Battered Defense Did What It Could
From San Diego, California
At the end of the game, the decision by Herm Edwards to go for two points and win Sunday’s game against the Chargers came down to this.
“When you are 1-7 there’s no question what you do,” said the head coach. “These guys deserved to win a football game. These guys were so beat up on defense it wouldn’t have been fair to not try to go for two points. I’m not sure we could have stopped them anymore. We were running out of bodies.”
In what has been a disastrous season for the Chiefs defense, Sunday afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium may have been their Alamo. Yes, eventually they were overrun by a superior force in the San Diego offense. But this bruised and battered group put up a fight to the end.
When one body went down on the rampart, another jumped in. Some were just arrived recruits, guys that had a total of three practices with the team. They gave up a lot of yards (400) but they didn’t give up a lot of points and in the fourth quarter they stopped the Chargers on three plays inside the last five minutes of the game that gave the Chiefs offense one last chance.
“I’ve never been part of anything like this,” said veteran LB Donnie Edwards, who at one point limped off the field in the first half, only to return in the second. “We had guys falling all over the place and we hung in there and got things done. We deserved to win this game.”
Going into the game, the Chiefs were without three defensive starters to begin with: DE Turk McBride, LB Derrick Johnson and CB Brandon Flowers. Backup safety DaJuan Morgan was also inactive due to injury. S Jarrad Page was active but probably should not have been because of a continuing problem with a groin injury.
Then, as the game began the bodies started falling. LB Pat Thomas went out with a hamstring. Edwards left the field with a right knee injury. Rookie CB Maurice Leggett was helped off the field but returned, his injury not reported. DE Tamba Hali suffered a right ankle injury and hobbled off the field. Backup DE Brian Johnston went down with a calf injury and had to come out of the game.
“The linebackers were decimated at one point,” Herm Edwards said. “We didn’t have enough bodies.”
So Gunther Cunningham changed his defensive approach. For most of the game, the defense played with three safeties on the field: Page, Bernard Pollard and Jon McGraw. Normally, when the Chiefs go with their extra-safety defense, a cornerback comes off the field. That was the alignment several times, but the majority of snaps saw the Chiefs in three safeties with two linebackers.
“I don’t think we were planning on using it as much as we did,” McGraw said of the sub-defense. “But the way things worked out on the field, we really didn’t have much of a choice.”
Rocky Boiman started in place of Johnson at linebacker. When Thomas went down, rookie Wes Dacus took over at middle linebacker. Alfonso Boone started at defensive end for McBride, but when Hali went down, Johnston stepped in for him. When Johnston was injured, the newly signed rookie Wallace Gilberry was on the field.
Leggett opened the game in place of Flowers, and newly signed CBs David Macklin and Ricardo Colclough shared the nickel back role during the game. It was Colclough who was beaten by Malcom Floyd for a touchdown.
“You are coaching guys through one series because you don’t know who is going to be out there for the next series,” said Herm Edwards. “We found our way through that. Guys went in there and battled and played and we had an opportunity to win and opportunity at the end to win and that’s what you ask for.”
The Chargers had nearly a 10-minute advantage in time of possession, so the Chiefs defense spent a lot of time on the field. But they kept beating back the San Diego charge. Quarterback Philip Rivers drove his unit inside Chiefs territory on all four first half possessions and came away with: punt, field goal, field goal and a Pollard interception in the end zone.
McGraw added another interception in the second half when Rivers was hit as he threw by DT Tank Tyler. They did a much better job against the run, allowing San Diego just 92 yards on 26 carries and they kept LaDainian Tomlinson contained. He broke loose just once for 17 yards and finished the game with 78 yards on 22 carries.
“We did some good things out there,” said McGraw. “Everybody was hustling and fighting down to the end.”
Donnie Edwards said: “We just didn’t finish the game. As a team, that’s what we have to learn how to do, finish off the games so we can start winning.”
Good effort to say the least. As someone else pointed out they pull out all the stops because they had “nothing to lose.” The only problem is When you have something to play for you connot produce on that level. Things tighten up and you ca barely walk much less play the game.
