Chiefs’ Chan Gailey takes a time-honored approach to offense
 

Chiefs’ Chan Gailey takes a time-honored approach to offense
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star

Chan Gailey wouldn’t let up.

The Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator sat down last month with first-round pick Branden Albert and talked about the future and which position the youngster would play. Albert had played guard at Virginia, and Gailey was talking about moving the rookie to tackle — left tackle, one of any NFL team’s marquee and highest-pressure positions.

Albert was listening, but Gailey kept saying it.

“He sat me down and told me, ‘You’re going to play left tackle for us,’ ” Albert said Wednesday. “He was real stern about it. He said, ‘You’re going to play. You’re going to get it.’

“You’ve got to trust him. You’ve got to go with it.”

The Chiefs are going with a lot of what Gailey has suggested since he replaced Mike Solari in January. After arriving in Kansas City, he started changing anything that looked like it might have caused last year’s 4-12 record.

The Chiefs attempted 563 passes last year, 11th-most in the NFL. Gailey’s offense centers on power running and play-action, which coaches hope will relieve pressure on second-year starting quarterback Brodie Croyle.

Gailey simplified the playbook. He wanted a younger, defined offensive line. One of those young players was Albert, and his move to left tackle squeezed veteran Damion McIntosh to the right side. It hasn’t been easy for McIntosh.

“I played left tackle for eight years. I’ve never played right tackle. You tell me if it’s hard or not,” McIntosh said. “They ask me to do something, and regardless of whether I like it or not, I’ve got to try it.”

That’s what Gailey said he has asked of the Chiefs’ veterans: Give his offense, and all the changes, a chance.

“I told the players: I don’t have any kind of magic offense,” Gailey said. “I don’t have any pixie dust that I sprinkle and all of a sudden we become good. We have to work at it. There’s nothing magic about what we’ve got.”

Until last year, Gailey was Georgia Tech’s head coach. He had been the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach for two years in the late 1990s. He’s now in his third NFL coordinator job.

“You can tell he’s an O-coordinator,” McIntosh said. “That’s what he’s built for; that’s what he knows.”

Gailey’s offense is not glamorous or tricky but instead is a throwback. Gailey is a 56-year-old football guy, a man who talks about toughness and pride in a thick Georgia drawl. Offense, in Gailey’s opinion, isn’t about fooling defenses; it’s about beating them.

“I believe in running the football,” Gailey said. “I believe you have to be a physical football team to win. It’s a tough game for tough people.”

Edwards couldn’t help but laugh this week when asked to describe Gailey’s offense.

There’s no style or signature; it’s just simple and efficient — kind of like Gailey himself, Edwards said.

“I love Chan because he says: ‘Hey, I’m not a genius. Don’t label me a genius. I never wanted to be a genius. I’m just a football coach,’ ” Edwards said. “The players like that.”

And it has gotten their attention. Sure, McIntosh is uncomfortable at right tackle, but he says he’s learning and adjusting. And yes, Albert is trying to become what Gailey sees in him. Players are getting used to the changes and the man who spearheaded them.

Whatever works, Gailey said, as long as last year doesn’t happen again.

“We’re trying to score one more point than the other guy,” he said. “We’re going to put our players in position to be successful. That’s our whole job, to let them be successful. We’re just going to try and be as good as we can be.”

Good read. Simple and efficient.

Am I alone thinking Gailey is just ho-hum? I fear for this offense.

I wonder how many, or what percentage of those passes were late in the game because the Chiefs were down. Anyone know where to find something like that?

Not sure where to find that info, but you can rest assure we wouldnt be passing with a 3 point lead...

I was wondering how he was taking being reassigned. Sounds like he isn't happy. Hope he actually makes the effort. Not that he'd be the difference maker or anything, but when healthy he's proven more than adequate.

You've got to be ****ing kidding me.
After last year, you "fear" for this offense?

Ho-hum would be about a 1000% improvement over last year.

If stats had attempts with game clock (like a play by play) it could be done easy....

