Chiefs Ravens Will Reveal Pioli's Progress - Page 5

Hammock Parties · 01-07-2011, 11:02 AM

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We're about to discover just how far the Kansas City Chiefs have come in 16 months under Scott Pioli.

Thirty-one regular season games ago, Pioli's roster was led into Baltimore by Todd Haley for the first game of the new era. Thanks to a pair of game-changing plays from Jon McGraw and Derrick Johnson, the Chiefs kept the final score (38-24) close that day, but were dominated nonetheless.

The Ravens had their way with KC's offense and defense, outgaining the Chiefs 501 -188. The Chiefs couldn't run the ball, failed to stop the run, allowed their starting quarterback to be pummeled and looked like a team that was hopelessly overmatched. They didn't have the talent to compete.

Sobering reality: In Week 17 of the 2010 season, against a team that missed the playoffs, the Chiefs couldn't run the ball, failed to stop the run, allowed their starting quarterback to be pummeled and looked like a team that was hopelessly overmatched. They didn't have the talent to compete.

What if it happens two weeks in a row? Would any logical person come to the conclusion that the Chiefs have truly made significant progress since that first meeting with the Ravens? We'd be hard pressed to feel good about a 10-6 season if the Chiefs resembled the sad-sack unit that started life struggling to win two games with 22 players off the street, wouldn't we?

The Ravens haven't changed much since last season. Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Derrick Mason and Michael Oher still drive the offense. Ray lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata and Terrell Suggs contiune to power the defense. Baltimore isn't particularly explosive on offense, but they don't make huge mistakes. Their offensive and defensive schemes are almost identical, implemented by the same coordinators.

Can the Chiefs stop Ray Rice, who ran for 108 yards in Week 1 of 2009?
Getty Images

The Chiefs? Supposedly, Pioli has performed a complete makeover on the franchise since September 2009. Haley will field 12 new starters Sunday - Matt Cassel, Tony Moeaki, Jamaal Charles, Chris Chambers, Casey Wiegmann, Ryan Lilja, Barry Richardson, Shaun Smith, Derrick Johnson, Jovan Belcher, Eric Berry and Kendrick Lewis.

The Chiefs have new offensive and defensive coordinators. Holdovers from that first game - Dwayne Bowe, Branden Albert - are apparently much improved football players.

For all intents and purposes, it's the same Baltimore team facing a completely different, advertised-as-markedly-improved, Chiefs team. We should expect a completely different result, particularly because the Chiefs will be playing at home.

Specifically we should expect KC's top-ranked rushing attack to test Baltimore's fifth-ranked run defense. We should expect Cassel and Bowe to play at a high level against a secondary that features zero elite cornerbacks and a busted-up Ed Reed. We should expect Romeo Crennel, Tamba Hali and Kansas City's talented secondary to throttle a Baltimore passing game that makes Cassel to Bowe look like Montana to Rice.

These are the expectations the Chiefs have set. We expect them to compete and with a few bounces of the ball going in their favor, expect them to win at home and claim their first playoff victory since January 1994.

So what will it say about Pioli if the Ravens replicate their 2009 dominance? You'd start to wonder if he really deserves much credit at all for Kansas City's 10-6 season and the "rebirth" of the franchise. In the aftermath of a Baltimore Beatdown, the AFC West Division Championship would look like a mirage created by the NFL's easiest schedule, and KC's 2011 opponents - mostly playoff contenders led by stud quarterbacks - would appear daunting.

The bottom line is that a Wild Card rerun of KC's struggles against Oakland makes 10 wins appear flimsy in comparison. If the Ravens fly into Kansas City and peck the Chiefs to death with little resistance, the idea that the 2010 Chiefs were a legitimate playoff team that's made significant progress in the last 16 months goes up in smoke.

In other words, the 2010 Chiefs would be frauds.

It's time for Pioli's roster to prove something.
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The perception that the Chiefs are just that goes beyond this column. Wednesday, former Redskins general manager Vinny Cerrato went on 95.7 The Fan in Baltimore and scoffed at the notion that the Chiefs could beat the Ravens.

"Kansas City I think is a fraud," Cerrato said. "You look at their schedule, you look at what Kansas City has played and they've played nobody. They've played two playoff teams. They lost at Indy and beat Seattle, if you count Seattle as a playoff team."

