Chiefs Q&A with TODD HALEY - 9/9 - Page 8

C-Mac · 09-09-2009, 05:49 PM

Features
Q&A with TODD HALEY - 9/9
Sep 09, 2009, 3:04:04 PM

TODD HALEY: “Good afternoon everybody. We got to our real Wednesday (practice) after our bonus Wednesday on Monday. I think there’s a chance of some weather there (Baltimore) this weekend so I was kind of actually happy we got some rain because it always forces the guys to concentrate.

“Overall, I thought it was a practice that as the day went on started to get better. This is the first official first-time through as a Wednesday so there was a bit of a feeling-out process but I thought overall it was a productive day.”

Q: Matt Cassel was out there again. Did he come back okay after his work on Monday and his day off?

HALEY: “Again, he was out there which was good. That’s better than not being out there and he was able to get through some. That’s going to be the situation that we’re going to evaluate as the week goes on and don’t know that we’ll have an answer right up to until we play.”

Q: Are you pleased with what the offense is doing?

HALEY: “We’re asking them to do a lot here. We’re putting the pressure on them to catch up, so to speak, but overall the guys going back (and up to) the last week of the pre-season have responded. They’re into it; they’re studying; they’re preparing, they’re doing the things that will give them a chance to know what’s going on. I’m glad we got a couple more days of practice. There’s no doubt about that. But I think they’ve shown a good response.”

Q: You’ve got some fairly new faces on the offensive line, so how do you see those guys doing now that you’re in the regular groove?

HALEY: “That’s going to be a fact of life at one position or another where guys are going to be coming in. That’s the way we’re going to operate. We had Ryan (O’Callaghan) in there for a second practice really but it’s going to be a case of the guys helping assimilate those (new) guys into what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it.

“Again, when you get a guy who comes from New England or Miami that’s generally an advantage because I think there are a lot of similarities how we do things.”

Q: Are you excited about this first week of the regular season?

HALEY: “You know that it’s real now and we’ve got to be ready to go. Everything counts. Every minute counts. Every meeting counts. Everything you do obviously will help to determine whether you win or lose.”

Q: Do you feel better because you’ve got your hands on the offense and you’re out there doing what you wanted to do as opposed to being a step away?

HALEY: “I don’t know if better is the term. I’m comfortable doing that; I’ve done it the last few years. It’s something I understand and obviously enjoy. But I don’t know if better is the term. I felt that the offense needed support right now and that’s what I’m doing. Again, I’m still the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and I cannot forget that whether it’s in practice, meetings or whatever I’m doing.”

Q: How much have you changed your offense?

HALEY: “None, exactly what we ran in the third pre-season game is what you’ll see.”

Q: As far as the injury report, how will Matt be listed?

HALEY: “Questionable I think. This is new to me but a guy who participates some but not all.”

Q: Tamba Hali was impressive to (Baltimore) coach Harbaugh from what he’s seen on film. Where is he in your thoughts?

HALEY: “I think Tamba has been a bright spot without a doubt. He was a guy five months ago that a lot of people were kind of wondering what would happen to Tamba and how he would respond. But once (Kansas City Star reporter) Adam (Teicher) got it out there officially how we were going to play defense there was going to be some adjustment period for him. I think he’s done a very good job to this point of adjusting to this new role. Again, it’s a work in progress. We can’t put him in the Hall of Fame yet but I think he’s made progress in a tough situation.”

Q: Was he one of those guys you weren’t really sure how he was going to respond?

HALEY: “I go by what I see, Kent, and that’s why I didn’t want to speculate on any of that early on. That’s the way I coach: I go by what I see. So, if a guy knows what to do and he’s doing it at a high level then I’ve got no problem.”

Q: What is Baltimore’s strength in your view?

HALEY: “The whole team is a strength. I think they are obviously one of the great defenses over the last decade. Year-in and year-out even though they’ve had to plug different players into different roles each year they’ve come in and played defense. “It’s easy to talk about defense when you talk about Baltimore but I think what’s changed with Baltimore is now the offense is an offense that gives you something to deal with. They’ve got a very good quarterback; they’ve got three tremendous runners; they’ve got one of the top tight ends in the league and they’ve got three receivers that are very good receivers. They probably would be ones on most teams. They have a very physical offensive line. It’s easy to talk about the defense but the offense is now here without a doubt.

“Special teams, they’re one of the better special teams groups in the league. It’s obvious with coach Harbaugh it is his area of expertise and it shows with this team.

“I think (Baltimore’s) a three-headed monster as far as I’m concerned.”

Q: Coach Harbaugh told us that as a first year head coach last year there was a slight advantage for a whole new regime coming in. Do you feel there is a little element of surprise for you?

