[Kansas.com] Getting sprayed with Mace by police before Kansas City played Philadelphia did not prevent assistant coach Jason Verduzco from doing a good job during the game, Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said Tuesday.
Vermeil declined to speak specifically about the incident, other than saying he was supporting his 35-year-old tight ends coach.
“I think I know what went on. I’m not as concerned about it,” Vermeil said. “It’s unfortunate. It shouldn’t have happened. It could have been prevented. But that’s as far as I’ll go with it.”
Although he was late getting into the stadium, Vermeil said Verduzco “did fine” relaying plays from offensive coordinator Al Saunders in the press box to quarterback Trent Green on the field.
“He’s in the second-most pressured situation in the ball game. He takes every call and repeats it … verbatim to the quarterback,” Vermeil said.
“And sometimes he has no time left. It always doesn’t get down there in time to go, `Hey, this is what I’m going to call, young man.’”
Vermeil praised Verduzco’s ability to work under pressure.
“I have never been on the field with a guy who does a better job under pressure than he does. Having been a quarterback himself, he coached the quarterbacks and he knows this offense inside-out and backwards. He’s a real asset. We could not have given that job to anybody else to do Sunday if he’d really been detained.”
