Pioli has praise for Haley

[Hammock Parties]

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/07...for-haley.html

Coach Todd Haley will be moving into the final year of his contract next year, and while general manager Scott Pioli wouldn’t say whether the Chiefs would extend his contract, his comments seemed to indicate they would.

Pioli praised Haley on Monday in an interview with The Kansas City Star.

“I think he’s doing a good job of growing into the job,” Pioli said. “He’s adjusted well to changes in personnel, changes in roster. He’s adjusted well to staff changes. This team has continued to evolve and continued to develop. Players have developed well. That’s Todd and the whole coaching staff.”

Echoing comments made recently by Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, Pioli also said he has a good relationship with Haley.

“I think it’s a good working relationship. I really do,” Pioli said. “We’re both focused on the same thing, which is winning football games.”

Asked whether they work well enough together to allow the Chiefs to win a Super Bowl, Pioli said yes.

“Absolutely,” Pioli said. “We talk often. Our approach hasn’t changed in terms of the way and the amount of communication from two years ago, a year ago. It’s the same. It hasn’t changed in terms of the volume or anything else.”

Pioli said he meets with Haley regularly during the season to discuss roster needs for upcoming games. The 4-4 Chiefs are tied for first place with Oakland and San Diego in the AFC West and play the 3-5 Broncos on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.

“We make sure we have solid communication, particularly right after a game, the Monday and the Tuesday,” Pioli said. “We evaluate performance and where we’re at as far as health and where we are for the upcoming game. We’ll talk about the game plan for the upcoming game and then what we’re going to do as far as roster makeup.”

The Chiefs have a regular-season record of 18-22 halfway through Haley’s third season. They finished 4-12 in 2009, his first year with the Chiefs, and then last season went 10-6 and won their first division title in seven years.

This year, the Chiefs started 0-3, losing their first two games by a combined 79 points. By the time they finished their second game of the season, a 48-3 defeat at Detroit, the Chiefs had lost safety Eric Berry, running back Jamaal Charles and tight end Tony Moeaki for the year with knee injuries.

But the Chiefs rallied to win four straight games before falling to 4-4 with Sunday’s 31-3 loss to previously winless Miami.

Pioli indicated he wasn’t tempted to fire Haley or otherwise get discouraged when the Chiefs started the season so poorly.

“I didn’t think that was who we were when we were 0-2, and that’s why I’m not surprised when we were able to continue to improve and begin to play good football,” Pioli said. “What you don’t want to do is get caught up in the dramatic swing of any one game or two games. I don’t think you can evaluate that small a portion of the season. That’s one-eighth of the season.

“I believe we have a good football team and a good coaching staff. We have a good, young football team that is continuing to develop.”

Haley, at his news conference Monday, called the first half of the season “adventurous” for the Chiefs. They’ve been outscored by 70 points even though they’ve won as many games as they’ve lost.

“It’s been a different set of encyclopedias from the start,” Haley said. “Everybody’s had the same challenges, with the lack of offseason and some of those things. I think it has led to a unique year thus far. I said that in training camp, that I thought it would be a wild ride, and it hasn’t disappointed.”

Haley said he hoped the Chiefs’ performances would be more even over the season’s second half. Including the game against Miami, the Chiefs have lost three games by four or more touchdowns.

“Consistency is the key to being a good team or a great team,” Haley said. “Very rarely do you see a team that’s inconsistent be one of the last teams standing. Consistency is going to be one of those things that we’re really going to work hard on in all areas.

“We’ve got a team that’s still developing and still getting better and is still a work in progress. I’m excited about these guys.”

[Sofa King]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Why in the world would Haley want to sign an extension to work for a team with an egomaniac GM who won't let him play the players he wants, or draft the players he wants?

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Why in the world would Haley want to sign an extension to work for a team with an egomaniac GM who won't let him play the players he wants, or draft the players he wants?

Most GM's ultimately make the picks during the draft. How they get to the point of which players the team wants or needs is a collaborative effort. Who has ever said Haley doesn't get to draft the players he wants? You are weird.

I also don't believe that Pioli is FORCING Haley to play Cassel like some do. Just that Pioli brings in the talent, and the talent he has brought in up until this year to compete with Cassel was none. Now, Stanzi is a different story, but I probably wouldn't have just started him this year either...I say I would have, b/c he is head and shoulders above Cassel as a QB, but in all actuality, I'd rather coach him up first.

[FringeNC]

Something has to be done about the passing game. It's currently ranked #27 and has never been ranked highly the whole time Haley and Cassel have been here. Cassel can't run Haley's downfield passing offense, and Pioli has to do something about it, preferable cutting Cassel loose.

You win in this league moving the ball in the air.

[Discuss Thrower]

Kiss of death anyone? I'm getting queasy thinking who the next retread Pioli will bring in.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Kiss of death anyone? I'm getting queasy thinking who the next retread Pioli will bring in.