HALEY: “I can’t speculate on what people think. Again, we’re just trying to get better every single day. We’re still trying to find an identity as a team and that’s going to be a work in progress. That’s really where we’re at.”
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2009/09...odd_haley__99/

PunkinDrublic · 09-10-2009, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

That's what I was wondering.

I guess Mike Goff, Eric Ghiaciuc, Amani Toomer, Ashlie Lelie, Vince Redd, Zach Thomas and the re-signing of Rudy Niswanger doesn't count?

Big deal those guys were minimum risk signing and bringing them in to camp. What did we lose by having them in camp? NE routinely signed and released players including one Eric Warfield as I recall. As soon as a better option becomes available I'm sure Niswanger will be replaced but that is one of the things I don't agree with. We've got a huge hole to get out of.

**OnTheWarpath15** · 09-10-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Big deal those guys were minimum risk signing and bringing them in to camp. What did we lose by having them in camp? NE routinely signed and released players including one Eric Warfield as I recall. As soon as a better option becomes available I'm sure Niswanger will be replaced but that is one of the things I don't agree with. We've got a huge hole to get out of.

You're missing the point.

Those guys were supposed to be better than what we have. They were counted on to fill holes - not just be camp bodies.

Especially on the OL.

Chiefnj2 · 09-10-2009, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

You're missing the point.

Those guys were supposed to be better than what we have. They were counted on to fill holes - not just be camp bodies.

Especially on the OL.

I thought that in most cases Haley said the guys were brought in to create competition.

**DeezNutz** · 09-10-2009, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SensibleChiefsfan

You need to learn to put things in context.

This board lacks a lot of that ability. A comparison to a player, a great player, merely to emphasize a point, in no way equates the two players.

But, the point is that it is moronic to keep bringing up Hali's deficiency in something that he WON'T be freaking asked to do very often!

It's like slighting Joe Montana because he doesn't tackle well.

Hali will most likely put up more sacks this season by himself than the entire team had last year.

And, it's not like he isn't used to dropping into zone coverage already. Many zone blitzes drop the DE into the flat in coverage.

The subsequent content of this post makes your initial criticism wonderfully ironic.

PunkinDrublic · 09-10-2009, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

You're missing the point.

Those guys were supposed to be better than what we have. They were counted on to fill holes - not just be camp bodies.

Especially on the OL.

He gave them a chance it didn't work. Minimal risk no big loss. What's the problem? He found a replacement for sackintosh and now sackintosh is gone. Finding better people doesn't happen overnight or as fast as you would like it to be.

BTW when was it said that they were being counted on to fill holes? Were any of those guys offered huge contracts? A big part of TC is that it is a big tryout it's no different from the rest of the league.

**OnTheWarpath15** · 09-10-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

He gave them a chance it didn't work. Minimal risk no big loss. What's the problem? He found a replacement for sackintosh and now sackintosh is gone. Finding better people doesn't happen overnight or as fast as you would like it to be.

Finding better players shouldn't be that difficult for the Executive of the Year, especially considering who he's looking to replace.

You guys can keep making excuses for him, but overall, he whiffed big time this offseason when it came to evaluating talent - especially on the OL.

If Carl had authored an offseason where our best FA signing was Corey ****ing Mays, this place would have been at DefCon 2.

PunkinDrublic · 09-10-2009, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Finding better players shouldn't be that difficult for the Executive of the Year, especially considering who he's looking to replace.

You guys can keep making excuses for him, but overall, he whiffed big time this offseason when it came to evaluating talent - especially on the OL.

If Carl had authored an offseason where our best FA signing was Corey ****ing Mays, this place would have been at DefCon 2.

If you think finding all these impact players is going to be done in one offseason your naive and don't understand how low this team has sunk.

If he had signed those guys to huge contracts then I would agree that he had whiffed big time. If Cassell flops I'm right there with you. Bringing in vets and cutting them in training camp is routinely done throughout the league.

**OnTheWarpath15** · 09-10-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

If you think finding all these impact players is

Stop.

Right there.

No one is asking for impact players.

We could start with finding a center, RG, and RT that don't get abused on every play.

It took 6 months to find ONE GUY that might fit that description. (O'Callaghan)

Again, no one is asking to find ****ing Pro Bowlers.

But finding guys that are better than what we have really shouldn't be that difficult - especially with 6 months to do so.

PunkinDrublic · 09-10-2009, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Stop.

Right there.

No one is asking for impact players.

We could start with finding a center, RG, and RT that don't get abused on every play.

It took 6 months to find ONE GUY that might fit that description. (O'Callaghan)

Again, no one is asking to find ****ing Pro Bowlers.

But finding guys that are better than what we have really shouldn't be that difficult - especially with 6 months to do so.

Actually it's been more than one player what about those two guys from Miami? It's not as easy as it sounds what did you honestly expect to happen?

