A message of Positivity, from Mr. Jason Whitlock
 

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...y/1587222.html
The victory was just icing. The progress could be seen long before Matt Cassel shook off a critical fumble and began the process of rehabilitating his image.

The progress started with Kansas City’s rookie head coach, Todd Haley, who may have finally figured out what to do with his game-day emotions.

Rather than castigate his players, F-bomb his assistants and bicker with the refs, Haley spent his most productive Sunday as an NFL head coach fueling his players with positive energy. They responded with their most promising performance in two years.

Kansas City 27, Pittsburgh 24 in OT!

Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs, winners of five of their last 30 games, knocked off the defending Super Bowl champions at Arrowhead Stadium.

It wasn’t a fluke. The Steelers tried to win the game. They didn’t stumble into Arrowhead hung over from a night of being denied entrance into P&L nightclubs. The Chiefs played a good football game and took advantage of the Steelers’ errors.

Jamaal Charles returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Tamba Hali led a Kansas City pass rush that harassed Big Ben Roethlisberger and eventually sidelined him with a knee to the head. Brandon Flowers manufactured the first of four Pittsburgh turnovers, poking the ball out of the arm of receiver Mike Wallace. KC safeties Mike Brown and Jon McGraw accepted the challenge of being physical against Pittsburgh’s running game. Linebacker Andy Studebaker intercepted Big Ben twice, returning one 94 yards, setting up a Kansas City field goal.

And, most important, the Chiefs’ $63 million acquisition, Cassel, showed some real courage down the stretch. I thought he was going to fold after his inexcusable 360-spin, I’m-afraid-of-a-pass-rush fumble that basically handed the Steelers a 24-17 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Cassel had been dreadful to that point, completing eight of 18 passes for 95 yards through a little more than three quarters of play.

“He was really down when he turned the ball over, but he bounced back and made some great plays,” Haley said of his quarterback.

Cassel may have saved his Kansas City career. He certainly bought himself some time.

On KC’s next possession, facing third and 9 from the Chiefs’ 10, Cassel laced a strike down the middle of the Pittsburgh defense to Lance Long for 30 yards. Cassel followed it up with a 47-yard bomb to Chris Chambers. Cassel drove the Chiefs 91 yards in eight plays, hitting Charles with a 2-yard TD pass.

In overtime, Cassel set up the Chiefs’ game-winning field goal with a 61-yard, third-and-5 connection to Chambers.

If you would like, you can crawl into the statistics — which were dominated by the Steelers — and craft an argument that the Chiefs got lucky.

Nope. This was Kansas City-created good fortune. No doubt the Steelers are the better team and would likely beat the Chiefs eight out of 10 games. But Haley’s Chiefs followed a proven blueprint on how to beat a superior football team: 1. win the turnover battle; 2. score on special teams; 3. get after the opposing quarterback; 4. make big plays that dramatically change field position.

Did Haley mismanage the clock at the end of both halves? Yes, he was too conservative before halftime. But that’s nitpicking.

Haley coached an excellent football game. He concentrated on play-calling and encouraging his players. He left the refs alone. He didn’t overreact to the mistakes made by his players.

Had the Chiefs lost the game, I would be writing the exact same thing. Haley is learning how to be a head coach. His players are noticing and appreciative of his change in demeanor.

“I’m a rookie head coach and am passionate about what I do,” Haley said. “I live and die every day on how it goes with this team — not just game day. When you care about something, there is going to be some emotion. It’s easy to be positive when good things are happening.”

Good things happen when you expect positive results, when you put your mind in a positive place, when you treat the people fighting with you like they have as much invested in the outcome as you do.

Haley’s transformation from coaching mad man to competent leader has been going on for several weeks. Sunday, he finally struck the right balance. His team reflected his new spirit. The players wanted to shock the Steelers as much as their coach, whose father played and worked for the Steelers.

Are things perfect between Haley and his players? No. But there’s been a lot of progress.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.

Not to brag or anything, but...

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...5&postcount=30

Props!

Jwhit can **** himself. die in a flaming bucket of aids.
Posted via Mobile Device

you know what's funny?

When it counted...especially defensively...WE looked like the defending Super Bowl Champs...not them.

We know the truth, Jason.

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the Mike Brown blitz...the Derrick Johnson circus catch...and then the Belcher 3rd and short stop in OT...wow...those were three very impressive, very clutch plays.

He would not have been writing the same column had the Chiefs lost.

I agree.

It's been interesting to listen to Haley's tone the last few weeks. I remember after the Chargers game, I was expecting him to go absolutely apeshit. The Chiefs played like shit. But during the Press Conference, he spoke a lot about how he was happy with the way they played and how they prepared for that game. Probably coachspeak, but it was a rapid departure from earlier in the year when he was continually disappointed in his team.

You could see a whole different personality in him against Pittsburgh. Much happier. Having a really good time. And I think it really rubbed off on the players.

We'll see if this is something permanent, or if he goes back to being an asshole again next week. Either way, I did enjoy his post-game comments where he was giddy like a school girl.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Haley had his best coaching effort and breakthrough game while his father was in town.

And before you jump to conclusions, I'm talking about his actual mother and father.

Many people perform at their highest level in front of their parents and Haley appears to be no exception.

Next week is going to be a big test to see how sustained the Chiefs progress since the bye week is. I'm not asking for the Chiefs to beat the Chargers in San Diego next Sunday, but I would like to see them be competitive throughout the game.

Same old Whitlock, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, we get it. Ego.

[QUOTE=DaneMcCloud;6287026]I don't think it's a coincidence that Haley had his best coaching effort and breakthrough game while his father was in town.

And before you jump to conclusions, I'm talking about his actual mother and father.

Many people perform at their highest level in front of their parents and Haley appears to be no exception.[/QUOTE

his parents are more than welcome to the rest of the games then.

It's also possible that Haley had a LOT less to be pissed about.

His Chiefs played the best they absolutely could, with minimal dumb mistakes.

The what? They played the best they absolutely could? Wha?

Did you watch the first half? That was as bad of a half of football that we've witnessed all year.

If he stayed calm through that, it's definite improvement on Haley's part.