Herm Edwards' Apologists

I was going to write this entry about the Chiefs' deplorable offense and how Herm Edwards and his coaching staff are to blame for its lack of productivity. Then I read Adam Teicher's "Chiefs' Solari takes some blame for struggles" article and learned that it's mostly the players' fault. "Our responsibility is to put them in position to make the plays. When they're called up, they've got to make the plays," Solari was quoted in Teicher's article.
Here's what I saw when I attended the Oakland Raiders loss at Arrowhead on Sunday: I saw one unimaginative series of play-calling after another. Faced with a first and 20, I saw the Chiefs run three straight draw plays. I saw the coaching staff waste two timeouts that could have been used to stop the clock during the Raiders' last drive and give the Chiefs another opportunity on offense to score. I saw them run a predictable 4th-and-1 dive play up the middle late in the fourth quarter with nine Raiders stacked in the box.
Its losses like these and the play-calls that cause them that turn fans against their coach. It's not news that Chiefs fans have been calling for Peterson's job since Schottenheimer parted ways with the franchise, but now a frenzy is growing around Herm Edwards and his future with the team. I know… blaming the coach is just fodder for sports call-in shows and drunken redneck debate, but sentiment spreads quickly in professional sports, especially considering how much emotional and psychic energy Chiefs' fans have tied up in their team. But the anti-Herm and anti-Carl rhetoric abounds on the comment boards and over the airwaves, so I thought I would address the silent authority… the Herm apologists. But I will do so by countering popular criticisms heaped upon Herm since he took over the New York Jets in 2001.
A popular Kansas City criticism of Herm Edwards is that he ruined the best offense in the league. Apologist have countered that the writing was on the wall. We had two Hall of Fame offensive linemen retire with no suitable backups waiting in the wings and an aging number one receiver with yet again no suitable backups in the stable. Apologists contend that the failure of the team is circumstantial rather than any particular coaching decision is on Herm’s part. In New York, Herm’s early success and three playoff opinions were often credited more to the strong veteran lineup Parcells left in tact when he left the organization. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the lack of player development was given as one of the reasons the New York Jets suffered a 4-12 hemorrhage after going to the playoffs the year before.
Apologists have countered that the writing was on the wall in Kansas City following the departure of Vermeil. We had two Hall of Fame offensive linemen retire and no suitable backups to take their places and an aging number one receiver with yet again no suitable backups waiting in the wings. The same apologists contend that the failure of the team is circumstantial rather than any particular coaching decision on Herm’s part.
I wouldn’t label Joe Posnanski an out-and-out Herm apologist, but he certainly blames the losses and poor offensive play this season on “a bad team.”
Posnanski: “And I think Edwards is just the right coach to build from scratch. He may drive people nuts with his defensive mindset and game planning, but the guy has a special talent for finding good young players and developing them, which is more important. All year, Edwards kept telling us that rookie running back Kolby Smith —— a fifth-round pick who did not even start at Louisville — was a special young player. Many of us didn’t see it.”
He goes on to write that the last two drafts have been the best in years and credits Herm with that success. I don’t quibble with Posnanski on these points, it certainly does appear that Herm has a knack for picking out young talent and then developing that talent into playmaking ability on Sundays. He spent six years with the Kansas City Chiefs in the pro personnel department scouting talent. Of course we never really recruited any offensive juggernaut during that period, but that might not be Herm’s fault at all, and the defense was awfully good. That might not have been Herm either.
To editorialize, I think the apologists and the detractors should all shut up and see what direction this team will take. Herm has two more years on his contract and in that duration we should have a pretty good idea where this team is headed. I agree with Posnanski that the team is rebuilding, and if Herm is allowed to rebuild the Chiefs from scratch into the team he and his staff scouted and game planned around, then let him do it. Now I sound like a Herm apologist, but is there really any other way to know whether Herm can turn this team into a contender or not?
Another criticism of Herm that goes back to his New York days is that he has poor clock management skills. I will give the apologists’ rebuttal in the next entry on this topic.