Whitlock: Angry Players Get Through To Coaches

[luv]

timsatt, here's an article to fo with your post I asked you about earlier.



With about 5 minutes left in the first half, Damon Huard and Larry Johnson erupted in outrage over the “offensive” play-calling that had the Chiefs down two scores to the Vikings and headed for an 0-3 start.

Johnson had been tackled in the backfield, again. He popped up from the ground, spiked the ball and joined Huard in demonstrably yelling toward the Kansas City sideline. A ref flagged Johnson for delay of game.

Two plays later, Huard came off the field and screamed at quarterbacks coach Dick Curl as kicker Dave Rayner completed Kansas City’s seven-play, seven-yard drive with a 39-yard field goal.

“Players were emotionally in the game and got mad,” Herm Edwards explained in the aftermath of his team’s ugly, season-saving 13-10 victory over Minnesota.
“(They) got mad at calls, got mad at what we were asking them to do, they got mad at coaches, coaches got mad at players.”

Huard and Johnson may have accomplished what booing Chiefs fans, angry sports columnists and rational players such as Brian Waters couldn’t. Huard and Johnson shamed Edwards, Curl and offensive coordinator Mike Solari into running an offense that made some sort of sense.

Down 10-3 at the break having featured fullback/tight end Kris Wilson (three receptions, 13 yards) in the sideways passing game, the Chiefs unleashed the downfield Gonzo-Bowe attack the final 30 minutes.
In the second half, Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe combined for 11 catches, 153 yards and one TD. In the opening 30 minutes, the pair generated one reception for 14 yards. The Chiefs basically ignored Bowe, the lone Chief to score a touchdown this season.

Hey, it wasn’t quite the return of the Dick Vermeil-Al Saunders-Trent Green circus, but the Chiefs were able to move the football, produce first downs, score 10 points and accept the victory the officiating crew handed KC when it wiped out a Minnesota TD catch in the second quarter.

You have to walk before you can jog. The Chiefs took their first positive steps on Sunday. Edwards, Curl and Solari identified their offensive playmakers and made a concerted effort to get them the ball.

“We wanted to get the ball to three guys in our offense,” Edwards said. “It has to rotate among three guys — 27, 88 and 82. I talked about that this week with our staff.”

And Huard and Johnson reminded the staff late in the second quarter. Normally, I’d criticize Johnson for drawing such a silly penalty. But, honestly, this coaching staff needed to be publicly embarrassed. Losing wasn’t enough. Getting booed at home wasn’t enough. Vicious newspaper columns didn’t do the trick.

The Punt-uda Triangle — Herm, Curl and Solari — had to be called out in front of 80,000 spectators to force the proper adjustments.

After the game, I jokingly asked Gonzalez who would be the first to take a swing at Dick Curl — Johnson or Huard.

“Probably Damon because he has to work with him every day,” Gonzalez joked.

Let me be the first to gladly admit that I was wrong about Dwayne Bowe. I had previously suggested he was the second coming of Sylvester Morris. That doesn’t appear to be true. Although we should keep in mind that Sly Mo had a three-TD day against San Diego his rookie year and then disappeared.

Right now, Bowe looks like the outside playmaker the Chiefs desperately need. He scored Sunday on a 16-yard fade pass when he was perfectly covered. He simply leaped in the air, snatched the ball and tapped his feet inbounds.

“Damon made a great throw, and I made a great catch,” Bowe accurately summarized.

When Eddie Kennison returns from his hamstring injury, the Chiefs just might have a formidable passing attack, a threat that might create running lanes for Larry Johnson.

“We can’t get LJ going until (Bowe) makes people respect our passing game,” Waters said.
Johnson had 42 yards in 24 carries. The interior of Minnesota’s defensive line manhandled Waters, Casey Wiegmann and John Welbourn in the running game.

Well, now it’s on to sunny San Diego, where the Chargers are a disappointing 1-2, as well. There are likely to be a lot of angry and emotional players inside Qualcomm Stadium. It’ll be interesting to see which superstar running back snaps first, LJ or LT.

[hermhater]

Whitlock said that?

Wow. He just gained respect in my eyes.

[GoDJGoDJ]

I really don't like Whitlock's writing usually. But this article pretty much hits the mark.

