Edwards defends defense
 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/16172850.htm


Coach admits team didn’t meet his standards Sunday, but he says critics also should look at season as a whole.
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star

For those who cursed the Cover 2 and burned their Greg Wesley and Ty Law jerseys shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday, Kansas City coach Herm Edwards offered an interesting observation Tuesday.

He said the Chiefs are getting better on defense.

Even after giving up 31 points to, coincidentally, the No. 31 offense in the NFL.

Even after Browns backup quarterback Derek Anderson scampered 33 yards in a move that a teammate told the local scribes made him look like Forrest Gump.

“What you can’t do is you can’t look at one game,” Edwards said. “Because they just played four games before that and they gave up 13 points a game. Against some pretty good teams, now.

“You’ve got to look at the whole picture at the end of the year and look at how far you’ve come as a football team. This is our first year here. We’re trying to build a defense; we’re trying to build a program that is going to be built on team. We didn’t play up to our standards, and those guys know it. And they’re hurting.”

It was a day for defending people — his 11 starters on defense, his coaches, their game plan. Edwards said they blitzed lanky quarterback Derek Anderson, and did the same thing they’ve been doing for the last 11 games.

But when Anderson started completing passes, the Browns gained more confidence. And the Chiefs didn’t do anything to rattle it.

The meltdown was reminiscent of another game just two hours down the road in mid-October, when Kansas City gave up 45 points in a loss at Pittsburgh. The Chiefs came back after that game and beat San Diego at home. Could they do the same this weekend against a Baltimore team that leads the AFC North?

Should it be noted that this game is at home?

“It’s not like they haven’t played good defense on the road, because they have,” Edwards said. “Everyone wants to know why. Well, if I knew why, I could fix it and it would never happen. But there’s no magical reason why. I don’t know why.

“They only know that. That’s why I told them, ‘You’ve got to look at yourself now as a football player and ask why you didn’t function, why you didn’t play up to your standards. Only you can answer that.’ I’m just a coach. I can’t look into every guy’s mind and go, ‘Oh, this is why you didn’t play that way.’ ”

It’s obvious the defense has taken on a different personality at home. The Chiefs held Denver to 10 points on Thanksgiving, shut out San Francisco, and hung on for last-minute stands against the Seahawks and Raiders.

Sunday was sort of uncharted territory. The Chiefs were up by two touchdowns with 9 minutes to play when Anderson worked his long-legged magic. The loss triggered rapid-fire shots on the radio and Internet, calling for cornerbacks, safeties, linebackers and coaches to lose their jobs.

Law and Wesley drew much of the fans’ ire. Anderson blew past Wesley on the run that led to a game-winning field goal; Law, a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback, slipped on a big Browns reception.

“If you’re a player (of) Ty Law’s status, that gets shown more on television than Joe the Rookie who plays the same position,” Edwards said. “What happens if you don’t make a play or two or something good doesn’t happen, people talk about it because it’s Ty Law.

“I don’t know if (he’s) less effective. He had 10 interceptions last year, and I think he has two this year. He’s gotten his hands on some balls. Sometimes, the ball’s not going his way so he doesn’t make a lot of plays on the ball.”

About the only positive Edwards could take out of Cleveland is that quarterback Trent Green appears to be back. He threw for 297 yards and four touchdowns in his first big game since suffering a severe concussion.

And the negatives? Well, Edwards was ready to move on from them Tuesday, with a 7-5 record and four very big games ahead.

Two of those are on the road, by the way.

“Certain players, I guess, don’t play as well on the road as they do at home, and they’ve got to find a way to do that,” he said. “I wish I could give them a medicine, a pill, but you can’t do that.

“You could look at this game and say, well, your defense didn’t play really good on the road but your offense did. What difference does that make? So what, the offense ate different food than the defense or their beds were better than the defense? There were some defensive players who played halfway decent and there were offensive players who should’ve played a little bit better and didn’t.”

I agree.

Still doesn't make me any less pissed off.

I'm burned out on Ty Law slipping every game.

:ZZZ:

Oh well --- things will be better when we go 4-0 these last 4 games... I've bitched enough about this lose, and it's time to move on...

Come Sunday night after the game, we will all be saying how we knew this team would come back from losing the Browns game, and how wonderful Herm called the game...

We just better not go 3-0 and then get smoked by a bunch of warm Florida boys on the last day of the season in a blizzard in KC...

It might have something to do with the $10 million he's being paid. :shrug:

I would have more respect for Herm if he admitted the gameplan for the defense was bad and he take the blame for their game play.

I'm not sure I would. I sat through 5 years of Vermeil's "I have to do a better job coaching" press conferences.

Regardless of gameplan, the players on defense did not execute. It's nice to see a coach that doesn't allow his players to hide behind him.

OK, Im back ...I had to gag.

Hermisms. Old and he just got here.

I've got a medicine.

http://www.starbrite.com/Prodimages/31600.jpg

Herm defending his position and decisions will get as old as Mike Sweeney explaing his recovery process for his latest injury.

That's funny, I didn't see the defense blitz but only a handfull of times. We can not get pressure with our front 4, our DT's are lacking talent. They can play well at times, but thats about it.

Herm's trying to boost the confidence of the defense. It's the same reason why he didn't call a timeout near the end of the game. He's trying to show he has faith in them.

He's new in KC. He hasn't lost faith in them yet like the fans have and like DV did. If DV was still coach he would have been supporting Crennel on the pass to Jurevicius. "Hey ref, he's right - our guy did push him out. He would have gotten both feet in. Give them the 6. Not only give them the 6, we'll concede the extra point. Time's a wasting for our offense."

Me too, I think he needs a personal shoe attendant. I know he is the one that opened the floodgates in Pitt because he was too ****ing stubborn to change his shoes.

I don't understand how calling timeout would be a display of not trusting your defense. All it is is smart time management. If your defense stops the Browns, then great. We get the ball with less than two minutes and just have to keep running to extend the clock. Even if we don't make the first down, we punt them back and they have to drive a ways to get a touchdown with less time and no timeouts.

If we dont' stop them, we save time for our offense to go down and score. Simple as that.

I just can't get over the fact that Herm went through time management losses in NY so many times and the very guy who did a shitty job with that in NY was hired back in KC. Dick Curl poses no use to this team other than a funny name we can laugh at, and he doesn't have to be hired for us to do that. He needs to be fired yesterday.

I agree, Mr. SNR.

A random thought. If I were the coach of an enemy franchise, even one as pitiable as the Browns, I would know all about the Chiefs' historical, lackluster road performance. I would then tell my team that anybody can beat the Chiefs when they're on the road and be able to back it up with statistics. Maybe I could make them believe it and give them the mental edge necessary to make it happen.

Or maybe I'd just sit back and watch the Chiefs defense implode, I don't know.

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