More Haley Nuggets of Wisdom.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Mark it down: Chiefs buck trend, show yen to lose pounds

Orlin Wagner / Associated PressNew Chiefs Coach Todd Haley stretches as he puts rookies through their paces during a recent workout.

After last season's 2-14 finish, the team has nothing to lose -- except weight. New Coach Todd Haley has put a high priority on conditioning, and he's getting results.
Sam Farmer
June 21, 2009
The Kansas City Chiefs just might be the biggest losers in the NFL.

And that's good news.

To be specific, the Chiefs have lost a combined 340 pounds this year -- and not, say, by cutting some rotund defensive tackle. They lost the weight through hard work, something apparently in short supply when the team went 2-14 last season.

"We were out of shape and not really strong," said new Coach Todd Haley, who has put a premium on his players dropping some pounds. "I talked to our strength coach at Arizona [where Haley was offensive coordinator last season] and he said if you're a highly efficient team that's working, you lose about 120 to 150 pounds in the off-season."

The Chiefs face more than their share of hurdles. With a defense that produced an NFL-record-low 10 sacks last season, and an offense in transition -- and missing All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez -- Kansas City would do well to win six games this season.

But the way Haley sees it, getting in shape was priority No. 1. To that end, he instituted mandatory weigh-ins at the beginning and end of each week, making players who were too heavy on Fridays do extra running. He sat in the weight room every day and watched the workouts, and had his coaches monitor things when he couldn't. (It will be interesting to see how players ultimately react to that, seeing as they often judge coaches by whether they "treat us like men.")

Regardless, Haley identified the problem and set out to fix it. In the process, he shed some serious pounds himself, going from 217 to 192.

"The players understood that to be around, we weren't going to have a fat team," he said in a telephone interview. "And if you were fat, we'd probably just move on at some point as soon as we could."

The approach wasn't always subtle. Take the case of tackle Branden Albert, who was selected 15th in the 2008 draft. He went from chiseled to chunky last season, winding up at least 30 pounds heavier than when the Chiefs drafted him from Virginia.

Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli found Albert's picture from the scouting combine, when the player was a relatively svelte 309 pounds, and taped it to his locker. The inspirational needling did the trick.

"The guy was 303 yesterday," Haley said. "He's on an eating plan and carries his meal around in a Tupperware. He's lifting, and he's so much stronger. He's almost got abs coming through."

Albert, who Haley said "looked like a mess" when he started the program, passed all his rigorous conditioning tests last week.

"It's just a huge transformation," Haley said. "He's put himself into a position to compete and potentially be great."

Anger management

Haley isn't always a hothead. But he plays one on TV.

One of the enduring images from the NFC championship game was of Haley calling a string of excellent plays against Philadelphia while angrily arguing with receiver Anquan Boldin, who pulled off his helmet and was briefly restrained by teammates.

"That changed everything for me," Haley said. "I couldn't go anywhere in Phoenix after that. I used to be able to hide against the wall, but then everybody knew me all of a sudden."

He doesn't mind players thinking he could blow a gasket at any moment, whether it's true or not.

"You'd much rather have that than to be glad-handing and patting somebody on the butt; you don't want that as your reputation," he said. "I'm going to be about pushing you hard and not pulling any punches."

And, hey, Haley made the right calls -- against a Philadelphia defense designed by the outstanding Jim Johnson, no less -- and the Cardinals wound up winning.

"Here I'm trying to call plays to win a championship and I've got somebody yapping behind me," Haley recalled. "It took us to the Super Bowl, and then all of a sudden it became the perception of, 'What's this player doing? Is he an idiot? This coach is trying to call plays.' "

Thank God we got something out of this off season besides a shit draft.

Haley is the "pick" that matters.

[Direckshun]

Some people will criticize anything.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

Originally Posted by BarrysKOOLAID

I wouldn't say that. I was NOT happy with the dismissal of Eric Price, Gunther Cunningham, and a few of the players that are not around either.

, and what in the last couple years did you see in Gunther.

[Slainte]

Originally Posted by BarrysKOOLAID

I wouldn't say that. I was NOT happy with the dismissal of ...Gunther Cunningham...

Before, I thought of you as a somewhat silly, overly-optimistic homer. Now I know you're clinically insane.

[MMXcalibur]

Originally Posted by BarrysKOOLAID

I wouldn't say that. I was NOT happy with the dismissal of Eric Price, Gunther Cunningham, and a few of the players that are not around either.

