Tribal Warfare
09-01-2008, 04:57 PM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2008/09/01/qa_with_herm_edwards__91/
Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 9/1
Sep 01, 2008, 9:54:15 AM
Highlights
HERM EDWARDS: “The roster is set for today but it’s always changing. If you look at our roster out of the 53-man I think there are 22 new Chiefs -15 of those guys are rookies. That’s good for us. That’s the direction we want to head. Now, we’ve got to get them ready to play. In our opinion, as we go and as these guys mature they’re going to get a lot better and this is the future of our football team.
“I know the players are excited, especially after the last cut. I hope that some of the guys we left go will land somewhere. But it’s never over in this league the first week or two always is a moving target.”
Q: Even though it’s the direction you wanted to go, is it surprising that all 12 of this year’s draft choices are still with the organization?
EDWARDS: “When you look at it, right now in the last three draft classes there are actually 19 who are still here -11 of those guys are starting for us and out of those 19, 15 are playing a lot That’s what we wanted to do. Now, it’s just a matter of them gaining confidence every time they play and winning football games.”
Q: How confident are you that Branden Albert, should be active this week, can compensate for the lack of practice time he’s had?
EDWARDS: “Well, no one knows. No one is going to know how he is going to react. We’ll see. We don’t know about how a lot of these guys are going to react in a real game. But that’s part of it. They’re playing an excellent football team as you guys know, so it’s probably the best way for us to start because you get a barometer right now of where you’re at. There’s no guessing. When the game’s over you can look at your football team and go, ‘OK, here’s where we’re at.’”
Q: Can you think what it must be like for New England to want to purge the taste of losing their only game last year?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I can’t talk for those guys, for their team. I won’t even try.”
Q: But to put it another way, you’ve had playoff losses and it carries over a little bit doesn’t it?
EDWARDS: “It does but I think every season you start anew and you never know what to expect when the season starts. Everyone has high expectations, most teams do. Then when the season gets going it’s how you deal with setbacks, things that happen to you, whether it be the loss of players or a tough loss – how do you react. The good teams with the tough-minded guys react in positive ways.
“There are a lot of different opinions about what teams are going to be in the Super Bowl, what teams are going to be in the playoffs. That’s what people get paid to do. But you as a football team have to focus on what your expectations are. Those are ones inside your locker room and inside these walls. The players have to realize that.”
Q: What state of mind would you expect the Patriots to be in?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I’ve got my puppies I’m taking up there. I’ve got to make sure they’re on the plane on time.”
Q: Can you go over some of your injured guys and what their status might be?
EDWARDS: “I’m not going to talk about it because I don’t have to. Today’s Monday. I’m not going to give anybody any ammunition.”
Q: What about BJ Sams?
EDWARDS: “BJ Sams was at practice today.”
Q: Branden Albert?
EDWARDS: “Branden was at practice. They were all in their shorts and jerseys and running around. You guys got to realize that I’ve got a job to do. You’ve got a job to do. I’ve got to protect this football team and I’m not going to give information out that I don’t have to give. It’s not fair.”
Q: We heard at the kickoff luncheon references to 8-8 and next year, but you came out and said we’re here to win now. Can you talk about that mindset and do you have to talk to your team about that?
EDWARDS: “I think sometimes we lose sight of what this thing’s all about and all the hours and things you go through to prepare yourself for the season. You’re not preparing yourself to just play. You’re trying to prepare your team to win. You have 16 opportunities and I think every time you play that’s got to be your mindset. That’s always been my mindset as a player and coach ever since I’ve been in this league. Every time you compete you’re trying to win whether it’s marbles, cars, whatever you do, golf.
“When you’re in a competitive environment you try to win. That’s what it’s about: about competing and it never changes. I was taught that growing up. You try to outdo the other guy or the other team. I don’t think you can look at it another way. When you do you take the joy out of competition.”
Q: Did you have a practice today?
EDWARDS: “We had a walk-through. We just walk-throughed.”
Q: Why did you give the team so much time off?
EDWARDS: “What, two days? Two days. We came in Friday and gave them Saturday and Sunday off.”
Q: Well, did you get enough work?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. You can’t over-practice. You’ve only got 60 guys. What are you going to do: practice every day and then go play Sunday and they’re worn out? No team does that. No coach ever does that. You bring them in for meetings and walk-throughs but the teams aren’t going to practice, not with eight days. You’re not going to do that with 60 guys. I’ve never done that. You bring them in on Monday and they have a little bit of a practice like we did last year. We give them Tuesday off. We brought ‘em in this year on Friday, they moved around a bit and then we let them go with two days off. Then we brought them back today, Monday, and then we’ll bring them back Tuesday. Most teams have Tuesday off.”
