Kansas City Chiefs 2011 Coach Hiring Recap Upgrade or Downgrade
This article is a recap of all the Kansas City Chiefs coaching transactions this offseason. I will recap the good coaching changes and the bad coaching changes by listing upgrade or downgrade and why.
New Offensive Coordinator Bill Muir Former Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis
Downgrade Charlie Weis runs a pass happy offense with great quarterback play, offensive lineman who boost their ability in the pass blocking department, and wide receivers who run crisp routes to set up scoring opportunities. With Cassel having a good year it was much easier for the Chiefs to score because they could pass or run.
Bill Muir ran a ball control oriented offense combining those plays with Jon Gruden’s west coast passing playbook when he was the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. Muir’s ball control game along with Gruden’s west coast playbook was one of the main reasons Tampa Bay had such a balanced offense from 2002 to 2008. Kansas City has a ball control playbook where they mainly focus on run blocking and running the football. That’s Muir’s specialty too. How will the passing game and pass blocking click without Weis? The Chiefs may be one of the more one dimensional offenses in the NFL thanks to the departure of Weis.
Unless Todd Haley could add a few west coast plays or vertical plays to boost the passing game. The problem is Matt Cassel is an accurate quarterback rather than a quarterback with the arm to make the deep throws that involves stretching the vertical passing game out. I am not saying Cassel cannot make deep throws. I just have not seen Cassel succeed with the deep passing game on a consistent basis.
New Quarterback Coach Jim Zorn Former Quarterback Coach Charlie Weis
Downgrade Charlie did all the quarterback work developing the plays and working with Cassel which is why Cassel had 27 touchdowns and 7 interceptions last season with Kansas City. Jim Zorn developed quarterbacks Charlie Batch, Matt Hasselbeck, Jason Campbell, and Joe Flacco who went from 21 TD’s 12 INT’s to 25 TD’s and 10 INT’s under Jim Zorn. That’s a really good resume if you ask me. Despite Zorn’s quarterback resume its going to be very difficult for him to replace Weis. Zorn will keep Cassel’s numbers consistent, but I doubt Cassel matches his 2010 numbers.
Matt Cassel is not as good as Joe Flacco, but the Chiefs added Jonathan Baldwin at wide receiver by selecting the Pittsburgh rookie in round 1 of the 2011 NFL Draft. That is why it is so difficult to project Cassel’s numbers because I doubt he matches his 2010-2011 numbers without Weis even though Cassel has a better supporting cast than last season.
Still, the Chiefs have a really bad pass blocking unit which will work against Cassel because he will have less time to get rid of the football as a pocket passer. I’m going to project 22 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and 2,975 passing yards for Matt Cassel in 2011.
There were points last year when the Chiefs pass blocking looked decent while the run blocking was excellent. This year the Chiefs will revert to having mediocre pass blocking and excellent run blocking thanks to the departure of Charlie Weis. Weis affected the passing of Matt Cassel and the offensive lines abilty to pass block.
Kansas City only added a coach to replace Charlie Weis’s development with Matt Cassel. The Chiefs did not go out and get a pass blocking offensive line coach that Chiefs offensive coordinator Bill Muir could supervise.
Bill Muir will be an offensive coordinator and an offensive line coach at the same time and I’m not sure he is up to the challenge this season.
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The Chiefs were 30th in passing yards under Weiss. It would be hard to get any more one-dimensional than that. I think their passing numbers will actually improve this year. Not because of the coaching change, but because Cassel should still be getting better, and he’ll have more weapons(Baldwin and a quality free agent to come) this year.
Good point Dave. Zorn is a good coach and the Chiefs have Baldwin so it could go either way. Thanks for sharing your opinion.