Chiefs Defense. What’s Missing? A Berry on Top!

What’s Missing? A Berry on Top!

by David Bell

Looking back now, having been confused about the defensive sets employed by the Chiefs Defensive Coordinator in the game against the Chargers, I can say that at times I remain confused. Mostly, this is due to the understanding “purposes.” Or maybe the real reason is that I am not as smart as I think I am. Yeah, that’s probably it!

Defense Look 1: the 7 Man Front

I particularly do not like this unless it is a sure running situation and the offensive set up is what should be a run inside the tackles and it must be, in my view, such a short yardage situation that the passing coverage can be managed by 2 DBs. At most 3. This is something that will normally be used inside the 10 yard line and most likely inside the 5. However, DC Bob Sutton used it with the Chargers on about the Chiefs 40. Sure, I am not smart but what happened was the LBs were all lined up about 2 yards off the LoS. They got caught up inside in easy tangles and the RB broke through the first Line of Defense and it wasn’t until he was about 8 yards deep that a corner back got to him. I  was sitting there dismayed. It made no sense to me. Rivers audible shifted to a run inside the tackles to the defensive left, a simple plant and cut back over the guard position and bang — 8 or 9 yards on a run play with the second level all fouled up.

A Look I Liked

The  Chiefs set up with Breeland Speaks hunkering to a 3 point stance. There were 4 down linemen across the front. Ford was Right, Houston left, Hitchens was the only true ILB but they had a Safety up in the box as the second LB. The pass rush didn’t result in a sack but Chris Jones and Breeland Speaks put a lot of pressure on the edges of this “front four” with Ford speed rushing from the right. Speaks broke through and forced an early pass by Rivers, Hurried, and inaccurate. It might have been enough off to yield a turnover but the ball fell to the turf, harmlessly. Rivers wound up getting hit solidly and knocked on his butt.

A Look I Detest

The Chiefs set with what appears to be a 3 man front but turns to a 2-5. Additional pass coverage is opted, Hitchens is a LB but Ragland is out. No pressure on the QB and Rivers has 5 seconds to find a target. He does.

“Bobby? What’sa’ matta’ you? Yuz tried this crappola in 2017 and it nevuh work’t? Yuz’ can’t go’z ta’ school on yer own self?”

To the Meat of the Matter

I am going to discount the defense used in the 4th quarter. I will comment briefly on the “prevent” as an aside. Dang it, I hate it so much. During the Chargers game, the finale quarter was a “prevent” and what that does is prevent the defense from stopping the opposing offense to a 3 downs and out. It is almost assured. I hate this as much as anything and I personally believe it should only be employed in a Hail Mary, last play of the game.

Even then, it can be defeated. Recall 2017’s game where the Chiefs need a quick score and it was a hail Mary type situation?

The Hail Mary pass was not to the end zone, but to Hill about 20 yards down field and 30 yards from the end zone. Hill closed quickly to where 4 defenders and a WR blocking were to the left side of the end zone, about the 10 yard line. Hill faked right and left a defender in his shoes, ran left. There were 4 defenders and two blockers to the left, the WR took on one blocker (it was Albert Wilson, I think), and Hill rubbed a second off on that defender. Meanwhile a 5th defender appears and Demetrius Harris blocks one to the right and heads down and blocks a second player. Hill meanwhile has planted his foot, glides inward behind the Harris 2nd block and does a shake and cruises into the end zone. In a flash, only being touched at the cut by a CB who had no means to make a solid connection. Another prevent that was FUBAR but a masterful play calling by Andy Reid.

The prevent defense was not what I personally wanted and most basically it is not anything but my judgement that it defeats it’s own purpose most of the time. Nor do I wish to address the wishee, washee offense of the 4th quarter either.

Otherwise? The Chiefs did not use a vanilla cover 1-3. They used what I suppose we ought to identify as a Sutton Hybrid  variation of the Cover 3, with some conglomerations that were hard for me to decipher. To be sure, Sutton used the cover 1 press man coverage. Sometimes it must have been a cover two variation. Maybe the reason the press-man coverage is not being used is that one of the outside corners is not a player who fits such a coverage very well. That corner doesn’t mirror well, his SAQ isn’t good and he isn’t fast enough to trail and cover with a safety over the top. So wow, our fearless leader, Ladner Morse, ditto’d my comment: Play Tremon Smith Then For Heaven’s Sake!

Back in the late 19th century, I had an ancestor who would not ride a horse, a buggy or later a motorized vehicle. He is known to say that those things get you killed and he was fearful of mounting such contraptions for his travels. He walked everywhere. His name was David Clay Calvert but was known as “Walker.” He once took off to go visit kin in Greene County, PA. Where he went and why was found upon his return about 2 or 3 weeks later. He explained his absence: “Oh, I just went to see some kin folk,” dismissive, and I am sure the response was accompanying shrug of the shoulder. Why didn’t you take a horse, he was asked, and the response was something to the effect of “I am cautious of the dangers of such critters.” “Sigh by God.” This latter exclamation was of his common usage.

Indeed, David’s grandfather, Thomas Claire Calvert, b 1808, was killed in a fall from a horse making the same 80 mile journey from what was then Tyler County, VA (later, after the recent unpleasantness, Wetzel County, WV). Thomas was my 4th great Grandfather on the maternal side, my grandfather born in 1876, married 4 times but I think a 5th took place in Cleveland. My grandmother was b 1899 and they married at Talequah, OK in 1915. Grandpa was in his mid 80s by the time I really remember him–an old school man of the world.

