Tradition Tuesday: Time For Change III

The week that was meant for the House of Georges keeps steamrolling. By "meant for," I mean the three of us were destined to write frantically within this window of time, and all two of our readers would await patiently, ready to devour with salivating jowels. As we already noted, ESPN reported that the Chiefs and New England Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli have agreed to terms. And now Adam Schefter has chimed in as well. He's also confirmed that the Denver Broncos have hired Mike Nolan to coordinate the defense, but we're going to keep this post aimed at the unfoldings at One Arrowhead Drive. Not to worry, the rough focus of this blog remains the rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, and it will remain so until Cecil and Old No. 7 fire me and hire a Chargers fan since that hatred has beckoned higher flames in recent seasons. For now, however, the Chief rule is...

So, the TalkRadios are going nuts over this hire, and we've linked to a couple reliable sources on the matter, but nothing has been officially announced by either franchise. Rumors suggest that Pioli was seen packing up his office, and that the New England organization will not acknowledge -- or deny -- the hiring. The Chiefs are also mum for the time being. We're going to proceed as if it's truth though, and there are a number of things to discuss, and we'll do so with the handy-dandy numeric system.

1) Pioli himself. There are some skeptics (Editor's Note: It's actually only one and he goes by the moniker of the Lone Reader.) that think Pioli is a poor hire. His reason, if you can call it that, is that Bill Belichick has run the show in Foxboro. Sources in touch with the TalkRadios have said that not one single person in New England suggests that that theory has any merit. What they say is that Pioli worked beneath/alongside with Belichick, and that Pioli has the gift of talent evaluation. One radio -- he goes by "Cowboy" but his real name is Cory Anderson -- personality said that "Anyone that thinks Pioli didn't have a largely significant role in putting together the Patriots dynasty has been living in a cave." The same cat reports that Belichick basically took Pioli's word "as gospel" and believed whatever the VP had to say about a player was true.

2) Herman Edwards. If you are what your record says you are, then Edwards is 15-33. Most folks aren't being that generous; they're eliminating the first year of his tenure and calling him 6-26. Pick the number sets you want. Either way, it's atrocious. He does have one more year on his contract. It's possible that he could string together some more wins but this isn't Dayton Moore acknowledging that Buddy Bell is a decent manager/we'll stay the coure for now. We're talking Herman "I've never even coordinated" Edwards. He. Must. Go.

3) Steve Spagnuolo. (Update: The Chiefs are now confirming the Pioli hire.) This guy has emerged, so say the rumors, as the leading candidate to be the first head coach of the Pioli era. I don't know why, really, but the notion makes me squirm. That said, it doesn't scare me in the way that giving Edwards another year does, but the flip side of that is that Edwards would almost certainly get only one more year, barring some miraculous turnaround. I don't know. I guess I was hoping for someone with a bit of experience, but maybe this is in the same vein of promoting a Pioli to GM, promoting a Josh McDaniels to head coach. Spagnuolo is the current defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, and he allegedly turned down the head coach position with the Washington Redskins last year, saying that he felt he wasn't ready for the responsibility. Now, other rumors suggested that he was a candidate for the head-coaching positions in Denver, Detroit and in New York for the Jets.

Granted, the Giants defense has been pretty solid for a couple of seasons, and he does come from the Jim Johnson school of defense in Philadelphia, which has had a tight D for even longer than the Giants. Further -- thank Christ for this time of year when ESPN begins playing the "The Greatest Games" series just before launching into the replays of all the Super Bowls -- last night the four-letter network played the Packers/Lions wildcard game of 1993 (Note: That was far more Wayne Fontes than anyone should stomach.) just before replaying last year's Super Bowl. Coincidentally, there were a number of sideline scenes with the Giants troops rallied around Spagnuolo, who seemed to have the inside scoop on the Patriots playbook, and consequently, Tom Brady's audibles. So that aspect is exciting.

Add to that that Spagnuolo has allegedly already been in Dallas and met with Clark Hunt, and he's in (or has been in) Kansas City today, which says to me that Hunt and the Chiefs have moved steadfast in getting these two positions filled. Critics have said that they dragged their feet in getting this GM interview process complete, but now they're praising them for "getting their guy." To that I posit that, if the Chiefs got their guy in Pioli, and one could hardly argue that they didn't, then it's plausible that they did the same in obtaining a head coach.

4) The rest of the coaching staff. I appreciate what Chan Gailey attempted in 2008, so my first inclination is that the Chiefs should keep him around. Then again, cleaning house might not be terrible. I love Gunther Cunningham, and I'm no expert, but the game appears to have passed him by. Mike Priefer? I hope his bags are already packed. Like Cecil once said about his Broncos: "Could our special teams possibly be any less special?" The one aspect that is perhaps the dangling participle of the coaching staff is one Tyler Thigpen. If Gailey's gone, then that means the spread probably is, too, which doesn't do Thigpen's chances of starting any favors. This all leads to...

5) Matt Cassel. I'm not going to touch this one since we're already so far down speculation avenue, but his name has been popping up all afternoon. Some say the Pats will franchise him, which would be ridiculously expensive, and New England isn't notorious for dumping money in that way. That could protect him, though, if they fear that Brady won't be ready; no team has ever coughed up the required two first-round picks for a franchise player. The other theory is that New England will sign Brady's backup to a tiny deal, thus allowing them to make a trade. I think we should wait and see how the rest of this hay gets baled before we start raking up the other pieces scattered in the field.

Anyway, it's been quite the afternoon, and I'm certain the days and weeks to follow will be equally intriguing. Suddenly, 2-14 seems a touch more distant.