Whitlock:Chiefs’ play is scaring the wrong people
 

Chiefs’ play is scaring the wrong people
JASON WHITLOCK COMMENTARY

Scared yet?

An unintended consequence of Scott Pioli’s and Todd Haley’s master plan of inspiring fear and intimidation throughout the Chiefs franchise is that they’re scaring the (spit) out of us, too.

I’ll admit it. I’m scared. I’m afraid Pioli and Haley are on a ridiculous power trip, have no real clue how to fix the Chiefs and are going to spend the entire season hiring and firing players like 15-year-old fantasy-football owners.

Against the New York Giants, the Chiefs trotted out their third different starting right tackle, Ryan O’Callaghan, a Larry Johnson-led wildcat formation and some no-name special-teams player to replace Monty Beisel.

The result? The Giants toyed with the Chiefs, winning 27-16 in a game that was boring, uncompetitive and pointless for the boys in red.

If you’re not scared, you probably spent the afternoon at Kansas Speedway watching NASCAR.

A week after promising to establish a tough, physical, impose-our-will-on-the-ground identity, Haley spent the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Giants padding quarterback Matt Cassel’s stats with shotgun pass plays from inside the New York 10.

Cassel connected on fourth-quarter scoring tosses of 1 and 2 yards. Kansas City’s Sixty Million Dollar Man completed 15 of 32 passes for 127 yards and two TDs. He survived five sacks. The offensive line was leaky, and Cassel fell into the annoying habit of anticipating leaks that weren’t there.

Scared yet?

I am. I’m not sure if the players in the locker room are all that scared. Oh, they’re quiet, fearful of saying the wrong thing. But scared straight, scared into playing at a high level? I see no evidence. Do you?

Cassel throws behind his receivers on crossing routes and overthrows his receivers on any route more than 15 yards downfield. The offensive line can’t protect Cassel or open holes for Larry Johnson. Dwayne Bowe and Bobby Wade had little trouble dropping balls that hit them in the hands.

A pass rush from KC’s front four? Nonexistent. New York’s Steve Smith caught three more passes while you were reading the first 400 words of this column. Did the Chiefs ever cover Smith? Is he the second coming of Jerry Rice?

And please, someone tell me what linebacker Derrick Johnson did to the Chiefs’ coaching staff. Is he simply a high-profile example of Haley’s and Pioli’s willingness to target any player for embarrassment?

Johnson spent most of Sunday afternoon warming up on the sideline, jogging, stretching, trying to keep circulation in his legs. In terms of big plays this season, Johnson is responsible for the biggest — the long interception return against the Ravens. A team in desperate need of playmakers could certainly be helped by Johnson’s athletic ability.

He’s a bench-warmer. He’s a symbol in the my-way-or-the-highway army.

Haley’s highway, at some point, has to produce tangible results. His coaching Godfather, Bill Parcells, preached that you are what your record says you are. The Chiefs are 0-4 and gaining momentum. A winless know-it-all doesn’t garner much respect.

I believe Beisel was released in a futile effort to prove to the players in the locker room that Haley and Pioli weren’t strictly targeting holdovers from the Carl Peterson era. Haley and Pioli want to create the impression that they’re equal-opportunity jerks.

I’m not buying it. Neither, apparently, is Larry Johnson.

When asked after the game what the difference was between the Chiefs and the Giants, Johnson had a one-word response.

“Ego,” he said.

When asked to clarify, Johnson said “ego” again. He repeated it several times before reporters moved on to other questions.

It’s no secret in Kansas City or across the league. The No. 1 character trait/flaw driving the Chiefs organization right now is ego.

Pioli created the Sixty Million Dollar Man, and the Chiefs repeatedly went shotgun from the 1 in an effort to justify a few of those $60 million.

Rather than embrace and coach up the players they inherited, Pioli and Haley have treated Peterson’s leftovers as if they could be replaced by guys off the street. It’s just not a sound foundation. It’s a highway to nowhere.

Starting to be increasingly more critical of Cassel...

What a dumbass conspiracy theory.

This column is a load of ****ing shit.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree, I'm saying JWhit is the ONLY thing I'm looking forward to the rest of this season be he damning OR praising.

