Kavis Reed's Emotional Comments, Assistants on Gag Order

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/f ... story.html

Reed’s post-game outburst draws more attention than loss

Eskimos coach was upset about the number of penalties his team is taking

By Chris O?Leary, Edmonton Journal July 15, 2013 10:17 PM

EDMONTON - When the text messages and emails began to pile up on Sunday and Monday, Kavis Reed knew something had happened.

The head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos quickly learned he’d gone viral.

Discussion of Reed’s post-game reaction to Saturday’s penalty-ridden 17-3 Canadian Football League loss to the B.C. Lions has overtaken the lopsided loss itself as the Eskimos prepare for Saturday’s rematch at Vancouver.

Video of Reed, who was seething with anger after the loss, appeared on the Eskimos’ website on Sunday and sparked plenty of conversation on Twitter among fans and media across the country.

In Regina, Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin was asked about Reed’s meltdown and smiled.

“No, Kavis can’t do that,” he told a scrum of reporters, with video being posted on greenzonefootball.com.

“He just moved into the Denny Green phase, he can’t do that. He gave you guys one for the record. I’m going to try and not to do that.”

Green, of course, threw an infamous tantrum in 2006 after his Arizona Cardinals lost to the Chicago Bears, bellowing: “They are who we thought they were!”

The video of Reed’s post-game comments was taken off of the Eskimos’ website on Monday afternoon, but lives on at CFL.ca and has since been reproduced by fans.

“To be quite honest, I don’t know what the attention is because I stay away from that stuff,” Reed said on Monday night. “But losing is not good. Losing is not something that’s acceptable and it’s not something that you want to be comfortable with. I was very disappointed in some aspects of our game and that was what was being relayed.”

While emotional on the sidelines during games and in practices with his players, Reed has always been able to pull himself together by the time he gets in front of reporters. He teetered on the edge of it on Saturday, saying through clenched teeth that there has to be consequences for the penalties his team is racking up.

Through three games and two losses, Reed has watched the Eskimos take 41 penalties for 330 yards, both league highs.

“We’re averaging 13 penalties a game,” Reed said. “It was just frustration with things about that.

“We’re going to be a very good football team, but we have to get to the point where we understand that we have to be as efficient as possible and not allow ourselves to get into that situation where we’re donating yards. That’s been a constant message.

“Again, it hurt us on a display at home and, again, our fans deserve better. That was the tremendous disappointment, that we for the second time in a row (this season), we did not give our fans a good product on the field and it was disappointing.”

Reed laughed when he was told what Chamblin said about him, but wouldn’t say if the Green comparison was accurate.

“Is it accurate for me to say that I was disappointed in a loss?” he said. “I have no comment on that. Corey said what he said and … I have no comment on that.”

It’s not uncommon in sports for a coach to sometimes offer himself up as a storyline when there’s potentially a lot of pressure on his team. That could be the route Reed chose to go in lashing out on Saturday night.

Mike Reilly, the Eskimos’ first-year starting quarterback, orchestrated an offensive performance of just 145 net yards in the loss, completing 13 of 23 passes for 97 yards, throwing zero touchdowns and one interception.

Reed said that wasn’t his intention.

“It’s about speaking and being as truthful and transparent as possible,” he said. “We have issues and there are always going to be comments on what they are. We speak about what they are and we address them and we move forward.”

Still, the majority of Eskimos conversation on Sunday and Monday was about the coach, and not about a team that produced just a single field goal on Saturday night.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/0 ... -and-more/

Monday’s O-Line: Why an emotional coach is sometimes a good thing, beard masters and more

July 15, 2013. 6:00 am • Section: Football, The O-Line

Chris O'Leary

When you’re growing up, everyone has that one friend who excels at pushing people’s buttons. That friend always has the process down to an art. The button pusher’s work isn’t a simple, singular effort. No, the button pusher picks his or her spots and jabs away at their target until the inevitable happens and they blow up.

We’ve learned this weekend that Kavis Reed’s hot-button issue is penalties. And over the last three weeks, each flag that has flown against his team has jabbed at the coach, pecking away at him bit by bit. When the Eskimos took 11 penalties on Saturday for 103 yards, it pushed the season total to 40 for a total of 330 yards. Compound that with his team’s 17-3 loss to the B.C. Lions on Saturday — his team is now 0-2 at home this year — and Reed was ready to blow his stack after the game, as this video that the Eskimos posted on their website Sunday demonstrates (note that the Eskimos removed the link from their site Monday morning and that CFL.ca still has it).

