Herm Edwards on Short-Week Preparation, Facing Stanford
"Short week for you folks (media), for us, for both the teams, Stanford as well as ourselves. Don’t get a lot of sleep on weeks like this, but it’s part of the deal," said head coach Herm Edwards to open the week of preparation against the Stanford Cardinal.
"I think our coaches have done a nice job of trying to formulate a game plan with the lack of sleep, but that’s what makes it fun, especially when you’re winning, you have a lot more energy. We play a really good Stanford team; they've play well in Pac-12 play thus far. They lost a tough one against UCLA, found their way coming back from that one, but they beat USC and Oregon. Watching that game, I caught a little bit of it at the end and they took it down the field and got it tied up and ended up winning that thing in overtime. They’re a very sound football team, good on defense, and don't give you a lot of big plays.
"Offensively, they use multi-personnel groups, a lot of tight ends, and constantly changing. They will keep you on your toes, they’re very balanced on offense. The young quarterback (Tanner McKee) really has a nice arm, he can throw a football, he’s got a nice delivery, and can touch anywhere on the field with a throw of the ball. They’re very balanced, they have some big-time wide receivers, big guys that have some size and some length. They throw the ball up with a lot of jump balls and they come down with a lot of them as well.
"This will be a big test for us because they’re a complete football team in all three phases, they complement each other. They’re very tough and we anticipate it being a physical football game.”
As Edwards alluded to, Stanford will be riding high fresh off an upset over Oregon when the team travels to Tempe this Friday, likely searching for another one against No. 22 Arizona State.
Yet the preparations to avoid an upset have already begun on Edwards' staff, as he said he nearly went straight to the office after landing back in Tempe.
“Looking at Stanford, I got here at about three, I was here until around 4:00 or 4:30 and then I went home. If I don’t go home, my wife doesn't sleep. I told her I was home and then I left again at about 5:30. I just made sure my daughters were sleeping, my wife was OK and the dog was sleeping and came back over here and that’s what you do, it’s part of being the coach," said Edwards.
"I mean that is all NFL days, that is what you do, it's not just me, it is what all coaches do. I am just glad I still have energy, that is important and you have energy when you win a game, you have this energy about yourself, you are excited and you want to make sure you give your players information. When they come in today, we will go out in the yard, its at 5, we will have a team meeting at 5. We won’t talk about our last game a whole lot, just kind of showing some things on tape real fast and then we will move on to Stanford, so that is the most important thing.”