Tribal Warfare
08-12-2008, 05:51 PM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2008/08/12/qa_with_brodie_croyle__812/
Q&A with BRODIE CROYLE - 8/12
Aug 12, 2008, 3:06:14 PM
Q: You know we’re expecting another 16-play, 80-yard, nine minute drive to start this next game.
BRODIE CROYLE: “Yeah us, too. If you could start off every game like that, you’d probably win a lot of games. So it’s something to shoot for.”
Q: How meaningful was that?
CROYLE: “It was good for us. I think the best thing about it for us was when we got down there and scored a touchdown. That’s something we’ve had trouble with, getting the ball in the end zone. It seemed like we could always drive, we just couldn’t always really get it in. I think scoring the touchdown was just as important as having all the plays and converting the third downs. The touchdown was probably better than any of it.”
Q: Are you pretty happy at where you guys are at this point and time in camp?
CROYLE: “You’re never really happy with where you’re at, but I definitely think we’re a lot better than we were last year at this point. We feel pretty good about where we’re at. But there’s always things you want to improve on. I know there are things that I want to improve on. It’s about getting better every week.”
Q: Is eliminating penalties and sacks a priority for this team next week?
CROYLE: “It is. When you get the ball deep in your own territory, it’s hard enough to make a drive and get out at least far enough that when you switch field position, you can at least go down there and score some points. When you start adding penalties and sacks, that really backs you up. Once you get inside your own 10 that kind of limits the things that you can do. You don’t want to turn the ball over and you don’t want to risk getting a safety. We just need to keep the field position in our favor.”
Q: How are you winning this team over, including the veterans?
CROYLE: “The only way to win them over is to get out there, play well, win football games and prove to them that you’re somebody they can count on. You know we’re not quite as old as we used to be. I’ve got a first-class seat – that tells you how young we are.”
Q: Are you close to where you should be as far as offensive efficiency?
CROYLE: “You know, we’re getting there. We hadn’t really had a day where we were like ‘man, that didn’t look good.’ We’ve gotten better every day. We’ve learned new things every day. He’s (Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey) put us in position to make plays. That’s his whole thing he wants to get us some one-on-ones. Whether it be (RB) Larry (Johnson) with a safety, or a receiver is one-on-one with a DB. That’s all you can ask for in football. He’s getting us in those positions, we’re getting better at making those plays.”
Q: Some of the receivers are young guys out there. How is the transition to the first team going? CROYLE: “It’s going really well. (WR) Will Franklin has had a great camp. He was somebody that we were counting on to really step up and have a big camp for us. He’s our starting slot right now. He came out last week and made the big catch on third-and-long. (WR) Dwayne Bowe is going into his second year, and obviously he’s our go-to-guy. It’s just a matter of all of us getting on the same page.”
Q: Have you and RB Larry Johnson talked about his injury at all? How do you think he’s come back from it?
CROYLE: “He’s come back great. He’s obviously put in the work to get back to where he needs to be. He’s had a great camp. As far as us sitting down and talking about injuries, no.”
Q: How has the camp experience changed as you have moved from rookie to starter?
CROYLE: “Obviously my rookie year was just kind of a blur. And last year with Hard Knocks and battling for a position, you can’t really take hold and grasp it. When the head coach and everyone is on your side and they say it’s your job and they don’t go out and draft a quarterback, they don’t even go out and try to get a veteran. It kind of gives you confidence, and everybody knows you play a lot better when you’re confident. I’m confident in our new offense, confident in our players and I’m confident that we’re going to be a lot better football team than people give us credit for.”
Q: Where is the offensive line at in terms of working in concert?
CROYLE: “They’ve been great. The whole thing is, they wanted them all to play together, the whole camp. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible. (T) Brandon (Albert) got hurt. (T) Herb (Taylor) has really stepped in there and had a really good camp. As much as we talk about them making things easier for us, they’ve made things easier for the offensive line as well. They’ve really showed up and a bunch of young guys have stepped up and have had great camps. I feel very confident just standing back there, going through my reads and not worrying about getting hit.”
