NewChief
09-17-2004, 06:53 AM
Not sure if this is a repost:
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2004/09/16/qa_qb_trent_green/
Q&A QB Trent Green
Sep 16, 2004, 4:54:28 PM
CAROLINA PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: What do you see this week that gives you confidence the offense will be better than last week?
GREEN: “Well a lot of it has to do with us executing. We didn’t execute well enough and you have to give Denver credit, they did a great job game-planning us and they put us in tough situations. You look at our third-down situations and we were in third and long almost the entire time. I think nine of our third-down conversions were third-and-nine, third-and-eight or longer. We just can’t put ourselves in that position. So that means we have to have more success on first and second down, so we’re not putting ourselves in those situations.”
Q: Is Carolina’s front seven as good as you might face in this league?
GREEN: “Definitely. Their linebackers have a lot of speed but their front four is kind of what makes that defense run. Their not only big guys in terms of stopping the run and stuffing the holes, but they all have speed. They all are able to, even the inside guys are able to run and able to move so that makes it difficult. When you have defensive ends like (Mike) Rucker and (Julius) Peppers like they have, big, physical guys that are athletic it definitely presents a lot of problems. It’s a great test for our offensive line.”
Q: Green Bay had a lot of success against the defense. What did you take from that?
GREEN: “I thought Green Bay had a great gameplan going in. Not only did they run the ball well, which helped a lot, but what they did with Brett (Favre) was they moved him around. A lot of his throws weren’t just standing back, dropping back in the pocket, they were either play action or they were moving the pocket, rolling our right all the way outside the tackle where they chopped down Peppers and sealed the back side. So they were moving him around a lot rather than having him be a target and stand in there. Obviously a lot of that was tied to the running game. They wouldn’t have been able to do those things with the play action if they hadn’t been able to run the ball as effectively as they did. That kind of points us in direction, hopefully, that we’ll have to establish the same type of thing because their defense is too good to stand back there and let them come flying at us.”
Q: What does (DT Chris) Jenkins give them as a defensive threat down the middle of the field?
GREEN: “If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best defensive tackles in the league. And not only because of his size at stopping the run, like you said his ability to shoot the gaps and cause pressure. A lot of times where you have the two fast outside guys like Rucker and Peppers you can step up into the pocket and there’s a nice little pocket formed around you, but when have a penetrating guy like Jenkins and a wall like (Brentson) Buckner who is there to stuff the run, it poses problems.”
Q: Coach Vermeil mentioned Priest Holmes in practice has been on a whole other level. Do you notice the difference in Priest this year?
GREEN: “Well I think there’s a couple of different factors. One, he’s healthier than he was a year ago. He was able to spend the time in the off-season doing football things instead of rehabbing. The other thing is the doctors and trainers and coaches have been incredible in terms of monitoring his reps. He didn’t take a lot of reps in training camp, didn’t take a lot of reps in the preseason. During the week of practice the limit the number of reps he gets. He’s very fresh. It’s very similar to what we did with Marshall (Faulk) in ‘99, 2000 and I think Mike (Martz) continues to do it now. When you have a guy who’s going to carry the load in terms of number of touches, not only in carries but catches out of the backfield. When you have someone touching the ball that much it only makes since to monitor how many touches he gets in training camp, preseason and during the week because you know you’re going to have to rely on him to be healthy for Sundays. I think they’ve done a great job at that. When he is in there, when he does get those few touches that he does during the week, he’s very explosive and is doing a good job of finishing. I think all of it falls back on they’re doing a great job on monitoring how many snaps he takes.”
Q: Do you think you’re getting in tune with your receivers?
GREEN: “I hope so. It’s been a long training camp and preseason with just so many different faces in there. The more that Johnnie (Morton) is able to practice I think that will come along more and more. The more that we ask Dante (Hall) to do hopefully from a health standpoint – you know he took an incredible shot in that game against Denver – for somebody of his stature, you’re not going to be able to take a ton of those hits. So we’ve got to find ways to not only get him the ball but keep him protected. That’ll come along further. I thought Eddie (Kennison) played very well in the Denver game. He did some good things and we’re coming along. Maybe this is the week we’ll ask more of Richard (Smith) or Samie (Parker) now that he’s back practicing. There may have to be some younger guys who step up and play well, or play more just because of the hit Dante’ took and how much we rely on him in other phases.”
Q: Do you see the other team putting a corner back on Tony Gonzalez being a more common thing?
GREEN: “With the five-yard bump rule, there are going to be teams banging him off the bat, in that first five-yard area. Some bang past the five-yard area. It’s going to be something where he’s going to have to deal with that all year. Maybe what they do is use their defensive ends and linebackers to bang him for a couple of yards, then they pass it over to a DB who can cover him. Weather or not that throws off the timing, if you’re going to commit a couple of people to him, then obviously its going to open up a couple of other things for some other people. Now those other people have to step up. At some point in time we have find a way to get him the ball, he’s too good not to. I think defenses are definitely going to focus on him. It only makes sense.”
