Quote:
Originally Posted by HIChief
First off, JA wanted out of KC. Don't know whether it was because he didn' t like KC, or Peterson, or Gunther, or Herm. I just know he wasn't content here, and that is the biggest reason he was risky to keep on (besides his DUIs).
I thought Gunther was one heck of a DC back in the 90's. But, we also had a bevy of HOF defensemen I don't need to remind you. Now, whether those defenses' successes were attributable to Gunther, the players, or a synergy of both, there's no way to tell. Sure, we could have used another premier pass rusher on the end. So could a lot of teams who did better than us. But, we could have easily won half our games this year had the defense been a little more effective than a wet paper bag. I don't blame the players for that. The responsibility lies with the coaching. Gunther was VERY conservative calling the blitz. I don't know why. Unless he was terrified of getting the D burned by screens. I don't know.
Let's discuss this.
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To the first point, I don't think there's any dispute that pushing Jared Allen out was almost 100% Peterson's doing. Think about the douchebaggery that was pulled during the negotiation. Allen's agent claimed that Peterson's offer was less than half of what he wanted, which is typical Peterson's lowball tactics. After that, Peterson stooped by publicly labelling Allen as an "at risk" player during a public press conference. Most of all, I never heard even a whisper that Allen was unhappy in KC--his teammates loved him, he seemed to love the city, he even opened up a restaurant there. Allen has said many times that he loved playing for Kansas City, but the negotiation left a very sour taste in his mouth. The fact is, if Peterson offered Allen a competitive contract, he would have stayed. Therefore, it is Peterson's fault that he was pushed out.
To your second point, I don't agree that Gunther was conservative with his blitzing. They blitzed a lot, especially when they weren't getting pressure from the front 4. The problem is that Gun is not nearly as innovative with his blitz packages as he gets credit for. I think most of his defensive success in the 90's was due to Marty moreso than the players. Marty is such a strict stickler to fundamentals that he is known to get more out of his players than anybody. It is amazing to me that a student of the Marty way is so incapable of teaching his players the same kinds of fundamentals. The blitz packages were weakly designed. Our players were so predictable in the way they crashed in on blitzes. It was a combination of piss poor discipline and unimaginative scheming.