I understand that the guys were yelling at Curl, probably in an attempt to get the message to Solari/Edwards. But otherwise I don't understand why Curl is getting slammed here. He doesn't have much to do with calling the plays does he? He's the QB's coach.

[sling58]

timsatt, here's an article to fo with your post I asked you about earlier.



With about 5 minutes left in the first half, Damon Huard and Larry Johnson erupted in outrage over the “offensive” play-calling that had the Chiefs down two scores to the Vikings and headed for an 0-3 start.

Johnson had been tackled in the backfield, again. He popped up from the ground, spiked the ball and joined Huard in demonstrably yelling toward the Kansas City sideline. A ref flagged Johnson for delay of game.

Two plays later, Huard came off the field and screamed at quarterbacks coach Dick Curl as kicker Dave Rayner completed Kansas City’s seven-play, seven-yard drive with a 39-yard field goal.

“Players were emotionally in the game and got mad,” Herm Edwards explained in the aftermath of his team’s ugly, season-saving 13-10 victory over Minnesota.
“(They) got mad at calls, got mad at what we were asking them to do, they got mad at coaches, coaches got mad at players.”

Huard and Johnson may have accomplished what booing Chiefs fans, angry sports columnists and rational players such as Brian Waters couldn’t. Huard and Johnson shamed Edwards, Curl and offensive coordinator Mike Solari into running an offense that made some sort of sense.

Down 10-3 at the break having featured fullback/tight end Kris Wilson (three receptions, 13 yards) in the sideways passing game, the Chiefs unleashed the downfield Gonzo-Bowe attack the final 30 minutes.
In the second half, Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe combined for 11 catches, 153 yards and one TD. In the opening 30 minutes, the pair generated one reception for 14 yards. The Chiefs basically ignored Bowe, the lone Chief to score a touchdown this season.

Hey, it wasn’t quite the return of the Dick Vermeil-Al Saunders-Trent Green circus, but the Chiefs were able to move the football, produce first downs, score 10 points and accept the victory the officiating crew handed KC when it wiped out a Minnesota TD catch in the second quarter.

You have to walk before you can jog. The Chiefs took their first positive steps on Sunday. Edwards, Curl and Solari identified their offensive playmakers and made a concerted effort to get them the ball.

“We wanted to get the ball to three guys in our offense,” Edwards said. “It has to rotate among three guys — 27, 88 and 82. I talked about that this week with our staff.”

And Huard and Johnson reminded the staff late in the second quarter. Normally, I’d criticize Johnson for drawing such a silly penalty. But, honestly, this coaching staff needed to be publicly embarrassed. Losing wasn’t enough. Getting booed at home wasn’t enough. Vicious newspaper columns didn’t do the trick.

The Punt-uda Triangle — Herm, Curl and Solari — had to be called out in front of 80,000 spectators to force the proper adjustments.

After the game, I jokingly asked Gonzalez who would be the first to take a swing at Dick Curl — Johnson or Huard.

“Probably Damon because he has to work with him every day,” Gonzalez joked.

Let me be the first to gladly admit that I was wrong about Dwayne Bowe. I had previously suggested he was the second coming of Sylvester Morris. That doesn’t appear to be true. Although we should keep in mind that Sly Mo had a three-TD day against San Diego his rookie year and then disappeared.

Right now, Bowe looks like the outside playmaker the Chiefs desperately need. He scored Sunday on a 16-yard fade pass when he was perfectly covered. He simply leaped in the air, snatched the ball and tapped his feet inbounds.

“Damon made a great throw, and I made a great catch,” Bowe accurately summarized.

When Eddie Kennison returns from his hamstring injury, the Chiefs just might have a formidable passing attack, a threat that might create running lanes for Larry Johnson.

“We can’t get LJ going until (Bowe) makes people respect our passing game,” Waters said.
Johnson had 42 yards in 24 carries. The interior of Minnesota’s defensive line manhandled Waters, Casey Wiegmann and John Welbourn in the running game.

Well, now it’s on to sunny San Diego, where the Chargers are a disappointing 1-2, as well. There are likely to be a lot of angry and emotional players inside Qualcomm Stadium. It’ll be interesting to see which superstar running back snaps first, LJ or LT.

