Team Infidel
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DOUG TUCKER
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Criticized for faulty clock management going back to his days in New York, Herman Edwards isn't sitting still for this one.
Kansas City's first-year coach has drawn fire from some fans and broadcasters for not using at least one of his three timeouts while Cleveland was driving late in the fourth quarter Sunday for the tying touchdown.
Why not stop the clock and give yourself more precious seconds to get downfield and maybe kick a winning field goal if the Browns do tie it?
But Edwards kept his timeouts in his pocket and the Chiefs had less than a minute to work with after Cleveland scored the tying touchdown in a game the Browns eventually won 31-28 in overtime.
"They have to make a decision in 30 seconds, and I'm not going to stop the clock so they can regroup and think about what they want to do," he said. "They've got to score. We're winning the game. We're not losing the game. They have to score a touchdown. So for me, I'm sitting there going, `OK, if they do score, I'm going to have 30 seconds left, and I've got all three timeouts."
It's a strategy, Edwards pointed out, that worked beautifully in a 17-13 victory over Oakland on Nov. 19. The Raiders drove inside the 10 in the final seconds, but safety Jarrad Page intercepted Oakland's pass in the end zone to preserve the win.
Similarly, in a 30-27 victory Oct. 22 over San Diego, Lawrence Tynes kicked the winner with 6 seconds left after the Chiefs used timeouts while driving downfield to put him in position.
"We didn't make a good play (in Cleveland) when we got the ball back. That hurt us," Edwards said.
"Different situations dictate maybe you use (timeouts). I thought we managed it well," he said. "I wasn't raising the white flag thinking they were going to score a touchdown. I thought we were going to stop them. I'm not going to start calling timeouts under two minutes, and our defense looks at me and says, `What are you doing?'
"If I'm going to do that, I'm just going to let them score. Just let them run the ball and score a touchdown, get it over with. You don't do that. You've got to play the game."
The loss left the Chiefs (7-5) in a five-way tie for the two AFC wild-card spots, and also with a sour taste in their mouths. The defense, which had played well for a month, failed to protect the lead after tight end Tony Gonzalez had over 100 yards receiving, running back Larry Johnson had over 100 yards rushing and Trent Green threw four touchdown passes.
The entire scene seemed disturbingly reminiscent of past seasons when the Chiefs would lead the league in offense but fail even to reach the playoffs because of their sorry defense.
It was also another late-season failure on the road, something else that has haunted Kansas City for six years.
"Why that is, I don't have any idea," Edwards said. "I really don't. It's certain players. I guess they just don't play as well on the road as they do at home, and they've got to find a way to do that. I wish I could give them a medicine, or a pill. But I can't do that. They've got to play better, and they know it.
"It's not like they intentionally don't play well on the road. They want to play well. But for some reason, certain guys don't. It's not a whole team. You can look at this game and say, `Well, your defense didn't play well on the road, but your offense did.'
"But what difference does that make? So the offense ate different food than the defense? Their beds were better than the defense? No, I don't know that. There were some defensive players who played halfway decent. And there were some offensive players who should have played a little bit better, but didn't.
"I don't know. You drive yourself crazy trying to worry about that stuff."