Queue the "Dukes of Hazzard" Theme Song

Alright. Got a day off, and I've got plenty to say about my re-entrance into the realm of industry hospitality, and I'm certain that will entertain a grand total of nobody. In the interim, however, I've got to sort out a few things about the good ol' Kansas City Chiefs, the good ol' Denver Broncos, and the good-ol'-boy-network known as the National Football League.

If you're unfamiliar with my ramblings on this blog, it may be news to you that I am not a fan of Colorado's professional football club. I'm not going to bash them today, though. They stunned everyone -- most notably Mike Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers -- yesterday by advancing to the divisional round of the NFL's post-season. Yes, the Steelers were badly hobbled, and no, nobody thought Tim Tebow and company would orchestrate a 300-yard-passing afternoon. Here's the long and short of the contest, though: You're the number-one passing defense in the league. You lose the coin toss to start overtime, and you therefore, are perhaps thinking of coming up with some huge defensive schemes and plays in order to gain possession of the football.

Yes, that was the debut of new post-season overtime rules, so yes -- you might want to come out prepared for the first play from scrimmage. And, by "prepared," I mean send someone into pass coverage. Someone. Anyone. I mean, you don't wanna get torched on an 80-yard touchdown pass and get sent packing before the first overtime commercial break, do you?

Nevertheless, a Denver win. Congratulations to John Fox and his squad.

That brings me to today, though, and if you are familiar with my tiresome drawl on this site, you know that I think the incestuous nature of this league is filthy and disgusting. Every regular season concludes with some head-coaching vacancies, and inevitably, the same old retreads get drug out from behind the last wood shed to which they were cast, and we see the same has-beens give it a go in a new city.

It's annoying, yes, but for the most part, tolerable.

There appears, though, to be some sort of leap-year cycle in football, wherein the whole concept of good ol' boys giving their good, old pals new jobs in different regimes, finds new ceilings, and right now we're in the midst of one of those unprecedented -- at least in my football-viewing liftime -- heights.

I'm not documenting all of this to educate anyone. Rather, it's an exercise for myself, one in which I can attempt to make some sense of it all.

Several seasons ago, Mike Shanahan was fired by Pat Bowlen, and shortly thereafter, Clark Hunt and newly appointed Scott Pioli opted to not retain the services of Herman Edwards. As you may know, Pioli -- then dubbed the top G.M. candidate in football -- is betrothed to a young woman whose father goes by the name of Bill Parcells.

Now, us fans (and lowly bloggers) never know what really goes on inside the NFL's inner circles, so we're left to speculate, and this is what I'm doing here, so keep that in mind.

Pioli gets the job in Kansas City, and it was reported that he wanted to -- shocker -- go to the New England Patriots staff and pick his coach from that crew of knuckleheads, his choice being none other than then-Patriots-offensive-coordinator Josh McDaniels. Denver Bronco G.M. Brian Xander, however, beat him to the punch and hired McDaniels first. This left Pioli to go all Galactic and call up his father-in-law for some advice.

Parcells, having worked with Todd Haley in both New York and Dallas, recommended the then-Arizona-Cardinals offensive coordinator, who happened to have just been one Santonio Holmes touchdown catch away from winning a Super Bowl, so it made sense.

Next, Pioli needed a quarterback for his Chiefs, so he -- shocker -- went to the New England well again, and pulled a trade to get the then-franchise-tagged Matt Cassel, which was who McDaniels also wanted to get to call signals for his Broncos. Somehow, word of this Denver-based desire leaked out, and pissed off then-incumbent-starter Jay Cutler, who threw a tantrum and demanded a trade, which he got.

The swap of Cutler for Kyle Orton, if I remember correctly, netted the Broncos a nice bundle of draft picks, which McDaniels then, quite literally, blew the following season, so he could obtain the services of Tebow. Meanwhile, in Kansas City, Pioli went -- yes, a third shocker -- back to his Foxboro roots once more and obtained the services of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel to coordinate both sides of the non-special-teams football.

In the midst of McDaniels' and Haley's second seasons in charge of their respective clubs, the former's squad crushed the latter's and an infamous post-game display of unaffection ensued:



Later in the campaign, Haley's Chiefs (barely) defeated McDaniels' Broncos and the latter was relieved of his duties, courtesy of both a late-season collapse and some hidden-camera shenanigans that McDaniels likely -- shocker number four -- learned from watching his boss Bill Belichick in New England.

That brings us to this year, which featured McDaniels leading an inept St. Louis Rams offense to a two-win effort, and Haley getting fired with three games to go in the regular season. Mind you, the future of the Denver franchise that McDaniels rolled the dice on (read: #15) took over the starting job for Orton, and the former Bear was cut. Kansas City, being without the services of Matt Cassel, claimed Orton off of the waiver wire, and promptly defeated the lossless, defending-Super Bowl-champion Green Bay Packers.

