Chiefs add linebacker

(1) We're 5-games in - it's not uncommon for a team or two every year to jump out of the gate 4-0 or 5-0 only to be brought back to down to earth shortly thereafter (2) Comparisons between Denver and KC's teams last year are absurd; KC was a disaster, Denver was much much better off. (3) KC has been playing the toughest division in football, Denver has had a much easier schedule [12-13 combined W-L record vs. 15-9. (Cincy had them beat if not for a ridiculously lucky ricochet). (4) to say the Falcons "drafts a QB, signs a RB and boom, next year they are in the playoffs." is a ridiculous oversimplification of events. Atlanta had several years of solid drafting - players that start and/or contribute on a regular basis - leading up to taking Ryan in 2008. KC has had several years of pisspoor drafting. To say "Look! Atlanta turned it around in a year! KC can to!" is a tired, over-simplistic statement. KC unfortunately must now make up for several years of Herm & Carl mistakes, it won't happen over night, nor will it happen in 5-games.

Detroit is "showing more life than we are" - yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Detroit wins for the first time since the early 80's and suddenly they're "showing life". Great. That's a skill you just don't hear enough of these days - the ability to watch 15-seconds of ESPN highlights and determine a team is suddenly "showing life" or not. Beautiful.

Sure you cannot make definitive statements this early. But, I think the larger point Old Chief was making is that the Chiefs are still on the wrong track as far as management/ownership/coaching is concerned. Not to be a smartas#, I think he makes some good points. Something I tried to say a few months ago, the Chiefs need to do more as an organization to win. Look, the Broncos stripped everything down to build again when they realized they didnt have a shot. Parcells and Dimitroff brought a new era, a new way of doing business for those teams - as did McDaniels for Denver. The Chiefs have not taken nearly as strong action with a much worse record than Denver over the last two years. In comparison, the chiefs tinkered abit, they were late with coaching and management changes, they missed out on alot. I would be furious if I were a Chief fan. I challenge any chief fan to say with a straight face, "We did everything we could during the off season, I am happy with the direction of this team"

just what we need. Believe it or not, I'm fairly sure Pioli knows a hell of a lot more than you do about putting a team together. Your version is looking at the Yahoo top 50 FA's and jumping up and down that he needs to flush big money down the toilet on the top 10 over-priced FAs on that list. If he doesn't, nit-wits like you spit "He's not doing everything he can to win!".
I'll give him a couple years to show some improvement - but my guess is this team will be much improved by the 2nd half. He's done it before, and he was brought in to replicate that success with his system, not yours.
Just admit it - the reason you liked the poorly written article to begin with was it ragged on KC, but much of what was written was uninformed ranting (maybe YOU wrote it?), like we "missed out" on McDaniels. Denver hired McDaniels BEFORE Pioli was brought in as GM. It sounds like you expected Hunt to hire the coach, then GM? Wrong. Hire the GM, the GM hires the coach. So they didn't "miss out" he was already hired by the Donkeys.
But getting back to the initial point, YES, I like the direction the team is moving in. They have way, way too many holes to fill to ever expect they'd have 1-year turnaround. Only an uninformed idiot/blustering Bronco fan would expect that. KC dumped Herm and Carl - that's a huge step in the right direction. They brought in the best GM in the game. They assembled a good coaching staff. They signed who they hope is a franchise QB, and have several solid core players to build around (Albert, Flowers, Cassel, Bowe, at al). They have years of Edwards/Peterson mistakes to make up for, that's just a fact.
But, seriously, you probably work on the french fry machine at McDonalds and live in your parents basement and for some reason feel that makes you qualified to deem Pioli's moves as "tinkering" and Denvers "stripping everything down"! BS - like I said before, KC was in much, much worse condition than the Broncos. 2-14 if a far cry away from 8-8.
I'm going to love to see Denver come back to earth - 5-games in (3 against cupcakes) and you're printing Super Bowl tickets - genius. I'm going to love seeing SD kick Denver's ass this Monday night.

You obviously arent a Chiefs fan. We had to go through years of Peterson saying he was "doing everything he could" Apparently that consisted of us signing overpriced veterans to cap killing contracts that allowed us to go 8-8 every year, just missing the playoffs but allowing us a crappy draft pick. Am I pleased with the Chiefs record right now? Obviously no, we havent won a game. But to even make a determination on the direction of the organization as a whole is very short sighted. You cant base a direction on a couple months of work. I feel as though the team bottomed out at the end of last year, and our direction is headed up. While our record clearly doesnt reflect that now, I think by the end of the season it will.