Q: Your first couple of season openers here you weren’t really competitive. The quality of the team you’re playing this year notwithstanding, do you feel better about your ability coming out of camp to do some good things this time?
EDWARDS: “We were trying the last two years really to be quite honest.”
Q: I’m not asking if you were trying. Do you feel better about your ability to do it?
EDWARDS: “I felt good about our ability to do it the last two years. You never go into a game thinking we can’t do it. I don’t understand the question.”
Q: We talked the last couple of years coming out of camp that things weren’t fitting together real well.
EDWARDS: “We had some guys injured.”
Q: Do you feel better about your ability to do some good things this year?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, but I think when you look at it the only thing different from the last two years is we’re much younger. We got a whole new offense. The defense is pretty much the same but there are a bunch of new characters over there starting for us. I think these guys have put in a lot of work and we’re excited about playing.”
Q: Taking such a young team to start their careers against a veteran team on the road that has had so much success and is expected to do well again, is that the best way for this young team to start as opposed to going someplace where the expectations are not as great?
EDWARDS: “I do think this is among the cream of the crop of teams in the league. It’s a good barometer. You go in there and go compete and go play. Our intentions are to win the game and you find out at the end who wins and who loses. But you are going to get something out of it either way. I think you’re going to find out a lot about your team, where you’re at, and that’s good. Every coach wants to know. The earlier you know the better. When you play a good team you have to play well to win and we’re going to have to play really, really good to win. There is no doubt about it. We’ve talked about it. You can’t have errors against these guys or take a play off.”
Q: No matter how you practice or scrimmage can you know what you’ve got until you played right?
EDWARDS: “You don’t know the anxiety guys are going to have. It’s different from the pre-season to the regular season. It always has been. They’ve got to survive the first five to six minutes of the game. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot and in the first five or six minutes the game is out of hand. You don’t want that to happen. We’re going to go find out.”
Q: Was it Novak’s experience that gave him the edge over Barth in the kicking battle?
EDWARDS: “That had something to do with it, but I just think when you looked at it we just felt he had a little more pop on the ball when he kicked it. When you talk about kicking outside in the cold we just felt like he had a little bit stronger leg. But I think both those kids did a great job. They went through a lot for one to earn a job. It was a hard decision, very difficult.”
Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 9/1
Sep 01, 2008, 9:54:15 AM
Highlights
HERM EDWARDS: “The roster is set for today but it’s always changing. If you look at our roster out of the 53-man I think there are 22 new Chiefs -15 of those guys are rookies. That’s good for us. That’s the direction we want to head. Now, we’ve got to get them ready to play. In our opinion, as we go and as these guys mature they’re going to get a lot better and this is the future of our football team.
“I know the players are excited, especially after the last cut. I hope that some of the guys we left go will land somewhere. But it’s never over in this league the first week or two always is a moving target.”
Q: Even though it’s the direction you wanted to go, is it surprising that all 12 of this year’s draft choices are still with the organization?
EDWARDS: “When you look at it, right now in the last three draft classes there are actually 19 who are still here -11 of those guys are starting for us and out of those 19, 15 are playing a lot That’s what we wanted to do. Now, it’s just a matter of them gaining confidence every time they play and winning football games.”
Q: How confident are you that Branden Albert, should be active this week, can compensate for the lack of practice time he’s had?
EDWARDS: “Well, no one knows. No one is going to know how he is going to react. We’ll see. We don’t know about how a lot of these guys are going to react in a real game. But that’s part of it. They’re playing an excellent football team as you guys know, so it’s probably the best way for us to start because you get a barometer right now of where you’re at. There’s no guessing. When the game’s over you can look at your football team and go, ‘OK, here’s where we’re at.’”
Q: Can you think what it must be like for New England to want to purge the taste of losing their only game last year?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I can’t talk for those guys, for their team. I won’t even try.”
Q: But to put it another way, you’ve had playoff losses and it carries over a little bit doesn’t it?
EDWARDS: “It does but I think every season you start anew and you never know what to expect when the season starts. Everyone has high expectations, most teams do. Then when the season gets going it’s how you deal with setbacks, things that happen to you, whether it be the loss of players or a tough loss – how do you react. The good teams with the tough-minded guys react in positive ways.
“There are a lot of different opinions about what teams are going to be in the Super Bowl, what teams are going to be in the playoffs. That’s what people get paid to do. But you as a football team have to focus on what your expectations are. Those are ones inside your locker room and inside these walls. The players have to realize that.”
Q: What state of mind would you expect the Patriots to be in?
