[KChiefs1]

http://thepatriotact/2009/01/patriot...aniels-finding

January 11, 2009

Patriots in demand: Pioli and McDaniels finding opportunities

Scott Pioli will probably be announced as the Kansas City Chiefs new general manager next week. While Josh McDaniels may be interviewing for the head coaching job with the Denver Broncos and with Pioli in KC maybe the next head coach of the Chiefs.

Both Pioli and McDaniels have been sought after for positions with other NFL teams in the past. What makes this interesting is the recent success of going to the AFC Championship in 2006, Super Bowl in 2007 and now having finished 11-5 and missing the playoffs for 2008 for the Patriots.

The decision for McDaniels may be a 'no-brainer' as it was for Eric Mangini - go and get the big bucks with what knowledge you have or wait until either this horse (Belichick) has had its run and step into his shoes or there is a teams with a great front office organization that needs a coach. That is definitely not Oakland or Detroit. KC with Pioli in place becomes one of the top ten football organizations and McDaniels if offered the job would be a fool not to accept it knowing the capabilities of Pioli.

The Patriots have not been rebuilding, but constantly tweeking. Belichick and Pioli have worked wonders since coming to Foxboro and who is to say the magic is gone?

It may just be Pioli letting us know the writing is on the wall. After a decade of hits with the Patriots and a chance for a few more titles with a healthy Tom Brady, when Pioli goes to Kansas City is that a sign that Brady may not be on track to come back as expected?

Who knows. But I do know Pioli helped select Matt Cassel, Matt Gutierrez and Kevin O'Connell and the Patriots success in 2008 had nothing to do with Tom Brady and more to do with an otherwise healthy offense mainly put together by Pioli.

Still, Pioli has much more work to do with the Patriots. The past few years there has been little improvement on the defensive side of the ball. The 2008 draft for bringing in youth on the defensive side of the ball was a change from previous years and the number of undrafted defensive free agents that remained with the team was also quite high.

Was this a change brought on by Pioli or Belichick?

Either way it worked. Another season of defensive injuries (yes Rosey Colvin and Junior Seau did return), but the rookies performed fairly well and we should expect them to continue to improve over the next few years.

I would hope that Pioli stays, sure there is always the unknown challenge out there and prospect to make more money, but New England has enough challenges and opportunities to keep Pioli around a bit longer.

When Belichick is gone from football, Pioli will still be in the NFL.

So patience may be a virtue here, so hanging on to Pioli is a priority for the Pats.