Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs
Maybe they were a bit grumpy after their long flights back from London, but there was plenty going on with the Chargers and Saints on Tuesday with their feet back on American soil.
Out in San Diego, the Chargers fired defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell (below), unhappy with the team’s performance on that side of the ball this season.
And in New Orleans, the Saints were back home but after unpacking, head coach Sean Payton blasted the NFL for some of the logistical problems his team faced getting back home from England.
First with the Chargers, where the trio on top of the franchise – Spanos/Smith /Turner – decided the results of losing to the Saints at Wembley Stadium 37-32 was enough. The Chargers defense was considered too passive and at most times played as if confused. Mistakes were not being corrected, in fact they kept happening.
“There are areas we just have to play better, we have to improve,” said head coach Norv Turner. “Over the next 10 days, those areas will be addressed and hopefully we can not only show improvement right away, but then continue to improve over the next eight games.
“There have been a lot of different situations where we feel we’re close and just not quite making the play or getting it done. That’s the areas we’re going to address.”
The Chargers next game comes on November 9 at home against the Chiefs.
Cottrell has been replaced by linebackers coach Ron Rivera, who was the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator from 2004-06. Rivera plans to be aggressive in his play-calling, though he was reluctant to talk about it.
“If I told you exactly how I was going to approach it I’d be telling Kansas City,” said Rivera.
Asked if it was correct to assume he would be more aggressive than Cottrell, Rivera said, “Correct.”
The only thing that got fired in New Orleans was some choice shots at the league office by Payton (below). The Saints head coach was upset with much of the logistics involved in playing the Chargers in London, especially the return flight home on Monday.
“The travel, transportation, those aren’t club issues, those are league issues,” Payton said. “We’ve been unable to figure that part of it out. When we play a game and we’re in a plane that’s over 30 years old, a day later and we have players sitting in (small) seats … I think they just have a lot of work to do to figure this thing out. It’s hard for me to s ay it’s a great experience and a great thing for your club.”
Payton went on to rip the playing surface, long bus rides during the week and a nearly two-hour bus ride on Monday to get to the departure airport.
The game was a “home” game for the Saints, but Payton ripped that as well.
“It isn’t for (New Orleans),” Payton said. “It isn’t for the local economy. It’s not for anyone. Call it a home game if you want for an away game. I don’t know what to call it, but there are just a lot of things in my opinion that need to be sorted out.”
Just a guess, but it’s doubtful Sean Payton will have to worry about playing any more international games once his comments land on desks at the NFL office in New York.
FROM THE PAGES OF CHIEFS HISTORY
On October 29, 1961 the Dallas Texans lost to the Boston Patriots 18-17 in front of 20,500 fans at the Cotton Bowl. Down 17-7 in the fourth quarter, the Patriots scored the game’s final 11 points to earn the victory. The Texans grabbed the lead on a pair of QB Cotton Davidson TD throws to WRs Chris Burford and Max Boydston. K Ben Agajanian had a 25-yard field goal for the other Dallas points. It all came down a 24-yard FG by Boston’s Gino Cappelletti on the final p lay of the game.
On October 29, 1978, the Chiefs lost to the Steelers 27-24 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Chiefs harassed the Steelers offense all afternoon, forcing a pair of interceptions and a fumble by QB Terry Bradshaw. But Pittsburgh got a pair of TD runs from Franco Harris and a 23-yard TD pass from Bradshaw to WR John Stallworth. The winning score came on a 17-yard fumble return for a TD by SS Donnie Shell, who scooped up the ball after it was lost by RB Horace Belton. The Chiefs got a pair of TD runs from RB Tony Reed and another from RB Arnold Morgado.
OPPONENT NEXT/TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Warrick Dunn, was has always been one of the NFL’s good guys, has written his autobiography and it sounds like a can’t miss read.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Daunte Culpepper was in Detroit for a workout on Tuesday; whether he signs a deal remains to be determined.
New Orleans G Jamar Nesbit filed suit Tuesday against the maker of a weight-loss supplement, alleging it was improperly spiked with a diuretic that is banned by the NFL.
AROUND THE AFC WEST
The Chargers axed defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell. See above and right here.
The Raiders have lost FB Justin Griffith for the season with a knee injury.
The Broncos are hoping to get their defense fixed this week.
And I’m also guessing that Sean Payton’s name won’t be on the short list of possible head coaches for the new NFL London franchise when that time comes? Good for Payton.
It takes some stones to stick your finger in the eye of the league but from the logistic descriptions, it sure sounds warranted. As to the slow implosion going on in SD, can we now start the office pool on how many more games Norv Turner gets before he feels the kick out the door? My over/under is 6 games and I’m taking the under.
I’m sure Marty has a big smile on his face…
My quess is that if our defense has another bad game this Sunday, that the Chiefs will follow the Chargers lead and fire Gunther. They have John Bunting on board and I think he will lead the D the rest of the year.
There is a wildfire on the loose in the NFL. Somebody better put it out!