Q: Do you feel like this huddle has become yours?
CROYLE: “You have to step into the huddle feeling that way. That’s your job, that’s what everybody’s looking for you to do. With every snap in practice, every snap in the game, I feel it more and more. But you can feel like it’s completely yours until you go out there and earn it. You can do as much as you want during practice and preseason, but we just have to wait for the regular season to get here and go from there.”
Q: Is that the only way you’ll feel like the team is yours, by winning?
CROYLE: “As I said, you have to feel like it’s your huddle. When you step in there and call the play, you have to know what the right tackle is doing, left tackle who they’re going to. If a guy has a question about a route, you have to tell him. Especially with us being as young as we are. Stepping into the huddle feeling like it’s your huddle is definitely different than stepping in feeling like it’s your team.”
Q: How much freedom do you have to change the play at the line?
CROYLE: “I would say out of 16 plays we probably had seven or eight that we had the ability to change it. So that’s eight more than we had all of last season combined.”
Q: How confident are you and your teammates in your ability to change the play at the line?
CROYLE: “It just kind of makes sense. If you go up there and they have eight guys in the box and you only have seven people to block them, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to run the football. That’s where Chan getting us into one-on-ones comes into play, you know, checking to the pass. If they’re playing cover two zone, run the ball at them, that’s your best chance. It’s just kind of stuff that makes sense.”
Q: You called one on the first play didn’t you?
CROYLE: “Yeah, that one didn’t work too good.”
Q: What would be your perfect outing on Saturday?
CROYLE: “Just us go out there and find a way to score some points on the first drive. Then come out there and do it for two, three four, you know, however many series we’re going to have. Don’t have any three-and-outs. That’s something we can’t have. You know, go out there, and put some points on the board. Obviously you want to go out there and score a touchdown every time, but they get paid to play to defense just as much as we get paid to play offense, so it’s not going to happen every time. But if we get better and correct some of the things we had mistakes on against the Bears, we’ll feel like we had a pretty good second preseason game.”
Q&A with BRODIE CROYLE - 8/12
Aug 12, 2008, 3:06:14 PM
Q: You know we’re expecting another 16-play, 80-yard, nine minute drive to start this next game.
BRODIE CROYLE: “Yeah us, too. If you could start off every game like that, you’d probably win a lot of games. So it’s something to shoot for.”
Q: How meaningful was that?
CROYLE: “It was good for us. I think the best thing about it for us was when we got down there and scored a touchdown. That’s something we’ve had trouble with, getting the ball in the end zone. It seemed like we could always drive, we just couldn’t always really get it in. I think scoring the touchdown was just as important as having all the plays and converting the third downs. The touchdown was probably better than any of it.”
Q: Are you pretty happy at where you guys are at this point and time in camp?
CROYLE: “You’re never really happy with where you’re at, but I definitely think we’re a lot better than we were last year at this point. We feel pretty good about where we’re at. But there’s always things you want to improve on. I know there are things that I want to improve on. It’s about getting better every week.”
Q: Is eliminating penalties and sacks a priority for this team next week?
CROYLE: “It is. When you get the ball deep in your own territory, it’s hard enough to make a drive and get out at least far enough that when you switch field position, you can at least go down there and score some points. When you start adding penalties and sacks, that really backs you up. Once you get inside your own 10 that kind of limits the things that you can do. You don’t want to turn the ball over and you don’t want to risk getting a safety. We just need to keep the field position in our favor.”
Q: How are you winning this team over, including the veterans?
CROYLE: “The only way to win them over is to get out there, play well, win football games and prove to them that you’re somebody they can count on. You know we’re not quite as old as we used to be. I’ve got a first-class seat – that tells you how young we are.”
Q: Are you close to where you should be as far as offensive efficiency?
