Herm defends run run pass punt

[Hammock Parties]

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/368858.html

Edwards defends conservative approach to offense

Given any other team’s offensive players, Herm Edwards might have tried harder to match Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts point for point.

Edwards is instead coaching the Chiefs, who are doing nothing consistently well when they’ve had the ball. That being the case, Edwards defended his decisions in Sunday’s 13-10 loss, saying the considerable offensive shortcomings leave him no realistic choice but to be what most fans consider ultra-conservative.

“There’s no room for error for us,” Edwards said Monday. “We have more three-and-outs than anybody in football. We have more negative plays than anybody in football. It’s hard playing that way. You put a lot of strain on the defense. So you’re trying to protect them, too. You don’t want your defense out there the whole game.

“Do I want to play that way? Heck, no. But we have to play that way. I’m trying to play the best way for the Chiefs to win the game.”

The subject obviously frustrated Edwards, who at times raised or lower his voice to make a point. He never wavered from his stance that an inability to make yards when running the ball or adequately protect the quarterback means the Chiefs are realistically squeezing every point possible from their offense.

“You have all of these great ideas that you want to use,” Edwards said. “There are a lot of things other teams are doing that we’d like to do. But we know what we are whether we like it or not. It’s been 10 weeks. You’re not going to all of a sudden evolve into something like New England. You’ve got to do what you feel you’re capable of doing.

“You know what you’re capable of doing and at the end of the day, you’re always trying to do things the players can be successful at. You can’t do things that won’t let your players be successful. You have to take some chances once in a while. I understand that. But there are (only) certain things we’re capable of doing.

“Would we like to do some different things? Sure. But you have to play to the strengths of your players. It looks like we’re conservative at times.

“We’re doing things in a way we feel we’re capable of doing them. As a staff, we’ve been with these players every day. We coach them every day. We know what they’re capable of doing. Whether everybody else believes that, it doesn’t matter. It might look conservative, but it’s a way of playing football that gives us the best opportunity to win.”

The Chiefs may have been able to squeeze more points near the end of the first half.

They took over at their 23 with 1 minute, 15 seconds and three timeouts left. The score was 3-3.

The Chiefs ran out the clock rather than try for points. Edwards ordered quarterback Brodie Croyle to hand the ball twice to Kolby Smith, once for 4 yards and the next for 5, rather than attempt a pass.

“We decided we were going to run the ball on the first play,” Edwards said. “If we got a first down, if we got 15 yards or so, then we were going to go for it. But that didn’t happen. And at that point I didn’t want to give (the Colts) momentum. They had two timeouts left. If we had taken almost no time off the clock with three incomplete passes and then we punted, we would have given the ball back to Peyton Manning with two timeouts.

“Then they get the ball back to start the third quarter. I’m not giving them two shots at me without us having even one. That makes no sense to me. I’m looking at all of that and saying, ‘Wait a minute.’ We survived the first half.

“Yeah, I was playing it conservative at that point. I guess people think we should take a chance because we were 14-point underdogs. But I’m trying to win the game. We were backed up. It was noisy. There were too many variables in that one.

“If I’m somebody else, then maybe I do it differently. But I know what I am right now.”

Against the Colts, Croyle made his first start in place of Damon Huard. Edwards made the change in part because of Croyle’s superior passing skills.

But the Chiefs declined to use those skills. His longest completion of the game was 19 yards, not counting the lateral on the game’s last play that gave him a statistical 21-yard gain.

Edwards indicated the Chiefs might try to throw more down the field in Sunday’s game against Oakland at Arrowhead Stadium.

“(The Colts) play a lot of cover 2,” Edwards said. “They’re not going to let you throw the ball down the field. They’ve only given up 10 plays of 20 yards passing. They don’t give up those plays.

“You’ll see the ball go down the field more against Oakland because they play more man to man. If we can get some one-on-one matchups we like, we’ll do it. That’s the next thing you try to do the next six weeks. This was his first game, and we had to get a feel for him emotionally and where he’s going to be. Now we can build on that.”

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

I think he's saying "Oh shit I am a terrible coach with a terrible offensive mind and I have no clue what the **** to do."

Actually what he is saying is "it's not my fault it's these other guys over here......LOOK!"

Same thing he did in NY it's how he is.

[the Talking Can]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

So he's basically saying...

We realize we can't do anything, so we're not going to try to do anything.

Did I get that right?

that's EXACTLY what he said....

we gave up before the game even started

Herm was convinced we couldn't win, so he never even let Brodie try....

makes me sick, ****ing loser

[CrazyHorse]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

If we are going to give up on 3rd and long and run a draw and then punt why not take a long shot down the field to Bowe. Maybe he gets a pass interferance? He goes up and gets the jump ball? Or maybe it goes all the way.

Either way its a small risk if we are punting and gaining a net 30 yards anyway. So we throw an interception. Most of the time those long pass plays the reciever tackles the guy right there anyway.

That decision would cost us at least 30 seconds we could have run off the clock by just running the ball. You must understand that we have no chance of converting a 1st down.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Herm

From early Nov.

"We're still a couple of players short. But we have laid down a solid foundation.
The offense is not where it needs to be. We are a team in transition. You can't do both sides of the ball at the same time. The greatest thing is we're still finding ways to win."

I'll give Herm another offseason to build this team and, specifically, the offense. If things don't change next year I'll jump off the bandwagon.

[the Talking Can]

can somone ask Herm why he would rather "not try, and lose" as opposed to "to a risk, and maybe win"?

I've never seen a coach before who would rather lose than task a risk.

