Q&A with GUNTHER CUNNINGHAM - 8/3

Aug 03, 2007, 12:02:29 PM

Q: How are things different going into the second season with Herm? It seems like things are running even smoother?

CUNNINGHAM: “Because we have had one year together, things are a lot simpler. The last two days, however, have been pretty hectic trying to get it all together. We’ve been working hard and the addition of all the new players makes it even harder. We have some smart guys that we got in. When you face our offense, it’s a little bit different. Most offensive teams don’t approach practice like we do and you have to keep your eyes open on the practice field because they’re always shifting, always motioning and some of the things we do on defense have some checks involved. That’s kind of the way that we’ve been working. We really put a lot of pressure on the players. Someone this morning asked my why I was so different because my intensity level was about 1,000-times higher.”

Q: Is that possible, for your intensity level to be higher?

CUNNINGHAM: “Oh, it is. I am worried about myself and I’ve got to get my yellow glasses back. For a while I thought that it was my sunglasses, but I realize that my focus is so much more intense because we established a culture and an attitude a year ago and we played pretty tough in a lot of the games. I think we’ve really come a long way with that and this year what we’re trying to do is make sure that the details of the defense are so much more ingrained in our players so every time you see a guy take the wrong steps, you’re on it and trying to make that correction. The coaches are doing a great job and the players have come a long way. It’s a steady climb and the thing that I was shocked about was that it feels like Super Bowl weekend already after only five days. The days are just running together, but we’re getting a lot done.”

Q: Are there some particular things you are looking for this week in your two practices against the Vikings?

CUNNINGHAM: “I think that the biggest thing whether you are a rookie, a veteran or a coach is the new environment. How do you handle it? Because Herm Edwards and I came from the same backgrounds, we are very similar and we talk about this a lot. How we will all respond to the bus ride, getting off the bus, getting on the practice field and seeing the Vikings and making the adjustments. Even eating dinner is going to be a different deal. So what you do at that time is you watch all of the coaches and all of the players and you see how they react. I think that we will be pretty good with all of those things and the reason for it is that our Head Coach is always changing things whenever you get comfortable with a schedule. He doesn’t do it because he’s flighty about things; he does it on purpose. Everything about him is how do you, the player, and the coach adjust? We had a deal yesterday when the offense jumped offsides and he called it on the defense and the whole situation changed. It was to see who was going to react. I snapped around and had one word, then I turned back into the huddle and told the guys to recover and to make sure we stopped them in the next series of downs. This year, that’s the thing I already see that’s better. I go in the huddle now and there is nothing except for positive things said from player to player. I think the number one key in all of it is #59 LB Donnie Edwards. He hasn’t changed one bit from when I knew him in ‘96. He’s all about the team and all about his teammates. The three linebackers are really doing a great job of communicating.”

Q: Are there things on the field that you might be looking for this weekend?

CUNNINGHAM: “The only one that is ever worried about my young safeties is (Kansas City Star reporter) Adam Teicher (laughs). Adam and I have had a lot of talks this off-season about S Bernard Pollard and how he didn’t react well on a particular play last year in a preseason game. The question was about his top-end speed. I never saw that and I studied him pretty hard myself along with our scouts and everybody else. He’s very fast and I think that he got caught in a bad situation. There was another mistake on the play, but I’m looking forward to seeing those two kids play together. On the practice field so far they are covering ground and when the ball is in the air. S Jarrad Page made a play on TE Tony Gonzalez the other day and I told Tony, ‘That’s a big safety, that’s not a normal safety; it’s a big man who went up against you and pulled the ball out.’

“I think one of the key things that I will be looking at is how LBs Napoleon Harris and Donnie Edwards fit into the scheme, the growth of LB Derrick Johnson and most importantly the defensive line. I’m not as worried about the passing game with the defensive line as I am with the running game. The reason I am concerned about that at this stage is that we’ve had five days and only a few days of pad practice. With the NFL and the OTAs (Organized Team Activities), it’s a great thing they did because coaches were cheating years ago and they gave everybody an equal shot for about 14 of these things. If you play defense, especially line, you get absolutely no work in the running game. You can walk-thru, run-thru with no pads on, but you have got to practice in pads. All of the work that you do in the off-season is on pass rush and it has showed up on the practice field already. We’ve got two ends that are tickled pink about our tackles pushing the pocket and giving the quarterback more depth so they can come off of the edge. But against the Vikings it’s going to be about the run and how we react to that.”

