Kansas City Chiefs - Herm Edwards Press Conference

Herm Edwards Press Conference - 12/11

Dec 11, 2007, 3:02:42 PM

HERM EDWARDS: “The Titans - when you look at them on tape - are a very physical football team. It’s kind of the way Jeff [Fisher’s] teams have always been built. A lot of youth on their football team. Very physical up front both offensively and defensively. They rush you with four most of the time. They will bring pressure at times but they have a very physical front four on defense and their offensive line is very physical. Have a big running back and they try to pound you some.

“They have a very skilled quarterback who makes a lot of plays, ala a play breaks down and he runs around and is hard to tackle and can throw on the run. He extends the play; he has the ability to extend the play with his legs. Looks down field and has some big physical receivers.

“They’re a team that is still in the playoff hunt. They lost a tough one last week against the Chargers. They were actually leading the whole way through. They’re young, play with a lot of energy and are very physical.”

Q: Kolby Smith’s injury? Did he tweak the ankle but he came back in. What does that mean?

EDWARDS: Knee. He’s just sore and came back in the game and was fine.”

Q: Did he aggravate it again?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, Tony Gonzalez had the ankle. [Smith’s] questionable. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow but he should be good to go. We’ll just bring him along slow.”

Q: So what did you see from Gilbert Harris’ cameo appearance?

EDWARDS: “He did OK. He didn’t fumble the ball which is the first thing. He did OK and he’s kind of a ‘tweener, a fullback/tailback kind of guy. But he did OK.”

Q: If Kolby can’t go tomorrow will you try and get another running back?

EDWARDS: “We actually have one on the practice squad if he couldn’t go. We’d be OK.”

Q: Larry Johnson did some little stuff last week and you said maybe then he’d play, but he’s not ready again right?

EDWARDS: “No, I don’t think so. He’s getting better obviously, but he’s not where you feel he can go in a game and play. But he’s getting better every week and maybe this next week.”

Q: Are you getting close to shutting that possibility down with only three games left in the season?

EDWARDS: “It’s a week to week decision and we’ll see where it’s at the end of this week and into the next.”

Q: What can you accomplish with him playing? You know what he is?

EDWARDS: “For him, probably mentally, if he can make it back I think it would be good for him. He wouldn’t have to worry where he’s at starting the season off. But that’s a decision we’ll make when the time comes.”

Q: You want guys who want to play and Tony Gonzalez was a great example of that going back in the game after he got hurt. You know you got that effort from him, but are you getting that from the rest of your players?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, and I think when you lose a game like that it’s the kind of question you get, similar to the one we were asked after Pittsburgh [in 2006]. I just think when you lose a game like people say did everybody give you the effort?

“Effort wasn’t the problem. It was not doing your job correctly. I think when you get in a game like that, for us, generally we play in a way where our defense keeps us in a game early. It’s never that big of a score or margin to get out of. Maybe the Jacksonville game was, but most of the games have been tied or one score going in at the half. But this one sort of bubbled on us and got 14-0 real fast. We were able to come back offensively with a nice drive of 15 plays and had to go for it three times on fourth down. That’s sort of our mindset now and how we play.

“Then they scored again and got up 24-7. We got the ball again in the third quarter and we don’t do a whole lot. They continued to move the ball and after a while guys are trying to make plays rather than actually doing their job. So, when you watch the film I’m not disappointed with the effort. We didn’t tackle well. We let it get away from us and after the game I said I was a little bit disappointed with the defense because the defense knows that you can’t allow teams to get up on you fast because it makes it difficult for us offensively. We always struggle some offensively and when we’re put in that situation it’s really not one that is conducive to us at this time. It makes you have to go back and throw the ball all the time and it’s tough. No one is built that way. Then the other team doesn’t respect the run and we didn’t run the ball. We had no yards rushing so it was one of those games we were off-balance early and it stayed that way.”

Q: Has the confidence been lost with each other or the coaching staff?

