Chiefs Pantalones
11-08-2007, 04:28 PM
Q: You had some guys that were out yesterday. How are they today?
HERM EDWARDS: “Damion McIntosh is still sick with the tonsils. He did some walkthrough stuff today. Chris Terry practiced. Jason Dunn did not practice but he was at practice.”
Q: Do you expect him to play on Sunday?
EDWARDS: “I will know more tomorrow but I anticipate him playing. Eddie [Kennison] practiced, Keyaron Fox practiced.”
Q: What are you calling Dunn’s injury? A ball in the eye?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. Scratch.”
Q: Do you think McIntosh will be available Sunday?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, I think he will be available.”
Q: Do you think Turley will start though?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know that yet. We haven’t determined that.”
Q: Any word on Larry Johnson?
EDWARDS: “The information I gave you yesterday is what I have at this point in time. When there is more – hopefully there will be more this afternoon – from our PR department. When we get more information we’ll give it to you.”
Q: You seemed to signal on Tuesday you were thinking of making a change at quarterback. Maybe I’m overstating it.
EDWARDS: “What I’m thinking is this: offensively we have to be more productive. We haven’t been a very productive offense. In phases we have but after eight weeks of play we’re not very productive. We’ve only scored 13 points in the first quarter and 19 points in the second quarter. There are some things we have to do better. They know that.
“But that’s just not on one person. You always look at the quarterback but it’s not all him. They know what they have to do. We talked about it; we talked about these next eight weeks and what we have to do on offense. There is a game plan on how to do that and now we have to execute it.”
Q: So what would trigger that? You’re down 10-0 after the first quarter or a costly interception…?
EDWARDS: “I think anytime it’s always trying to add a spark to the team or how the game is being played or how the game is going. Damon just has to go play like he always has been playing. He needs to play like he’s always played and when he’s able to make some plays make some plays. Now, he needs some help. He can’t do it by himself, obviously, and everyone understands that. He’s doing what he’s capable of doing. We just have to make a conscious effort offensively and everyone’s trying but we’ve got to get better these next eight weeks if we’re going to make a run at this.”
Q: You’ve been down before offensively, so what would be the difference this time, something like being down 10-0? Then would you decide to change quarterbacks?
EDWARDS: “How you’re playing, how you view how you’re playing. The number 10 is just a number. It’s how you feel how you’re going. It’s always hard to make that decision. Some people said you should have done it at the Cincinnati game and we came roaring back. You have a feel for your football team and you know at a certain time you have to do certain things and you go with it. That’s where it’s at.”
Q: But doesn’t that put pressure on your quarterback who knows if he doesn’t do this he’s going to be yanked?
EDWARDS: “No because I’ve haven’t told Damon that. I’ve said Damon you’re our starting quarterback go play. He’s been told that from the beginning.”
Q: But is your gut telling you this is the week to do it?
EDWARDS: “No, not at all. I don’t go into the game changing anybody. I go into the game trying to win and executing the game plan. That’s never on my mind. I never go into a game thinking a guy’s not going to play good or we’re going struggle. I go in with the idea of executing the plan and if it’s not working then what do I have to do. Basically in football games you adjust.”
Q: Does the backup quarterback get more practice reps than he has before?
EDWARDS: “No, it’s always the same. It’s been that way from the beginning. He’s getting the same amount of reps from the beginning. He goes on a schedule of this is what he needs, this is what Damon and Brodie need. The coaches have done a good job of orchestrating that all year. Nothing has really changed at all.”
Q: But is it fair to say he gets more reps than the normal backup quarterback?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, in that Damon doesn’t need all those reps. He’s a veteran quarterback. He doesn’t need all those reps. It’s no different than when I had Vinny [Testaverde] and Chad [Pennington in New York.] Chad took a lot of reps, Vinny took certain plays and Chad took the rest of them.”
Q: Does it matter if you make the change at quarterback if your offensive line doesn’t play any better?
EDWARDS: “That’s why I say it’s just not one guy it’s everybody. It’s everything we do. We’ve gotten ourselves in trouble with negative plays on first down and not being able to orchestrate drives – a lot of three-and-outs. Our third downs are not very good. You’re talking about 42 times already on third down when we’ve been in third-and-10 or more. That’s a lot. You’re not going to convert third downs doing that.
“And the fouls. We’ve had a lot of fouls that have caused negative yards either on first down, second down which puts you in bad situations. We have to clean that up and we can do that. We’ve turned the ball over, too; we’ve turned the ball over 15 times already in eight games. That’s almost two a game. So, we can fix that; that’s all fixable. You don’t have to change the players to do that; you don’t have to change the calls. You just have to execute better and your focus has to be a lot better. So that’s what we have to do.”
Q: Are you waiting for Damon to do something in particular or is he doing what you thought he’s capable of doing all along?
