Herm Speaks 12/2

From Arrowhead Stadium

It’s always easier for a coach to talk coming off a victory. It was a nice change from the previous seven weeks on Tuesday when the media horde met with the head coach.

Herm Edwards took all the questions. Here are the highlights.

ON THE CHIEFS LOSING SEVEN STRAIGHT IN DENVER

“I think the first year I was here we played small ball. We lost our starting quarterback on opening day and then went to Denver and played as close as we could play it. We had a shot and we lost 9-6, I think it was. Then the next year we went in there and turned the ball over a bunch. Last year we turned it over and the game got away from us in the first half and that’s what kind of happened historically to us even before I got here: turn the ball over, they score real fast and you get down by a couple of scores and then never recover. That’s been the way it’s been there. We’ve got to understand that when we go play them and stay away from that.”

Analysis: Look at the Chiefs seven-game losing streak at Invesco Field and the problems are very apparent. Only twice in those seven games did the Chiefs have a lead at half-time, once by three and the other time by four points. In the other five games they trailed by 17, 17, 10, 14 and four points. The total score in the seven games is obviously in Denver’s favor, 210-104. At half-time, the total score was 102-37. In those five games, the Chiefs had two real chances to win: 2001 and 2006. They were down by four and lead by three points at intermission in games they lost by 14 and by three in overtime.

DEFENSING THE QB BOOTLEG WHICH HURT THE CHIEFS THE LAST 2 GAMES

“It’s real simple, it falls on two people: our defensive end or our linebacker doing their jobs. Generally when he gets outside like that somebody didn’t quite do what they were told to do. There have been a lot of defensive ends played for us the last couple weeks and linebackers. That might have something to do with it too. Hopefully, we can get that clarified this week because they are a big boot team, they do a great job with the boot. We’ve got to get it stopped. That’s when it’s dangerous when he gets outside the pocket and they do a great job of adjusting their routes and getting open and he has a strong arm and can throw it anywhere on the football field. He buys time; it’s hard to get this guy down. He is very dangerous when he gets outside the pocket because he makes a lot of plays on the run.”

Comment: The Chiefs instability at defensive end kills them on the little things, like playing proper defense against the boot. These guys are so zeroed in on stopping the run and then trying to get after the quarterback, they fall victim to a good play fake by the quarterback. Jason Babin got fooled on this several times in the Raiders game. Turk McBride and Derrick Johnson did a good job on the boot in the first game. McBride’s gone to the IR list, but D.J. is still around and needs to make sure he’s making the right kind of plays.

ON DWAYNE BOWE’S CONTINUING PROBLEMS WITH DROPS

“Twelve of them. We counted them. We talked about it. Where he’s at now in his career, at times he forces himself to try and catch it so hard; he doesn’t relax his hands. I’ve got a solution to it and it’s real easy. It’s not hard to figure out. If he’s going to drop one early in the game throw it to him on the second play of the game, let him drop it and get it over with. Either that or he’s trying to catch Tony Gonzalez. Tony had 18 (drops) his second year. He’s (Bowe) at 12 right now. He’s got a shot. I tell you this though: if he could become like Tony Gonzalez after this year I’ll take that. I just think it’s a part of maturity and him growing up as a wideout. There is a lot of pressure on him. He knows it and feels it, to make plays. That’s why we drafted him and he’s done that. He’s made plays. He made a big play Sunday for us. It’s just concentration and I’ve seen guys before, I’ve seen great receivers drop balls.

“He doesn’t like to drop balls. He doesn’t like to make mistakes. He is a very conscientious guy. He understands when things like that happen it hurts the team. He’s about team and that’s why we drafted him. He’s not about stats. He’s not a guy looking at the statistical deal saying, ‘I only caught three balls today, or I only caught two balls.’ He wasn’t on the sideline in that game going ‘Throw me the ball.’ But all of a sudden when we needed it a third-and-three it was a big-time throw and a big-time catch. We threw it to him and he caught it. That was important.”

Translation: The coach did not want to add more firewood to Bowe’s internal battle over his drops. Much as Gonzalez was early in his career, Bowe gets caught up in the paralysis of analysis. Edwards talked about how Bowe’s public persona doesn’t really match up with his real personality. He knows he’s dropping too many passes and it bothers him. That means the problem can be eventually fixed.

ON HOW HIS YOUNG TEAM HAS COME TOGETHER

“They are learning how to be professional football players. I think in the long haul that helps you. That’s what helps this football team right now because they’re so close together. You learn more about these guys when you go on trips to Oakland and San Diego when you go on Friday. They are all together for the next two days and there are really no distractions and they do things together. A lot of organizations don’t like that; they don’t like that you go on Friday. They think the players are going to go crazy and do all these things. They take military escorts and they have FBI agents walking around the hotel because they are worried about the players. They feel like they can’t trust the players. I trust these guys. I really do, because they’re good guys and want to do the right thing. That’s what you learn especially when you go on the road like we did this last week. We hung around together, we did things together as a football team and that always helps you when you are this young.”

Comment: I spent those two days with these Chiefs at a San Francisco Airport hotel. It was the quietest road game hotel I think I’ve ever seen. Other than some of the west coast guys having family show up, the players spent a lot of time together. Friday night the offensive line along with a few other players had dinner together at a nearby restaurant. They watched a lot of college football and they were always together. Every team has a few guys who push the limits of curfew, but this team was focused. That made the victory even more important. Cause and effect.