Since the Chiefs looked lost, had no plan and no real sense of direction, I in turn will follow their lead. After all, Herm has a “plan”. Random thoughts on the game:

The NFL just announced that they are going to create a new stat just for QB Tyler Thigpen:
“Near Interception”

Receivers are dropping balls, defenders can’t tackle, hey Herm, “What do you say you DO here?”

LEN DAWSON: (after 70 yd. Atlanta TD) “That’s the reason you go deep.”

After Thigpen completes his 1st pass for -1 yd. on a screen, Len Dawson has to explain how a screen play works, that there has to be the threat of a deep pass for people to buy the fake and let the screen develop. This is football 101, ridiculous.

After one quarter, Atlanta had 169 yards, and KC had 7 yards of total offense. Chan Gailey has been successful in this league, yet he looks to be running the same offense as Mike Solari. The common denominator appears to be Hermcuffs.

Going back to last year, KC had 8 straight games without a touchdown in the 1st quarter. Starting with the Jets game last year, KC had now gone three straight games with no touchdowns throughout the first three quarters.

Thigpen started the game 2 for 13 for 12 yards and two interceptions. Herm said Damon Huard would come in if Tyler struggled. I would love to hear the Hermy Shuffle on the definition of “struggle”. I don’t work for Webster’s, but when you complete just as many passes to the opponents as you do to your own team, I would consider that a struggle.

How many picks has Thigpen thrown in two games? Four. How many NFL games has he won? None. Yet Herm can’t decide who the better QB is, Huard or Thigpen. Unfreakinbelievable.

Who now thinks we can beat Miami? I sure am glad we don’t play the Rams this year.

1981 San Diego Chargers

NFL Films has a great series, “America’s Game”, about all the Super Bowl winners. Now that it is over, they are making new ones about teams that got close, but didn’t win the big one, and the 1981 Chargers were the first show.

San Diego ran the same offense that the Chiefs ran under Dick Vermeil, and a lot of people, including the great Herm Edwards, blamed the offense for the defensive struggles, saying they scored too fast. Well, this topic was discussed on the show.

DAN FOUTS: “I don’t get that, it’s our job to score.”

HANK BAUER: “If we score in three plays, then you (the defense) go stop them in three plays.”

The thinking is that if the offense scores too fast, the defense is on the field too long, but there are two problems with that. First, what about the opposing defense? They are only on the field for three plays, so they should be super fresh, right? Why can’t they stop them if they are so fresh?

Second, relating to the Chiefs, DV’s teams were in the top five in time of possession, so that excuse and blame doesn’t apply here. But just for argument’s sake, let’s go with the premise. Please tell me Herm, which is worse, going three plays and punting, or going three plays and scoring? Which hurts the team more, four 1st quarter punts, or four 1st quarter TDs?

Celebutards Get Political

Russell Brand, the British comic (I use the term comic very loosely), hosted the MTV Awards and used his opportunity to make political speeches, instead of, you know, jokes. He pleaded for us to vote for Obama and took several shots at our current President.

It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you are on, a good joke is a good joke, but it still needs to be a JOKE. Can you imagine one of our celebs going to another country, insulting their leader and telling them how to vote?

Jets-Chargers MNF

If there is any consolation for Chief fans, there are coaches who are just as dumb as the great Herm Edwards. Take Eric “Mangenius”, for example. The Jets are down 22 points with three minutes left in the game. That breaks down to three scores of 7, 7, and 8 points.

You always save the two-point conversion for the LAST score, because if you go for it first and don’t get it, you really screw yourself. The Jets went for it first, didn’t get it, and that left them down 16 points, meaning they now have to try for a two-point conversion two more times. That was a bad call.

What made it worse, was that the Chargers had three penalties that moved the ball to the quarter yard line. So what do the Jets do? Come out with five wide receivers and an empty backfield. Why would you throw it when you only have to go nine inches? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Jay Feely

The following was posted on Yahoo Sports a while back. I’m sure most of you saw it, but just in case you didn’t here it is. I wanted to comment on the issue, but this writer said it perfectly and even in my sarcastic tone. Curses!