Scared? Hardly. It is what it is.

It's only a matter of time before Whitlock is obsessed with Pioli just like he was Peterson.

He made such a living doing it with King Carl that i don't think Whitlock knows any other way.

sad tbh

Yep. Biesel sucked too.

I didn't hear about the LJ, "ego" thing. Anyone else have any comments about this?

LOL! You're not the only one. I already find myself watching the game laughing my ass off wondering what Whitlock will say next. One of my Sunday night highlights is logging on here to read his column and watch the forum imploding.

I'm sure someone will claim that Whitlock is lying, or bending the truth, exaggerating, etc - even though it happened with other reporters witnessing it.

Ego.

The Oakland game scared me more than the rest of them. They're a truly bad team and we found a way to lose. The other three teams we've played are legit Super Bowl contenders.

Yeah, that's a strange comment from LJ.

Ego? He's not using this word to suggest "confidence," so it sounds like some of the players have found their excuse. That's not good.

LMAO

Insightful.

It's so hard to evaluate him with a line this bad but I haven't seen much to be impressed with.

He doesn't strike me as very accurate. He holds the ball too long and loves to feed somebody named Shawn Ryan.

Strike 1, 2 & 3 right there.

Guess the $60 million man and front office ego schticks haven't been run into the ground enough yet....

We get it.

I feel like I've read this before.

Not only did LJ say this to reporters-he also put it directly on his twitter after the game-straight from his twitter: http://twitter.com/ToonIcon/

EGO.... EGO..... EGO..... EGO about 6 hours ago from txt

substitute that with Cassel.

“I don’t know what he’s doing or what he’s trying to create but he’s absolutely killing the guys in the locker room.”
Eddie Kennison, on Haley’s conservative play calling in the second half in Philadelphia, 810 AM
GH: Haley listens to comments like Eddie Kennie’s. It is my opinion that Haley went a little nutso Sunday with his onside kick and Larry Wildcat formation in an effort to show the team he will pull out all the stops to win.

LOL

cough Sauto cough

http://twitter.com/ToonIcon/status/3919546315

The quote isn't complete until you click on the link. LMAO

It really looks like Haley is trying to ensure that at the very least Cassel comes out of these games with good stats.

He did his best to prop up Cassel's QB rating last week and this week with all the passes near the goaline to ensure that Cassel could pad his TD passes # was biazarre.

So? Cassel is capitalizing on the opportunities, and the team is learning how to score in the red zone. Not seeing INTs, which is amazing considering the surrounding talent. What do you want them to do, run it up the middle?

sorry, im not scared. i knew we were going to suck. wake me up when weve stopped sucking if im still alive

I hear that.

You sure Whitlock didn't hear right and Larry was saying Eggo's?

LMAO

Yes, the deep, personal wisdom of L.J. is a great barometer for the inner thoughts of the team. Glad Whitlock was able to use his column to highlight Larry's moment of Zen, when he really made sense of all the madness.

It is all over. Wouldnt be great if we could fast forward til the chiefs were good. like the movie Click with Adam Sandler and then when we did start to win it would be on auto pilot and we would miss being good and suck all over again

"ego" doesn't tell me a lot from LJ, is he talking about the Chiefs or is he talking that the Giants have a big ego, I mean the same thing has been said about Coughlin for years, and the media and team wanted him fired until they finally made the SB. Now their entire team was out there pushing people around after plays, seems like ego to me.

I'm pretty sure that the term "ego" is Larry Talk for "confidence". I've noticed that, on occasion, LJ has a tendency to substitute one word for another and it's difficult, at first, to grasp the context. Like that time he said, "Old guys make more floaters." when he actually meant, "I sincerely believe the ancient Egyptians harnessed the power of anti-gravity which explains how they were able to manipulate those enormous stones."

If I'm correct, he means Larry believes that the Chiefs lack confidence in themselves - a problem the Giants no longer have. They damn sure looked intimidated in the Eagles game.

Frankly, I'm more worried about Haley than I thought I'd be at this point in the season. Win or lose, the guy looked like 10 miles of bad road in his presser. He seems extremely tired and the disappointment appears like it may be mutating into disillusionment.

