David Bell
Sitting here thinking this morning, I reflected upon the success of the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2023 regular season and arrived at a conclusion: the reason the Chiefs won the West was not because of their much-vaunted offense, as in past seasons, but because of the Chiefs Defense which ascended to the highest levels. Game after game, DC Steve Spagnuolo’s crew held the opposing team below 20 points and… that’s been my magic number for the past 3 years as well, save for the opener vs. the Lions where they gave up 21 points and lost the game. On the few occasions where that didn’t happen, the defense held the opponents to 24 and under.
In the postseason, the defense has been near stellar, but they did give up 24 points to the Bills, however, they held the Dolphins “league’s best” to 7 and the Ravens “mighty men” to 10. Here’s the top 10 defenses in the NFL in the 2023 season based on Yard Per Game (YPG) allowed:
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Adapted from FOX Sports News – Photo Credit
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One more game remains: Super Bowl LVIII.
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The Chiefs defense ranked 2nd among all NFL teams giving up only 289.8 YPG. They ranked 4th in pass defense yielding 176.5 aerial YPG. Over the season, the Chiefs secondary gave up 19 TDs which tied with or bested all 4 teams that ranked ahead of them or bested the number of TDs by the top ranked team which was the Browns.
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Who to Credit for the Success? Steve Spagnuolo(DC) and his staff!
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Ebay signed photo – wnbagels photo owner; I Think I need to buy this item!
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The #2 Ranked Chiefs Defense allowed 16.8 PPG. In the postseason they have allowed 13.7 PPG. The Ravens were the top-ranked defense of 2023, allowing 16.2 PPG. The 3rd Ranked team, the SF 49ers, are the team the Chiefs face in Super Bowl LVIII. The Chiefs were #2 in the NFL for Team Sacks (57) trailing the Ravens who totaled 60. The most important fact is that, of the two teams left in the Super Bowl, the Chiefs defense is the best.
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Here’s the top ten in Team Sack Leaders for the 2023 season by StatMuse:
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The sacks came from the Front Four plus many other contributors such as LBs, Safeties & CBs. DC Spagnuolo implemented several defensive sets to get this total.
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Spags designed the initial alignment which confused the opposing QB. They shifted up or down to prevent telegraphing if a blitz was “on”… or… “not” and disguised from which quarter the blitz was coming.
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Spagnuolo has done a magnificent job in the design of
the varied ploys used to get Sacks and Pressures.
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While the Chiefs were not a leader in pressures per game, they still recorded a 58.0 pressure rate. Combined with Sacks, the Chiefs had a significant percentage of plays that put opposing QBs on notice! When you examine the defense as a whole, the Team was one of the top five teams in excelling on the defensive side of the ball. Steve Spagnuolo has a great supporting cast. I don’t want these men to be hired away to another team… but I fear it will happen.
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Defensive Position Coaches Who Deserve Accolades
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The 2023 Chiefs defense is easily the best Team Defense in 3 decades.
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What say you?
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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