Bowe’s Working On Drops
From the Truman Sports Complex
Last year, Dwayne Bowe was among the NFL league leaders in one dubious category for a wide receiver: drops.
In fact, he finished second in the league with 13 drops. Only Cleveland’s Braylon Edwards had more, as the Browns receiver finished with 16 dropped pass. (See chart below).
That’s something the Chiefs are working on with Bowe and plan to increase that work load come training camp and even during the season.
“Coach said he’s going to have me doing all these ball drills and I probably won’t have one drop all season,” said Bowe. “There are going to be a lot of new drills this year, the same drills he used with Larry Fitzgerald.”
Todd Haley is an old receivers coach and he says dropped passes by receivers comes down to one of two things vision problems or concentration. Haley says the Chiefs receivers have had their vision checked so that’s not Bowe’s problem.
“You’ve got to look at technique, you’ve got to look at concentration,” said Haley. “There are all kind of drills and different things you can do to continue to work on it.”
One thing Haley will not do is ignore the drops. Some coaches think emphasizing the problem with a player only exacerbates the issue. Haley’s view is the complete opposite of that.
| Receiver | Team | Drops |
| Braylon Edwards |
Cleveland |
16 |
| Dwayne Bowe |
Chiefs |
13 |
| Brandon Marshall |
Denver |
12 |
| Terrell Owens |
Dallas |
10 |
| Calvin Johnson |
Detroit |
9 |
“You’ve just got to coach it,” said Haley. “You have to let whoever the player is that it’s not alright to let the ball hit your hands and hit the ground, or worse than that, tip the ball to the other side. You can’t let it go. You’ve got to continue to press the issue that the ball has to be caught. Drill it before and after practice at all times. That’s the best solution I’ve found.”
Like many of the holdover players from the Edwards Era, Bowe has had to adjust to the new coaching style of Haley and his staff.
“It took awhile, but I see where he’s coming from and how he wants practice,” said Bowe. “It’s kind of nice. The tempo is faster, the guys are in shape and I think that will help us out a lot.”
Although unhappy with the fact that Bowe showed up out of shape and overweight to start the off-season program, Haley is happy with the wide receiver’s work.
“I would say that Dwayne has been very receptive to what we are trying to do,” said Haley. “He’s continually tried to get around me and talk to me about what’s expected. He’s talked to coach (Dedric) Ward, he’s trying to do the right things.
“Dwayne is one of those guys that let himself go during the off-season, so it’s been a long road back. That’s a lot of work when you are trying to lose 20, 25 pounds.”
I lost 25 pounds in a week and a half once~her name was bom-bom ~ it was a lot of work,and still have not forgot.
Yea, but this isn’t losing 25 pounds of 100% wt. These guys’ gotta have a pretty low BF comp to be physically able to play inthe NFL.
I must say, I thought we had more hard workout guys. Sounds like the weight loss is moreso due to everyone letting themselves go.
Thats just flat out ridiculous, I worked out next to LT year after year in the offseason with Todd Durkin Under Armor’s Top Trainer. He was there early, every day, and worked hard, beyond belief, to get what he said, was back to the shape he was in during college(this started 2-3 years into his career)….notice how despite injuries hes still been effective, its all about staying in shape.
Nice to see Haley is working that out.
25 pounds overweight is an awful lot for a WR. He’s usually listed at 223 so that means either Haley wants him playing lighter than that, or that Bowe came in weighing nearly 250! That seems inexcusable to me. I get the impression that after this offseason, the players won’t let themselves go quite as bad as they have this year. The more I hear about how out of shape everyone is and how much harder the practices are, the more I despise Herm Edwards. Thanks for wasting three years of my time as a Chiefs fan. Worst Chiefs coach of all time.
I have to agree this does say alot about why we had so many injuries last year and how out of shape guys were with everyone losing weight and being considered overweight
Herm let players get out of shape, and there was no accountability for losing. No wonder the players loved him. They didn’t play for him, but they sure loved him. What a breath of fresh air Haley is.
I think the Dropped Passes stat is a little misleading. You look at every guy on that list and what do you see? They are all elite recievers with the exception of Bowe because he’s still on his way up there. All of these recievers are leading in drops mainly because they are getting the ball thrown to them more often than anyone one else on their squad. I’m not making excuses for Bowe, but if any other reciever on our squad right now had as many passes thrown to them as Bowe did last season, I think you’d see a much higher number of dropped passes.
HOW MANY GAMES DID KC LOSE IN SECOND HALF , WITH LEEDS IN FIRST HALF!
Agreed Jon. A more telling stat would be a ratio of drops to receptions. Still though, second in the league is troubling regardless. Since Haley is a former WRs coach, he should be well equipped to help Bowe improve. Bowe is a few fewer drops away from being a top 10 WR. Let’s hope he gets it together in his 3rd season the same way Tony Gonzalez did back in 1999.
I have wondered quite a bit about the weight gain. Could it be that after losing so many games, that maybe all hope was lost on a majority of the team that they just didn’t care and sought food for comfort? I mean, how many people are depressed enough that they eat “comfort foods” to feel better about themselves? Before they know it, they gain considerable amount of weight Quite a few people fall into this catagory, would be my guess. After all, these Chiefs are human. Am I off base here?
I wouldn’t be too worried about anybody’s weight at this point. It is still very early. Plus, the coaches have goals for some of these guys that are different from last year. This stuff happens.
