Laddie Morse
Wham, bam boom, and just like that, the Kansas City Chiefs held another NFL team’s offense to 13 points and 276 total yards. Sure, it may have been the lowly 2-and-4 Washington Football Team, but an NFL team nevertheless.
In five previous games this year, the Chiefs had allowed an average of 32.6 points per game. In each game they allowed:
- 457 yards to the Browns
- 481 yards to the Ravens
- 352 yards to the Chargers
- 461 yards to the Eagles, and
- 436 yards to the Buffalo Bills
That works out to an average of 437.4 total yards allowed per game, on average.
276 total yards allowed to the Washington Football Team, compared to the average of 437+ total yards per game to the first five teams they faced in the 2021 season, so something has changed. The 276 total yards allowed would rank them 2nd in the NFL in total yard allowed, and the 437+ total yards allowed would rank them 31st in the NFL.
That’s one heck of a difference.
The question then becomes: which defense is this,
the defense of the first five games,
or the defense that just smoked the WFT?
Now, asking a question like that about any other team might be folly. However, it’s a relevant question because of how the Chiefs defense reacted in the latter parts of the 2019 season, right after they visited the Tennessee Titans, and then rode their defense all the way to a Super Bowl LIV victory. It’s even more relevant because that’s who the Chiefs face this Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, the Titans.
Some will say you have to consider the team the Chiefs were facing and their defense still wouldn’t be able to withstand the offensive likes of the Ravens, Bills , or even the Browns. While that certainly was true during that first five game span, we’ve always said the first five games were going to be the toughest and if K.C. gets on a roll this season, there may not be any offense they can’t hang with, especially when their own offense starts cooking the way they did in the second half of the WFT game. The second half of the WFT game was also when the Chiefs defense began to completely assert their will:
If you’re doing the math with me here, that was 20 total plays the WFT had in the second half. Any time you can get your defense off the field, especially with a Mahomes led offense waiting in the wings, your chances of winning skyrocket.
The Real Test is in Tennessee
In 2019, the Chiefs defense allowed 23.9 points per game in their first ten games which also includes an occasional game where the D showed up by allowing only 6 points to AFC West foes: the Broncos and then 10 little points to the Raiders. In that same first 10 game span, the Chiefs record was 6-and-4.
Once the Chiefs had played the Titans they were a perfect 6-and-0 the rest of the way and the defense allowed only 11.5 points per game.
Most believe the Chiefs offense will get thing straightened out and stop turning the ball over, which they’ve done so far at a rate of 2.3 times per game. Consequently, it’s up to the defense to see if championship caliber performances are in the cards, the remainder of this year. A lot will be determined this weekend in Nashville.
In 2019, during the Chiefs first game against the Titans in Tennessee, RB Derrick Henry rushed for 188 yards and 8.2 yards per carry, but two months later, in the AFC Championship, the defense made their adjustments and figured out how to defend against the run. They then held Henry to 69 rushing yards and 3.6 yards per carry.
This year — after 5 games, but before the Titans face the Bills on Monday Night Football — Henry is leading the league in rushing with 640 yards at a rate of 128 yards per game (late note: Henry had 143 yards rushing vs the Bills last night for 7.2 ypc, which is not figured in). Henry has more yards per game rushing than 25 NFL teams, including the Chiefs. ProFootball Talk of NBC Sports pointed out in one of their pieces this week that: Derrick Henry leads NFL by 117 rushing yards, even before Titans play tonight (last night). So, if you have any doubts that Derrick Henry is a beast… be afraid, be very afraid.
Something’s Gotta Give
Ask any offensive lineman if they like run blocking more than pass blocking and I think 90% will say run blocking. That’s because they get to fire out and go after the defensive linemen instead of sitting back waiting to be hit. That’s often why HC Andy Reid has called a running play to begin most games.
That idea is the foundation of the Tennessee Titans offense and it gives their linemen a chance to use their largest body muscles: their thighs and gluteus maximus muscles. Any time an OL can do that, they feel they have a distinct advantage, and their physical confidence sores. Why is that so important? Because that’s precisely what the Chiefs front seven must go up against. It’s one thing to rare back and rush the QB… and quite another to be getting hit in the chest by an oncoming OL while trying to avoid that block and simultaneously attempting to take down a 6-foot-3, 238 pound running back (Derrick Henry) who’d just as easily run over you as he would run around you.
This year, the Chiefs have run the ball more than they’ve passed the ball, only once and that was versus the Eagles when Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 102 rushing yards. The Titans, in their first five games, ran the ball more than they passed it, 3 times (one of those was a tie with passing the ball). Which means, the Titans intend to run the ball. No, they intend to ram it down every opponent’s collective throats.
That’s why the Titans invest more heavily in their offensive linemen than many teams:
- LT Taylor Lewan – 1st round (11th pick overall)
- LG Roger Saffold III – 2nd round pick of the Rams, (33rd overall)
- OC Ben Jones – 4th round pick of the Texans (99th overall)
- RG Nate David – 3rd round pick (82nd overall)
- RT David Quessenberry – 6th round pick of the Texans (176th overall)
- ALT OG: Dillon Radunz – 2nd round, 53rd pick overall
Five of the Titans top 6 offensive linemen were top 100 picks. That’s only to point out that the Chiefs defensive line and linebackers have their work cut out for them.
Note: of the Chiefs top five OL, four of them were top 100 picks and Trey Smith is the only exception (and he’s having a standout season as well as serving as the “Steal of the 2021 Draft” for pundits far and wide).
The Chiefs defensive linemen, including: Frank Clark, Jarran Reed and Derrick Nnadi, were all top 100 picks, and so was Chris Jones, if he plays. If Mike Danna has to step in, he was pick #177 in 2020. Then again, Tershawn Wharton was a 2020 UDFA, but he’s playing like a top 100 pick.
It’s been suggested that the WFT game was a pivotal point in the season for K.C., defensively. While the halftime adjustments were right on the money, I’m not ready to say with certainty that the Chiefs defense has been fixed for this season, but their game against the Washington Football Team was a very good sign. A good game against the Titans will signal much more and if they can hold Derrick Henry to less than 100 rushing –> It. Is. On.
.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
.
Late Note: the Houston Texans released DE Whitney Mercilus yesterday and theres’ a chance the Chiefs are interested:
.
If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-is-the-defense-fixed/#disqus_thread)
.