Q: How do you find a balance between making a play and making a bad play when you are forced to scramble or leave the pocket?
GREEN: “A lot of what I talk about with Coach (Vermeil) and (offensive coordinator) Al (Saunders) is game management. There’s times to do it and times not to do it. The pick the other night (by Champ Bailey), if I were to do it again I’d probably throw the ball again. I mean that was an incredible interception. We’ve watched the film again and again to see how Champ did it and I don’t know if there are too many people in the league who can make that play. What we’ve got to work better on and we addressed it today it that we’ve been spoiled. Everybody’s been spoiled; I’ve been spoiled and our receivers. I’m normally in the pocket making throws, but on the occasion where I do have to scramble, we’ve made some notice and talked about it this week, that we need to get more of a reaction from the receivers to react to me moving around as opposed to just standing in the pocket and running the routes. So maybe that can help things out, help angles out better, help them coming back to the ball or it they’re in a certain situation down the field or it they’re in the backfield and cross over – we just don’t do a lot of that because that’s not what this offense is.”
Q: Is there a rule receivers go by when you take off?
GREEN: “A little bit. You try to have organized chaos but it depends on the route, if I’m flushing one way and the whole route is going the other it makes it kind of difficult. But you want like a ladder system. You want a guy short, medium and long; that’s what you’d really like. And depending where those receivers are on the field, if you can coordinate that, that’s good. We’re going to try to spend some more time on that this week so that if that does happen again we can be better spaced. Because the other night we were kind of clumped together and that was why Champ was able to (pick off the pass). He felt we had one guy short and a guy stacked right behind him and because of the spacing there he was able to make that play. As incredible a play as it was, maybe had we been spaced better maybe it never would’ve happened.”
Q: Is it exciting to be coming home and playing in front of the Arrowhead fans?
GREEN: “I think it is. Especially with the way our season went last year and being undefeated at home, it is great home field advantage. Even talking with Peyton (Manning) and some of the players at the Pro Bowl, they cannot believe the home field advantage we have and the noise and the effect when the other team pulls in the parking lot and sees everyone there tailgating. From two hours before kickoff when opposing players pull in they know they’re in for a little bit of a different atmosphere than they see around the country. It is a huge advantage for us and one that we hope to continue. We’re going to need it this weekend; Carolina’s going to come in here pretty ticked off because the lost their home opener and they don’t want to start 0-2. Neither one of us wants to start 0-2, so hopefully that home field advantage can give us the extra edge that we need.”
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2004/09/16/qa_qb_trent_green/
Q&A QB Trent Green
Sep 16, 2004, 4:54:28 PM
CAROLINA PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: What do you see this week that gives you confidence the offense will be better than last week?
GREEN: “Well a lot of it has to do with us executing. We didn’t execute well enough and you have to give Denver credit, they did a great job game-planning us and they put us in tough situations. You look at our third-down situations and we were in third and long almost the entire time. I think nine of our third-down conversions were third-and-nine, third-and-eight or longer. We just can’t put ourselves in that position. So that means we have to have more success on first and second down, so we’re not putting ourselves in those situations.”
Q: Is Carolina’s front seven as good as you might face in this league?
GREEN: “Definitely. Their linebackers have a lot of speed but their front four is kind of what makes that defense run. Their not only big guys in terms of stopping the run and stuffing the holes, but they all have speed. They all are able to, even the inside guys are able to run and able to move so that makes it difficult. When you have defensive ends like (Mike) Rucker and (Julius) Peppers like they have, big, physical guys that are athletic it definitely presents a lot of problems. It’s a great test for our offensive line.”
Q: Green Bay had a lot of success against the defense. What did you take from that?
GREEN: “I thought Green Bay had a great gameplan going in. Not only did they run the ball well, which helped a lot, but what they did with Brett (Favre) was they moved him around. A lot of his throws weren’t just standing back, dropping back in the pocket, they were either play action or they were moving the pocket, rolling our right all the way outside the tackle where they chopped down Peppers and sealed the back side. So they were moving him around a lot rather than having him be a target and stand in there. Obviously a lot of that was tied to the running game. They wouldn’t have been able to do those things with the play action if they hadn’t been able to run the ball as effectively as they did. That kind of points us in direction, hopefully, that we’ll have to establish the same type of thing because their defense is too good to stand back there and let them come flying at us.”
Q: What does (DT Chris) Jenkins give them as a defensive threat down the middle of the field?
GREEN: “If he’s not the best, he’s one of the best defensive tackles in the league. And not only because of his size at stopping the run, like you said his ability to shoot the gaps and cause pressure. A lot of times where you have the two fast outside guys like Rucker and Peppers you can step up into the pocket and there’s a nice little pocket formed around you, but when have a penetrating guy like Jenkins and a wall like (Brentson) Buckner who is there to stuff the run, it poses problems.”
Q: Coach Vermeil mentioned Priest Holmes in practice has been on a whole other level. Do you notice the difference in Priest this year?