FAX

Yeah one ass looking to another!

Just sad or a winner of a n00b award.

LOL

Seriously, this is such ****in' bullshit. Four games into a new regime with a bunch of scab players and we get this shit every ****in' week.

**** this shit.

If I were him I'd quickly try to find a QB coach that might be a OC material for next year and bring him in now. You can't help the QB's on the sidelines breaking down the pictures, call plays and run the team all at the same time.

Matt Cassel has thrown alot of garbage time TD's this year and has nice looking numbers despite the blowouts...I do wonder if that is being done on purpose.

Here is the link and he said what?

# Best Comeback Ever: It is what it isabout 4 hours ago from txt

# EGO.... EGO..... EGO..... EGOabout 8 hours ago from txt

# WOW. Michael Basdin. Talk topic : Incest.5:19 PM Oct 1st from txt

# I react to failure jus like you do. So when u feel how u feel. I feel double9:32 PM Sep 27th from txt

# My Favorite type of weather to play in! RAIN - soundtrack for today-RAMBO9:45 AM Sep 27th from txt

# Rain Rain. Come my way. Save the Sun for anutha day.9:48 PM Sep 26th from txt

# PLUS. Er'body know I like'm long hair thick Redbones!!!!!6:43 PM Sep 26th from txt

# FYI!!!: I was not hollern at Kardashian. I made a cameo for my homeboy. TJ. Period6:42 PM Sep 26th from txt

# If you Boooooo don't get mad when I say sumthn back!!! LOL.4:27 PM Sep 26th from txt

So I take his ego is better?

LOL

# IN PHILLY!!!!! -3:49 PM Sep 26th from txt

We suck and I will run.. CP quote LOL

Smed #2. The world has truly gone to Hell.

Well, at least Whitlock has found the drum he can beat for the next 5 years.

If the snare is tuned, pound that ****er.

So far, your Lord and Master is a ****ing joke.

Hallucinogenic drugs are bad

:thumb:

I admit he looked rough today, but the TD's in game two and three were nice, accurate throws...far from "garbage". What was garbage today was four straight plays from the spread in the red zone, two of those damned near on the goal line. WTF was Haley thinking there?

IDK what Haley was thinking, but I can guaran****ingtee you this:

Next year, when people are trying to defend Cassel, they'll point to his TD pass #s, or perhaps the # of TDs he threw in Q4 as proof of his calmness in the clutch, not realizing that nearly all were done with the game well out of hand facing Cover 2 or Cover 4 shells.

I meant garbage time not that the throws were garbage or anything like that.

Basically that he now has thrown 3 TD passes in 2 weeks when the other team was basically playing in a shell going "yea this games over we don't care".

Larry the Clubhouse Leader? LMAO

He didn't say ''Egoli'' so I read the whole thing.

OMG so now we can't just score touchdowns in the game, we have to score them the "right" way...you people kill me. A score is a score, no matter if it's thrown or run.

The epic suck that is the Chiefs now has people bitching about HOW we score. Think about that people...

Game did suck but my pork was outstanding and the Boulevard was properly chilled. The dudes who do the parking in lot B this year have their head in their ass. JW should report on that.

Well, considering that we did bring him in via FA in the offseason and now are cutting him....a position that we are scarce in terms of talent. Beisel is a good ST player.....even though he had that bonehead play of just watching the ball role into the endzone against OAK

I wish I lived in the ****ing Disney Land you guys do where managers could inherit the turd Carl & Germ left over and expect better.

Better yet, I wish 4 games into my promotion after inheriting this shit hole of a team I could do better if I was Haley after playing the best defensive teams in the NFL.

You guys must be awesome.

Send me a PM every one of you, I want you all on my team

Where to start? Not living in denial, there's little doubt in my mind that this Chief's team is rudderless, going through the motions and hoping not to embarrass itself more than it already has thus far in the 2009 campaign.

And, that's the good news. :banghead:

Interesting to note that two other ex-Patriots are showing up Pioli badly. Those two would be GM Thomas Dimitroff of the Falcons and the 4-0 Broncos led by Josh McDaniel. Couple that with the ever sinking Chiefs under Pioli, the spirtited 2009 draft of Belichik over the yawner turned in by Pioli and what is one to believe?

