The #1 reason CP should say YES to Al Saunders - (And the main reason he won't)

[B_Ambuehl]

Forget about the fact that he's coordinated the top offense in the nfl the last 4 years. Forget the fact that he's obviously the best candidate available and already on the staff. Forget the fact that whether he stays or goes could decide whether hall of famers on the offensive line stay or go.

The real reason Saunders should be named head coach is right here. The real reason Saunders WON'T be named head coach is also right here as well.

This was from last summer and I bookmarked it for future reference.

Some of you may recall a guy from the coalition by the name of "former db" from training camp last year. He's a media guy and former football player from Pittsburgh who is also a die hard chiefs fan. He covered the Chiefs training camp last year and provided some really good interviews and info. Anyway, he had this to say about a conversation with Frank Ganz last summer:

http://www.chiefscoalition.com/Forum...=29295&hl=ganz

Some of you already know I'm up here in Pittsburgh. Frank Gantz Sr. lives here too and we're very familiar with each other because he is, of course the former coach and he knows me from my job as a television reporter.

Now that thats out of the way, I spotted Gantz and his wife in a grocery store, Whole Foods (bunch of healthy stuff).
He was wearing Chiefs shorts, t-shirt and cap, he made me laugh.

Anyway here are some of the things he shared with me based on the conversations he has with Vermeil about three times a week.

NEW COACH:
Gantz believes Herman Edwards will get strong consideration as the next Chiefs head coach, for a couple of reasons. First, he says head coaches wear out their welcome very fast, even if they're winners. Most importantly, he says the Chiefs front office is enamored with Edwards. Al Saunders will be considered too HOWEVER... HOWEVER, Saunders and Carl Peterson are the two primary parities in regards to the political in-fighting within the organziation. Gantz says the Saunders doesn't back down to Peterson, gets in his face and will tell him his ideas are wrong. They don't share the same philosophy in regards to player evaluations either. I got the strong impression, and Gantz feels this too, that Saunders would be the person to knock Peterson's ego sideways. So Gantz wouldn't be surpirsed if Saunders is passed over as Vermeil's successor.

LARRY JOHNSON:
He says the Chiefs are very sorry Derrick Blaylock is gone. They say that Larry Johnson can't do nearly as many things as Blaylock. They must reconfigure a lot of packages minimize Johnson's short-comings. Gantz says Johson can run, but there's a lot more to the game than just running the rock.

BOOMER GRIGSBY:
May be a starter. Gantz and I had fun talking about the MLB position, as does everyone else. Vermeil told him that Boomer is awesome and that Vermeil isn't letting on to how well this guy REALLY is to the media. Apparently, Boomer is ALWAYS, ALWAYS in position to make the tackle and his technique is flawless. Here's the funny part of our conversation, Gantz asked me why did Grigsby last until the 5th round. I'm like, DUHHHHH!!! He laughed like hell. Gantz and I both think the battle at MLB is between Boomer and Scanlon. He really likes Kawitka Mitchell but it doesn't seem like he's the answer. Everybody is caught up with Boomer's mentality and core toughness to play the position. I informed Gantz of Boomer's gymnastics background and he was even further impressed with the kid.

KENDRELL BELL:
He's NOT healthy from what Vermeil shared with Gantz. Now I thought Bell came back to practice after straining his groin. Perhaps Vermeil is keeping his health undercover but Gantz' voice was noticably grim when talking about Bell's health.
I just hope he is 100 percent by training camp.

GANTZ:
We plan on bumping into each other at training camp because Vermeil asked him to address the team and Gantz is excited to do so. He and I both believe the Chiefs were brilliant in drafting the punter in the third round. Now, while we talked for about 20 minutes, his wife was smoothly filling the cart. She's a wonderful lady, very understanding of two football nuts talking Chiefs football at the deli counter.

[DTLB58]

Originally Posted by gochiefs

Bullshit. If we can't hire someone that is capable of making the playoffs more than once in five ****ing years, blow up Arrowhead stadium.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by DTLB58

Curious, where did you hear that Willimams has no interest in coming to KC?

You haven't been paying attention, have you?

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by DTLB58

Curious, where did you hear that Willimams has no interest in coming to KC?

I think that is coming from this board. Somebody, (MOHillbilly I think), says he knows him, and was told by Williams that he is not interested.

[RealSNR]

So leaving Al with the best offensive guard in the game, a (should be) Pro Bowl Center, some good depth at tackle and guard, the best RB in the game, a #1 WR and a QB who still have a couple years left in them, one of the best FBs in the game, one of the best TEs in the game, a young and talented #2 receiver, and more decision-making power = a shitty offense?

Cripes, we gave Al Tony Gonzalez and Will Shields and said "Create an offense that would make Don Coryell cream in his pants." That's exactly what he did. He brought in the players he wanted, kept the players he wanted, and through out the ones who were of no use to him. In less than two seasons, we made the best offense in football.

You don't think he'll be able to make this offense younger and just as good as it was before?

[Logical]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

No, it's not a defeatist attitude at all. Just because it didn't work before doesn't mean it can't work now.

Get this straight - I DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT RESULTS.

I don't want to TRY anything we've TRIED before.

I don't want to elevate a coordinator, and I don't want to hire somebody else's Super Bowl coach.