GREEN: “Well I think there’s a couple of different factors. One, he’s healthier than he was a year ago. He was able to spend the time in the off-season doing football things instead of rehabbing. The other thing is the doctors and trainers and coaches have been incredible in terms of monitoring his reps. He didn’t take a lot of reps in training camp, didn’t take a lot of reps in the preseason. During the week of practice the limit the number of reps he gets. He’s very fresh. It’s very similar to what we did with Marshall (Faulk) in ‘99, 2000 and I think Mike (Martz) continues to do it now. When you have a guy who’s going to carry the load in terms of number of touches, not only in carries but catches out of the backfield. When you have someone touching the ball that much it only makes since to monitor how many touches he gets in training camp, preseason and during the week because you know you’re going to have to rely on him to be healthy for Sundays. I think they’ve done a great job at that. When he is in there, when he does get those few touches that he does during the week, he’s very explosive and is doing a good job of finishing. I think all of it falls back on they’re doing a great job on monitoring how many snaps he takes.”
Q: Do you think you’re getting in tune with your receivers?
GREEN: “I hope so. It’s been a long training camp and preseason with just so many different faces in there. The more that Johnnie (Morton) is able to practice I think that will come along more and more. The more that we ask Dante (Hall) to do hopefully from a health standpoint – you know he took an incredible shot in that game against Denver – for somebody of his stature, you’re not going to be able to take a ton of those hits. So we’ve got to find ways to not only get him the ball but keep him protected. That’ll come along further. I thought Eddie (Kennison) played very well in the Denver game. He did some good things and we’re coming along. Maybe this is the week we’ll ask more of Richard (Smith) or Samie (Parker) now that he’s back practicing. There may have to be some younger guys who step up and play well, or play more just because of the hit Dante’ took and how much we rely on him in other phases.”
Q: Do you see the other team putting a corner back on Tony Gonzalez being a more common thing?
GREEN: “With the five-yard bump rule, there are going to be teams banging him off the bat, in that first five-yard area. Some bang past the five-yard area. It’s going to be something where he’s going to have to deal with that all year. Maybe what they do is use their defensive ends and linebackers to bang him for a couple of yards, then they pass it over to a DB who can cover him. Weather or not that throws off the timing, if you’re going to commit a couple of people to him, then obviously its going to open up a couple of other things for some other people. Now those other people have to step up. At some point in time we have find a way to get him the ball, he’s too good not to. I think defenses are definitely going to focus on him. It only makes sense.”
Q: How do you find a balance between making a play and making a bad play when you are forced to scramble or leave the pocket?
GREEN: “A lot of what I talk about with Coach (Vermeil) and (offensive coordinator) Al (Saunders) is game management. There’s times to do it and times not to do it. The pick the other night (by Champ Bailey), if I were to do it again I’d probably throw the ball again. I mean that was an incredible interception. We’ve watched the film again and again to see how Champ did it and I don’t know if there are too many people in the league who can make that play. What we’ve got to work better on and we addressed it today it that we’ve been spoiled. Everybody’s been spoiled; I’ve been spoiled and our receivers. I’m normally in the pocket making throws, but on the occasion where I do have to scramble, we’ve made some notice and talked about it this week, that we need to get more of a reaction from the receivers to react to me moving around as opposed to just standing in the pocket and running the routes. So maybe that can help things out, help angles out better, help them coming back to the ball or it they’re in a certain situation down the field or it they’re in the backfield and cross over – we just don’t do a lot of that because that’s not what this offense is.”
Q: Is there a rule receivers go by when you take off?
GREEN: “A little bit. You try to have organized chaos but it depends on the route, if I’m flushing one way and the whole route is going the other it makes it kind of difficult. But you want like a ladder system. You want a guy short, medium and long; that’s what you’d really like. And depending where those receivers are on the field, if you can coordinate that, that’s good. We’re going to try to spend some more time on that this week so that if that does happen again we can be better spaced. Because the other night we were kind of clumped together and that was why Champ was able to (pick off the pass). He felt we had one guy short and a guy stacked right behind him and because of the spacing there he was able to make that play. As incredible a play as it was, maybe had we been spaced better maybe it never would’ve happened.”
Q: Is it exciting to be coming home and playing in front of the Arrowhead fans?
GREEN: “I think it is. Especially with the way our season went last year and being undefeated at home, it is great home field advantage. Even talking with Peyton (Manning) and some of the players at the Pro Bowl, they cannot believe the home field advantage we have and the noise and the effect when the other team pulls in the parking lot and sees everyone there tailgating. From two hours before kickoff when opposing players pull in they know they’re in for a little bit of a different atmosphere than they see around the country. It is a huge advantage for us and one that we hope to continue. We’re going to need it this weekend; Carolina’s going to come in here pretty ticked off because the lost their home opener and they don’t want to start 0-2. Neither one of us wants to start 0-2, so hopefully that home field advantage can give us the extra edge that we need.”