Chiefs Ineptitude

I have been prepared to write this for a few weeks now but other things have pushed it to the back burner.  I am just going to knock this out and be done with the Chiefs for a couple of months.  This team has frustrated me to no end and I am ready for their season to be over.

The negatives on this team are seemingly infinite but there are four components that are the root cause to all else.  The first is ownership.  Long time legendary owner Lamar Hunt died in December, 2006.  In the six seasons since, Kansas City has won 4, 2, 4, 10, 7, and 2 games for a total of 29 wins against 65 losses (this doesn’t count the two more that are coming to end this season).  Clark Hunt has just run this franchise into the ground.  Even so, this organization has been going the wrong way for quite a while now.  The Chiefs only have four winning records in the last 15 seasons.  In that time, they have a record of 105-133 (44%).  They have won more than 9 only three times and more than 10 just once in the last decade and a half.  And there have been zero playoff wins.  While the Chiefs weren’t tearing up the league in Lamar Hunt’s final years, it is much worse now with the team only winning 31% of their games since his passing.  That is flat out not acceptable, especially when the team is reportedly well under the salary cap.  Where is that extra money going???

I think we can all agree Scot Pioli has been a total and utter failure ass the General Manager of the Chiefs.  I admit to being excited when he was hired but he hitched his horse to Matt Cassel as his guy at quarterback, his new Tom Brady.  The “Patriot Way” certainly works better if you have the real Tom Brady.  Pioli’s biggest failings stem from Cassel not being even close to Brady in talent and Pioli’s lack of admission of this simple fact.  Pioli has also failed twice in hiring head coaches. 

Pioli has also been a horrible talent evaluator and has not build up good NFL-talent level back-ups.  Injuries have crushed his teams.  Injuries are part of the game and that is why depth is so important.  The guys backing up the starters in a lot of the positions are not good players.  I am still befuddled by the fact KC entered the season with no one with experience at center on the roster to back up Rodney Hudson.  Ryan Lilja, who had never played center in the NFL has had to play center for most of the season.  He has struggled mightily at times just getting the ball snapped in a timely and accurate fashion.  I don’t blame him.  He was set up to fail.  As I watched the corps of wide receivers the Chiefs ran out onto the field against the Raiders, I am convinced Pioli isn’t even trying.  His eschewing Brandon Carr in the off season and offering a big contract to Stanford Routt, who couldn’t even last the season with this lackluster team, is proof enough of Pioli’s incompetence.  Of course, this is just highlighted by the quarterback position.

The next complete failure of this team is the Head Coach and his staff.  I know this stems from Pioli’s failure but these guys look like they have just given up.  The team doesn’t look disciplined or well drilled.  The offensive and defensive game plans look vanilla and uninspired.  This whole mess with Steve Breaston is just plain ridiculous.  He is by far the most accomplished wide receiver on the roster with Bowe hurt.  The fact he has not been active the last several weeks is just mind blowing.  Also, I have been disappointed in the lack of improvement from the defensive backs as a unit and individually.  I think we can all agree it is time for Crennel and his whole staff just to disappear, the sooner the better. 

Finally, the quarterback position has been awful.  I think Cassel and Brady Quinn would be serviceable back-ups but they are obviously not starting NFL quarterbacks.  You can’t really blame the players.  I think both of these guys are gutsy, tough guys who want to succeed but just aren’t starting caliber signal callers.  The fact that Pioli/Haley/Crennel couldn’t recognize this fact is why their teams have been so terrible.  There hasn’t even been an effort to upgrade the position in the present GM regime.  Every single person who knows anything about the game of football knows that it is very difficult to win consistently without good play from the quarterback position.  Teams have to always be thinking of the future of that position for their organization and the Chiefs just haven’t done that.

That is enough of the negative.  Those topics have been covered pretty well.  Heck, I called for Pioli and Crennel to be fired after the first loss to Oakland weeks ago.  It is only fair to mention some positives.  There have been a handful of good performances from this squad.

Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Charles, and Justin Houston all played very well.  These three guys have shown heart and toughness throughout the season.  I think rookie offensive linemen Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson appear to be legitimate NFL linemen.  They have had games in which they haven’t looked good but I see enough from them to feel good they can be part of the future.  I also saw some things from Dontari Poe that indicates he can develop into a good starting defensive tackle.  He seldom gets enough push to disrupt the pocket and needs to do a better job clogging the middle on runs but he has improved as the season has progress and with more experience, one can certainly see he could end up being very good.  Late in the season, I even saw some improvement from Tyson Jackson – finally.  It is probably too little, too late but it was nice to at last see him make some plays on the field.    I think the defensive line is unquestioningly better than it was a year ago but still has a long way to go to be a solid unit.

That’s about it.  I can’t think of a single position other than those above in which I wasn’t disappointed.  Lack of improvement or plain lack of talent seemed to be the theme under the present regime.  What is sad for Chiefs fans is that is going to take time to right this ship.  It really bugs me that Kansas City stills employs Pioli and Crennel.  Hunt needs to be proactive and just let these guys go.  The longer he delays, the more he alienates fans.  The fans of this once proud franchise deserve better and they deserve it sooner rather than later.  Hunt needs to fire these guys and shoot for the moon with his next hire and that person needs to shoot for the moon when hiring a new head coach.  It has been a long season, a long six years, and it has stretched into a long 15 years.  It is time for Clark Hunt to give a little back to the city of Kansas City and give us a winner.

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Chiefs Should Clean House Right Now

I am not a big fan of firing coaches that have been in their current position for less than two years.  I think under normal circumstances, coaches need at least that much time to put their own stamp on their team.  Occasionally though, a situation arises where an organization should extricate itself from a bad decision as soon as it becomes obvious that a coach is a wrong fit.  The Kansas City Chiefs are at that point right now.

Romeo Crennel should never have been named head coach in the first place.  After Todd Haley was deservedly axed a little less than a year ago, Romeo was named the interim coach, then the Chiefs turned things around a little bit and won two of their last three games, including the season finale at Denver.  Everyone had the warm and fuzzies for Romeo.  In a very predictable move, Kansas City removed the interim title and bestowed a more permanent one.  There is a chance that no other name coach even wanted the job.  We found out the general perspective of things in KC when Peyton Manning refused to even visit this past off season. 

So yes, now is the time to right that wrong and show Mr. Crennel the door.  Thank you, sir.  You are a nice guy and a decent coordinator but you are no head coach.  This leads me to my point.  The Chiefs should just start cleaning house right now.

Firing Crennel should be the first move, followed immediately by the firing of General Manager Scot Pioli.  Todd Haley and Crennel were both Pioli’s hires and they have been disasters for this franchise.  Pioli has also done a poor job drafting, retaining, and acquiring the necessary players to provide this team the depth of talent to survive a physically grueling schedule.  Most of all, Pioli should be fired for his perennially blindness in the matter of Matt Cassel.

Matt Cassel is a tough guy.  He works hard.  He gives it his all.  Whatever cliché you want to insert for a scrappy, talentless player can be inserted here. The fact is, he is no better than a good back-up.  If you need a guy to step in for a few games when your starting QB gets knocked out (not Brady Quinn), Matt Cassel would be a great option.  However, it is obvious to everyone with even an iota of football knowledge that Cassel is not a championship caliber quarterback in the NFL.

Pioli has also proved that the vaunted “Patriot Way” works a lot better if you have Tom Brady as your quarterback and Bill Belichick as your coach.  Matt Cassel, Todd Haley, and Romeo Crennel are not even close.  It is easy to look good when Tom Brady is the face of your organization.  Forget the “Patriot Way.”  Let’s just move on.  Now!

If I were Clark Hunt, I would call Bill Cowher today.  Offer him the GM and the head coaching positions.  Ask him what his number is.  How big of a check do you need to take over this franchise, Mr. Cowher?  If he says not for all the gold in Fort Knox, so be it.  Go to the next guy.  If you have to bring Marty Schottenheimer in to run the asylum on an interim basis so you have time to find the right people not named Cowher to run your franchise – do it.  It is time to break out the wrecking ball and pulverize this thing. 

The Chiefs were picked by most of the talking heads to challenge for the AFC West in 2012.  Even now, those talking heads, local and national, are befuddled because this team should have several more wins.  There is talent on this team.  The depth just isn’t all that great.  The lack of wins falls on Crennel’s shoulders and the lack of depth falls on Pioli’s head.  He learned nothing from last season and went to battle with basically the same guys.  The fact that Ryan Lilja, a fine left guard, has been the center (a position he has never played) for the past several games and can’t get the ball to the QB on a regular basis, is a problem.  GET A CENTER IN HERE.  Find one somewhere.  Pioli cannot do his job.  Find someone who can. 