Finally someone got some sense into Herm and his "coaching staff"!

[timsatt1]

"Hey, it wasn’t quite the return of the Dick Vermeil-Al Saunders-Trent Green circus, but the Chiefs were able to move the football, produce first downs, score 10 points and accept the victory the officiating crew handed KC when it wiped out a Minnesota TD catch in the second quarter."

--- yeah thanks for finding that article, which i never saw....i just had the instinct that the players were not putting up with run, run, pass, punt. They are smart ppl...the players.

and yes, the refs handed that win to us, as well as minnesotas qb for not hitting his WIDE OPEN receiver in the end zone. We stole a win that probably would have cost us the season (but also would have put croyle in the line up :)

[Guru]

Meh. I will believe it when we come out Sunday and try to do this again.

Personally.... I expect the coaching staff to continue their stubbornness in banging our heads against the wall again.

[swmochiefsfan]

Meh. I will believe it when we come out Sunday and try to do this again.

Personally.... I expect the coaching staff to continue their stubbornness in banging our heads against the wall again.

this is probably true, They need to keep moving the ball the way they did but I have no faith in Hermmie. Im sure we'll see another player yelling to the sidelines in the near future. Great article by Whitlock though, a true rarity.

[YZILLA]

The tide started to turn after the joker ran on the field to get the crowd pumped up. The security guard made a very nice open field tackle . That was the highlight of the game for me. Followed up by kindof a hogpile by the mascot. it was friggen funny and kinda gave the crowd something to cheer about. After that we started moving the ball and Bowe and Tony G looked awsome along with some really nice passes by Huard. Bad part was everyone in the crowd knew it was going to Larry . It was like we moved the ball then run it twice to get maybe a yard sometimes a loss of yards. How can Huard have time to find his recievers but larry not have time to find a hole to run through. They kept the running backs in to pass protect and huard did his magic. I say we keep doing that until they stop us. They couldnt stop it yesterday once we committed to the pass. Tony and Bowe lit up minnesota in the second half and they had no answer for it other than knowing it was gonna be a run to larry for two of our four downs .

[sling58]

The tide started to turn after the joker ran on the field to get the crowd pumped up. The security guard made a very nice open field tackle . That was the highlight of the game for me. Followed up by kindof a hogpile by the mascot. it was friggen funny and kinda gave the crowd something to cheer about. After that we started moving the ball and Bowe and Tony G looked awsome along with some really nice passes by Huard. Bad part was everyone in the crowd knew it was going to Larry . It was like we moved the ball then run it twice to get maybe a yard sometimes a loss of yards. How can Huard have time to find his recievers but larry not have time to find a hole to run through. They kept the running backs in to pass protect and huard did his magic. I say we keep doing that until they stop us. They couldnt stop it yesterday once we committed to the pass. Tony and Bowe lit up minnesota in the second half and they had no answer for it other than knowing it was gonna be a run to larry for two of our four downs .

Agreed I hope we see more of the tandem og TG and Bowe this season.

[DrunkHillbilly]

The tide started to turn after the joker ran on the field to get the crowd pumped up. The security guard made a very nice open field tackle . That was the highlight of the game for me. Followed up by kindof a hogpile by the mascot. it was friggen funny and kinda gave the crowd something to cheer about. After that we started moving the ball and Bowe and Tony G looked awsome along with some really nice passes by Huard. Bad part was everyone in the crowd knew it was going to Larry . It was like we moved the ball then run it twice to get maybe a yard sometimes a loss of yards. How can Huard have time to find his recievers but larry not have time to find a hole to run through. They kept the running backs in to pass protect and huard did his magic. I say we keep doing that until they stop us. They couldnt stop it yesterday once we committed to the pass. Tony and Bowe lit up minnesota in the second half and they had no answer for it other than knowing it was gonna be a run to larry for two of our four downs .


One......the line can't and doesn't make any holes for ANY RB to run through. Having time to throw and running through a hole are two completely different things and can't even be compared.

Two.....keep in mind this was Minnesota! They are not exactly a stellar team!! A win is a win and I'll take it but that was a very sloppy game. Especially the 1st half. I agree that TG and Bowe did a nice job and will continue to be a threat but that O line is pathetic!! They spent as much time in the backfield on their asses as the RB's did!

