Chiefs: Improving the Blitz and Rush in 2021

By Laddie Morse

It’s clear to me that one of the Chiefs unstated goals on defense in 2021 is to improved their sack rate. They ranked 19^th with 32 sacks in 2020, which is not good at all. However, being ranked 12^th in pressures isn’t so bad. What that means is… they just weren’t getting home. It also means fractions of seconds. So, how do you improve that? There are as many different answers to that question as there are NFL analysts around the league. However, the only answer that matters is how do the Chiefs expect to make that happen.

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Definition: Blitz – when a defense sends more than four players at the opposing team’s quarterback.

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Defining the “Blitz” is important because if done right, it can boost a team’s sack numbers significantly. There are also plenty of times that the Chiefs send a Safety, like Tyrann Mathieu, to go get the QB, then they’ve used a lineman to drop into coverage. If there are only four players rushing the QB, that’s not a blitz. It’s aslo important because a CB like L’Jarius Sneed, who produced 2.0 sacks in his rookie year, while DT Tershawn Wharton had the same number.

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It hasn’t taken me too long in the process of re-posting tweets about the Chiefs Training camp each morning, to see what’s going on, so coming up with my own theory on how K.C. intends on improving their sack rate may end up also being exactly what they have planned behind closed doors. Plus, that looks like it’s going to come — at least partially — through the use of the blitz. DC Steve Spagnuolo said on Wednesday:

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“I don’t know that it’s going to look any different. I’m hoping that the little tweaks we have, will make a difference. Cause there’s some areas we need to get better in, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”

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I’m reminded of the N.Y. Giants teams Steve Spagnuolo navigated to two Super Bowl wins over the N.E. Patriots in which he utilized long tall defensive linemen — which is what the Chiefs are flush in — so this appears to be part of his 2021 strategy for success.

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Perhaps the most important take away is that becoming a great sacking team, and a great blitzing team, is like a patchwork quilt or a lot like putting a 1,000 piece puzzle together. If you don’t have all the pieces, you can’t finish that puzzle. I’m not so sure Spags a had all the necessary parts he really needed in 2020. In the case of the 2021 Chiefs, it’s looking more and more like, they have all the pieces in place to be dominant rushing the passer, blitzing and especially getting home… meaning… sacking the QB.

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However, as some may be thinking that the blitz is a, be-all, do-all solution, it’s not. Though the threat of the blitz can be just as effective (see Tyrann Mathieu’s fake blitz below). The Chiefs blitzed at a 35.7% rate last year during the regular season, but in Super Bowl LIV, they only blitzed 23.3% of the time. The reason is… you don’t blitz an excellent quarterback or they’ll burn you. Steve Spagnuolo’s 20% blitz rate in week 14 vs. the Saints and Drew Brees — the only other time he called for that low a number of blitzes — is testament to that logic.

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The flip side of that was true as well as the Bucs only blitzed Mahomes on 9.6% of the snaps in SB LIV. It’s significant when you compare that to their 39.0% blitz rate during the regular season. The reality is, as we all know, the Chiefs backup OL was never able to give PMII the time, or protection, he needed and the Bucs were able to abuse him with four rushers and get home at will.

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While I doubt that Steve Spagnuolo will increase his use of the blitz by any significant percentage, I do expect it to be more effective and help produce better pass defense numbers across the board.

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Question of Import: What defensive scheme do the Chiefs find themselves in the most?

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That’s right, the The Dime (six DBs). That often happens because the offense has put other teams in catchup mode (which is very different that ketchup mode… think Patrick Mahomes and steaks) often enough that they have gone to an offensive attack that puts more receivers on the field, and sometimes that also means an empty backfield (meaning no RB). When teams are in 3rd down passing situations, you’ll find the Chiefs D in the Dime a lot and that’s often when Steve Spagnuolo will send a DB after the QB on a blitz. Here’s a great blitz by L’Jarius Sneed against Buffalo during the AFC Championship game:

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Sometimes Spags likes to fake a blitz (which I love) and it gives the offense they’re facing something else to think about.

