LOVE that Joker!! Just like the Joker in the old Batman movie, you just gotta love old Andy Reid! He's handing out money just like the Joker did, throwing it in bundles off the float in the Gotham City parade. If you are one of the myriad Chiefs fans that have hated the last few years of low spending on players (maybe even one of those who likes to call the Chiefs the cheaps to define your sufference) you simply gotta love what is happining right now. Clear the decks, here comes the guy with the money bags! Wooooo-hooo!
That is, until you really look around and see just what the money is buying. If you actually, you know, do that--well, you just might not be quite so happy about it. In fact, if you look back into Chiefs history a little bit, you just might recognize a time when we did something similar to what's happening now. The good part is that it led to the most successful five year period in Chiefs history post Joe Montana. The bad part is that the success of which I speak, that looked sooo promising, led to exactly one playoff game in five years and yes, the Chiefs lost it.
Sorry folks, but color me skeptical. We just made a very expensive trade for a guy who can't even wear the proper clothing to a press conference? We've already had a QB that wanted to play baseball (Matt Cassel was actually chosen in the MLB draft ya know). Why do we need another? For my money there isn't a nickel's worth of difference between Smith and Cassel, yet we sent Cassel packing (just confirmed this morning) and brought in a guy who's contract will cost MORE than Cassel's would have and then cost us 2 second round draft picks to boot. So far, Reid is spending like a politician and guess what? It might not exactly be our money he's spending, but it will sure as hell be us that are left holding the bag as fans if this whole thing doesn't work out.
The five year period I alluded to in the opener was of course, the tenure of Dick Vermeil. I like Vermeil. I think he's a good coach. I also think that it is fairly well accepted that Vermeil (and King Carl) spent money trying to bring in enough aging vets to shore up the team in an effort to win NOW. They even did it to the detriment of choosing draft picks (that ultimately turned out to be average players) to fill skill positions. Hello Larry Johnson. The point is that the focus during the Vermeil years was on spending money on FAs to 'fix' short term problems in an effort to put together a team that could win in the short run, without much of a plan for the longer haul.
What did that 'plan' do for the Chiefs? Well, the team did benefit on the field in the form of playing better football, but an argument can be made that the better was nowhere near good enough. What sucks is that while Vermeil has had the most success as HC for the Chiefs since Montana, the reality is that Vermeil had two winning seasons, two losing seasons and one break even 8-8 season. During that five years, the Chiefs went to one post season game and lost to none other than Mr. Football himself (Peyton Manning). I don't know about you, but looking back on that time, I'd rather have had a coach with a longer term view who didn't leave the shelves bare when he left town.
I think an argument can be made that the seven seasons since Vermeil left town and those seasons corresponding trials and tribulations evidenced by the 38-74 record (.339 win percentage), can be, at least in part, attributed to a lack of forward looking planning by Vermeil and Peterson looking to win NOW. You can argue amongst yourselves about whether or not you think that was a good idea or not, but the reality is that it happened. While those years had some good games, I would much rather have seen someone building a longer lasting, quality oriented program that wouldn't have landed us in the worst three year stretch in team history since the league went to a 16 game schedule. Poor Herm. He wasn't the best at coaching and being left with no food in the talent panty, it's no surprise that he starved to death.
Look how similar the situation is shaping up to what happened under Vermeil. Vermeil had a hard on for a QB that missed out on getting to run Vermeil's last Superbowl winning team (AKA the Greatest Show On Turff--if you are unfamilar, you should really watch some youtube on that gem), namely Trent Green. Vermeil just knew that Green had the right stuff. The fact that Green had only played 23 games in the previous three years in the league with a record of 8-11 as a starter and a completion percentage well below 60.0% did not deter Vermeil in the least. He was convinced.
Andy seems just as convinced that Smith is his Trent Green. He went out of his way to throw the money and draft pick compensation to bring Smith to KC. The problem I see with it is that Smith has a considerable track record that Green didn't. Smith has a lot to prove in KC, particularly with the baggage he brings. This is much of my reason for being skepticle. In as much as Reid has this aura of being the guy who shines up QBs that can't really play enough to get something for them in a trade, wouldn't it be ironic if Harbaugh turned the tables on the walrus and made him the loser in this trade?
As it turns out, Green was indeed a decent QB. He threw for over 60% completion rate in all but his first season in Vermeil's offense, even throwing for over 4000 yards in three out of five years. To his credit, Dick picked a guy that could succeed in his offense. Has Andy done the same? Only time will tell. The concern is that even if Smith is Reid's successful version of Trent Green, all we got for the trouble out of Dicky V was one playoff loss in five years. Is that what the fan base is looking for in KC. My answer is no.