EDWARDS: “I don’t know. I’ve got my puppies I’m taking up there. I’ve got to make sure they’re on the plane on time.”
Q: Can you go over some of your injured guys and what their status might be?
EDWARDS: “I’m not going to talk about it because I don’t have to. Today’s Monday. I’m not going to give anybody any ammunition.”
Q: What about BJ Sams?
EDWARDS: “BJ Sams was at practice today.”
Q: Branden Albert?
EDWARDS: “Branden was at practice. They were all in their shorts and jerseys and running around. You guys got to realize that I’ve got a job to do. You’ve got a job to do. I’ve got to protect this football team and I’m not going to give information out that I don’t have to give. It’s not fair.”
Q: We heard at the kickoff luncheon references to 8-8 and next year, but you came out and said we’re here to win now. Can you talk about that mindset and do you have to talk to your team about that?
EDWARDS: “I think sometimes we lose sight of what this thing’s all about and all the hours and things you go through to prepare yourself for the season. You’re not preparing yourself to just play. You’re trying to prepare your team to win. You have 16 opportunities and I think every time you play that’s got to be your mindset. That’s always been my mindset as a player and coach ever since I’ve been in this league. Every time you compete you’re trying to win whether it’s marbles, cars, whatever you do, golf.
“When you’re in a competitive environment you try to win. That’s what it’s about: about competing and it never changes. I was taught that growing up. You try to outdo the other guy or the other team. I don’t think you can look at it another way. When you do you take the joy out of competition.”
Q: Did you have a practice today?
EDWARDS: “We had a walk-through. We just walk-throughed.”
Q: Why did you give the team so much time off?
EDWARDS: “What, two days? Two days. We came in Friday and gave them Saturday and Sunday off.”
Q: Well, did you get enough work?
EDWARDS: “Yeah. You can’t over-practice. You’ve only got 60 guys. What are you going to do: practice every day and then go play Sunday and they’re worn out? No team does that. No coach ever does that. You bring them in for meetings and walk-throughs but the teams aren’t going to practice, not with eight days. You’re not going to do that with 60 guys. I’ve never done that. You bring them in on Monday and they have a little bit of a practice like we did last year. We give them Tuesday off. We brought ‘em in this year on Friday, they moved around a bit and then we let them go with two days off. Then we brought them back today, Monday, and then we’ll bring them back Tuesday. Most teams have Tuesday off.”
Q: Your first couple of season openers here you weren’t really competitive. The quality of the team you’re playing this year notwithstanding, do you feel better about your ability coming out of camp to do some good things this time?
EDWARDS: “We were trying the last two years really to be quite honest.”
Q: I’m not asking if you were trying. Do you feel better about your ability to do it?
EDWARDS: “I felt good about our ability to do it the last two years. You never go into a game thinking we can’t do it. I don’t understand the question.”
Q: We talked the last couple of years coming out of camp that things weren’t fitting together real well.
EDWARDS: “We had some guys injured.”
Q: Do you feel better about your ability to do some good things this year?
EDWARDS: “Yeah, but I think when you look at it the only thing different from the last two years is we’re much younger. We got a whole new offense. The defense is pretty much the same but there are a bunch of new characters over there starting for us. I think these guys have put in a lot of work and we’re excited about playing.”
Q: Taking such a young team to start their careers against a veteran team on the road that has had so much success and is expected to do well again, is that the best way for this young team to start as opposed to going someplace where the expectations are not as great?
EDWARDS: “I do think this is among the cream of the crop of teams in the league. It’s a good barometer. You go in there and go compete and go play. Our intentions are to win the game and you find out at the end who wins and who loses. But you are going to get something out of it either way. I think you’re going to find out a lot about your team, where you’re at, and that’s good. Every coach wants to know. The earlier you know the better. When you play a good team you have to play well to win and we’re going to have to play really, really good to win. There is no doubt about it. We’ve talked about it. You can’t have errors against these guys or take a play off.”
Q: No matter how you practice or scrimmage can you know what you’ve got until you played right?
EDWARDS: “You don’t know the anxiety guys are going to have. It’s different from the pre-season to the regular season. It always has been. They’ve got to survive the first five to six minutes of the game. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot and in the first five or six minutes the game is out of hand. You don’t want that to happen. We’re going to go find out.”
Q: Was it Novak’s experience that gave him the edge over Barth in the kicking battle?
EDWARDS: “That had something to do with it, but I just think when you looked at it we just felt he had a little more pop on the ball when he kicked it. When you talk about kicking outside in the cold we just felt like he had a little bit stronger leg. But I think both those kids did a great job. They went through a lot for one to earn a job. It was a hard decision, very difficult.”