Posnanski: Longing for Martyball

[tk13]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/13551859.htm

Longing for Martyball

Maybe Peterson believes Edwards can rekindle glory

JOE POSNANSKI

From the start, I’ve thought that Chiefs president/CEO/general manager/cruise director Carl Peterson would try to hire Herman Edwards to be coach. It just makes too much sense. Peterson loves Edwards. They go back more than 25 years. Peterson tried to recruit Edwards to UCLA. He signed Edwards as a pro player. He hired Edwards to work as a scout. He persuaded Edwards to go into coaching. He helped Edwards get the head-coaching job in New York.

When Peterson hired Dick Vermeil, he hired someone who had been like a father to him. Hiring Herm Edwards would be like hiring something close to a son.

But there’s something else at work here, too, something you can’t help but notice if you listen to Peterson talk. He has grown tired of the roller coaster. He has grown tired of 38-37 games. He has grown tired of winning seasons followed by losing seasons followed by winning seasons. You couldn’t miss it on Tuesday, when Peterson was challenged by a pointed question: With the way the Chiefs’ offense has played the last five years, how could you hire anyone but offensive coordinator Al Saunders?

Peterson was not too crazy about the tone of the question. He bounced around a little bit, talked about the NFL minority-hiring policy, talked about how he knows Al Saunders’ strengths and weaknesses. And then he said this: “There are other considerations more than just the offensive side of the football.”

Here’s what I thought: Carl Peterson really misses Marty.

It isn’t the first time that Marty nostalgia has popped up either.

Peterson misses the Marty Schottenheimer 1990s, when the Chiefs always won 10 or more games and always made the playoffs. True, to many Chiefs fans, that was the age of frustration, years most remembered for heartbreaking playoff losses and grinding 17-14 punt-fests. But to Peterson, those years were heaven.

And I think he believes Herm Edwards can take the Chiefs back to heaven.

See, this is what you have to understand about Peterson: The man hates losing. People always seem to miss this. Peterson hates losing football games as much as anyone in the NFL. Put it this way: He probably hates losing games more than you do.

That disgust for losing has been the driving force behind Peterson and the Chiefs for 17 years. It is why the Chiefs have averaged about 10 victories per season over that time. It is why, unlike almost every other team in the NFL, the Chiefs have never been thoroughly awful on Peterson’s watch.

Best winning percentages since 1989:
1. San Francisco, .618
2. Pittsburgh, .613
3. Denver, .610
4. Kansas City, .594
5. Green Bay, .588.

Now you will point out that, unlike the other four teams on the list, the Chiefs have not made the Super Bowl in that time. Well, that’s a whole different argument. I’m talking about winning and losing games. Here — let me try and prove to you that Carl Peterson cares more about winning games than you do. I’ll make you an offer. You have two choices:

1. The Chiefs can win 10 or 11 games each of the next five years and make the playoffs, but they probably will not go to the Super Bowl.

2. The Chiefs will win the Super Bowl once in the next five years, guaranteed, but the other four years they will go 3-13.

Now, which of those options would you take? I don’t know you very well, but I’m guessing you might take Option 2 — you would take four bad years for one Super Bowl championship. It has been so long for this town. We’re all dying for the title. I asked nine people — all nine took the Super Bowl win. I would take Option 2.

That’s where Carl Peterson’s different. He would, almost without any doubt, take Option 1. He would not trade all those losses for one Super Bowl championship. No way. Winning and losing games matter to him too much. Winning is good business. He’d take the double-digit victories every year and take his chances in the playoffs.

That’s what the Marty Schottenheimer days were all about. Good business. The Chiefs made the playoffs seven of eight years, they gave up the fewest points twice, they ran the ball down people’s throats, they had the best record in the AFC twice, they were as reliable as a Maytag. Peterson liked that. He tried to keep that metronome going with Gunther Cunningham, but things changed, Derrick died, the metronome stopped.

So, Peterson went with his old friend, a Super Bowl coach, Dick Vermeil, and for five years it was a high-wire act, passes flying everywhere, scoreboards lighting up, touchdown dances galore. Everybody bet the over. Every game was exciting. But the Chiefs finished 6-10 one year, the worst record in the Peterson era. They had another losing season. They made the playoffs only once — that now makes it one playoff appearance in eight years. And I think, toward the end especially, Peterson, like George Jetson, wanted to get off this crazy thing.

That’s why I think he will, if at all possible, hire Herm Edwards. Let’s face it: There’s nothing about Edwards that gets your heart racing. He has a losing record with the Jets. He has never coached a team to more than 10 wins. He has won a couple of playoff games — two more than the Chiefs have in the last decade — but he is probably best remembered for the way his Jets went into a Robert Novak conservative shell in the final minutes last season in Pittsburgh and lost a playoff game they had won.

There are good things, too. The Jets did make the playoffs three times in five years — no Jets coach before had made the playoffs three times. Edwards’ players swear by him. They play hard for him. Terrific coaches like Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher and, yes, Schottenheimer, say that Edwards is one of the brightest coaches in the game. Give him a running game (Larry Johnson) and defensive talent (the Chiefs seem to have some), and he might very well do good things.

There are some other interesting choices out there. Bob Stoops has been amazing at Oklahoma. Butch Davis was dreadful in Cleveland, but he was a big winner in college, too. Jim Fassel went to a Super Bowl with the Giants. And, hey, Al Saunders has, in fact, engineered the league’s highest-scoring offense the last four years.

But in the end, I think, Peterson wants stability. He wants to go back to the 1990s. He can’t hire Marty Schottenheimer again. Herm Edwards looks like the next-best thing.

[grandllama]

so god damned it, hire Marty instead of Hermie...

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Herm better not freakin' touch the offense if he comes here.

[Rausch]

Rausch's reason for liking Edwards: he's got that "**** you, we WILL get it done" attitude.

Love that. LOVE IT.

**** you, we're hiring Edwards...

[Hammock Parties]

Germ Edwards is anything but stable.

He flies off the handle if you ask a negative question at a press conference.

Also...

Winning is good business.

Yup. Peterson would rather have butts in the seats for 5 years straight, which is what winning 10 or 11 games every year means.

fuck you, Carl.

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by gochiefs

Germ Edwards is anything but stable.

He flies off the handle if you ask a negative question at a press conference.

I was unaware that press conferences affected on-field performance, which is the subject of discussion.


As for getting pissed off at a reporter asking a remedial question, big f'in deal. These guys are paid to dig and ask annoying, stupid f'ing questions to a guy who has just lost a game and is in a bad frame of mind, and they are always asked with the sole purpose of getting a good sound byte.

I dont know how some of these coaches display the restraint that they have towards some of these jackasses, and in terms of overall coaches, Herm Edwards' press conferences are pretty tame in comparison to the likes of guys like Mike Ditka or Jim Mora Sr.

If Herm is unstable, then guys like Ditka and Mora are pure section eight.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

I was unaware that press conferences affected on-field performance, which is the subject of discussion.

I was directly addressing the notion that Germ Edwards is "stable."

As for getting pissed off at a reporter asking a remedial question, big f'in deal. These guys are paid to dig and ask annoying, stupid f'ing questions to a guy who has just lost a game and is in a bad frame of mind, and they are always asked with the sole purpose of getting a good sound byte.

Definitely not always true. And it doesn't take much for Germ to fly off the handle. I'm betting he will do it at his FIRST Chiefs press conference.

It's called being a professional.

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by gochiefs

I was directly addressing the notion that Germ Edwards is "stable."



Definitely not always true. And it doesn't take much for Germ to fly off the handle. I'm betting he will do it at his FIRST Chiefs press conference.

It's called being a professional.

Youre serious?

I guess then, that all of the great coaches who have ever coached and gotten pissed off at a member of the media for acting like a tard, they were all unprofessional?

Well, I have to admit this is some pretty funny stuff here. All I can say is that if it bothers you that much, turn the channel when the press conferences start.

There's nitpicking, and then there is this. Congratulations, youve set the bar another notch higher.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

I guess then, that all of the great coaches who have ever coached and gotten pissed off at a member of the media for acting like a tard, they were all unprofessional?

I don't care about here and there. Everyone does it.

Edwards does it CONSTANTLY. And usually for no good reason, not because the reporter was being a "tard."

I am guessing he can't handle criticism. And anything he perceives as criticism, even if it's not....BOOM! The Herm-Bomb gets dropped.

[Hammock Parties]

From the NY Post:

Well, Edwards is soon to be Kansas City's problem. He will galvanize the Chiefs' locker room, of that there is little doubt. He will give the radio guys some wonderful sound bytes, and every now and again he'll show up on the local 6 o'clock news giving one of his revivalist homilies, the kind that usually came right on the heels of someone daring to criticize him or his team a little too fervently.

[the Talking Can]

I'm feeling sick.

He's exactly right...Herm Schottenhiemer is about mediocrity.

[philfree]

Here’s what I thought: Carl Peterson really misses Marty.

I'm a Marty fan but I call ......Carl want's to win it all and Marty was Carl's choice after DV said no. Carl will miss DV way more then Marty but what/who he misses the the most is #58. Allen is great but the untimely demise of DT is haunting for Carl and Gun. Marty probably too..........Alot of years have passed but some scars take along time to heal. Who wears their seatbelt because of DT? DT can't be replaced but.........Carl ain't missing Marty at this point.

One of JoPos rare schuds.


PhilFree

[the Talking Can]

"That’s where Carl Peterson’s different. He would, almost without any doubt, take Option 1. He would not trade all those losses for one Super Bowl championship. No way."


bingo....no risk, reward...

[Wallcrawler]

Well, even your own quote there gochiefs says he doesnt do it CONSTANTLY.

Besides, I think its funny. These reporters are just asking for it when they say the things that they say. Then they have the nerve to write up their column saying how shocked and offended they are that Herm "dropped a Herm Bomb" on them as you put it, neglecting to add in there what asinine crap they said to warrant such a response.

Basicly my view is if you dont want the answer, dont ask the question. If you dont want a rebuttal, dont make the statement.

But also for the record, I LOVED ALL of Jim Mora Sr's press conferences after losses. maybe its just me. I think that kind of stuff is funny and entertaining. If the team is going to lose, I might as well get something out of it.

I could see myself doing the same thing. Some jackass who doesnt have a clue as to what's going on making criticisms and insinuations....yeah, Id probably let them have it too, professional or unprofessional, I could really give a rats ass.

If you cant stand the heat, get out of the conference room. Heh.

Its also probably one of the main reasons players love him so much as well. Let someone criticize them, and he stands up for them.

[Hammock Parties]

See, that's just the thing. Sometimes someone would ask an innocent question and he'd explode over it.

I don't like it, and it doesn't endear him to the fans in the least.