Sweet Daddy Hate · 09-10-2009, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Actually it's been more than one player what about those two guys from Miami? It's not as easy as it sounds what did you honestly expect to happen?

Newdookie has a fan...

**OnTheWarpath15** · 09-10-2009, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Actually it's been more than one player what about those two guys from Miami? It's not as easy as it sounds what did you honestly expect to happen?

I expected the Executive of the Decade to be able to be able to identify talent.

He thought Goff was the answer at RG. Wrong.

He brought in arguably the worst center in the league to "push" the next worst center in the league. Fail.

He spent 6 months thinking McIntosh was the answer at RT. Wrong.

Then he TRADED for a guy that is actually worse than McIntosh. Fail.

For someone that everyone seems to think can do no wrong, he sure is wrong a lot.

Again, no one is expecting the team to be rebuilt overnight.

But not being able to find players to upgrade the worst right side of an OL in the entire league is shameful for someone that gets the credit Pioli does.

CaliforniaChief · 09-10-2009, 12:03 PM

I personally don't think we were as active as we needed to be. When we traded Gonzo and locked Cassel in, upgrading our OL became more urgent. At least with Gonzo the QB could just chuck it 20 yards down the field blindly and know that he had a better than 60% chance of seeing #88 catch it in quadruple coverage.

That said, at least we didn't just stay put with Macintosh. With Ndukwe we might have a big problem. With Macintosh we were certain that we did.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 09-10-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I expected the Executive of the Decade to be able to be able to identify talent.

He thought Goff was the answer at RG. Wrong.

He brought in arguably the worst center in the league to "push" the next worst center in the league. Fail.

He spent 6 months thinking McIntosh was the answer at RT. Wrong.

Then he TRADED for a guy that is actually worse than McIntosh. Fail.

For someone that everyone seems to think can do no wrong, he sure is wrong a lot.

Again, no one is expecting the team to be rebuilt overnight.

But not being able to find players to upgrade the worst right side of an OL in the entire league is shameful for someone that gets the credit Pioli does.

Does he look anywhere outside of his "buddy club"? I mean, all I'm sayin' is; his predecessor just WOULD NOT take talent from USC. I'm getting that same kind of vibe here, though in the FA market.

PunkinDrublic · 09-10-2009, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I expected the Executive of the Decade to be able to be able to identify talent.

He thought Goff was the answer at RG. Wrong.

He brought in arguably the worst center in the league to "push" the next worst center in the league. Fail.

He spent 6 months thinking McIntosh was the answer at RT. Wrong.

Then he TRADED for a guy that is actually worse than McIntosh. Fail.

For someone that everyone seems to think can do no wrong, he sure is wrong a lot.

Again, no one is expecting the team to be rebuilt overnight.

But not being able to find players to upgrade the worst right side of an OL in the entire league is shameful for someone that gets the credit Pioli does.

Who is out there? Who would you have gotten? I don't agree with all of Piolis decisions but I'm at least going to reserve judgement until a full season has been played. Call me crazy but I give the benefit of a doubt to people who come from organizations that have one multiple championships. I don't see how bringing guys into camp and cutting them before the season starts equates to whiffing. Signing underperformers like Kendrell Bell to big contracts is what I would call whiffing

**the Talking Can** · 09-10-2009, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I expected the Executive of the Decade to be able to be able to identify talent.

He thought Goff was the answer at RG. Wrong.

He brought in arguably the worst center in the league to "push" the next worst center in the league. Fail.

He spent 6 months thinking McIntosh was the answer at RT. Wrong.

Then he TRADED for a guy that is actually worse than McIntosh. Fail.

For someone that everyone seems to think can do no wrong, he sure is wrong a lot.

Again, no one is expecting the team to be rebuilt overnight.

But not being able to find players to upgrade the worst right side of an OL in the entire league is shameful for someone that gets the credit Pioli does.

shameful?

you guys are ****ing hysterical

you beg for him to sign every piece of trash in the league (which is all there is at a certain point) ("why isn't he doing anything! any player is better than what we have!!!"), and then when he does you call him shameful, as if he were picking from a list of hall of famers during cut downs at training camp....

get over yourself, you ignorant fukwad....

