Pioli offers an excuse

[Hammock Parties]

Pioli will bring Chiefs back to life

http://www.projo.com/sports/jimdonal...3.37be5c8.html

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ORLANDO — If you know Scott Pioli, you know he’s going to do in Kansas City what he did in New England — win Super Bowls.

Most likely not in his second year on the job, as the Patriots did in 2001.

But he’ll get the job done. He always has.

Pioli knows football. He knows people. He knows how to evaluate not only how a player will perform on the field, but also his character — what he’ll be like in the locker room, where the all-important chemistry that is an integral part of championship teams is established and maintained.

He knows his business, as he showed throughout his nine years in New England, when, working hand-in-hand with coach Bill Belichick, Pioli assembled the talent that enabled the Patriots to play in four Super Bowls – winning three of them — and five AFC championship games.

The Pats won six division titles while Pioli was personnel chief, going 18-0 in 2007 before losing Super Bowl XLII in the final seconds to the Giants.

He knows how winning teams — championship teams — are built, and he’s determined to do it in Kansas City, where he’s now a couple of months into his second year as general manager.

“The big difference is that, in Kansas City, I was starting at ground zero,” he said Sunday afternoon, stopping to chat for a few minutes in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, where the NFL owners meetings are taking place this week.

The Chiefs were 2-14 in 2008, the year before he arrived. They doubled that win total last season.

“Where I’d come from,” he said, referring to his years with the Patriots, “we had a system and a program that was up and running, with people with a great deal of experience.”

It’s a somewhat different experience for Pioli in Kansas City, where he’s clearly at the top of the totem pole. In New England, Belichick had the last word. With the Chiefs, while Pioli discusses personnel moves with coach Todd Haley, he has the final say.

“It’s similar to my situation in New England,” Pioli said, “but the lead role has swapped.”

To help him in that lead role, he said: “I’ve brought in a number of people who are smarter than I am, starting with the head coach. I don’t ever kid myself that I know that part of the game well enough.”

The head coach is the 43-year-old Haley. It’s his first head-coaching job, but he has extensive experience working with teams that have had to rebuild — most recently the Arizona Cardinals, for whom he was offensive coordinator in 2008, when they won the NFC championship and played in the franchise’s first NFL title game since 1947.

“We have a shared vision of what it takes to build a successful franchise,” Pioli said.

To do that requires more than simply bringing in talented athletes.

“I’ve learned that chemistry is critical,” Pioli said. “In New England, we didn’t just have great players — we had great team players.”

The Patriots had players like Mike Vrabel, who was brought to Kansas City by Pioli last season as much for his leadership as his linebacking talents. Along with the likes of Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi, Vrabel made sure that every player who put on a New England uniform knew what was expected of him.

“We also had selfless leaders, like Roman Phifer, Bobby Hamilton, and Anthony Pleasant,” said Pioli, who recently added Pleasant to the K.C. staff as defensive line coach.

A veteran of 14 NFL seasons — the last three in New England — Pleasant is one of several Chiefs assistants with a Patriots connection.

When Charlie Weis was fired at Notre Dame, Pioli snapped him up as offensive coordinator. The Chiefs new defensive coordinator is Romeo Crennel, who was fired as head coach of the Browns after the 2008 season. Crennel and Weis were, of course, the coordinators for Belichick in New England when the Patriots won their three Super Bowls.

Pioli also has hired former Patriots defensive back Otis Smith and put him in charge of “defensive quality control.”

Throw in quarterback Matt Cassel, who filled in so capably for the Patriots after Brady was lost for the 2008 season when he was injured in the opener — against the Chiefs — and there clearly is a strong New England flavor to what Pioli sees as the recipe for success in Kansas City.

Which shouldn’t be surprising.

He doesn’t have to convince people with Patriots ties to, so to speak, buy the Kool-Aid he’s selling. They’ve already been drinking it for years.

“It happens all the time,” Pioli said of the practice of hiring people you know — and who know you.

“Look at what Josh (McDaniel) is doing in Denver. Look what happened when Brian Billick went to the Ravens, or when Andy Reid went to Philadelphia. (Bill) Parcells has done it everywhere he’s gone.

