Tribal Warfare
08-07-2009, 04:47 PM
Q&A with TODD HALEY - 8/7 (http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2009/08/07/qa_with_todd_haley__87/)
Aug 07, 2009, 2:35:47 PM
Q: Did you get enough (practice) time considering (the weather)?
TODD HALEY: “Yeah, I thought we had a great mornings work. I think these days are good for you, they help you build a little character, mental toughness, and I thought we responded well to a little different atmosphere today.”
Q: Did you cut it short at all?
HALEY: “I cut one three-minute break out because it was so cool out there that nobody appeared fatigued, that’s all I cut out. I thought they had great energy, very competitive there at the end when we were doing our competitive period trying to score from the 10. The offense won one and the defense won one.”
Q: In that last period the ball was on the ground a couple of times and you still made the guys run. You weren’t going to give them a break because of the weather?
HALEY: “We might have to win a game in those conditions that means a lot to this team. Who knows what it is down the road? They aren’t going to cancel a game, they aren’t going to cancel the season, we have got to protect the football no matter what the circumstances are and I think the running is just a reminder to let everybody know that it’s not okay.”
Q: Did you get as much contact in as you had been under this schedule?
HALEY: “Whenever it’s soft like this, we didn’t change anything, but when it’s wet and footing like that you don’t get the same intensity of contact. But they were all working and we had guys on the ground and all the same stuff we have been trying to correct every day. We didn’t change anything, we practiced as if it didn’t matter to us what it was like out there, we are going to practice.”
Q: You mentioned that the defense won one, the offense won today, yesterday the defense won a couple, are they a little ahead right now?
HALEY: “I don’t know, I have to go tally it up. That’s my biggest adjustment as a head coach, as an offensive coach when the offense won you were happy, when they didn’t you were sad. Every day, every play, one or the other wins. That’s a big adjustment for me because now it’s the whole team and even though the offense looked great on a play that probably means that the defense didn’t look so good, or vice versa. That’s been a little adjustment for me.”
Q: Are you glad that it gets a bit competitive?
HALEY: “That’s the whole idea; we’ve got to have a competitive group of men out there every day. The whole idea behind some of these competitive periods is to try to bring that out and that’s what we want now. When it gets a little overboard we have to remind them that the competition is great, but we are still a team and that we are still doing this together. It’s a balancing act, but yeah, everything we do is to compete whether it’s in the weight room or wherever we are at we are trying to create some competition.”
Q: How hard has it been for you to adjust and be a little more hands off the offense and not talking to the quarterback on every play?
HALEY: “I’ll be honest; it’s tough when you have been doing something for a long time. At the same time I’m trying to study my backside off on the defensive side. I’m the head coach I have to understand what’s going on every play on that side. That’s why you see me standing behind the defense so much to try to force myself to pay attention all the time because if I’m not careful I lose focus to the other side. That’s why you see me back there so much on the defensive side is for that reason to stay on top of that.”
Q: Can you talk a little bit more about tomorrow’s scrimmage, will it all be team drills, will there be full team stuff, or are you going to break it up?
HALEY: “In the morning we have a walk-through where we will polish a bunch of different areas, go over some of these situations that we have been practicing, a situational review. Then in the afternoon we will have some special teams, but it will be a controlled scrimmage where we’ll go different groups against different groups throughout the whole thing. Each group will get about 12 plays each time out there and we will move the field and create different situations for them. It will be as close to the real thing while still being in practice.”
Q: You talked a little bit about (DE Alex) Magee yesterday, what about the rest of your defensive line?
HALEY: “Defensively, for the defense to work everybody has to do their job. The need to understand what their job is on every play, they need to understand what gap they are responsible for. Defense is interesting that way because if one guy breaks down the defense generally doesn’t work. What we are really working hard at is making every guy understand what their gap is or what their responsibility is. If one guy jumps around the block then there is a breakdown the offense is usually going to find it. We are really working hard on technique and discipline because we have some aggressive defensive players that see the ball and want to go to it, but they have to understand that they have to handle their responsibility. Sometimes it may keep them from making a play, but allow someone else to make a play. More importantly it will keep something bad from happening. We are really just trying to press them on the importance of that. It takes all eleven guys every single snap. But defensive line is working hard after practice with the coaches, whether it’s with Coach Krumrie or Coach Pleasant. Like I said yesterday they’re paying attention, they’re trying to get better and I think they are making progress.”
Q: How’s (DE Alfonso) Boone doing?
HALEY: “I think Boone’s doing okay. I saw him on the ground a couple of times today, we can’t have that. I think that he’s another guy that got himself in as good of shape as he’s been in in quite a while. He’s paying attention and he’s staying disciplined. Again, I know it sounds like I’m saying the same things, but I do think that most of these position are making progress.”
Q: Is what you’re asking Boone to do a big switch from what they asked him to do here in the past?
HALEY: “Yeah, it’s an adjustment for sure and specifically for him because he is lined up on the tight end side. So yeah, it’s an adjustment.”
Q: Are you expecting (DE Tyson) Jackson in today?
HALEY: “I just talked to Scott, there’s nothing done yet, but as soon as the player is here we will have something for you.”
Q: With training camp moving to St. Joseph next year, do you like the aspect of getting away up here or would you rather have it closer to home?
HALEY: “I’ve got five kids so I like the fact of being a little closer, but I do like getting away. It’s what I know, like I said with Dallas we flew to Oxnard, California so you can’t get much further than that. There is something to getting your team away and kind of bonding together as a group. I’ve done it both ways; with the New York Jets we had our camp right at Hofstra where we were staying in dorms, but we were a mile from our house. I think it’s what atmosphere you create makes the camp what it is.”