What of the other transactions we have seen in just the last few days? IMO, most are either just ok, ho-hum or down right confusing. There was an article in Arrowhead lines on Arrowhead Pride this morning from Grantland. It dicussed the Chiefs spending on their recent acquisitions in Anthony Fasano, Mike Devito and Chase Daniel. Here is a link to that article. I thought it was pretty accurate.
In my opinon, Fasano was the just ok signing. He is a decent player, but he is getting older and has lost a step if you listen to fans that watched him play over the last few years in Miami. I don't think he hurts our team, but he doesn't really go a long ways in making it markedly better either. I'm fine with the choice, but as the Granland article points out, we could most likely have gotten other players of the same quality for less.
Mike DeVito likely comes to us courtsey of our shiny new (ok he's old) DC, Bob Sutton. Bob came to the Chiefs from the Jets and you have to think that the connection had at least something to do with the choice. DeVito is a good player, but again we could have gotten players who were similar for less money given the FA market this year.
This brings us to Chase Daniel. My brother and I are both MIZZOU alums and we loved watching Chase play for the Tigers. We are split on his worth to the Chiefs however. He thinks that it'll be fine because Chase won't ever see the field anyway. I think it is a very puzzling choice. Why pay three million dollars to a backup that has virtually no playing time in the league? At least Brady Quinn had been a starter prior to his being picked up by KC. I didn't like the choice of Quinn back then, but at least you could say that the guy has played ball. What happens if Smith goes down with an injury (like he did in SF last year)? How comfortable will you be in handing him the keys to the season and telling him it's full of gas, don't wreck it? I'm not to happy with that at all. Again, we could have found someone with game experience for less money. I think this move is Andy Reid trying to win over the fan base with warm fuzzy's.
The Chiefs have been signing players almost since the season ended. The most noteable before the above three was Dunta Robinson. I like Dunta. He's a solid football player, but here again he is an aging vet with skills that we may or may not have been able to find a suitable replacement for at a lower price. I look forward to having Dunta as depth on our defense, but as with DeVito, he's a just a fill in player, that we overpaid for.
I know that for Chiefs fans that have been starved for excitement over the Pioli era, all this seems like WOW look what Reid is accomplishing. I'd say just look back at what Vermeil did and you get a pretty good idea. I believe that Reid is going for the wins right NOW. I have no objection to that, particularly if we can actually win a playoff game THIS year. In fact, for me, that is the only acceptable outcome for this upcoming season.
You see, this is not starting over with a rookie like Todd Haley. This is a veteran HC who should not have the learning curve to worry about. Reid understands what it takes to win and how to win. He's drawing his line in the sand right now. That fine, but for this fan, he better be right. I don't want to suffer through another five year window like Vermeil's with nothing to show but a bunch of feel good moments on TV from a HC who got close.
It's now 18 years and 57 days since the Kansas City Chiefs last won a playoff game. I'm tired of being led down the path only to find that the pot of gold was really a shitpot. What the hell, St. Patrick's day is just around the corner so I thought a reference would be alright. Reid is doing the necessary things. He's pulling in vets to shore up the levee's and he's telling the world how good Smith is. Have you seen his comments that he was trying to find the next Len Dawson? Or how about he's working to get Alex Smith into the HOF? While that stuff is necessary to keep Smith's positive train of thought (and I agree wholeheartedly with doing so), it sounds a lot more like a shitpot than a pot of gold to me.
All I know is that the last time we were anywhere close to being competitive in the playoffs, this is what it looked like.
If you remember that as I do, you should understand why I am skepticle. Don't tell me that Alex Smith is the next Joe Montana simply because he was a 49er. Please don't insult my intelligence. Alex Smith is Matt Cassel 2.0. A preponderance of the evidence can lead you to no other conclusion at this point. You can 'want' it to be different all you want, but that don't feed the bulldog.
I hope Reid is right, because 20 years without winning a playoff game is a whole lot closer to this franchise than I ever thought it would be. If that happens, it will be a travesty. If it happens, it makes us the verifiable, habitual bottom feeders that we are beginning to look like.
Yep, ya gotta love that Andy Reid. From me, it's gonna be tough love. Let's hope he knows what he's doing because this fan base is tired of putting up with crap. If this team underperforms out of the box this season, the effort from last year to fire Pioli is going to look like Childs play in comparison. Ticket sales are up by large numbers right now. It's a good thing because however this team performs, as many fans as possible need to be there to witness what the Chiefs spent their money on. Hero or goat, our path forward is set. Good luck Andy. We love you. Until you fuck it all up.
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