Post by MizzouTiger on Jan 19, 2008 12:41:56 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/451312.html
Huard has firsthand knowledge of what Gailey can do
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Eight years have passed since quarterback Damon Huard crossed paths with Chan Gailey, the Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator. But Huard vividly remembers Gailey’s passionate talks in front of the assembled offense.
“He’s not afraid to get after somebody, which is a good thing,” said Huard, a quarterback for the Dolphins in 2000 while Gailey coordinated the Miami offense. “If you’re not getting your job done, you’ll hear it from him. He’s very good in front of the group, a good motivator. I’m still very impressed with his leadership skills. He comes across well in the meeting room. He has an ability to get the message across and be passionate about it.”
That’s one of the qualities that coach Herm Edwards wanted in a coordinator. He was looking for someone more vocal than former coordinator Mike Solari, someone who can be for the offense what fiery coordinator Gunther Cunningham is for the defense.
“He’s been a head coach, so he knows what it takes to talk to the players,” Edwards said. “You have to do that when you’re winning and things are good, and you have to do that when you’re losing and things are bad. He understands the temperature of the football team.”
Gailey will be the centerpiece of a rebuilt offensive staff. Solari, Charlie Joiner (wide receivers), James Saxon (running backs) and John Matsko (offensive line) were fired. thingy Curl (quarterbacks) and Jon Embree (tight ends) were retained.
The Chiefs also hired Bob Bicknell as their offensive-line coach. Bicknell, the son of former Boston College coach Jack, was the Chiefs’ assistant offensive-line coach last season. He also has coached offensive line in college at Temple and in NFL Europe.
Karl Dorrell is the leading candidate to be wide-receivers coach, and Curtis Modkins is their top choice as running-backs coach. Dorrell was head coach at UCLA before being fired last fall and previously coached wide receivers for the Broncos. Modkins was on Gailey’s staff at Georgia Tech and is the offensive coordinator at Colorado State.
Gailey, 56, has an extensive background as both a coordinator and head coach. He just finished six seasons as the head coach at Georgia Tech and coached the Dallas Cowboys for two seasons.
He was a coordinator in the NFL for the Broncos, Steelers and Dolphins.
Gailey could have had other job offers. He interviewed as coordinator with the 49ers, canceled a scheduled interview with the Rams and would have talked with the Broncos had he not already accepted Edwards’ offer.
“There is an opportunity with the players that are here for us to get well in a hurry,” he said.
The Chiefs were next to last in the league in scoring and yards last season but have some pieces to build around in Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe.
Then there’s quarterback Brodie Croyle, who lost all six of his starts last season. Gailey indicated he hasn’t had time to go through all of last season’s video.
“I have seen enough to know there’s a good deal of talent in Brodie and I think he’s got a chance to be a very good quarterback,” Gailey said.
Huard said Gailey’s system is quarterback-friendly and simple for Croyle to learn.
“Brodie won’t have any trouble because he’s a smart guy, and you tell him something once and he’s got it down,” Huard said. “One thing the quarterbacks would do with Chan every Friday is have a meeting to go over our third-down plays. The quarterback would pick his favorites in order, and that’s how he would call them in the game. He would ask us which ones we liked the best, and we would run them. He really respected what the quarterback felt about it.
“That’s unusual. We did that a little bit with Mike (Solari), but not to that extent. With Al (Saunders), we had a ton of third-down plays ready to go, and you never knew which one you were going to get.”
Huard indicated that the system was easier for everyone, not just quarterbacks, to learn.
“It’s not as complicated a system as we’ve had,” Huard said. “There will be a learning curve because there always is, but it’s not overly complicated and that’s a good thing. At times, one of the problems we had with our (old) offense was that there was so much for young guys to learn as far as the shifts and movements and all of the different personnel groupings. Guys had to think too much instead of just play. With this system, there will not be this excuse.
“We won’t have so much in our game plan every week. We won’t have the whole phone book out there every week. We’ll have 50 plays that we feel really good about.”
Gailey’s offense will be based around a power running game and the abilities of Johnson, but Huard said that in Miami, it was also imaginative.
“On third downs especially,” he said. “We were in a lot of four-wide formations. We would do a lot of gimmicks out of that: screens, toss-cracks, quarterback draws. We had a lot of success with those things. We kept the defenses guessing.”
Huard has firsthand knowledge of what Gailey can do
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Eight years have passed since quarterback Damon Huard crossed paths with Chan Gailey, the Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator. But Huard vividly remembers Gailey’s passionate talks in front of the assembled offense.
“He’s not afraid to get after somebody, which is a good thing,” said Huard, a quarterback for the Dolphins in 2000 while Gailey coordinated the Miami offense. “If you’re not getting your job done, you’ll hear it from him. He’s very good in front of the group, a good motivator. I’m still very impressed with his leadership skills. He comes across well in the meeting room. He has an ability to get the message across and be passionate about it.”
That’s one of the qualities that coach Herm Edwards wanted in a coordinator. He was looking for someone more vocal than former coordinator Mike Solari, someone who can be for the offense what fiery coordinator Gunther Cunningham is for the defense.
“He’s been a head coach, so he knows what it takes to talk to the players,” Edwards said. “You have to do that when you’re winning and things are good, and you have to do that when you’re losing and things are bad. He understands the temperature of the football team.”
Gailey will be the centerpiece of a rebuilt offensive staff. Solari, Charlie Joiner (wide receivers), James Saxon (running backs) and John Matsko (offensive line) were fired. thingy Curl (quarterbacks) and Jon Embree (tight ends) were retained.
The Chiefs also hired Bob Bicknell as their offensive-line coach. Bicknell, the son of former Boston College coach Jack, was the Chiefs’ assistant offensive-line coach last season. He also has coached offensive line in college at Temple and in NFL Europe.
Karl Dorrell is the leading candidate to be wide-receivers coach, and Curtis Modkins is their top choice as running-backs coach. Dorrell was head coach at UCLA before being fired last fall and previously coached wide receivers for the Broncos. Modkins was on Gailey’s staff at Georgia Tech and is the offensive coordinator at Colorado State.
Gailey, 56, has an extensive background as both a coordinator and head coach. He just finished six seasons as the head coach at Georgia Tech and coached the Dallas Cowboys for two seasons.
He was a coordinator in the NFL for the Broncos, Steelers and Dolphins.
Gailey could have had other job offers. He interviewed as coordinator with the 49ers, canceled a scheduled interview with the Rams and would have talked with the Broncos had he not already accepted Edwards’ offer.
“There is an opportunity with the players that are here for us to get well in a hurry,” he said.
The Chiefs were next to last in the league in scoring and yards last season but have some pieces to build around in Larry Johnson, Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe.
Then there’s quarterback Brodie Croyle, who lost all six of his starts last season. Gailey indicated he hasn’t had time to go through all of last season’s video.
“I have seen enough to know there’s a good deal of talent in Brodie and I think he’s got a chance to be a very good quarterback,” Gailey said.
Huard said Gailey’s system is quarterback-friendly and simple for Croyle to learn.
“Brodie won’t have any trouble because he’s a smart guy, and you tell him something once and he’s got it down,” Huard said. “One thing the quarterbacks would do with Chan every Friday is have a meeting to go over our third-down plays. The quarterback would pick his favorites in order, and that’s how he would call them in the game. He would ask us which ones we liked the best, and we would run them. He really respected what the quarterback felt about it.
“That’s unusual. We did that a little bit with Mike (Solari), but not to that extent. With Al (Saunders), we had a ton of third-down plays ready to go, and you never knew which one you were going to get.”
Huard indicated that the system was easier for everyone, not just quarterbacks, to learn.
“It’s not as complicated a system as we’ve had,” Huard said. “There will be a learning curve because there always is, but it’s not overly complicated and that’s a good thing. At times, one of the problems we had with our (old) offense was that there was so much for young guys to learn as far as the shifts and movements and all of the different personnel groupings. Guys had to think too much instead of just play. With this system, there will not be this excuse.
“We won’t have so much in our game plan every week. We won’t have the whole phone book out there every week. We’ll have 50 plays that we feel really good about.”
Gailey’s offense will be based around a power running game and the abilities of Johnson, but Huard said that in Miami, it was also imaginative.
“On third downs especially,” he said. “We were in a lot of four-wide formations. We would do a lot of gimmicks out of that: screens, toss-cracks, quarterback draws. We had a lot of success with those things. We kept the defenses guessing.”