Mark Brunell

[aturnis]

Ricky Stanzi.

[The Franchise]

Mike Zimmer?

[Sofa King]

Bob Knight. He has lots of wins. Hopefully he can get us some.

[L.A. Chieffan]

In sorry, I thought I just read an article that had chiefs and Superbowl in the same sentence.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

So you're saying that Cassel is good?

no, i'm not ... but this obsession with him is nuts.

Cassel isn't the reason we lost to the Dolphins.

our offensive coaching sucks azz and our defense bent over and took it up the butt.

The team still isn't polished and they still don't play with the intensity and passion of a good NFL team. You give us a real OC and we would be much,much better.

who's the bigger weakness on offense, Cassel or the coaching?

I say coaching because it effects everything ... Oline blocking, the Blitz pickups, the hot routes,the audibles, every part of the offense.

Offensive needs (by priority)
1. Coaching
2. QB
3. RT
4. center

but hey ... you guys keep bitching about Cassel, whatever floats your boat.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Laz

no, i'm not ... but this obsession with him is nuts.

Cassel isn't the reason we lost to the Dolphins.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Cassel is the reason we lost to the Dolphins.

People are arguing that Cassel is a reason we lost to the Dolphins.

This "obsession" with him is because he's holding this team back. You could win championships with shitty QB play a decade ago if you had an all-world defense. That's not the case anymore. The NFL is a QB-driven, passing league.

Sadly, our organizational philosophy seems to be, "trade for/draft late round scrubs and hope like hell we find the next Tom Brady."

Yeah, I can't imagine why fans of this franchise are obsessed with the QB position.

[Fritz88]

One of the problems that we have is offensive playcalling. It's been the same with Haley at the helm. Last year it was good because we had JC. Without JC, we are back to the same horrible, predictable calls.

It's clear that Haley is running the offense whether we want to admit it or not. He's not willing to change it. That is a problem.

He's good with developing players. That. Is. It.

Managing games, adjusting strategies, two minute offense, etc are all horrible.

He has not had a true signature win since he came here. We either beat shitty teams or have people like Phillip Rivers give us games.

I am starting to believe that his success in AZ were due to Whisenhunt and Kurt.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

People are arguing that Cassel is a reason we lost to the Dolphins.

absolutely he is ... but he played better than most of the team.

and yet people aren't talking about all those ****-ups they are still beating a dead horse about Cassel.

EVERYBODY here knows we need an upgrade at QB ... move the **** on.

every dam thread turns into something about Cassel, it's beyond stupid. You can't talk about anything else.

[durtyrute]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

Something has to be done about the passing game. It's currently ranked #27 and has never been ranked highly the whole time Haley and Cassel have been here. Cassel can't run Haley's downfield passing offense, and Pioli has to do something about it, preferable cutting Cassel loose.

You win in this league moving the ball in the air.

I thought it is Weisenhunts down the field offense not Haley's. Seems like we are seeing Haley's offense right now.

[aturnis]

Originally Posted by Laz

no, i'm not ... but this obsession with him is nuts.

Cassel isn't the reason we lost to the Dolphins.

our offensive coaching sucks azz and our defense bent over and took it up the butt.

The team still isn't polished and they still don't play with the intensity and passion of a good NFL team. You give us a real OC and we would be much,much better.

who's the bigger weakness on offense, Cassel or the coaching?

I say coaching because it effects everything ... Oline blocking, the Blitz pickups, the hot routes,the audibles, every part of the offense.

Offensive needs (by priority)
1. Coaching
2. QB
3. RT
4. center

but hey ... you guys keep bitching about Cassel, whatever floats your boat.

Aren't reading the defense, identifying your hot route, and calling audibles on the QB? I think so. Especially since you can't do any of the latter two things if you can't read a defense and guess what, Cassel can't. Never has been able to.

The only part of the offense that is subpar b/c of coaching IMO is the OL. I base that opinion on the fact that the OL still doesn't always know their responsibility and can't pick up a blitz for the life of them. This is their THIRD YEAR in this offense. They should figure it out already.

Other than that, the RB's are as good as they can be considering who's back there, the receivers are fine. The TE's are fine, again, considering who we have. O'Connell got beat in pass pro a lot on Sunday, but mostly b/c he was outsized considerably most of the time.

The defense was our biggest problem on Sunday, but mainly due to poor play by backups in the secondary. Other than that, the Phins OL was getting to the second level and took DJ out of the game and Tamba got ZERO pressure. He actually graded out negative on ProFootballFocus, which is the first I've seen for him.

This team DOES need an overhaul on the OL. Two guys need to be found and how you incorporate them, I don't care as long as it works. Other than that, just coach them up. Need a new RB or two, a TE and a WR, not to mention a QB. On defense, the secondary needs depth at safety and we need a couple guys in the linebacker corps, a OLB and an ILB.