So… Sutton is similarly fearful of “mounting” a cover 1 type Press man coverage due to a weakness at cornerback. It appears that the experiment of using Orlando Scandrick is not going to work, at least for that purpose.

What Sutton Was Doing? Let’s Call it Sut-Brid

Bob Sutton has used, in the past, a defense combining man-coverage by the corners coupled with a zone defense. This defense matches up the two outside corner backs man to man and then utilizes a drop zone by the inside linebacker(s) while playing a single high with one safety. The other safety is in zone read/coverage.

To run this defense it requires strong communication before the snap by the ILBs and also knowledge of how coverage is to be implemented on front by one or both linebackers. On at least two occasions, probably more, the ILBs were late to get coverage on a RB. In both cases it was Gordon and you cannot be late to get him under control.  Other cases were how to cover Gates or another WR across the middle in the short zone area. What I judge to have been the difficult was first of all the quickness to get Gates for example, under control. Rivers, as I mentioned Thursday, was getting the ball out very quickly and we were getting beat down field and inside the short zone easily. Bob and his ILBs need to get on the same page on this or the whole NFL will be doing the same thing against the Chiefs.

At the same time all this is in play, the safeties must do their job. One may clearly be playing deep zone read while the other is more up in the box to take on a WR coming into the middle or in run support.

A big part of the problem that I witnessed was the weakness of the OCB #2 — Orlando Scandrick. He just was not able to play straight up or even zone with a top NFL QB picking and shredding the passes to places where receivers got separation. Fuller even was beat a couple of times. Not for TDs but the whole mix of players was not getting the job done. Part of this is more obvious as the score by the Chiefs extended to 31-12. Then the secondary backed off and let things unfold underneath so the rest of the way you cannot do a good evaluation. However — for nearly 3/4’s of the game, the Chiefs were fortunate — as in, dropped passes, fumble recovery and an interception — which helped keep the Chargers from scoring.

The OLBs had a far better usage of 4 players (Houston, Ford, Speaks and Kpassagnon). At ILB, Hitchens played 80% of the snaps while Ragland was only 51% with Smith taking the passing downs. I personally don’t think the latter was effective.

Another Difficulty? Heat, Dehydration

and Snaps Counts

The Defense was not helped by the offense. What do I mean? Mahomes and company were effective but they scored too quickly. The offensive snaps by the Chiefs in this game were 56. Meanwhile, the defense was out there for 82 snaps. There is a blessing in having a dynamic offense but a bigger blessing is ToP (Time of Possession) and owning drives which move the chains and use up time. The more plays run by the offense, reduces the number of plays the defense is on the field. In Diego, the on-the-field temperature was at the 100 degree mark. Even with no humidity this is going to be a big stressor on the players.

On offense, the big stress is on the big men.The starting five all play 100% of the snaps across the front.

But on Defense the snap count for the Defensive Linemen was:

I think the reason Scandrick was on the field so much is due to the passing game the Chargers employed, plus they were often using a Nickel CB as well. Watts did get a few snaps but Smith had none at corner. Parker played very well and Murray looked good as well. Still, my read on this remains that the weak link at CB is Orlando Scandrick. He did appear to play better than the last pre-season game. It may be me but I believe that the Chiefs need to get Armani Watts in on more snaps a safety and Tremon Smith as a CB defender. Both have speed, they are tough and hitters in run support and play press-man and trail and cover coverages well. Both have excellent SAQ as well, and I do believe they are the future of the secondary, at least at this point. With Scandrick’s weakness? I think Sutton and Harris and Co need to take a hard look at breaking-in Smith, now.

Eric Murray also played several S/T snaps as well — he had nearly 90 snaps during this game. Both he and Parker were mainstays in pass defense. Since Sorensen is out for 5 more weeks at least, it behooves the defensive coaches to get Watts more involved.

In the second half the number of snaps for the secondary had to be telling tales for the player mix…. not much rest at all. The muscle cramps and dehydration factor would have been getting to the players altogether. It’s far easier to play offense in such conditions. The Chiefs WR and RB depth surely aided things. That the Chiefs went with Erving and not Wylie is a confusion factor for me but we will learn more about that this week. I do think that the Chiefs need to substitute offensive linemen out of the 100% role in hot weather. The 56 snaps? Helped them along.

What Was Missing?

What is my last view of why missing ingredients were so crucial to a success of the Sut-Brid? A huge strength of the Kansas City Defense has been missing and that is in the person of Eric Berry. First it was Cancer. Then it was the Achilles tear. Remember how DJ hit the ground on his butt and looked so dejected and disgusted when a simple hop put his achilles into the shred mill? That’s how Eric Berry missed most all of 2017. Frustrated but calm. Now? The Chiefs are missing the integral component of the back end of the Chiefs defense. Berry is that, an on the field captain but also very big up in the box. So due to Eric Berry’s “healing heel”… the Chiefs are hurting in a way that could have been at least back-filled more proficiently.

Yes, it is very good to have Ron Parker back. The defense really can use his experience. When Berry was out, Parker alone could not provide the prowess that Berry provides. At the same time, Parker’s monies demand was far to steep for what he provided. He could not man the position as an Island. That Parker was not a fit in Atlanta was a blessing for Brett Veach. It added back one player who was so successful with Berry on the field. Parker returned was a very good addition.

My bottom line is, you cannot have an opposing offense on the field so much and still win. Nor can you give up 450 yards in the aerial game and still win. Bob Sutton has his work cut out for him.

What is the final piece of that puzzle that is missing for the secondary and for the Sut-Brid? Well? A Berry on Top, “Sigh by God!”

David Bell – ArrowheadOne

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