Something to cheer you up.

[Atlas]

Herm has dreadful opener
By JASON WHITLOCK
The Kansas City Star
SoCals link: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15488713.htm

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Let the record show that Chiefs fans booed coach Herm Edwards on Kansas City’s second offensive possession of the 2006 season.

On third and 5 at the Cincinnati 11, Edwards’ offensive unit slammed running back Larry Johnson into the heart of the Bengals’ defense for the fifth straight time. Bengals middle linebacker Brian Simmons stoned Johnson at the line of scrimmage, forcing the Chiefs to settle for a field goal.

A massive flock of boo birds took flight inside Arrowhead Stadium, spelling out just how short Edwards’ honeymoon period will be in Kansas City.

Edwards didn’t even get to unpack his bags.

The conservative, play-for-three-points reputation he built in New York has Chiefs fans ready to pounce. The punchless offensive attack that contributed to the Chiefs’ disappointing 23-10 loss to the Bengals will certainly have Kansas City football fans openly questioning Edwards’ competence.

We haven’t seen a debut this bad since the maker of the Titanic shouted, “full steam ahead.”

Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers might go down as the iceberg that sank the 2006 Chiefs. His illegal-but-unpenalized, third-quarter hit on Trent Green could ruin Kansas City’s football season.

But they don’t make movies about icebergs. Hollywood loves to tell the stories behind the stories. And Edwards was the story on Sunday — not Green’s concussion or whether Geathers was pushed into his flying collision with a hook-sliding Green.

For a day, at least, Edwards stripped KC’s offense of the attacking nature that made the unit celebrated, decorated and overcompensated for five years under Dick Vermeil. The Chiefs scored 10 points against one of the league’s mediocre defenses.

You could see the poor performance coming when the Chiefs turned ultraconservative in the red zone on their second possession. The third-and-5 call foreshadowed a miserable day.

“Missed communication on the call,” Edwards said when I asked about the play call. “I’ll leave it at that.”

So I asked Tony Gonzalez what the “missed communication” was.

“Mike Solari came in at halftime and said he messed up,” Gonzalez said. “He thought it was third and 2.”

Another member of the Chiefs said Solari — who left the locker room without talking with reporters — thought it was second down.

Wow. Solari, Kansas City’s first-year, first-time offensive coordinator, thought the Chiefs needed just 2 yards or he thought it was second down. Was anybody else confused? I wasn’t.

That’s really bad coaching. And it reflects poorly on Edwards. He’s known as a bad game manager, a poor clock manager. He needed to call a timeout in that situation. Edwards needs to create an environment in which his veteran QB feels comfortable enough to call a timeout when a play call that bad gets signaled into his helmet.

Solari’s mistake wasn’t the lone Kansas City coaching error.

Gunther Cunningham’s defensive unit looked terrific until Cincy flipped to a no-huddle offense. Using a variety of disguised coverages and exotic blitzes, the Chiefs shut out the Bengals in the first quarter. Quarterback Carson Palmer and receiver Chad Johnson were out of rhythm. In the first quarter, Palmer shouted at Johnson for not making the proper route adjustment to man coverage.

In the second quarter, the Bengals switched to their no-huddle offense. KC’s defense turned vanilla — a lot more Cover 2 and a lot more predictable. By changing the pace of their offense, the Bengals dictated KC’s scheme and personnel and forced the Chiefs’ defensive linemen to start sucking air.

Cincinnati scored 17 points in the second quarter and took control of the game. You have to tip your hat to Marvin Lewis and his coaching staff. They miraculously managed to keep track of down and distance and use a little imagination.

You could argue that Chiefs fans booed for the wrong reason. You could also argue that they were right for booing.

[Spider]

I watched this game , all I could do was laugh thinking about the Chief fans here that told me the offense wouldnt miss a beat ........ LJ is a stud , no denying that , but he wont carry the Chiefs ........

[Atlas]

Once-great offense now only a memory
By JOE POSNANSKI
The Kansas City Star

SoCals link: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15489045.htm
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Today is a good day to pay a final tribute to the Chiefs offenses of the new millennium. Those Chiefs offenses thrilled us, didn’t they? From 2001 to 2005, the Chiefs scored more points than any other team in the NFL. It was something.

No, the Chiefs did not win a playoff game in that era — and they made the playoffs only once — but blaming the offense for that would be like blaming the Beatles for the collapse of rock ’n’ roll. Five straight years the Chiefs finished in the top five in yards. They scored 30 or more points 30 times. They scored 40 or more 15 times. They set record after record, they filled up the Pro Bowl rosters, they made big play after big play, and they were never out of a game.

Today is a good day to raise a glass to those great Chiefs offenses of old.

They are gone forever, folks.