EDWARDS: “He’s managing the game well for the most part. It was hard early because we were not consistent running the football. And I go back to what I said again: a lot of negative plays. A lot of negative plays and when you have negative plays it puts you in second-and-longs and that creates third-and-longs and you have no rhythm on offense. You’re off the field - a lot of three-and-outs, a lot of three-and-outs last week the first half until we got a big turnover.
“You’ve got to get out of that mode. Then all of a sudden in the third quarter we start making plays, get going. We have to start out faster offensively. Some of it is we have to call the game a little bit differently too. So, all those things are part of it.”
Q: Do you need something more or something different from your quarterbacks now that you don’t have Larry Johnson?
EDWARDS: “No because we have other players and it’s always going to be on other players. Priest Holmes is going to get another opportunity, Kolby Smith is going to get another opportunity. The receivers like Dwayne Bowe are going to get opportunities. Hopefully he’s healthy and he can play the whole game. That hurt us a little bit last week also. He didn’t get the ball much.”
Q: I’m confused. Are you thinking about a quarterback change or are you not?
EDWARDS: “This is what I said and I hope I’m not misinterpreted: offensively, first of all, we have to do a better job. If there comes a point in time in the football game where I feel like I have to get a spark or better production out of the quarterback position I’ll change it.”
Q: Is that going to be this weekend?
EDWARDS: “It’s been eight weeks and I haven’t done it. It’s not like I’m going into the game saying I’m going to change the quarterback because that’s not my mindset at all. That’s where we are offensively. We have to be more productive and score more points. Now, that’s not all on the offense. That’s on special teams, too. Special teams have to give us better field position.
“We’re not doing very good on our return game. It seems to me the offense is always starting within the 20-yard line. That’s hard going on 80-yard drives all the time. That’s very difficult. Defensively, we’ve got to create more turnovers for our offense. We’ve got to take the ball away more and give them better field position. It’s a team thing. It’s never one unit; it’s a team thing.”
Q: Have you thought about changing your return guy?
EDWARDS: “It’s not all on him. He does some things fairly well. He fields the ball well and been pretty good on punt returns for the most part. It’s been the kickoffs that have really hurt us. It’s really caused a lot of long fields since we haven’t gotten the ball over the 30-yard line like we would like.”
ROFL Herm is a freakin' idiot!!! He gives no definitive answer! He hasn't told Huard he might change QBs? Dude is more insane than Gunther, and that's saying something.
HERM EDWARDS: “Damion McIntosh is still sick with the tonsils. He did some walkthrough stuff today. Chris Terry practiced. Jason Dunn did not practice but he was at practice.”
Q: Do you expect him to play on Sunday?
EDWARDS: “I will know more tomorrow but I anticipate him playing. Eddie [Kennison] practiced, Keyaron Fox practiced.”
Q: What are you calling Dunn’s injury? A ball in the eye?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. Scratch.”
Q: Do you think McIntosh will be available Sunday?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, I think he will be available.”
Q: Do you think Turley will start though?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know that yet. We haven’t determined that.”
Q: Any word on Larry Johnson?
EDWARDS: “The information I gave you yesterday is what I have at this point in time. When there is more – hopefully there will be more this afternoon – from our PR department. When we get more information we’ll give it to you.”
Q: You seemed to signal on Tuesday you were thinking of making a change at quarterback. Maybe I’m overstating it.
EDWARDS: “What I’m thinking is this: offensively we have to be more productive. We haven’t been a very productive offense. In phases we have but after eight weeks of play we’re not very productive. We’ve only scored 13 points in the first quarter and 19 points in the second quarter. There are some things we have to do better. They know that.
“But that’s just not on one person. You always look at the quarterback but it’s not all him. They know what they have to do. We talked about it; we talked about these next eight weeks and what we have to do on offense. There is a game plan on how to do that and now we have to execute it.”
Q: So what would trigger that? You’re down 10-0 after the first quarter or a costly interception…?
EDWARDS: “I think anytime it’s always trying to add a spark to the team or how the game is being played or how the game is going. Damon just has to go play like he always has been playing. He needs to play like he’s always played and when he’s able to make some plays make some plays. Now, he needs some help. He can’t do it by himself, obviously, and everyone understands that. He’s doing what he’s capable of doing. We just have to make a conscious effort offensively and everyone’s trying but we’ve got to get better these next eight weeks if we’re going to make a run at this.”
Q: You’ve been down before offensively, so what would be the difference this time, something like being down 10-0? Then would you decide to change quarterbacks?
EDWARDS: “How you’re playing, how you view how you’re playing. The number 10 is just a number. It’s how you feel how you’re going. It’s always hard to make that decision. Some people said you should have done it at the Cincinnati game and we came roaring back. You have a feel for your football team and you know at a certain time you have to do certain things and you go with it. That’s where it’s at.”
