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Ready for the real thing
Chiefs have little motivation for Thursday’s final preseason game.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Given the choice, the Chiefs would make the same decision a lot of their fans might.
They would skip the final preseason game Thursday night against the Saints at Arrowhead Stadium and move directly to the Sept. 10 regular-season opener against the Bengals.
That way nobody gets hurt, and the Chiefs can work on things in the privacy of their own practice field.
They just can’t make that declaration publicly.
“I can’t say that,” coach Herm Edwards said. “The new commissioner might get mad at me.”
At least some of them can’t say it.
“I’ve been anxious since about two weeks ago,” linebacker Kawika Mitchell said. “I’ve been moody at home and ready for the regular season. I want it to be for real right now. It’s time to get going, time to get ready for Cincinnati.”
Unlike their ticket holders, the Chiefs don’t have the option of not showing for Thursday’s game. So, other than the treat of getting to watch New Orleans rookie Reggie Bush in person, the Chiefs have a few objectives for their final exhibition:
• Stay healthy. There’s nothing worse than losing a key player in the last tuneup, as the Chiefs did two years ago with rookie tight end Kris Wilson.
The starters will be pulled quickly. Edwards cautioned fans not to blink Thursday or they might miss them. Some key players, most notably Larry Johnson and the injured Will Shields, won’t play.
• Fine-tune the play-calling. Edwards and offensive coordinator Mike Solari aren’t thinking as one yet. The head coach was upset at the play calls at two junctures of Saturday night’s win over the Rams.
The first came near the end of the first half. The Chiefs were at the St. Louis 27 in the final seconds when Solari ordered rookie quarterback Brodie Croyle to try two deep passes.
One was incomplete. The other drew an offensive interference penalty on another rookie, Jeff Webb.
The penalty pushed the Chiefs to the edge of Lawrence Tynes’ range. Tynes made a 50-yard field goal but, in the opinion of Edwards, the penalty could have pushed them out of his range.
“You don’t make (50-yard kicks) on the road,” Edwards said. “You won’t make that 50-yard field goal in December when it’s cold.
“We took two shots at the end of the half. You don’t need to do that. It’s 13-3 and you’ve got a chance to make it 16-3 and we’re messing around trying to throw another touchdown pass. A lot of bad things can happen to you. It can be intercepted; That didn’t happen. You can get sacked; That didn’t happen. You can get (offensive) pass interference; That happened.”
Later, Solari had another developmental quarterback, Casey Printers, drop back to pass on third and 2 when the Chiefs were trying to protect their four-point lead and kill the clock as it approached 2 minutes left in the game.
Printers was sacked and the Chiefs had to punt, giving the Rams the ball one last time.
“In a real game, you want to have the ability to close them out,” Edwards said. “The (Rams) shouldn’t get the ball back. The game should be over, and you shouldn’t have to punt.
“There are still a lot of things we have to do a lot better if we’re going to be the type of team we can be. All of those things count. All of those things matter. These coaches will understand my mind-set might be a little bit different than it used to be.”
• Fix the running game. The Chiefs were better against the Rams early in the game but are still averaging a paltry 3.2 yards per carry in the preseason. Johnson, who averaged more than 8 yards last preseason and more than 5 in the regular season, is at 3.8.
That might be tough to do since Johnson probably won’t play. Neither will fullback Ronnie Cruz nor halfback Dee Brown because of injuries.
But the Chiefs would like to start opening some of the same huge holes they opened so often for Johnson last year.
• Show some discipline. Nobody is claiming the Chiefs are suddenly the Raiders when it comes to drawing the yellow flags. Ten teams have more preseason penalties, and 13 have more penalty yardage.
Neither are they the Jets, among the least penalized teams in the league last season while coached by Edwards. The Chiefs can no longer afford penalties, not when they’re playing a brand of game where field position is so important.
The Chiefs had 10 penalties against the Rams. The previous week in New York, a promising drive was killed when the Chiefs had penalties on consecutive plays.
“You can’t have 10 penalties in a game,” Edwards said. “That’s bad ball. We’ve got to stay away from the fouls. The fouls kill you. They stop drives. They prolong drives.
