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Chiefs say it’s time to kick it up a notch
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
At stake for the Chiefs in their next preseason game against St. Louis on Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium is the Governor’s Cup, not the Lombardi Trophy.
Forgive the Chiefs if they look less as if they’re playing for the chalice given to the winner of their annual preseason game with the Rams and more as if they’re shooting for the hardware that goes to the Super Bowl winner.
The stench of their 0-2 preseason and particularly last week’s 17-0 loss to the Giants is creating a sense of urgency uncommon for an August exhibition.
“This is a game we’ve got to play with much more urgency and emotion,” coach Herm Edwards said. “I’m pretty sure guys will do that.”
The Chiefs have heard the message from Edwards and, by all accounts, are buying in.
“It’s frustrating,” quarterback Trent Green said. “You’d like to see us have more success early on, especially with the first-unit offense and the first-unit defense. When you talk about the rest of the game, you’re talking about developing young players. The focus for us as far as the (starters) on offense and defense is to get better.
“Is it time to panic? No. But I think we definitely have to have a sense of urgency going into next week’s game.”
Taken alone, preseason results are usually meaningless. The Chiefs failed to win any of their four exhibition games last year, and in the regular season won their first two games and eight more.
The Colts were 0-5 last summer and won their first 13 real games.
“I’d like to win preseason games,” Edwards said. “Up in New York we were 15-6, and the only teams that won that many games in five years were us and Denver. I don’t want anyone to ever think we’re playing preseason games just to play them. We’re trying to win them.
“You can make preseason what you want to make it. You can try to win games. We won a bunch of them up in New York. Sometimes that helps you, sometimes it doesn’t. It makes you feel better. We’re evaluating players. This is my first year here. I think we’ve done a good job of getting everybody on the field to evaluate them as best we know how.”
But the Chiefs have been dominated by the Texans and Giants for large chunks of prime time. They for the most part are failing to play the Herm Edwards way: controlling the ball and the clock on offense, and getting off the field on defense.
Time of possession has been one-sided for the opponent in each game. That’s one sign of an uninspired team.
“We’ve got to be more focused,” Edwards said. “We practice very well. But we’ve got to apply it on the field in a game. We can’t go out there and just wait for somebody to make a play. We’ve got to make plays. We’ve got to make plays on both sides of the ball.”
“When you come in with a new system on defense and a new coordinator on offense, you’re not going to be clicking (immediately). I understand that. The way we played the last couple of games, we played pretty vanilla. We’re trying to evaluate players, but still you’ve got to play with more urgency than we’ve played with. That’s what we’ve got to do this week.”
As Edwards suggested, the lousy preseason start shouldn’t be a complete surprise. On offense, the Chiefs are shifting from a continual-attack mode to a ball-control focus favored by Edwards.
They had one nice, 7-minute touchdown drive in Houston, but otherwise look like an offense trying to find its way.
On defense, coordinator Gunther Cunningham appears afraid to show anything that can help regular-season opponents.
“We’re playing like a team that’s transitioning,” said guard Brian Waters, who missed the two games because of a sprained foot. “This is what you should expect in this particular situation we’re dealing with right now. We’re transitioning to some different players. In the first game, we only had two quarterbacks to play. We’re dealing with a lot of issues.
“We don’t want to have a lot of excuses. Guys have to play better all the way around.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up next
Rams at Chiefs, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/15322042.htm
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
At stake for the Chiefs in their next preseason game against St. Louis on Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium is the Governor’s Cup, not the Lombardi Trophy.
Forgive the Chiefs if they look less as if they’re playing for the chalice given to the winner of their annual preseason game with the Rams and more as if they’re shooting for the hardware that goes to the Super Bowl winner.
The stench of their 0-2 preseason and particularly last week’s 17-0 loss to the Giants is creating a sense of urgency uncommon for an August exhibition.
“This is a game we’ve got to play with much more urgency and emotion,” coach Herm Edwards said. “I’m pretty sure guys will do that.”
The Chiefs have heard the message from Edwards and, by all accounts, are buying in.
“It’s frustrating,” quarterback Trent Green said. “You’d like to see us have more success early on, especially with the first-unit offense and the first-unit defense. When you talk about the rest of the game, you’re talking about developing young players. The focus for us as far as the (starters) on offense and defense is to get better.
“Is it time to panic? No. But I think we definitely have to have a sense of urgency going into next week’s game.”
Taken alone, preseason results are usually meaningless. The Chiefs failed to win any of their four exhibition games last year, and in the regular season won their first two games and eight more.
The Colts were 0-5 last summer and won their first 13 real games.
“I’d like to win preseason games,” Edwards said. “Up in New York we were 15-6, and the only teams that won that many games in five years were us and Denver. I don’t want anyone to ever think we’re playing preseason games just to play them. We’re trying to win them.
“You can make preseason what you want to make it. You can try to win games. We won a bunch of them up in New York. Sometimes that helps you, sometimes it doesn’t. It makes you feel better. We’re evaluating players. This is my first year here. I think we’ve done a good job of getting everybody on the field to evaluate them as best we know how.”
But the Chiefs have been dominated by the Texans and Giants for large chunks of prime time. They for the most part are failing to play the Herm Edwards way: controlling the ball and the clock on offense, and getting off the field on defense.
Time of possession has been one-sided for the opponent in each game. That’s one sign of an uninspired team.
“We’ve got to be more focused,” Edwards said. “We practice very well. But we’ve got to apply it on the field in a game. We can’t go out there and just wait for somebody to make a play. We’ve got to make plays. We’ve got to make plays on both sides of the ball.”
“When you come in with a new system on defense and a new coordinator on offense, you’re not going to be clicking (immediately). I understand that. The way we played the last couple of games, we played pretty vanilla. We’re trying to evaluate players, but still you’ve got to play with more urgency than we’ve played with. That’s what we’ve got to do this week.”
As Edwards suggested, the lousy preseason start shouldn’t be a complete surprise. On offense, the Chiefs are shifting from a continual-attack mode to a ball-control focus favored by Edwards.
They had one nice, 7-minute touchdown drive in Houston, but otherwise look like an offense trying to find its way.
On defense, coordinator Gunther Cunningham appears afraid to show anything that can help regular-season opponents.
“We’re playing like a team that’s transitioning,” said guard Brian Waters, who missed the two games because of a sprained foot. “This is what you should expect in this particular situation we’re dealing with right now. We’re transitioning to some different players. In the first game, we only had two quarterbacks to play. We’re dealing with a lot of issues.
“We don’t want to have a lot of excuses. Guys have to play better all the way around.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Up next
Rams at Chiefs, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/15322042.htm
or else this season might already be in the crapper