09-09-2009, 05:49 PM
C-Mac Lurker Extraordinaire Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Wally World Casino cash: $-1146301	Q&A with TODD HALEY - 9/9 Features Q&A with TODD HALEY - 9/9 Sep 09, 2009, 3:04:04 PM TODD HALEY: “Good afternoon everybody. We got to our real Wednesday (practice) after our bonus Wednesday on Monday. I think there’s a chance of some weather there (Baltimore) this weekend so I was kind of actually happy we got some rain because it always forces the guys to concentrate. “Overall, I thought it was a practice that as the day went on started to get better. This is the first official first-time through as a Wednesday so there was a bit of a feeling-out process but I thought overall it was a productive day.” Q: Matt Cassel was out there again. Did he come back okay after his work on Monday and his day off? HALEY: “Again, he was out there which was good. That’s better than not being out there and he was able to get through some. That’s going to be the situation that we’re going to evaluate as the week goes on and don’t know that we’ll have an answer right up to until we play.” Q: Are you pleased with what the offense is doing? HALEY: “We’re asking them to do a lot here. We’re putting the pressure on them to catch up, so to speak, but overall the guys going back (and up to) the last week of the pre-season have responded. They’re into it; they’re studying; they’re preparing, they’re doing the things that will give them a chance to know what’s going on. I’m glad we got a couple more days of practice. There’s no doubt about that. But I think they’ve shown a good response.” Q: You’ve got some fairly new faces on the offensive line, so how do you see those guys doing now that you’re in the regular groove? HALEY: “That’s going to be a fact of life at one position or another where guys are going to be coming in. That’s the way we’re going to operate. We had Ryan (O’Callaghan) in there for a second practice really but it’s going to be a case of the guys helping assimilate those (new) guys into what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it. “Again, when you get a guy who comes from New England or Miami that’s generally an advantage because I think there are a lot of similarities how we do things.” Q: Are you excited about this first week of the regular season? HALEY: “You know that it’s real now and we’ve got to be ready to go. Everything counts. Every minute counts. Every meeting counts. Everything you do obviously will help to determine whether you win or lose.” Q: Do you feel better because you’ve got your hands on the offense and you’re out there doing what you wanted to do as opposed to being a step away? HALEY: “I don’t know if better is the term. I’m comfortable doing that; I’ve done it the last few years. It’s something I understand and obviously enjoy. But I don’t know if better is the term. I felt that the offense needed support right now and that’s what I’m doing. Again, I’m still the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and I cannot forget that whether it’s in practice, meetings or whatever I’m doing.” Q: How much have you changed your offense? HALEY: “None, exactly what we ran in the third pre-season game is what you’ll see.” Q: As far as the injury report, how will Matt be listed? HALEY: “Questionable I think. This is new to me but a guy who participates some but not all.” Q: Tamba Hali was impressive to (Baltimore) coach Harbaugh from what he’s seen on film. Where is he in your thoughts? HALEY: “I think Tamba has been a bright spot without a doubt. He was a guy five months ago that a lot of people were kind of wondering what would happen to Tamba and how he would respond. But once (Kansas City Star reporter) Adam (Teicher) got it out there officially how we were going to play defense there was going to be some adjustment period for him. I think he’s done a very good job to this point of adjusting to this new role. Again, it’s a work in progress. We can’t put him in the Hall of Fame yet but I think he’s made progress in a tough situation.” Q: Was he one of those guys you weren’t really sure how he was going to respond? HALEY: “I go by what I see, Kent, and that’s why I didn’t want to speculate on any of that early on. That’s the way I coach: I go by what I see. So, if a guy knows what to do and he’s doing it at a high level then I’ve got no problem.” Q: What is Baltimore’s strength in your view? HALEY: “The whole team is a strength. I think they are obviously one of the great defenses over the last decade. Year-in and year-out even though they’ve had to plug different players into different roles each year they’ve come in and played defense. “It’s easy to talk about defense when you talk about Baltimore but I think what’s changed with Baltimore is now the offense is an offense that gives you something to deal with. They’ve got a very good quarterback; they’ve got three tremendous runners; they’ve got one of the top tight ends in the league and they’ve got three receivers that are very good receivers. They probably would be ones on most teams. They have a very physical offensive line. It’s easy to talk about the defense but the offense is now here without a doubt. “Special teams, they’re one of the better special teams groups in the league. It’s obvious with coach Harbaugh it is his area of expertise and it shows with this team. “I think (Baltimore’s) a three-headed monster as far as I’m concerned.” Q: Coach Harbaugh told us that as a first year head coach last year there was a slight advantage for a whole new regime coming in. Do you feel there is a little element of surprise for you? HALEY: “I can’t speculate on what people think. Again, we’re just trying to get better every single day. We’re still trying to find an identity as a team and that’s going to be a work in progress. That’s really where we’re at.” http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2009/09...odd_haley__99/
Posts: 5,661

09-10-2009, 12:03 PM	#117
CaliforniaChief #RIPAce Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: So Cal Casino cash: $10485899	I personally don't think we were as active as we needed to be. When we traded Gonzo and locked Cassel in, upgrading our OL became more urgent. At least with Gonzo the QB could just chuck it 20 yards down the field blindly and know that he had a better than 60% chance of seeing #88 catch it in quadruple coverage. That said, at least we didn't just stay put with Macintosh. With Ndukwe we might have a big problem. With Macintosh we were certain that we did.
Posts: 17,471