Q: What do you think about DT Tank Tyler? Has he hit that rookie wall?

CUNNINGHAM: “You know what’s great about college football? The guy playing across from you, I could probably line up and beat them. We were laughing about it yesterday. When you have guards John Welbourn and Brian Waters lined up in your face ever play and that guy is as big or bigger than you and a hell of a lot smarter at this point, that’s where you see Tank and even DE Turk McBride worn down at times. The good part of it is that you watch them and you can say that they are tired because they have given you great effort, but they aren’t quitting. They are still trying and rookies will do that. I think both of them are good enough to come out of this and be real strong and successful this year.”

Q: Tell me something about the new front pass rush. Is DT Alfonso Boone contributing to that? Are there other new faces contributing to that?

CUNNINGHAM: “First of all, to get Alfonso Boone, this guy really has some ability. He weighs about 330 pounds and very quick footed. He’s probably one of the fastest guys in the line. It would be a good race between Boone and DEs Tamba Hali and Jared Allen. He’s really helped. He’s got good experience, played on a heck of a defense in Chicago, although some of the fundamentals that he came in with we changed around and he’s done a pretty good job against Brian Waters at times. That helps us. Tank (James) Reed has really accepted a role. He is an undersized tackle with a great quickness and last year we had to play him about every snap because we didn’t have depth. We told him to emphasize the pass and he’s getting a better rush inside. When we put Turk inside, that also really helps. DT Ron Edwards, who is a giant of a man, is up there with the biggest men in this league and he’s given us push. So the rotation inside has really helped us along with the addition of Boone. The ends will be the first guys who will tell you. Jared Allen came up to me and he’s so excited that he can’t see straight. We’re also swinging DE Jimmy Wilkerson inside, we did it some this morning and we need to rotate them at every spot except for the real big guys. It all goes around to Jared Allen since he won’t be with us for two weeks and we need to make sure we have a good rotation.”

Q: What about CBs Ty Law and Patrick Surtain. They came in great shape. What have you seen out of them?

CUNNINGHAM: “The only thing that I can say is that Ty Law got on the airplane and I didn’t recognize him. He has lost a lot of weight and he told me that during the end of the OTAs that he was going to St. Louis to a private workout guy. I said, ‘Ty, all of the years that you’ve been in the league you deserve to do that.’ He came in and he’s in the best shape that he’s been in a long time. I think the foot injury, we tried to get him the first time around in UFA (unrestricted free agency) and he looked like a linebacker. Then after a year with the N.Y. Jets his foot was still giving him a problem. As far as Pat is concerned, he’s been as consistent as anyone I’ve been around at the age he is. He’s out there every day. You see some of the vets getting rest, but those guys are out there every day and they’re working. I think they’re really enthusiastic about the two young safeties working with them and I see a good attitude in the back end with the coach who is after them every second in David Gibbs. It’s going to be interesting to see how the year plays out.”

Q: So you have no worries about going into the season with those two guys at those cornerback spots?

CUNNINGHAM: “No, I feel the same way about those two guys as I do about those young safeties. We had two young safeties in ‘97 walk in and everybody was having a heart attack except me. Those guys played for 10 years, not for the Chiefs all 10, although Jerome Woods did, but Romey and Reggie Tongue were major turnover guys in the league. With these two safeties, I’m ready. I made that statement at the end of last year and as far as Ty and Pat are concerned, one thing I know is that they can come up with the ball. Does it put different pressures on me to call it; yeah it does and as long as you know what your guys can do you can put them in a good position to be successful.”

Q: Sometimes people attribute a cornerbacks declining number to the lack of a pass rush. Is there anything true to that?

CUNNINGHAM: “That’s the way it is as a corner, you need a rush. Our whole thing was to get a rush package going to help the secondary. When we all saw Turk McBride in the draft, and early on he wasn’t rated as high, but he had the intangibles of a guy like Tommy Harris. In unrestricted free agency, Boone was one of our targets and in the draft it was Turk and Tank. I’ve showed people the way that we had them rated as a coaching staff. Our scouts give us their idea and we give them our idea and what I saw in Turk McBride was that he had great balance. He was never on the ground. He played tackle and Tank is a baller. When he played against Boston College he wrecked their whole team. He had been suspended for a quarter, went in and destroyed the whole Boston College offense. So those types of people in the addition to the front will make two veteran corners play even better.”