Jay Feely, Chief for a day
Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:43 pm EDT
By MJD

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Jay-Feely-Chief-for-a-day?urn=nfl,104193

Hermisms

Q: Is Damon Huard your starter at QB this Sunday?

EDWARDS: “We’ll decide. I’ll decide on that tomorrow. I’ll sleep on it a little bit more. I’m leaning that way. We’ll see. I’ve got to address the team about exactly what we’ll do.”

JD: What is there to decide? Tyler has thrown four interceptions in two games, with one going back the other way for a touchdown. Like him or not, Huard is the best QB on the roster.

EDWARDS: “I thought we found out a lot about (Tyler) and he found out a lot about himself, too – what it’s going to take for him to play in this league.”

JD: Gee, I thought we found out about him in pre-season.

Q: You said he struggled and actually he was one-for-ten at one point. What made you continue to think he would get better? Why leave him in there?

EDWARDS: “Because I’m patient. I’m patient with this whole process and it is a process. This whole situation we are in right now is a process and you know it and, I think, sometimes if you don’t realize that you won’t be patient.”

JD: Patient, patient, patient, process, process, process. If I don’t realize this is a process, I won’t be patient? WTF?

EDWARDS: “You’ll panic and I’m not a panic kind of guy. When you panic you make wrong decisions. You never find out really what the plan is going to be unless you lay out the plan and you go forth with it.”

JD: Panic, panic, panic. I won’t know what the plan is until I make the plan? Brilliant, Herm.

EDWARDS: “I was in this situation before with Tony (Dungy) in Tampa. The same thing, the same exact thing except we had some more players held over on that football team than we do on this football team. So, this was about playing young guys and trying to win with young guys. And, I’m saying it again: trying to win with young guys. That’s the intent and that will be the intent. The thing I do know is we will find out about every guy on this roster. Are they good enough to play with; are they good enough to win with. That’s our intent and we will continue to do that.”

JD: Intent, intent, intent. Playing young players isn’t the only problem, it’s you Hermcuffing our coordinator and expecting results behind a crappy offensive line. You complained about DV not replacing Will Shields and Willie Roaf, yet how many offensive linemen have you drafted that are starting? The offensive line was a huge problem last year, yet you only drafted two. Makes sense.

Q: How much of a strain does it put on your offense potentially changing quarterbacks rather than going with one?

EDWARDS: “No rhythm. That hurt from the first game when you lose your starting quarterback. It’s tough. You have to move and that’s what we’ve done.”

JD: No, what’s tough is you yanking a proven starter for a fake injury, to play two guys who are just happy to be on the team.

EDWARDS: “What’s hurt us more than anything else, I think, is when you look at us we haven’t made a lot of explosive plays in the passing game. I think we have exactly three plays over 20 yards in passing. We only have eight runs over 10 yards.”

JD: Then why don’t you do it? Chan threw the ball in the pre-season against Chicago, but after that, it was back to last year’s offense.

EDWARDS: “We’ve got to get better at it. We’ve got to coach the guys we have and they’ve got to get better. That’s who we have. This team will get better. That’s what is going to happen.”

JD: How can you get better if you don’t even try to throw it downfield?

Q: Is the breakdown on big pass plays a protection problem?

EDWARDS: “Been sacked 11 times so far. That’s not very good. I don’t know if it’s protection.”

JD: And Herm the Contradictor returns. He agrees with the question but closes it off by saying he doesn’t know. Brilliant. If getting sacked is not a protection problem, then what is it? If they were doing a good job protecting then he wouldn’t get sacked, would he?

EDWARDS: “We’ve got to make some plays in the passing game. We’ve got to hit some passes and it doesn’t have to be a bomb of 50 yards; it can be a nice shot like the one in New England (to Darling) that was a slant the guy ran off for 45 yards.”

JD: You were just complaining that you’ve only had three pass plays of over 20 yards. Maybe if you threw more 50 yard bombs that would open up the short slant routes.

Q: It’s (tackling) a basic fundamental skill of football.

