GRETZ: Gunther still a loon

[Hammock Parties]

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/06...her_manifesto/

GRETZ: Living the Gunther Manifesto
Jun 04, 2007, 8:53:44 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

Gunther Cunningham smiles a lot these days.

Events like this past weekend’s mini-camp can generate even more smiles from the Chiefs defensive coordinator.

“We’ve got something building here,” Cunningham said. “This is what I was talking about, this is what I wanted to do when I came back here. I wanted to bring defense back to Kansas City.”

This is the fourth season Cunningham will be in charge of the defense in his second tour of duty with the team. When he came back to join Dick Vermeil’s staff in 2004, he found a defense in tatters on the field, on the roster and in the minds of just about everyone at Arrowhead Stadium. There was no longer a defensive culture in the building.

That was far different from Cunningham’s first trip through Arrowhead. When he arrived in 1995, defense ruled the roost for the Chiefs under Marty Schottenheimer. Cunningham added to that as defensive coordinator.

All that was gone by 2004 and Cunningham’s frustration grew on a daily basis. Whatever emotion comes after the feeling of beating your head against a brick wall is where he resided on most days. There was marginal talent, no fire and no defensive attitude. He had been through many things in over 30 years of coaching, but nothing sapped his energy and passion more than the 2004 and 2005 seasons. That overwhelming frustration led to the “Gunther Manifesto.”

Cunningham poured out his feelings by producing an eight-page document called simply: “Culture of the Chiefs Defense.” It was a game plan on how to change the prevailing attitudes he found at Arrowhead Stadium when it came to his side of the football. Only a handful of people have seen the full manifesto, and it won’t be coming to a Barnes & Noble any time soon. It begins with three simple statements:

1. The embedded beliefs, values and behavior patterns carry tremendous voltage.
2. It doesn’t make sense to try to change culture according to the old rules.
3. The rules themselves are part of the problem.

The rules changed last year when Herm Edwards became head coach. Now, as the team prepares for the second season of the Edwards Era, there has been a huge culture shift on the team, and especially on the defense.

Production and performance improved on that side of the football in 2006, as the Chiefs climbed from the lower ranks of the league to the middle of the pack.

But mediocre is not something that satisfies Edwards and Cunningham. They want more, much more. This isn’t about just one game, or one season. This is about re-establishing a defensive culture.

Right now, still three months from the start of the 2007 season, the Chiefs are much closer to realizing the theme of the Gunther Manifesto.

“The first priority was to get some tough guys and I think that first draft last year is the keynote of the plan,” said Cunningham. “We got Tamba (Hali), Jarrad (Page) and Bernard (Pollard.)

“This year, we knew what we wanted out of the draft on defense. We believe we have dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s by the type of people we are getting. Each guy we drafted fits not only the overall personality of what this defense is going to be, but the personality of the head coach and all the assistants and definitely what I believe.”

The turnover has been dramatic. Just check out the defensive starters from the opener two years ago to the projected starters for this season’s opener in Houston:



(Author’s note: the projected starters for the ‘07 opener were not named by Edwards or Cunningham. They are my assessment.)

Right now there are only two defensive players still on the roster who were part of the team before Cunningham returned: Wesley and defensive lineman Jimmy Wilkerson.

“We’ve looked at a lot of players, at a lot of tape and there was a commitment made by Carl (Peterson) and Bill Kuharich (VP of player personnel) to find us players,” Cunningham said.

“But the guy making it go is Herm.”

Coming on Wednesday: More about the Chiefs defense and the seemingly unlikely football marriage of Herm Edwards and Gunther Cunningham

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

Becasue at the time, he probably thought he could win with them. THen when your finally in the drivers seat, and realize hey, these ****ing guys dont have it. Besides, there is no way they could have just got rid of them all in 1 damn season. Its just not possible.

It was absolutely possible. All of them were unrestricted FA's. We could have just said "see ya" with absolutely no consequence or cap hit.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by rxrider

If I am not mistaken Siavii was a "SECOND" choice under Igor Olshanskey that was taken by the Bolts ONE STINK'N pick before Siavii.