Good job of coaching all around ( and I hate to say that). A lot of “just” guys stepped up and when they get cut next year that will be hard.
Looking forward I cannot figure out who will step on the field but feel they willdo all we can ask to represent the chiefs.
Even Rivers had thouble with what was going on ! He threw away one time out , on a whats up .
All the injuries are building depth on defense too.
We may find ourselves looking at November ‘08 as the time when the next great Chiefs defense was forged.
I think Pat Thomas’ career as the starting MLB should be over. Dacus handled himself pretty well in there. Donnie Edwards played perhaps his best game since returning to the Chiefs. Maybe Edwards should get the MLB reps now. Boiman also had a nice game and was very active. One way or another, Boiman, Edwards, and Dacus all played better yesterday than Thomas has all year and I’d hope he stays on the bench once he’s recovered.
Boone looked good at RDE. he is a natural (and much better) from the right side (whether at RDT or RDE).
Substitute LBs played reasonably well (I think the run defense was better without Thomas).
How did Gilberry look?
I mean have you ever seen a better job of coaching? The best coaching staff in that stadium was so obvious a blind man could have seen it. You Herm haters should open up your eyes, you are missing something special!
Why isn’t any one talking about how well McGraw played?
Some one needs to step up and either motivate Pollard to make better tackles or take his starting job away.
I was pleasantly surprised at how well McGraw played.
The Defense as a whole looked much better, They seem to be getting better every game.
McGraw DID play well. He seemed to be in on every play. So did Dorsey, Tyler, and even Ron Edwards! They were active and penetrating for a change. Very fun to watch. With the improved DL play, the linebackers were freed up to be aggresive. I was really impressed with Boiman. He showed up much more than DJ has all season.
Tough loss, but I think some young guys earned some playing time. Bob talked about churning the bottom of the roster, but there may be some churning at the top as well.
Hopefully, LJ will either get onboard with what is transpiring or get out of town. My fear is that he will be a disruption when he returns as he complains about not getting enough carries.
I bashed Gunther alot this last week on how bad of a job he’s been doing with the defense for the last 5 to 7 years but i given him his props way to have these boys ready yesterday. The defense played the best game i’ve seen them play all season. One game doesn’t erase the last 5 to 7years but if this can keep up the remainder of the season then you may very well could deserve another year on the job.
B That’s herms job! He can not allow that to happen, at any price LJ MUST NOT be allowed to be anything but a PART of this team, any bitching or whining is and should be UNACEPTABLE!!!!
This team as a group , on the large part , is young and dont have to struggle like one uncut rookie sitting on the end of the bench , maybe even with a lot of talant , never to be noticed . Heres a question — how many good CHIEFS players were NOT out there ,for what ever reason ? This is a well matched group ( alot like in college ) just comming together . I would guess the seniors are well pleased with these 1st 2nd & 3rd year recruits that coach Edwards has found . with a little help from grabing the winning rings on the merry-go-round ,at more than one state fair . Good luck coach ,you will proably have to buy a few more rides .
I was and am very impressed with the coaches and players. I hope that they walk away from this game with pride. They lost, but fought a completely healthy and veteran team far beyond the expectations of most people. I expected a win, but I am proud of their effort. For anyone to point fingers or try to pin blame is senseless. This team is growing and improving dramatically each week. I think we are seeing more improvement than most expected in the beginning. I hate the loss, but believe in the team and see a few wins ahead this season. We should stop nitpicking and bickering about the failures that occur with every team, no matter how good. Mental errors and mistakes happen, and ours are getting less and less. Let’s just be proud of this team as they progress and prepare for the success to come.
McGraw did have a great game, he is also a leader which is what Herm likes about the guy. Good to see him play that well. I loved the hit he put on former team mate Sproles.
dorsey looked like he manned up and this team, if we are totally healthy, can compete with any in the league now. next year, i predict superbowl with big tyler thigpen leading the way
Chiefs they really put it together against SD its comming together but we are really banged up dont get to over confident hard times arent over