Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 8/27

Aug 27, 2008, 1:31:36 PM

Highlights

HERM EDWARDS: “We still have an evaluation process after this game; we’re going to have to cut 22 players. This will be a game where a lot of guys are sitting as the 50th or 53rd guy and this game can make an impact sometimes. It’s an important game for a lot of young players.”

Q: Do you approach this game any differently because you lost the last game?

EDWARDS: “You approach it this way: you’d like to play better than you did last week. You’d like to get some points on the board offensively. But after this game the season starts and you want to get out of this game playing well with your first group but you also want to come out healthy. You don’t want to get anybody injured in the last pre-season game, especially a starter you need for opening day. You enter it kind of cautiously.”

Q: How long will your starters play?

EDWARDS: “Certain ones will play for a little while, into the first and second quarter maybe. We’ll see. It’s all dictated on how they’re playing. How you play is how you go in the last pre-season game. Some guys do it a lot different but I’ve always done it that way. You want them to leave the field with confidence and you as a coach are always nervous about that. You don’t want to keep them out there too long because you’re always worried about a guy getting hurt. Then you have to answer the question after the game: ‘well, why was he even playing?’

“But they need some work and what’s good is there are so many young players on this football team that need playing experience and that helps you.”

Q: Is it correct to assume that the job of kicker will be won or lost Thursday night?

EDWARDS: “Well, we’re going to make a decision. I don’t want to go into opening day with two kickers on the roster. I thought the two kids handled themselves very well over the last couple of days. They’re still standing.”

Q: Why was Feeley in and out so quickly?

EDWARDS: “We brought him in here and we’ve decided on the two that we liked and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Q: Is kicking an especially challenging position for a coach?

EDWARDS: “All coaches have a fondness for kickers. I always say: we make jokes and laugh but they’ve got a tough job. They only get one shot to kick the ball. They get to try it over and over again and generally that one can win games, tie games, put you in position to win a game. I know that. I’ve been around them long enough. It’s always a difficult situation to be in.”

Q: Is Donnie Edwards going to play?

EDWARDS: “Right now he’s scheduled to. We’ll get into warm-ups and see where he’s at. But I think he wants to get some snaps in.”

Q: Napoleon Harris?

EDWARDS: “Napoleon as well.”

Q: Cottam and Charles too?

EDWARDS: “Charles is going to play and Cottam we’re going to decide, but he’s got a chance. They’re all dressing.”

Q: Brandon Albert?

EDWARDS: “Brandon Albert is going to dress. We’ll see where he’s at.”

Q: He might play?

EDWARDS: “No, I said we’ll see. I’m not saying yeah on that one.”

Q: Is it more that Connor (Barth) or Nick (Novak) had more familiarity and that’s the reason you kept those two kickers? Is it more what they have done than what Feeley didn’t do?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, that and the fact that when you say you’re going to have competition is it really competition or are you just saying that? To me, when you tell your football team that this thing is all about competition at all positions — which you’ve seen thus far – and then all of a sudden you do otherwise…players know what’s gone on here. You can’t say that’s competition. I’m trying to be fair.

“Now, Feeley was out for a while and the other guys have been kicking. That has something to do with it too. But at the end, these guys have been 85 or 86% charting all the kicks every day. Now, they’ve missed one in the game. If you can get a kicker to kick 80% in the season you take that. Right now they are.”

Q: How much do you look at resumes when picking kickers, as in what Feeley has done in a game and not on a practice field with no one around?

EDWARDS: “You look at that too. You weight all those things. But at the end you have to look where you want to go. We didn’t just look at the numbers but the whole package. If you look at him he’s a veteran guy who has been a good kicker in this league. All those things are in his favor. With the other guys, one is a rookie and one has kicked in some games. They don’t have this guy’s pedigree. But that doesn’t mean they can’t kick.

“We did it in a manner we were comfortable doing. It was honest. When you’re in our situation and you’re a young football team I think the easy thing to do is when guys are in a position where there isn’t a favorite you go get a veteran. We’re not doing that. We’re trying to develop a football team; we’re trying to build a football team.

“If it’s a good veteran and we feel he fits in our system and does what we want him to do, that’s fine. But you just don’t go out and get a veteran just to say we got a veteran. We did that a little bit last year and it didn’t turn out too well at certain positions. We’re going in another direction.”

Q: Offensively, how do you feel about Brodie Croyle and his relationship with his receivers? He talked about there was some miscommunication last week.

EDWARDS: “Yeah, a little bit. They’re young guys. They have to be more disciplined in what they do. It’s a new offense too. The quarterback gets blamed for that when he’s holding onto the ball. People are wondering, ‘why doesn’t he throw the ball?’ Sometimes you can’t throw the ball when they’re covered or running the wrong route. That’s part of it; Brodie knows that he’s playing with a lot of young guys.”

Q: How do you think the Arrowhead Stadium crowd will greet Trent Green when he comes back to town?

EDWARDS: “Hopefully, they will applaud him. He was a great player here and did a lot for this organization and this football team. He won a lot of games. Did a lot for me my first year here. I was very comfortable with Trent. He got hurt and then ended up coming back and helped us get into the playoffs. I would hope they would applaud him. I know I’m going to shake his hand. I visited with him in the summer up at a golf tournament. He and his wife were there.”