MVN - Most Valuable Network

Huard Still Starting? Why Herm’s Youth-Aversion Cost the Chiefs a Football Game

Here’s the frustrating thing: the Chiefs could have and should have won against a very good Green Bay Packers football team. They didn’t. That is far more frustrating to me than if the Chiefs were simply lousy. What’s worse? The reasons why the Chiefs lost today are the same exact reasons I’ve claimed the Chiefs are underachieving. You and I, the average fans, seem to have a better pulse of this football team than the coaches and front office.

Let’s talk about why the Chiefs lost:

1. Okay, if you’ve read me with some regularity, you know who my main target is. Let me start somewhere else, because this is too comical. Dave Rayner.

Let’s go through a timeline here.

• The Chiefs pass on Mason Crosby in favor of Justin Medlock (nevermind that Crosby was the top kicker on the board. But, oh yeah, Carl Peterson doesn’t mind overvaluing players that come from UCLA).
• The Packers draft Crosby and cut Dave Rayner.
• Herm Edwards, a self-proclaimed youth movement guy, gives up on his young kicker after a single game in the pros and goes after the inconsistent guy that Green Bay cut.
• Mason Crosby goes on to perform well in 2007, making 80% of his field goals; Medlock is still sitting at home and Rayner goes on to miss a few key chip shot field goals.
• Green Bay and Kansas City unite. Crosby, the guy the Chiefs passed up on, squares up against Dave Rayner, the guy the Packers gave up on. Mason Crosby goes on to make 4 out of 5 field goals while Rayner goes on to boot a key kickoff out of bounds.

The Chiefs had a chance to draft a kicker of the future, but they instead resorted to signing yet another inconsistent goofball. Today, the goof-up on the Chiefs’ part couldn’t have been more obvious.

2. Damon Huard.

Where do I start?

In Huard’s defense, he was missing Dwayne Bowe for most of the game, he was supported by a poor running game, and he was somewhat impressive late in the game. Still, I can’t believe Herm Edwards has not figured out yet that Huard is not the answer for this football team.

Before anyone puts the hero’s cape on Huard for staging a key comeback, let’s take a closer look at what really drove the Chiefs’ late-game heroics: a 30-yard screen pass to Larry Johnson that led to a touchdown (not exactly a tough play to execute) and a 25-yard pass interference call that also ultimately led to a touchdown. On the first touchdown, he benefited off of an interception followed by a 29-yard pass interference call. So yeah, with pretty minimal effort, all three of the Chiefs’ touchdown drives were largely influenced by the actions of someone else. I guess the key to getting a touchdown for Damon Huard is to convince defenders to get rung up on gimme 30-yard pass interference calls a few times a game.

Again, I like Damon Huard, but I wish that Herm Edwards can see that he is not the answer in Kansas City. I wish that Herm Edwards could see that the Chiefs are winning DESPITE Huard, not BECAUSE of him. Mike Solari recently admitted that the Chiefs are struggling on their third down efficiency. The reason for that should be obvious: because Huard keeps getting sacked on third down. He was sacked on virtually every third down “drive-killer” in the first half. On the majority of sacks that I saw, Huard had plenty of room to roll to the right. He instead chose to step up in the pocket and take a sack. I again ask why Herm doesn’t turn to Croyle, who isn’t Michael Vick but is obviously a lot more mobile in the pocket than Huard and who has shown on multiple occasions that he has a pretty strong arm when he throws on the run.

I can’t even begin to express how frustrated I am that the Chiefs haven’t gone to Brodie Croyle yet. I have no idea if he is the answer in Kansas City, but I can say with utmost confidence that he can’t be much worse than the atrocity that is the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense of today. Herm Edwards has shown, in most of his personnel decisions, that he isn’t afraid to gamble on youth. Today, two of his veterans failed today where a young guy could have and probably would have fared much better: Dave Rayner and Damon Huard.

The Chiefs cannot beat quality teams consistently with Damon Huard. It is time for the Chiefs to finally roll the dice and see if Brodie Croyle can. If the Chiefs don’t find out now, the entire 2007 season will almost certainly be yet another worthless exercise for the Kansas City Chiefs.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 5:51 pm and is filed under brodie croyle, dave rayner, Damon Huard, herm edwards, Analysis, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.