The Chiefs then lose an overtime contest to the Oakland Raiders, courtesy of not one, but two, field-goal attempts blocked by former Patriot Richard Seymour. Kansas City then travelled to Denver, and won a snooze fest over the Broncos, 7-3. It should be noted that said snooze fest featured Orton returning to Denver to defeat his former backup. Tebow and crew, however, eked into the playoffs thanks to a San Diego Chargers victory over the Raiders.

As the buzz of the regular season was still fizzling, New England sent the NFL TPS reports to obtain the services of the now-fired-from-St. Louis McDaniels, who, rumor had it, Pioli had been eyeballing for some position or other in Kansas City.

Following the conclusion of yesterday's wildcard weekend, McDaniels is now on the Patriot staff as an offensive assistant, and will be the club's coordinator next season, meaning that his first assignment is to help guide New England to victory over the franchise that fired him, a franchise led by the quarterback for whom he mortgaged the club's draft picks obtained in the Cutler-Orton trade.

And, back in the midwest, the Chiefs have named Crennel the new head coach, while the Rams appear ready to ink a deal with Jeff Fisher. Reports from Twitter over the weekend indicated that the recently fired Haley and Tony Sparano will be involved in hedging the new offensive plan for St. Louis. Sparano is coming off a once-impressive, mostly disappointing tenure as main man in Miami, and was put there by Parcells. Parcells, no longer employed by the Dolphins, is suspected to be replaced by Carl Peterson, who Scott Pioli replaced in Kansas City.

Basically, the only fresh face in the mix is John Fox in Denver. He has McDaniels' old job and McDaniels' old quarterback. Kansas City has Denver's old quarterback, New England's old quarterback (both of whom are also McDaniels' old quarterbacks), New England's old defensive coordinator, and if you want to add another layer to the mix: the third quarterback on the Chiefs roster is a kid out of Iowa, one of Pioli's favorite places to draft since he's chums with coach Kirk Ferentz.

Haley's in line to take (some form of) McDaniels' old job, along with Sparano, who came from Parcells, who will likely be replaced by Peterson. And McDaniels, in case you didn't catch it, is charged with attempting to defeat the signal caller he so coveted two drafts ago.

In other NFL playoff news, the Saints -- semi-loaded with former Chargers A.J. Smith decided not to keep -- will attempt to knock off Jim Harbaugh (former Bear QB) and the San Francisco 49ers, while the Packers will take on Eli Manning -- who refused to play for the team (San Diego) that drafted him and the New York Giants. Tom Coughlin's Giants made a mockery of the Thomas Dimitroff (another branch of the Pioli tree)'s Atlanta Falcons yesterday, leaving Tony Gonzalez -- who didn't want to stick around for yet another Kansas City rebuild -- with one less playoff win than Tim Tebow (Editor's Note: I'm still kicking myself for not tweeting that first yesterday.).

The other AFC matchup will feature Harbaugh's brother John and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans, led by former Shanahan assistant Gary Kubiak.

So, there. None of that's news, really. I just had to suss it out for myself, and decide, after doing so, if I really felt as coated in six layers of Arkansas-truck-bed sibling lust as I thought I did.

Verdict: I do.

Gross.

Go Broncos! (Note: No, not really.)
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Friday Morning Fracas: Chiefs Fans Visit a Familiar Neighborhood: Hell

Wednesday morning: I didn’t want to write about the Chiefs two days in a row, but after listening to Danny Parkins Monday morning/afternoon and Bob Fescoe yesterday morning, I was left with no choice. I think both of these cats do a good show and put out mostly quality SportsTalkRadio, but Fescoe’s program, on the drive to work yesterday morning, left me sick to my stomach. I mean, my guts were in such knots that I had to pop a couple of Tums, drink some water, chew some gum, and engage in some deep-breathing exercises all to avoid having to pull over. No exaggeration.

Understand, this had nothing to do with either on-air personality, rather the content of discussion, the alleged rift between Chiefs GM Scott Pioli, and Head Coach Todd Haley.

I texted Danny’s show Monday when he was talking about the “Monday Morning Quarterback” column by Peter King, and the Mike Silver bit from Yahoo wherein the fate of the Chiefs is variably addressed. To paraphrase, King said he doesn’t think the Chiefs can recover from this miserly start, and that it’s only a matter of time before Haley gets the ax. This supposition is based on the fact that, according to King, Chiefs Chairman of the Board Clark “Hunt and Pioli are close.”

Far more damning was Silver’s story, which said that tension between Pioli and Haley “is the worst-kept secret in NFL circles,” that if the former canned the latter, the top choice for replacement would be none other than Josh McDaniels, which is massive barf material, but...not now.

