Herm bringing road toughness to the Chiefs in ‘06

By Clayton Wendler  |   Thursday, August 10, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Kansas City Chiefs
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It's no great secret that the Kansas City Chiefs struggled on the road under former head coach Dick Vermeil.

Outside the friendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium, Vermeil's squads were just 16-24. And even though the Chiefs improved as a team since 2001, their road record didn't. They were 3-5 on the road during Vermeil's first year, and 3-5 in 2005.

The Chiefs lacked toughness, and it prevented them from making more regular trips to the playoffs. In 2002, they dropped division road games to the Broncos and Raiders at the end of the season and finished 8-8. Last year, they made road trips to Dallas and New York. The Chiefs only needed to win one of the two, but couldn't come up with a victory.

Overall, the Chiefs were just 6-16 in late-season road games.

New head coach Herm Edwards is out to change that record. And he's getting the whole team involved, starting with the defense.

"In the months of November and December, especially when you make it in the playoffs, if you look at the teams that won, what did they do?" said Edwards at his introductory press conference. "Play defense."

That's something that Vermeil's Chiefs could never do, even when they won the division in 2003. The Vikings and Broncos torched Kansas City for 45 points apiece in late-season losses that year. Last season, a mediocre Dallas Cowboys offensive unit tore apart Vermeil's defense. The following week, Giants runner Tiki Barber tore through the Chiefs' defense for 249 total yards (220 rushing).

Everything Edwards has done this offseason points to turning that around. He hired a defensive line coach, Tim Krumrie, who is known as one of the toughest ex-players in the coaching ranks. Krumrie never missed a game during his 12-year career. The former Bengals' defensive lineman shattered his leg during Super Bowl XXIII, only to return the following year with a 15-inch steel rod in place.

The signing of cornerback Ty Law brings even more toughness. Besides his physical play, Law is known as a no-nonsense leader that demands excellence from his teammates. He's also at his best in important games, as evidenced by his playoff career in New England.

But if the Kansas City Chiefs are to instill toughness throughout the team, the offense will have to do its part, too. They were far from perfect on the road under Vermeil.

Against the Giants last year, the passing game sputtered all night long. Against Buffalo, the defense turned in a stellar performance, only to see the offense put up three points against a defense that allowed Larry Johnson to rush for 132 yards.

To correct that, Edwards plans to rely on his star running back to an even greater extent.

"We're going to have a mindset of playing better football offensively with four minutes to go where we can't always rely on going back and throwing passes to make first downs," said Edwards. "We have an excellent offensive line and a tremendous runner. We have to be able to knock people off the ball, run the ball and the game is over. We have to understand that and that's the mentality we're going to have to get."

That might mean a departure from the offensive philosophy that was present under Vermeil. The Chiefs ran the ball on a third-and-eight situation in practice on Tuesday.

That might mean giving the ball back to the opposition, but Edwards is prepared to put the game in the hands of his defense.

"There are going to be times where we've got a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and there is six minutes left," said Edwards. "The defense has to go out there and stop them, and the offense has to believe when we have that kind of lead we can run the ball and the game's over. We don't have to throw passes. We've got to play the clock a little better and protect each other."

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