARDS: “We did, but a play’s a play. There are basically five running plays in pro football. You can call it what you want and tomorrow I’ll have offensive geniuses calling me tomorrow and telling me we’ve got more than that. But at that end of the day we’ve got five plays in my opinion. The terminology has changed but at the end of the day we know what Priest Holms can do running. We know what kind of runner he is.”
Q: How do you compare Larry Johnson to LaDainian Tomlinson?
EDWARDS: “They’re different backs. They’re both fantastic football players. It’s just what type of back that you want. If I had to flip a coin I’d take either one. You can win football games with both of them. They’re both explosive. They both make plays. LT has things that he does a little bit different than Larry but Larry does some things different than LT. They’re two of the better backs in the National Football League. The key to running backs is longevity and both of those guys have done a great job so far. They’ll be measured by how long they can do it. I look at Curtis Martin as my guy, and Marcus Allen, and how they continued to play at a high level.”
Q: Can LJ be LT some day?
EDWARDS: “He doesn’t need to be. He needs to be LJ and that’s good enough. I never ask a player to be another player. You know they’re good when you call them by their last name or their initials. Last time I looked they had the initials: LT and LJ.”