The early returns suggest Pioli is way over-rated, those working either with him or under him in Boston have done quite well without him and the Chiefs are a bigger mess today than when he took over. Could it be that Whitlock and LJ are onto something when they play the Pioli ego card?

Whatever. How much uglier can this team and franchise get before that truck backs up to Arrowhead to haul off another stale and/or failed front office regime?

Who knows How Clark thinks really....but history has shown the Chiefs stay with their GM's a loooooong time no matter how good/bad they are.

The defense would like to submit state's exhibit A.Carl Peterson.:thumb:

When you are down 14+ points and your OC insists on running the ball, it's kinda tough to throw TD passes.

As long as the Chiefs are losing as bad as they are the Fatlock has all the ammo he needs. I have to admit I have no idea what Haley is doing from week to week but I am confident that Scott knows more than us and will fire him if needed. You have to be sympathedic to Haley The team he got has very few vets and young talent, average age of 25, second year players starting at best. The guys he cut can't find jobs so they must have actually been really bad. Slow WR's that can't get separation, an O-line that can't do anything right and a defense that can't generate a pass rush at all.

His tough approach is what the Chiefs need this year and next year they need to sign some Vets and draft well to improve.

All true. Carl and Herm messed the whole roster up with crap drafts and cutting every talented player on the roster.

Wow, Haley and Pioli didn't fix the team in one week, one month or one off-season? WOW! I am ****ing shocked.

Fatlocks big cellulite ridden roast beef pussy lips are hurt because no matter how much he squeels like a stuck pig Pioli isn't going to worry about him

As a matter of fact I'm willing to bet Pioli doesn't know the difference between Whitlock and GoChiefs.

Guess what Whitlock - your privileges are revoked and you approached it the wrong way in trying to get them back. Squeeling like a little girl doesn't work with these boys and let me speak for them:

"You're ass is done done".

Dane better be right about you or have a spare room in his basement to put you up.

Fat ass turd - go work for a cheesy magazine where you belong and report bat boy and big foot sighting.

Yeah, I'm sick of all this cry baby shit, it's been four games weeks since we finally gotten rid of Carl and Herm and you ladies sound like sandy vagina, butt hurt little girls.

You gonna put Fat ass Whitlock up in the basement Dane?

Spit - Ego - LJ

2 weeks ago Croyle was Haley's guy and Cassel was Pioli's, now this week Haley is trying to pad Cassel's stats by throwing in garbage time. Sheesh.

It's not the losses, it's the performance during them.

And if anyone has a ****ing problem with that take, you can absolutely go **** yourself.

27-16 is better than 34-0

It does amaze me what some CP'ers expectations for this team has been around here. The cupboard was bare when Pioli and Haley took the reigns of this team. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will this team. The only disappointment thus far for me was the Oakland game. The other three I expected a loss.

When you take into consideration that the 34-0 game was played on the road, with the 3rd string QB, and not at home, with a supposed franchise QB, as the 27-16 game was, is it really better?

This.

4 regular season games. 4 preseason games. 8 total games on which to improve and I've seen nothing. I've seen the defense play good at times all year. But, I haven't seen any real improvement. I've seen the offense suck in all aspects all year. They mount one good drive a game. That's it.

I'd expect some kind of improvement in this time. I guess the O-line didn't play as horrible as they have been. So, that's a plus.

Getting a TD when you're down 27-3 in the 3rd quarter doesn't really make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And having to convert two 4th and longs in the process doesn't really help. It took a pass interference call, defensive holding call, 6 plays, -4 yards from the 1, and a (what appeared to be) overthrown pass to the wrong player to score a TD.

Ugh. It's ugly.

This team takes baby steps every week. Remember when we couldn't get a first down in Baltimore?

I think we've definitely improved. Playing against Super Bowl contenders isn't easy.

THis team is getting better, a smidgen at a time. Playing against far superior opponents

After the opening fumble and the onside kick disaster. They didn't just fold their tents and surrender.

The wildcat was an abortion. 3 straight kicks in the gut. The odds were stacked.