What I said via text to Parkins, though, was that it all feels like hearsay, that we should have some sort of direct evidence of such a claim of tension and unrest. After a few moments, he mentioned that several folks had texted in similar sentiments, and for lack of a better word, he lambasted the bulk of us, implying that we supposed that national figures such as King and Silver, as well as local writers like Sam Mellinger and Kent Babb, were all making this stuff up.

And this is where some clarity is needed.

I have not, for one moment, imagined that this stuff has been fabricated. I have not entertained, for even a nanosecond, the possibility of inventing these sorts of stories for ratings and readership. It’s much simpler than that:

I am physically and mentally incapable of believing it.

Wednesday afternoon: Okay. Some fantastic headway was made this morning when Fescoe and Josh Klingler had Michael Holley on the air to discuss his new book, War Room. Admittedly, it sounds like an awesome read. Arrowhead Pride published a post about the interview, and what’s not important are the controversial details, rather what the author had to say about the relationship between Pioli and Haley. In sum, it would appear to be a perfectly normal GM/HC coexistence.

Wednesday evening: Nick Wright had Silver on his show today, and I feel even better. Silver stayed the course with the assertion that Pioli and Haley don’t get along, but he also added key phrases such as, “I don’t know for a fact that Pioli’s (forcing Haley’s hand/being handcuffed by Hunt’s lack of interest in spending),” and it all resonated with me in one sense: speculation.

I'll say this one final time: I mean no disrespect to anyone locally or nationally when I say that; it's just my opinion.

Friday morning: With all of these layers, the entire notion is really pretty soap opera-y, and in essence, foolish, but if you strip it down, it really freaking matters. The brass trifecta of Hunt, Pioli, and Haley, has to get along; they have to be on the same page, or the thing won’t work. And at the core of it all lays the ultimate exposure to the pain threshold and tolerance level of Chiefs Nation. At least for my generation. In the early-mid ‘80s, it was a given that the Chiefs would field a crappy team every year, and it didn’t weigh too heavy on us. Our fathers and uncles would close their eyes and shake their heads with gentle disappointment, still not too far removed from the great Chiefs teams for whom they had season tickets at Municipal Stadium, for whom they hosted playoff parties in their first-purchased homes.

I used to hear my mom say, game after game, season after season that “they need to fire the entire front office.”

Then, one day, they did. Well, some of them, anyway. We had our run with Carl and Marty, and if you think back on it, Carl’s infamous five-year plan was pretty accurate; in his fifth year, we were a game removed from the Super Bowl. The problem was that it was mostly downhill after that, and, following the trend, ownership kept a regime in place far too long.

I say mostly downhill because coming off the heels of that fifth year, Kansas City entered a span where within nine years, the Chiefs thrice went 13-3, had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and a first-round bye, only to get bounced in their first post-season contest. These contests, of course, would be: the Lin Elliot game, the lone post-season meeting with the Denver Broncos where they came in as a Wildcard, greased in road-cooking officiating, and cheated their way to victory, and the Colts game under Dick Vermeil in which there were zero punts.

Vermeil’s retirement was inevitable. Hell, he didn’t want to come out of it in the first place. Rather, it appeared he was doing his ol' pal Carl a favor. A favor to save Carl's ass. A favor that came with a big giant paycheck. And it almost worked, too. Almost. I thought he was a great coach. Unfortunately, the defense was way too neglected, the essential opposite of Marty (Editor’s Note: We’re not forgetting you, Coach Cunningham. We’re just in a hurry, and your .500 record over two seasons is, frankly, small beans in the massive chili pot.). And I’ll never forget Carl’s press conference when he hired Vermeil’s successor.

Verbatim (or at least very close), he said, “I believe this young man to be the premiere coach in the National Football League. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the new head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Herman Edwards.”

You could not hire the most talented team of script writers in all the Hollywoods to come up with famouser last words than those.

The point of it all is this: In the ‘80s, we channeled our inner Andy Dufresne, and “crawled…through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can't even imagine, or maybe I just don't want to. Five hundred yards... that's the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.”

In the ‘90s, we saw the first of two biblical passages replace The Shawshank Redemption, the initial one being the story of Abraham, where Chiefs fans and all of their long-term suffering finally saw a plant bear fruit, only to be asked by a higher power to sacrifice its bearings out of faith. Next, we became Job, quiet in our hope that righteousness would prevail even as God destroyed our flocks (made us suffer through Greg Robinson defenses), burned our herds (gave us Larry Johnson), stole our camels (Willie Roaf, Will Shields), knocked down our homes (hired Herman Edwards), killed our offspring (kept Carl in the fold), and cast our faces with boils (most of Herman’s draft picks). Yet, in faith, we sat. And waited. And waited.

