Ravens Will Reveal Pioli's Progress

[Hammock Parties]

Ravens Will Reveal Pioli's Progress

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.

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.

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.

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by Norman Einstein

I don't think I agree with your point. Got any links that backs up you assertions? There are people that have posted that HE did a great job drafting, I don't think he did, but there are those that feel that way.

Based on no first round busts and the incredible 2008 draft, I'd give Herm a solid B. That's assuming he even had that much say in the drafts. No one really knows if the majority of effort was him or Kuharich (2008) or Peterson (previous).

[Hammock Parties]

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.

Apples to oranges.

You win a SB you buy years of room to breathe.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by suzzer99

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

I actually think it absolutely needs to be on the list. Glad you brought it up.

The good news is that we don't have to worry about betting the farm for one. The biggest mistake this franchise made was not even trying to develop a QB during the peak of the Trent Green era.

I'd be open to a high pick for a QB. Let him develop. At worst, he's horrible and we move on. At functional, we get a solid backup and a guy who can take over when Cassel's done. At best, we could get an upgrade.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

Apples to oranges.

You win a SB you buy years of room to breathe.

Of course you would say this.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

Apples to oranges.

You win a SB you buy years of room to breathe.

That literally makes no sense. So it's okay for the best team in football for fall but it's not okay for the 6th best team to fall?

How the **** does that work?

[Hammock Parties]

Winning a SB > 10 wins against shitty teams.

[Pioli Zombie]

"Next year is a failure" - Mecca

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

Winning a SB > 10 wins against shitty teams.

Enjoy drowning in your own ****ing misery.

[RNR]

I find it laughable that this guy thinks this game is the stick he will mesure the progress. Let's see last year KC was 4 and 12 and miles from the playoffs. This year 10 and 6 AFC west champions and if the lose to a 12 and 4 team they have made no progress. Too funny~

[alanm]

Originally Posted by Pioli Zombie

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

Some of the fan base.
If they indeed lose Sunday of course I'll be disappointed but in no way will I consider the season a failure. How could one consider worst to first a failure?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by ClayWhit

Winning a SB > 10 wins against shitty teams.

Mike Smith went 9-7 and missed the playoffs his second season, and Dimitroff's second season as GM.

Sean Payton went 7-9 his second season and missed the playoffs, and that was Mickey Loomis' 7th season as a GM.

The Rams didn't make the playoffs in their second season of having a GM and head coach.

The point is to progress. And the idea that one game against a 12-4 team is the measuring stick for a team that isn't supposed to compete and is only 2 years into an organization that had a huge rebuild ahead of them is beyond stupid.

[BossChief]

At one point GoChiefs was a HUGE homer....now dude is trying to play the pessimist role to the fullest...one day, we might get to see some middle ground and see an actual objective persona that writes articles that are actually readable.

You can do better than this stuff, man.

[Coach]

That article =

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRaider

I find it laughable that this guy thinks this game is the stick he will mesure the progress.

Yeah, the playoffs don't mean anything.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by BossChief

At one point GoChiefs was a HUGE homer....now dude is trying to play the pessimist role to the fullest...one day, we might get to see some middle ground and see an actual objective persona that writes articles that are actually readable.

You can do better than this stuff, man.

Nah, he (most notably) flipped on Herm 3 or 4 times... it's all part of the act.