Q&A with Chan Gailey - 5/27

[ChiefRon]

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2008/05...n_gailey__527/

Q: After a week of OTAs, your thoughts on getting this offense in and how these guys are taking to it?

GAILEY: “Well, we’re going slowly. We’re not trying to burden them mentally. We want them to get techniques down and fundamentals down, things like that. But like every practice, there’s some good and some bad. You don’t know until you get to ball games and that’s quite a ways away.”

Q: We keep hearing a lot about your offense, a new offense, what exactly can we expect from it?

GAILEY: “We want to be balanced. We want to be able to run the football consistently and throw the football. I’d like for teams to not know what we’re going to do next. That’s what balance creates. If you look at statistics, really first-half statistics are what tell you that. Because if you get behind in the game and you’re having to throw it to catch up and if you get ahead in the game, you’re having to run it to run the clock out. So, second-half statistics skew your overall balance. Really, I look at first-half and how we’ll handle first halves of games to see if we’re balanced or not.”

Q: There was a play today where RB Larry Johnson broke through a hole and ran 60 yards with some joy and some speed. When you see that does that tell you this guy is all the way back or where he needs to be?

GAILEY: “Well, I don’t know where he was. That’s the thing about me. I watched some tape on him but I’ve never been on the field with the guy. Since I’ve been here he’s worked hard and taken his reps. We’re trying to be smart about how we handle him. We’re not pushing too much, too fast. Those toes are dangerous things so you have to be smart about that. We’re going to go slow with it. But he’s been great so far.”

Q: Where would you put the importance of the offensive line and cohesiveness on your list?

GAILEY: “At the top. That is the one position on the field that you have to have communication and cohesiveness. If you try to move people in and out a lot in that position it gets very difficult. They have to be able to communicate and do things very quickly because those guys on the other side move fast.”

Q: Will you include anything from the playbook from what they did here last year?

GAILEY: “There’s only x number of football plays. We don’t have all new plays. We talk about them differently and we have different terminology. But we have a lot of the same plays. Now we block them a little different. There’s techniques, there’s fundamentals, there’s things like that. But there’s only a certain number of plays you have.”

Q: There’s a lot of opportunity here and a lot of room for improvement with this offense. How much of that excites you and really, is the sky the limit with what you can do here?

GAILEY: “Well, we’re excited about all the new players. We’re excited about where we can be. I told the players I don’t have any magic offense. I don’t have any dust that I sprinkle and all the sudden we become good. We have to work at it and it’s going to take a lot of practice days like today for us to get to where we need to be by the start of the season.”

Q: Veterans TE Tony Gonzalez and QB Damon Huard were trying to describe this offense or put a name to it. Can you talk about your offense?

GAILEY: “No, we don’t have a name for our offense. We’re trying to score one more point that than other guys each week. There is no name for it. We’re going to put our players in position to be successful. Our whole job is to let them be successful. We’ve got some talent on the field and we’ve got to make sure they touch the ball and that we block it correctly and are fundamentally sound. There’s no name for it, we’re just going to try to be as good as we can be.”

Q: Is it going to be pretty much what you’ve run earlier in your career?

GAILEY: “Yes, pretty much. I believe in running the football. I believe you have to be a physical football team to win. It’s a tough game for tough people. You have to be able to play physical. We want to throw the football effectively and use our weapons, whoever they may be.”

Q: Your impressions of QB Brodie Croyle so far?

GAILEY: “Brodie’s done a good job out here so far. No one’s getting hit yet and when it gets to be live it takes on a different stance, so to speak.”

Q: You guys didn’t draft a quarterback anywhere in the draft. Does Brodie look like someone to you who can run an NFL team and have a lot of success?

GAILEY: “There’s no question in my mind he can be that guy. There’s no question.”

Q: What about some of the older players, like Gonzalez, who have been in a different offense? Does it sometimes take them a little longer to learn?

GAILEY: “There’s two sides to that. One side is yes, they are used to doing things a certain way and hearing things a certain way. They have to change. They’ve been doing it a long time. The good thing is they’re pros. They’ve been involved in a lot of different offenses and schemes and they are smart enough to pick it up. That’s the advantage of having some older guys.”

Q: How do you recognize the receptiveness of how much they struggled on offense last year? Can you come in and show them how to do things more effectively?

GAILEY: “Like I said, there’s nothing magic about what we’ve got. We’re just trying to create good fundamentals, be tough, be physical and take advantage of the ability that we have. You’ll have to ask them about being receptive. We’re going to coach the way we think we need to coach in order to get to the playoffs and win some playoff games.”

Q: The staff had to make the decision to try T/G Branden Albert at left tackle initially and move T Damion McIntosh over to right. You were part of that decision. What’s the thinking? Is it throw the kid in and see what he can do immediately?

GAILEY: “Yes, you bet. He is a very talented young man. There is a great level of trust on our football staff for him to be able to play that position and to play it very well. I think the trust level is very high.”

Q: There must be some trust level too in asking Damion to switch from a position he’s played his entire career?

GAILEY: “There is. The good thing about that is he has played right guard a few snaps before. He’s made adjustments before. Branden’s always been a left-side player, for the most part, so we’d like to keep him on the left side if we could to make it easy for him.

Q: Are you still using the same left side techniques?

GAILEY: “A lot of the thought processes are similar.”

Q: Where does Larry stack up with other guys you’ve coached before at the running back position?

GAILEY: “I don’t know. Let me tell you a year from now. Statistically he stacks up very high with most of the guys that I’ve been fortunate to coach.”

Q: Does he remind you of RB Jerome Bettis when he was younger?