And finally, with Clark now in charge, a ray of sunlight forced its way through the thick den of clouds, and we were given Pioli, who begot us Haley, who doubled the win total of Herman’s final campaign and showed improvement en route. And our perseverance was rewarded with a 10-win campaign (easy schedule, albeit), and a playoff berth. It didn’t end pretty, but it was as though we could smell the abundant crops in our fields, hear the echoing laughter or our dozens of healthy children playing in the pasture, our gorgeous spouses by our sides, our bank accounts flush with cash.

In a flash, though, a storm in the form of 89-10 rumbled in and lingers, booming and cackling overhead, all of us aware that in one fell unleashing, all of our everything could be destroyed. So we sit, and we wait once more.

I can do this no longer.

I have no patience left in me to wait, season after season, for all the chips to fall in line. It’s a bad front office, it’s a bad coach, a tough schedule, a season full of injuries, an unbalanced team, poor personnel, stacked competition. It’s always something. For, literally, decades, we’ve been putting on our dunce caps and our donkey ears, squinting our eyes and sticking out our buck teeth as we, in unison, say, “Next year…”

This was supposed to be it. The Pioli. The Haley. The Clark that made both happen. Winning championships. Starting now. No more shenanigans.

And now what? Pioli and Haley don’t get along? How can that be? How can you be stamped as the top general-manager prospect in the nation, and make your first hire a guy with whom you might not coexist well? You’re surrounded by football people from several generations that have histories of working with him. I find it impossible that the homework was not done in this situation. I find it preposterous that Haley’s job is in jeopardy.

I find it ridiculous that this rumor’s wings bear such strength, and even more, I find it insufferable should the wait for a Lombardi have encountered yet another obstacle. I can’t do it. I can’t wait for another hire, sit through another rebuild, and wait for draft picks to pan out (or not) once more. This run had the silver lining. It had the young blood in charge, the new face running the show, the jerk (My pal Old No. 7, when I said, “I don’t know if I like Haley; he seems like a jerk” upon his hiring, replied, “Dude, jerks might be jerks, but they win championships.”) with the headset, the perfect match to assemble talent.

I can’t wait around for a reload, and I certainly can’t pick a new team. If this thing blows up, I might have to walk away from football, which means, in a sense, I’ll have to rewire a serious portion of my life. And believe me: I don’t know the first thing about electricity.
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Monday Miscellany: Thousand-Story Picture

Love it. Good, good times.

(photo courtesy of David Eulitt of The Kansas City Star) Read more

Wednesday Whatnot: Hells to the Yeah

Haven't had reason to get fired up about the Chiefs for a lil' bit. This cures what ails:




(courtesy of Josh Looney)
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Oops, He Did It Again

New Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis and Head Coach Todd Haley held a conference call with the media today to introduce Weis. The audio and transcripts are available here, but what's most important is the transcript leaves the most important phrase out of the introductory paragraph. Have a look:

"As I’ve been sitting for the last month or so at home looking at the NFL and studying the different teams in the NFL, one of things that was really important to me was, as I was looking for a new opportunity, I wanted to go somewhere where fit was the number one criteria. There are several teams out there that are in a hunt for different types of coaches but there had to be a mutual fit, and my relationship with Todd and my relationship with [General Manager] Scott [Pioli] and several other people in the organization just made Kansas City look as one of the prime landing spots for me *and as the process went through and this matriculated* I couldn’t be any more pleased to join this organization. Philosophically, what Todd has expressed to me coincides so closely with how I see things in the big picture that this marriage just seemed a very, very simple and plain one. I’m very, very excited to be a part of a growing process that has been started here in the last year. I’ve been able to watch the team from afar for the last month and gain more familiarity and I’m really anxious to get to work."

The Chief rule is...

...that Thou Shalt Not Keep our Famously Misused Words from Our Blessed Ears. If Weis wants to re-invent the official Stram dialogue, so be it.
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Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah. Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah. Hey, Hey, Hey. Good-Bye

As per Pro Football Talk, and the Chiefs Web site, the inverted-vagina symbol has finally gotten his wish.

Let the speculations begin on where he will wind up. Houston? Seattle? Tampa? I dunno. Let's be glad, though, people. Let's be glad.
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My Sports Life is a Rock Hip Hop Song: "Bionix"

Yo. How it be? I can't remember the last time we pulled out one of these features. I'm not even sure our archives are set up to go that far back. Like most of our series at one time or another, though, we're way overdue, and so we hope you enjoy this attempt to meld sports and music. Chances are you'll think it's super-dope lame, so if that's the case I'll apologize in advance. Truth be told, in case you were wondering, this song popped on the other day from the ol' iPod, and I'd just been wondering how long it's gonna take for De La to put out A.O.I. III. I mean, Christ -- ain't like we been waitin' eight years already. So, yeah. It was that and the fact that I couldn't bear to look at Cedric Benson's face anymore.

