Chiefs: Winning With Technique Magic – The Kansas City Chiefs have just won Super Bowl LIV and did so most notably because of Patrick Mahomes, who was named the MVP. The Chiefs had a good run in 2018 too, but lost because of their defense was mostly predictable and without rehashing the obvious OLB at fault for that failed AFC Championship loss, those Chiefs failed because of “technique” and specifically, defensive technique. So, let’s review the different techniques of Steve Spagnuolo’s 4-3 alignment and Bob Sutton’s 3-4.
The 3-4 Techniques
Until Steve Spagnuolo was hired last offseason, the Chiefs ran a 3-4 defense, for several years. The 3-4 begins, mostly, with a huge DT called a Nose Tackle and he is asked to line up over the Offensive Center and either move to cover the A-gap on one side or the other of the Center as the play develops.
3-4 Defensive Techniques
- 0-technique – the NT lines up directly over the OC.
- 3-technique – the DEs line up between the OT and the OG (usually).
- 5-technique – the OLBs line up outside the OT.
- A-gap – if a 0-technique nose tackle slides to the outside of the center — one direction or the other — he moves into the A-gap and they are running a 1-technique.
- 5-technique – if a DE slides to the outside of the tackle, he is running a 5-technique.
- i – techniques – if a DL moves to the inside (i means “inside”) shoulder of an offensive lineman he is usually running an i-technique (e.g. if a the DE slides to the inside shoulder of an OT, he is running a 4i-technique).
For Bob Sutton to rush four on passing downs, he’d have to decide who he was going to drop into coverage. That usually meant one of his OLBs — either Justin Houston of Dee Ford — and we all have our nightmares of Justin Houston chasing Antonio Brown down the sidelines. If Sutton rushed five, it meant usually sending both of his OLBs and that also meant one less man dropping into coverage.
Houston and Ford were sometimes good in coverage. I recall a game against the Changers and Ford made a very good play in the end zone to secure a victory. The problem was consistency. Yes, Houston was better than Ford, but if an offense could get Ford in coverage on a RB or a TE, they usually felt they had won the battle.
Now, Spags sometimes uses his DL in coverage… but it is rare and much harder to predict. He does it to keep other teams off balance and that’s a big difference between the two DCs.
The Numbering Continues (in yellow)
- 6 – technique lines up directly over the tight end
- 6i – technique lines up between the tight end and tackle
- 7 – technique lines up outside the tight end
- 8i & 8 – techniques: project an extra OL on the outside of the tight end and they would be running the 8i-, 8
- 9-techniques progresses from inside to outside (the 9-technique is on the non-tight end side of the line too)
- Wide-9 technique – a player who is a pure pass rusher
4-3 Defensive Techniques
In the 4-3 base alignment, the DE’s usually take the OLB roles as outlined in the 3-4. The word “base” is used because that is often the starting out point for the defense, not only in terms of the game but in terms of fulfilling personnel needs. There aren’t many 6-foot-4 inch+, 335 lbs.+ pound Nose Tackles out there who can fulfill the 3-4 Nose requirements. However, the addition of 6-foot-4, 332 lbs. Mike Pennel may have had something to do with the drafting of a player like Mike Danna (6-foot-2, 261 lbs., a similar size as Justin Houston) who looks and plays more like a Pro-OLB. That’s only to say, Steve Spagnuolo may be wanting to expand the multiple ways he can change out of the 4-3 and by going to the 3-4 more frequently, he forces the offense to make another read, a read they have not had to make very often in the past.
Steve Spagnuolo: Mr. Flexibility
If there is one thing to learn about Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, it is that he likes to change things up and be unpredictable. To do that, it takes all of his defenders being on the same page on the asme play. It took several games for that to happen last year but once it did, the defense as a whole was propelled into the top ten.
You may have noticed I have used the word “usually” several times. Spags likes to have his DL — and whole defense for that matter — start out in unpredictable positions or moving throughout the pre-snap process. This makes it impossible for an opposing QB to get an accurate read on the defense. Craig Stout at ArrowheadPride has said that Chiefs defensive coaches like to use, Amoeba fronts, to make coverages varied:
“Defensive coaches use Amoeba fronts as a way to play an unpredictable “positionless” box. The goal is to make the front as fluid as possible and set it in motion during the pre-snap process — thereby confusing the quarterback (and offensive blockers) on obvious passing downs.”
Stout recognizes the real time contributions of DL coach Brendan Daly, who was previously the DL coach for the Patriots for four seasons prior to joining K.C.. That’s why Stout uses tape of the Pats pass rush to explain Spags (and Dalys’) approach:
The Chiefs defense has moved the needle. They’ve made enough changes in the right direction defensively that other teams must now spend extra time figuring out how to attack them… or be attacked. In an article by Sean Wagner-McGough for CBS Sports, he sums up the Chiefs transition well:
“They transitioned away from a 3-4 to 4-3… it felt like the Chiefs had merely rearranged deck chairs on a sinking ship. In the first six games of the season, the Chiefs allowed 24 points per game. Then, came the improvement. In their next 10 regular season games, a stretch that began with the Denver game, the Chiefs allowed 16.4 points per game.”
Just as Andy Reid measures another team’s defense while he’s running the first 15 pre-planned plays of a game… DC Steve Spagnuolo is taking his time to analyze, then attack, an opposing team’s offense. The difference is… Spags throws nothing that they’ve every seen before at them. Wait… Andy Reid does that too. Looks like we’re in for more magic tricks we’ve never seen before this year, on both sides of the ball.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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