It’s not just Cerrato. Good luck finding many people outside of Kansas City who believe the Chiefs are on the same level as Baltimore. Inside The NFL hosts Cris Collinsworth and Warren Sapp both picked the Ravens to knock off Kansas City Wednesday night on Showtime. Phil Simms declined to pick a favorite because he’s calling the game.

And of course, the Chiefs are three-point underdogs in their own home stadium. They are perceived as pretenders, not contenders.

The only way to change that perception is for Pioli’s two-year talent crop to rise to the occasion.

Jason Whitlock's assault on Todd Haley's legitimacy as a head coach is irrelevant this weekend. It's Pioli's legitimacy as a general manager that's in question. The Ravens will reveal just how much progress he's made as the architect of the Kansas City Chiefs.

**Ming the Merciless** · 01-07-2011, 02:33 PM

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Originally Posted by ChiefsFan5840

This. Seriously, lol @ the article title. I didn't even read it.

Exactly...

If you can't tell there is progress ALREADY just from looking at this season versus the last 3 seasons...

Then you really aren't paying attention.

**Bearcat** · 01-07-2011, 02:44 PM

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the idea that the 2010 Chiefs were a legitimate playoff team

This statement is the foundation of this crusade to prove the Chiefs are a fraud, yet from day one no one has been making this claim... this statement has to be supported by someone besides the homers who predict the playoffs every year in order to call them frauds, yet it's not.

Like I said before, if the Chiefs win a couple games, everyone will be calling them the Cinderella team... and how a team could potentially be both a fraud and Cinderella is beyond me.

jettio · 01-07-2011, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

No one is suggesting Pioli should be fired.

But if he goes 8-8 in year three as Amnorix suggests is possible...wow, he'd really need to hit a home run in the last two years of his contract.

We haven't even gotten into that. Quite frankly I can't believe anyone would think missing the playoffs next season is acceptable. Pioli is the highest paid GM in football.

Did you ever play any level of sports?

It seems unlikely that you have any idea of what it is like to be on a team that is competing against other teams.

In the NFL, everybody is paid to do their job.

Who cares to speculate about next year's record so that one can evaluate the GM?

That is stupid.

The Chiefs are hosting a playoff game that gives them a chance to end their playoff losing streak and they are the conventional wisdom underdogs even though they have as many good players as the Ravens and the Chiefs are in better condition because they have put in the time to get in better shape.

I never saw a team have their tongues hanging out like the Ravens D did against the Texans in that second half. They might be the only team in this year's NFL that is as out of shape, cardiovascularly, as the Herm Edwards Chiefs teams were.

The Chiefs have more speed, more energy, and they have as many or more playmakers as the Ravens, and they are going to have a very loud home crowd.

The Pioli-Haley Chiefs are always going to be in shape, unless injured, and they are always going to have their share of playmakers.

Pioli is going to have the job as long as he wants it.

**The Bad Guy** · 01-07-2011, 04:41 PM

Claynus is an unbearable basement dwelling idiot.

Adept Havelock · 01-07-2011, 05:33 PM

After reading the OP, I believe I've found the other halfwhit.

Pioli Zombie · 01-07-2011, 05:52 PM

This is a stupid ****ing article. Like John the Baptist ringing in Jesus, GoChiefs is greasing the way for Mecca to come strolling in around 3PM on sunday. When a team loses 28 of 30 games and then the next year goes 10-6,wins it division,and hosts a playoff game, it doesn't need to prove anything else to show progress was made, especially when NOBODY expected them to be any better than 8-8 this year. Now if they lose in the first rond NEXT year that would be legit cause for complaint. But anyone who bitches and whines about anything that happens this sunday, after the progress the Chiefs have indeed made this year, has a head full of dog crap.

**alanm** · 01-07-2011, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amnorix

WTF?

Winning the division is progress. Massive progress. The Ravens are the 5 seed but should be 3. I guess every game is a measuring stick in a sense, but to say the 2010 Chiefs are frauds if you don't win against what ought to be the 3 seed? When the Ravens have a ton of playoff experience, including playoff-winning experience? When you're coming off like 6 wins over two years combined? That's totally reeruned.

According to goat cheese if the Chiefs don't win Sunday it's utter failure the progress the Chiefs have made the past 2 yrs.