EDWARDS: “Like in life when you’re not successful you lose a little confidence. That’s what winning does. It breeds confidence. We have to take little steps to gain our confidence back. That’s where we’re at right now. We have to get some things going on offense and defensively we’ve got to get back to taking the ball away. If we can do that and stop the run, too, and we haven’t played the run very well the last few weeks and this would be a good test for us because they have a big powerful running team.

“We have to do the little things better again. That’s how you gain confidence. You take one step at a time. It’s not this great strategy: it’s just getting back to the basics and gaining confidence in what we want to do.”

Q: Give us some thoughts on Jackie Battle? What have you seen in him?

EDWARDS: “University of Houston running back. Was in Dallas’ camp and is a big, strong guy at 235 pounds with pretty good speed, decent hands. Kind of played in a wide-open offense down there, but he can run the ball fairly decent. He has some speed and probably for all his height, weight and speed he looks the part. Now, he hasn’t had a lot of opportunities but if there comes a time we feel we have to bring him up [to the 53-man roster] and look at him we’ll bring him up and look at him.”

Q: Is it just coincidence that since Larry Johnson went down you guys haven’t won a game?

EDWARDS: “I think it’s coincidence. I think Larry is a good player and you always want good players. The more good players you have the better coach you are. No doubt about that.

“We just haven’t made the plays in games. This last game was probably the most disappointing game for me of the season thus far. I don’t think any player felt going into this game we were going to play like that. We prepared like we always do. I thought we were well prepared; the players were well prepared to play. They jumped on us very, very fast and it became a snow ball.

“Now, the good thing is it wasn’t our last game. We have another opportunity and we have our last home game here against a team that’s trying to get in the playoffs and is going to come in here and be ready to play. No doubt about that. They can’t lose any more games if they want a shot to get in. They’re a big physical team and we’ll find out if we’re going to be able to stand up to it.”

Q: Are you afraid that some guys may have already checked out or are already in the off-season mode?

EDWARDS: “No, because if they are shame on them. Hopefully, they don’t go on the field or they’ll get hurt against these guys. You’d better be ready to play. If I sense it I’ll get them out of the game because I’d hate to get a player hurt.”

Q: Can you sense that?

EDWARDS: “Thing about me, I played football. You can tell and I don’t sense that. I just sense that guys are disappointed, disappointed with the season, disappointed with the situation we’re in. There are a lot of reasons for it. It’s not one player. We’re all in it together.

“I think what we’re going to find out about this whole season is where we stand as an organization and how tough we’re going to be and how we’re going to get it fixed. The thing about this is you can fix it. It’s not like it’s the end of the world. It’s a season. That’s how you have to look at it. It’s a season that hasn’t turned out how you’d like it but you still have three games and you have to prepare to win a game at home. That’s how you have to take it.

“You can’t get your emotions involved in it because then you make bad decisions. I know that. I’ve been in it long enough to realize that. In our society you always want to point the finger at somebody, you want to blame somebody.

“Blame me. OK. If you want to blame somebody blame the head coach. It’s on me. I’m the coach so it’s on me. So you don’t have to blame any more players, or have to blame people in the organization. You can blame the head coach. That’s where it starts and that’s where it ends. I’m OK with that. I’m a big boy. I’ve been in the league a long time and I know how it works. So, if you want to blame somebody blame the head coach.”

Q: But we don’t need to blame you?

EDWARDS: “That’s fine but I’m the head coach and it’s on me. At the end of the day this is what happens: the head coach in his [bio] in the book says wins and losses and this year we’re having a bad year. Period.”

Q: Did you see it coming?

EDWARDS: “No. Did not, did not see it coming. But it’s come; it’s arrived and it’s knocking on the door. And, you have to look it in the face and you’ve got to line up this week and try and beat the Tennessee Titans which we’ll try to do. We’ll prepare. I’ve lived in this building the last couple of weeks. I’m not going home early. Coaches aren’t going home early. I’ve stayed here three days a week, so if people think that we’re not preparing the players they’re ridiculous. We’re preparing them. They’ve got to go play. Players have to play and coaches have to coach. We’re not going to stop coaching hard or try not to win any games. We’re not worrying about whether we’re going to get a high pick or not. We’re not worried about that. We’re trying to win a football game, for this football team, for these players, for the fans that show up for the game.

