If it were up to me we would have gone for it - QB sneak behind Mangold - quick and easy decision. I was screaming at the TV screen to go for it and was very dissapointed we settled for a FG. I understand we had the lead and if we missed it the outcome of the game could have been much different, but if we can't get a foot with a qb sneak something is wrong. Mangold has impressed me quite a bit with his runblocking skills - something he supposedly needed work with and I think we would have scored easily.
Herm's Debut Herm has dreadful opener By JASON WHITLOCK The Kansas City Star Let the record show that Chiefs fans booed coach Herm Edwards on Kansas City?s second offensive possession of the 2006 season. On third and 5 at the Cincinnati 11, Edwards? offensive unit slammed running back Larry Johnson into the heart of the Bengals? defense for the fifth straight time. Bengals middle linebacker Brian Simmons stoned Johnson at the line of scrimmage, forcing the Chiefs to settle for a field goal. A massive flock of boo birds took flight inside Arrowhead Stadium, spelling out just how short Edwards? honeymoon period will be in Kansas City. Edwards didn?t even get to unpack his bags. The conservative, play-for-three-points reputation he built in New York has Chiefs fans ready to pounce. The punchless offensive attack that contributed to the Chiefs? disappointing 23-10 loss to the Bengals will certainly have Kansas City football fans openly questioning Edwards? competence. We haven?t seen a debut this bad since the maker of the Titanic shouted, ?full steam ahead.? Bengals defensive end Robert Geathers might go down as the iceberg that sank the 2006 Chiefs. His illegal-but-unpenalized, third-quarter hit on Trent Green could ruin Kansas City?s football season. But they don?t make movies about icebergs. Hollywood loves to tell the stories behind the stories. And Edwards was the story on Sunday ? not Green?s concussion or whether Geathers was pushed into his flying collision with a hook-sliding Green. For a day, at least, Edwards stripped KC?s offense of the attacking nature that made the unit celebrated, decorated and overcompensated for five years under Dick Vermeil. The Chiefs scored 10 points against one of the league?s mediocre defenses. You could see the poor performance coming when the Chiefs turned ultraconservative in the red zone on their second possession. The third-and-5 call foreshadowed a miserable day. ?Missed communication on the call,? Edwards said when I asked about the play call. ?I?ll leave it at that.? So I asked Tony Gonzalez what the ?missed communication? was. ?Mike Solari came in at halftime and said he messed up,? Gonzalez said. ?He thought it was third and 2.? Another member of the Chiefs said Solari ? who left the locker room without talking with reporters ? thought it was second down. Wow. Solari, Kansas City?s first-year, first-time offensive coordinator, thought the Chiefs needed just 2 yards or he thought it was second down. Was anybody else confused? I wasn?t. That?s really bad coaching. And it reflects poorly on Edwards. He?s known as a bad game manager, a poor clock manager. He needed to call a timeout in that situation. Edwards needs to create an environment in which his veteran QB feels comfortable enough to call a timeout when a play call that bad gets signaled into his helmet. Solari?s mistake wasn?t the lone Kansas City coaching error. Gunther Cunningham?s defensive unit looked terrific until Cincy flipped to a no-huddle offense. Using a variety of disguised coverages and exotic blitzes, the Chiefs shut out the Bengals in the first quarter. Quarterback Carson Palmer and receiver Chad Johnson were out of rhythm. In the first quarter, Palmer shouted at Johnson for not making the proper route adjustment to man coverage. In the second quarter, the Bengals switched to their no-huddle offense. KC?s defense turned vanilla ? a lot more Cover 2 and a lot more predictable. By changing the pace of their offense, the Bengals dictated KC?s scheme and personnel and forced the Chiefs? defensive linemen to start sucking air. Cincinnati scored 17 points in the second quarter and took control of the game. You have to tip your hat to Marvin Lewis and his coaching staff. They miraculously managed to keep track of down and distance and use a little imagination. You could argue that Chiefs fans booed for the wrong reason. You could also argue that they were right for booing.
Overall I loved the approach as they didn't settle for FGs BUt they dod kick one at the 1 inch line and they did get conservative up 16-0 and that allowed Ten back in the game as much as Nugent did.
Funny but had we lost the game, Jets fans would have been booing Mangini too. Chad won this game for us with some help from the receivers. What I saw was what a difference a healthy OL and healthy QB can do for the passing game. We have very little running game and the defense once again played well for part of the game but did a bit too my bending for my liking. Plus it seemed we go a lot of help on D thanks to Kerry Collins. We also had a few too many penalties for my liking. I'm with Dino that I need more time but what I am impressed about with Mangini was that the team seemed to rally around him and actually gave him a game ball. Though I will say, had this exact game played out with Herm as the head coach many people would be nitpicking the win and finding things to complain about so I'll take any of those comments with a grain of salt.
I'm not sure it was most upsetting, but it was definitely upsetting - those are only successful about half the time, and giving them up (especially the second one) was killing. I'm also with Dino here on a little bit of a wait and see attitude. There were many things to be happy about yesterday (many more than I expected), and that's great, but there were also things to be unhappy about (particularly the lack of a running game and the way the defense let Tennessee drive down the field for two TDs, and almost 3, in the fourth quarter). I also worry about how hard the fall might be for some people here if the Pats come into the Meadowlands and hand the Jets their lunch next Sunday.
I am sure you know the stat on this, but we haven't served lunch for a long time. ONe such time was the 41-0 drubbing of the Colts; then there was a Phin victory or 2, but other than that, times have been lean.
I still get POed every time I watch SB3 & see the Colts recover the on side kick in the 4th qtr of that game. Hopefully Man & co will work on 2 point conversions this week to insure there is no repeats in the future
You darksiders with your nitpicking negativity. :smile: We opened the season last year with a healthy OL and 2 healthy QB. What we didn't open the season with was a football team in football shape with a game plan on both sides of the ball. We got plenty of breaks yesterday by the officials and the Titans. That said we went into a hostile enviornment with a very young team and a rookie coaching staff and we won.
You're correct, I was....until last season and yet I STILL gave him the benefit of the doubt, when all that time, he was packing his bags and lying about it. New season, new coach, and hopefully a new era has started.
Were you in KC yesterday to say how much you love Herm? If not why not? You were a Herm lover were you not? Sunshiners with there so short memory in game 1 in KC last year I did not know of any injuries to any OLman, QB or whatever. Are you making up the injuries now to try to continue to defend Herm? You should change your name to I love Herm