Yeah, we probably should have given him another 3-4 years to **** up our defense REAL good.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Town'NCountryChief

Before, I thought of you as a somewhat silly, overly-optimistic homer. Now I know you're clinically insane.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Mr. Arrowhead

, and what in the last couple years did you see in Gunther.

The Gun homers buy into every single excuse Gun has ever made for the defenses failure. And you will waste your time trying to convince them of anything else. They hang on to those four plays against the Bills and the 2nd half non-scoring streak back from the mid-1990's convinced that Gun was the sole reason for that success. And he may have helped with that success, but it was 15 seasons ago. If you give him credit for that succcess 15 seasons ago, you must also give him credit for the stuff that has happend since as well.

I'm don't know that much about Pendergast, but I am going to give him the benifit of the doubt for right now. At least he is not Gun. And to me, next to CP leaving, this is the single best move that needed to happen this past off season. Then Herm in 3rd.

Krumrine would have went with them as my 4th choice, but apparently after all of the Pioli/Herm conference before the dismissal of Herm, Pioli got to the real root of our front seven's faults. My guess is it all fell back on CP and Gun.

Time will tell. But be thankful they (CP, Gun, and Herm) are gone, and hope Pioli was correct on Krumrine.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Let's get Homer:

"Krumrie's coaching skills have sucked because of the 4-3. With the 3-4 now in place, he will receive the NFL defensive squad coach of the year award".

Mmm...Homer; it's good for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by BarrysKOOLAID

I wouldn't say that. I was NOT happy with the dismissal of Eric Price, Gunther Cunningham, and a few of the players that are not around either.

Oh boy.

Yes, let's give Gunther 10 more years so he can continue to suck and blame everyone but himself. He got to chose his own players, run his own system with Vermeil, then basically blamed him for failure. He then blames Herm because he had to run a cover 2, which he signed up to run when Herm was hired. He's a ****ing fraud and a half, but yes, continue to be upset about his dismissal.

Eric Price? Really? What did you see from the WRs last year that would indicate that he's any good at his job?

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by Raised On Riots

Let's get Homer:

"Krumrie's coaching skills have sucked because of the 4-3. With the 3-4 now in place, he will receive the NFL defensive squad coach of the year award".

Mmm...Homer; it's good for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!

The Gunther Cunningham coaching tree of excuses will continue to spin as long as anyone associated with Gunther is on this team.

Gunther was like a role model for a lot on here. He didn't know his ass from first base but he'd pretend like he did. When things don't go right, just blame someone else.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

The Gunther Cunningham coaching tree of excuses will continue to spin as long as anyone associated with Gunther is on this team.

Gunther was like a role model for a lot on here. He didn't know his ass from first base but he'd pretend like he did. When things don't go right, just blame someone else.

So this begs the question:

Is "TIMMY"! still here because there wasn't time enough to get someone else, or does Haley dig his "Spitting Human Bullhorn"-style?

Or is Haoli scared of him?

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Raised On Riots

So this begs the question:

Is "TIMMY"! still here because there wasn't time enough to get someone else, or does Haley dig his "Spitting Human Bullhorn"-style?

Or is Haoli scared of him?

My guess is that when Pioli was "interviewing" Herm for the week or so before the dismissal, that the failure of the defense was deemed to be Gun. And not from Herm, but from Pioli.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Coogs

My guess is that when Pioli was "interviewing" Herm for the week or so before the dismissal, that the failure of the defense was deemed to be Gun. And not from Herm, but from Pioli.

Well, "TIMMY"! had better know this is his last shot. That line needs to show improvement, rooks or no.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Raised On Riots

Well, "TIMMY"! had better know this is his last shot. That line needs to show improvement, rooks or no.

No doubt! Like I said, he would have been the #4 person I would have shown the door. But I trust for now that Pioli was doing his homework very extensively before he started showing folks to the door... including Herm.

[wasi]

Originally Posted by Raised On Riots

So this begs the question:

Is "TIMMY"! still here because there wasn't time enough to get someone else, or does Haley dig his "Spitting Human Bullhorn"-style?

Or is Haoli scared of him?

Krumrie is probably still around because: 1) he seems to have some of the same qualities, ie discipline, hard work, and; 2) he is an ex. player that only started coaching last season and isn't stuck in the ways of his predecessors.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by wasi

Krumrie is probably still around because: 1) he seems to have some of the same qualities, ie discipline, hard work, and; 2) he is an ex. player that only started coaching last season and isn't stuck in the ways of his predecessors.

He's been coaching with the Chiefs since the 2007 season to my knowledge, and doesn't have much to show for it so far.