Kent Babb dismantles Fat Scott
 

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/16...-big-with.html

Chiefs will never win big with Pioli in charge

By KENT BABB

The Kansas City Star

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Scott Pioli pushed his way through a doorway, into the Ralph Wilson Stadium tunnel and then, alone, disappeared into the Chiefs’ locker room.

As the team he built was enduring the final minutes of death-by-Ryan Fitzpatrick, an embarrassing 35-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs’ general manager walked toward a few minutes of solitude. Days like this are lonely when you’re the king, and maybe he embraced what is obvious to so many others who saw Sunday’s loss: that another team he constructed looks lost and unprepared. No injuries and no excuses, no former head coach to blame, and no safety net below the Chiefs’ most powerful football man.

The Chiefs’ problems are with their coaches and players, but the bigger issue is about the man who brought in those coaches and players. Yes, this game and this season are on Pioli, and there’s no denying that anymore. And there’s no more denying another truth, whether you’re ready to read it or not: The Chiefs will never win big while Pioli is this team’s boss. His priorities are too misguided, his insecurities and denial too immense to allow Kansas City’s favorite team to win the Super Bowl that he was brought here to claim.

Pioli is now in his fourth year of trying to justify the hype that earned him accolades in New England, respect within the NFL, and a multi-million-dollar job as a GM. Expectations were unreachable, maybe, but Pioli has done himself no favors by obsessing over trivial details, spending too much time trying to feed his addition to his own reputation, and engineering a team using the “discount football” philosophy that has made the Hunt family richer but has gotten the Chiefs only marginally closer to a Super Bowl.

Days like Sunday should be behind the Chiefs. This roster is so much better than the one Pioli inherited in January 2009. He’s responsible for that, too. But how much better could it be if Pioli weren’t so consumed by off-the-field nonsense? He arrived nearly five years ago and promised to curb a culture of losing. Instead, Pioli now oversees an organization shadowed in a culture of misplaced priorities and anxiety — and, yes, more losing.

Now in his fourth season as GM, Pioli has spent too much time trying to justify his decisions, rather than trying to improve them.

He whines to outsiders that the Chiefs’ salary-cap shortcomings are misunderstood? Well, spend more money, as team chairman Clark Hunt has said Pioli is authorized to do. Pioli excuses himself for his biggest mistakes, such as saying he just didn’t do his homework before hiring former coach Todd Haley? Well, why not? And he says privately that drafting a quarterback in the early rounds isn’t the point; it’s about drafting the right one. Well, Scott, then draft the right one. These things are big parts of Pioli’s job, but instead of acknowledging that, he chooses to tell himself — and, through back channels, you — that things are just fine.

In Scott We Trust? Not anymore.

Pioli cares more than you can imagine about what others think; about how his gilded reputation still shines nearly five years after it landed him this job.

He calls opinion-makers in Kansas City to plead with them to share his side of the story in exchange for a nibble of access, and he spends his own time compiling ultimately meaningless statistics in an attempt to spin unpopular draft choices and questionable spending habits into a more favorable light. He hints to anyone who’ll listen — in exchange for agreeing that you didn’t hear it from him — that the Chiefs’ playoff run in 2010 and a brief winning streak last season weren’t a result of Haley’s coaching. Those, he is convinced, were results of the magic of former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis two seasons ago and, last year, the motivating skills of Romeo Crennel. He obsesses over public relations, attempting to manipulate the message large and small. Pioli is as responsible as anyone for the misconception that Haley ruined the Chiefs and that, by firing him last December, Pioli helped to save it. How does that narrative look after the Chiefs’ second consecutive blowout loss?

Pioli craves credit and validation on good days, and he wants to hide and blame others after days like Sunday.

He worries so much about trivial matters that it’s impossible to think that such an emphasis hasn’t been an obstacle to the Chiefs’ success. He was concerned enough about what cornerback Brandon Flowers might’ve thought if Pioli had signed Brandon Carr to a richer contract that this factored into his decision to let Carr leave Kansas City and sign with the Dallas Cowboys.

Win, and nobody cares about how many dollars the Chiefs are under the salary cap, or which coach was responsible for past success, or why a free agent was allowed to walk. Lose, and all anyone wants to talk about is going to war with your first head coach, a new and considerably less shiny reputation built on micromanagement and insecurity, and stubbornly sticking with quarterback Matt Cassel just because you drafted him in New England, traded for him in Kansas City, and signed him to an extension.

Pioli has, for years now, learned from far too many mistakes. Haley. Sticking with Cassel. Thinking he can control every ounce of information. A growing number of unimpressive draft classes. The way front-office employees are treated and how bizarrely secretive everyone is expected to be. Pioli wasn’t brought to Kansas City to learn from trial and error; he was hired because he was advertised as being smart enough to avoid learning things the hard way.

