SB Nation User Blog: ChiefDJ

Some Advice For Brian Waters

ChiefDJ — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:26:19 -0000

I can empathize with Brian Waters. Like Brian, I too have had to deal with big changes in my job. A job that I had begun to think I wanted to spend the next 20 or 30 years at.

Recently the division manager that I was hired under, the guy that literally built our division from the ground up and convinced corporate to build it in my hometown was railroaded into retirement.

I would say that at the point he left, probably 75% of the employees had been there 10 years or longer. He created a great atmosphere for the employees that made everyone that came to work there want to stay for the next 15 or 20 years. He coddled the employees. In his mind (and that of the employees), they worked for HIM, not for the overall corporation as a whole.

The family atmosphere was to such a degree that many of the mothers that worked there could have their children come in after school and sit in the breakroom watching cartoons while they finished their shift and the division manager would go in and teach these 10 year olds about how electroncis worked.

His replacment, needless to say, was horrified by much of what was happening.

The situation the Chiefs now find themselves in remind me very much of my own.

As much as many of the fans disliked Carl Peterson, after 20 years HIS way of doing things was the Chiefs way of doing things. The players, especially the veterans who were the favorites, had free access to the GM any time they wanted and often to the owner Lamar Hunt as well, and that top managment would pat the head and stroke the egos of those players whenever they were upset about something.

Veteran players that towed the company line and were loyal to the team could expect to have that loyalty rewarded.

However, change has happened. The guys that created that atmosphere, Lamar and Carl, are gone now. And their replacments, Clark and Pioli, while they themselves I'm sure are very nice guys, will handle things differently than how the players under the old regime are used to and how they had come to expect.

In my own situation, the new division manager is a very nice guy. But he doesn't know the employees the way the old manager did and does not have the connection to them that he did. He took over at the beginning of the big economic downturn and unlike the previous manager who would fight corporate to avoid layoffs, the new manager permanently terminated several positions that were largely superfluous in an effort to keep us close to the black. He immediately put a stop to the unattended kids in the breakroom for insurance purposes and began strenuously enforcing a slew of unpopular corporate regulations that the old manager just poo-poo'd and let slide.

Brian Waters situation is exactly the same as those "old timers". He is used to things being done a certain way. A way he was comfortable with and a way he wanted to spend the rest of his career. Sure he wants to win, but considering he resigned at a time when the Chiefs hadn't won a playoff game for many many years indicates that winning was probably not as high a priority as maintaining his comfort level was.

But along came change. The old was swept away. The new managment does not have the same connection to the few older players left over and are bringing in players they DO have a connection to. Attitudes of the new managment are completely different from the attitude of the old. Rather than seeking out the limelight and seeking public approval, the new managment is secretive. The new managment doesn't WANT the players that won 6 games the last two years to be comfortable.

So from experience in a similar situation, here is my advice to Brian Waters:

Change sucks. It makes you nervous because you don't know what to expect next. But change happens whether you like it or not and sometimes once you get used to the change things are better than before. Maybe you will find out that being a winner is better than being comfortable.

So in this situation, the best thing you can do is get in line, keep your mouth shut and learn how things are done NOW and quit complaining about how things USED to be done. This is a "you can never go home again" situation. The past is gone. All thats left is the future.

If you want to remain a Chief as you say, THIS is what the Chiefs are now. The sooner you come to grips with that, the sooner you will begin getting acclimated to your new situation and begin getting a margin of that comfort back again.

Pioli Better Make Sure He Gets This Right The First Time

ChiefDJ — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:51:26 -0000

After reading Pete Prisco's article about how the NFL Should Alter Blackout Rules, allowing home games that do not sell out to still be viewed on television because of the bad economy, it got me thinking about how hard teams are having to work to sell tickets this year. Even teams that have a lot of excitment going, like the Atlanta Falcons with (possibly) budding superstar Matt Ryan as the new face of the franchise are having a tough time selling tickets.

Then I started to wonder: What have the Chiefs done to gin up excitement and put butts in the seats?

Well, they hired Scott Pioli who is about as big a fish as you can get as far as GMs go. But I don't think very many people are going to shell out big bucks just because of who the GM is.

They hired Todd Haley as head coach, but of course no one had ever even heard of him until Larry Fitzgerald drug him and the Cardinals into the playoffs and suddenly he was the hottest coaching prospect in the NFL. Even still, no one really knows what a Todd Haley coached team will look like except that there is likely to be a lot of screaming on the field and very boring press conferences.

They DID make a big trade for Matt Cassel to be the new franchise QB, and got a household name in Mike Vrabel at LB to boot. You might think the Chiefs PR department would have seized on this to make Cassel the centerpiece of their offseason marketing extravaganza. But no sooner was the ink dry on the Cassel trade than he was promptly locked up in Arrowhead tighter than UCrawford at a Herm Edwards motivational seminar. There wasn't even an introductory press conference where Cassel met the media and had his picture taken holding up his new Chiefs Jersey. Hell, we didn't even know what number he was going to wear for two months.

