Teicher: Gailey says Chiefs’ offense needs to handle adversity

[Tribal Warfare]

Gailey says Chiefs’ offense needs to handle adversity
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

To Chan Gailey, the evidence is conclusive. On the second play of the recent game against Denver, Larry Johnson burst loose for a 65-yard run, and the Chiefs went on to score 33 points — more than they scored in their four other games combined.

Last week in Carolina, the Chiefs retreated on their first drive, losing 15 yards. They never recovered and were eventually shut out for the first time in six seasons.

That tells Gailey, the offensive coordinator, that the biggest problem on a team with many is that the Chiefs get down on themselves when circumstances aren’t going their way.

“We need to do a better job of handling adversity,” said Gailey, listing one of his priorities for the season’s final 11 games. “I’ve talked to the guys about handling adversity. We can’t let things get us down. If we can — I hate to use the word mature — deal with it and not let things get us so far down that we can’t come back, we’ll be a better team. We’ve got to get better at that. That’s something I keep talking about and preaching about.

“I hate the word intimidate. If a football team gets intimidated, you have no chance to win. Are we getting rattled? Maybe. Are we losing some confidence? Maybe. That’s what we have to fight against. We have to realize what we’re capable of and if it doesn’t work the first time, it could work the second time. If it doesn’t work the second time, it’ll work the third time. Eventually we will get there if we don’t let things get us down.”

Getting it reversed may be more difficult than even Gailey would like to believe. He’s been the Chiefs’ coordinator for only five games, but his team was suffering from a crisis of confidence going back to last season, when a feeble offense was a culprit in an 0-9 finish.

“It’s not evident to me, but I’d be ignorant if I said it definitely didn’t exist,” Gailey said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here is get out of that mind-set that it’s going bad so it’s going to stay bad. It’s like a pitcher throwing a home-run ball. Forget it and let’s get it done the next time.”

Gailey, a veteran coordinator, was brought in to replace the fired Mike Solari and breathe some life into one of the league’s worst offensive teams.

Instead, the numbers have slipped. Points per game are down by one, yards per game down by 23, turnovers per game up by a half.

“You understand that every time you go into a new situation, it’s a challenge. There’s a lot that goes into the first year. There are always different levels of challenges. It might be run game, it might be pass game, it might be personnel.”

All have been problems for the Chiefs. Johnson had 102 second-half yards against Atlanta and 198 the next week against the Broncos, but only 117 in the other 3 1/2 games. The Chiefs because of injuries and ineffectiveness had to use three different starting quarterbacks in their first three games, a first for Gailey in his 16 years of pro coaching.

The Chiefs still have areas where they are obviously short on ability: wide receiver, certain offensive-line positions, quarterback when Brodie Croyle isn’t playing.

“The problem for us is consistency,” Gailey said. “It’s not like we can’t do it, because we’ve shown we can.”

The Chiefs are headed into their bye weekend. Croyle will return as their starter in their next game Oct. 19 against Tennessee at Arrowhead Stadium.

They are hopeful Croyle can not only provide some stability but also make more big plays than either Damon Huard or Tyler Thigpen.

But Croyle hasn’t played since leaving the season opener in New England during the third quarter because of a separated shoulder.

“To say it would be seamless, that remains to be seen because he’s been out for a while,” Gailey said. “I would love for that to happen. The great thing is that he has the extra week of practice.”

In an effort to score more points, Gailey said the Chiefs will have two priorities: gaining more yards on first down and getting more long pass plays. The Chiefs are averaging only 2.81 yards on first down, worst in the league by more than a half-yard and have only one pass play of longer than 30 yards.

“You’d think you’d have a few bigger plays than that at this point,” Gailey said. “To me, football is about taking what they give you. If they give you a shot, you’ve got to take it. We’ve been close on a few. (Dwayne) Bowe has been down the sideline and we just haven’t hit him. We’ve got to get better on that kind of thing.”