JoePa on Herm

But the article was pretty accurate.

He notes that you are what your record says you are, defends Herm’s record in New York and says that he thinks Herm is a good coach, then says Eric Mangini can’t coach a lick.

Eric Mangini career win percentage (3 seasons): .479

Herm Edwards career win percentage (8 seasons): .422

So if you are what your record says you are, and if Mangini can’t coach a lick and he’s got a winning percentage better than Herm Edwards, wouldn’t that pretty much say that Herm Edwards is a worse coach than Mangini? Seems to me that it would. And it’s not like Mangini didn’t have his share of excuses, just like Herm…every coach with a losing record’s got plenty of them.

I think Posnanski’s a great columnist, but sometimes I think he’s more than a bit naive and short-sighted when it comes to objectively rating people he knows and is fond of. It’s nice that sees the good in Herm personally (and I’m sure Herm is a nice guy personally), but he’s just a really rotten football coach.

Posnanski is more appropriately nicknamed “JoPo” than “JoPa”. JoPa had the nickname first. :)

about Brodie was on point. Our quarterback situation killed Herm more than anything (even his bad clock management). What about Brodie ever resembled toughness ?

Give the offense credit for making an in season offense style change. Wasn’t as hard for Double T but still he needed to make changes. Offensive line improved quite abit but the spread is probably easier to block in.

It seems everyone is ready to beat Herman Edwards viciously about the head and face with the “blame stick”; but there is close to ZERO discussion of how BAD a job the returning Gunthar Cunningham (the hereafter be knowns as Gunny Episode 2 — because he is just as bad if not worse than Star Wars Episode 2) has done.

Gunny Episode 2 took over an abysmal defence left to us by the worst excuse for a football saviour I’ve ever seen (Dick Vermeil and the “old guys”). Admittingly, I would place a LOT of the blame for the Vermeil DEF on Carl Petersons draft and personal choises, but Vermeil didn’t seem to even understand that being able to score in 17 seconds and then handing the game to you 31st rank DEF does NOT build championships.

Gunny Episode 2 told us that he needed to be out of the booth to really asses his DEF. — That certainly worked well in 2007.
Gunny Episode 2 told us that the linebacker play was so terrible because of poor coaching, and he would be taking over the linebacker’s coaching job as well as DEF Co-ordinator — They got worse.
Gunny Episode 2 stated tinkering with the standard 4-3 set and moving the tackles around into 3 gap players instead of 2 or 5 gap players to get a pass rush on the QB — That worked so well we set a new all time record for lowest sack totals.

Herman Edwards (a DEF backer as a player) evaluated talent, chose players to persue, and spent an incredible amount of time developing/coaching/teaching 3 rookie CB’s and a safety, and continued to work with Page/Pollard. -— With 3 rookies starting most weeks the Chiefs DEF secondary was the lone bright spot on an otherwise embarrasing DEF effort.

Herm Edwards got out of the way on OFF. He trusted his OFF co-ordinator to develop an OFF style that suited his players, and let Chan Gailey call the plays and run the OFF. - The OFF in the new “pistol” formation continued to improve and was the best OFF Herm Edwards ever put on the field in KC.

Now, Im not defending Herman Edwards here. His time management skills are terrible. He seems to make ZERO halftime adjustments to add new wrinkles to the second half of ball games. I think he calls time outs whenever his cell phone rings on the sidelines? (that’s the only reasoning I can come up with for some of his decisions /shrug). And the biggest crime of all - he completely abandons whatever OFF strategy that has been working all game long at the first sign of even a 6 point lead. He’s so afraid to lose the lead that he shuts down the OFF and stops playing to win. Instead he plays not to lose. -- Playing “not to lose” just about assures that you will lose. Playing to win is the only way to win. — For a guy that tells us “You play to win the game.” someone ought to tell him he needs to start playing to win the game.

All that said, I believe the biggest problem on the Chiefs squad is Gunny Episode 2. I also believe that Herman Edwards is sorely aware that the DEF is the bigger problem on the team. According to Herm, if you want to win in the playoffs you have to have a ball control time eating stout running attack, and a dominating DEF. A “flying circus” OFF that scores a crapload of points is worthless without a dominating DEF. (Someone should have told Dick Vermeil that).

Evidence: Just ask Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Jay Cutler, Matt Schaub, Peyton Manning, or even Trent Green. I’m sure they are available to do interviews seeing as none of them are game-planning this week. - All the long passes and big touchdowns are meaningless if your DEF gives up the house every drive.

More Evidence: AFC playoff teams advancing past the first round — Steelers (#1 overall DEF), Ravens (#2 overall DEF), TItans (#5), and Chargers (the weakest case, but look at their DEF stats the last 5 weeks).

It appears that a solid running attack + a dominating DEF = playoff berths and playoff wins. But don’t take my word for it. Pick up a phone and call Eli Mannining or Donovan McNabb— ohh wait, they’re busy watchig game films in preperation for next weeks game.

A new GM will probably make this whole point mute, but it should still be said. Gunny Episode 2 is the guy that deserves to beat over the head with the blame stick. Herman Edwards does have boundless energy and a positive outlook that absolutey is the correct formulia for teaching as much youth as their is on KC’s team. He’s never gonna be a dominating NFL coach, and he may never hold another head coaching job again; but ask yourself one question:

If you had to choose would you rather have Gunny Episode 2, or Herman Edwards back next year to continue their career in KC?

First off – Episode 1 was way worse than Episode 2. But just in that sort of, Episode 2 was the turd that fell on top of Episode 1. Neither very appealing, one just a little higher up than the other.

On the “You Play to Win the Game” Front, maybe his idea of what it takes to win is flawed. Not really that he doesn’t know how to win, just that his strategy is not the best.

I’m no Herm defender, but there are two things I consider:
-This team was shorted one outstanding rush end in Jaren Allen this year. He stays on this team and a number of those games get closer and several turn in to wins (I’m talking to you 1 point losses to San Diego). Like him or not, it won’t change the fact that our pass rush would have been markedly better and our entire D would have benefited.

-The players that were on the team did not execute the game plan as effectively as possible. There was a considerable amount of poor execution on both sides of the ball. Granted, I think the coach plays a part in making sure the players are capable and motivated and disciplined enough to carry out the plans effectively. We also had a lot of youth on the team. I think we will see improvement on D next year regardless of who is coaching them… it will just be a matter of how much. I won’t shed a tear if Gun is gone.

But you gotta love those ridiculous IQ Test links that pop up all over teh interwebs now…I’ve never seen contradictory ones, though =)

“Larry Johnson’s IQ=98”

Are You Smarter Than Larry Johnson? Take The IQ Quiz Now!

Avg KC Chiefs Fan IQ=106

What’s Yours? Can you beat it? Take the 3-minute Quiz Now!

Avg Chiefs Fan\s IQ=139

Can you beat this score? Try Now! Take the Quiz!

Larry Johnson’s IQ = 113

Can you beat his score? Try now! Take the quiz!