That would have been a MUCH better pick up than Jr. in a heartbeat. And had we NOT traded our First Round Pick we might have gotten a better player than Jr. as well. We got hosed all the way around on that deal.

Gunther spoke GLOWINGLY about Siavii after that draft and how he "jumped up and down on the war room table" to get him...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by el borracho

Of those three Hicks was the only obvious stinker at that time. Wesley was arguably our best defensive player and Woods actually made the Pro Bowl around that time.

???

Wesley was arguably our WORST defensive player at the time.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

It was absolutely possible. All of them were unrestricted FA's. We could have just said "see ya" with absolutely no consequence or cap hit.

Good Point!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

???

Wesley was arguably our WORST defensive player at the time.

Dude, Wesley was never the worst player on any Chiefs defense.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Indeed. Wesley is too inconsistent, but I can't ever see that he was the worst player on our roster...which ain't saying much for our roster, but still...

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by kcxiv

Becasue at the time, he probably thought he could win with them. THen when your finally in the drivers seat, and realize hey, these ****ing guys dont have it.

That tends to point to an inability to evaluate talent, wouldn’t you think?

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Laz

Gunther is fine now that he has a defensive head coach to hold his hand ... err leash.

but he's hardly a great defensive mind

I always thought it was ironically, sadly, humorous that the first thing Herm did when he showed up was say, “Damn, your DT’s SUCK!” and went to free agency where he got us two DT’s that immediately replaced the starting DT’s from the previous season.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Dude, Wesley was never the worst player on any Chiefs defense.

"arguably"

Know what that word means?

IT COULD BE ARGUED that Wesley was CLOSER to "worst" than he was to "best" on that defense.

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

"arguably"

Know what that word means?

IT COULD BE ARGUED that Wesley was CLOSER to "worst" than he was to "best" on that defense.

Wesley was definitely not towards the "worst" part of the D in my opinion.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

Wesley was definitely not towards the "worst" part of the D in my opinion.

There's 11 players on defense. Being closer to "worst" than 'best" would require one to find at least 6 players on defense better than him at any given time.

From the day DV arrived in 2000, I GUARANTEE you that I could find 6 players on our defense that were better than him each and every season up to this past one.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

Wesley was definitely not towards the "worst" part of the D in my opinion.

Let me further qualify what I'm talking about.

People fondly remember Wesley's first couple of seasons, when he played SS in Gunther's attack defense.

From the first day we implemented GRob's Cover 2, he struggled. He's too stupid to play zone. So they brought back Gunther assuming that guys like Wesley would once again excel in that style of defense. Instead they moved him to free safety to make room for Sammy Knight, which further accentuated Wesley's weaknesses instead of his strengths. Enter Herm Edwards and change back to the Cover 2.

Combine all of that with Wesley's bad attitude and...

[el borracho]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

???

Wesley was arguably our WORST defensive player at the time.

Well, that isn't how I remember it. Which defensive players were on the team in 2004 and 2005 that were so much better?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by el borracho

Well, that isn't how I remember it. Which defensive players were on the team in 2004 and 2005 that were so much better?

2004
Jared Allen
Scott Fujita
Kawika Mitchell
Eric Warfield
Lionel Dalton

All had better seasons than Wesley, IMO.

2005
Jared Allen
Patrick Surtain
Sammy Knight
Kawika Mitchell
Derrick Johnson

All had better seasons than Wesley, IMO.

[el borracho]

You are correct about Allen, Surtain and Johnson- they are better players than Wesley. The rest seem about equal, maybe worse in some cases. Wesley does have a lot of interceptions over his career and he was at one time a big hitter. He isn't great now but I think he had more impact on our team than Fujita, Dalton and Knight. In any case, I was (and still am) glad that we re-signed Wesley back then even if it is now time for him to go. Hicks and Woods were much bigger mistakes.