They need a win, very badly. Haley needs to look less like a n00b, very badly.

But they are inching forward.

That must be exciting for you.

I really do believe by mid-season if Cassel doesn't have his shit together by then he'll be benched.

No it doesn't, and that's the ****ing problem. These guys need to take a half step on whatever their main individual weaknesses are, and HOLD IT instead of trying to fix the entire ****ing car on a Sunday.

What did you really expect with new systems on offense and defense being executed by a bunch of no-talent bums?

The fact we did not get blown out 50-0 shocks me.

We're averaging over 100 yards rushing per game.

That's progress.

The longest run we've surrendered all year is only 22 yards.

That's progress.

I expected us to be down 24-0 or something at halftime yesterday...17-3 was a surprise.

You guys expect way too much. This team isn't going to be in a dogfight with teams like the Giants this year. We're going through the brutal part of our schedule. We'll look better against the other bottom feeders.

Baby steps.

The coaching staff before Haley and team have ruined careers.

Look at all the defensive linemen that just failed horribly and became nothing, absolute turds. Look what Derrick Johnson has become. Do you think any of them would be this bad if they played for a decent team like the Steelers?

The people running the show before these guys were clowns. Horrible.

If you tried to put together the worst coaching staff in the NFL you couldn't have done any better. It was disaster. And that's what these guys have to try and fix.

Peterson if four games out the door. And Peterson was an eyelash away of becoming on par with Al Davis.

This team ruined people.

WOW

The same group of girls, worshiping at the trough of fatlock, a hack that they would normally trash as being a hack, unless his unfounded comments support their agenda of hate for the new regime.

Who'd a thunk that shit?

Coincidently, this same group of ladies were front and center with gems like this...

"The Chiefs fanbase can't stomach a rebuild. They long for 8-8, and endless mediocrity."

The one consolation in this weekend is that it should temper some of the Sanchez worship, but I doubt it.

I have always hated Whitlock, but after what i witnessed Haley doing that shit from inside the 10, well among tons of other things, I'm starting to agree with Twitlock.
There is absolutely no excuse for that BS Haley did to pad Cassels stats.
Cassel is looking horrible. Dude couldn't even hit a guy 10 yards in front of him on a screen pass. I'm still willing to give him some time, He's only started like 20 games, but if he doesn't get better than this shit, we're gonna need a QB.
I'm extremely worried that this o-line is going to ruin him. He's going to be looking at the pass rush every time he takes a snap. He will never succeed this way.
I really wish Brodie wasn't so fragile, and am also pretty pissed at him for not building the **** up. Eat some peanut butter sandwiches, and pump some iron country boy! I have a feeling we are going to need him once Cassel gets broken by someone coming by the RT.

I hate Twit, but he's actually right about some of this stuff. I like Haley, and I don't think Pioli is as egotistical as most think, but like I said, we were losing big at halftime against the Eagles, and he wants to come out and run the ball. Then we are inside the 3 yard line this week, and he wants to run plays out of
SG, and call passes. Who are we??? How can we build an identity like this??

Just line up in I-form, and smash in for the TD. By trying to outsmart people, he's doing the exact opposite. He's out dumbing people.

You say you've seen improvement. I don't see much of anything. We can split hairs if you want, but, really, I don't think this team has improved. What did I expect? I don't know. I didn't really have any expectations. The last year I had any expectations we went 7-9. Since then, I've learned not to get that pissed off when the Chiefs suck.

However, I will say that it's been a while since I've seen an offense this inept. System, talent, play calling, whatever you call it, it sucks. And I really don't know what it is Haley is trying to do. He has what he has to work with. If you're looking for specifics, I don't know why we don't run more play action; considering Haley now is obsessed with running the football. Hell, throw in the run and shoot. If Cassel is worth $60 mil, surely he can make his reads before the snap using receiver motions and the such. It would require more thought, though, than just handing the ball off and trying to muscle our way to a few yards.

:shrug: I dunno. I don't think anything we do will be that much more effective.

We already know that won't work, so why try it?

Because LJ said so.

Collectively we hate him, but now he's the voice of reason.

glad to see you are open minded and are interested in others opinions:doh!: