hermhater
12-27-2007, 02:57 AM
After a Quick Goodbye, a Brief Reunion
http://www.chiefscrowd.com/forums/images/imported/2007/12/250.jpg Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
Herman Edwards, who led the Jets to a 4-12 record in 2005 before abruptly being named Kansas City’s coach, says he has moved on. “It never ends like you’d like it to end,” he said.
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By KAREN CROUSE (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/karen_crouse/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: December 27, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was like old times for Herman Edwards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/herman_edwards/index.html?inline=nyt-per) at practice Wednesday, seeing Chris Baker’s No. 86 lined up at tight end and Justin McCareins’s No. 81 sprinting down the sideline.
The numbers were achingly familiar, but Edwards does not pretend to know the Chiefs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/kansascitychiefs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) practice-squad players who were imitating the Jets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkjets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) as well as he does the originals. It takes time to build relationships and forever to forget them.
Almost two years have passed since Edwards met with the Jets after their last game of the season, assured them he would see them at off-season workouts in roughly two months’ time and then within days was introduced as Dick Vermeil (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/v/dick_vermeil/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s replacement in Kansas City.
On Sunday, Edwards will be reunited with a few of his former players for the first time since his abrupt departure, if only long enough to say a fond hello before or after the game and put the past, he hopes, squarely behind them. There are 20 players — including 3 on injured reserve — that Edwards coached who are still with the Jets.
“It never ends like you’d like it to end,” Edwards said after practice. He was seated in a comfortable chair in his spacious office, insulated from the subfreezing temperatures outside by the framed photographs of his family, most of them featuring his daughters Gabrielle, 2, and Vivian, 1, that lend the spacious room a cozy feel.
“I couldn’t get to all those guys in time. I tried to call some of them on the phone. I left a lot of messages to players, but I think, in the end, they know that it was never anything to do with them.”
Edwards’s departure from New York was far from tidy. He left a pile of unanswered questions, which was uncharacteristic of someone who speaks from the heart and keeps a spotless desk.
He has steadfastly refused to discuss what transpired to make his five years of good will with the Jets unravel in a New York minute. Edwards, who started his post-playing career as a scout with the Chiefs, has shown he can be a great keeper of secrets, and this is one he seems determined to take to his grave.
“My intentions were I was coming back,” Edwards said, adding: “It just came down to some things that were said at the last hour where, at the end, it was decisions that both parties had to make as to what was best for the football team.”
The Jets endured an epidemic of injuries in 2005 and staggered to a 4-12 record. In 2006, with a roster that was essentially the same as the season before, except healthier, they went 10-6 under Eric Mangini and advanced to the postseason. The Chiefs finished 9-7 in Edwards’s first season and also advanced to the playoffs.
This year Edwards has felt as if it is 2005 once more. The Chiefs have lost eight consecutive games after starting 4-3, their collective age and individual injuries catching up to them. The roster will undergo an overhaul during the off-season, but the face of the team is not changing. Edwards has two years left on his contract and he said he intends to honor it.
He laughed at the rumor that he is a candidate to become the next U.C.L.A. coach. “I’ve still got a lot of work to do here,” Edwards said.
A preacher masquerading as a coach, Edwards woke up the Jets in 2002 with his fiery speech about playing to win the game. His powers of oration recently failed him here. After the Chiefs’ sixth straight loss, he told reporters that he counsels his players to recover quickly from a loss — to get over it and move on — because they are powerless to change what has already happened but have some control over what happens next.
That is what he meant to say. It came out sounding more like this: “People aren’t used to this in Kansas City. Get over it. It happens. It’s called life.” Chiefs fans took umbrage with Edwards’s breezy dismissal of this long, cold season.
Edwards apologized for the misunderstanding, but he stands by his original sentiment. He was a defensive back in the N.F.L. and he continues to have the necessary prerequisite for success at the position: forget the past, lest you become consumed by it.
That is not to say Edwards has erased all memories of his time in New York. When he steps onto the field Sunday for pregame warm-ups, he imagines he will be overwhelmed by memories, all good. He said that any bad feelings he harbored at the time of his messy divorce from the Jets had dissipated by the time he settled into his new office here. “I let it go like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.
“That’s what people don’t realize,” Edwards added. “Life’s about situations and opportunities. I was presented a great opportunity there. You don’t forget that. I’m thankful for that.”
In a conference call with New York beat reporters, Edwards said he gave his all to the Jets and the players gave their all in return.
“We didn’t do everything right; we didn’t do everything wrong,” he said. “We had some good times, had a lot of fun. We played in some playoff games and won a couple, and I think that’s important. But we didn’t get the ring. That’s the shame of it.”
A lot of the reporters’ voices, Edwards said afterward, he did not recognize. It was more proof that the only constant in life is change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/sports/football/27edwards.html?ref=football
http://www.chiefscrowd.com/forums/images/imported/2007/12/250.jpg Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
Herman Edwards, who led the Jets to a 4-12 record in 2005 before abruptly being named Kansas City’s coach, says he has moved on. “It never ends like you’d like it to end,” he said.
------------------
By KAREN CROUSE (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/karen_crouse/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: December 27, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was like old times for Herman Edwards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/herman_edwards/index.html?inline=nyt-per) at practice Wednesday, seeing Chris Baker’s No. 86 lined up at tight end and Justin McCareins’s No. 81 sprinting down the sideline.
The numbers were achingly familiar, but Edwards does not pretend to know the Chiefs (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/kansascitychiefs/index.html?inline=nyt-org) practice-squad players who were imitating the Jets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/profootball/nationalfootballleague/newyorkjets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) as well as he does the originals. It takes time to build relationships and forever to forget them.
Almost two years have passed since Edwards met with the Jets after their last game of the season, assured them he would see them at off-season workouts in roughly two months’ time and then within days was introduced as Dick Vermeil (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/v/dick_vermeil/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s replacement in Kansas City.
On Sunday, Edwards will be reunited with a few of his former players for the first time since his abrupt departure, if only long enough to say a fond hello before or after the game and put the past, he hopes, squarely behind them. There are 20 players — including 3 on injured reserve — that Edwards coached who are still with the Jets.
“It never ends like you’d like it to end,” Edwards said after practice. He was seated in a comfortable chair in his spacious office, insulated from the subfreezing temperatures outside by the framed photographs of his family, most of them featuring his daughters Gabrielle, 2, and Vivian, 1, that lend the spacious room a cozy feel.
“I couldn’t get to all those guys in time. I tried to call some of them on the phone. I left a lot of messages to players, but I think, in the end, they know that it was never anything to do with them.”
Edwards’s departure from New York was far from tidy. He left a pile of unanswered questions, which was uncharacteristic of someone who speaks from the heart and keeps a spotless desk.
He has steadfastly refused to discuss what transpired to make his five years of good will with the Jets unravel in a New York minute. Edwards, who started his post-playing career as a scout with the Chiefs, has shown he can be a great keeper of secrets, and this is one he seems determined to take to his grave.
“My intentions were I was coming back,” Edwards said, adding: “It just came down to some things that were said at the last hour where, at the end, it was decisions that both parties had to make as to what was best for the football team.”
The Jets endured an epidemic of injuries in 2005 and staggered to a 4-12 record. In 2006, with a roster that was essentially the same as the season before, except healthier, they went 10-6 under Eric Mangini and advanced to the postseason. The Chiefs finished 9-7 in Edwards’s first season and also advanced to the playoffs.
This year Edwards has felt as if it is 2005 once more. The Chiefs have lost eight consecutive games after starting 4-3, their collective age and individual injuries catching up to them. The roster will undergo an overhaul during the off-season, but the face of the team is not changing. Edwards has two years left on his contract and he said he intends to honor it.
He laughed at the rumor that he is a candidate to become the next U.C.L.A. coach. “I’ve still got a lot of work to do here,” Edwards said.
A preacher masquerading as a coach, Edwards woke up the Jets in 2002 with his fiery speech about playing to win the game. His powers of oration recently failed him here. After the Chiefs’ sixth straight loss, he told reporters that he counsels his players to recover quickly from a loss — to get over it and move on — because they are powerless to change what has already happened but have some control over what happens next.
That is what he meant to say. It came out sounding more like this: “People aren’t used to this in Kansas City. Get over it. It happens. It’s called life.” Chiefs fans took umbrage with Edwards’s breezy dismissal of this long, cold season.
Edwards apologized for the misunderstanding, but he stands by his original sentiment. He was a defensive back in the N.F.L. and he continues to have the necessary prerequisite for success at the position: forget the past, lest you become consumed by it.
That is not to say Edwards has erased all memories of his time in New York. When he steps onto the field Sunday for pregame warm-ups, he imagines he will be overwhelmed by memories, all good. He said that any bad feelings he harbored at the time of his messy divorce from the Jets had dissipated by the time he settled into his new office here. “I let it go like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.
“That’s what people don’t realize,” Edwards added. “Life’s about situations and opportunities. I was presented a great opportunity there. You don’t forget that. I’m thankful for that.”
In a conference call with New York beat reporters, Edwards said he gave his all to the Jets and the players gave their all in return.
“We didn’t do everything right; we didn’t do everything wrong,” he said. “We had some good times, had a lot of fun. We played in some playoff games and won a couple, and I think that’s important. But we didn’t get the ring. That’s the shame of it.”
A lot of the reporters’ voices, Edwards said afterward, he did not recognize. It was more proof that the only constant in life is change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/sports/football/27edwards.html?ref=football