A Step Backward

Aug 24, 2008, 11:55:44 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

MIAMI GARDENS, FL – Any time you are in a rebuilding process there are going to be moments when things don’t come together as planned. The blocks for the foundation suddenly don’t line up, or the paneling for the walls turns out to be the wrong color, or the wiring has to be re-done because it doesn’t meet code.

Ups and downs are part of the journey when turning over the roster of a football team. On a muggy summer Saturday night at Dolphin Stadium, the Chiefs did not enjoy an up. It was a downer all the way in losing to the Miami Dolphins 24-0.

This was a setback, a step backwards, a reverse in fortunes for a young football team trying to find itself. Up until they took the field against Miami, the Chiefs had been improving on nearly a daily basis. It wasn’t huge leaps forward in every practice; it was more like baby steps each day, but there was improvement.

That all stopped against the Dolphins. The Chiefs came out and got their butts kicked, most especially on the offensive line. Let’s remember that in two previous pre-season games the Chiefs No. 1 group had done a pretty good job against Chicago and Arizona. Those two teams are better than the Miami club they faced Saturday evening.

You could not tell the way the Chiefs played on offense. They had 13 possessions in the game. Only once did the offense drive inside the Miami territory. They got all the way to the Miami 1-yard line, but could not score when Larry Johnson was tackled short of the goal line. They had two fourth quarter possessions inside the Miami 45, both set up by the Chiefs defense. Neither one produced points.

Quite simply these young Chiefs should be embarrassed by how they played. If they are not, then there’s going to be some major problems this year.

Herm Edwards told them point-blank what he thought after the game. The head coach pulled no punches. He called a miserable performance exactly what it was: a miserable performance.

But what’s important for the head coach is what happens next.

“That’s exactly right,” Edwards said after addressing his players. “How do they respond to this? How do they react to the way we played? That was unacceptable. We ran around in the first half like we didn’t know what to do, like we hadn’t been on the field before.

“I have no idea why that happened. I just know we’ve got to get it fixed. We’ve got to give ourselves an opportunity to win the game.”

Overall, the defensive effort was not bad. They gave up a long drive to the Dolphins to start the game, but were able to keep Miami out of the end zone, forcing a field goal. That’s when things started going wrong for the Chiefs. The first Miami kickoff was called back because of a penalty. The second kickoff pushed Dantrell Savage into the left corner where he caught the ball and then stepped out of bounds at the two-yard line as he began to run. It was a rookie mistake committed by a rookie; nothing unusual there.

So the Chiefs offense started in a hole and that’s never good. But the way the blocking was going wasn’t going to make much of a difference. The Dolphins came out and played man-to-man on the Chiefs wide receivers. They doubled up on Tony Gonzalez inside. Brodie Croyle has been drilled for months to be careful with the football, so he didn’t throw it up into places where it could be picked off.

But as he searched for receivers, the Dolphins pass rush was ending up in his lap. He ran several bootlegs to get away from the middle of the field, but the Fins were always chasing him. LT Herb Taylor struggled. So did rookie RT Barry Richardson, who came in early in the second quarter when starter Damion McIntosh suffered yet another ankle injury.

Even when the Chiefs did something right, it did not turn out right. Larry Johnson did a good job of picking up blitzing Miami linebacker Channing Crowder. He took him off his feet, but Crowder crawled to his knees, reached out and knocked the ball out of Croyle’s hand. The Dolphins recovered and that set up a TD throw from Chad Pennington to Anthony Fasano.

Another Miami score came on a 59-yard punt return by Ted Ginn, Jr. On this play, the Chiefs best player wasn’t so good, as punter Dustin Colquitt hit a line drive punt and Ginn was able to get outside the contain and score.

It was that kind of night for the Chiefs. A lot of things went wrong. A lot of things went wrong that should not have gone wrong. Oh yes, this was a step backwards for the Chiefs.

Now we get to see what happens next.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A former beat reporter who covered the Pittsburgh Steelers during their glory years, Gretz covered the Chiefs for the Kansas City Star for nine years. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Board of Selectors. He has been the senior columnist for the Chiefs web site since its inception.