Thanks Carl. Go ****ing kill yourself.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by the Talking Can

Thanks Carl. Go ****ing kill yourself.

Haven't you heard? Carl doesn't have final say on head coaches. Surely the Hunts are to blame!!!

[jjjayb]

He makes no sense. "we have more 3 and outs than any other team in the league, so we need to stay conservative to keep our D off the field." Uhmmm, Idiot. 3 and outs are what is keeping your D on the field.

[the Talking Can]

I'm sure the players are thrilled to find out that their coach had given up before the game even started.

Herm to Allen: "Jared, I need you play your ass off because I have already decided that we won't try to score any points."

Herm to Brodie: "Brodie, I know you have a big strong arm and big strong WR, and a big strong hall of fame TE, but I've already decided that we can't score, or win, so just don't throw any ints or fumble any snaps and we'll call it a success, ok?"

Herm to Team before game: "Men, there comes a point in life when you have to give up. This is that point. It is very important that we don't throw any ints, or fumble any snaps. So, in order to make sure that happens we aren't even going to try. Remember: NOTHNG IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN AVOIDING RISK, NOT EVEN WINNING."

[King_Chief_Fan]

Originally Posted by GOATSE

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/368858.html

“You know what you’re capable of doing and at the end of the day, you’re always trying to do things the players can be successful at. You can’t do things that won’t let your players be successful. You have to take some chances once in a while. I understand that. But there are (only) certain things we’re capable of doing.

“Would we like to do some different things? Sure. But you have to play to the strengths of your players. It looks like we’re conservative at times.

“We’re doing things in a way we feel we’re capable of doing them. As a staff, we’ve been with these players every day. We coach them every day. We know what they’re capable of doing. Whether everybody else believes that, it doesn’t matter. It might look conservative, but it’s a way of playing football that gives us the best opportunity to win.”

In sumary: These players stink and I am doing the best I can with these incompetent tools.


“We decided we were going to run the ball on the first play,” Edwards said. “If we got a first down, if we got 15 yards or so, then we were going to go for it. But that didn’t happen. And at that point I didn’t want to give (the Colts) momentum.

Let't run the ball and hope to get 15 yards on that play?
It takes the Chiefs 10 carries to get 15 yards. This idiot has got to go.

[digi2fish]

Now he blame it on the talent of the players.
What the hell did we hire him for?

FIRE HERM NOW!

[Lonewolf Ed]

Originally Posted by Zouk

The same thing happened to Croyle in this game. He got blind-sided by an untouched Mathis. When we go to 7 stop drops, we consistently give the OTHER team a chance to score. That's the sorry truth Herm alludes to.

And in everyone's mind Croyle is Tom Brady, but in reality he's a QB starting his first game on the road in the toughest place to throw in the whole league. The last time he played extensively (the preseason), he threw 3 picks in 40 pass attempts. Often against second and third-stringers.

A lot of that was due to the offense being run in the preseason, which was low-fat, low-sodium, hint of vanilla ice cream and the o-line was even worse then.

[old_geezer]

Haven't taken the time to read through all this thread, but Herm's statements are the final wet towel on this season for me.

So he has no confidence in his team to actually move the ball so he becomes ultra-conservative on offense and then he blames all the 3-and-outs as his reason for being ultra-conservative? What a mindless moron. Does he actually have no clue that his play-calling is the MAIN REASON for all the 3-and-outs? We're not a very glod offense, but we could be a whole hell of a lot better if we had a coach who actually tried to score points.

[Chief Chief]

When KC had the ball with 1:35 to go in the first half, I would have bet everything I owned that they would run that draw play. Nearly every team in that situation does it, thinking that if they make a good gain then, and only then, will they start passing the ball to move on down the field and score points. Of course, if they don't get very far with the draw run, the clock is running and they can continue to kill the clock.

Herm's playing what I call Fear Factor Football. He rarely sent his defense in on blitzes against pass-savvy QBs like Manning and Favre 'cuz he feared they would pick his thinned secondary apart. He fears throwing the ball more than 20 yards down field 'cuz he thinks (1) Croyle will get sacked or (2) the opp's defense will intercept the ball.

But, what difference did this make? Manning and Favre still completed passes when we dropped 7 into coverage, and our offense couldn't string enough 3-yard runs and short pass completions to come up with a series of first downs to get into the end zone enough times.

[CoMoChief]

Man I hope the players read this article, or at least heard him say this. He just threw the entire offense underneath the bus.

The point is we have never tried anything different. He just flat out refuses to. We actually have a QB that can throw downfield and we dont even attempt to do it.

“We decided we were going to run the ball on the first play,” Edwards said. “If we got a first down, if we got 15 yards or so, then we were going to go for it. But that didn’t happen. And at that point I didn’t want to give (the Colts) momentum."

**** YOU Herm!!!! At what point do you think we are gonna run the ball for 15 yards on first down when we've only done that a handful of times this entire season? You simply don't have the killer instinct that it takes in this league to win. It's also funny how you say you dont wanna give the Colts momentum, but yet you run a draw play on 3rd and 18, basically just say **** it we're gonna punt it whether you like it or not, and give the ball back to Manning and Co. and not even try to throw for the first down? Oh no we may turn it over and throw for a INT. Big deal, we were gonna give them the ball back anyways.

You're a gutless PoS Herm

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

So he's basically saying...

We realize we can't do anything, so we're not going to try to do anything.

Did I get that right?

You got it right. Last time I heard a Chiefs coach talk like that, it was Marv Levy explaining why he installed the wing T. We had no talent in his opinion. That is what Herm is saying, should really boost the players confidence and moral. Damn this guy is the polar opposite of Vermiel.