The Chiefs mostly signed a bunch of Patriots-reject special teams players or end-of-the-road vets in free agency. The guys we drafted may very well fill needs and turn out to be good players, but they were largely seen as reaches and do not play at excitement generating positions. The Chiefs are STILL sitting on one of the biggest piles of cap space in the league with nowhere to spend it.

Is there anything wrong with any of the above things? Not necessarily, but it sure isn't something that is going to jazz up excitement amongst the fanbase and convince them to part with their hard earned money which is getting harder to earn every day.

So what is Pioli's master plan? Now, we must remember that Pioli is not in charge of marketing and ticket sales as Carl Peterson was. But as a key ingredient in the organization, you can be sure that he is in on some business meetings or at least is required to communicate with the rest of the front office. After all, the Chiefs are a business and the purpose of a business is to make money.

Put simply, Piolis grand master scheme is to win.

Winning cures everything. Fans will part with their money to watch their favorite team win. The New England Patriots organization has been run in the militant style discussed above for a decade and sell out every game. Why? Because they win. Even when their hall of fame superstar QB is out for the season, they still win.

Here is the question: Can Pioli's no frills team building philosophy turn the Chiefs into winners fast enough to keep the Chiefs relevant in Kansas Citians minds? We've won six games the last two years and the last remaining superhero, Tony Gonzalez, was jettisoned for a (likely) late 2nd round pick next year. Though the Royals have floundered lately, they are more and more coming up on the radar of fans as an alternative to spend their money, and at a greatly reduced price compared to Chiefs tickets.

Then you also have the Carl Peterson factor. After twenty years under the same GM and President, Chiefs fans have come to expect certain things from their offseason. Peterson may have been subpar as a GM, but he knew how to gin up excitement among the fanbase. A couple free agent signings here, couple of sexy draft picks there, every once in a while throw in a big trade. Parade your picks and free agent signings for all the world to see and put them on every radio show in town. Many came to disdain this type of circus, but at the same time miss it now that its gone.

Pioli will have none of that. He has a one track mind. Build it (a winning team) and they will come. But with a fading economy, a rival sports team in the area on the upswing, and the expectations of a fanbase built up over the last 20 years which he has no intention of satisfying; will Pioli be able to turn the Chiefs into a contender fast enough to make Arrowhead the place to see and be seen that it once was? And should the NFL go to uncapped seasons should a Collective Bargaining Agreement not get done, how will not being able to fill the stadium hurt the Chiefs chances of being competitive long term?

Heard this on ESPN NFL Live: Favre to the Vikings is still a very real possibility. Reportedly...

ChiefDJ — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:08:27 -0000

Heard this on ESPN NFL Live:

Favre to the Vikings is still a very real possibility. Reportedly Favre sent X-rays of his throwing shoulder to the Minnesota Vikings yesterday to be evaluated by their medical staff.

The assumption is that if it is determined Favre would need major surgery, he would remain retired. However if major surgery is not required, Favre joining the Vikings is a very real possibility.

Favre sends X-rays of shoulder to Vikings

Chiefs Fans Want To Know - Defense

ChiefDJ — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:48:03 -0000

DJ from Arrowhead Pride here.

Have a question for the Cardinals faithful regarding your defensive scheme under Clancy Pendergast.

Many Chiefs fans have been all a twitter about the 4-3 Under hybrid scheme. I'm hopeing you can give us some details about how Pendergast ran the defense last year.

- What was the base defense?
- What percentage of the time was the defense lined up in the 3-4 vs. the 4-3?
- What is your perception of the effectivness of the hybrid defense?
- Do you believe the defense was less effective or more effective having players that could play in either scheme vs players that were optimized to play in one scheme vs the other?

Matthew Stafford on Lettermans Top 10.

ChiefDJ — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:50:08 -0000

Matthew Stafford on Lettermans Top 10.

Let's all take this opportunity to laugh at the Raiders

ChiefDJ — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:35:33 -0000

At #7 overall with Eugene Monroe, Michael Crabtree and Brian Orakpo still on the board, they take.... Darius Heyward Bey.

How bad was this pick? Here are Bey's college stats:

Stats Overview	Receiving					Rushing					Fumbles
YEAR	REC	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	ATT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	FUM	LST
2006	45	694	15.4	96	5	5	5	1.0	9	0	0	0
2007	51	786	15.4	63	3	5	107	21.4	54	1	0	0
2008	42	609	14.5	80	5	15	202	13.5	76	1	0	0

Never more than 51 catches in a season, never more than 786 yds in a season. There was talk of the New York Giants maybe taking him at #29 overall, but if not he was expected to fall into the 2nd round. But Al decides to take him 7th overall.

That was laughable enough, but then the 2nd round happened.

With projected 1st round picks like Rey Maualuga, Max Unger and Everette Brown still on the board, the Raiders traded down 7 spots and took....

