Ken Whisenhunt
Ken Whisenhunt
Kenneth Moore Whisenhuntis an American football coach who is the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League. Whisenhunt was head coach of the Arizona Cardinals from 2007 to 2012 and Tennessee Titans from 2014 to 2015. He led the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history during the 2008 season, as well as their first home playoff games in 60 years. Previously, he was known for his offensive background, including the success...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth28 February 1962
CityAugusta, GA
The biggest positive was his game management, how he handled the huddle, how he did things in the game, ... Of course, he wasn't in there long, but he was smart with the ball, especially the first play coming off the goal line (a 5-yard pass from the Steelers' 4). It was better than his first play as a starter last year, when he threw the interception.
The running game is always going to be important for us. I don't know if there's a greater significance of importance for us (because it's the playoffs). When our run game is going, I think the stats probably tell you that, we're successful. We do still have to throw the ball. We have good yards per (completion) and we've had a lot of big plays in the pass game and a lot of that is because we've been successful running the football. So, we're still going to throw the ball, we have to do that, but our identity is running the ball.
Coach and I talked about that at the end of the preseason and he was concerned about where we were from passing game standpoint.
It was weird because usually with teams that have had a pass rush we've always been pretty solid in our protection, ... Our line does a good job. It's unfortunate, but we didn't play our best game. We have some things we can work on. We'll work on those things and we'll be better next time we play.
We didn't have a set number of pass plays, but we did create an inventory we could pull from each week.
We've been pleased with what we've seen in some of our pass-catchers, ... I think, once they all get their timing down, we have a chance to make some plays in the passing game. Ben is working well with those guys.
When you have a different receiver every day, there's timing issues involved. The thing I've been most pleased with is, a lot of times, we're just missing (on pass attempts). Ben's getting it to the right spot, so hopefully, it's just a timing issue with all the different guys out there.
The ideal scenario is what we have been doing for the past couple of weeks. For us, we have been so little pass that it seems like when we go 50-50 run and pass, it makes it look like we are really airing it out.
Everyone says he's fast. I wish he'd score instead of getting run out of bounds. I'm waiting to see that 'fast' from Willie. But he does give you that element.
Nothing replaced the competitiveness, what you feel after a game like the Cincinnati game. I started to miss that on Saturdays and Sundays. After so many years of playing, you had that void. I didn't know I was going to enjoy coaching until I got into it.
Once I got into it, I knew that's what I wanted to do. It's very exciting to see success for your players as a coach. But I don't think there is anything quite like being a player, physically working so hard and having success on the field.
I'm honored to be considered for that job, but I've been so focused on getting to this game and winning this game that that's been on the back burner. If something comes up, we'll just have to wait and see.
It was not at the point where that was going to happen. But after meeting with Mr. Davis and Mike Lombardi, I felt good about where we stood.
It went right out my mouth, and it's still up in the booth.