Exposed

['Hamas' Jenkins]

What else can you really say? This is a terrible football team.

What does it portend? That's a little harder to say.

1) I was willing to grant Haley some slack after the disastrous season opener, but seeing how this team responded, and how it has responded the last four games, he needs to be a dead man walking. The problem with Haley is the problem that happens with any hothead, whether it's Lou Piniella, Bobby Valentine, or Mangino: no one wants to play for, or listen to a prick when they are losing. If he could command respect it's one thing, but being a failed golfer who got into the NFL through daddy connections will kill him in a situation like this. It's the height of irony, really.

That team has a lot of quit in it.

2) Pioli may be one of the luckiest men in the NFL if this team is as bad as it looks right now. His own mismanagement of the team could literally cause the franchise to fall ass over teakettle into Andrew Luck, a pick for which he would take all the credit.

3) Romeo's defense is antiquated. You can't sit back and wait for a QB to pick you apart in a league where corners can't jam and you only have one legitimate pass rusher. This team needs to be shooting gaps and leaning on its corners, not expecting the linebackers and safeties to cover down the field or in the seams.

4) The telephone game is one of many things killing the offense. You can't say that multiple relays/filters is a good idea in a situation like that. It's one more potential area for failure. You don't need four sticks of RAM that have the same total capacity as two would.

5) The injuries have been disastrous, but you can't dodge that bug forever. I read an NFL preview on Grantland where Bill Barnwell pointed out the staggeringly low number of games lost by the Chiefs last year. This is the unlucky flip side of that coin. Given the schedule and the lack of focus, it's not the worst of all possible breaks to have it happen this year.

What can you say, really?

A lot of this stems from the 2009 offseason. By trading for Cassel in February, Pioli effectively passed on both Stafford and Sanchez. He hired Haley, a guy who looks daily more like the Reno airshow, and he made possibly the worst pick in Chiefs history at #3, and followed it up with maybe the worst draft in Chiefs history.

The ideology behind the roster construction is totally bankrupt, so it's hard to have much of any faith at this point.

[Tylerthigpen!1!]

I dont think SP ever thought Matt was the answer at qb. He is a bridge. He is a decent quarterback but he will be just enough to hold the chiefs over till we get enough holes filled and then draft a qb. In New England Tom Brady didnt walk into a shitty situation. He came into a situation where he could lean on others. That is the patriot way.

[DJJasonp]

Here's my beef with Haley:

1) As a rookie head-coach with ZERO super bowl rings (or any other hardware as a head-coach) - you cant walk into the job like you are Bill Parcells or Bill Belichek. As Hamas stated earlier, that will eventually bite you in the ass when hard times hit.

2) His treatment of (and attitude towards) his coordinators is becoming more and more apparent. He ran Gailey off after pre-season (a dick move). He ran Weiss off prior to a playoff game. How can a head coach with a 14-19 all-time coaching record feel that he knows more than anyone else in the room (at all times)?

3) And this is the most important......his coaching decisions just plain suck. Last year, he made decisions like he was playing a game of madden on PS3. Going for it in your own territory, on-side kicks to start games/halves. THe play-calling when he is making the decisions is horrendous.

I am so sick and tired of hearing the "we have no talent" excuse. We've been hearing it ever since the Greg Robinson era.

Other teams in the NFL (with good coaching staffs/schemes) take nobodies and turn them into productive NFL players. How many players not drafted in the first few rounds can you name that the chiefs have turned into legitimate players?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

I'm not claiming that the failure of the team is Haley's responsibility alone, or even a plurality of it. I'm arguing a couple of things:

1) He was known (not coveted, known) for his sideline antics
2) He was relatively inexperienced and his resume was thin
3) A few former players gushing about someone doesn't really mean all that much. If anyone should know this, it's a Chiefs fan. Don't you remember the Herm and DV years?
4) If a guy can't coexist with other offensive play callers and can't co-manage the duties of both HC and OC if he needs all the responsibility, how can you claim that it was a good hire?

Again, this is all a distraction from the broader point. This shouldn't be about Haley, he's just a symptom of the larger disease, which is ownership and management.

But again... his resume was no thinner than Gruden, Tomlin, or John Harbaugh. We all were excited to get someone young rather than someone old and stale. As for gushing... again, we're not talking about just player-speak. Warner texts Haley to this day. Keyshawn always pumps Haley up--he doesn't do that for any other coach. One of the bases for your argument is that he's irascible and that his act is tired to his players, and I'm pointing out that players seemed to really like him. Abnormally so. And if he's irascible and losing the team, it doesn't explain why guys like Flowers and Charles are signing long-term extensions.

As for co-existing... maybe yes, or maybe he shouldn't have been given Weis in the first place. Knowing what we know now, isn't it highly possible that Weis was forced on Haley? Because Weis seems to be the only assistant he's struggled to get along with.

Your last point is one I agree with. I feel like Haley has been forced into the Patriot Way. Pioli's done little to give Haley great players and he forced a 3-year QB experiment on Haley that isn't very good. I'd bet that forcing Weis/Romeo on Haley was also a Pioli decision. I still like Haley as a coach, but I've turned to ultra concerned about our GM. If the culture is toxic that absolutely starts from the top.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Here's my beef with Haley:

1) As a rookie head-coach with ZERO super bowl rings (or any other hardware as a head-coach) - you cant walk into the job like you are Bill Parcells or Bill Belichek. As Hamas stated earlier, that will eventually bite you in the ass when hard times hit.

2) His treatment of (and attitude towards) his coordinators is becoming more and more apparent. He ran Gailey off after pre-season (a dick move). He ran Weiss off prior to a playoff game. How can a head coach with a 14-19 all-time coaching record feel that he knows more than anyone else in the room (at all times)?

3) And this is the most important......his coaching decisions just plain suck. Last year, he made decisions like he was playing a game of madden on PS3. Going for it in your own territory, on-side kicks to start games/halves. THe play-calling when he is making the decisions is horrendous.

I am so sick and tired of hearing the "we have no talent" excuse. We've been hearing it ever since the Greg Robinson era.

Other teams in the NFL (with good coaching staffs/schemes) take nobodies and turn them into productive NFL players. How many players not drafted in the first few rounds can you name that the chiefs have turned into legitimate players?

The treatment of the coordinators is one thing. But it also could be the case that he's wanted control of playcalling all along but was blocked by Pioli. I imagine Gailey was to appease Hunt and Weis was all Pioli. As for his weird risk-taking, he's taken a lot of dumb risks, but fans can be fickle--we always hated that Vermeil didn't take enough risks. People like risk when it works and hate it when it doesn't.

As for talent... it's undeniable he doesn't have talent. For one, the Chiefs' payroll is significantly lower than anyone else's. That means they're obviously not spending on talent. More importantly, if Nose Tackle and QB are the two most important players on the field, it's clear that Pioli has done a subpar job addressing those two positions.

I am still convinced that if you gave Haley a real QB, this team could be competitive.