Peter King on Herm's Decision, Kolby Smith

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Here are a few snippets from Peter King‘s MMQB that I thought might be of interest to Chiefs fans:

On Herm Edwards‘ decision:

I think it would seem to be easy to rip Kansas City coach Herman Edwards and label him my Semi-Goat of the Week. But I eschewed the goat thing, because I understand why Edwards did what he did, though I do not agree with it. On fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter at Arrowhead, with the Chiefs trailing the Raiders 20-17, Edwards passed on a 41-yard field-goal attempt by kicker Dave Rayner (15-of-22 at this point, 5-of-9 from 40 and beyond) to go for the first down. Kolby Smith lost a yard, and the Raiders hung on to win. Edwards said he went with his gut, which is what a coach is paid to do. My feeling is Edwards had no faith in Rayner, plus he feared the foot of Sebastian Janikowski on the other side (Janikowski made a 54-yarder earlier). Edwards went for it. The loss could keep the Chiefs out of the postseason. Even though I would have kicked the field goal, I understand Edwards’ reasoning, though he purposely wasn’t specific after the game. That would have shown a lack of faith in his kicker, as well as a lack of faith in his defense’s ability to stop the Raiders from taking the ball downfield for the winning score in the final four minutes.

On Kolby Smith (his co-offensive player of the week):

Kansas City RB Kolby Smith. On the Chiefs’ second possession, Smith, making his first NFL start, ran the ball for 5, 3, 0, 19 (on a fourth-and-one with Herman Edwards getting gutsy and going for it), 16, 2 and 10 yards, the last one for a lunging touchdown. In one drive, we saw a better Kansas City running attack than we’d seen all season. By the half, he had 16 carries for 94 yards; for the day, he finished with 31 carries for 150 yards. A great debut — even if he didn’t get the one yard he needed in the fourth quarter to give the Chiefs a first down that could have won them a must-win game.

Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback – SI.com

Adam

The Saunders thing makes sense. Hey, Tom Moore was still around in Indy when Tony Dungy showed up. Still is around, exactly.

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CWebb

You know who I miss? *looks around to make sure that no one is poised to tackle him* Al Saunders. *ducks bricks thrown at his face* But seriously, I hear things like "This is an offensive coach" or "a defensive coach," but I don't understand how even if the head leans one way or the other, why he can't purposely pick a strong coordinator to run the other. Vermeil should have picked a Gunther or Ron Rivera or that kind of guy; Herm should pick someone who was in the Arena Football League. It seems too easy, as Brian alludes to. However, we've been stuck for years in a situation where you pick one side or the other to focus on. Sad.

Zach

Good points and I think we will see a change at OC at the end of the season, or at least I hope so.

Brian Pendleton

Here is the problem that i have with almost all of Herm's decisions in regard to our Kansas City Chiefs ; he is terribly , terribly predictable . For those who listened to the post game show on the Chiefs Radio Network , a Raider linebacker discussed the fourth and one play. I cannot remember which linebacker it was , but he was discussing how he and the D - line knew that once Gonzalez went in motion they knew exactly which play the Chiefs were running and to which hole because they had ran the play 5 times previously that game. I know that Solari is the Offensive coordinator , but we as Chiefs fans have seen this disgustingly predictable play calling all year, Herm should've anticipated such a predictable play call from his coordinator and intervened prior to the play. I would certainly agree that a run is the proper call for that situation, given the Raiders porous run defense. But not a run that you've called 5 times prior and is telegraphed to the defense with the exact same motion play with Gonzalez. A split second of indecision on the defense's part would almost guarantee the yard you need in that situation, but instead the Chiefs all but told the Raider D exactly where the play was going.To me , Herm has proven two things through his career ; that he can build great defenses and earn the trust and respect of his players , and that he desperately needs an assistant coach or coordinator with offensive genious to handle all things on that side of the ball. Until Herm admits this to himself , and realizes that Mike Solari is a great O - line coach and a far cry from the brillian Offensive Coordinator that Herm needs , the Chiefs offense will continue to struggle.