“It’s natural, when you’re looking for leaders.”

It’s been 40 years since the Chiefs have been to the Super Bowl. They’re looking to Pioli to lead them back.

It won’t be this year. But it may not be too many more.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Tripod doesn't allow hotlinking, n00b.

Interesting. I can still see the pic. Nobody else can?

[BossChief]

Im a tripod

ba doom pshhhhhh

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Im a tripod

ba doom pshhhhhh

I thought flop was referencing "Mini Me" for a moment there.

[Chiefaholic]

I'de like to see the Chiefs Brass hire all the dipshits from Chiefsplanet who claim to know everything for ONE season. Then when they suck ass after one year, the remainder of us can tell them just how f***ing stupid they really are and have no business talking on an NFL message board.

You get one year b***hes... I want to be a legit contender by seasons end.

[DeezNutz]

Do I get an "evaluation year" first?

That's industry standard, right?

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Chiefaholic

I'de like to see the Chiefs Brass hire all the dipshits from Chiefsplanet who claim to know everything for ONE season. Then when they suck ass after one year, the remainder of us can tell them just how f***ing stupid they really are and have no business talking on an NFL message board.

You get one year b***hes... I want to be a legit contender by seasons end.

I'll take the job, and pound some sense in to that bald head while teaching the bitch a new trick or two in the process, mother****er!

Bring it! Bring that ****ing contract, and do it YESTERDAY.

I ain't got another 40 years to bleed.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

And yet the roster still had to be turned over.

Just like it does in Kansas City.

In fact, here are the seven starters Pioli inherited in Kansas City:

Charles, Flowers, Carr, Waters, Albert, Bowe and Dorsey.

You forgot Hali.

Originally Posted by Chiefaholic

I'de like to see the Chiefs Brass hire all the dipshits from Chiefsplanet who claim to know everything for ONE season. Then when they suck ass after one year, the remainder of us can tell them just how f***ing stupid they really are and have no business talking on an NFL message board.

You get one year b***hes... I want to be a legit contender by seasons end.

Dude, if one of us got the job, traded for a career backup and gave him a huge contract, signed a bunch of worthless players and had a fairly useless (or at least disappointing) draft we would be fired after one year.

What moves are you happy that Pioli made as being the highest paid GM in the NFL?

real talk

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Do I get an "evaluation year" first?

That's industry standard, right?

**** that shit! I don't even need THAT!

Bring that contract, you uppity mother****er! Let's get it ON!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by BossChief

You forgot Hali.

Yup, eight average to solid starters....ground zero indeed. Nothing to work with.

[Hammock Parties]

Honestly, you take Dane, Hamas, DeezNutz, OTWP and Mecca, put them in a room, and have them run a draft........they could easily do better than the pile of shit the Chiefs put together last year.

That's how bad it was.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Honestly, you take Dane, Hamas, DeezNutz, OTWP and Mecca, put them in a room, and have them run a draft........they could easily do better than the pile of shit the Chiefs put together last year.

That's how bad it was.

Thanks...I think?

.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

Thanks...I think?

.

It's a stretch to say any group of fans could run a draft better than NFL front officers. But with what the Chiefs did last year....certainly a bunch of internet assclowns could improve upon it.

Take that as a compliment.

[DeezNutz]

And I can't upload that as my sig why?

[seaofred]

It's way to early to judge Pioli and co. 1st draft here. What if T. Jackson, and say Colin Brown become Pro Bowlers 2 or 3 years down the road... What will we say then. I'm just using Colin Brown as an example, but lets say they put him on IR with an "Injury" to keep him on the team... Instead of having another Lilja situation... I'm just saying there is more behind the scenes than we know..

[milkman]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

Washington was one of those guys they drafted more on potential than production. He may end up amounting to nothing, but he also declared as an underclassman, so last year should have been his senior year. Hopefully he doesn't end up being a failure...

The problem here is that this team needed production, not potential.

If your team is one that is already competing, then you can afford to use 4th round picks on projects.

But this team sucks ass.

A 4th rounder should be a contributor.