Chan Talks About the Offense

Remember the old Abbott & Costello routine about “Who’s on first, what’s on second and I don’t know is on third base.”

That’s the type of season it’s been for offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. It hasn’t been who is on first, but who is the starting quarterback, what are the Chiefs going to do and I don’t know who the running back is going to be.

“You have to be adaptable in this game,” Gailey said after the Chiefs finished their Thursday practice session. “What was it a couple years ago when the Falcons and the Broncos were both in the Super Bowl and they had not lost a player all year to injury. That’s pretty unusual on one end. This has been pretty unusual on the other.”

As the Chiefs get ready to start the second half of the 2008 season, Gailey took a few moments to talk about the team’s offense, where it’s been and where it is going.

Give us your evaluation of the offense over the first eight games.

“Certainly inconsistent is the term that’s been used most often and I think that’s right. From week to week we struggled to keep doing the things we were doing well and we struggled to improve what we weren’t doing well. Some weeks we looked good and some weeks we looked awful. If we can create a more consistent offense, that’s what I’m looking for. There are lots of reasons it’s happened and reasons become excuses if you let that happen. I don’t want to do that.”

Whether it’s a reason or an excuse, the situation at quarterback can’t be ignored. This weekend you will start the same quarterback for the third game in a row; that’s the first time that’s happen this year. That has to have been the major reason/excuse/problem that you’ve had to deal with.

“That will help, but remember we will be starting a new tailback, so it’s always something. That’s part of the game. In the NFL you are going to have injuries and it’s going to give somebody else opportunities. If you can create consistency it helps you and keeping your guys on the field and keeping them playing is the fastest way to make that happen and you have a much better chance for success.”

Second Look: Carolina

Yes, it’s just as ugly the second time.

That coaches sit there and look through an entire game tape of a performance like the Chiefs had in Carolina has to be one of the worst aspects of the job.

I have an ample middle, but I didn’t have the guts to watch the entire game. Instead I zeroed in on the Chiefs offense in the first half. It was certainly one of the most inept performances by a single side of the football in many years for the Chiefs.

There were 18 situations: 16 official plays and two penalties. Those 18 situations led to just 13 yards. They lost 15 yards on two penalties and the 16 snaps produced 28 yards.

Here’s how it looked the second time:

1^st-and-10 at the Chiefs 18-yard line.The Chiefs came out with one-back (1), two tight ends (2) and two wide receivers (2). The tight ends lined up on the left side, the wide receivers to the right. QB Damon Huard came to the line and changed the play before the snap. This extra time in his stance apparently was more than RG Adrian Jones could handle and he flinched. Jones was flagged for a false start. Result: minus-5 yards.

Why Thigpen Is Starting

The whole quarterback situation around the Chiefs has been pretty wacky and hard to understand.

And that’s if you are Herm Edwards.

His decision to start his third different quarterback in the season’s first three games speaks to more wackiness in the eyes of some fans and I’m sure the pundits.

Tyler Thigpen will replace Damon Huard who replaced Brodie Croyle as the starter against Atlanta. Huard’s start came because of Croyle’s injury. Thigpen’s start came because … it’s the right thing for Edwards and his coaching staff to do at this time.

Let’s break this down three ways and with three different views of the decision: this Sunday, short-term (the rest of the ‘08 season) and long-term (the future).

THIS SUNDAY

Doesn’t Huard give the Chiefs a better chance of winning in Atlanta than Thigpen? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Certainly his experience is a factor that can’t be ignored and he’s got that all over Thigpen.

Working On Changing The Play

How many times in the last five or six years did you rise up from your seat at Arrowhead Stadium, or leap from the lounger in the family room and fire all sorts of foul comments at the Chiefs and some of their play calling.  There were times even when the Vermeil-Saunders Flying Circus was racking up big yardage and points that a play would fall flat because it was the wrong play at the wrong time.

I can’t tell you how many times during the radio broadcast in recent seasons I heard Len Dawson wonder why the quarterback didn’t change the play.  As a former quarterback, he could see from the defensive alignment what would work and not work.  He figured the quarterback on the field could see the same things, especially when a running play was called and the defense had safeties down along the line of scrimmage, or in the box as the football parlance goes.