“They have John Bunting on board and I think he will lead the D the rest of the year.”
- the Chiefs have John Bunting on board? Not that I’m aware of (& thank God for said, because . . . Bunting is the man who recommended to the Chiefs Dick Vermeil that KC draft…Ryan Sims.
Yup.
Bob, any update on whether LJ will be suspended?
Wilfork will be fined, not suspended.
Well when i look at the Chargers situation with their defense coord. it makes me wonder about what we (Chiefs) should do about ours. We made a change in our offensive coord. and this guy with the 3rd string QB is showing some signs of life. In only his first yr with the team. Everybody who knew football knew Mike Solari was a joke of an offensive coord.
Now as for our defense i’m wondering do a change need to be made with ours. Now granted under Vermeil regime Cunnningham didn’t have the personel to be successful. But now I look our defense and i see some talent. But why isn’t it producing a much better and more physical defense. Our defensive line is made up of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks. We have two talented outside linebackers. And our secondary is probably the only bright spot.
All I’m saying is Cunnningham hasn’t been maximizing the talent on the defense. We did some good things with Derrick Johnson against Denver then as far as blitz packages and things like that. But he hasn’t been used in the same situation since. In my opinion if this defense doesn’t get play better against the run and start to put more pressure on the quarterback against the past then maybe its time for us to make some changes to our defensive coord. as well.
To me its no excuse why they shouldn’t be better most of the guys on that side of the ball are 2nd or 3rd yr players. Why aren’t they getting better individually and why isn’t the defense geting better as a whole.
And somebody explain to me as bad as our offense been with change at offensive coord. this season they’re showing some life.
Granted our defense are creating turnovers but they’re not physical up front and they are missing alot of tackles against the run. Like I said maybe its time for us to make a move if this continues on the rest of the season
Always hard to evaluate a DC in this situation. With Herm as head coach, you never really know how much free reign the DC has. Gun may want to do some things different, but isn’t allowed to. Who really knows? As fiery as Tim Krumrie is, I still can’t believe he buys into the “tie up th OL” strategy. He is a “bust ‘em up” type of guy who would seem to want pentration and havoc on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
Anyway, my point is that sometimes it isn’t really the coordinators fault. Just his responsibility to fall on the sword.
No need to worry Chargers we will get you healthy at least for a week anyway.
We will be your doormat.
If we were to fire Gunther, I would be willing to put David Gibbs (our secondary coach) as DefCoord.
…why isn’t anyone giving Dick Curl any credit at all for Thigpen’s (perhaps temporary) success?
http://redstatechief.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/chiefs-qb-coach/
I lived in Chicago from 2005-this summer and I saw those Ron Rivera defenses the Bears had. He is a super hyper aggressive coordinator! Don’t know if he’ll fix the Chargers’ problems but I do believe they will be alot scarier in terms of blitz packages.
“…why isn’t anyone giving Dick Curl any credit at all for Thigpen’s (perhaps temporary) success?”
- perhaps folks feel that it would be ‘premature exclamation’ – i.e., it won’t last nee ‘stand up’ over time…
: O
First of all B in SC do you watch football. Our defense has had the same problem its had for the last 10years. Go look up the stats. Horrible against the run and can’t tackle. Even when Vermeil was here it was our defense that held us back. We’ve change personel since Herm got here and its still the same problem with the same guy running the defense. Its like my old Dist mgr use to say “there are to reason employees don’t succeed or excute their job well its either performance or training.”
And we’ve changed the personel and its still the same old problem. So at this point its got to be a training issue. All i’m saying Cunnningham has reigned over this defense even with personel changes and the same achilles heel that hunt us the last 10 yrs still exist poor tackling and horrible against the run. At some point we have to consider making a change if it doesn’t show some improvement.
Especially looking at how Gailey is improving our offense in only 8 games versus over 10yrs him being here. And u throw on top of that he’s got a third string quarterback in there..
First of all B in SC do not study football. Our defense has had the same problem its had for the last 10years. Go look up the stats. Horrible against the run and can’t tackle. Even when Vermeil was here it was our defense that held us back. We’ve change personel since Herm got here and its still the same problem with the same guy running the defense. Its like my old Dist mgr use to say “there are to reason employees don’t succeed or excute their job well its either performance or training.”
And we’ve changed the personel and its still the same old problem. So at this point its got to be a training issue. All i’m saying Cunnningham has reigned over this defense even with personel changes and the same achilles heel that hunt us the last 10 yrs still exist poor tackling and horrible against the run. At some point we have to consider making a change if it doesn’t show some improvement.
Especially looking at how Gailey is improving our offense in only 8 games versus over 10yrs him being here. And u throw on top of that he’s got a third string quarterback in there..
Cup’O'Chargers?
True that we’ve had the same problem for years ED, but my point is that nobody knows (even you) what goes on behind closed doors. Who is making the final calls? Who knows. The man in charge retains the responsibilty however. If it is really Gun’s fault, Herm should’ve taken over already and fixed the problems.