Babb:Chiefs’ changes must start with Crennel’s actions and attitude

[Tribal Warfare]

Chiefs’ changes must start with Crennel’s actions and attitude
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
Romeo Crennel finally indicated this week that he has his defense figured out. His own defense, that is.

The Chiefs coach’s plan didn’t seem to have anything to do with what will happen Sunday in New Orleans or in any of the winless Chiefs’ remaining 14 games. No, Crennel began defending himself this week and deflecting blame for his team’s two embarrassing, blowout losses — and intimating that the fault lies not on coaches’ shoulders, but with the players.

“If they do their job the way they’re supposed to do it,” Crennel said, “then we’ll be able to make plays.”

Maybe that’s not what he meant. Maybe the words just got twisted, or came out wrong, or maybe we’re reading into them too deeply.

Crennel is 65 years old and has been an NFL coach since 1981. You don’t hang around that long or move up without being a good coach, and this isn’t meant to kick mud onto that fact. But being a head coach isn’t for everyone, and it tests all who dare by amplifying their words and shining a spotlight onto everything they say. No one knows yet if Crennel can prove, in his second stint as a head coach, that he can handle this job. But now that he’s in crisis mode, his words suggest he’s in over his head.

There’s time to change, but it starts with Crennel admitting that things actually need to change — starting with a more energetic and focused showing from himself. He doesn’t have the personality to consistently get in players’ faces, and he apparently has lost the public-speaking chops to adequately explain what needs to be done to curb this horrible start.

“I really thought that we would be better, and we’re not,” Crennel said after Buffalo’s 35-17 win on Sunday. “We’ve got to try to really figure out why that is.”

He also doesn’t seem to have the self-awareness necessary to identify an obvious weakness in the defense — and strip himself of coordinator duties and focus only on being the head coach. Coaches make this mistake all the time, and it almost always costs them.

“I’ve done both jobs before,” he said Monday before quickly clarifying. “I haven’t done both of them at the same time before. I’ve been a defensive line coach and a defensive coordinator before, so I’ve done dual roles in the past. I kind of understand what it takes.”

Crennel, who lost and was fired as Cleveland’s head coach even with a coordinator, had to have misspoken there. Surely he knows better than anyone that being a position coach is nothing like being a coordinator, and neither of those jobs is anything like being a head coach. So what if he worked with linemen on the same days he designed a defensive game plan? He never would’ve been asked in those jobs to also sit in on offensive and special-teams meetings, have daily news conferences, and appear in marketing material as the team’s face.

His job means he is asked, almost continually, to use his words to inspire players, win over reporters, articulate his needs to the personnel department and his vision to assistant coaches, and keep a community of battered fans from staying home on the seven remaining Sundays that Arrowhead Stadium is supposed to be full.

Instead, he says things like this about the upcoming contest against the 0-2 Saints:

“I know we will try to look at it as a must-win because we want to win it,” he said, “but we’re not going to fall off the earth if we lose it.”

Nothing is quite as stirring as a coach whose words suggest he’s OK with the idea of losing his first three games of 2012.

The issue is that Crennel will have to use his voice, now more than ever, to rally so many people who have turned to him for guidance, comfort and confidence. Losing is certainly no fun, particularly when there are so many problems that Crennel is being asked to fix. It’ll change your outlook and your attitude. But nothing encourages hope or leads to change when he sulks through a news conference or looks downtrodden on the sideline — in the first two or three weeks of the season.

Difficult as it might be, he has to fight this with all he’s got. With three games remaining in the 2011 season, Crennel took over a 5-8 team after Todd Haley was fired. In his first news conference as interim coach, he stated in clear terms that quarterback Tyler Palko was out, Kyle Orton was in, and the days of misdirection from Haley were finished. Crennel on that day was the leader the Chiefs needed. No more confusion, no more nonsense.

“We’re changing some things,” he said on Dec. 14.

Crennel took charge of a team in shambles and won two of the Chiefs’ final three games, the first one against the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers. They dumped Gatorade on Crennel after that game, and the future seemed in good hands.

Crennel was comfortable in his skin back then, and even since training camp ended, that seems to have changed. Haley spent an offseason studying old news conferences of Bill Parcells, trying to pattern his answers and behavior after the master. He learned too late to be himself, but at least he learned it. Crennel seems to be going in reverse; once unafraid of how his words might sound to Big Brother watching in the general manager’s office, now he hesitates when Star beat writer Adam Teicher asks him things like whether his team was going for it on a fourth down in Buffalo.

“You saw the play,” the coach said flatly.

Regardless of the reasons, a Crennel who sounds defeated, or resigned, is bad for the Chiefs and bad for a wounded Kansas City. If it appears he has stopped believing, or if he has so little energy or confidence that he can’t explain what he expects and wants, then who would trust that he can say the right things to motivate players to pull out of this funk anytime soon?

So often, a team takes on the personality of its head coach. This team has, for two games, seemed to do that. Crennel lacks liveliness and answers, and so do the Chiefs.

Luckily for the coach and everyone who plays for or follows this team, there’s plenty of time left for Crennel to rediscover himself — and what made the Chiefs so good for two of three weeks last December.

[KCUnited]

Did anyone hear today's injury list? There's 10 guys being held out or limited in practice. Get blown out, watch film on Monday, Tuesday off, sit out Wednesday...This team is soft.

[TEX]

Luckily for the coach and everyone who plays for or follows this team, there’s plenty of time left for Crennel to rediscover himself — and what made the Chiefs so good for two of three weeks last December.
_________________________________________________________________
Orton signed with Dallas.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Did anyone hear today's injury list? There's 10 guys being held out or limited in practice. Get blown out, watch film on Monday, Tuesday off, sit out Wednesday...This team is soft.