The time is now to make these changes.  There is no point in waiting.  Chief fans have suffered through this present, incompetent regime long enough.  Pioli has had his chances and failed he has miserably.  Today is the day to start anew. 

I would like to thank all of my loyal readers and followers.  Between my two blog sits, jawssportsandstuff.blogspot.com and jawsrecliner.blogspot.com, I have passed the 5000 viewer mark in less than 20 months.  While not every hit is a loyal reader, I know many of you out there read my stuff on a regular basis and I appreciate your support.  Thanks for reading.

Grading the Kansas City Chiefs

In early September, I made my prediction that they Kansas City Chiefs probably wouldn’t win more than 4-6 games.  Well, I was off – they won a surprising 7 games.  Nearly everything else I talked about in that post played out as I discussed.  It is not often I nail something so squarely on the head as I did about the Chiefs in 2011.  Now I am going to pass out my grades for the Chiefs.

COACHING AND FRONT OFFICE

F

I am going to start right at the top and I am going to be harsh.  If this team could win 7 games and be a home win in week 16 against Oakland away from winning the crappiest division in football, think how good this team might have been with even slightly better management.  At the end of the lockout, Scott Pioli sat on his wallet and did almost nothing to address the incredible lack of depth on this team.  I don’t know who made the decision to let Brian Waters go but he was signed by the Patriots and made the Pro Bowl – again.  Obviously he was washed up.  Pioli signed LT Jared Gaither early but released him after Thanksgiving after only playing a few snaps.  The Chargers picked him up and started him almost immediately and I read a quote from Philip Rivers where Rivers said Gaither had solidified their offensive line.  Pioli and Haley deserved F’s for those moves alone. 

Injuries wracked the Chiefs early and often and Kansas City did not have quality back-ups.  Green Bay last season and Houston in 2011 proved you can have numerous players lost for the seasons and still have the depth to win playoff games.  Pioli did not have this team manned with enough quality players.  Haley did his part.  After another lackluster preseason, the Chiefs got stomped early in the first two games and even though he rallied the troops for a 4-game winning streak, his decision making was suspect.  Again, I am not sure whose decision it was to have Tyler Palko as the back-up to Matt Cassel but it was an awful one.  It helped speed along Haley’s exit and rightfully so.

There is plenty of blame to go around as far as the front office and coaching goes and it is hard to list every short coming.  Suffice it to say, they failed utterly in 2011.

QUARTERBACK

D

Matt Cassel was not going to reproduce his 27/7 touchdown to interception ratio of 2010 no matter how many games he played in 2011.  He was at 10/9 when he got hurt in game ten.  His passer rating was nearly 20 points lower as well.  That being said, Tyler Palko made him look like Peyton Manning.  I am not sure how Palko was even on a NFL roster.  He was awful.  Kyle Orton was a bright spot for the front office but Haley really didn’t want to play him, which was another reason to see Haley to the door.  Cassel probably played above his head last season when he got more blocking and his 2011 performance is probably closer to what he can offer year in and year out.  That isn’t very good.  Orton played well enough to at least warrant contract talks for 2012 but I can’t imagine him on the roster with Cassel.

RUNNINGBACK

C

We all knew it was trouble when Jamal Charles went down in game two.  Thomas Jones’ best days are behind him and try as he might, he just couldn’t get rolling on any consistent basis.  Jackie Battle conquered his fumble issues and provided some good work but couldn’t wrestle the job away from Jones, then later, Dexter McCluster.  McCluster was the most effective runner the Chiefs could field but he was by no means a punishing runner.  Le’Ron McClain offered up some toughness and effective blocking at times.  While none of these guys were just terrible, none of them were good enough to claim the job as the main back.  Who received the bulk of the carries seemed to vary from game to game.  I don’t discount their combined effort, just their talent.  They certainly are back-ups and shouldn’t be counted on to shoulder the load for any length of time.

