Q: What do you think QB Steve McNair has brought to the Ravens?

EDWARDS: “Obviously, toughness and poise. [He’s] a guy who has played in a lot of big games, won a lot of big games [and] really has the ability. I think he is a great leader. I think he is a great leader in the huddle. He’s a guy that when you watch play has great passion for the game. Beside all of his attributes as a quarterback, I think that’s what you bring. He brings leadership, obviously, and those guys will follow him. He’s a very, very calm player under pressure.”

Q: What makes Arrowhead Stadium such a difficult venue to play football?

EDWARDS: “It’s difficult in the fact that our fans are very, very loud. But, I think the Ravens are a team that obviously has traveled to a lot of spots on the road and played very, very well. I don’t think they have to worry about any ghosts or anything like that here. We’ll have to play with 11, just like they do. It’s a stadium where, obviously, the crowd is very vocal and there’s a lot of energy in this stadium.”

Q: What do you feel happened in the loss to Cleveland last week?

EDWARDS: ”[Cleveland] obviously made a lot of big plays. We could not stop them defensively. We had some opportunities to stop them and you’ve got to give some credit to Cleveland. They did a good job of playing; their backs were against the wall a little bit. They came out and they got going and gained confidence as they kept playing. Offensively, we were matching scores with them. We had the ball at the end to try to go down and win before overtime and then in the overtime and couldn’t quite get it done. Vice-versa, when they got the ball in overtime they did a good job of getting into field goal range and winning the game.”

Q: What do you expect from RB Larry Johnson against the Ravens’ No.1-ranked defense?

EDWARDS: “One man can’t do it by himself. We’ve got some good players on offense and defense. The Ravens, you’re right, they’re fun to watch. When you are a defensive coach, you like watching guys play the way they play. They play with great passion. That whole football team was built on defense. They’ve continue to play that way —similar to what we did when we went to Tampa with Tony [Dungy], we tried to build a defense – and that’s how they built their foundation. They’ve got some excellent football players. They play with a lot of passion. They are a very, very confident defense. The thing they do that sets them apart [is that] they take the ball away. They take the ball away a lot. When you can score 94 points off your takeaways, that says a lot about the type of players you have on defense.”

Q: How has QB Trent Green done since his return after the head injury?

EDWARDS: “After his third game, this was one of his best games so far this year. I thought he threw the ball well [and] made some pretty good decisions, obviously. We moved the ball fairly well. It’s going to be awfully tough against the Ravens’ defense because they don’t give up a lot of points; they are very tough to move the ball against. You know that. The one thing you can’t do against those guys is turn it over.”

Q: What does a healthy Green open up for the Chiefs’ offense?

EDWARDS: “He can throw. He can make some throws and he is a very precise quarterback. He reads coverages very, very well. That helps you become two-handed rather than one-handed. For a while we were very, very conservative with Damon [Huard] because he hadn’t started in quite some time. I thought when he came in and after he got going, he made some big plays in the passing game. You have to play football two-handed. If the team makes you one-handed, it is very, very difficult.”

Q: Talk about your appreciation for your offensive linemen.

EDWARDS: “You are talking about three guys who are very, very good players on our offensive line. You are talking about [G Brian] Waters, [G Will] Shields and [C Casey] Wiegmann – those three guys have played together for a long time and, rightly so, they are Pro Bowl caliber-type players. That’s the ingredients you have when you have a great offensive line. You always build it in the middle. Those guys have been here a long time and have done a great job.”

Q: Is it key to have Green back for the playoff push?

EDWARDS: “It is [good]. I’m not going to sit here and say we want to throw 35 passes a game, because I think if you do that you are probably losing the game; you’re trying to come back. We want to be a balanced offense. He understands that as a quarterback. We’ve got to make sure we’re balance, because if you’re balanced you can attack defenses much better than just trying to be one-handed.”

Q: Will Sunday’s game have a playoff atmosphere?

EDWARDS: “The Ravens are trying to win their division and they just lost a game up in Cincinnati, a tough game where they played well enough and Cincinnati made some plays. These guys are very, very good. If we want to keep up in the race, we are going to have to win games. You can’t lose games in the race if you are going to stay in it. I think it will be a very physical football game.”

Q: What is it like having WR Dante Hall on your special teams unit?

EDWARDS: “It is [nice] because Dante has played a lot of big games. He’s been a great return guy. Special teams will be a key this week, also. They’ve got good kickers and they’ve got good coverage guys, and field position could be a key.”

Q: How has RB Larry Johnson matured physically as well as mentally this year?

EDWARDS: “He’s been a starter now. He hadn’t been a starter before, and that’s a different role for him, starting the season off as a starter. I think he has handled it well. He’s carried the ball a lot. He’s one of our productive players. He’s one of our better players. We’ve got to get him the ball now. It’s tough sledding running the ball against these guys – Baltimore — they are very, very stout on defense and do a great job against the run. He’s going to have to earn every yard he gets.”

Q: What have you seen from first-round draft pick DE Tamba Hali?

EDWARDS: ”[He is] a physical guy, a great motor, he has a great upside. We just felt we needed an end like that. We’re trying to build a defense, similar to what Baltimore did. We drafted some players this year: Tamba Hali being one of them, Jarrad Page the safety out of UCLA, [S Bernard] Pollard, another one out of Purdue, and we want to continue to do that in the draft. We want to draft guys on the defensive side of the ball and try to build a defense. We got some guys who we feel are going to be pretty good players. We’ve got the three young ones that I just mentioned and a couple of other guys that are good players, so we are in the process of trying to build a defense.”