So this post goes out to the possibility of the new regime getting win number two this weekend when Norv and Marm' come to town. Rock it.

"Welcome to the second installment..
Y'all know my name so we ain't gotta get into alla that
Y'all know the deal
This is KC Chiefs part two, and we call this one Pialey
And as y'all always know, we gon' hit y'all with that KC shit
Yeah.. yeah..



Uh (better) yea (better, stronger)
Yea (better, stronger, faster)
Yea..

[Scott]



Ladies and gentlemen, we in the trench again
Makin' it a new team for you, and y'all deserve one, too
I'm introducin it, throw a little juice in it
Got rid of all that bullshit,



hope you weren't too used to it.

It's been a minute now, only a minute now
A little re-evaluatin', hope you feel me now.
I'm on some new me, focused on the new tree



Tryin to shake the money off the limbs for all them salary.

[Carl]



I blame the fans for it, I heard demands for it
Left for USA Football, they holdin' out they hands for it
Went to the youth, these kids are tryin' ta' dance for it
Ask for it after Todd brings you out of the break

[Todd]

Before we go any further, we wanna send a special thanks...

...to all those folks out there that been supportin KC since '89...

...Now that's a long time...

...Overseas, city to city, state to state...

...Yeah, we gon' keep bringin it live to you...

[Matt]



Unlike these underground MC's who rock for heads



We include the throat chest arms and legs.
No need throw a massive party to show you I'm here for a Lombardi.
I cultivate moves larger than that
And I don't ball too much, ya' dig
I gotta ball and chain at my crib who want my ass home
My heart beat USC metronome,
But I can adapt to where I'm at.
And even though I'll toss it sick to beat the blue,



I'm not a crip
So unlike Donkey fans I won't salute to look hip



But if I had to join a gang I'd join the Nation
Me, you, 48 of 50 states makes a huge creation
That drive cross style-country style, drivin' the short-bus mile



Hot and mild and I don't like my Sake tame
Drink a dozen cans of Life no weight I gain
We them champ type dishin' The 53 to make you love

...yeah kids...

Just a little taste how we gon' get things started in a minute
Sit back, get your gear on straight
Whether you're ridin' in a Escalade or a Pinto son, turn that shit up
Oh remember championship II comin soon, on some LJ shit
Yeah -- we about to get this shit poppin'..."
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Wednesday WhatYouWill: Start Making Sense

I think most Chiefs fans would agree on two things so far: 1) It's great that week one in Baltimore was not a complete route, and 2) It was great to see the team dominate the Oakland Raiders, and atrocious, albeit not that surprising, to watch them lose that game at home. Beyond that, there isn't a whole lot that folks can file under the tab of agreeance. As I mentioned Monday, Bill Maas has stirred up quite the flavorful broth, and I, for one, love it. It isn't a matter of who Maas' source is, or whether or not his slant is correct. What it suggests, on the other hand, is that Todd Haley might be committed to the notion of every position on this roster being a must-earn job. Even the quarterback slot. It's not atypical of a coach to say this when honing his 53-man roster, but it is uncommon for a coach to mean it when it comes to the quarterback position; most head honchos will tab their guy, and make every effort to dispel the notion (among fans and media) of a quarterback controversy. Why this scenario could be unique in Kansas City, after the jump.

1) Pioli-Haley Relationship

Scott Pioli was hired by Clark Hunt on January 13 after a largely quiet, yet allegedly thorough search for the right candidate that was nothing less than a shrewd evaluator of football talent, a person skilled enough to bring championship-caliber competition to the organization. While the playoffs (playoffs?) continued, and Pioli still did not have his head coach tabbed, it began to appear that Arizona Cardinals Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley was Pioli's top choice. Five days (Feb. 6) after the Super Bowl, Haley was in fact hired. Photos of Hunt, Pioli, and Haley were taken. Press conferences were held. Articles were written, and bold statements under the umbrella of championship football, were made. The key phrase -- one that has been repeated over and over again -- centered around the notion of "not the best 53 guys, but the right 53 guys" will make this team. And so it went.

2) Cassel Signing

Ironically, the number 22 now comes into play for a couple of reasons. Chiefs left guard Brian Waters wanted to meet with his new bosses. Apparently he was disrespected. Some speculated that Waters might've been treated as expendable by the new brain trust. Several printed that Haley told Waters, "I could take 22 guys off the streets and win two games," which is of course a reference to the illustrious 2-14 2008 Chiefs team record, and to some, confirmation of the rumor that Todd Haley is a complete jerk. Twenty-two is also significant because that is exactly how many days after Pioli hired Haley, that Pioli sent a second-round draft pick to New England in exchange for Mike Vrabel and Matt Cassel. Much like the speculations of Haley being Pioli's guy, it was widely rumored that Pioli was interested in pulling the trigger for Cassel before the move was actually made.

