Arrowheadlines: Chiefs News 1/16

Good morning. Sorry about missing yesterday's post. Not a lot went according to plan this weekend. Now we're back to the work week and that should help. To those of you with a holiday today, relax and enjoy. Here is today's Kansas City Chiefs news.

Between changing their head coach and then their quarterback late in the year, the Chiefs experienced so much drama that this little fact slipped through almost unnoticed: By season's end, the Chiefs had one of the NFL's best defensive teams.

Opponents over the last six games struggled to move the ball and score points against the Chiefs.

It wasn't lost on Romeo Crennel. He said recently that things worked so well at the end of the season that he would in effect continue to serve as the defensive coordinator even though he's now the head coach.

Chiefs Anticipate Being Special On Defense Next Season from KC Star

New Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel publicly backed his defensive staff last week, revealing his plans to retain Kansas City's defensive assistants. As far as the offensive staff goes, Crennel has only said that the evaluation process is ongoing...

...Though Crennel has yet to identify any specific candidates for the position, he has a recent working history with a number of experienced NFL play-callers.

If familiarity and past play-calling experience is something Crennel is searching for, the following names have been associated with Crennel as recently as the 2000 season.

Looking At Crennel's Circle Of Coordinators from The Mothership

Haley suspected that many rooms at the team facility were bugged so that team administrators could monitor employees' conversations. Stopping finally in a conference room, Haley said he believed his personal cellphone, a line he used before being hired by the Chiefs in 2009, had been tampered with.

Paranoid? The Chiefs have adamantly denied that they tap phones or listen in on conversations. But as the team enters another period of transition after elevating defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel last week to head coach, interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees suggest that intimidation and secrecy are among the Chiefs' principal management styles - and that Haley wasn't the only one with paranoid thoughts.

Arrowhead Anxiety: Turnover Off The Field Causes Concern from KC Star

Romeo Crennel has the distinction of designing the only defensive game plan to stop Aaron Rodgers and the dynamic Green Bay Packers offense this season...

...Named last week as Kansas City's new head coach, Crennel took a few minutes to share his rubric for stopping the Packers:

Giants vs. Packers: Romeo Crennel Offers Tips On How To Beat Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay from The Newark Star-Ledger

This is the Chiefs' major decision now. It is real, even if the decision-makers are maintaining their usual silence. Cassel is the incumbent, and there are no indications that the most important opinions on him are wavering.

But the costs of moving on have never been lower, the potential benefits never been higher, and the timing never better. The easy thing is to see that the Chiefs need to get better at quarterback.

The harder thing is thinking through the options and making the necessary sacrifices.

Now Is The Time For The Chiefs To Make Bold Move At QB from KC Star

The starting right cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs could be one of the prized free agents on the open market in the offseason if the his current team fails to re-sign him. He appeared on a Kansas City, Mo., radio program last week to discuss his free-agent status, his desire to remain with the Chiefs and the possibility of the Flint native perhaps suiting up for the Detroit Lions.

"I don't really want to talk about contracts," Carr told 610 Sports Radio host Nick Wright. "If everything works out the way, you know, that it should, I will be in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform, but at the end of the day it's going to be my decision to make. It's going to be a hard one. It's not going to be easy. I've been out here four years and I have a lot of things established here and a lot of friendships and -- on the field -- getting a lot of things done."

After Four Years With Kansas City Chiefs, Friends Urge Former GVSU Cornerback To Join Detroit Lions As Free Agent from The Grand Rapids Press

Defensive end Shaun Ellis has been in the NFL since 2000, and he's in his 12th season. Same with guard Brian Waters.

And after they were key factors in the Patriots' 45-10 win over the Denver Broncos in a divisional playoff game Saturday, the veterans were relishing their fate.

Waters, who spent his entire career with the Kansas City Chiefs before 2011, earned the first postseason win of his career.

"Big day," Waters said with a smile.

Brian Waters, Shaun Ellis Relish Postseason Experience from The Boston Herald

When Vermeil took over at Kansas City, he wanted to bring the same vertical game he was able to develop with Kurt Warner and translate it to Chiefs skill players. He was successful for five years and it was all the work of Saunders with his voluminous playbook.

Let's take a look at Saunders record since 2001:

What About Al? from Warpaint Illustrated

As I sat watching (and thoroughly enjoying) the New England Patriots 45-10 dismantling of the Denver Broncos on Saturday night, I was further cheered by the fact that Broncos president, John "Old Horse Face" Elway has a huge problem on his hands. And, as a Chiefs fan, I'm loving it!

He's stuck with a wildly popular quarterback that he cannot afford to bench; despite the fact his QB has, at best, average skills for the position. At worst, his quarterback is a one-trick pony that defensive coordinators figured out how to defend in less than half a season.

Broncos' Problem With Tebow-mania Will Be Boon For Chiefs in 2012 from Examiner.com