“They’ll be some fans that won’t show up. Rightly so. That’s OK, too. That’s part of the deal when you don’t win; that’s part of the deal. That’s where we’re at right now.”

Q: With all due respect, I’m not so sure who can coach this team and win a whole bunch of games. It’ a combination. It just can’t be blame the head coach.

EDWARDS: “What we’re worrying about now is we’re trying to figure out who to blame. There’s no blame. Teams go through this. That’s football. That’s the National Football League. It hasn’t been here. It hasn’t knocked on this door. It knocked on the door when Coach Vermeil was here his first year and he was 6-10. It hasn’t knocked on the door since then. It’s kind of scurried away and gone other places.

“This team that’s coming in here now, this Tennessee Titans team? They went to the Super Bowl and you know what they did after that? They went about five-and-whatever and four-and-12 and last year they went 8-8. It happened to them; it happened to Green Bay. It’s happened to a bunch of teams we play.

“People aren’t used to this in Kansas City. Get over it. It happens. It’s called life. You can’t think you’re too big that it’s not going to happen to you. It happens to everybody.

“Now the good thing about it is we’ve got a plan to fix it. And, you can’t fix it until it’s done. We’ve got to play and try to win a game this weekend. That’s the most important thing and what we’re going to try and do.”

Q: You said this will determine how tough you are as an organization. What do you mean by that? That’s not just you.

EDWARDS: “That’s everybody, from the guy that sells the tickets, from the guy that cleans up after the game is over with, that’s from the training staff, from the scouts, from everybody because we all have to stand in this together. You can’t say, well, it’s on that guy. It’s on all of us. That’s how it works. That’s what good organizations do. They understand, hey, here’s where we are. We’ve got good information; now let’s go get it fixed. That’ll be our deal. We’ll get this thing fixed. There’s no doubt in my mind it’ll get fixed. It’s already on the way to getting fixed, you just don’t see it right now. It’ll come to fruition and we’ll be sitting here in a couple of years and we won’t even be thinking about this year.

“But now it’s bad and when it’s bad everybody has an idea of what went wrong. It doesn’t matter what went wrong. Just fix it. We have a way to fix it.”

Q: You said you expect the fans not to show up and that’s alright. What do you mean by that?

EDWARDS: “Because that’s one thing about being a fan: you have a choice. That’s the great thing about America. It’ll be cold; it might be raining, we’re not winning. You might not want to come out to the ballpark. That’s OK. That’s your choice.

“But they’re still fans. They’re frustrated. They’re like all of us. They’re disappointed. I’m disappointed too. The players and the coaches are going to show up; we’re going to go play and are going to try and win a game and we’re frustrated too. But it’s part of your job; it’s part of what you do.

“You know what: you find out about what kind of coach you are when you have seasons like this, not when you’re rolling and going into the playoffs. I’ve been on both ends of this. I’ve had a lot of playoff teams and it’s not even hard to coach. You just blow the whistle and just let them go outside. You don’t worry about it.

“Now, this is when you do your best coaching, in my opinion. Any coach will tell you that. This is when you’ve got to coach them, you got to keep them together, keep them playing and you got to make some tough decisions at the end of the year. But that’s part of it. That’s what we’re going through this year.”

Q: I saw the ice on your car this morning. Do you worry about yourself getting too crazy about this deal? Do you always spend a couple of nights a week here at the stadium?

EDWARDS: “Always been this way and I’ve got a great wife who understands that.”

Q: You played for Coach Vermeil and he…

EDWARDS: “No, he was six nights. I’m not a six nighter. I’m about two or three at the most and that’s it.”

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