What?

Who are they?

[FAX]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Did anyone hear today's injury list? There's 10 guys being held out or limited in practice. Get blown out, watch film on Monday, Tuesday off, sit out Wednesday...This team is soft.

Didn't Crennel say that he was going to change the routine when he took over, Mr. KCUnited? Compared to Haley, less time spent on weights and conditioning and more time in the film room and meetings?

Did I dream that, or is that a real thing?

FAX

[DaWolf]

I don't think it makes an ounce of difference whether he does both jobs or not. This defense is just not as good as people were hyping it up to be. No pass rush does that for you.

If you look at last year, the defense had by my count 5 really good games against legit opposition (17 PPG against teams who had a good starting QB, most of which were played at Arrowhead), 5 good games against QB's who are backup level or out of the league currently (8 PPG), and 6 bad games where we gave up an average of 36 PPG.

That's not a top defense. That is a Jekyll and Hyde defense that can fare well when the matchups play in our favor, and who will struggle badly when the matchups don't. You can't win consistently like that in this league...

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by FAX

Didn't Crennel say that he was going to change the routine when he took over, Mr. KCUnited? Compared to Haley, less time spent on weights and conditioning and more time in the film room and meetings?

Did I dream that, or is that a real thing?

FAX

I think it was a player who said it last season when asked about the difference between Haley and Crennel. It was McClain IIRC.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

What?

Who are they?

Boss
Bailey
Wiley
Lilja
McCluster
Brown
Breaston
Lewis
Toribio

1 more I can't remember. It was the way Romeo described them that was lol. Lilja with a back, McCluster with a sore shoulder.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

I don't think it makes an ounce of difference whether he does both jobs or not. This defense is just not as good as people were hyping it up to be. No pass rush does that for you.

If you look at last year, the defense had by my count 5 really good games against legit opposition (17 PPG against teams who had a good starting QB, most of which were played at Arrowhead), 5 good games against QB's who are backup level or out of the league currently (8 PPG), and 6 bad games where we gave up an average of 36 PPG.

That's not a top defense. That is a Jekyll and Hyde defense that can fare well when the matchups play in our favor, and who will struggle badly when the matchups don't. You can't win consistently like that in this league...

Yup. I've been saying it all offseason.

The defense is inconsistent. Always has been.

It's no coincidence that when the D plays great is when DJ shows up.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

I think it was a player who said it last season when asked about the difference between Haley and Crennel. It was McClain IIRC.

I'm probably wrong about this too, but I could have sworn he said that in his first presser as interim ... or one of the very first, at least. It was the presser when he said he was going to make some changes, etc. But, again, I'm probably mis-remembering just like when I could have sworn I dated Zsa Zsa Gabor but it turned out to just be some bad quaaludes.

FAX

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Boss
Bailey
Wiley
Lilja
McCluster
Brown
Breaston
Lewis
Toribio

1 more I can't remember. It was the way Romeo described them that was lol. Lilja with a back, McCluster with a sore shoulder.

That should seal the loss.

[O.city]

We have 10 guys "hurt" yet a team like te ravens or 9 ers who play physical dont consistently have guys nicked up

[KCUnited]

They are going to play more Romeo audio from today in the next segment on 610.

[Black Bob]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

He's 64-years old. He's not going to change.

I just mean the defense... Stop the 2-3-6 is what I'm saying...

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Yup. I've been saying it all offseason.

The defense is inconsistent. Always has been.

It's no coincidence that when the D plays great is when DJ shows up.

I agree. The inconsistancy of Bowe and DJ have really pissed me off over the years. I have mellowed out over the last couple of days and don't want to cut DJ anymore. However, the inconsistancy really frustrates me.

If I were Hunt, when it came time to fire Pioli, I would look at DJ as the #1 reason why. For years Pioli preached consistancy. He was going to build a "consistant team" and "consistantly" be competitive. That's great but why in the hell did he sign DJ up for several more years? He tried to trade the guy when he got to KC. He knew he was inconsistant. Why in the hell did he get sold on one good season?

Pioli sold out for talent against his better judgement. He drifted from the plan and put consistancy on the back burner. It's not the draft picks. NFL drafts are a crapshoot. It's resigning guys like DJ and tagging Bowe. It's about investing in inconsistancy after stating he would do the opposite multiple times.

I'm not mad at DJ. He is who he is and I'm not sup[rised when he plays like shit. I'm mad at Pioli that DJ is still here.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

I don't think it makes an ounce of difference whether he does both jobs or not. This defense is just not as good as people were hyping it up to be. No pass rush does that for you.

If you look at last year, the defense had by my count 5 really good games against legit opposition (17 PPG against teams who had a good starting QB, most of which were played at Arrowhead), 5 good games against QB's who are backup level or out of the league currently (8 PPG), and 6 bad games where we gave up an average of 36 PPG.

That's not a top defense. That is a Jekyll and Hyde defense that can fare well when the matchups play in our favor, and who will struggle badly when the matchups don't. You can't win consistently like that in this league...

Yep. I said it all off season that this defense was far too inconsistent to be considered a top defense. Then stat guys here threw out the last 5 games of the season to state their case that it was and I was an idiot for thinking otherwise. Well I may be an idiot, but I was right. This defense is average at best. And this year it's been far below average.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Boss
Bailey
Wiley
Lilja
McCluster
Brown
Breaston
Lewis
Toribio

1 more I can't remember. It was the way Romeo described them that was lol. Lilja with a back, McCluster with a sore shoulder.

Boss was hurt during the game. Wiley, Brown, Lewis and Toribio were previously hurt. The only new ones would be Lilja, McCluster and Breaston. Lilja should be benched. McCluster took a shot....but that will happen with him because he's tiny and I have no clue about Breaston.