SB Nation User Blog: ChiefDJ

Jared Allen mic'd up during Seahawks game

ChiefDJ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:23:07 -0000

Jared Allen mic'd up during Seahawks game

"I've never wooped somebodies ass so hard all day and not gotten a sack"

Mike Mayock breaks down Staffords game winning play

ChiefDJ — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:50:57 -0000

Mike Mayock breaks down Staffords game winning play

Some nice on the field audio of Stafford after getting hit and talking his way back into the game. Interested to follow this kids career.

"I heard timeout over the loudspeaker and knew that was probably my only chance to get back in,"...

ChiefDJ — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:04:55 -0000

"I heard timeout over the loudspeaker and knew that was probably my only chance to get back in," said Stafford, an NFL rookie who apparently knows a rule that an NFL head coach does not. "It was my left shoulder and I don't really need it to throw."

Armed with such rock-solid logic, he raced over to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and told him, "I can throw." Stunned, Linehan sent him back onto the field for the final play, which was a touchdown pass to Brandon Pettigrew. The extra point won the game.

Matt Stafford Guts It Out For Win

Worst Injury of the year to rookie Eric Wood today (CBS refused to replay)

ChiefDJ — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:35:38 -0000

Worst Injury of the year to rookie Eric Wood today (CBS refused to replay)

What Todd Haley Must Do To Survive

ChiefDJ — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:59:46 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

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The more patient amongst the Kansas City Chiefs faithful will tell you that we are overreacting to the teams performance under Todd Haley. After all, he is in just his first year as head coach of the Chiefs. He did inherit a roster full of holes from the previous regime. He did take over a team that only won two games last year and only four the year before.

However, none of those excuses are going to save Todd Haley's job if the poor performances of this team continue, and don't fool yourself, Scott Pioli IS going to be holding Haley's feet to the fire. Pioli has built up a fantastic reputation for himself in New England and he is not going to blow that on a rookie head coach. The tree that both Pioli and Haley come from is results oriented and if you are not producing results, you aren't going to be a round long.

So Todd, here is some friendly advice on what you need to do if you want to keep your new job as head coach of the Chiefs and fulfill the sincere hopes of every Chiefs fan that you can turn this team into a winner:

1. GET A GRIP
We love your fire Todd. We really do. But there is a time and place to unleash it.

Football is a brutal, emotional game. As head coach, it is your job to be a steadying influence. I don't care if you have a hard time keeping your emotions under control. It's YOUR JOB.

If you are coming unhinged at critical moments, your team will too. You are making too many decisions emotionally rather than rationally. There have been many delay of game penalties after bad plays this year. I have to think that a large percentage of those are because you are blowing up about the previous play and don't get the next play called in time. THAT IS ON YOU.

You need to learn to harness your emotions and release them at the appropriate time for maximum impact. Ranting and raving like a lunatic on the sidelines the entire game dulls the effect and eventually the players will just roll their eyes and ignore you. You also need to find a way of relating your displeasure in a manner other than screaming obscenities like an abusive step-father. Parcells had "the stare". Cowher had "the chin". Players for those coaches received the message of displeasure from those coaches without a word.

2. LEARN TO TRUST
You have taken far too much on yourself. A rookie head coach has enough to worry about learning his new job without trying to do his old one too. You need to let someone else call the offensive plays so you can do you REAL job, which is to manage the game. If you still want to call the plays, you need to quit your head coach job and go back to being a coordinator.

Find someone you know and trust that is capable of doing the job and trust them to do it right. That does not mean you have to be completely hands off. You can still give your input and guide the coordinator in the direction you want him to go.

But by trying to run the entire offense yourself, your team is suffering. You have abdicated your input on the defense to an underachiever in Clancy Pendergast who could use some direction. When you DO give attention to your defense or special teams, your offense is suffering.

You are only one man. You MUST learn to trust others to do their job so you can do yours.

3. LEARN THAT ALL THE PLAYERS ON THIS ROSTER ARE "YOUR GUYS"
One of the most disturbing comments I heard during the Raiders game was the commentators relating a conversation they had with Haley in which he said "Once I get "my" guys in here, we'll be rolling". That is nothing but an excuse. A good coach will be able to work with the players he has and even if they aren't the most talented guys or don't fit exactly into his scheme, he should be able to get the most out of them.

Naturally as a coach has a hand in picking new players in the draft, he will pick players for what he has in mind rather than what the previous coach was thinking. But blaming the roster for the teams losses is the LAST thing a coach should do. Let the GM, whose job is personnel decisions blame the roster. The coaches job is to coach and if players are under performing, its YOUR fault.

4. RESPECT YOUR PLAYERS
That doesn't mean they have to be coddled. That doesn't mean you turn the other way to mistakes. It DOES mean that you don't walk in like a new prisoner at a Super Max facility looking to make an example out of guys to prove you're a bad ass such as how you handled Bernard Pollard. You are the head coach. You are the boss. You don't have to prove it.

Reward players who play well and don't harp SO much on the mistakes that they made that you completely ignore the good. We have seen a couple times now in Tank Tyler and DaJuan Morgan, where a young player got a chance to start and went out and did a pretty good job only to be benched the next game for seemingly no reason. You cannot constantly bring the stick without giving the carrot.

5. ADMIT YOU HAVE A LOT MORE TO LEARN THAN YOU THOUGHT YOU DID
I think you are gradually realizing that there is a lot more to winning football games than you thought. Yes, talent has a lot to do with it, but the New England Patriots have never been the most talented team and yet they find ways to win.

