ckparrothead
Premium Member
Trent Green had his press conference today at 4pm. During the press conference, a lot of issues were addressed...but I felt there were two issues that got fully elaborated on that are of chief importance.
The two most interesting questions that got answered:
The Concussion. It was Trent Green's first concussion ever, he said. He lost about 20-25 minutes of memory that he said he will never get back, from the moment he took the hit to when he woke up in the ambulance. He said that's the only memory loss involved. Otherwise, it was interesting how he pointed out that his tests came back all clear for a full 3 weeks before the Chiefs finally let him come back. The interesting part about all this is that is exactly how I remember the whole thing, as well. I remember Trent being declared healthy a few games before the Chiefs traveled down to Miami to play the Dolphins, but Damon Huard was doing very well and the Chiefs made the decision not to allow Trent to come back as soon as his medical tests turned out all clear, but rather a few weeks AFTER that...because Damon was doing so well. But then the Miami game happened, and Damon played pathetically in the game. He was beaten up, intimidated, and Pro Football Talk even had sources saying that on the field players came forward saying they could hear him whimpering he was getting beat up so bad. Notice after THAT game was when Trent Green comes back. Trent said the Chiefs set the bar for treating concussions, because they put everything in the hands of the neurosurgeon. That probably didn't happen for ethical reasons, IMO. Instead of asking the player how he felt and then letting him come back at the earliest possible time, which is when the tests come back clear for the first time, they had him sit an additional three weeks and IMO, this was because they wanted to continue allowing Damon Huard to play. Anyway there are no ill effects from the concussion, there was zero risk of stacking because of how long the Chiefs waited, and as a player that has only had ONE major concussion in his career, he is really at no more risk of a serious concussion than anyone else.
The Struggles. First off, I've touched on this before, a long time ago. Trent Green played wholly better pass defenses than Damon Huard did. Huard got to play teams like San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle, St Louis, half a game against Cincy...meanwhile Trent had to play Oakland twice (and yes, they had a good defense under Rob Ryan), San Diego, Denver, Baltimore, Jacksonville...the worst pass D's he faced were Cleveland and half a game against Cincy. I tallied up this stat when discussing with Dupree once and now I can't remember it but if you look at how many points the Chiefs scored on offense in Trent Green's games versus the average number of points allowed by the defenses Green faced, he scored more points above those defenses' normal points allowed than Huard did against the defenses he faced. So there is that. Additionally, as Trent was saying, when Herm Edwards came on board, and Al Saunders was alowed to walk, Mike Solari came up as coordinator with the same playbook but they really wanted to change the offensive philosophy a lot. Again, this is something I remember, because I remember Trent expressing his unhappiness during training camp with the changes to the offensive philosophy. The thing that kept them from changing the philosophy too much actually was Trent Green. But then Trent got hurt in the first game, so the offensive coaches began shifting the offense to what they wanted. By the time Trent came back, it was a whole new offense. Yes, same playbook as from Saunders (mostly)...but I think we here in Miami got a UNIQUE perspective, actually on two occasions over the last few years, of how a coach can take a proven playbook and system, and make it virtually unrecognizable without actually changing the playbook. Marc Trestman and Chris Foerster did that with Norv Turner's offense, and Mike Mularkey did it to Scott Linehan's offense.
Overall I think those were the biggest questions he could have answered in that press conference. He gave us all the skinny on the concussion, and then he gave us all the skinny on what happened with the offense in Kansas City.
Otherwise, this is not your typical weathered-down, worn-out 37 year old quarterback. This is not 37 year old Dan Marino, limping to the line of scrimmage and dealing with pinched nerves in his neck. Trent Green doesn't have a bunch of wear and tear on his body, he doesn't have a laundry list of serious injuries that he is dealing with, and prior to that concussion I believe he had started something like 80 games in a row for the Chiefs.
Trent Green had two periods of sustained underperformance in Kansas City. I feel that he just furnished a pretty plausible explanation for his underperformance in 2006.
But another period of underperformance was 2001. If you all remember, Dave Wannstedt crowed about his decision not to trade for Green after the 2001 season because Green had a 71 QB rating. I had always assumed that Trent struggled that year just because he was new to Kansas City's particular offense and players.
That was important, because it is one of the biggest reasons I felt like in Miami, Trent Green is a guy that will have a QB rating in the high 70's or low 80's...because he will take a while to get use to the offensive personnel and system.
But then I tripped across some comments from Dick Vermeil on the Green thing.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/138319.html
That comment really got my attention. Vermeil chose out that first year and said that year was ESPECIALLY when Trent showed what he could do. You can understand my surprise, I mean statistically he was not impressive. He had 24 interceptions and only 17 touchdowns! But then you look at what Vermeil was talking about and you say damn, he was right. Their most dangerous receiver that year was Marvin Minnis! After that they had a seriously declining Derrick Alexander, and Eddie Kennison was brand new to the team fresh off a few scrub years, and he didn't end up getting relied on until the end of the season (coincidentally when Trent started to look better too).
So, overall we've got some questions answered. His concussion is a non-issue. We also have two plausible explanations for his only two periods of sustained underperformance in the last seven years.
I'm more excited about the trade now than I was two days ago, because of these answers.
The two most interesting questions that got answered:
The Concussion. It was Trent Green's first concussion ever, he said. He lost about 20-25 minutes of memory that he said he will never get back, from the moment he took the hit to when he woke up in the ambulance. He said that's the only memory loss involved. Otherwise, it was interesting how he pointed out that his tests came back all clear for a full 3 weeks before the Chiefs finally let him come back. The interesting part about all this is that is exactly how I remember the whole thing, as well. I remember Trent being declared healthy a few games before the Chiefs traveled down to Miami to play the Dolphins, but Damon Huard was doing very well and the Chiefs made the decision not to allow Trent to come back as soon as his medical tests turned out all clear, but rather a few weeks AFTER that...because Damon was doing so well. But then the Miami game happened, and Damon played pathetically in the game. He was beaten up, intimidated, and Pro Football Talk even had sources saying that on the field players came forward saying they could hear him whimpering he was getting beat up so bad. Notice after THAT game was when Trent Green comes back. Trent said the Chiefs set the bar for treating concussions, because they put everything in the hands of the neurosurgeon. That probably didn't happen for ethical reasons, IMO. Instead of asking the player how he felt and then letting him come back at the earliest possible time, which is when the tests come back clear for the first time, they had him sit an additional three weeks and IMO, this was because they wanted to continue allowing Damon Huard to play. Anyway there are no ill effects from the concussion, there was zero risk of stacking because of how long the Chiefs waited, and as a player that has only had ONE major concussion in his career, he is really at no more risk of a serious concussion than anyone else.
The Struggles. First off, I've touched on this before, a long time ago. Trent Green played wholly better pass defenses than Damon Huard did. Huard got to play teams like San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle, St Louis, half a game against Cincy...meanwhile Trent had to play Oakland twice (and yes, they had a good defense under Rob Ryan), San Diego, Denver, Baltimore, Jacksonville...the worst pass D's he faced were Cleveland and half a game against Cincy. I tallied up this stat when discussing with Dupree once and now I can't remember it but if you look at how many points the Chiefs scored on offense in Trent Green's games versus the average number of points allowed by the defenses Green faced, he scored more points above those defenses' normal points allowed than Huard did against the defenses he faced. So there is that. Additionally, as Trent was saying, when Herm Edwards came on board, and Al Saunders was alowed to walk, Mike Solari came up as coordinator with the same playbook but they really wanted to change the offensive philosophy a lot. Again, this is something I remember, because I remember Trent expressing his unhappiness during training camp with the changes to the offensive philosophy. The thing that kept them from changing the philosophy too much actually was Trent Green. But then Trent got hurt in the first game, so the offensive coaches began shifting the offense to what they wanted. By the time Trent came back, it was a whole new offense. Yes, same playbook as from Saunders (mostly)...but I think we here in Miami got a UNIQUE perspective, actually on two occasions over the last few years, of how a coach can take a proven playbook and system, and make it virtually unrecognizable without actually changing the playbook. Marc Trestman and Chris Foerster did that with Norv Turner's offense, and Mike Mularkey did it to Scott Linehan's offense.
Overall I think those were the biggest questions he could have answered in that press conference. He gave us all the skinny on the concussion, and then he gave us all the skinny on what happened with the offense in Kansas City.
Otherwise, this is not your typical weathered-down, worn-out 37 year old quarterback. This is not 37 year old Dan Marino, limping to the line of scrimmage and dealing with pinched nerves in his neck. Trent Green doesn't have a bunch of wear and tear on his body, he doesn't have a laundry list of serious injuries that he is dealing with, and prior to that concussion I believe he had started something like 80 games in a row for the Chiefs.
Trent Green had two periods of sustained underperformance in Kansas City. I feel that he just furnished a pretty plausible explanation for his underperformance in 2006.
But another period of underperformance was 2001. If you all remember, Dave Wannstedt crowed about his decision not to trade for Green after the 2001 season because Green had a 71 QB rating. I had always assumed that Trent struggled that year just because he was new to Kansas City's particular offense and players.
That was important, because it is one of the biggest reasons I felt like in Miami, Trent Green is a guy that will have a QB rating in the high 70's or low 80's...because he will take a while to get use to the offensive personnel and system.
But then I tripped across some comments from Dick Vermeil on the Green thing.
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/138319.html
That comment really got my attention. Vermeil chose out that first year and said that year was ESPECIALLY when Trent showed what he could do. You can understand my surprise, I mean statistically he was not impressive. He had 24 interceptions and only 17 touchdowns! But then you look at what Vermeil was talking about and you say damn, he was right. Their most dangerous receiver that year was Marvin Minnis! After that they had a seriously declining Derrick Alexander, and Eddie Kennison was brand new to the team fresh off a few scrub years, and he didn't end up getting relied on until the end of the season (coincidentally when Trent started to look better too).
So, overall we've got some questions answered. His concussion is a non-issue. We also have two plausible explanations for his only two periods of sustained underperformance in the last seven years.
I'm more excited about the trade now than I was two days ago, because of these answers.
