The season is officially over. Every
NFL fan that wasn't rooting for the Ravens turns their focus back to
their own team today, and wonders what could bring them to the next
Big Game. Chiefs fans, however, are already accustomed to spending
their days waiting and debating over major moves for their franchise.
The upcoming weeks and months will be heavy with anticipation. All
the stats and breakdowns and in-depth analysis in the world can never
truly show fans what the Chiefs will be in 2013. There is plenty of
content to analyze, plenty of moves to critique, but nothing will be
known until Week 1 of the 2013 season. I wish I didn't use that line
about holding your breath already. Is it too early to recycle that
one?
In case you weren't paying attention,
the Chiefs cleared house and rebuilt a coaching staff in a matter of
weeks, with most of the moves coming before the legendary Har-Bowl.
Let's look at the current staff in Philly for the sake of comparison:
On the team's website, the Eagles list
Chip Kelly as their head coach, former Eagle Duce Staley as a special
teams quality control coach, Ted Williams as the running backs coach
and Keith Gray as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
That's it. The Eagles have so-far made moves to hire a head coach, a
running backs coach and two other assistants. In that time, KC added
19 new members to the coaching staff and retained veteran coaches
Emmitt Thomas and Gary Gibbs. It took the Chiefs four days to hire
Andy Reid after Philadelphia let him loose. It took the eagles twelve
days to find another head coach. After hiring Reid on the 7th
of January, the Chiefs took only four days to announce the hiring of
a new offensive and defensive coordinator. The Eagles have yet to
fill either position. Just seven days after choosing their new head
coach, the Chiefs' staff listed a new GM, all new coordinators and a
nearly full roster of freshly-hired assistants. Essentially, Kansas
City rebuilt their program in a week. The process isn't completely
over, but the bulk of the work was done before they crowned a
champion in New Orleans.
The way Mr. Hunt dove into the market
reveals a courage and wisdom for which Chiefs fans in the past gave
him little credit. The work isn't over, but a positive impression has
been made.
The exciting, confettiful ending to the
Super Bowl marks a huge moment for Chiefs fans. At this very second,
a Chiefs employee is on the phone with someone, somewhere, trying to
bring Alex Smith to Kansas City. The fight is on between KC,
Cleveland and other NFL bottom-feeders to find their new franchise
QB. But, regardless of whether Smith starts for the Chiefs next year
or not, the franchise knows it needs improved protection for the QB.
The offensive line is loaded (with or without franchise-tagging
Brandon Albert) with talent and youth, much like the rest of the
team. All KC should need is a talented, young coach to mentor them,
right? Let's hope so.
Andy Heck-
this Fargo native offers 20 combined seasons of NFL O-Line
experience- 11 years as a player for the Redskins, Seahawks and
Bears, and 9 from a long tenure as the offensive line coach in
Jacksonville. There, Andy did what the rest of the Jaguars did- he
wallowed in mediocrity for most of a decade. The numbers aren't
impressive. The Chiefs allowed 8 more sacks than the Jaguars did last
year, but only Indianapolis allowed more hits on their QB. According
to Advanced NFL Stats, the Jags' offensive line earned a lower
overall ranking than the Chiefs' line for the last five years.
The stat's don't signify much of an
improvement from this hire, but Heck's never coached an offensive
line like the one taking the field for KC next year. Andy Reid shows
a lot of faith here by hiring him from an almost-always-crappy
franchise and giving him a chance to play a huge role in a totally
rebuilt offense. While the two Andys prepare this offense for 2013,
Chiefs fans and employees alike will simply have to trust the 'Stache
with this odd decision. Maybe Reid just thinks he fits perfectly with
the new assistant offensive line coach. Which is a totally smooth
segue that brings me to...
Eugene Chung- here,
we have another example of Andy Reid sticking with what's
comfortable. New England drafted Chung 13th
overall in the '93 draft, and after three years with the Pats, Eugene
played a season each with Jacksonville and Indy. From there, Chung
went on to coach under Reid for three years as an offensive line
assistant.
The
Chiefs roster includes Pro Bowl tackles Eric Winston and Brandon
Albert, as well as Jon Asamoah, Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson-
three raw, athletic, young linemen drafted no later than the 3rd
round. Those draft picks need to make a difference out on the field,
and they need to do it this year. Chiefs fans should all be hoping
beyond hope that these two coaches realize just how important their
roles will be to the team's chances. It doesn't matter if we pick up
Alex Smith or Colin Kaepernick or Tom Brady- if we can't keep our new
quarterback safe in the pocket, this team will continue to fail.
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