I want to START FRESH. Clean slate.

That statement in bold might be the most irrationale statement I have ever seen you make Parker. So as long as it is a coach who has not coached in the NFL before even if he was a loser at the college level you don't care.

[Logical]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Twist the words however you want.

Hiring Al Saunders to be HC says one thing to me:

This team thinks the last 5 years were a SUCCESS and they want to try and continue it.

THAT is a great attitude to have, especially if you don't care about every winning a playoff game.

OK I understand this statement, it is much clearer.

[Logical]

Evidently there are a lot of people who are willing to overlook the fact that our offense is not scoring well now. It seems some people still consider this a top offense just because it generates a lot of yards.

Folks it is all about points and it will be a miracle if we get 400 this year, the two previous years we had 483 and 484 more than 80 points more than we scored this year. Folks that is 5 points a game on average less.

[Hammock Parties]

Yep...like I said if Saunders was so effing great he would have made adjustments when Roaf went down.

[Skip Towne]

Originally Posted by gochiefs

Yep...like I said if Saunders was so effing great he would have made adjustments when Roaf went down.

Yep, and LJ's ypc went up w/o Roaf and Wellbourn not because of but in spite of AS. His play calling is mystifying.

[FringeNC]

Originally Posted by Vlad Logicslav

Evidently there are a lot of people who are willing to overlook the fact that our offense is not scoring well now. It seems some people still consider this a top offense just because it generates a lot of yards.

Folks it is all about points and it will be a miracle if we get 400 this year, the two previous years we had 483 and 484 more than 80 points more than we scored this year. Folks that is 5 points a game on average less.

Our offense is not as good as last year. We set an NFL record for first down last year. The reason scoring is off from the Greg Robinson years is that Greg's D forced a lot more turnovers than Gunther's do.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

The reason scoring is off from the Greg Robinson years is that Greg's D forced a lot more turnovers than Gunther's do.

Wrong. The reason our scoring is off is because our red zone performance has dropped off a cliff. It has nothing to do with turnovers and everything to do with settling for FGs where we used to get TDs.

There are a lot of reasons for our red zone performance dropping off IMO. The biggest is the loss of Priest Holmes. Say whatever you want about LJ being the better back, but no one had an eye for the endzone like Holmes. Another reason is Tony Gonzalez. He just isn't the guy he used to be. His hands aren't as good and he isn't as fast. He's no longer a threat inside the 20 like he once was.

This offense is on the decline. It might be masked by a stud young RB, but it's happening. The age of these guys is catching up. One of these days it's going be the the Gannon led Raiders where the drop-off becomes dramatic. Then we'll be stuck with Al Saunders trying to make Todd Collins do what Green did, Kris Wilson do what Gonzo did, and Jordan Black do what Roaf did. And when it fails the team will be stuck with a bunch of guys Saunders brought in to try and keep the flame burning a few years longer.

[ChiefsFanatic]

I thought his name was Ganz, not Gantz.

[FringeNC]

Originally Posted by jspchief

Wrong. The reason our scoring is off is because our red zone performance has dropped off a cliff. It has nothing to do with turnovers and everything to do with settling for FGs where we used to get TDs.

There are a lot of reasons for our red zone performance dropping off IMO. The biggest is the loss of Priest Holmes. Say whatever you want about LJ being the better back, but no one had an eye for the endzone like Holmes. Another reason is Tony Gonzalez. He just isn't the guy he used to be. His hands aren't as good and he isn't as fast. He's no longer a threat inside the 20 like he once was.

This offense is on the decline. It might be masked by a stud young RB, but it's happening. The age of these guys is catching up. One of these days it's going be the the Gannon led Raiders where the drop-off becomes dramatic. Then we'll be stuck with Al Saunders trying to make Todd Collins do what Green did, Kris Wilson do what Gonzo did, and Jordan Black do what Roaf did. And when it fails the team will be stuck with a bunch of guys Saunders brought in to try and keep the flame burning a few years longer.

Yep. Our Red Zone performance is down. But we got a ridiculous number of turnovers in 2003, which inflated our scoring.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

Yep. Our Red Zone performance is down. But we got a ridiculous number of turnovers in 2003, which inflated our scoring.

Then how do you account for last year?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by jjchieffan

Lets look at the next 5 years. Most likey the offense will remain intact that long, with the exception of Shields. In those 2 years, we are still legitimate contenders if AS is made head coach. After that, depending on draft choices and free agent moves, we more than likely move into rebuilding. If AS is not retained, a new system comes into play, and those 2 years go down the tube. Without AS, I say our record is no better than 6-10 next year. Is that what you really want? maybe you do. We might get a couple of top 5 draft picks in the next five years and rebuild with them. It worked 17 years ago when Carl and Marty came to town, but we still fell short in the end. We also did not have a top offense the year before. AS is the only choice that makes sense. Hopefully, CP will be showed the door by Clark. Side note, Are there any legitimate GM candidates out there to replace the king? Would Clark take it over? And would he be good at it if he did? I dont know much about him.

You act as if keeping Al Saunders is a guarantee.

It's most certainly not.

Al could very well gut the defense and we'd still be rebuilding. Or even more, he COULD gut the offense, effectively killing any argument that he gives continuity to the offense.

It's quite simple - you have no idea what Al Saunders would do as head coach.