It was reported that Bowe showed up for OTAs at almost 240 and the coach wants him down to around 217. Bowe said he played at 224 last year, so he wasn’t terribly out of shape when OTAs started. It was reported that he is real close to last year’s number right now. I have no doubt he’ll make the weight they have set for him.
Bowe is not one of my all time favorites, I keep hoping we find another Otis Taylor. But at least he said the correct things, we just have to hope he works into the new system.
His weight situation is not a real worry if you are talking about the weight alone. It is the problem of what is going on inside his brain. Pro players, at least the really good ones, are in shape year round. It is their business to be in shape and nothing else is acceptable. Look at Jerry Rice, look like he could play when he was done and on to the HOF. I personnally do not see this desire with Bowe.
tm1946 says:
“I personnally do not see this desire with Bowe.”
Valid point. But, I’m hoping Haley can light a fire under his ass. You have to remember that Bowe only has two years under Herm “losing is acceptable” Edwards on his NFL resume. So far, anyway.
“After all, these Chiefs are human.”
Think of all the great bbq the players have access to!
One of the lightweights i.e., mental morons this thread - take your pick - said “Herm let players get out of shape.”
It then follows that Herm also let them ‘not’ get to the QB, allowed them to lose 14 games and -oh- was the shadowy figure firing from aft the grassy knoll in Dallas and… well, you get the idea.
Rin is in tip top shape but if not and a weighty issue was the culprit, wouldst have to remind my Manager of health (Doc, Coach et al) “you let me get out of shape. How could you let this happen?”
Imagine the possibilities…
A lack of accountability starts with the accountant/his work - not the accountant’s manager.
“A lack of accountability starts with the accountant/his work - not the accountant’s manager.”
However, nothing was ever Herm’s fault…lol.
“However, nothing was ever Herm’s fault.”
- still the essence of the case - lo$t revenue$ trumps lost games; when fan ab$ence $peak$, the owner’s bottom line grows le$$ fonder…
Excluding myself to be fair, no one be it a coach or otherwise is sans some blame… yet, those 4-6 additional 2008 games that Kaycee was as close to winning as they were L’s the final scoreboard aft cannot be ignored.
That any coach would like to win must be balanced against what the goal is: had KC won 8 games last season instead of 2, would Rin like them any more than now? No. Had they won 0 like them less? No.
They were last year as they be today - short on talent - now longer in tooth, major aside being ‘check’ will inherit & benefit this year from a team that gained much experience in 2008. So any W’s 2009 go in the Herm category, any L’s be the realm ’seacrh’ & ‘check’.
Remember these words that will come back to bite them copiously: “any 22″ could do better ‘check’ said, not just as good- better. He’ll have ample opportunity to affirm said in 2009, & frankly he should win more games regardless of talent level and just on added experience. That I expect them to ‘not’ do much better? Certainty. Rin is going to love watching Humpty & Dumpty fall off of the wall…I’ve no doubt they will.
It was about ‘rebuilding’ - with Jr.’s blessing. That a ble$$ing to Jr. be as laying a foundation to Herm is where the house fell divided, owner’s double-speak being worthy of a good flogging via O’Reilly’s no spin zone.
Herm’s manager Jr. considered his own manager - Chiefs fandom - by picking a bouquet of rigged daisies:
“Clark love Herm, Clark loves Herm not” - Herm died to self for his players sins & to Jr. for the owner’s $in$.
SG read Rin’s argument which appeared sitting on a wall…SG watched Rin’s argument take a great fall. All of Rin’s cleverness and all of Rin’s wit…could not put that argument back together again.
Some of your stuff I agree with…to this one however I must reply, “Airball!”
You gotta also take into consideration that during this offseason, the players knew that all their old coaches (and GM) were gone, so I think there is a natural tendency to relax a little. I don’t have any information on what the Chiefs’ off-season workouts were like in prior years, but I never read about players being obesely out of shape coming into training camp in prior years. So although Herm may be at fault for other things, I don’t think it’s fair to blame him for players being out of shape when he’s not even the coach anymore…
SG says
“SG read Rin’s argument”
- yes, and you’re sounding better than you have in years as a result…
“which appeared sitting on a wall”
- that is the age old question: was it the egg or the chicken came first? Neither…was the spatula.
“SG watched Rin’s argument”
- yes, almost as lovely as the reading of it be breathing in nee imbibing the rich flavor…
“take a great fall.”
- oh, he will- I mean, you want ‘check’…but you’ll need an appointment first.
“All of Rin’s cleverness and all of Rin’s wit”
- equal portions Shakespeare, Cioran & Serling, least a bit…
“could not put that argument back together again.”
- well, anytime you get four great minds together there is bound to be some disagreement as regards the style, substance and the like, but as is the wont with genius…we all do as we must, whereas talent merely does but what it can…
“Some of your stuff I agree with…to this one however I must reply, “Airball!”
- (cue Dave Mason)
“Been away, haven’t seen you in a while…how’ve you been? Have you changed your style and do you think - that we’ve grown up, differently? Don’t seem the same seems you’ve lost your feel for me
So let’s leave it alone, ’cause we can’t see eye to eye. There ain’t no good guys, there ain’t no bad guys there’s only you & me & we just disagree - Ooo - ooo - ooohoo oh - oh - o-whoa