Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/6

Aug 06, 2007, 11:41:03 AM

VIDEO: FLASH | Windows | Real

HERM EDWARDS: “Practice was a little sluggish, at least some parts of it. You can anticipate that with a night off. But for the most part, we got some things done. What young guys have to learn is that when we practice in ‘spiders’ [small pads] you don’t shut your brain off. We practice like that a lot in pro football, especially when you’re in-season. You’re trying to keep your team fresh.

“I think this is really a situation where you have a day off and the young guys just sort of shut their brains off. I thought at the end the two-minute [drill] was good mentally and physically.

“We’ve got to get better in two-minute, especially offensively. We weren’t very good in two-minute last year as far as scoring points. We talked about that. Defensively, we were pretty good and were involved in 19 two-minute situations and only gave up six points. That’s pretty good. Offensively, we were not up to the standard.”

Q: There were some guys who didn’t work today: [Chris] Bober for one?

EDWARDS: “He’s got a little bit of a hip [injury] so we kept him out. Chris Terry has a shoulder and could have probably practiced today but we’re holding him out. Tony [Gonzalez] is on one-a-days and will be in pads this afternoon. He’s been in one-a-days for the last 10 years.”

Q: Because you have a game this Saturday do you prepare all week for that?

EDWARDS: “No, it’s still practicing and preparing for the opener – the things we have to get accomplished in camp. Every day is a different scenario, different situation, so we’re on to that. The game will take care of itself. The first pre-season game generally is pretty vanilla. The young guys will play a lot. They need to and they’ve earned the right to. We might [game] plan a little bit toward the end of the pre-season.

“Defensively, we were very simple, running one coverage the whole time. Everybody was looking at us like something was wrong but you do things for a reason. We have an idea how we want to attack the pre-season and how we’re going to play.”

Q: What are your expectations for [recently signed Dwayne] Bowe in the next few weeks?

EDWARDS: “Right now, he’ll be participating in that all-star [PUP] group over there on that other field. He’s going to be there and that’s for a lot of reasons: the first thing is to protect the player. You don’t want to put him a situation where something should happen because all good football players if they’re not here on time when they do get here and they get on the field they automatically start competing at a high level. That’s not fair since the guy has missed 16 practices and 200 reps. [Our] guys have their training camp legs under them, he does not because he hasn’t been there. It’s no one’s fault. I know this because I was a player and know what goes on when these players get here. He needs to get his legs underneath him, no different than what we did when we got here. We didn’t go out the first day in pads. We brought them along slowly and we’re going to bring him along. He won’t play this week.”

Q: Is he going to go right with the first team?

EDWARDS: “He’s going to do what we did with him in the spring. He’s going to compete. We rotated those receivers a lot. He’s going to play outside some, in the slot some and no different than he did in the spring.”

Q: Is it realistic to think he might be a starter for you by the start of the season?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, [he has] the potential. But when I look at starters those receivers to me are going to play in this system on a rotation [basis] with three or four of them. We want to keep them fresh. He has the ability to have a role but now he needs to stay healthy for one. He was a little bit nicked in the spring and now we’ve got to make sure that we get him through the first period of training camp where his legs are underneath him so he can go out and compete. From there, it’s just a matter of how quickly he learns.”

Q: What impresses you about Donnie Edwards?

EDWARDS: “His ability to pay attention to detail. He’s a pro’s pro. He’s good in the classroom; he transfers that to the football field. He’s kept himself in excellent condition over the years. Talk about a guy who’s played as long as he’s played. He still has good legs. He can still run and get through practice. Guys when they get to a certain age their legs go on them. Their brains still work; they know I need to get over there but their legs won’t get them there. But he can still do that; he can still make the plays that are necessary to play the position he’s playing.

“For him, in this system, he’s playing the ‘Will’ linebacker position so he’s basically covered up for the most part. He has great instincts and great ball skills. He’s always around the football as you look at his career. He’s a big turnover guy. When we play defense we like to take the ball away. It’s one thing to knock it down and I always tell players that’s good, but when you intercept it that’s great. I try to challenge guys all the time. We want to be a defense that takes the ball away. You have to take the ball away in this league if you’re going to be a successful defense.”

| 2007 Training Camp | More news… | Roster
Chiefs.TV RSS | Subscribe to Chiefs.TV in iTunes