The only thing I'll say is it makes me nervous moving a bunch of players into positions they aren't comfortable with and making them live or die by it... I hope it works out; but I can't think of many times when it has been

A bunch? McIntosh is the only one if you ask me.

It wouldn't be as high as you'd think. I'm not going to break down the numbers, but you can go to NFL.com and bring up gamecenter for each game last season and look at the play-by-play to calculate the run/pass ratio by possession, quarter, half, situation, etc.

Ya the run, run, pass, punt crap is way overblown. This team didn't execute plain and simple.

I took note of the "trying to score one more point than the other guys" comment. This is no longer the 60's/70's ... I understand the concept of being tough, but it seems to me if you try to put as many points as possible on the board it make it easier for the team to win. Maybe I'm just wrong.

This article and the Herm Q & A article spoke about making things simple. Seems to me if a team does that they make it much easier for the defense to know what is coming and will more easily stop it. So, look for more run, run, short pass, punt offense.

I was kinda excited (and drifting back a little more toward homerism) about Chan until reading this article. I was hoping he was coming in to develop his own offensive philosophy ... but, it seems to me that this is the Herm "I'm afraid to score too many points" philosophy. I'm back to "doom & gloom" until all these guys leave town.

Someone above mentioned that Chan's offense will me much better than last year. I agree ... but, the real question is will it get us to the S.B.??? I don't think it will. How is 6-10 any better than 4-12.

Oh as far as OL chaning positions ... Albert is moving from guard to LT. I like the move just saying Big Mac is not the only one changing positions.

I think Albert is comfortable at LT.

“I believe in running the football,” Gailey said. “I believe you have to be a physical football team to win. It’s a tough game for tough people.”

I'll take this as a starting point for improvement.

It's got to be somewhere. They keep statistics on everything in the NFL, even how many gallons you piss during the season.

The Chiefs probably have that information on their website, if they don't, every team they play this year has that information available to them. I don't think there are many secrets in the NFL.

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about Chan Gailey.

I realize that he'll make for an improved offense, but that isn't saying much.

ESPN has various splits at the player level.

Here are Croyle's attempts per quarter: 36, 49, 58, 81

Here are Huard's: 66, 91, 89, 86

Total: 102, 140, 147, 167

So yes, a lot of the passes came late in the game.

Well we were aways behind, late in the game.

Problem is the other NFL teams failed to get the same memo that Herm and Co received. They believe you should score everytime you touch the ball... Sure didnt stop them from handing us our hats weekly..

So silly NFL posers, Scoring each time you touch the ball... ROFL Lets see how they stack up against the real NFL teams?

Do you think ANY offense will get this team to the Super Bowl? The answer is no. This season is all about improvement and player development.

Those numbers are meaningless without the rushing attempts per quarter splits as well.

Lets see if our coaching staff can take the much needed steps forward to prove they are legitimate NFL quality coaches....

What do you consider proof of legitimate quality NFL coaching? Overall record? Playoff appearances? Playoff victories? SB victories?

Pound the rock throw some play action when the time comes. Run some screens and play Defense. Pretty much what champions do

That's what the 90's Cowboys did, and they did alright

Well, since the statistic quoted in the article was based on number of passing attempts, it shows that most of the attempts came late.

You are asking a different question, which is pass freqency by quarter. I'm in the process of putting together those stats both by quarter and by down.

Well, Herm's gotta love that. :shake:

Whatever happened to, "We're going to blow the doors on these fuggers and score 'til they bleed and leave Arrowhead with their tail between their legs!"

Cowboys ran the same offense we did under Vermeil. Just called it differently to suit their personnel.

By the way, Aikman's YPA was fairly high during the SB years, because the Cowboys threw the ball down the field. Not a hallmark of Herm's offense.

The fact that this team may or may not be competitive this season is no reason to install an offense that won't benefit them once they've turned the corner.

We should still be taking positive steps in the right direction.

We're a rebuilding team with an offensive line full of guys that haven't played with each other.