Aug 07, 2009, 2:35:47 PM
Q: Did you get enough (practice) time considering (the weather)?
TODD HALEY: “Yeah, I thought we had a great mornings work. I think these days are good for you, they help you build a little character, mental toughness, and I thought we responded well to a little different atmosphere today.”
Q: Did you cut it short at all?
HALEY: “I cut one three-minute break out because it was so cool out there that nobody appeared fatigued, that’s all I cut out. I thought they had great energy, very competitive there at the end when we were doing our competitive period trying to score from the 10. The offense won one and the defense won one.”
Q: In that last period the ball was on the ground a couple of times and you still made the guys run. You weren’t going to give them a break because of the weather?
HALEY: “We might have to win a game in those conditions that means a lot to this team. Who knows what it is down the road? They aren’t going to cancel a game, they aren’t going to cancel the season, we have got to protect the football no matter what the circumstances are and I think the running is just a reminder to let everybody know that it’s not okay.”
Q: Did you get as much contact in as you had been under this schedule?
HALEY: “Whenever it’s soft like this, we didn’t change anything, but when it’s wet and footing like that you don’t get the same intensity of contact. But they were all working and we had guys on the ground and all the same stuff we have been trying to correct every day. We didn’t change anything, we practiced as if it didn’t matter to us what it was like out there, we are going to practice.”
Q: You mentioned that the defense won one, the offense won today, yesterday the defense won a couple, are they a little ahead right now?
HALEY: “I don’t know, I have to go tally it up. That’s my biggest adjustment as a head coach, as an offensive coach when the offense won you were happy, when they didn’t you were sad. Every day, every play, one or the other wins. That’s a big adjustment for me because now it’s the whole team and even though the offense looked great on a play that probably means that the defense didn’t look so good, or vice versa. That’s been a little adjustment for me.”
Q: Are you glad that it gets a bit competitive?
HALEY: “That’s the whole idea; we’ve got to have a competitive group of men out there every day. The whole idea behind some of these competitive periods is to try to bring that out and that’s what we want now. When it gets a little overboard we have to remind them that the competition is great, but we are still a team and that we are still doing this together. It’s a balancing act, but yeah, everything we do is to compete whether it’s in the weight room or wherever we are at we are trying to create some competition.”
Q: How hard has it been for you to adjust and be a little more hands off the offense and not talking to the quarterback on every play?
HALEY: “I’ll be honest; it’s tough when you have been doing something for a long time. At the same time I’m trying to study my backside off on the defensive side. I’m the head coach I have to understand what’s going on every play on that side. That’s why you see me standing behind the defense so much to try to force myself to pay attention all the time because if I’m not careful I lose focus to the other side. That’s why you see me back there so much on the defensive side is for that reason to stay on top of that.”
Q: Can you talk a little bit more about tomorrow’s scrimmage, will it all be team drills, will there be full team stuff, or are you going to break it up?
HALEY: “In the morning we have a walk-through where we will polish a bunch of different areas, go over some of these situations that we have been practicing, a situational review. Then in the afternoon we will have some special teams, but it will be a controlled scrimmage where we’ll go different groups against different groups throughout the whole thing. Each group will get about 12 plays each time out there and we will move the field and create different situations for them. It will be as close to the real thing while still being in practice.”
Q: You talked a little bit about (DE Alex) Magee yesterday, what about the rest of your defensive line?
HALEY: “Defensively, for the defense to work everybody has to do their job. The need to understand what their job is on every play, they need to understand what gap they are responsible for. Defense is interesting that way because if one guy breaks down the defense generally doesn’t work. What we are really working hard at is making every guy understand what their gap is or what their responsibility is. If one guy jumps around the block then there is a breakdown the offense is usually going to find it. We are really working hard on technique and discipline because we have some aggressive defensive players that see the ball and want to go to it, but they have to understand that they have to handle their responsibility. Sometimes it may keep them from making a play, but allow someone else to make a play. More importantly it will keep something bad from happening. We are really just trying to press them on the importance of that. It takes all eleven guys every single snap. But defensive line is working hard after practice with the coaches, whether it’s with Coach Krumrie or Coach Pleasant. Like I said yesterday they’re paying attention, they’re trying to get better and I think they are making progress.”
Q: How’s (DE Alfonso) Boone doing?
HALEY: “I think Boone’s doing okay. I saw him on the ground a couple of times today, we can’t have that. I think that he’s another guy that got himself in as good of shape as he’s been in in quite a while. He’s paying attention and he’s staying disciplined. Again, I know it sounds like I’m saying the same things, but I do think that most of these position are making progress.”
Q: Is what you’re asking Boone to do a big switch from what they asked him to do here in the past?
HALEY: “Yeah, it’s an adjustment for sure and specifically for him because he is lined up on the tight end side. So yeah, it’s an adjustment.”
Q: Are you expecting (DE Tyson) Jackson in today?
HALEY: “I just talked to Scott, there’s nothing done yet, but as soon as the player is here we will have something for you.”
Q: With training camp moving to St. Joseph next year, do you like the aspect of getting away up here or would you rather have it closer to home?
HALEY: “I’ve got five kids so I like the fact of being a little closer, but I do like getting away. It’s what I know, like I said with Dallas we flew to Oxnard, California so you can’t get much further than that. There is something to getting your team away and kind of bonding together as a group. I’ve done it both ways; with the New York Jets we had our camp right at Hofstra where we were staying in dorms, but we were a mile from our house. I think it’s what atmosphere you create makes the camp what it is.”