Safety Michael Mitchell.

Who?

The ESPN guys had to look him up in the draft book issued by the NFL because they had no clue who he was. They asked Kiper about him and Kiper replied that that he likely would have still been there in the FIFTH ROUND and that at least a couple of NFL teams had him pegged as an UNDRAFTED free agent!

This was one Raiders fans reaction to the trade:

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's another:

Maybe DHB and Mitchell were the only two guys who can give Al a hard-on at this age.

My own theory is that in his dementia, Al Davis believes he is a prisoner in Leavenworth and is trying to be the "craziest motha in here" so he doesn't get gang raped in the shower.

Biggest Draft Busts by Team

ChiefDJ — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:39:32 -0000

Biggest Draft Busts by Team

Biggest Bust in Chiefs History? Forget Ryan Simms, I'd have to go with Todd Blackledge in 1983. Passed up Jim Kelly AND Dan Marino.

The Chiefs allowed Gonzalez and his agent, NFL power broker Tom Condon, to shop for a trade....

ChiefDJ — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:11:32 -0000

The Chiefs allowed Gonzalez and his agent, NFL power broker Tom Condon, to shop for a trade. Gonzalez and Condon narrowed their options to Philadelphia, the Giants, Atlanta and one other team. Condon preferred the Giants and the Falcons primarily because he represents their quarterbacks, Eli Manning and Matt Ryan.

Tony may not have been "asked" but he picked his team

2009 Pre-Draft Predictions

ChiefDJ — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:20:26 -0000

1) Glen Dorsey will be traded at some point Saturday
Not a new idea, many have talked about it, but I think it is very likely. Dorsey was the hotest defensive player in the country last year and despite some saying he had a dud for a rookie year (though that has been debunked), I don't think real NFL coaches see it that way. He is still a player every 4-3 defense wants.
Quite simply, he will be traded because he just doesn't fit in the Chiefs new 3-4 defense. He's a 4-3 three technique all the way and has the potential to be the best player at that position since Warren Sapp. But he's not near bulky enough to play Nose Tackle in the 3-4, and is TOO big and too short to play DE.
No idea of the compensation we will receive, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Detroit Lions with 4-3 guru Jim Schwartz has former Chiefs D.C. Gunther Cunningham whispering in his ear. That could end up being the Lions 2nd 1st round pick (#20) plus either their 2nd or 3rd rounder.
Yes, he has a big contract, but in case you weren't paying attention, the Chiefs have a ton of cap space they aren't using in which they could absorb the cap hit.

2) The Chiefs will trade their #3 pick to the Browns who will pick Mark Sanchez
I know trades in the top 5 almost never happen anymore, but I think we will see it this year and the Chiefs are in a good spot to take advantage. It won't cost the Browns, who are at #5, a fortune to move up to #3 to get ahead of the Seahawks who are rumored to be interested in taking Sanchez at #4 and they are likely to trade Braylon Edwards and Brady Quinn sometime Saturday that will give them more picks to maneuver with.

3) Brady Quinn will be traded to the Broncos
Quinn played in the same type of offense at Notre Dame that Josh McDaniels runs. The Broncos also have plenty of picks to spread out after the Jay Cutler ~~fiasco~~ trade.

4) The Chiefs WILL be making a pick in the 2nd round THIS year
Simply too much talent in the 2nd round of this years draft for Pioli to not get into it. Whether it happens by means of trading a player or trading later picks to move up, the Chiefs will be picking in the 2nd round.

5) Tamba Hali will be traded at some point Saturday
I still think Tamba is a good player, but like Dorsey, he simply doesn't belong in the 3-4. Despite having a poor season last year, he is still highly thought of by coaches in the NFL. I'd be surprised if we got more than a 3rd round pick for him.

6) Larry Johnson and Brian Waters will be Chiefs in 2009
I think the whole Brian Waters thing was totally overblown and don't believe there was ever any thought in Piolis mind that he would trade him. As you can see from how things went down with Tony G, Pioli doesn't really care what the player wants, its about what is best for the team.
That is also why LJ will still be here. It's not that he is irreplacable. He's not. Running backs are a dime a dozen. But the Chiefs aren't going to get any value for him in a trade. Nobody is going to trade a decent pick for a whiney RB. Haley will run him and run him hard and I think he will have a bit of a revival with Mike Goff taking over at Right Guard.

The Kansas City Chiefs were courting Mandarich because they had one of the top five picks in the...

ChiefDJ — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:08:43 -0000

The Kansas City Chiefs were courting Mandarich because they had one of the top five picks in the draft. General manager Carl Peterson and coach Marty Schottenheimer took him out to dinner. They asked him whether he was on steroids, Mandarich says. Fair question. Mandarich said he had never failed a drug test. Not exactly what the coach wanted to hear.

According to Mandarich, Schottenheimer looked him square in the eye and said, "I think you're lying."

Epic Bust Tony Mandarich