Chiefs Kent Babb dismantles Fat Scott - Page 19

FloridaMan88 · 09-16-2012, 05:36 PM

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.

Hammock Parties · 09-17-2012, 12:20 AM

Could be worse guys, we could be Rams fans.

****.

**DaneMcCloud** · 09-17-2012, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BossChief

I will ALWAYS believe that Haley would have won a championship in KC if he had a good quarterback.

No ****ing way.

There's FAR more to being a great head coach than just X's and O's. There's the ability to be a nice, normal human being and managing people.

Haley was none of the above.

**Dylan** · 09-17-2012, 12:24 AM

How about an aerial sky banner at the end of the season -- That is, if the team has a losing season and fans are unhappy.

Hopefully, the Chiefs turn it around and become a success story.

Your team has talented players.

Otter · 09-17-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylan

Sunday full page ad: $73,458

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

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

The New York Times is almost $20,000 less in the technology section for a 1 page ad. They don't have a sports section that I could find.

That's INSANE.

When I graduated college I put an ad in the local paper for resumes to a PO box to see who I'd be competing with and it was about $50 for a highlighted (just bold print heading) in the Sunday Help Wanted ads.

Closing in on $100,000 in the day of the internet? Good luck with that you reeruns. Maybe I'll start a typewriter repair company for $5000 a pop.

**BossChief** · 09-17-2012, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

No ****ing way.

There's FAR more to being a great head coach than just X's and O's. There's the ability to be a nice, normal human being and managing people.

Haley was none of the above.

Not every coach goes about it the same way.

Haley was the new age version of Bill Parcells.

Parcells was as abrasive as it gets with his teams and he always motivated his players to play above their heads. He also made a lot of WTF coaching decisions...just like Haley did. Like kicking an onside kick to start a season among many other tricky calls that were outside the box.

Its ok for us to disagree on topics from time to time and this is one of those times, man.

Todd Haley whipped a sofT Herm team into shape and had them in the playoffs despite a bad quarterback in one year and if it weren't for 3 major injuries last season would have returned them to the playoffs.

A few months after he leaves...the sofT team is back.

Give the man even a Joe Flacco type QB and this would have been a contender.

JMO

FAX · 09-17-2012, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rausch

The KC Star advertisement might happen.

I'd prefer it not being that there are more important things to throw that money away on.

We have CP members serving overseas. We have CP members with medical issues.

I'm in no way OK with drawing $$$ away from legit causes to take out an add for a football team.

Your priorities are well placed so far as I'm concerned, Mr. Rausch.

I am far more likely to contribute to a CP member's medical fund than I am to invest in some desperate attempt to intensify Clark Hunt's desire to field a winning football team ... something he should have developed without our help long ago.

On the other hand, I would also be somewhat interested in securing the services of a prostitute who could seduce Dr. Evil and, while he is in the throes of ecstasy, inject him in the jowls with some sort of vile pestis which causes an immediate, massive and irreversible swelling of the armpit lymph nodes to the point that his arms are forced into a permanent touchdown sign making it impossible for him to enter an airplane or automobile or eat without assistance.

FAX

**BossChief** · 09-17-2012, 01:04 AM

Or, we could just hire Tonya Harding.

That would probably be a lot cheaper.

Otter · 09-17-2012, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BossChief

Or, we could just hire Tonya Harding.

That would probably be a lot cheaper.

The easiest route is to stop going to games. I know, it's totally silly logic to think Crennel, that didn't didn't win a playoff game his whole coaching career and he's at retirement age, was going to turn the team around but maybe history does repeat itself like all the old philosophers and historians say it does.

I didn't believe my grandfather a couple times either but if I would have listened I'd absolutely be better off in life right now. Maybe it's sometimes smarter to listen and learn than pretend you know what you're doing without a clue as this team is so very well versed.

Or hell, maybe they don't even care but if they do, they're 15 year olds trying to tell the world how championships are won.

**DaneMcCloud** · 09-17-2012, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BossChief

Haley was the new age version of Bill Parcells.

Complete and utter nonsense.

He was the "New Age" version of Frank Kush.

**DaneMcCloud** · 09-17-2012, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter

I didn't believe my grandfather a couple times either but if I would have listened I'd absolutely be better off in life right now.

This is new information

Otter · 09-17-2012, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

This is new information

You gonna copy/paste that all night? We've all made dumb mistakes, including you Mr. Perfect.

Hammock Parties · 09-17-2012, 01:24 AM

I used to call my grandmother every Sunday to tell her when/where the game was.

Not anymore.

lostcause · 09-17-2012, 01:28 AM

I want ****ING Christian Okoye to sign my ****ING Lake Dawson jersey. Keep your unicorns.

**DaneMcCloud** · 09-17-2012, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter

You gonna copy/paste that all night? We've all made dumb mistakes, including you Mr. Perfect.

Only when applicable.

Oh, and a little advice: Every time you reference that grandfather, who was born 100 years ago, is essentially smarter than you and gave you wise advise that you admittedly ignored on several occasions apparently, only makes you appear as a bigger dumbass than previously thought.

Just a heads up.

**BossChief** · 09-17-2012, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otter

The easiest route is to stop going to games. I know, it's totally silly logic to think Crennel, that didn't didn't win a playoff game his whole coaching career and he's at retirement age, was going to turn the team around but maybe history does repeat itself like all the old philosophers and historians say it does.

I didn't believe my grandfather a couple times either but if I would have listened I'd absolutely be better off in life right now. Maybe it's sometimes smarter to listen and learn than pretend you know what you're doing without a clue as this team is so very well versed.

Or hell, maybe they don't even care but if they do, they're 15 year olds trying to tell the world how championships are won.

Have you taken a glance at the club section lately? Those seats are 2:1 more expensive than the average seat in the place and they are almost completely empty and with the way this team has started the year, they will only be more and more empty going forward.

The premium seating in the stadium is where the real money is and that's why they added so much more premium seating when they did the renovations.

It wouldn't matter if the third level is empty and nearly all of the LL seats are already paid for via STH.

The REAL way to hit these guys where it would possibly make a difference is with their TV deals and sponsors.

Those can be effected by their target audience revolting due to valid reasoning.

09-16-2012, 05:36 PM
FloridaMan88 Mahomes: We Are All Witnesses Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Miami, FL Casino cash: $-787094	Kent Babb dismantles Fat Scott 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.
Posts: 50,311

09-17-2012, 12:20 AM	#271
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $760478	Could be worse guys, we could be Rams fans. ****. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,541

09-17-2012, 12:24 AM	#273
Dylan The Lede Join Date: Aug 2007 Casino cash: $10016591	How about an aerial sky banner at the end of the season -- That is, if the team has a losing season and fans are unhappy. Hopefully, the Chiefs turn it around and become a success story. Your team has talented players. __________________
Posts: 33,643

09-17-2012, 01:04 AM	#277
BossChief SuperBowl or bust Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: BF Iowa Casino cash: $-1775912	Or, we could just hire Tonya Harding. That would probably be a lot cheaper.
Posts: 47,906

09-17-2012, 01:24 AM	#282
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $760478	I used to call my grandmother every Sunday to tell her when/where the game was. Not anymore. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,541

09-17-2012, 01:28 AM	#283
lostcause Veteran Join Date: Apr 2009 Casino cash: $9609965	I want **ING Christian Okoye to sign my **ING Lake Dawson jersey. Keep your unicorns.
Posts: 4,759