Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli talked with Steven St. John and Nate Bukaty on 810 WHB Wednesday morning and said something that, while we've heard before, is interesting nonetheless. (Note: Here's audio of the interview)
Pioli subscribes to the idea that defense wins championships.
"Being fortunate and the teams I've been associated with have generally had strong defenses. I think having a good defense, it's not necessarily about yards, it's about points and what kind of points they allow. It also has to do with a team that causes disruptions in terms of turnovers and things like that.
"I am a firm believer in the old philosophy about the importance of a defense and how defense impacts winning championships. It's the old saying, defense wins championships and the offense just tells you by how much."
He's said stuff like this before but with it being almost NFL draft season, all of Pioli's words will be looked at in the context of the draft.
We are a couple of months from making an educated guess on who the Chiefs might be eyeing in the 2011 NFL draft but I think it's important to keep Pioli's words in mind. I'm not saying this means defense is the pick in April but we should think about the pieces he'll be looking form, in the context of the draft, if he wants to make the Chiefs into a great defense (because they're not there yet).