“I’m a perfectionist. I’m a detail guy. I want to do things right.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15385166.htm
Chiefs have little motivation for Thursday’s final preseason game.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Given the choice, the Chiefs would make the same decision a lot of their fans might.
They would skip the final preseason game Thursday night against the Saints at Arrowhead Stadium and move directly to the Sept. 10 regular-season opener against the Bengals.
That way nobody gets hurt, and the Chiefs can work on things in the privacy of their own practice field.
They just can’t make that declaration publicly.
“I can’t say that,” coach Herm Edwards said. “The new commissioner might get mad at me.”
At least some of them can’t say it.
“I’ve been anxious since about two weeks ago,” linebacker Kawika Mitchell said. “I’ve been moody at home and ready for the regular season. I want it to be for real right now. It’s time to get going, time to get ready for Cincinnati.”
Unlike their ticket holders, the Chiefs don’t have the option of not showing for Thursday’s game. So, other than the treat of getting to watch New Orleans rookie Reggie Bush in person, the Chiefs have a few objectives for their final exhibition:
• Stay healthy. There’s nothing worse than losing a key player in the last tuneup, as the Chiefs did two years ago with rookie tight end Kris Wilson.
The starters will be pulled quickly. Edwards cautioned fans not to blink Thursday or they might miss them. Some key players, most notably Larry Johnson and the injured Will Shields, won’t play.
• Fine-tune the play-calling. Edwards and offensive coordinator Mike Solari aren’t thinking as one yet. The head coach was upset at the play calls at two junctures of Saturday night’s win over the Rams.
The first came near the end of the first half. The Chiefs were at the St. Louis 27 in the final seconds when Solari ordered rookie quarterback Brodie Croyle to try two deep passes.
One was incomplete. The other drew an offensive interference penalty on another rookie, Jeff Webb.
The penalty pushed the Chiefs to the edge of Lawrence Tynes’ range. Tynes made a 50-yard field goal but, in the opinion of Edwards, the penalty could have pushed them out of his range.
“You don’t make (50-yard kicks) on the road,” Edwards said. “You won’t make that 50-yard field goal in December when it’s cold.
“We took two shots at the end of the half. You don’t need to do that. It’s 13-3 and you’ve got a chance to make it 16-3 and we’re messing around trying to throw another touchdown pass. A lot of bad things can happen to you. It can be intercepted; That didn’t happen. You can get sacked; That didn’t happen. You can get (offensive) pass interference; That happened.”
Later, Solari had another developmental quarterback, Casey Printers, drop back to pass on third and 2 when the Chiefs were trying to protect their four-point lead and kill the clock as it approached 2 minutes left in the game.
Printers was sacked and the Chiefs had to punt, giving the Rams the ball one last time.
“In a real game, you want to have the ability to close them out,” Edwards said. “The (Rams) shouldn’t get the ball back. The game should be over, and you shouldn’t have to punt.
“There are still a lot of things we have to do a lot better if we’re going to be the type of team we can be. All of those things count. All of those things matter. These coaches will understand my mind-set might be a little bit different than it used to be.”
• Fix the running game. The Chiefs were better against the Rams early in the game but are still averaging a paltry 3.2 yards per carry in the preseason. Johnson, who averaged more than 8 yards last preseason and more than 5 in the regular season, is at 3.8.
That might be tough to do since Johnson probably won’t play. Neither will fullback Ronnie Cruz nor halfback Dee Brown because of injuries.
But the Chiefs would like to start opening some of the same huge holes they opened so often for Johnson last year.
• Show some discipline. Nobody is claiming the Chiefs are suddenly the Raiders when it comes to drawing the yellow flags. Ten teams have more preseason penalties, and 13 have more penalty yardage.
Neither are they the Jets, among the least penalized teams in the league last season while coached by Edwards. The Chiefs can no longer afford penalties, not when they’re playing a brand of game where field position is so important.
The Chiefs had 10 penalties against the Rams. The previous week in New York, a promising drive was killed when the Chiefs had penalties on consecutive plays.
“You can’t have 10 penalties in a game,” Edwards said. “That’s bad ball. We’ve got to stay away from the fouls. The fouls kill you. They stop drives. They prolong drives.
“I’m a perfectionist. I’m a detail guy. I want to do things right.”
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/15385166.htm