I got no beef with Cassel. Other than a horrible first half against the Raiders last week, he hasn't played nearly enough for me to form an opinion on him, but more on that in a minute. For the record, though, I'm not terribly concerned with Cassel's first-half-ending pass selection that conceivably prevented the Chiefs from attempting a field goal. What bothered me more were the two picks he threw, and what bothered me most were the multiple, ultimately drive-stalling throws at receivers feet. He can hopefully learn from making poor choices (the one pass and the INTs), but making awful throws to wide-open guys was nothing shy of frightening.

3) Elapsed Time of a Contract-less Cassel As a Chief

In my mind, one of the most peculiar things about the Cassel signing was how long it took for the Chiefs to sign him to a deal. Hours before the NFL draft started in April -- exactly two months after the Chiefs acquired Cassel -- it was widely reported that the Chiefs had signed Cassel to a huge deal, one comparable in numbers to those of Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford. Those reports turned out to be inaccurate. Nearly three months later, the deal was signed for real, a six-year, $63 million agreement. Many local media members felt that this deal was ridiculously unnecessary. The point, though, is that it took the franchise most of five months to make it happen. People wondered all the while why it took so long. When it was done, they wondered why the terms were what they were.

4) Cassel Contract

I've never been shy of proclaiming my love for Brodie Croyle as the Chiefs quarterback. I saw a moderate amount of film of him, purely by circumstance, before the 2006 draft happened, before he became a Kansas City Chief. The pick was immediately slammed by several local media members, specifically Cory "Cowboy" Anderson of KCSP 610 AM. His belief was in synch with numerous others that felt the guy's college numbers at Alabama were overrated, that his body of work in both Tuscaloosa and in high school was incomplete due to injuries. The latter part, of course, is true. I simply wanted the kid, along with his unmistakeably tangible arm and mind talents as a quarterback, to be given a shot on a good football team with a good offensive line, a good receiving corps, and a good running game. Since 2006, he has had neither.

He has a fragile body. That remains undisputed. What burns me though, is the repeated mentioning of his record as an NFL starter. When we assess quarterbacks, we seldom talk about wins right up front. We might mention that a guy led his team to this many wins, but ultimately, we're concerned with passing accuracy, TDs vs. INTs, pocket poise, leadership, and the specifics tied to the position. Wins is a category better left to starting pitchers in baseball. After Croyle's significant 2008 injuries, I figured he'd be gone from the team, perhaps the league, because frankly, very few are going to give such a guy another shot. But back to the contract.

The length and price tag associated with Cassel's contract were somewhat jaw-dropping. You throw a large pile of money like that at a mostly unproven kid, you'd better know what the heck you're doing. Anderson's slant on the thing was this: You didn't have to do that; you could've waited. He's right for one reason: the Chiefs could've waited. This wasn't a situation where the team had to draw up a long-term deal, and it certainly didn't have to be for all of those ($28 million) guranteed dollars. Even though it was peculiar that it took five months to get any kind of deal done, they were by no means obligated to pay him that type of cheddar. The flip side to the argument, however, boils down to confidence. You lock the dude up. You pay him like he's a top-tier young quarterback, and you clear his mind of worries of that nature; he can simply go out and play football to the best of his ability. Given that a) I don't like my Chiefs players distracted with off-the-field sorts of things, and b) the Chiefs were extremely below the salary cap for (roughly) the last 18 months, it made sense on most fronts to get it done. To most fans, it seems largely expensive, but what in the NFL isn't? Beer, parking, tickets, jerseys, the list goes on.

5) OTAs, Camp, and Pre-Season

Here's where things get interesting. Let's say that from basically spring through August, most media members, and occasionally even the head coach, whispered and sometimes spoke bluntly about the relatively consistent play of Brodie Croyle, and how it often-times appeared that he was out-performing Cassel. I didn't go to River Falls. I never attended a practice of any sort. I did attend one pre-season game, and watched most of the rest of them on TV. What I did see in the games mostly mirrored the typically faint suggestions that Cassel (at least in specific moments) didn't necessarily look like the best quarterback on this team. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Cassel and Croyle were, for the most part, equal, while fourth-stringer Matt Gutierrez looked second-best, and third-stringer Tyler Thigpen was last. That was the depth chart in my mind. Add to the mix the Thigpen trade rumors, and that depth chart makes even more sense.

So, when camp was broken, and it was time for the regular season to get underway, the general consensus was (and in many parts still is) this: Brodie Croyle is not a better quarterback than Matt Cassel. Matt Cassel will be the starter for this team. Nobody in their right mind benches a guy that is earning that kind of money. Throw in the sprained MCL that Cassel suffered in the Seattle pre-season game, though, and everything's up in the air again.