WIDE RECEIVERS AND TIGHT ENDS

WR – B, TE – F

Dwayne Bowe continued to make spectacular, incredible catches and he continued to drop routine balls in key situations.  Bowe could be dominating, physical star in this league if he could maintain his focus all of the time and stop dropping so many passes.  Steve Breaston was solid for most of the season and exhibited good toughness.  Rookie Jonathon Baldwin missed the first five games due to mouthing off to the wrong guy in the locker room in preseason and getting his rear kicked and never really got it going.  He showed a few flashes but dropped his share as well.  He will continue to get better.  The tight ends are not worth the time to list individually and were awful as a group.  Tony Moeaki may have been the biggest single loss of the season.  The wide receivers were probably the strongest part of the offense but still exhibited too much inconsistency.  The tight ends were just terrible.

OFFENSIVE LINE

C-

I have a hard time believing there are many starting tackles worse than Barry Richardson.  He is slow and gets manhandled on a regular basis.  He should be strictly a back-up to fill in when a starter needs a play or two off.  I love Casey Wiegmann and his streak of 11,000 plus straight snaps is as impressive as any record you will see but he is old and very undersized and seemed to get pushed back on a consistent basis.  I was disappointed the Chiefs seemed more interested in keeping Weigmann’s streak in place instead of getting rookie Rodney Hudson some experience.  Brandon Albert seems better fitted to be a right tackle but played fairly well.  We saw growth out of Jon Asamoah.  Ryan Lilja looks to be on the downside of his career.  Major rebuilding needs to be done here but that has been the case for several years now.

DEFENSIVE LINE

D

The Chiefs continue to be blind to the fact that Tyson Jackson was a gigantic mistake and Glenn Dorsey has been a relative bust.  Neither player has made the necessary steps toward being legitimate forces on the d-line.  Both get pushed off the line too often and neither can mount any sort of pass rush.  Free agent acquisition Kelly Gregg played okay against the run but also offered no pressure on passing downs.  I thought the line played much better when back-ups rookie Allen Bailey, Amon Gordon, and Wallace Gilbury were in the game.  The starters may have had a slight advantage against the run but the second team was much better at pressuring the quarterback.  The Chiefs have to find an effective nose tackle and a legitimate starting defensive end if they hope to improve this horrible unit.

LINEBACKERS

A-

Tamba Hali continues to do amazing work getting to the quarterback considering he gets almost no help from his line.  Derrick Johnson continues to get better each year and has become a major force in that defense.  The Chiefs’ defense improved late in the season and it was due mainly to the improvement of rookie Justin Houston.  Houston started very slowly but ended up being a legitimate threat to sack the quarterback late in the season.  His 5.5 sacks really give me hope for the future for this unit.  Jovan Belcher is a steady, if totally unspectacular performer in the middle.  Belcher could be upgraded but compared to the other glaring holes on this team, improving the linebacker corps is not a priority.  It could use some help with depth via free agency but I hope they don’t waste any high draft picks here.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

B+

The Brandons – Carr and Flowers – have really solidified the cornerback position for Kansas City.  They have become shut down corners on both sides and if the Chiefs could find any way to pressure the quarterback, these cornerbacks would become even more valuable.  Back up Javier Arenas has gotten better and is a decent nickel back.  Eric Berry lost a full season of development with his season long injury and I can only hope he returns the same player as before.  Kendrick Lewis at safety improved in 2011 but needs help from Berry to be at his best.  John McGraw would be just fine as a back-up but he gets exposed when he plays a lot.  The rest of the stiffs the Chiefs ran out there on a weekly basis all need to improve or be upgraded mightily.  Still, this group of players is the Chiefs second strongest squad on the team and just need better quality in its depth.

SPECIAL TEAMS

C+

Dustin Colquitt is an underrated punter who never worries about his stats.  He is more than willing to do what he has to do help his team win the field position battle.  His stats aren’t as eye catching as others around the league but there aren’t many I would trade him for.  I am a big fan.  Succop would have pushed this part of the grade to above average it weren’t for the two blocked field goals against the Raiders.  Nothing really stands out to me about the return game so I give an average grade here.

Overall, the team receives a C-.  They won a game or two I wouldn’t have predicted but they also lost a couple of games they shouldn’t have.  At times they were horrible, getting blown out in lopsided fashion.  At other times, their defense played well enough to keep them in games  This off season, the Chiefs need to address both the offensive and defensive lines, in free agency if possible.  I would love for the Chiefs give up some picks to get Robert Griffin III and spend some money in free agency.  With better health and more depth, there is no reason not think the Chiefs can’t win the weak AFC West. 

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