The Morning Fix: Chiefs News From Around The Web

Kyle Orton sits in the driver’s seat. It’s a good place for a veteran quarterback aiming to be a starter next season. Give it up for Orton, who improved his positioning as a free agent with his performance during Kansas City’s final three games.

Had Orton stayed in Denver as a backup to Tim Tebow or performed poorly in this time with the Chiefs, what leverage would he have entering free agency? Certainly not what he does today.

Matt Cassel has already received vocal support this offseason, multiple times, from Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli. Cassel will be back in 2012, but has also said he’s ready to compete for the starter’s job.

The allegation is so inherently troublesome that we think the league should launch an immediate investigation. This is a far bigger issue than brazenly videotaping defensive coaching signals during games, the foundation of the “Spygate” scandal in New England. If Haley is right, the Chiefs have been violating state and federal law in the name of truly spying on their employees.

That’s why accusations of this nature shouldn’t be tossed around recklessly.

We’ll give Haley the benefit of the doubt and assume that he’s not embellishing, exaggerating, and/or fabricating. If the league reacts the same way, the investigation will have already begun.

With dozens of interviews, Babb covers all his bases as he writes about the paranoia of general manager Scott Pioli and the accusations by some that the Chiefs use intimidation and secrecy as part of the new management style at Arrowhead Drive.

Babb does point out that the Chiefs have denied any such conduct, and at this point it appears there is no actual proof – that is, until Todd Haley chooses to break his silence. According to Babb, Haley felt as though his conversations were being monitored and that even his personal cell phone was tampered with – pretty serious federal crime-type accusations.

It all started when Pioli was hired away from the Patriots in 2009, after a decade of success and a major role in the Spygate scandal in New England. It had only been three years since Lamar Hunt’s death, and the Chiefs were trying to chance the culture of the place. That meant splitting up the duties of business operations and football operations, and that wasn’t what Scott Pioli wanted. If he was going to take the Chiefs job, he would insist on total control. In the end, he received it.

That was not Pereira’s favorite day. Nor was one five years earlier, while he was still a side judge.

“I’d love to go back to a playoff game in 1998, Kansas City-Denver, where I failed to call illegal contact” that a Chiefs defender committed against Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey in the end zone.

“I swallowed my flag and didn’t call it,” he said. “I blew it. I just froze.”