Kent Babb dismantles Fat Scott

[FloridaMan88]

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.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by FAX

This will, no doubt, bring out the haters en masse ... but, I still like Haley.

I have a lot of reasons, but I generally liked his attitude toward the game. I'm not so sure about the paranoia and the need to make his personal calls from a burn phone, but I think he will have a long and successful career in the NFL.

Frankly, it is my view that Haley was probably the best decision Pioli has made to date. Things would likely have turned out much better for everyone if Pioli had been more supportive and helpful ... as opposed to deceitful ... and under-cutting his own freaking coach.

FAX

Completely agree. I think Pioli drove him to near madness.

[mnchiefsguy]

Kent Babb finally writes a decent article for the Star. Shit has got to be bad, or maybe he just does not give a crap since his new team is on the upswing.

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by BlackBob

It's alot more than that. It's Bowman, Aldon Smith, and Justin Smith too. They built a good o-line and got lucky with their QB. They were built well. It's more that than anything imo.

Got lucky with the #1 overall pick?

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by FAX

This will, no doubt, bring out the haters en masse ... but, I still like Haley.

I have a lot of reasons, but I generally liked his attitude toward the game. I'm not so sure about the paranoia and the need to make his personal calls from a burn phone, but I think he will have a long and successful career in the NFL.

Frankly, it is my view that Haley was probably the best decision Pioli has made to date. Things would likely have turned out much better for everyone if Pioli had been more supportive and helpful ... as opposed to deceitful ... and under-cutting his own freaking coach.

FAX

One thing is for certain - Pioli and Haley just were not meant to work of th esame team.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Bowser

One thing is for certain - Pioli and Haley just were not meant to work of th esame team.

The gambler and the Mr. I'll walk 5 blocks out of my way so I don't even have to walk through a casino were oil and water.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Bowser

One thing is for certain - Pioli and Haley just were not meant to work of th esame team.

Nope. We got that figured out. Those two crazy bastards probably couldn't ride in the same car without causing multiple fatalities.

FAX

[Otter]

Originally Posted by FAX

Nope. We got that figured out. Those two crazy bastards probably couldn't ride in the same car without causing multiple fatalities.

FAX

I picture Haley pulling sand out of nowhere, throwing it in fat Scott's eyes and going for the elbows....while driving.

Sorry but I liked Todd.

[BryanBusby]

Jack Harry is about to start ripping on the Chiefs, and I think this ones gonna be good.

Before even starting, he's compared the current team to the Franz Gansz era.

Damn, best line: "This team is a bunch of pansies"

[Ace Gunner]

Originally Posted by FAX

This will, no doubt, bring out the haters en masse ... but, I still like Haley.

I have a lot of reasons, but I generally liked his attitude toward the game. I'm not so sure about the paranoia and the need to make his personal calls from a burn phone, but I think he will have a long and successful career in the NFL.

Frankly, it is my view that Haley was probably the best decision Pioli has made to date. Things would likely have turned out much better for everyone if Pioli had been more supportive and helpful ... as opposed to deceitful ... and under-cutting his own freaking coach.

FAX

Yep

[whoman69]

Different coach, same result. I am more convinced than ever that its the players and has always been the players. This team certainly has more talent than the team that Pioli inherited, but we are always dealing with those things that Pioli just will never address. First and foremost, this team lives down to its capabilities of its QB. Next we have a defense where in our base defense against the pass we have 4 guys who are going to have no impact. We are essentially only playing defense with 7 guys. Third, we are so far under the cap and yet we have holes with depth and positions where we have people on the field that really shouldn't be in the NFL. Last year it was RT and depth at safety. This year we brought in a good RT and a bunch of cheap safeties in FA. We didn't look forward to where we might be crumbling.

I think Pioli can be a good GM, but he's got to change some things. He needs an owner that is going to demand that he get out of his Patriot way comfort zone. He needs an owner that is going to read him the riot act when he says that drafting a first round QB is just too risky. He needs an owner that is going to tell him to spend the money.

This whole thread should be titled "Scott Pioli is not going to win with this organization if Clark Hunt is the owner."

[DaneMcCloud]

Todd Haley was worthless. Not only could he not manage coaches corretly, he couldn't manage players, either. He was a hothead that could not control his emotions and just like Pioli, Peter-Principled into the position of head coach.

Good ****ing riddance.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by FAX

Nope. We got that figured out. Those two crazy bastards probably couldn't ride in the same car without causing multiple fatalities.

FAX

Haley should have never took the job when the QB was forced on him. I like Haley, but Pioli ****ed up and so did Haley. Should have hired the coach first, then see who the coach likes as a qb, then went from there.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Todd Haley was worthless. Not only could he not manage coaches corretly, he couldn't manage players, either. He was a hothead that could not control his emotions and just like Pioli, Peter-Principled into the position of head coach.

Good ****ing riddance.

At least he was entertaining in a Jersey Shore type of way. Now it's like watching a old soft guy pat players on the head and tell them "it's OK" after colossal failure like it's his grandchildren and not 20 something millionaires.

Their certainly not doing any better.

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by BossChief

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.

Sunday full page ad: $73,458

Broadsheet = 126 column inches @ $583 per column inch ROP

http://media.kansascity.com/static/a...ional_2011.pdf

[FAX]

So the only person in KC who can afford to run an ad calling for Pioli's firing is Pioli?

That just isn't right.

FAX