EDWARDS: “But it happens all the time. Watch tape all the time and there is a lot of tackles being missed in this league. Really is. It’s more than you can imagine when you watch other teams play. But when you win guess what? People don’t talk about missed tackles. When you lose as we’ve been doing everything gets magnified. You know that and when things get magnified the first thing you want to do is, say, let’s change this. Let’s do this different and that different and then all of a sudden the plan you have is really no plan at all.”

JD: Not making changes to a plan that doesn’t work isn’t much of a plan either.

EDWARDS: “Our plan is to get these young players better, to win with them, to win right now with and we’re not going to change what we do with them because you can’t. It’s unfair to everybody. It’s unfair to the organization; it’s unfair to what we decided to do in the spring. Now, all of a sudden it becomes more difficult and we’re playing games and not winning – well, we’re going to get better. That’s all you can do.”

JD: Playing Thigpen to see what he’s got is not playing “to win right now”, is it?

Q: The offensive problems you can understand but the defense was getting better. Is that more of a frustration that you haven’t been improving on the defensive side of the ball?

EDWARDS: “Their problem is they’ve given up big plays. That’s the problem. They’ve given up big plays and that’s where the yardage comes from, where the scores come from. When you look at them they have to learn how to play together. They play good for series.”

JD: Maybe the problem is the offense not doing jack for three quarters. Kind of like last year.

Q: We heard that (It’s the big plays that are getting us) a lot in the previous regime.

JD: So? The “previous regime” was three YEARS AGO. Get over it.

EDWARDS: “I’m not making excuses. You’re asking me a question and I’m trying to answer it truthfully. I’m not making excuses for players or coaches. I don’t make excuses. I just tell the truth.”

JD: Once again, Herm has to remind us that he tells the truth. Honest people do not have to continually do that. It’s even funnier that his “truth” statement comes immediately after a lie. All Herm EVER does is make excuses.

Q: How do you get better? You say that but it doesn’t get better.

JD: Great question.

EDWARDS: “Continue to practice. Continue to play young players and they’ll continue to get better by playing. That’s the only way they get better. You can practice all you want and you can tell them what to do but until they play in the game and continue to get better at what they do it’s all you can do.”

JD: And Herm the Contradictor returns, again. His answer is practice, but then goes to on to say practice doesn’t matter, they need game experience. Brilliant.

Q: Is the quarterback position different then because if you’re going to go with Damon Huard and not to Tyler then how’s he going to get better?

JD: Another great question. The media is starting to call out Herm on his nonsense.

EDWARDS: “The thing with the quarterback situation is a little bit different than any position because you can’t win if you keep turning the ball over. I know that. I just said we’ve given up 30 points on turnovers. You can’t turn the ball over. We’re too fragile right now. We can’t. That’s one thing you cannot do, so when you’re in that situation and struggling you don’t want a guy who’s gonna turn the ball over and right now he’s turned the ball over. All rookie quarterbacks turn the ball over. You anticipate that. They all do – every guy who’s ever played in this league. I said the same thing about Brodie. They turn the ball over. They don’t want to but it’s just a given. We can’t afford that.”

JD: Then why did you pull Damon against Oakland and start Tyler at Atlanta?

Q: At some point would a win help?

EDWARDS: “Absolutely. That would validate a lot of things.”

JD: So by that logic, does losing invalidate a lot of things, like your plan?

EDWARDS: “It gives you more confidence in what you’re doing. That’s the great thing about this league. When you win there’s nothing like it. They’re hard to come by. This is hard.”

JD: Sure it’s hard. When you Hermcuff your players with generic play calling and refuse to make adjustments after a record 12 game losing streak, of course it will be hard.

EDWARDS: “We’re all sitting in a place where it’s not very comfortable sitting. But I know who I am and I’m not going to panic. I’m not going to change this and put this guy in the game and change the offense, change the defense. We’re not going to do that.”

JD: And Herm the Liar returns, again. “I’m not going to change this and put this guy in”, except that Damon will start. “I’m not going to change this and put this guy in”, except that Tyler will start. “I’m not going to change this and put this guy in”, except that “Slash” will take some snaps.

