Buns
09-04-2007, 12:23 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/259222.html
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The first practice dedicated to Sunday’s season opener at Houston brought cause for celebration for Chiefs offensive coordinator Mike Solari.
The Chiefs had all 11 starters together on the practice field Monday for the first time since training camp started in late July. Finally, six days before the start of the season, the Chiefs could prepare in earnest.
“It’s a starting point,” said Solari, who welcomed back left tackle Damion McIntosh (out since early in camp because of a sprained knee) and quarterback Damon Huard (out for the last two weeks because of a sore calf muscle).
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of work, and we need to get better every day. We haven’t had enough time to get the first unit working together. We’d like to be further along at this point, but because the guys weren’t all able to be together, it’s hampered our ability to be consistent.”
The Chiefs are also mixing in running back Larry Johnson and another important component, blocking tight end Jason Dunn. Both missed all of camp, Johnson with his contract holdout and Dunn because of an ailing back.
They hoped by this point to be gearing up for the Texans — but, on offense at least, they’re still fitting the pieces together.
“We have to be smart with what we ask them to do when we get to Houston,” Solari said. “We understand that Larry won’t be able to carry the ball as many times until he gets into shape and gets into condition. Michael Bennett is ready to help.”
The Chiefs accomplished little in the preseason, scoring just two offensive touchdowns. They rarely were able to sustain a drive, another must for a Herm Edwards-coached team.
Though it wouldn’t be accurate to say the Chiefs aren’t concerned, they also aren’t panicking.
“They’re all going to make a big difference to what we do on the football field,” said guard Brian Waters, referring to Johnson, McIntosh, Dunn and Huard. “I don’t see us struggling, but we don’t know what we’re going to do. That’s the good thing about it. We’ve yet to see this football team run our offense with all of our players in there.
“I’ll be more concerned after I see how we play in a game and do all of the things that we’ve been practicing. We haven’t seen that yet. Is there cause for concern because of the way we played and how you want to start the season? Yeah. But as far as worried about what we can do? No.”
Solari likewise hasn’t had his confidence shaken.
“I saw what we had the ability to do when we were all together with the offensive line with Damion in there early in training camp,” Solari said. “This offensive line will grow and develop and not only be a very good offensive line for us this year but allow us to do a lot of good things.
“In the preseason, we were very vanilla, but our goal was to see players. It wasn’t to see our scheme. We wanted to be more efficient. We were very disappointed that we weren’t able to score more points. But it’s something that we believe is fixable and it’s been addressed.”
The Chiefs, facing some of the same issues last year, started slowly on offense. They scored just 10 points in the opening loss to Cincinnati and managed just two field goals in the following week’s overtime loss in Denver.
Solari, in his first season as the coordinator, may have contributed. The offense looked lost against the Bengals. Solari’s mixup over down and distance on a key play could have cost them a win over the Broncos in regulation.
“I’m a lot better prepared this year, and I have a better awareness of where we need to go with the offense,” Solari said. “I’ll anticipate certain situations better. I’ll call games better. I have a better feel for what this offense can do as the parts change.”
That doesn’t mean it won’t be a challenge, this time with many factors being out of his control.
“We’ll get better,” he said. “We’ll see improvement week to week as we mesh together. A lot of it is little things like the anticipation of the snap count that you get with Damon as opposed to Brodie (Croyle). There’s no excuses, but we had quite a rotation of young quarterbacks and we never did get any continuity in the preseason.
“To move the chains, we have to eliminate the zero-yard and negative-yard plays. We had too many in the preseason and so we had way too many third-and-longs. It’s all correctable. We know what we need to do to get it done. It’s just that we’re doing it right now. It’s going to be a work in progress.”
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
The first practice dedicated to Sunday’s season opener at Houston brought cause for celebration for Chiefs offensive coordinator Mike Solari.
The Chiefs had all 11 starters together on the practice field Monday for the first time since training camp started in late July. Finally, six days before the start of the season, the Chiefs could prepare in earnest.
“It’s a starting point,” said Solari, who welcomed back left tackle Damion McIntosh (out since early in camp because of a sprained knee) and quarterback Damon Huard (out for the last two weeks because of a sore calf muscle).
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of work, and we need to get better every day. We haven’t had enough time to get the first unit working together. We’d like to be further along at this point, but because the guys weren’t all able to be together, it’s hampered our ability to be consistent.”
The Chiefs are also mixing in running back Larry Johnson and another important component, blocking tight end Jason Dunn. Both missed all of camp, Johnson with his contract holdout and Dunn because of an ailing back.
They hoped by this point to be gearing up for the Texans — but, on offense at least, they’re still fitting the pieces together.
“We have to be smart with what we ask them to do when we get to Houston,” Solari said. “We understand that Larry won’t be able to carry the ball as many times until he gets into shape and gets into condition. Michael Bennett is ready to help.”
The Chiefs accomplished little in the preseason, scoring just two offensive touchdowns. They rarely were able to sustain a drive, another must for a Herm Edwards-coached team.
Though it wouldn’t be accurate to say the Chiefs aren’t concerned, they also aren’t panicking.
“They’re all going to make a big difference to what we do on the football field,” said guard Brian Waters, referring to Johnson, McIntosh, Dunn and Huard. “I don’t see us struggling, but we don’t know what we’re going to do. That’s the good thing about it. We’ve yet to see this football team run our offense with all of our players in there.
“I’ll be more concerned after I see how we play in a game and do all of the things that we’ve been practicing. We haven’t seen that yet. Is there cause for concern because of the way we played and how you want to start the season? Yeah. But as far as worried about what we can do? No.”
Solari likewise hasn’t had his confidence shaken.
“I saw what we had the ability to do when we were all together with the offensive line with Damion in there early in training camp,” Solari said. “This offensive line will grow and develop and not only be a very good offensive line for us this year but allow us to do a lot of good things.
“In the preseason, we were very vanilla, but our goal was to see players. It wasn’t to see our scheme. We wanted to be more efficient. We were very disappointed that we weren’t able to score more points. But it’s something that we believe is fixable and it’s been addressed.”
The Chiefs, facing some of the same issues last year, started slowly on offense. They scored just 10 points in the opening loss to Cincinnati and managed just two field goals in the following week’s overtime loss in Denver.
Solari, in his first season as the coordinator, may have contributed. The offense looked lost against the Bengals. Solari’s mixup over down and distance on a key play could have cost them a win over the Broncos in regulation.
“I’m a lot better prepared this year, and I have a better awareness of where we need to go with the offense,” Solari said. “I’ll anticipate certain situations better. I’ll call games better. I have a better feel for what this offense can do as the parts change.”
That doesn’t mean it won’t be a challenge, this time with many factors being out of his control.
“We’ll get better,” he said. “We’ll see improvement week to week as we mesh together. A lot of it is little things like the anticipation of the snap count that you get with Damon as opposed to Brodie (Croyle). There’s no excuses, but we had quite a rotation of young quarterbacks and we never did get any continuity in the preseason.
“To move the chains, we have to eliminate the zero-yard and negative-yard plays. We had too many in the preseason and so we had way too many third-and-longs. It’s all correctable. We know what we need to do to get it done. It’s just that we’re doing it right now. It’s going to be a work in progress.”