You cannot simply snap your fingers and give a withering glare and expect the team to fall magically in place and running like a well oiled machine. YOU have to put forth effort to reach your players. If you feel a player is uncoachable, it is because YOU failed. You can only beat your head against the wall so many times before you have to admit that whatever you are doing is failing.

We are seeing ridiculous things happening like fumbles on the snap or the QB and RB running into each other that you don't even see a lot of in college. This once again comes down to coaching. Maybe you feel that these players are in the NFL and should know how to do these things. Maybe you are frustrated that you aren't able to use all these awesome plays you've been drawing up your entire career. But you have to work with what you've got.

If you don't, you won't have anybody to work with.

Charles grossly underused in Jacksonville game

ChiefDJ — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:44:00 -0000

Charles grossly underused in Jacksonville game

Despite all of this, Charles had nine touches (6 carries, 36 yards; 3 catches, 19 rec. yards).

But here's my scientific proof: The Chiefs had 12 drives in this game. On seven of those possessions, Charles either touched the ball or was targeted with a pass. That means that he wasn't involved in the offense in those other five drives.

Here's the breakdown:

On the seven drives that Charles saw the ball go his way, Kansas City scored 20 points and averaged an amazing 35.7 yards per possession.

On the five drives that Charles didn't get a touch or a target, Kansas City scored three points and averaged a laughable 8.4 yards per possession.

Good and great coaches find ways to win

ChiefDJ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:47:20 -0000

Good and great coaches find ways to win

Todd Haley - 11/9 press conference - Keep digging that hole Todd!

Random Observations from the Chiefs vs Jaguars

ChiefDJ — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:19:57 -0000

- Why did Haley give up on the running game before the game even started? Larry Johnson gets 20 carries a game to run up Niswangers butt for 2.7 yds a carry, but he only gives Jamaal Charles 6 carries (for 6 yds a carry), Kolby Smith 4 carries (for 4.3 yds a carry). Maybe if he had committed to the run with RBs who actually gained yardage we could have stayed on the field for more than 3 downs at a time.

- Chiefs offense only converted 31% of their 3rd downs. The defense allowed Jacksonville to convert 56% of theirs.

- Anyone else noticed how much Cassel double clutches the ball before he passes?

- Tyson Jackson had 2 solo tackles and 3 assists going into todays game. Today he had 7 solo tackles.

- Mike Brown had 3 tackles today and blew coverage on a Jaguars TD. Bernard Pollard had 12 combined Tackles (9 solo), 2 interceptions and 3 passes defended for the Texans against the Colts.

- Maurice Jones-Drew was held to 2.7 yds per carry. The other two Jaguars RBs had a combined 23 yds per carry.

- The Jaguars defense had 5 sacks in seven games. Today the Chiefs gave up 3 (plus 8 QB hurries).

- Haley decided to try to kick a 56 yard field goal into winds gusting up to 30 mph at the end of the half that would have been returned for a TD if the holder (Dustin Colquitt) had not tripped the returner up out of bounds.

Kokinis fired by Browns

ChiefDJ — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:38:05 -0000

Kokinis fired by Browns

The Browns organization is a train wreck. They have the incompetent Mangini making all the decisions (when did he ever earn that?) and let go Kokinis who is a good personnel guy. How can you fire your GM after half a season???

Time For Chiefs Coach Haley To Prove He's Not A Paper Tiger

ChiefDJ — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:42:29 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP

2 months ago: Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley, center, argues a call during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. The Giants won the game 27-16. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Lots of head coaches in the NFL have talked tough over the years. You frequently hear new coaches talk about how they are going to have tough, disciplined teams.

How they are going to have open competitions and that the best performer, not the biggest contract, will be playing on Sundays. How they want the "right 53" players who will work with the coaches and do what it takes to make the team better.

We've heard all these things from Todd Haley. Haley has no problem calling the team he took over fat and lazy, although his conditioning has not equaled improvent 4th quarter performance. He talks tough about discipline and punshing players for mistakes, but they are still bitten by penalties and turnovers.

So you can question how much of what Haley does is his natural motivational instinct and how much of it is an artificial tactic that he uses without any real intent to take really follow through with it. The case of Dwayne Bowe being benched in meaningless preseason games for dropping balls, but not being benched during the regular season when the games count despite the continuing drops is an example of why this question arises.

The Larry Johnson situation is going to be Haley's biggest test to date. Will Haley enforce the discipline he preaches and deal with LJ, or will he prove himself soft and ignore the comments?

This should be an easy chance for Haley to prove he's not a paper tiger. You have an aging running back who has been ineffective for the last several years with a history of legal problems and antisocial behavior. Despite Haley backing up LJ's poor performance this year, Johnson throws him under the bus. That is bad enough, but then Johnson went on to get into a pissing match with fans that he should have simply ignored, waving his millions in their face and then using a couple of bigoted slurs in a public forum.

This is a no brainer Todd. Get rid of an unpopular and ineffective locker room cancer and prove you are the tough coach you say you are all in one shot. Larry Johnson must be dealt with swiftly and decisively.

Poll

How should Haley deal with LJ?

Let it slide, LJ was obviously mad.

57 votes

Deal with it privately.

368 votes

Suspend him.

192 votes

Cut the ineffective malcontent and give someone that wants it the chance.

955 votes

1572 votes | Poll has closed