Crennel is now the Chiefs’ head coach, and few people inside or outside the organization after last season would’ve suggested that elevating Crennel would be a mistake. But after an 0-2 start in which the Chiefs’ defense — Crennel’s baby — has allowed 68 points and has no idea why, that hire now looks like another blunder.

Fair or not, Pioli’s job is to anticipate days like this, put aside emotion and past allegiance in New England and with the New York Giants, and hire a coach who can take on one of the NFL’s most talented rosters and avoid this kind of start. This is the tradeoff of cashing those big paychecks, of sitting in that sprawling office, and taking on the role of one of sports’ most powerful men.

Pioli is a very bright man. He has made the Hunts a mountain of money and built the Chiefs into a team that should begin each season as a trendy playoff choice, and those things are enough to keep him employed for the foreseeable future. He has a cushion of otherwise undeserved job security because of this and because the Chiefs believe you’ll keep filling Arrowhead Stadium, keep tuning in to disasters like the one broadcast in Kansas City on Sunday, and keep believing that better days are ahead.

Maybe they are, but assembling a team at a discount and prioritizing things that don’t really matter only builds a team with a limited ceiling. As long as Pioli is in that office, your expectations should have a low ceiling, too.

But Vermeil left Pioli sh*t to build with................

In Scott disgust

sick burn

more please

that incompetent piece of shit needs to go

Great job, Kent. Too bad you're leaving town.

:clap:

Take a bow, Kent. You've earned it.

Good luck in Washington.

Exactly what I said in the game thread that I was looking for.

BTW, when is Babb leaving?

Clark and the Chiefs PR department are salivating at the thought that once Babb leaves for D.C., they'll be left with the likes of Mellinger, Teicher, Covitz, the yahoos at 810 (who the Chiefs have already bought off), and the bottom feeders at 610.

Makes you yearn for Rhonda Moss.

too bad the truth can only be told by journalists who are leaving...but what a small minded man...

and fatlock was right...barf

4 years completely wasted

This paragraph is alarming and informative. Unfortunately, though, it's not incredibly different from what Whitlock was warning about years ago.

Pioli is dumb as ****.

Where's Clay's lowered expectations pic? lmao

mind meld

Hopefully, this is the first in a long line of articles that hold Pioli responsible for HIS decisions.

I cant wait till someone calls him out on forcing the coaches to keep Cassel on the field.

Solid column except for this sentence. huh? Lots of people on this board thought it was a mistake.

:clap:

This guy must have went to the same school as those idiots who couldn't count the number of days between football games in Whitlock's thread a few days back.

hiring Crennel was the laziest thing any GM has done in a long time

it's also proof that he's out of ideas

I feel like a fool for being duped by this buffoon.

Live and learn.

Wishing a Fat Scotty nervous breakdown. His kind need to be brought down to reality.

Pioli may very well be right. Our success two years ago might have been because of Weis and Crennel. They were certainly the only two guys in the entire organization during Pioli's tenure that had a consistent history of success at the positions they held that season.

So why did Pioli let Weis walk while Haley stayed behind, then?

Articles won't change anything. IIRC, Babb was the one that wrote the long story about the secretive culture around the complex, how Haley thought his personal phone was being tapped, etc.

People read it, and promptly ignored it.

Same will happen here, regardless of record.

There are too many sheep in this fanbase to expect otherwise.

and why promote crennel above his pay grade?

Babb got balls now that he is leaving

This. I expected more from the executive of the decade.

Or that nobody else would choke on Cassels cock but Crennel.

I would be willing to bet money that Cassel played a role in Manning LOLing @ us, too.

He's right. There's too much individual talent to lose like this. We are essentially the 2010 49ers

yeah, that's possible

Wow. Nice article, especially the insider tidbits about Pioli attempting to work journalists. Only gripe with the story is that the big problem isn't the lack of spending, but is Matt ****ing Cassel, and Pioli's bizarre infatuation with him.

VINDICATION

http://chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=263715

I have no doubt that Pioli is psychopath. I work for one and he's exactly like him. It will drive you crazy working for someone like him. However, Haley was still a bad coach.

I guess I am glad that Babb wrote this article but, it's kind of too little too late. They should have pressed hard from the beginning like Whitlock did. I can't respect these guys.

Wow. Studly.

Babb is leaving? So, is this his stink bomb on exit?

Mr. Baby Lee is right. It's time for the KC Media guys to show some guts ... and for the KC Media girls to show some tittahs ... because Dr. Evil is proving to be some kind of incompetent shyster.

Is there a Patriots way of tar and feathering somebody?

FAX

I think this might be more likely te case

I can tell you from experience that you have to be very careful when trying to out a psychopath. It will quickly turn on you just like it did on Haley with the bugging thing.

If only Looney would give his real perspective... I would pay to read that...

That article is chock full of illogical, counter-intuitive, incongruence. Not only that, but there are parts that don't make much sense.

FAX

Nah, it was more to do with Manning being the anti-Patriot. He wanted nothing to do with Pioli and the Patriot way imo. There is alot of history there. you guys have Cassel on the mind way too much.