CROYLE: “You know, we’re getting there. We hadn’t really had a day where we were like ‘man, that didn’t look good.’ We’ve gotten better every day. We’ve learned new things every day. He’s (Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey) put us in position to make plays. That’s his whole thing he wants to get us some one-on-ones. Whether it be (RB) Larry (Johnson) with a safety, or a receiver is one-on-one with a DB. That’s all you can ask for in football. He’s getting us in those positions, we’re getting better at making those plays.”
Q: Some of the receivers are young guys out there. How is the transition to the first team going? CROYLE: “It’s going really well. (WR) Will Franklin has had a great camp. He was somebody that we were counting on to really step up and have a big camp for us. He’s our starting slot right now. He came out last week and made the big catch on third-and-long. (WR) Dwayne Bowe is going into his second year, and obviously he’s our go-to-guy. It’s just a matter of all of us getting on the same page.”
Q: Have you and RB Larry Johnson talked about his injury at all? How do you think he’s come back from it?
CROYLE: “He’s come back great. He’s obviously put in the work to get back to where he needs to be. He’s had a great camp. As far as us sitting down and talking about injuries, no.”
Q: How has the camp experience changed as you have moved from rookie to starter?
CROYLE: “Obviously my rookie year was just kind of a blur. And last year with Hard Knocks and battling for a position, you can’t really take hold and grasp it. When the head coach and everyone is on your side and they say it’s your job and they don’t go out and draft a quarterback, they don’t even go out and try to get a veteran. It kind of gives you confidence, and everybody knows you play a lot better when you’re confident. I’m confident in our new offense, confident in our players and I’m confident that we’re going to be a lot better football team than people give us credit for.”
Q: Where is the offensive line at in terms of working in concert?
CROYLE: “They’ve been great. The whole thing is, they wanted them all to play together, the whole camp. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible. (T) Brandon (Albert) got hurt. (T) Herb (Taylor) has really stepped in there and had a really good camp. As much as we talk about them making things easier for us, they’ve made things easier for the offensive line as well. They’ve really showed up and a bunch of young guys have stepped up and have had great camps. I feel very confident just standing back there, going through my reads and not worrying about getting hit.”
Q: Do you feel like this huddle has become yours?
CROYLE: “You have to step into the huddle feeling that way. That’s your job, that’s what everybody’s looking for you to do. With every snap in practice, every snap in the game, I feel it more and more. But you can feel like it’s completely yours until you go out there and earn it. You can do as much as you want during practice and preseason, but we just have to wait for the regular season to get here and go from there.”
Q: Is that the only way you’ll feel like the team is yours, by winning?
CROYLE: “As I said, you have to feel like it’s your huddle. When you step in there and call the play, you have to know what the right tackle is doing, left tackle who they’re going to. If a guy has a question about a route, you have to tell him. Especially with us being as young as we are. Stepping into the huddle feeling like it’s your huddle is definitely different than stepping in feeling like it’s your team.”
Q: How much freedom do you have to change the play at the line?
CROYLE: “I would say out of 16 plays we probably had seven or eight that we had the ability to change it. So that’s eight more than we had all of last season combined.”
Q: How confident are you and your teammates in your ability to change the play at the line?
CROYLE: “It just kind of makes sense. If you go up there and they have eight guys in the box and you only have seven people to block them, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to run the football. That’s where Chan getting us into one-on-ones comes into play, you know, checking to the pass. If they’re playing cover two zone, run the ball at them, that’s your best chance. It’s just kind of stuff that makes sense.”
Q: You called one on the first play didn’t you?
CROYLE: “Yeah, that one didn’t work too good.”
Q: What would be your perfect outing on Saturday?
CROYLE: “Just us go out there and find a way to score some points on the first drive. Then come out there and do it for two, three four, you know, however many series we’re going to have. Don’t have any three-and-outs. That’s something we can’t have. You know, go out there, and put some points on the board. Obviously you want to go out there and score a touchdown every time, but they get paid to play to defense just as much as we get paid to play offense, so it’s not going to happen every time. But if we get better and correct some of the things we had mistakes on against the Bears, we’ll feel like we had a pretty good second preseason game.”