Angel
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Desperate times
Don Banks, SI.com
KANSAS CITY -- His season swirling down the tubes, his team pushed to the precipice of playoff contention, Herman Edwards set his jaw Sunday afternoon and said it was no time to panic, even with the Chiefs' demoralizing 20-10 loss to visiting Baltimore.
Put me down for respectfully disagreeing. Because if not now, Herm, when? Next week at San Diego, when all is irretrievably lost? Actually, next week doesn't hold a lot of promise at this point, because even Kansas City's biggest stars admitted after the game that to make the postseason now, the Chiefs would need perfection from here on out, plus a lot of help.
"We can't make any mistakes,'' Chiefs running back Larry Johnson said of Kansas City's current plight, which finds them at 7-6 and looking up at seven other teams in the fight for the six AFC playoff berths. "We can't lose any games. And now we have to expect all the good teams to lose games, and that's rarely going to happen coming down to these last three games.''
So true, LJ. The odds are severely stacked against the Chiefs, who just picked the least opportune time of the season to go on a two-game losing streak. At the moment, the Bengals and Jaguars (both 8-5 and winners on Sunday) are your two AFC wild cards, with the Jets, Chiefs and Broncos all out of the money at 7-6.
Let's face it, football fans. With a trip to San Diego up next, K.C. is all but DOA. And that's why I say Edwards and his Chiefs should have treated this one like it was their final stand. Their last, best hope to salvage their season and return Kansas City to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
But instead, they opted to play it safe and predictable. Even if they seemed to know that sorry was their eventual destination.
Here was the situation: In the first half, Chiefs quarterback Trent Green threw two ugly interceptions and also fumbled the ball away when sacked by Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs. Three consecutive K.C. drives were ended by a Green miscue, two of them in Ravens territory and one of them in the red zone. Remarkably, the Chiefs only trailed 6-0 at the break, despite the very shaky Green completing just 5 of 13 passes, for 58 yards, with three sacks, two picks, the fumble, and a 13.1 passer rating.
At halftime, I'm wondering if Edwards will insert backup quarterback Damon Huard into the game, figuring that it's now or never time, and the game is still very much in reach. As bad as things had looked for the Chiefs at that point, the day could have still been saved.
After all, Huard was the guy who already had saved the Chiefs season once this year, going 5-3 in the eight games he started after Green suffered a serious concussion against Cincinnati in the season opener. Kansas City wouldn't even have had a meaningful Week 14 game if Huard had not come up as big as he did in his pinch-hitting role. And his numbers weren't measly: He threw 11 touchdowns and just one interception, with a passer rating of 97.6, and two of his three losses were three-point games.
Not a bad option to have in your pocket with the season on the line and starting to slip away. Unless you're Edwards, that is. Here's what he said when I asked him in the post-game if he thought about inserting Huard in the second half, given Green's three turnovers, poor play, and what was at stake for his team?
"No, no, that's a panic move. We're not going to panic,'' Edwards replied. "That's a panic move. What am I doing that for? I don't want to do that.''
Why in the name of Bill Kenney not? Green's a stand-up guy and a great teammate, and he's hung up some pretty numbers in his Chiefs career, but the last time I checked, we're not talking about benching Dan Marino in Miami or Peyton Manning in Indy. Green's next playoff win as Kansas City's quarterback will be his first.
Can someone please explain to me how the thought of yanking Green in favor of Huard never crossed Edwards' mind? With so much riding on what the Chiefs were able to accomplish in the second half?
As it turned out, Kansas City was never really a factor in the second half either. The Chiefs fell behind 13-0 and 20-3, and scored their only touchdown on a meaningless drive with 1:20 remaining. Even though Edwards left Green in the game, he took the ball out of his hands just the same, with Johnson carrying the offense in the third quarter and Green attempting just five passes. Green finished 15 of 27 for 178 yards, with five sacks, two interceptions, one touchdown and a 57.3 rating.
"It's tough when you put him in the known passing downs,'' Edwards said of Green, who is now 2-3 as a starter this season, with five touchdowns, five interceptions, four fumbles and 13 sacks. "You don't want to get back there throwing all the time. You have to be balanced against these guys because they had 42 sacks coming into this game.''
The Ravens pass rush was indeed relentless, hitting Green plenty of times besides just on the sacks, and often getting pressure despite sending just four pass rushers. Maybe Huard wouldn't have fared any better against Baltimore, but we'll never know.
This was a game the Chiefs simply had to win, and I loved their chances. They entered with an 18-game home regular-season winning streak in December, not having dropped a decision in that situation since the Colts beat them in 1996. But now, with that upset loss in overtime at Cleveland last week, which was made even more damaging by Sunday's results, Kansas City is once again looking like it'll come up short when it matters most.
"I would think so,'' said Green, when asked if the Chiefs had to win out and get some help. "You can't really say this because you don't know how the other games are going to unfold and the tiebreaker rules are. But you would think from a mathematical standpoint, and how many teams were 7-5 coming into today, you'd think we'd need help. We've definitely got to win in San Diego.''
At San Diego, at Oakland, home against Jacksonville is how the Chiefs' remaining schedule stands. That looks like 9-7 at best, and don't forget Kansas City missed the playoffs at 10-6 last year in the stacked AFC.
"Who cares about the playoffs?'' bellowed Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen in the locker room. "It's winning games, and we've got to stop this losing streak.''