I’ve seen Kavis Reed against that backdrop for each of his team’s lopsided losses and I’ve never seen him that angry before. I’ve heard him blow up on the field during practice and seen him tear into players on the sidelines during games, but he’s always been able to bottle his post-game anger up by the time he comes to talk with the media.

I was surprised at his calmness after the Week 1 loss to Saskatchewan. From what the TV reporters who were somehow able to camp out outside of the team’s locker room that week said, Reed kept his cool with his players then as well. With two lopsided losses in three weeks, Reed should be mad and it’s good that it’s boiling to the surface. Even if the Eskimos are in rebuilding mode, as GM Ed Hervey made clear last week in Guelph, discipline is something that can be reined in. If it’s not, it’s like a termite, eating away at the foundation of the team. An objectionable conduct call or a roughing the passer flag may not cost you the game in that one moment, but eventually the penalties will get you.

As the Journal’s John MacKinnon pointed out on Saturday night, there was a lot more wrong than just penalties, but it’s a starting point and the most immediately correctable issue that’s plaguing the team as it heads into Week 4 where the B.C. Lions are waiting at home for the Eskimos.

Losing will happen in a rebuild, especially when your opponent is a superior team like the Lions, that has serious Grey Cup aspirations this year and an established QB in Travis Lulay. In most losses, you can’t blow up when your offence doesn’t score enough points (though Saturday’s three-point effort had many watching doing just that). You can send a message on penalties, though, and you should.

Now, how Reed goes about doling out a punishment is something that remains to be seen. He can’t afford to bench J.C. Sherritt, who took a dumb roughing the passer penalty in the third quarter. Sherritt still had nine tackles and is the heartbeat of a defence that held the Lions to a respectable 17 points. My guess is that Tuesday’s practice will involve a lot of running and a lot of players dragging themselves off of the field. And if the visual of airborne flags pops into his head, Reed might pick up where he stopped short in the media scrum on Saturday.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/0 ... b-c-lions/

Edmonton Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed fulminates about consequences for lack of discipline after 17-3 loss to B.C. Lions

July 14, 2013. 1:24 pm • Section: Football, Sports, Sweatsox

Posted by:
John MacKinnon

Edmonton Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed fulminates about consequences for lack of discipline after 17-3 loss to B.C. LionsPosted on Jul 14, 2013

Kavis Reed was fuming, borderline hyperventilating and vibrating with rage following the Eskimos 17-3 loss to the B.C. Lions on Saturday night.

Even by his standards, and Reed is a passionate man who wears his emotions on his sleeve, this post-game rant by the Eskimos head coach was something.

Following a game in which his team took 11 penalties for 103 yards, penalties that in some cases stalled Edmonton drives, in other cases, extended B.C. drives, Reed was in ‘mad-as-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-this-anymore’ mode.

“There has to be consequences now,” Reed vowed between deep breaths. “Enough talking about it, there has to be consequences, it’s just not acceptable.

“We’re not good enough to be as undisciplined as we are at home and allow teams to continue drives and allow our drives to be stalled because of it.”

Reed’s barely suppressed rage was understandable. In the second straight game the Eskimos have played in a torrential downpour, they committed a passel of self-inflicted wounds on both sides of the ball.

Some examples:

Calvin McCarty, a veteran and a reliable, versatile performer, caught a Mike Reilly pass in the second quarter and ran nine yards to the B.C. Lions 25 yard line. Which is when he tossed the ball at an opponent, incurring a 10-yard objectionable conduct penalty.

Instead of third-and-one from there, it was third and 11 from the 35. With the Eskimos leading 3-0, in came Grant Shaw for another field goal. On the driving rain, holder Kerry Joseph could not handle the snap, the play was muffed, the scoring opportunity washed out.

The most eggregious penalties came in tandem early in the third quarter. First special teams man Mike Miller took an unnecessary roughness penalty on punt coverage, which meant that instead of starting at their 20-yard line, B.C. began a drive at their 35.

Two plays later, J.C. Sherritt, the 2012 Most Outstanding Defensive Player in the CFl, was nailed for roughing the passer, another 15-yard gift to the Lions.

Six plays later, B.C. quarterback Travis Lulay hit Andrew Harris for a 16-yard TD pass to make the score 15-3 B.C. Adding insult to injury, Eskimos defenders T.J. Hill and Joe Burnett collided with each other missing the tackle, lending a Keystone Cops touch to the misery.

The Lions scored majors on their first two second-half possessions. And on a night when the Eskimos offence mustered all of 145 yards net offence, that was more than enough to decide the game.

It was a dismal penalty parade on a grim night for the Eskimos, but you wonder what action Reed really can take here.

“I’m going to watch every penalty and if there are repeat offenders, there will be decisions made,” Reed said.

The coach told reporters the CFL does not permit teams to fine players for this sort of lack of discipline. Reed muttered darkly about playing time and changes, but was not specific about what that would mean.

Is he really contemplating benching Sherritt, his best defensive player, the man who set a CFL record 130 tackles last season, over a dumb, costly roughing the passer penalty? I don’t think Sherritt qualifies as a repeat offender, so he may be off the hook here.

Is McCarty, a fine all-purpose back — and a Canadian, to boot — in danger of a benching over his selfish act on Saturday night?

Reed is spot on in saying his team is not good enough to overcome self-inflicted stupidity, but you also wonder whether there wasn’t a dollop of Earl Weaver in his post-game rant.

Weaver, the Baltimore Orioles manager in the 1970s and ’80s, was legendary for his well-timed, tactical tirades with umpires and post-game diatribes. He did this mostly to deflect blame and criticism from his players. Smart man.

Reed is suggesting his players are going to face consequences for taking dumb penalties. There’s no question the Eskimos have to clean this up.

But I don’t see Reed benching Sherritt, whose third-quarter penalty was arguably the biggest brain cramp of all on Saturday night.

The penalties were hugely frustrating for the Eskimos, their rain-soaked fans and, obviously, their head coach. But on a night the Eskimos offence produced three points, did not get to the red zone, in which the quarterback did not throw one pass into the end zone, they could have played squeaky-clean, penalty-free football and still lost.

Of course, cleaning up the penalties can and should be a relatively swift, simple fix. The offensive concerns, on the other hand, will be a season-long preoccupation.

[WestCoastJoe]

It was strange. Odd. Weird. Theatrical. Over the top. Seemingly restrained from an outburst or screaming fit. Hyperventilating. Wiping his mouth. Threatening consequences. And it did seem kind of contrived also. Maybe not contrived, but certainly dramatic. Slow burn. Seething. Yeah.

All in all, great entertainment.

I have kind of liked Kavis Reed as a coach, and definitely as a CFL personality. But that might be changing. Quarterback dithering. Strange pep talks. Changing coaching staff. Threats of some kind of punishment to players.

Kind of a head shaker.

Sort of refreshing from the usual stone face of many coaches, showing little, saying little. But I think Reed may be upsetting to his players, throwing them off. That might partially account for their continued undisciplined play.

Whatever, this story might have legs. Thus the thread. And it is interesting to some of us.

The Eskimos have removed the video from their site, but the CFL still has it. At least for now.

http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/86347

[TheLionKing]

It's the Eskimos way.

Signed

Ed Hervey

[Shi Zi Mi]

The focus of the fans/media is firmly on Reed and not his under performing football team......EXACTLY what he intended before the interview started.
Phony, phony, phony......

[Big Time]

I don't think it was phony. He was legitimately furious. I don't buy the fact that this was a deflectionary tactic. If it was, he'd be saying that the blame was on him, the way his defensive coordinator did. No, Kavis was calling out his players and just got caught up in the moment.

What stands out for me, besides the bizarre behavior, is that there is no acknowledgement that the Lions simply played a better game. It might be too early to say who is the better team, but the Esks couldn't get anything going on offense at all. They lead the league in two and outs, they abandoned the run game, and they could not execute on defense. The Lions were patient, stuck to the game plan, and killed them on the ground. The Lions were the better team for most of the night, and the result was exactly what you would expect. A hard, workmanlike victory for the better team on this evening. The penalties the Esks took may have contributed to extending some drives, however it's slightly reductive to imply that the Esks beat themselves. Sometimes you run into an opponent that simply plays better.

[JohnHenry]

I'd say it was rehearsed or at least Reed wanted to convey his disappointment by acting like he was uncontrollably upset. In the last half of his interview he was answering questions normally and didn't seem to be distraught any longer.

[David]

Ever have one of those instances in school when the teacher or prof kind of lost it? You knew you weren't supposed to laugh but it was so damn funny/weird that you had to suppress your laughter by biting a finger, looking down at the floor and hoping that your quivering back wouldn't give it away. This is one of those times.

Sorry, but I get the giggles everytime he goes 'cotton mouth' and wipes his mouth with the white towel (exhale, wipe @ :06 ).

This initially appeared on Esks.com but once they realized that it was the subject of ridicule, they took it down. I don't think they realized this is going to live on in every Sports Center Top 10 Coaching Meltdown countdowns (with Mike Singletary, Dennis Green etc) from here on out.

[video][/video]


DH

[sj-roc]

I didn't find this one particularly funny, just....... weird. Not even close IMHO to Dennis Green or "Playoffs?!?!?!" or "go play intramurals". Maybe I'm reading it wrong but that stretch where he keeps saying "consequences", it seems to me like he's almost going to cry.

The other weird part is how that backdrop/curtain behind him won't stay still for two seconds, keeps flapping around. I don't want to get too metaphorical here, but between that and the shaky camera, it's almost like the whole interview was done out on the high seas in the midst of a huge storm, aboard some rickety ship ready to capsize with the next big gust. Haven't they just in the last few years spent millions upgrading Commonwealth to maintain its world class status? Didn't they include some bucks in the budget for a decent post-game interview room?

[South Pender]

Boy, I don't know. It sure didn't look phony to me. Nor do I think for a minute that this was choreographed to subtly send a message that couldn't be verbalized directly. Let's not attribute too much Machiavellianism to the poor guy. I think he was just very upset about the game--and, in particular, the errors the Esks made--and had trouble controlling his feelings. I've never seen Kavis reveal any great oratorical talent, and I think he just didn't take the time to try to put together more coherent comments. I felt sorry for the guy.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/f ... story.html

MacKinnon: ‘We need to not be our own worst enemy’

Engaging personalities like Reed’s are what the CFL wants to market

By John MacKinnon, Edmonton Journal July 16, 2013

EDMONTON - Let the debate rage over where Kavis Reed’s “There has to be consequences now!” fits into the pantheon of post-game sound bytes from irate football coaches.

In fact, the debate should go ahead and fulminate, remonstrate, expostulate, vibrate like a tuning fork, take deep breaths and wipe its quivering mouth with a towel. Because, like it or not, Reed’s post-game rant has joined a cluster of such moments that will live on and on in the endless present for football fans.

Rage can deliver such memorable clarity, can’t it?

Jim Mora’s succinct, “Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs? ” scored very high for being to the point, but also for over-the-top facial expression. Rarely has incredulity been expressed so dramatically.

Herman Edwards’ “You PLAY to WIN the GAME” demonstrated a flair for cadence and inflection, along with the dripping condescension most football coaches deliver, one way or another, to the pencil-necked geeks who presume to ask intelligent questions at post-game news conferences.

Dennis Green’s “They are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!” brought full-bodied, near-volcanic ire to the table.

Now, Reed, the Edmonton Eskimos head coach, has added to the highlight reel, delivering precisely the sort of all-in emotion, articulating the same accountability the club’s long-suffering fans would expect of their head coach.

Now, some sensitive types apparently become uncomfortable watching a grown man, a professional like Reed, vent his obvious and understandable frustration after his team lost a game in which his players combined for 11 penalties totalling 103 yards. Nearly the length of a football field, in other words.

The Eskimos’ communications staff became queasy, or was made queasy, about the Reed video, because it was removed from their website on Monday. Which was a shame. You’d think the third-year head coach was clearing his nasal cavity on the video or something, instead of voicing his exasperation. You’d think Reed had gone all John Tortorella on the media, bringing the Eskimos’ good name into ill-repute.

Hardly. This is, after all, football we’re talking about: A passionate game played and coached with urgency in the heat of battle by passionate men.

That passion is what Eskimos CEO Len Rhodes is selling as he tries to fill more of the shiny new green and yellow seats at Commonwealth Stadium. It’s what the season-ticket holders want to see the players deliver on the field. It’s the kind of accountability they want to see Reed enforce.

The Eskimos should include the “There has to be consequences now,” clip in their training camp instructional video package. In just a few days, the Reed rant became the ninth-most watched video ever on the CFL.ca website. Cool.

Powerful, engaging personalities like Reed’s are what the CFL wants to market, coast-to-coast. Bland is death, or it should be for any professional league in a crowded sporting marketplace.

For a football team, especially a young one like the Eskimos, indiscipline can be death, too, and Reed knows it. He knows taking reckless penalties can swiftly become contagious on a team if the issue is not addressed, if there aren’t consequences.


“We need to not be our own worst enemy,” Reed said. “We need to work and focus on efficiency, work and focus on executing, day-in and day-out, play-in and play-out.”

Reed also knows not all penalties are created equal.

Running back Calvin McCarty is no hothead, he’s certainly no repeat offender, as Reed put it, when it comes to taking foolish penalties. Yet he was assessed a 10-yard objectionable conduct penalty at the end of a nine-yard pass-and-run play that stalled an Eskimos drive toward the B.C. score zone.

He did toss the ball at the end of the play, and it was caught by offensive lineman Matt O’Donnell, a teammate, not a B.C. Lion. Still, McCarty now knows not to toss the ball, knows not to give a twitchy official a reason.

That bad decision meant the Eskimos did not go for it on third-and-short. But on the field goal attempt that followed, Kerry Joseph couldn’t snare the snap in the torrential downpour. The Lions experienced a similar play, except they managed to garner a single point on a pooch punt.

J.C. Sherritt, the Eskimos middle linebacker and the CFL’s most outstanding defensive player in 2012, is a highly unlikely candidate to draw a roughing the quarterback penalty.

“That’s the first one I’ve ever had in my career, in my life, actually,” Sherritt said of the infraction that helped prolong the Lions’ second scoring drive. “But I’m definitely going to learn from that.

“If I’m ever in that situation again, you’ve got to approach that tackle a little differently. I probably launched myself when I didn’t need to.

“You’ve just got to be a pro, and you’ve got to learn from all these mistakes.”

Offensive tackle Cliff Louis, who took a late-game penalty (15 yards) for unnecessary roughness, should take that to heart.

It’s Week 3, and Louis has already been fined for an illegal block he threw in the 30-20 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Guelph, Ont., last week. The six-foot-eight, 315-pound tackle followed that up by incurring that selfish penalty in the B.C. loss. Not smart.

A key piece on a developing Eskimos offensive line, Louis can ill afford to create a reputation for dirty play. It’s one thing to play right to the whistle, to play with an edge. It’s quite another to be a dirty player, or to be perceived as one by CFL football operations, which is just as damaging.

Perhaps more than most of the Eskimos, Louis has to demonstrate self-restraint. He has to show his teammates, his coach, and the league office, that a couple of bad penalties early this season don’t constitute a pattern for him.

It wouldn’t hurt him to watch that Reed rant a few more times

[Toppy Vann]

For a guy who has been in football a long time he hasn't learned much or he played for some horrible ranting and raving coaches.

I cut him slack during the Tillman absence as it appears as a new HC he lacked having a GM close at hand. The absolute worst thing Edmonton could have done was put Ed Hervey in the GM's role as that makes two of them with stability and personality issues. A lethal combo who - if they fail - will fail together.

The Esks players could start to realize their HC is no longer and that can't be good.

Sure he could be angry but and many coaches are - and half the time - it is funny. That is the controlled anger that a HC can pull off in front of cameras just so very few times and not to the extent he did it.

It is a long season and the end game is to peak at year end and get in the play offs. He had a melt down like he was about to fired. Last week he got a contract extension.

[South Pender]

I don't think John MacKinnon's piece makes a lot of sense. Sure, we remember the post-game meltdowns, and maybe they were good theatre, but did they do their teams any good? MacKinnon seems to be suggesting that it's what the team needed to get their heads right. Remember Tom Landry? Soft-spoken gentleman who guided the 'Boys to so many wins. He got his point across quite differently, and the team prospered.

At the same time, I think too much may be being made of this incident with Kavis Reed. He was choked at an ugly loss; doesn't seem like such a big deal to me.