It is amazing how much punishment people can take. If you are not outraged you really don't understand what is happening. I wish you guys could do something, it would be nice to have a real rivalry while I live here, but this organization has no clue and most chiefs just say, hey we are trying, herm is tryin, pioli is trying......give us sometime. I think it is working. Dooomed, I tell you, doomed! Some franchises are just destined to suck.

KC BRONCO

I should also thank you for helping me kill time on a Friday, just a half hour more. Thanks again!

I know you are just trying to stir up an argument here, but to say a franchise is doomed because they havent went to the playoffs in 2 years is a little ridiculous. (when was the broncos last playoff appearance?) The Broncos did what they needed to do over the offseason, which was bring in some veterans to help a team that went 8-8. The Chiefs are doing what they need to do and establish a team that has lost its identity the last 2 seasons. Anyone who is completely outraged over the beginning of this season obviously doesnt understand what is happening. There were no expectations for this year, a one year turn around would have been nice, but its not realistic. If I were a Broncos fan right now, I would be more focused on getting through the varsity part of the schedule with the hopes for a playoff birth, and not worry about how the Chiefs rebuiding is going. If I remember correctly, the Broncos started out 4-1 last year, how'd that go for them in the playoffs?

Yes, the broncos were last in defense last year, but they obviously had some talent on there to go 8-8. It appears that it may have been a coaching problem. With the Chiefs, it has been a combination of coaching and lack of talent, which is what caused a 2-14 season. When you are 8-8, its not that much of a stretch to add some pieces and get to 10-6 or 11-5, when you are 2-14, its going to take more time. As far as the Dolphins example, they were 6-10, went 1-15, then bounced back after Tom Brady was hurt for the year, Brett Favre was playing hurt for the Jets while Mangini was doing what he could to destroy that organization. I guess the point Im trying to make is EVERY SITUATION is unique. You cant just say "well they did it" to try to make a point that the Chiefs should be able to do it. And its not like we arent in games, people act like we are losing by 50 points every single game. Between the Ravens, Raiders, Eagles, Giants and Cowboys, we've been outscored by a total of 54 points. There are teams getting beat by that amount in one game. Its been a brutal schedule, we've played tough (minus the second half of the eagles game and the 4th quarter of the raiders). We gave Carl Peterson 20+ years to destroy us, lets at least give these guys a year to try and rebuild.

..that I don't disagree with a single thing Old Chief said. We're in a sad state of affairs right now. One one side I think we're seeing the reality of the situation whereas Denver, Miami and Atlanta just had the cards fall in the right places. Not saying that excuses KC, though.

I agree completely, but didnt he sign with the Cowboys on Tuesday?

"he was among the team leaders in special teams tackles" (Cowboys).

This team needs all the help it can get. Who cares if they happened to play for NE at one point.

This must really not like this guy.

I'm really starting to get frustrated with how they're handling DJ. To me, he seems to be a talented player that should be on the field. I know he was injured but he should be fine by now. The fact Haley won't even answer direct questions about it makes me think there is some sort of personal vendetta going on...which makes no sense. More and more of the things I'm seeing this organization do doesn't make sense...

None of us are on the coaching or training staff, we have no idea the extent of DJ's injury. He could be really messed up, but Haley isnt going to broadcast that because it would hurt his trade value. I know that he has played sparringly on special teams, but Im going to differ to the coaches on this decision. Who cares how much talent a player has anyways, the question is can he play the game? If sports were based on talent alone, every player on the And 1 teams would be in the NBA, but none are, talented athletes still need to know how to play the game.

It seems to me that this coaching staff places extremely high value on guys who work hard and bust their tail in the weight room and on the practice field. DJ has never been known to have great work ethic and even worse practice habits, so it stands to reason that he's not going to mesh well with the new staff. Herm allowed guys to get by on talent alone, and DJ's coaches allowed the same thing when he was at Texas, so he's not used to being held accountable for his actions, amid expectations that he actually work hard, and not just coast on natural athletic ability. Unless DJ changes his attitude and work habits, I can't see him being a member of the team next year . . .

D. Bowe was the same kind of player that DJ is now (had gotten by on natural talent), but it looks as though Bowe has gotten the message, has kept his mouth shut and worked hard. You'll notice that he seems to be out of the doghouse now, whereas DJ is still in it. Put two and two together, and it becomes obvious why DJ hasn't been on the field . . .

Both of those responses are pretty good points I didn't think of. I can't say as if I know how well DJ's work ethic is, but if its true its not that great, I can understand why he would be in the doghouse. I guess they would rather push to get people they want then to settle for a good player that contradicts the type of player they want.