Post by theultimatekcchiefsfan on Oct 3, 2005 23:09:57 GMT -5
Whitlock: Vermeil's staff gets picked apart
www.kansascity.com/mld/kansa...ts/12802698.htm
Vermeil’s staff gets picked apart
JASON WHITLOCK
Kansas City Star
You could waste the better part of the day sifting through the coaching errors that turned a predictable and understandable loss to the Philadelphia Eagles into a potentially lethal blow to the Chiefs’ 2005 season.
thingy Vermeil and his coaching staff blew an 18-point lead, handed the Eagles a 37-31 victory and totally demoralized 78,000 fans inside Arrowhead Stadium. We will have to wait to see what impact Sunday’s fiasco will have on Vermeil’s 53 players.
The Chiefs head into their bye week 2-2, a game behind Denver in the AFC West and well behind both the Broncos and the Patriots-blasting San Diego Chargers emotionally. The Kansas City team that started so promisingly at 2-0 has now melted down in consecutive weeks, and it’s fair to say the problems are bigger than the absence of Willie Roaf, Eric Warfield and John Welbourn.
After Sunday’s game, Vermeil did his best to turn the negative outcome into a positive, littering his postgame comments with praise for the Eagles and admiration for the Chiefs’ effort.
“For a long time I thought we played extremely well,” Vermeil said. “… You can see why they were in the Super Bowl last year…. They’re better than we are.”
The last comment might be true, but Philly’s talent advantage was rendered irrelevant once the Chiefs danced to a 17-0 advantage. At home, with a full house screaming, Priest Holmes ripping off 6- and 7-yard runs consistently and the Eagles throwing on every down, it’s inexcusable that Philly was comfortably ahead — 34-24 — with 9 minutes to play.
That shouldn’t happen to a good, competently coached football team. thingy Vermeil, despite the pervasive rumors, isn’t Gary Pinkel. On Sunday, Vermeil was actually something much worse.
There’s just no way to pretty up what we all witnessed:
1. Vermeil and his coaching staff botched two replay challenges. The second blown challenge cost the Chiefs what could have been a critical, second-half timeout.
2. Kansas City’s zone-heavy defensive scheme allowed Terrell Owens to frolic in the secondary as unencumbered and carefree as a third-grader on recess. T.O. had 11 receptions for 171 yards and a TD.
3. The Chiefs’ “running-back rotation” left their piping-hot running back, Priest Holmes, on the sideline when they had a chance to bury the Eagles in the second quarter. Holmes had 10 carries for 60 yards on KC’s first two possessions, which ended in a touchdown and a field goal. He ran the ball three times the rest of the half. Holmes, however, did have a beautiful sideline view of Larry Johnson’s crucial, end-of-first-half fumble that led directly to a Philly TD.
But all of those blunders pale in comparison to the coaching error that turned a would-be rout into a loss that could haunt the Chiefs for the rest of the year.
With the Chiefs up 17-0 thanks to an 8-yard pitch-and-catch between Trent Green and Eddie Kennison, offensive coordinator Al Saunders got a tad greedy and a bit lazy midway through the second quarter. On second and 14, Saunders remembered how easily Kennison scored when the Chiefs emptied their backfield and the Eagles went man-to-man deep in the red zone.
Perched on the KC 35 — 40 yards removed from the red zone — Saunders called for another empty-backfield set and another easy pitch to Kennison. This time Philly coach Andy Reid and his staff demonstrated why they’ve been to four straight NFC championships and the Chiefs haven’t won a playoff game since 1993. The Eagles adjusted to KC’s empty-back set and went zone. Sheldon Brown was waiting on Green’s toss to Kennison. Brown jumped the route and raced 40 yards into the end zone.
[glow=red,2,300]
The pick-6 awakened the sleep-walking Eagles to the possibility of a rally. The interception infuriated Green. As he jogged to the sideline after the interception, Green flung his right arm in disgust.
After the game, Green tried his best not to talk about the interception.
“I don’t want to open a can of worms,” Green told me privately after a gaggle of reporters stepped away.
He said he wasn’t surprised at all that the Eagles adjusted their defensive look. You expected it?
“We all did,” Green said.
The problem is Saunders’ “system” doesn’t allow the quarterback to audible or for receivers to adjust their routes. Green and Kennison could see the zone defense and anticipate the danger, but they were powerless to do anything about it.
“He can’t do what Peyton Manning does at the line of scrimmage, even though (Green) could,” said tight end Tony Gonzalez. [/glow]
I’m not making excuses for Green. But the reality is that Sheldon Brown didn’t get the best of Trent Green. Andy Reid’s coaching staff got the best of thingy Vermeil’s coaching staff on a play that turned the game.
Of course, there were other breakdowns and strategy errors. Fear of Philly’s pass rush eliminated Gonzalez from KC’s passing attack. He caught two meaningless passes and spent a great part of the afternoon pass blocking and running “hot” routes in the flat.
The Chiefs would have survived all of their gaffes — Johnson’s fumble, Dante Hall’s fumble, Vermeil’s misuse of replay challenges, the disappearance of Holmes and Gonzalez — had they not committed the original, pick-6 sin that allowed McNabb and Owens to contemplate a rally.