This is Part II of a multi-part series examining the Chiefs' failures on Saturday against the Colts. We previously discussed the media's role in the Chiefs' loss.Eddie Kennison, Samie Parker, and Jordan Black owe Trent Green a Rolex. It seems that the fans and media are so intent on blaming Green for Saturday's loss to the Colts that they are completely ignoring the three players that were easily the biggest goats of Saturday's football game. It was not about Trent Green. It was not about Damon Huard. Plain and simple: Trent Green was kept from doing his job because his teammates didn't do theirs.
I know everyone wants to blame the quarterback for the Chiefs' offensive failures on Saturday. The Chiefs didn't get a first down in an entire half of play. Of course, that's pathetic. Of course, the first person to blame for these problems is the quarterback. But you have to look past pure numbers and look at the facts behind the figures. What I saw was not poor play by the quarterback; rather, I witnessed what might have been the absolute worst performance by a wide receiver corps in NFL playoff history. On the rare occasion that the Chiefs chose to pass in the first half, Green threw the ball in the right spot and the receivers dropped it. I'm not talking about tough passes that were dropped; I'm talking about easy catches that, as Madden would probably say, doinked off his receivers.
What are you supposed to do when you run 8 first-half pass plays and half of them go for drops? Is it the quarterback's fault if half of his third down passes went into his receivers' hands or between their numbers, then were dropped? Is it the quarterback's fault if, on two 3rd down pass plays in the first half, the linemen completely failed on him (Jordan Black let Freeney come in untouched for one third down sack, and Brian Waters was so far back after another snap that Green tripped over his feet). Even his interception in the second half should be blamed on atrocious blocking by the offensive line that got their quarterback clobbered in mid-throw.What I see here is that everyone is using Green's lousy performances against Baltimore, Jacksonville, etc... as a basis for why Green failed in Indianapolis. Green has not been popular in Kansas City this season and something tells me that if he threw for 400 yards against Indianapolis and the Chiefs lost, he would still be scapegoated. Throw out everything he did in the regular season. This is not about that. The heart of the argument is: did Green do his job in the playoffs? The answer is "as much as he could have, yes."
While Green has been bombarded with criticism, his offensive teammates get a free pass. What about Eddie Kennison's miserable performance, in which he caught zero passes and had 2 drops on 3rd down? What about how our old trusty, Tony Gonzalez, dropped easy passes as well? What about Samie Parker, who wasn't open all day? What about Dante Hall, who let a 3rd down pass bounce off his chest because "the ball was thrown too hard." What about Jordan Black who, true to his nickname "I-65", let every defender he blocked zoom right through him untouched. What about the entire offensive line, who were getting pushed around all day by defenders half their size? What about the ridiculous playcalling that put the Chiefs in obvious passing situations all game long and didn't open up the passing game until the second half? Or what about our running game? Isn't it interesting that even though almost 2/3 of our first half plays were run plays, nobody mentions that our run offense also failed to gain first downs against one of the worst run offenses in NFL history?
Everybody is screaming about how Damon Huard would have saved us in this game. mjd included Herm Edwards as one of his goats for not pulling Green. I'm scratching my head at that one. What did Green do wrong to warrant being pulled? Unless you're suggesting that Green should have played receiver and left tackle, the argument makes no sense. Look, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in Green for 2007. I would actually prefer that the Chiefs go with Brodie Croyle. But let's not go through the process of scapegoating a player that did his job when all of his teammates completely did not.
Okay, so many of you wonder why I'm so defensive of Trent Green and Herm Edwards. I'm not. I think both have their share of problems. But I think that this idea of scapegoating gives us fans the illusion that if we get rid of one of those two, all the other pieces will magically fall into place. Guess what? KC has much bigger problems than their quarterback and head coach. If you walked out of Saturday's game and thought we actually had offensive talent to win (even with Damon Huard as our quarterback), then more power to you.
Because the plain fact is, there were no bigger choke artists than Eddie Kennison, Samie Parker, and Jordan Black; yet, Green is getting all the criticism. The sooner we realize how lousy those three were, the sooner we can replace them and move on. If Green is not our quarterback in 2007 and those 3 players are still starting for the Chiefs, I don't believe this Chiefs' offense improves a lick. That's why I think it's so important to have these real discussions on what the Chiefs can fix, rather than resorting to scapegoating.
Green probably shouldn't be the quarterback in 2007, but he has no reason to apologize for his performance on Saturday against the Colts.
