COMMENTARY

Chiefs are making strides under Edwards

SAN DIEGO | On third down and two, Dantrell Savage took the pitch. He’s 5-foot-8 and not especially fast. He essentially made the Chiefs at a tryout camp back in May. He began the year as the Chiefs’ fourth-string running back. He got the first down.

Two plays later, Tyler Thigpen dropped back to throw. He played football at Coastal Carolina, a school that did not even have football before he got there. He was drafted in the seventh round by Minnesota and was released before the season began.

He lofted the pass to Mark Bradley, who signed with the Chiefs barely a month ago after getting released by the Chicago Bears. Bradley pulled it in for the touchdown.

These are your Kansas City Chiefs right now. They are a team of rejects and replacements and guys who hang around Arrowhead Stadium hoping to get signed. Unemployment may be up across America but that’s no fault of the Kansas City Chiefs. Four players who were signed by the Chiefs this past week played in Sunday’s game against the Chargers. Two others were signed last week. Linebacker Rocky Boiman, signed all the way back on Oct. 15, started the game and, as such, became eligible for a gold watch.

And you know what? The Chiefs somehow almost won the game anyway.

That says something … and it’s something that you may not want to read on another loser Monday. Every week, the inbox is flooded with angry e-mails focused on one thing and one thing only: Fire Chiefs coach Herm Edwards. This has become such an obsession for so many readers that it seems the firing of Edwards has moved up and above the firing of Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson on the wish list. And Fire Carl had been the No. 1 song in this town for 348 consecutive weeks.

And so, if you are one of those who want Herm Edwards fired, you probably should do yourself a favor and stop reading this column now. Enjoy your Monday. Get a doughnut or swim a few laps or do whatever you like to do. Because the rest of this will probably aggravate your ulcer. Or give you one.

Still reading? OK, you have been warned. I think Herm Edwards is doing a good job this year.

I told you — go on, get that doughnut, turn to the comics, there’s still time. See, there’s a reason that many of us like Herm Edwards. There’s a reason why he finished fourth in that NFL players poll which asked which coach they would like to play for. There’s a reason that an Edwards-coached team forced to play Colclough and Gilberry and Dacus and Walden and a bunch of other guys with first names you do not know went into San Diego and came within a two-point conversion of upsetting the Chargers.

The reason is that Herm Edwards is a good football coach.

Oh, he might not be a brilliant strategist who creates mathematical genius on a chalkboard. He might not be Garry Kasparov moving his knights and bishops around the board, causing the grandmaster on the other sideline to resign. He might not be a master of clock management, and yeah we saw that again at the end of the first half in San Diego when the Chiefs decided to run out the clock, go for the score, run out the clock and go for the score all in the span of about 83 seconds.

It has been well documented what Herm Edwards cannot do. But here are things I think he can do: He can build a football team. He can keep that football team together. He can inspire players, and he can motivate them into buying in, and he can get them to play hard week after week. Those things, I think, are more important than someone who can design cool plays on napkins.

To reach Joe Posnanski, call 816-234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.

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