Monday Morning Quarterback:
Saunders growing
as offensive coordinator
12/17/2001
by
CK Rairden
Landmark columnist
Tears flowed from Dick Vermeil at Arrowhead
on Sunday. No, not when Gary Stills was called for a holding
penalty to take a game-winning FG by kicker Todd Peterson
off the board in overtime and force another attempt.
No, not when Peterson shanked his mulligan like a hacker
on a public golf course on the second try.
Not even when Peterson finally hit the game winner later
in OT to give the Chiefs a 26-23 victory over the Denver
Broncos.
Head coach Dick Vermeil choked up, then teared up in
the post game press conference as he was speaking of the
growth of his team and how his “kids are buying into
(the program)”
Offensively, I think he’s right.
For the second straight week the Chiefs offense piled
up over 395 yards. For the second straight week they scored
26 points. With a kicker that can hit a short FG the Chiefs
would be on a 2-game winning streak.
The Chiefs “triplets”, RB Priest Holmes, QB
Trent Green and TE Tony Gonzalez performed once again.
Holmes was as dominant as ever, with 129 total yards.
Gonzalez was shut out in the first half, but a big part
of the second half game plan grabbing 3 catches for 53
yards. QB Trent Green is finally protecting the ball and
delivering. He finished 17-21 for 292 yards and a TD.
His QB rating for the game was 114.8.
On the offensive coaching side, the improvement is glaring.
The Broncos threatened newly acquired WR Eddie Kennison
with ‘cheap shots’ during last week’s media
banter and offensive coordinator Al Saunders got him involved
early. It paid off later in the game as Kennison made
both a big catch and a big run on an end around. The mixture
of pass and run was near perfect.
“Al Saunders has continued to grow,” Dick Vermeil
would say.
The adjustments and growth are obvious and welcome. He
is using his personnel in a way that is resulting in not
only progress, but also results.
There were problems though.
The pick up of the blitzes was non-existent. The offensive
line was suspect on many passing plays as Green was under
heavy pressure far too much. The false start by OT John
Tait late in the 4th quarter was inexcusable. The line
missed some assignments and QB Trent Green paid for them.
He took some big hits, but to his credit kept getting
up.
The decision to allow Priest Holmes to go the sidelines
on a third or fourth and short yardage and allow FB Tony
Richardson the carry must be re-examined. Holmes is now
one of the top 5 backs in the league and demands respect
from opposing defenses. Even if he is not to be used on
that particular play—he is a good decoy.
It’s too late for this season as far as the playoffs
are concerned. The Chiefs have now been relegated to spoilers
and played that role very well as they struck a damning
blow to the Broncos playoff opportunity for this season.
But, it’s not too late to see growth and as a measuring
stick to see what players will be invited to camp for
next season. The team has a chance to finish strong, and
give the fans something to grasp onto for these last three
games and into the off-season.
Before the game head coach Dick Vermeil told anyone who
would listen that he believed his team has turned the
corner.
There are three “meaningless” games left for
his team.
It should be interesting to see if he is correct
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