HALEY COUNTDOWN: T-MINUS 3 GAMES & COUNTING
I have nothing personal against Todd Haley, but we can't have a head coach who's main defense in a post-loss news conference is "They were better prepared than we were" or "They were more ready to play." That's about the fourth time I've heard that uttered from Haley's mouth & once, I could understand, twice maybe, but more than twice my question is why don't you have a clue as to where your team is? My other question would be "how bad can Ricky Stanzi be that our best chance to win is Tyler Palko?" I completely understand the winning part, I'm a big fan of the concept, but ladies & gentlemen, the season was over weeks ago, it's time Haley realizes that & stop this charade about "Having the best opportunity to win" crappola. It's no longer about winning, it's about seeing if a quarterback they drafted last year has learned anything, can he step in in an emergency? Even Kansas City Mayor Sly James Tweeted at halftime "Would like to see what Stanzi can do, Nothing to lose really." The braintrust out at One Arrowhead Drive should be embarrassed by that Twitter comment. Normally politicians are rah-rah, support the hometeam types, not to pick at decisions made by their sports franchises, especially in social media.
Haley, thru injuries, very poor depth at multiple positions(Scott Pioli's responsibility) & his own misguided, out-of-the-box training camp strategy, has one of the three worst offensive teams in the entire league. There, I've called it what it is. No other spin quite explains our plight as Chiefs' fans as having the "worst" of something. Of their 5 victories, two were pure unadulterated, horseshoe-up-the-ass luck. Phillip Rivers' fumble & a completed 'Hail Mary.' Two were against teams, Indy & Minnesota, with worse records than the Chiefs. That leaves the win against the Raiders standing alone as a legit win. Six interceptions, when do you think we'll see that again? That win also had fluke-like qualities.
For the umteenth week, I'm going to revisit the viability of right tackle Barry Richardson to be a starter in the NFL. If you watched carefully yesterday, he was called for holding, false start & he surrendered two sacks. We release a tackle, Jared Gaither, that costs us basically nothing so we can sign another "warm body" to fill out the roster & he starts for another team within our division in less than a week after his release in Kansas City & plays an excellent game. These are the decisions that have crippled this franchise. I don't see the loyalty to Richardson, he was a Carl Peterson draftee. If Scott Pioli & or Todd Haley believe that Barry Richardson is an NFL starting tackle, Clark Hunt should fire both for being that stupid.
And then there's Tyler Palko, the quarterback not skilled enough to play in the UFL, the CFL or for any other NFL team except ours for the past two seasons. What does it say about our coaching staff that they are unable to score more than 10-points against anybody for 6-straight games? Don't give me the injury excuse, nearly every team in the league has significant injuries, injuries to star players. But unlike other teams who actually have NFL caliber depth, Kansas City is stuck with a worn-out Thomas Jones, backup tight ends who my wife could cover & then there's Tyler Palko, "our best chance to win the game." God help us.
The time is near to jettison Todd Haley, who is losing his team along with his composure. Any team that surrenders 81-yards in penalties during an opponents touchdown drive, has lost control, especially since 15-yards of it is against Haley personally. The sad thing is, we'll have to endure another rebuilding process, another coach who wants his own coaches, players & playbook. That's all certainly understandable, but it's no longer a "process" Chiefs fans should tolerate. Clark Hunts' misstep in hiring Scott Pioli will set the franchise back to square one......yet again. Oh, he'll get at least one more chance to hire another coaching regime & that coach will get three more years to produce a playoff appearance because that's good enough for them Kansas City rubes, it'll get their football lovin' asses back in the seats out at Arrowhead. Winning everything, but not at One Arrowhead Drive, they understand all too well what it takes to sell tickets. Give 'em a half-ass product, sell it as hope & change & they get another three years to line their pockets. Wake up people!
Haley, thru injuries, very poor depth at multiple positions(Scott Pioli's responsibility) & his own misguided, out-of-the-box training camp strategy, has one of the three worst offensive teams in the entire league. There, I've called it what it is. No other spin quite explains our plight as Chiefs' fans as having the "worst" of something. Of their 5 victories, two were pure unadulterated, horseshoe-up-the-ass luck. Phillip Rivers' fumble & a completed 'Hail Mary.' Two were against teams, Indy & Minnesota, with worse records than the Chiefs. That leaves the win against the Raiders standing alone as a legit win. Six interceptions, when do you think we'll see that again? That win also had fluke-like qualities.
For the umteenth week, I'm going to revisit the viability of right tackle Barry Richardson to be a starter in the NFL. If you watched carefully yesterday, he was called for holding, false start & he surrendered two sacks. We release a tackle, Jared Gaither, that costs us basically nothing so we can sign another "warm body" to fill out the roster & he starts for another team within our division in less than a week after his release in Kansas City & plays an excellent game. These are the decisions that have crippled this franchise. I don't see the loyalty to Richardson, he was a Carl Peterson draftee. If Scott Pioli & or Todd Haley believe that Barry Richardson is an NFL starting tackle, Clark Hunt should fire both for being that stupid.
And then there's Tyler Palko, the quarterback not skilled enough to play in the UFL, the CFL or for any other NFL team except ours for the past two seasons. What does it say about our coaching staff that they are unable to score more than 10-points against anybody for 6-straight games? Don't give me the injury excuse, nearly every team in the league has significant injuries, injuries to star players. But unlike other teams who actually have NFL caliber depth, Kansas City is stuck with a worn-out Thomas Jones, backup tight ends who my wife could cover & then there's Tyler Palko, "our best chance to win the game." God help us.
The time is near to jettison Todd Haley, who is losing his team along with his composure. Any team that surrenders 81-yards in penalties during an opponents touchdown drive, has lost control, especially since 15-yards of it is against Haley personally. The sad thing is, we'll have to endure another rebuilding process, another coach who wants his own coaches, players & playbook. That's all certainly understandable, but it's no longer a "process" Chiefs fans should tolerate. Clark Hunts' misstep in hiring Scott Pioli will set the franchise back to square one......yet again. Oh, he'll get at least one more chance to hire another coaching regime & that coach will get three more years to produce a playoff appearance because that's good enough for them Kansas City rubes, it'll get their football lovin' asses back in the seats out at Arrowhead. Winning everything, but not at One Arrowhead Drive, they understand all too well what it takes to sell tickets. Give 'em a half-ass product, sell it as hope & change & they get another three years to line their pockets. Wake up people!
Rich,
I hate that your right about the Chiefs, but you are. I thought you were somewhat overboard before the past two months. But now I see you had a fix on this team since you pegged them at 6 wins before the year began.
They're terrible and like you I don't see where any improvement is going to come quickly. We're easily the worst team in this division and now we face starting all over again.
I'm facing a forced retirement and we will probably not renew our season tickets and it's not just because of the money. It's like we're being played for fools driving all the way in for these Sunday letdowns. It makes for a miserable trip back home. I can tailgate in my driveway and watch this crappy team on TV.
Why doesn't Clark Hunt get this? Is he merely interested in our money? I'm beginning to believe it's like you say, "give them rubes a playoff game once and a while and they'll continue buying seats", regardless of the cost. I think going back to the days of a half empty Arrowhead is right around the corner if something we can truly believe in doesn't happen very, very soon.
I'm fed up and I know there are thousands of Chiefs fans just like me. Like reading your blog, good job.
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