Brodie Croyle was taken off of the injured-reserve list on February 9 after tearing his MCL against the Tennessee Titans on October 19 of last year. The point of mentioning that is merely a time-frame reminder that Cassel joined the team 20 days after Croyle was deemed healthy enough to participate again at a professional level. Basically, both guys have had the exact same amount of time to prepare and compete for the starting job under the new Pioli/Haley regime. As the pre-season wound down, varying factors led to each of them starting in one of the team's first two regular-season games.

6) The Basis of Coaching = Competition at All Positions

I've said many, many times that Herman Edwards was a great man and a good coach, but very far from a great coach. In certain areas, he was a damn idiot. Game management is one. Establishing competition at all positions is another. See: Medlock, Justin. You have to do this at all positions. Edwards paid lip service to this notion, but seldom followed through. Every one knew, as sure as the sun rises, who Edwards' quarterback was going to be in almost every situation in which he was forced to consider it. What Todd Haley appears to be doing, is doing it the right way: forcing guys to compete for the starting job at every position, and even benching "should-be starters" when they under-perform. He's done it with Dwayne Bowe, Mark Bradley, Jamaal Charles, and it's speculated that he would like to do the same with Cassel. Again, I got no beef with Cassel, but if Haley thinks that right now, Croyle gives the Chiefs the better chance of winning a ball game, than let Brodie Bang.

7) Week One

Croyle's numbers: 16 of 24 for 177 yards, completion percentage of 66.7, 7.4 yards per attempt, 2:0 TD:INT, a rating of 116.1 against the eighth-best defense in the conference.

Sure. It's only one game.

8) Week Two

Cassel's numbers: 24 of 39 for 241 yards, completion percentage of 61.5, 6.2 yards per attempt, 1:2 TD:INT, a rating of 66.3 against the 11th-best defense in the conference.

Again: only one game.

9) Cassel vs. Croyle Pre-2009

It's true that Brodie Croyle has not won an NFL game as a starter. Neither have the other 48 guys that dressed with him on those nine-some occasions. It's true that he has been hurt, hurried, pressured, sacked, and razzled behind arguably some of the worst offensive lines in the league. It's also true that, in 16 games last year, Matt Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record. He did so while leading the league in sacks behind arguably one of the best offensive lines in the league and with arguably the best receiving corps in the NFL. If you look at pre-pro numbers however, you'll see that, in two high school seasons, Croyle threw for 6,625 yards and 82 touchdowns. In 2003, his first year as a starter at Alabama, he started all 11 games, threw for 2300 yards and 16 touchdowns, and did so while twice separating the same shoulder and cracking two ribs. Two seasons later, he went 202 of 339 for 2500 yards, 14 touchdowns, and a new low school-record 1.18 interception percentage.

Matt Cassel, on the other hand, played football and baseball in high school. As a senior, he was ranked the number eight quarterback in the nation. He was also his team's punter. At USC, he backed up Carson Palmer. When Palmer won the Heisman in 2002 and moved on, Cassel lost the starting-job competition to Matt Leinart, forcing Cassel to play a little tight end, a little wide receive, and even some halfback. His career USC passing totals are 19 of 33 for 192 yards, no touchdowns and one INT. Leinart, who hasn't been able to knock of the 38-year-old Kurt Warner for the starting job in Arizona, has a worse career TD:INT ratio and a worse completion percentage in the NFL than Brodie Croyle.

10) Haley's Presser Yesterday

The significance of Todd Haley's press conference yesterday is that he did not do the expected. He did not toss out the typical ringing endorsement of his starting quarterback, who everyone -- myself included -- agrees for the moment, is Matt Cassel. There, as I've mentioned, is speculation that Haley believes that Croyle gives the Chiefs the better chance to win, that he wants to start Croyle. Said speculation also says that Pioli is vetoing such a desire. Haley was put on the spot three times yesterday, given three opportunities to sweep away quarterback-controversy germinations, and he jumped at neither. Instead, he spoke of three different cities -- New York with Glenn Foley and Vinny Testaverde; Dallas with Drew Bledsoe and Tony Romo; and Arizona with Leinart and Warner -- in which he was part of the coaching staff, and the coaching staff opted to go with either the less-expected or the lesser-paid quarterback. In each situation, it didn't appear to the public to be the best choice. In each situation, it turned out to be the right choice.

My stance then is this: I'd love for Croyle to get the shot to be the starter again, but only if he deserves it. I'd love to know that my head coach has the ability to make that decision without interference from his boss. I'd love to know that his mantra of top performers start at each position really means each position. I think that's a great foundation on which to build a team. A winning team at that.
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Sunday Sleep Deprivation Summary

Alright. Let's not fool around. There's no sleep deprivation symptoms going on right now. After being holed up in front of the computer for most of 12 hours for this draft, my eyes and my brain are fried, but I wanted to share this...