To me, that was the big story of the Chiefs loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. True, there were many stories in that game, and you wouldn’t want to tell any of them to your kids. Wow. It’s hard to imagine how Herm Edwards’ debut could have been worse. I suppose, on the bright side, nobody forgot their shoes in the locker room. It’s something to build on.

Everything else went wrong, including the Chiefs’ uniform choice. They wore white uniforms at home for the first time ever. What? I realize that Edwards wanted to break away from the past, but the Chiefs were 65-23 wearing red in Kansas City the last 11 years. Home whites at Arrowhead? Sheesh. This is like Drew Carey saying, “I’ve had enough of the thick glasses.”

After that fashion faux pas, the Chiefs fumbled the ball on the second play of the season. Dante Hall fumbled a punt. The offensive line allowed seven sacks. Trent Green was knocked unconscious for 11 minutes by a vicious hit that must not have happened because the officials didn’t throw a flag. The Chiefs defended the Bengals’ no-huddle offense more or less the way earthlings in science-fiction movies defend against aliens with ray guns — you know, by running around and yelling, “Aieeee!”

“It’s all correctible,” was Herm Edwards overall synopsis of the 23-10 loss, and he may be right. It really is just one game, Edwards’ first game. And the Chiefs did show signs of being good against the run. They did prevent Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer from throwing the ball downfield. Running back Larry Johnson did show the power and speed combination that got him on the cover of every single American magazine, including Fido Friendly (the travel magazine for you and your dog!).

So no, you don’t want to panic after only one game; there’s plenty of time to panic after Denver next week. But it’s not too early to say this: The great Chiefs offense — the one we have grown accustomed to — is no more.

This isn’t anyone’s fault. Yes, Edwards coaches so conservatively, there are tax cuts written into the playbook. Yes, offensive coordinator Al Saunders is gone, and new offensive coordinator Mike Solari is an offensive-line guy. Yes, offensive lineman Willie Roaf retired, and fullback Tony Richardson now plays for Minnesota. Those are factors, sure.

But the real reason that the Chiefs offense is gone for good is the same reason that the San Francisco 49ers don’t score points like mad and the Minnesota Vikings no longer are the Purple People Eaters. Time moves on. The Chiefs offense had a great five-year run. They had the best offensive line on earth, they had Priest Holmes picking and slicing defenses, they had Trent Green making the smart throws, they had Tony Gonzalez catching balls in traffic, they had Eddie Kennison to catch the deep ball.

Now? The offensive line is much older — three of the five linemen are older than 30, and Brian Waters is almost 30 — and you can’t knock around defenders forever. Holmes is in San Antonio and couldn’t be reached for comment. Green is 35 and in a hospital. Kennison is 33 and on his one deep pass Sunday the defensive back covered him so closely you would have sworn they were wearing the same pants. Even Gonzalez, who had 10 catches on Sunday, is in his 10th season.

It’s not as if all of these players are suddenly feeble and decrepit. Age doesn’t work that way. They will have their moments this year. But old linemen find, more and more, they don’t quite have the quickness to stop the speed rush. Old receivers find it harder to get separation. Old quarterbacks have a tougher time getting up after the big hits. Football is a cruel game. Chiefs fans may remember watching those great Chiefs players of the 1960s play on into the 1970s — it wasn’t a pretty sight.

This is not to say the Chiefs offense will go scoreless the rest of the way or even turn into the Steve Bono offenses of the mid-90s. Things are not hopeless. The Chiefs have too many good offensive players — including the best running back in pro football. If Trent Green can return soon, the offense will still score some points. And the schedule has plenty of winnable games.

But it’s clear now that the Chiefs will have to win in a different way. No more shootouts. No more last-minute heroics. The defense will have to become dominant. Larry Johnson will carry the ball 30 or 35 times per game. Turnovers will be key. Punter Dustin Colquitt will be a huge factor. The Chiefs will go back to the game we lovingly (and not-so-lovingly) called “Martyball”.

We suspected this when Edwards took over, but now we know for sure. Sunday’s game left no doubts. Brian Waters was asked afterward whether the Chiefs could be a great offense again. He started to say, ‘Yes,” — because that’s what a player is supposed to say. But Brian Waters is an honest man.

He said: “It doesn’t matter if we have a great offense. We need to win football games.”

Yes, all that scoring was fun. Take a moment today to remember all those great plays the Chiefs offense made. But it couldn’t last forever. The circus always leaves town

[Atlas]

Herm is a QB killer!!!

Huard most likely will start next weekend at Denver, and he looked somewhat uncomfortable when the cameras swarmed around his locker after the game.

But Edwards is very familiar with trying to make do after the loss of a quarterback. Four of his signal-callers went down in New York last year, including starter Chad Pennington.

“(Trent) has been such a resilient guy for us,” Peterson said. “Five consecutive years and never being knocked out of a game … I don’t know. Percentages sometimes catch up to you.”

SoCals link: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15488716.htm