Chiefs: Time and Space

Chiefs: Time and Space

by David Bell | November 14, 2018

The thing about the game against the Arizona Cardinals is that the Kansas City Chiefs offense did not avail themselves of the advantages they have expressly demonstrated in most of their games this season. It was dynamic out of the gate but seemed to stall in it’s flow and was on the “ebb” too much of the game. I have watched the game again and my basic evaluation of the offense’s performance is in entailed in the following list:

1. The play-calling by head coach Andy Reid seemed to have reverted to his previously displayed “Reid Head Job”
2. Too many penalties
3. Not scoring 7 in the red zone
4. The Chiefs did not protect Pat Mahomes well giving up sacks in the process(Wylie and Fish were largely the culprits)
5. Lack of Cohesiveness WAS a factor
6. Player on the field antics distracted the team and focus. namely this was due to Ty Hill jumping to the stands and manning the Camera
7. Second half drives that were nil put the game at risk and the defense was called upon to prevent scores to save the day so to speak

That the offense scored 26 points is a “disappointment” based on previous performance. Had this been a win in previous years, the fan, the staff, the coaches and players would have felt at least satisfied. But I am not satisfied and I hope the players, staff and Head Coach get their minds right.

My assessment of the defense is:

1. It performed well in all quarters of the game
2. Th defense held the opposition to two scores — 14 points – as reflected in my us of the number 17 as the break point-old the opposition 17 or under should result in a win. This game proved that point
3. The pressure on the QB was exceptional
4. The Chiefs forced two turnovers
5. Pass defense was basically attacking the ball and the pass rush made the passes more than 50% of the time hurried, off target or throw-aways

A lot of factors fit my thoughts on the game so I am going to use the public observations to express my view. There were so many good takes in tweets that I could put images of them up and this article would have no further need of comment but… there’s no room to include them all.

Steven Nelson is deserving of high praise. His defense is upper tier in the realm of cornerback play and his interception late in the game was the icing on the cake of the Chiefs win.

Justin Houston’s importance to the overall defense was observable — not just the interception but affecting the pressure on the QB (Hurries, knockdowns, and inaccurate passes). Houston also was poised for a sack but his body moment carried him away and Rosen slipped the tackle. Houston’s effort aided the pass rush of other players, hence the 5 sacks. Derrick Nnadi played a very good game, pushing the opposing blocker into the pocket. This was good football, creating pressure and uncertainty on the part or Josh Rosen.

Chris Jones continues to play 3-4 DE at a very high level and should be at least a pro bowl player after the season. Ben Niemann, Reggie Ragland and Dorian O’Daniel gave good service to both the run defense and pass defense. Both Niemann and O’Daniel covered the short zone and upset plays by floating RBs who were running patterns and they both covered throws to the flats. Often Daniel Sorensen’s hybrid play was effective in making solid plays in defense against the run or passes in the short zone (1 to 7 yards).

I think my appraisal of what Houston being back means is correct as I pointed out in articles last week. I anticipate a very positive effect on the defense when Eric Berry returns and no, I have no news as to when that will be.

The Chiefs defense has indeed gotten better. The following is true over the last 6 games if you subtract out the game against the Patriots:

Since the first two games of the season (when defenses have often not caught up to the offenses of the league), the Chiefs have held their opponents to scores of (excluding the Pats game in Foxborough):

• 49ers – 27
• Broncos – 23
• Jaguars – 14
• Bengals – 10
• Broncos – 23
• Browns – 21
• Cardinals – 14

For a total of 132 Points = which comes out to 18.6 PPG average.

Now add back the Patriots game where they scored 43 points: 21.9 PPG average and would rank the Chiefs Defense #10 in the league in points allowed per game based on the current listing by NFL.com.

This is not stellar defense but surely moving up to the middle of the road type performance. If you use my “magic” number of “17”, then the Chiefs would have a record of 9-1 anyway. In the games played, the Chiefs gave up 23 twice to the Broncos and 27 to to the 49ers.

Form NFL Matchup at ESPN come a significant observation about today’s game: “Stopping the pass is the number one goal of defensive coordinators each week in today’s NFL.” If that’s the case, the next tweet & graphic tells a positive story about the Chiefs current defense.

I suggested in a comment to an article written by Laddie Morse yesterday, that if I used a team averaging only 25 PPG and compare that to every game the Chiefs have played their record would be 8-2. Before the season, if you said the Chiefs would be 8-2 after week 10 you would say, nah, he is crazy(which I may be but I did say the Chiefs would be at least 11-5 and probably 12-4.  If I said they were averaging 25 PPG they would not have taken that as a disaster. In this game, the Chiefs scored 26 points and won by 12. They didn’t cover the spread of 16.5 (Vegas) but the win is a win and this game, appeared to be the “trap” game that all were expecting. The offense, for whatever reason, played down to the competition and the Cardinals who had more than a week to prepare it’s defense did so admirably. The Chiefs shot themselves in the foot several times in this game and still won.

Certainly from just those simple numbers you get an idea of success. Even giving up 21 PPG the Chiefs would have won all but the same game. If the Chiefs average 25 PPG and played the 49ers and scored 25. they would have but still had an 8-2 record.

In Today’s shootout NFL, I should make my magic #21 I guess. Being a defense oriented fan or “observer,” that may be more appropriate in light of how the league offenses are scoring in general. Someone made point about teams with good defenses still losing games and we have seen this is the case many times this season.

I have written a lot about defense the past couple of weeks. Let me add emphasis with the following thoughts:

• Getting Houston back helped the front five a lot and resulted in his interception
• Getting Sorensen back on the field helped — especially in run defense support
• Getting Ben Niemann on the field and his getting his feet wet did not end up as a deficiency. Ben Niemann acquitted himself well in his first start
• Dorian O’Daniel as also important in his role in passing down situations
• Sutton’s defense had a 3-4 base but shifted in out, up and back effectively
• Nnadi and Williams played effectively at NT and they had legs all through the game
• Allen Bailey was effective against the run and pass

There are too many takes to cover in this article. Maybe on Friday I will add a post with additional views — I am out of time and space.

David Bell – ArrowheadOne

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