Pioli offers an excuse

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

And have a shitty draft?

And screw around with worthless players in free agency?

And hire coaches who are now gone?

And trade for a shitty quarterback?

Yeah, year one was just a year to assess....they didn't REALLY intend to accomplish anything....

Garbage.

You're not answering any questions, you're just throwing out more hyperbole. Again, I'll ask what I did before: what did you expect to happen in 2009? What were your expectations?

And yes, Keg, it WAS a shitty draft. There's something to be said for being patient with players but when all of those players, save the kicker, show absolutely NOTHING and contribute in no meaningful way, there are clear warning signs. So don't sit there and act like we should all be patient and suddenly these guys will turn into All-Pros.

This is the problem when you get tunnel-vision, when you look at 2009 in a bubble. Success or failure, whether you're looking at the team as a whole or at a specific player, is not a matter of one year. Matt Cassel's success or failure is not yet decided, whether you like him or not (and I don't). Neither is Tyson Jackson's, or Alex Magee's, or Colin Brown's, or anybody else's. These guys have years to prove what kind of players they are, for good or ill. And the same's true of Pioli. He's got years to put this thing together; 2009 was just the first step down the path, and some of the moves that look like misses now may or may not turn out to be okay in the long run. There's no way to know.

Don't mistake this as confidence or optimism. It's not. It's just an acknowledgment of my own limits when it comes to reading tea leaves or crystal balls or any other forms of divination. I understand it's easier to just throw your arms up and scream bloody murder, rather than to see how it actually plays out.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

You're not answering any questions, you're just throwing out more hyperbole. Again, I'll ask what I did before: what did you expect to happen in 2009? What were your expectations?

Not to suck ass? Seriously, pretty much everything we saw last year was a carbon copy of crap from the old regime.

You can sit here and preach "patience" as much as you want. But OTHER teams find impact players in the first year of a new regime. OTHER teams find rookies that contribute in some way in their first year.

It's nice to just sit there and say "anything can happen." You know what? That doesn't deal in reality. The reality is Pioli shit the bed last year. Because it doesn't MATTER what Tyson Jackson turns into. He's still going to be a five-tech when it's all said and done.

And that's why we're sitting here day after day this offseason, PRAYING that they take a player who will have a real impact.

[DaWolf]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

You can sit here and preach "patience" as much as you want. But OTHER teams find impact players in the first year of a new regime. OTHER teams find rookies that contribute in some way in their first year.

That's a blanket statement that didn't really play out for "regime change" teams in 2009:

2008 Lions: 0-16
2009 Lions: 2-14

2008 Bucs: 9-7
2009 Bucs: 3-13

2008 Seahawks: 4-12
2009 Seahawks: 5-11

2008 Rams: 2-14
2009 Rams: 1-15

2008 Browns: 4-12
2009 Browns: 5-11

2008 Donx: 8-8
2009 Donx: 8-8

2008 Chiefs: 2-14
2009 Chiefs: 4-12

Sometimes teams catch lightning in a bottle and turn around quickly like the Falcons and Dolphins in '08, but it doesn't always happen so quickly, and due to many factors, be it the availability (or lack of) of impact talent in '09, the financial state of the game, personnel miscalculations, whatever it was, bad teams who went out and changed the guys running the team didn't really improve very much. The only two "bad" teams that really turned it around were Cincinnati and Green Bay, and both of those teams maintained stability in leadership...

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

Sometimes teams catch lightning in a bottle and turn around quickly like the Falcons and Dolphins in '08

The Dolphins? JFC, WHY would you include them?

It's been discussed to death but the Dolphins were smoke and mirrors. I said in January 2009 that they'd be LUCKY to be 8-8 last year and guess what?

They were 7-9.

[DaWolf]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

The Dolphins? JFC, WHY would you include them?

It's been discussed to death but the Dolphins were smoke and mirrors. I said in January 2009 that they'd be LUCKY to be 8-8 last year and guess what?

They were 7-9.

And I don't disagree at all, but keep in mind that was a 1-15 team. To even sniff 8 wins a year later, to me, is a good turnaround. Was their division championship a lot of smoke and mirrors? Absolutely. But it was nevertheless a heck of a turnaround for one year...