There are three videos up on the Chiefs Web site right now, and if you're a Chiefs fan, you should watch them. I'll explain why once you have. One is a Draft Q & A with Scott Pioli, one is with Pioli and Todd Haley as they discuss round one, and the other is just Haley talking about rounds three and four.



Ah, ah, ah. Don't be cheatin'. Get back there and watch 'em.

Okay. Here's the deal. Actually, let's bullet point this:

* Everybody was freaking the funk out about the Chiefs pick, i.e. "Why didn't they make trades," "What was with the Dorsey trade rumors," "I can't believe it's not butter," etc.

* Everybody just needed to calm the flock down.

* If, having watched those videos, you don't think that these dueling brains are 400,000 times the improvement over what's been in place for the past 10 years, then you, my friend, are insane.

* For all of the bashers, I gotta give Carl Peterson respect for the job he did, or attempted to do, in his time in Kansas City.

* Having said that, Scott Pioli is going to make him look like a mental dwarf.

* I imagine fewer busts, fewer emotional ties when it comes to keeping guys around, and frankly, that includes draft choices, which was, in my nimble-minded opinion, Peterson's biggest crutch. That is, he was frequently guilty of the mentality that said, "Hey -- we went out and drafted this guy on the first day (or what have you), and we, of course, are smart, so that means it's worthwhile to keep this guy around. We'll wait and see what happens, even if that means five Ryan Sims years.

* The other thing that Pioli demonstrated to me, in those clips, is tolerance. That is, he understands the nature of the beast that is the media. If a reporter asks him why he took Joe Schmoe, he doesn't get all fiery-eyed and act the fool. He answers the questions because he knows they're coming, and he doesn't care.

* The most important thing, though, is that he seems to be the Clark Hunt model (hence the hire) of a shrewd evaluator of football talent. That's not to say that Peterson wasn't. Peterson, as we all know, was a great businessman. Pioli, however, will build something better between the hash marks.

* The line of those three clips goes to Haley, though. He appears in two of the three PCs, and in two of them, the question of "Did you plan to draft this much defense, or did it just fall to you that way" was asked a solid three times. On the last occasion, Haley offered his best attempt at patience/PC when he said, "Obviously, if you been around here a little bit, you had some trouble stoppin' people." That's about the nicest way you can possibly say that Herman and his crew should wear crash helmets for their own safety.

* So, I gotta be honest: I was hoping for some front seven, some O-line, and a receiver. They gave us two front seven, an O-line (even if it is home-grown), some secondary, a receiver, a tailback/special-teamer, and hell, a tight end they probably won't even break camp with. And of course a kicker with that last pick in the draft. Remember when we took Medlock in the fifth? Oh, boy. Those were delicious times.

And of course, they've already signed like five undrafted free agents. As Pioli repeatedly said, "The work's not done. There's a lot of ground to cover." He also said they feel good about the ground they covered this weekend. And I do, too. It's a bit hard -- but, come on, we all do it -- to have specific expectations for a draft. It's like going to see your favorite band play a concert and hoping they play X,Y, and Z (Editor's Note: Unless it's Rush, and you want them to play "YYZ." That's entirely different scenario altogether.). If they don't play it, you're bummed. You're the guy in the lot saying, "I dunno. It was alright, I guess," while 10,000 others are walking around with best-show-ever looks on their faces that you just don't understand.

Funny thing is, I had (Note: I said it was tough.) expectations, even though I knew better. Funniest part is that they were met. I'm not grimacing over any of our picks, and at the same time, I'm not drinkin' any Kool-Aid or ready to stamp the approval on the draft as a whole. I just feel good about it moving forward, and am ready to see how things develop this summer. In closing, I'll leave you with one final bullet point:

* You know all of those rumors about Todd Haley being tough, those allegations about him being an a-hole and a jerk, all those clips of him getting in the faces of his players. Well, I'm convinced of one thing: They are fucking real.

Not just that, but like, hard core, legions removed from football real. Having watched Haley footage, sleep-deprived and frizzle-fried, I'm officially kind of afraid of him. Like, he might be the guy that jams his car in park and gets out to stab you in the neck with a broken-off No. 2 pencil if you piss him off in traffic. Insult him at the stadium? You just signed off on three quarts of simmering cups of hot cocoa down your jersey. Gonna be inappropriate towards his family? I hope you like being rolled up in a paisley throw rug and finding yourself nestled at the bottom of the Missouri. I'm going to lay my head down on the pillow feeling confident that that guy has a dark, buried mafia background somewhere, and I'll sleep soundly knowing that I don't know him.

Good night. Go Chiefs, and whatnot.
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