What happens when Gailey says yeah we're gonna score 50 more points than those fools....

And then the offense struggles, which is very likely with this young group....

Everybody would be calling for his head after the 2nd or 3rd game....

"You said you were going to score a bunch of points. You suck Chan! Liar"


People are reading into this waaaay too much...

I have just seen him fail in location after location, but in all those spots he was the head guy.

Actually, I was kidding. However, I wasn't reading into it too much 'cause Herm and Chan both love to run a ball-control offense. If you read the sentence where Chan states he's more interested in his players beating the person in front of him instead of devising schemes like Al Saunders did, then you'll understand that this brand of football is exactly what most people don't like 'cause it only scores a few points per game, but more importantly, keeps games close.

The problem with the "we're going to beat them by one point" theory is always this: You're up by one point and your opponent has the ball with 2 mins to go, and you have a chance to lose the damn game- even by a simple field goal.

Nobody wants that. I don't mind ball control when you're a couple of touchdowns ahead, but ball control all game long only makes for games to be too close for comfort.

This is approximate but pretty close:

Passing frequency by quarter:
1st: 57% of the plays
2nd: 57% of the plays
3rd: 70% of the plays
4th: 72% of the plays

Yes, a lot of the passing was becuase we were behind. Also becuase we couldn't run the ball at all last year (3.3 yards per attempt. Terrible).


Passing freqency by down:
1st: 56%
2nd: 63%
3rd: 81%
4th and going for it: 69%

Looks like our offense was pass, pass, pass, punt.

I bet Herm hated last season more than any other.

Some other interesting stats:

Huard's sack rate was about 10% of the times he went back to pass.
Croyle's was 7.5%

Huard's best passing efficiency was on 1st down. Croyles was on 3rd down and worst on first down. Why was Croyle so bad on 1st down? Yards per attempt were low (the dumbass coaches only called short passes on first down) and interceptions were high (Croyle's inexperience). On 3rd down, Croyle's completion percentage was lower, but the yards per attempt were almost a full yard higher than on first down. Also, he made much better decisions on 3rd down with 3 TDs and only 1 INT. Let him play and see what he can do.

Both QBs had their best passing efficiency in the 2nd quarter, next best in the 4th quarter and worst in the 1st quarter. Again, to me that points to coaching and play calling. I feel like we come out of the locker room at the beginning of both halves just not wanting something bad to happen on the first drive. By the end of each half, we are in the groove (relatively speaking) and more effective, but the coaches don't trust the players with aggressive plays until later in the half. Contrast to Vermiel who always had a great set of plays scripted for the beginning of the game.

I hope this year the coaches will trust the players. But the most important thing is that we have to find a way to run the ball. I'm hopeful about running left and depressed about the thought of running right.

Yep. Under-promise and over-deliver. Smart philosophy.

Probably. But after 2 years of hearing Herm say the stupidest things and then watching the direction of the offense be perfectly consistent with the stupid things that come out of Herm's mouth, you can see why people would do this.

Baby steps.

QFT, That there folks is a very honest answer!

Oh, I'm not complaining. I think I was one of the first to point out how many new players we would need to acquire/develop before we could put a legitimate contender on the field. I think some people think that the OL is somehow fixed. I think it will be better on the left side. Pass protection might be a little better if McIntosh is able to adjust to the right side. But because an OL is only as good as the weakest link, I don't really expect a huge improvement this year.

You're still getting hung up on the "one point" term. It's not a theory at all. As someone already eloquently stated, the goal is not going to be scoring exactly 1 point more than the opponent in various amusing ways. It's not going to be a totally different method than what DV and Al had. That was a power running game too. They just had better offensive talent to execute it. It looked so much better because the had the talent to pull it off.

The point I believe he's trying to make is that it only takes 1 point more to win. In no way does it mean the goal is to keep the scoring low. We're going to keep it simple and do whatever it takes to come out on top at the end of the game. 56-55 is still a one point victory.

How the **** would he know what kind of offense he has
he has a cast of unknowns
generic is the only way he could talk right now