Q: Does LB Keyaron Fox need to show you something and step up this year?

CUNNINGHAM: “This off-season, all through the OTAs and in this camp he has stepped up. I’m proud of what he’s done to this point. We’re counting on him to help us. He had one practice he had a tough time, they hit him a few times in his area and the next time they came around, tried the same thing and he intercepted it. He’s getting his hands on the ball and the thing that you notice about Keyaron and CB Benny Sapp is that there is not much talking this year. You can tell that the maturity levels have changed for them and they are not always yahooing out there and losing their focus. It’s all about football and you can see the progress they’re making because of it.”

Q: The defense showed improvement last year, but there were no defensive scores. How galling was that for you personally and how much will you emphasize that theme this year?

CUNNINGHAM: “There were about four situations last year for touchdowns. I remember S Greg Wesley had one that if he cuts to the outside he is in the end zone. Ty Law has one against Indianapolis that he took to the one yard line. I promised Herm that I would be careful of how I spoke, but there are a lot of words that come out of my mouth still, I just have to pick my spots when I saw those things. The first thing that I did was tear down every sign and every picture in the defensive room and across the back of it says ‘TURNOVERS,’ and on one side it says ‘FUMBLES & INTERCEPTIONS,’ and on the other side it says ‘SACKS.’ Our whole focus this off-season has been to get turnovers. We tried to get 40 in the OTAs and we got about 37. Every day the ball is coming out and every day we are getting interceptions now. It’s an attitude that you nee to develop with your players about getting turnovers. We do all of the same drills that everybody in the league does as far as scoring on defense and turnovers, but it’s really a mindset.

“A lot of coaches will get tired of, and Coach Dick Vermeil used to tell me that I will get tired of saying, ‘see the ball, strip the ball, and intercept the ball.’ We say it every day and pretty soon it becomes ingrained in you. We talked about the pass rush and I think that’s where it happens. You get a good rush, you get an errant throw and you get a cheap one for a touchdown. So we’ve been on it, on it hard, we look at the stats of the past and last year we were the number one team in creating fumbles. We had 15 interceptions and I think we had 15 or 16 fumbles, as well. I think that the ball has to hit us right and we’ve got to make that break for the end zone and we’ll get one.”

Q: Why does LB Donnie Edwards do it so well?

CUNNINGHAM: “The biggest key to me about Donnie Edwards, and I’m glad you asked this, 27 interceptions, eight fumble recoveries and six touchdowns. He’s one of the leading tacklers of all-time as a linebacker and he went to one Pro Bowl because his friend coached it and I got to pick him for it. I don’t understand how they talk about LB Ray Lewis and about LB Zach Thomas, they talk about all these people and both San Diego and the Chiefs have enjoyed one of the best players in the modern game where people throw the ball a lot. I don’t see him ever getting credit for anything and he has a knack of seeing the ball. He anticipates the ball. San Diego ran a blitz against us last year and he was a linebacker on the right. He saw TE Tony Gonzalez on the opposite side of what we call a corner route. He knew it was coming in the quarterback put the ball up. Now you have to understand that he was on the backside of this play and he goes to the other corner and intercepts the ball.

“The first time that I ever had the opportunity to work with him, he said, ‘Gun, I was a statistics major in college. I have to have a plan and I have to have a concept of how this game works.’ He gave me credit of giving him a great plan. I always told him, ‘Donnie, it all falls together. Once you learn the rhythm of the game you’ll understand it.’ A lot of people give you the cement and bricks to build a building, but what he was about is that he wanted to understand the game and I think that’s what makes him so good. S Ronnie Lott and guys like that have a feel of understanding the game. I told LB Napoleon Harris the other day that to come out of Northwestern you have to be pretty bright, but now everyone coming out of Northwestern understands football. Fortunately for me, Napoleon understands it like Donnie, so hopefully we’ll get even more turnovers.”

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