GAILEY: “No, he has his own unique style. He’s a bigger guy than I’ve ever had as far as height. He’s a slasher. I’m really anxious to see what he does best when we put him in position to use those abilities.”

Q: Do you temper the expectations knowing he’s coming off a foot injury and a lot of your offense is going to flow through him?

GAILEY: “No, I don’t think you temper expectations. I think you temper how quickly you move him back in to full speed, all-day, every day work.”

Q: What were your concerns with a guy coming off of a broken foot? Careers have ended on that. How concerned were you on how effective he’d be?

GAILEY: “You never know. You could lose somebody tomorrow on the practice field. So, if you make decisions on what might happen or what might not happen, you’re looking for great organizations when you make decisions.

Q: What is it about Brodie that has you sold?

GAILEY: “He has ability. He works at it and he’s smart. And good.”

[DJ_is_the_realdeal]

If we can go back to the old days (even Grbac could do it) and that is run down people's throat and then hit them with the play action pass or screens we can score some points. We have young WR's with legs. Im excited about watching the young guys that have that hunger to play. We might not have a great season but I really think that we are on the right track. Personally, I was tired of getting old free agents and watching their sub-par play. I want to be watching the game and see Franklin, Charles, Cottam score their first of many touchdowns. Herm has a hard job and that is blowing this team apart and starting over. I don't think Bill Cowher could of saved this team.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by Rausch

I like it.

Did the article tell you much?

No, not really. But it did tell you that Chan isn't going to make BS promises or try to implement his system over players that may or may not fit. This is what we need: a guy who evaluates what we have and tries to find ways to best use it. You didn't hear him say we're going to try and do this or that outside of being balanced.

Gailey also isn't a guy who's going to bow down before Herm on philosophy or play calling. He'll run his offense. I'm loving the hire.

Word. He's a wise old bastard. We're gonna be better with him. I didn't like the 1 more point than the other guy bullshit, but other than that, he's gonna teach these kids how to cram the football down mother****ers throats. I love smash mouth football.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

And I can pretty much guarantee Herm would be thrilled with an offense that's capable of scoring 42 points in a game, all that field goal and 'arena football' bullshit aside.

No question. Nothing a defensive-minded coach likes more than a big lead because then you get the chance to try to kill the quarterback.

The field-goal Herm talk gets old very fast. Yes, that's what he wants.

Gaily did quite well with Pitt. and I'm not going to dig for stats now, but I remember reading that the Steeler offense regressed dramatically when he left. Apparently Gailey is a chicken-salad chef. Of course, I don't claim special knowledge of his former team, so perhaps everyone got old and fell of the proverbial football cliff?

[picasso]

Originally Posted by FAX

GAILEY: “We want to be balanced. We want to be able to run the football consistently and throw the football. I’d like for teams to not know what we’re going to do next."

Good answer. I sure hope he's sincere. If Solari were behind the wheel, all our opponents would have to do is film and study one series from the last two years to know exactly how to prepare for us. We've been that "consistent".

FAX

'They know we are running to that gap, we know we are running to that gap, now stop us."
CONTRADICTION!!!!!

[ChiefGator]

Not much to it, but that one phrase does stand out in my head. I think we may all be too critical, since Hermie said something much like that last year, one of our worst years offensively ever.

I think Chan will be a HUGE upgrade over Solari.

I just wish someone would use the phrase that Dick and Al loved... "Attack the defense". Doesn't seem to be our mentality at all does it.

[KCChiefsMan]

We want to be balanced. We want to be able to run the football consistently and throw the football. I’d like for teams to not know what we’re going to do next.

ya, R2P2 needs to go

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by ChiefGator

Not much to it, but that one phrase does stand out in my head. I think we may all be too critical, since Hermie said something much like that last year, one of our worst years offensively ever.

I think Chan will be a HUGE upgrade over Solari.

I just wish someone would use the phrase that Dick and Al loved... "Attack the defense". Doesn't seem to be our mentality at all does it.

We definitely don't have a killer instinct offensively and I think you need that.
I think you must make it very clear that TD's are your primary focus offensively. So we aren't Air Coryell anymore... That's no reason why we shouldn't still be productive offensively.

[Baby Lee]

Even in Vermiel's years, some of the most dominating performances [Atlanta, Baltimore] consisted of running down their throats from open to close.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Even in Vermiel's years, some of the most dominating performances [Atlanta, Baltimore] consisted of running down their throats from open to close.

Which was exactly Herm's point last week and he got blasted for it.

Baltimore and Atlanta KNEW we were running the ball, and they STILL couldn't stop it.

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Even in Vermiel's years, some of the most dominating performances [Atlanta, Baltimore] consisted of running down their throats from open to close.

The difference being that Vermeil and company were much more capable and willing to make adjustments when the running game wasn't effective.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Micjones

The difference being that Vermeil and company were much more capable and willing to make adjustments when the running game wasn't effective.

Or maybe the offensive line was much more capable and willing to make adjustments when the running game wasn't effective.

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

Or maybe the offensive line was much more capable and willing to make adjustments when the running game wasn't effective.

Perhaps...
Good point.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Micjones

Perhaps...
Good point.

I suspect a bit of both might be closer to the truth....

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

I suspect a bit of both might be closer to the truth....

I think you're right.
There was an entirely different culture offensively at 1 Arrowhead back then.

[InChiefsHeaven]

I like what Chan seems to bring to the table. Seems like the goal is to grind out long scoring drives that culminate in TD's preferably, but FG's at least. Score every time you have a possession, don't sit on a lead, but play smart...nothing flashy, nothing really exciting, but the kind of offense that makes the opponent tired by the 3rd quarter...