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Daniel Sorensen has also been one of Spags frequent flyer blitzers.

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Sometimes a play stands out above the rest in training camp. So far, that play is when Tershawn Wharton beat Creed Humphrey on an inside move. Wharton said in his presser after the first padded practice, that he was working this offseason on getting up field, playing more downhill, while he’s making his moves. This next play is a great example of that.

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Wharton beat him to one side, and then the other…. and his juke move still has me laughing, it’s so good. While I expect Humphrey to not get beat like that in games, I also expect Wharton to keep up his interior pressure enough to at least double his 2.0 sacks from 2020 (on 48% of the snaps). Wharton, who is 6-foot5, 255lbs., appears to have trimmed down some from last year and by the looks of this clip, is quicker. He said in his presser on Tuesday that during the offseason he did Yoga and Pilates. Wharton also worked on his hand usage because, “That’s what he was lacking last year during the games.”

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With Chris Jones moving to Defensive End for a greater percentage of the snaps in 2021, a big part of that move means forcing the offense to crate their double-teams on the outside, as opposed to the inside where Stone Cold has normally done his work for the past 5 seasons. When CJ goes outside to DE, it will open up the interior of the DL for others to penetrate, create pressure and get to the QB.

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As I mentioned above, blitzing, and rushing the passer successfully depends on all the other pieces of the puzzle being successful, and if Chris Jones is dominant, other players can step up as well. One of those players in Steve Spagnuolo’s front seven plans is rookie LB Nick Bolton. Blitzalytics.com had this to say about Nick Bolton before the Chiefs drafted him this year:

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“… shows promise as a blitzer. Does a great job of timing the quarterback’s cadence to get a good jump and initial burst through the gap. Has a quick first step with very few occurrences of false steps when rushing the passer. Doesn’t show a wide variety of pass rush moves as he simply tries to win with speed or with a bull rush… Also does a good job of seeing the open gaps when blitzing.”

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Consequently, one of the plays, and players, I expect to see involved in more blitzes this year, come as Spags utilizes rookie LB Nick Bolton.

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While we know that Tyrann Mathieu is often sent on a blitz, you can see that the development of other defensive players has made the use of this tool for Steve Spagnuolo a leverage he expects to utilize frequently with higher rates of success.

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The move to bring in Jarran Reed has many ripple effects for players at other positions, not just Chris Jones. If opposing offenses don’t double Reed, or Frank Clark, but send extra help against Chris Jones, it opens the door for whoever the Chiefs put on the field with those three. My guess is that Tershawn Wharton will be the primary benefactor, and ultimately, the Chiefs of course. Here’s Jarran Reed against Trey Smith on Tuesday (when even CJ had trouble handling Trey Smith):

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Wharton showed that lateral juke move he used on Tuesday against Humphrey, but this year he’s even quicker and learned to keep leaning upfield while he does it. We also learned from DC Steve Spagnuolo on Wednesday that more players than CJ will be moved around:

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Chris Jones came into the NFL as a Defensive End, so his move to the outside is not necessarily a new position for him to learn.

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“I came in the league as a defensive end originally. Unfortunately, we had guys that excelled at that level in Justin Houston and Dee Ford. I waited my time, and thank God, it finally happened for me.”

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Jones seems to dominate whoever he goes up against. He certainly had no trouble with Orlando Brown in Tuesday’s practice in pads.

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Getting to the QB to create sacks should happen more than 2 times per game for this Chiefs defense. That’s a pathetic stat and I’ll be shocked, if in any game, the Chiefs have only two sacks, in 2021. It’s not enough to only pressure the QB, but getting there and keeping him from even getting a pass off, is the goal. Blitzing and sacking: the two appear to go hand-in-hand… if the front four produce more sacks (which looks highly likely) then the blitz should produce more sacks as well. The success of the blitz should help with that stat, especially if that blitz is more successful. Pressure from the front four, should also make the blitz more dangerous. It’s a win-win situation in 2021.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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