TEX · 01-07-2011, 05:55 PM

I remember the Ravens scoring a TD in the closing seconds of that game instead of taking a knee...That PISSED me off...

Pioli Zombie · 01-07-2011, 05:55 PM

GoChiefs needs to focus on his lack of progress getting a woman to actually **** him.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 01-07-2011, 06:15 PM

Again with this trip?

****.

**BigMeatballDave** · 01-07-2011, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

No one is suggesting Pioli should be fired.

But if he goes 8-8 in year three as Amnorix suggests is possible...wow, he'd really need to hit a home run in the last two years of his contract.

We haven't even gotten into that. Quite frankly I can't believe anyone would think missing the playoffs next season is acceptable. Pioli is the highest paid GM in football.

How about doing a little bit of ****ing research. After winning their 1st SB, the Patriots missed the playoffs the following season.

**BigMeatballDave** · 01-07-2011, 06:53 PM

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Originally Posted by ClayWhit

The board deserves it. I may just disappear.

No reason to leave, just stop with the ****ing JW persona.

chiefzilla1501 · 01-07-2011, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCD

How about doing a little bit of ****ing research. After winning their 1st SB, the Patriots missed the playoffs the following season.

Nice.

Add in Mike Smith's Atlanta Falcons
Sean Payton's New Orleans Saints

Two coaches who have had terrific success that made the playoffs their first year and missed the second. I realize Haley's in his second year already, but it's not the end of the world if we miss next year. The goal is to continually get better and to make a Super Bowl in the next few years. If they improve significantly next year but aren't quite there yet, it's not even close to the end of the world.

suzzer99 · 01-07-2011, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

WR, OLB, NT, RT, C, ILB.

The mere fact that we don't see QB on these lists anymore is more *progress* than anything else that's happened this season.

Pioli Zombie · 01-07-2011, 07:34 PM

Its amazing how messed up so much of this fanbase is that it can't even enjoy this.

01-07-2011, 04:41 PM	#64
The Bad Guy Scott Pioli Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: The Copacobana Casino cash: $9283645	Claynus is an unbearable basement dwelling idiot. __________________
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01-07-2011, 05:33 PM	#65
Adept Havelock Obligatory Thoughtcriminal Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Flux,awaiting an observer Casino cash: $10004900	After reading the OP, I believe I've found the other halfwhit. __________________ No matter how cynical you are, it is impossible to keep up. -Lily Tomlin I'd rather be a climbing monkey than a falling angel. -Terry Pratchett
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01-07-2011, 05:52 PM	#66
Pioli Zombie Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: olathe,kansas Casino cash: $10004900	This is a stupid ****ing article. Like John the Baptist ringing in Jesus, GoChiefs is greasing the way for Mecca to come strolling in around 3PM on sunday. When a team loses 28 of 30 games and then the next year goes 10-6,wins it division,and hosts a playoff game, it doesn't need to prove anything else to show progress was made, especially when NOBODY expected them to be any better than 8-8 this year. Now if they lose in the first rond NEXT year that would be legit cause for complaint. But anyone who bitches and whines about anything that happens this sunday, after the progress the Chiefs have indeed made this year, has a head full of dog crap.
Posts: 11,077

01-07-2011, 05:55 PM	#68
TEX Out Gunning CP's Fandom Police Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Galveston, TX Casino cash: $-1266873	I remember the Ravens scoring a TD in the closing seconds of that game instead of taking a knee...That PISSED me off... __________________ "Do we have time to run WASP?"
Posts: 37,059

01-07-2011, 05:55 PM	#69
Pioli Zombie Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: olathe,kansas Casino cash: $10004900	GoChiefs needs to focus on his lack of progress getting a woman to actually **** him.
Posts: 11,077

01-07-2011, 06:15 PM	#70
Sweet Daddy Hate Unsparing Join Date: Aug 2008 Casino cash: $10004900	Again with this trip? **. __________________ 1. Merciless, severe. 2. Given freely and generously. 100% refusal to overrate 20 year Head Coaches with ZERO ing rings as a Head Coach. CP's Official Professor of 'Dem Blues for 2019/2020!**
Posts: 77,135

01-07-2011, 07:34 PM	#75
Pioli Zombie Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: olathe,kansas Casino cash: $10004900	Its amazing how messed up so much of this fanbase is that it can't even enjoy this.
Posts: 11,077