KC STAR - Kennison/Turley injury updates
 

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/308869.html

Chiefs’ offensive situation not ideal for Croyle’s first start
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

Herm Edwards had only one piece of wisdom for his new starting quarterback last year when circumstances forced the Chiefs to play Damon Huard.

That advice: In times of trouble, hand the ball to Larry Johnson, and everything will be OK.

Edwards can’t give that same suggestion to Brodie Croyle, who will probably make the first start of his NFL career Sunday when the Chiefs play Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium.

Croyle might have a difficult time Sunday finding any friends other than Tony Gonzalez, who is off to a fast start, and Dwayne Bowe, who continues to make spectacular catches.

Otherwise, the situation is bleak. Johnson remains mired in a horrendous slump, the offensive line continues to have significant problems, and the Chiefs are scarcely scoring points.

They avoided a shutout Sunday against Jacksonville only on the game’s final play from scrimmage.

Edwards wanted a cushy starting spot for Croyle, his hand-picked quarterback of the future. Although Sunday’s game will be at home and it’s against the Bengals, who have one of the league’s most porous defensive teams, this situation is hardly ideal for a quarterback to make his starting debut.

“No doubt,” Edwards said. “If he’s going to have the opportunity to play, and we won’t know that until later this week, you’d like things functioning around him well. This last game, we had to throw the ball 43 times. You don’t want to do that. That kills you.

“It would be nice if we could run the football. We’ve got to be able to do that. It would also be nice if we weren’t down all the time. We haven’t scored a point in the first quarter.”

Publicly, Edwards held out the possibility Monday that Huard would play against the Bengals. He said he would receive results today of an MRI taken on Huard’s injured right shoulder.

“I’ll know more probably (today) or Wednesday whether he can throw or not,” Edwards said.

Huard was injured in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 17-7 loss to the Jaguars. A source told The Star after the game that Huard wouldn’t be available to play against Cincinnati.

The Chiefs were last in the league in rushing and yards per carry and near the bottom in scoring, total offense and third-down efficiency.

None of that seemed to bother Croyle, who said the coaches haven’t told him whether he will start against Cincinnati.

“This is as good a time as any if they call my number,” he said. “You can’t pick your time. If this is the week, this is the week. You can’t start getting picky and start wishing we were rolling right now. It is what it is.”

Other than tailor some plays for Croyle’s skills, there’s little Edwards or offensive coordinator Mike Solari can do to help Croyle. Edwards hinted that the Chiefs might make some minor strategical changes, but he didn’t elaborate.

“The good thing is that we’ve got prideful guys,” Edwards said. “They don’t want to continue to go down this road.”

Edwards gave Croyle every chance to win the starting job during the preseason, but he played so miserably that Edwards had no choice but to go with Huard.

Croyle finished an early-season game in Chicago after Huard was hit in the head. Croyle led a drive that ended with a Michael Bennett fumble. Croyle also played for two possessions against Jacksonville. The Chiefs punted on one and scored a touchdown on Croyle’s 13-yard pass to Samie Parker on the other.


Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but the Chiefs are taking that as improvement.

“He’s been in games, and that’s good,” Edwards said. “He’s had to throw the ball. He’s been rushed. People have come after him. He was able to make some plays. He’s made a vast improvement since the preseason between the things we’ve seen in practice and the two games he’s been in. He’s been in a couple of games now and it’s a little window, but he’s had some success. That’s good for him. He feels confident. It’s a positive step.”

Croyle looked ready for a break after a preseason in which he threw three ill-advised interceptions. He indicated the time off, as well as the limited playing time against the Bears and Jaguars, was beneficial.

“The thing about playing quarterback is that you’d better be confident in yourself,” he said. “As soon as you start second-guessing a throw, that’s when you’re going to get yourself in trouble. I feel better out there. I’m seeing things better. Things are starting to slow down.”

•KENNSION HURTING: Edwards said wide receiver Eddie Kennison, who aggravated a hamstring injury early in Sunday’s game, probably wouldn’t play against the Bengals. Edwards also said right tackle Kyle Turley, who didn’t play against Jacksonville, might return to practice this week and play against Cincinnati.

Finally a good post. Thanks GoChiefs.

The roll-out pass works to the extent that if the QB gets sacked, he's moving away from the rusher and less likely to get jacked.

no more talking goat, hush.

This is almost laughable. There is rarely ever a situation where a backup QB comes in under ideal circumstances. What exactly is ideal?? Dumb....

But you gotta love Croyles answer to it....Love this kids attitude.

Our playcalling wont allow Croyle to throw for dick because we are so God deathly afraid to turn the ball over.

Expect us to run a lot more checkdowns and fullback out plays for 2-3 yards and look for a lot of 3 and outs.

Then you can look for the Bengals to bomb it downfield on us all day because I see Ocho Cinco running past Ty Law all day long IMO.

Bengals 28 Chiefs 10

The Chiefs have averaged 8.1 yards per pass attempt over the last two games. The playcalling has been fine other than a drive or two.

I expect us to take a REAL shot downfield, ala 50-60 yards this weekend.

LMAO Nice avitar...

Like always, you like to twist the shit out of things.

Croyle's not experienced at all, and you think they're gonna let him just go out there and wing it around the field?!?!? If people on here thought that the 3 stooges (Herm, Curl, and Solari) were conservative and terrible playcallers, you just wait until a inexperienced QB gets under center against an actual starting NFL defense rather than 2nd and 3rd stringers.

Expect a lot of checkdowns and fullback passes into the flats for 2 and 3 yard gains.

I posted a poll about this subject. I'm afraid they'll scale back the agressiveness with Croyle in there. But I was responding to his post about "our playcalling" though. Recently, it's been fine.

I guess we'll see. If they're gonna draft a quarterback because of his big arm, they wouldn't be stupid enough not to take advantage of it, would they?

this one really stuck out to me.

“No doubt,” Edwards said. “If he’s going to have the opportunity to play, and we won’t know that until later this week, you’d like things functioning around him well. This last game, we had to throw the ball 43 times. You don’t want to do that. That kills you."

You see this is the problem I have with our head coach!

He thinks if you pass the ball 43 times it is a bad thing. Screw that. I've seen some teams that aren't afraid to pass 50, 60 times a game!! Ok, I might be overexaggerating a bit. But still? If anything, the passing game is somewhat our best option right now. But I'll bet you he'll abdandon it, and go with whats not working because his mind is fixated on running the ball.

HOW ABOUT IF YOU EXECUTE 80%-90% OF THE TIME YOU PASS THE BALL HERM?!?!? ARE YOU STILL GOING TO SAY IT IS A BAD THING!!!! :cuss:

Ideal would be having your running game firing on all cylinders so the QB doesn't have to carry the team, only be efficient and not screw up.

I don't understand why Herm is in love with the idea of trying to marginalize what is arguably the most important position on the field.

I disagree. Croyle will be MORE aggressive when he's in at QB. It's his nature, and he'll want to take the shots that Huard wouldn't take. Croyle would've seen a wide open Gonzalez in the end zone last game instead of throwing a two-yard pitch to Bennett.

We're playing the Bengals. They don't have an actual starting NFL defense. ;)

This is actually true. Their entire LB corps is injured and full of nothing but Tyler Thigpens that they picked up after preseason.