Q: But doesn’t that put pressure on your quarterback who knows if he doesn’t do this he’s going to be yanked?
EDWARDS: “No because I’ve haven’t told Damon that. I’ve said Damon you’re our starting quarterback go play. He’s been told that from the beginning.”
Q: But is your gut telling you this is the week to do it?
EDWARDS: “No, not at all. I don’t go into the game changing anybody. I go into the game trying to win and executing the game plan. That’s never on my mind. I never go into a game thinking a guy’s not going to play good or we’re going struggle. I go in with the idea of executing the plan and if it’s not working then what do I have to do. Basically in football games you adjust.”
Q: Does the backup quarterback get more practice reps than he has before?
EDWARDS: “No, it’s always the same. It’s been that way from the beginning. He’s getting the same amount of reps from the beginning. He goes on a schedule of this is what he needs, this is what Damon and Brodie need. The coaches have done a good job of orchestrating that all year. Nothing has really changed at all.”
Q: But is it fair to say he gets more reps than the normal backup quarterback?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, in that Damon doesn’t need all those reps. He’s a veteran quarterback. He doesn’t need all those reps. It’s no different than when I had Vinny [Testaverde] and Chad [Pennington in New York.] Chad took a lot of reps, Vinny took certain plays and Chad took the rest of them.”
Q: Does it matter if you make the change at quarterback if your offensive line doesn’t play any better?
EDWARDS: “That’s why I say it’s just not one guy it’s everybody. It’s everything we do. We’ve gotten ourselves in trouble with negative plays on first down and not being able to orchestrate drives – a lot of three-and-outs. Our third downs are not very good. You’re talking about 42 times already on third down when we’ve been in third-and-10 or more. That’s a lot. You’re not going to convert third downs doing that.
“And the fouls. We’ve had a lot of fouls that have caused negative yards either on first down, second down which puts you in bad situations. We have to clean that up and we can do that. We’ve turned the ball over, too; we’ve turned the ball over 15 times already in eight games. That’s almost two a game. So, we can fix that; that’s all fixable. You don’t have to change the players to do that; you don’t have to change the calls. You just have to execute better and your focus has to be a lot better. So that’s what we have to do.”
Q: Are you waiting for Damon to do something in particular or is he doing what you thought he’s capable of doing all along?
EDWARDS: “He’s managing the game well for the most part. It was hard early because we were not consistent running the football. And I go back to what I said again: a lot of negative plays. A lot of negative plays and when you have negative plays it puts you in second-and-longs and that creates third-and-longs and you have no rhythm on offense. You’re off the field - a lot of three-and-outs, a lot of three-and-outs last week the first half until we got a big turnover.
“You’ve got to get out of that mode. Then all of a sudden in the third quarter we start making plays, get going. We have to start out faster offensively. Some of it is we have to call the game a little bit differently too. So, all those things are part of it.”
Q: Do you need something more or something different from your quarterbacks now that you don’t have Larry Johnson?
EDWARDS: “No because we have other players and it’s always going to be on other players. Priest Holmes is going to get another opportunity, Kolby Smith is going to get another opportunity. The receivers like Dwayne Bowe are going to get opportunities. Hopefully he’s healthy and he can play the whole game. That hurt us a little bit last week also. He didn’t get the ball much.”
Q: I’m confused. Are you thinking about a quarterback change or are you not?
EDWARDS: “This is what I said and I hope I’m not misinterpreted: offensively, first of all, we have to do a better job. If there comes a point in time in the football game where I feel like I have to get a spark or better production out of the quarterback position I’ll change it.”
Q: Is that going to be this weekend?
EDWARDS: “It’s been eight weeks and I haven’t done it. It’s not like I’m going into the game saying I’m going to change the quarterback because that’s not my mindset at all. That’s where we are offensively. We have to be more productive and score more points. Now, that’s not all on the offense. That’s on special teams, too. Special teams have to give us better field position.
“We’re not doing very good on our return game. It seems to me the offense is always starting within the 20-yard line. That’s hard going on 80-yard drives all the time. That’s very difficult. Defensively, we’ve got to create more turnovers for our offense. We’ve got to take the ball away more and give them better field position. It’s a team thing. It’s never one unit; it’s a team thing.”
Q: Have you thought about changing your return guy?
EDWARDS: “It’s not all on him. He does some things fairly well. He fields the ball well and been pretty good on punt returns for the most part. It’s been the kickoffs that have really hurt us. It’s really caused a lot of long fields since we haven’t gotten the ball over the 30-yard line like we would like.”
ROFL Herm is a freakin' idiot!!! He gives no definitive answer! He hasn't told Huard he might change QBs? Dude is more insane than Gunther, and that's saying something.