Q: Is there any pressure from within the organization to do that – change?

EDWARDS: “No. No, no, no. This organization is all on the same boat. We’re all going down the same road.”

JD: Yep, we’re all going down the same road in the same BOAT. All aboard Herm’s Wacky Logic Train.

Q: What are the things that the Broncos have done to get Jay Cutler to be the player he’s turned out to be?

EDWARDS: “Real simple. Mike’s been patient. He’s been very patient. He’s been very patient with this guy.”

JD: Patient, patient, patient. And he has a good offensive line. Oops! I’m sorry, it’s not the line, it’s the patience. “Yaaaah, yah, just a little patience”

Q: What is your recollection of Cutler and in comparison to the quarterbacks taken in front of him?

EDWARDS: “We thought he was good but at the point we had some veteran quarterbacks who we thought were pretty good. We had a guy named Trent Green.”

JD: So it’s Trent’s fault? I just thought you said you don’t make excuses? You just F’N said it! Plus, I’m pretty sure they were asking about the quarterbacks drafted before Cutler in the ’05 or ’06 draft (whenever it was). Since Trent was drafted in ’93, I know technically that means he was taken before Cutler, but I don’t think that really answers the question.

Q: But you took Brodie in the third round?

EDWARDS: “Yeah, we took Brodie in the third because we had two veteran quarterbacks. We had Damon and Trent and we needed a young quarterback.”

JD: So even though you had a veteran QB, you were still able to draft a rookie. Way to contradict yourself, again.

Q: Are you inclined to stick with the same quarterback until Brodie gets back?

EDWARDS: “We’ll look at the game and see what happens. You do what’s best for your team.”

JD: So, you do what’s best for your team when it’s Damon or Tyler, but not when it’s Brodie?

Q: Have any of your peers said you’re a braver man than I in putting in this youth movement?

JD: Is Blob asking this softball question?

EDWARDS: “Bill Belichick, who said I admire you for what you’re doing.”

JD: Sure, Belicheat admires him. Does that mean he would do it himself? Since Bill signed a ton of over the hill, aged veterans, I would say probably not. Herm is risking trashing his career and burying a franchise. Betting everything you own on one hand is admirable in way just because no sane man would do something that stupid.

Q: Not that you need that, but when one of your peers says that what does that mean?

EDWARDS: “They knew last year and I talked about it. That’s where we’re at right now. Someone has to do it and I’m fine with it. I’m the guy to do it. I knew that when I took this job – that we were going to be in this situation and were going to have to do this. Whether it was after my first year or second year we were going to have to do this. We’re committed to it and we’re going to stick to this plan.

JD: Record 12 straight losses be damned!

EDWARDS: “It’s never easy to do it. When you decide you just do it. I can remember sitting on the couch in Tampa with Tony saying I left Kansas City and going to the playoffs every year and you’ve got me down here. Why are we doing this, I said? He said it’s going to be okay and it’s going to be all right. We’re doing the right thing. Living through it I learned a valuable lesson about being patient and sticking with your conviction. It’s the right thing to do and everything turned out pretty good.”

JD: Dungy is a good coach and he did wonders for Tampa, but he was not able to get them over the hump. Tony didn’t win a Super Bowl until he inherited a record breaking offense. Hey, didn’t Herm inherit a record breaking offense? Oops!

Q: In that context how welcome would a win be?

EDWARDS: “Huge. Like three Christmases rolled into one and New Years and everything else. What I went through last year with that team and what I’m going through this year right now I’m not used to. I’m really not.”

JD: Even though you went 6-10 in ’03 and 4-12 in ’05 with the Jets?

EDWARDS: “But I know there is some pain in life you have to go through. If you quit and you change your mind that I’m not going to do. I believe in these players and I believe they’re going to get better.”

JD: Not giving up is a great quality, but you also need to realize when it’s not working. It doesn’t matter how much I believe I can leap tall buildings in a single bound by putting on red and blue pajamas, it ain’t gonna happen.