[tornadospotter]

One......the line can't and doesn't make any holes for ANY RB to run through. Having time to throw and running through a hole are two completely different things and can't even be compared.

Two.....keep in mind this was Minnesota! They are not exactly a stellar team!! A win is a win and I'll take it but that was a very sloppy game. Especially the 1st half. I agree that TG and Bowe did a nice job and will continue to be a threat but that O line is pathetic!! They spent as much time in the backfield on their asses as the RB's did!
Which is why we need to play to our strength, if the o-line can only pass block, then we need to pass the ball first instead of run the ball first. If we have success with passing, the run will open up. Hermy needs to open up the offense, this run LJ mentality is not going to work. Hermy get a clue.
Oh I forgot, Hermy does not have Internet, so he will not read this. Maybe the players will get the message to him. Good to see the DH and LJ give it to the coaches, their the ones in the game trying to produce plays, over and over, if does not work we need different plays called.

[royalswin100games]

Maybe our key offensive players can keep calling out the coaching staff during the game so we can get something going. Herm needs to let these guys play to their ability and if it takes the embarrassment of being called out by his players in front of everyone than I hope that happens for the rest of the year. If the head coach can't step up and lead this team, than maybe some of the players can.

[Three7s]

Well, LJ was never gonna have a chance to run from the beginning because of how many people were on the line for the defense. We should've passed it to Bowe and Gonzalez from the beginning, it definitely wouldn't have ended 13-10. It looked like they were gonna go that route in the beginning with that pass to Gonzalez, who was wide open, but he made a rare drop and Solari was scared to call that play again until the 2nd half, where we tore them apart with it.

[hermhater]

It's about time the whole TEAM plays angry.

If we could funnel a little more of LJ's rage into HERM it would translate into multiple Wins!

[m0ef0e]

I agree with :fatlock: totally on this. I need a shower...

[GoDJGoDJ]

Well, LJ was never gonna have a chance to run from the beginning because of how many people were on the line for the defense. We should've passed it to Bowe and Gonzalez from the beginning, it definitely wouldn't have ended 13-10. It looked like they were gonna go that route in the beginning with that pass to Gonzalez, who was wide open, but he made a rare drop and Solari was scared to call that play again until the 2nd half, where we tore them apart with it.

I thought the same thing when I heard that was the first play. They made it sound like it was a bad throw on the radio.

[wolfpack]

try passing on first down. but if we are to start throwing downfield, put brodie in he has the arm. on a side mark, wilson is still on pass to catch over a hunderd ball this year with a total of 100 yards.

[Chiefster]

I agree with :fatlock: totally on this. I need a shower...

Geeeeeeeeez, Same here; I feel so dirty. What has come over :fatlock:? I don't know exactly how to act; I've been agreeing with him a lot lately and it's begining to frighten me.

[hermhater]

Geeeeeeeeez, Same here; I feel so dirty. What has come over :fatlock:? I don't know exactly how to act; I've been agreeing with him a lot lately and it's begining to frighten me.

Look. Even a moron can see what is happening to this team.

[rbedgood]

Look. Even a moron can see what is happening to this team.

Dangit, my jig is up...:yahoo:

[m0ebr0]

LJ doesnt look like hes "running angry" this year.

[luv]

What's sad is how early in the season our offense is already feeling frustrated and showing it.

[rbedgood]

LJ doesnt look like hes "running angry" this year.

He has $43 Million reasons to be happy...

[luv]

LJ doesnt look like hes "running angry" this year.
He looked pissed Sunday. When he went out for a playing after spiking the ball, I was thinking, "What are you taking him out for, now's the time for him to run!" lol

Of course, Minnesota did an excellent job of blocking our running game.

[Chiefster]

Look. Even a moron can see what is happening to this team.

True!

Dangit, my jig is up...:yahoo:

HA!:lol:

[m0ebr0]

He looked pissed Sunday. When he went out for a playing after spiking the ball, I was thinking, "What are you taking him out for, now's the time for him to run!" lol

Of course, Minnesota did an excellent job of blocking our running game.

Minnisotta had a great run D last year as well as this year so far.