It could be too late to really matter in Kansas City. That's why Sunday's second half seemed like the right time to panic. By next week, Herm, there might not be any season left to save.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...lug=cnnsi-desperatetimes&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
Don Banks, SI.com
KANSAS CITY -- His season swirling down the tubes, his team pushed to the precipice of playoff contention, Herman Edwards set his jaw Sunday afternoon and said it was no time to panic, even with the Chiefs' demoralizing 20-10 loss to visiting Baltimore.
Put me down for respectfully disagreeing. Because if not now, Herm, when? Next week at San Diego, when all is irretrievably lost? Actually, next week doesn't hold a lot of promise at this point, because even Kansas City's biggest stars admitted after the game that to make the postseason now, the Chiefs would need perfection from here on out, plus a lot of help.
"We can't make any mistakes,'' Chiefs running back Larry Johnson said of Kansas City's current plight, which finds them at 7-6 and looking up at seven other teams in the fight for the six AFC playoff berths. "We can't lose any games. And now we have to expect all the good teams to lose games, and that's rarely going to happen coming down to these last three games.''
So true, LJ. The odds are severely stacked against the Chiefs, who just picked the least opportune time of the season to go on a two-game losing streak. At the moment, the Bengals and Jaguars (both 8-5 and winners on Sunday) are your two AFC wild cards, with the Jets, Chiefs and Broncos all out of the money at 7-6.
Let's face it, football fans. With a trip to San Diego up next, K.C. is all but DOA. And that's why I say Edwards and his Chiefs should have treated this one like it was their final stand. Their last, best hope to salvage their season and return Kansas City to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
But instead, they opted to play it safe and predictable. Even if they seemed to know that sorry was their eventual destination.
Here was the situation: In the first half, Chiefs quarterback Trent Green threw two ugly interceptions and also fumbled the ball away when sacked by Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs. Three consecutive K.C. drives were ended by a Green miscue, two of them in Ravens territory and one of them in the red zone. Remarkably, the Chiefs only trailed 6-0 at the break, despite the very shaky Green completing just 5 of 13 passes, for 58 yards, with three sacks, two picks, the fumble, and a 13.1 passer rating.
At halftime, I'm wondering if Edwards will insert backup quarterback Damon Huard into the game, figuring that it's now or never time, and the game is still very much in reach. As bad as things had looked for the Chiefs at that point, the day could have still been saved.
After all, Huard was the guy who already had saved the Chiefs season once this year, going 5-3 in the eight games he started after Green suffered a serious concussion against Cincinnati in the season opener. Kansas City wouldn't even have had a meaningful Week 14 game if Huard had not come up as big as he did in his pinch-hitting role. And his numbers weren't measly: He threw 11 touchdowns and just one interception, with a passer rating of 97.6, and two of his three losses were three-point games.
Not a bad option to have in your pocket with the season on the line and starting to slip away. Unless you're Edwards, that is. Here's what he said when I asked him in the post-game if he thought about inserting Huard in the second half, given Green's three turnovers, poor play, and what was at stake for his team?
"No, no, that's a panic move. We're not going to panic,'' Edwards replied. "That's a panic move. What am I doing that for? I don't want to do that.''
Why in the name of Bill Kenney not? Green's a stand-up guy and a great teammate, and he's hung up some pretty numbers in his Chiefs career, but the last time I checked, we're not talking about benching Dan Marino in Miami or Peyton Manning in Indy. Green's next playoff win as Kansas City's quarterback will be his first.
Can someone please explain to me how the thought of yanking Green in favor of Huard never crossed Edwards' mind? With so much riding on what the Chiefs were able to accomplish in the second half?
As it turned out, Kansas City was never really a factor in the second half either. The Chiefs fell behind 13-0 and 20-3, and scored their only touchdown on a meaningless drive with 1:20 remaining. Even though Edwards left Green in the game, he took the ball out of his hands just the same, with Johnson carrying the offense in the third quarter and Green attempting just five passes. Green finished 15 of 27 for 178 yards, with five sacks, two interceptions, one touchdown and a 57.3 rating.
"It's tough when you put him in the known passing downs,'' Edwards said of Green, who is now 2-3 as a starter this season, with five touchdowns, five interceptions, four fumbles and 13 sacks. "You don't want to get back there throwing all the time. You have to be balanced against these guys because they had 42 sacks coming into this game.''
The Ravens pass rush was indeed relentless, hitting Green plenty of times besides just on the sacks, and often getting pressure despite sending just four pass rushers. Maybe Huard wouldn't have fared any better against Baltimore, but we'll never know.
This was a game the Chiefs simply had to win, and I loved their chances. They entered with an 18-game home regular-season winning streak in December, not having dropped a decision in that situation since the Colts beat them in 1996. But now, with that upset loss in overtime at Cleveland last week, which was made even more damaging by Sunday's results, Kansas City is once again looking like it'll come up short when it matters most.
"I would think so,'' said Green, when asked if the Chiefs had to win out and get some help. "You can't really say this because you don't know how the other games are going to unfold and the tiebreaker rules are. But you would think from a mathematical standpoint, and how many teams were 7-5 coming into today, you'd think we'd need help. We've definitely got to win in San Diego.''
At San Diego, at Oakland, home against Jacksonville is how the Chiefs' remaining schedule stands. That looks like 9-7 at best, and don't forget Kansas City missed the playoffs at 10-6 last year in the stacked AFC.
"Who cares about the playoffs?'' bellowed Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen in the locker room. "It's winning games, and we've got to stop this losing streak.''
It could be too late to really matter in Kansas City. That's why Sunday's second half seemed like the right time to panic. By next week, Herm, there might not be any season left to save.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...lug=cnnsi-desperatetimes&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns