When in Doubt, Blame Trent Green

Call me Nostradamus, Swami, Fortune-Tell-Extraordinaire.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, if Green was not perfect, he would probably hear an earful from Chiefs' fans. Here's one particular response to a prior blog that I'd like to respond to:

All the chiefs problems lead directly back to Trent Green. I agree that defensive calls are also bad, but im tired of hearing how great Green is when all his stats have come from throwing to his te and backs. His interception and fumble took the air out of the chiefs and kept them from adding to their lead. You could see the momentum shift after that. I say we should have stuck with Huard and we would still be in the play-off hunt. Just look at the qb rating. - Steven Talley

Actually, Steven's response is representative of a fairly significant crowd in Kansas City that feels that Green deserves a lot of blame for the Chiefs' despicable loss on Sunday to the Browns.

I don't agree. Without Trent Green, the Chiefs had no fighting chance of beating the Browns. Larry Johnson did well, but he wasn't as consistently dominant as he is in most games. The defense was putrid and gave up 28 points in regulation to a pee-wee league offense. There are so many people to blame for the loss that it's hard to imagine why a man who threw 4 TDs with a 75% completion percentage deserves much of that blame.Let me address two very important points in response to Steven. 1) The interception was poor and ill-timed; however, only throwing 1 INT among 4 TDs, for most quarterbacks, is considered outstanding. The only reason the INT stands out is because the defense required an absolutely perfect performance from Green and every mistake becomes magnified. On a sidenote, I also question whether Kris Wilson did enough to try to either catch the ball or swat the ball away. Instead of catching the ball over his head in stride, I question why he didn't make the adjustment to position his body to better make a play on the ball. I don't see an experienced receiver letting that ball go intercepted completely untouched; 2) there are many times when Green and Huard have stood like statues in the pocket and failed to see a blitz that was staring them right in the face. I don't believe that Green's fumble was due to that sort of careless mistake. Kyle Turley blew a block and Green really didn't have much of a chance to sense the strip. That fumble is on Kyle Turley way more than it is on Trent Green.

The second argument I have heard from many is that Trent Green choked under pressure. I strongly disagree with this point as well. In the 4th quarter, as Herm Edwards always does, the Chiefs started to milk the clock and protect the lead rather than aggressively pursue points. They ran a predictable run/run/pass offense and, as is true with both Huard and Green, they struggled to throw the ball because they were placed in obvious pass situations. When time was ticking down and Green had to win the game on the final drive, I can't help but wonder what he could and would have done, had Kyle Turley done his job.

In the final possessions, Green made four incomplete passes. Let's break these passes down: there was one incomplete pass that bounced completely off Wilson's chest and another where Dante Hall was clearly hit a second or two before the ball reached him. Between the missed P.I. call, the careless drop on first down, and the botched block, it seems to me that Green was asked to win overcoming numerous obstacles.

This is not to completely excuse Green for any mistakes he made, but there are a lot of better people to point fingers at. While most of the Chiefs played miserably for four quarters, Green was a little less than perfect for a half of a quarter. The question is, why did the team demand an absolutely perfect performance from Green in the first place?