Holy crap, the KC press actually writing something negative about the team? Go figure, first time for everything. ohhhhh Babb is leaving the market.LMAO

Our success two years ago was all smoke and mirrors. They were mediocre at best, and lucky beneficiaries of a weak schedule and an even weaker division. It amazes me that people still take it seriously.

It's so obvious anything Peter King or Michael Lombardi says about the Chiefs comes straight from Pioli's mouth.

I dont care to hear you respond to my posts.

Please, stop doing so and promptly find a cliff to jump head first off and aim for a sharp, jagged rock.

Make it quick, medical science is too good these days and they might just save your life and we all know you would post 200 times a day, then.

bye

I love this. I love it. I was at a bar with Chiefs fans today, and I actively cheered for both the Stevie Johnson touchdown and the return TD by McKelvin.

I hope Cassel stays healthy all freaking year. There needs to be zero illusions. No close games. Just the beatdowns that Pioli's shit team deserves. There is no room for interpretation anymore. The guy is just ****ing wrong about how to build a winner.

Unfortunately, he only found the nads to write this as the door hits him in the arse

Anybody have a clue how much it would cost to run a full page ad on the star?

and the spin stops.

The best players on the team are all leftovers from Herm and Carl!

An ad? Probably about $200 since it's full page.

This is a great article, media in KC are horrid, no one wants to ask tough questions.

Yep. However, it deserves mention that we did make progress. Compared to the Herm years, we were a more disciplined and more athletic and better conditioned team, I think.

Haley could never get the coordinator problems fixed. And, of course, he needed to be kept in a box until game day.

The mirage is that the players we've added in the Dr. Evil plotted drafts aren't "fits" for the scheme in which they're supposed to play. Houston and Berry may be the exceptions. But, other than those guys, we seem to be a bunch of round pegs looking for a square hole. And there ain't no NFL in China, baby.

FAX

Meh, draft a stud QB and all this shit goes away

I'm no longer convinced of that. this team is a mess.

LMAO

Its gotta be way more than that.

If its only 200 bucks, Ill chip in the first 50 if you guys want to take out a full page ad on the wholesale changes that need to be made.

Yeah ... I was having serious difficulty finding anything "redeeming" in our performance today. We look like a bunch of clowns on both sides of the ball. Heck, our version of special teams is even ... well ... "special".

Whatever is wrong with this club is systemic. I don't think you could look more inept if you tried.

FAX

wait until next week when we play a pissed off Saints team.

I would throw in some money. Who's writing the ad though?

Dibs.

It's waaaay more than that.

Oh god we are losing, and we are losing HUGE.

**** writing an ad, throw up the Declaration of Independence, MO.

Hmmm.

That doesn't sound good. I think the Saints have a tight end on their team.

FAX

Maybe we can beat the Browns, but who the **** else are we even going to compete with?

Split with Raiders, maybe?

We could seriously go 2-14 again. God, please do. I'll be so pissed if this team squeaks out 5 or 6 wins.

If we do this it'll make national headlines and embarrass the **** out of the Chiefs.

Yeah, and he was drafted after Moeaki. :banghead:

Need to set up a website for the entire document to be posted, and have people sign it.

Try around $10,000 for a full page ad in the Kansas City Star.

I dunno, Scott isn't alone in the blame. Chiefs are consistently at top of salary cap space.

Yeah it would be thousands

That is a killer article. It makes the Chiefs look worse than the Mellinger article on privacy.

I always thought Star staff treated the Chiefs gingerly-the gloves are off.

When will Pioli start to block the Star from access?

What time was this article posted? LMAO

Hopefully we finally get our QB. Finally.

Carl and Herm left a disgusting mess here. Polio got the car basically out of the ditch but has no clue what to do next.

Why obsess over PR so much? Why not obsess over getting a real pro QB, or a real pro head coach, or real coordinators, or maybe all of the above at once and see how that works out?

I'm still flabbergasted at how horribly this Polio thing has worked out. How could someone from a lofty position in such a great organization be so clueless?

that one dumb pats fan never shows up to lecture us when the shit hits the patriot way fan....

Well, duh, there is only one Brady. But it don't take a genius to see that the only thing Caseel and Brady have in common is their gender. Why would Polio fix his fortunes on someone so obviously out of their depth as a starting QB?

Jackie battle scored two tds today. **** YOU SCOTT

less than an hour

The joke

































Your head

10k to take out an add?

I think we can actually come up with that. I'll chip in some to this, and I don't even live in Kansas city, I'm in Virginia.

The problem is setting up the donation site.

I think you can easily find 10k chiefs fans that are sick of us getting beat down, and would chip in a dollar.

Set it up, mods make a stickie an I bet we get te 10k by week 7 or 8

**** that. Setup a website, tweet the shit out of it to Chiefs media folks. Someone picks it up, same deal done for $7.

Carl says Polio is authorized to spend. Hunt doesn't sign free agents, the GM does that