Just How Important Is the Chiefs Lack of Defensive Line Pressure?

Just How Important Is the Chief’s Lack of Defensive Line Pressure? This Basic Question arises due to the performance of the Defensive Line in the Playoffs this year. Perhaps taken as a view of preventing scores, the Bengals game is the highlight that most fans are looking at, but the Bills Game in the divisional round showed me more about what the defense did not do.

By the Magic Number

In both the Divisional and Championship games, the Chiefs were facing top-level Quarterbacks, and in all three playoff contests, the opponents scored over 20 points. That is my “magic number.”

1. In the Wild Card Round, the Steelers had a garbage time score, ending that game, 42-to-21.
2. Giving up more than 30 points to the Josh Allen led Buffalo Bills, nearly cost them the game. The Chiefs won the toss in OT and scored a TD ended the game. That was Fortuitous.
3. The Chiefs won the toss in the Bengals game and failed to score. A TD would have put the game away. Then the Defense couldn’t stop the Bengals final drive which provided the 3 point margin on PK McPherson’s Field Goal. In this match, the defense gave up 24 points in regulation, 4 over my “Magic Number”. In this contest, the defense could not find a way to get to Burrows and our big-name Pass Rushers — and big money players too — did not record a sack in the game.

At the Week 16 juncture, one would observe that suddenly, the defensive line was exerting their will across 6 games and pressure from the DL position was a big factor in the winning streak. Then, suddenly, in Week 17 versus the Bengals, the level of play had a downturn contributing to a loss and as well as losing to them again in the AFC Championship game. Both times the Front Four wasn’t getting home to sack or pressure Burrows. Let’s take a look at both games versus the Bengals.

Looking Deeper: The Week 17 Debacle

While I am greatly disturbed by the failure of the offense, my focus is the defense. There is a caveat even then, related to the failure of the offense to maintain drives, and scoring points. They failed, and this affected the defense to a great extent because it meant that when it really counted, the defense was put back on the field. It wasn’t the time of possession though, as the Chiefs owned a slight advantage in regulation. The game kicked into the OT session and the Chiefs didn’t score. They didn’t move the ball into scoring position. The Bengals did and won the AFC Lamar Hunt Trophy in the process.

It’s difficult to explain the loss at the same time. The Chiefs had 10 penalties for 83 yards, the Bengals had 5 for 62 yards. There is a disparity there, yes, we all witnessed penalties missed that should have been assessed against the Bengals, but that is not the reason the Chiefs lost the game.

What’s Even Odder?

During the Week 17 game, the Chiefs sacked Joe Burrows 4 times. Chris Jones had 2 sacks while Jarran Reed and Frank Clark each had 1. At least the cursory glance stats inform me that the defense had a successful game getting to the QB. One breakdown is related to lack of “pressures” when Burrows was getting the ball off to Ja’marr Chase who finished the game with 266 yards. Surely part of the reason for the difficulty in covering Ja’Marr Chase was due to lack of pressures by the Front Four. I would observe that the Chiefs were facing a QB at the top of his game, he is not a loser.

In the AFC Championship game, the Chiefs did not allow Ja’Marr Chase to beat them, even though he scored on a 2-yard pass. The Defense overall intercepted Burrows once, and on that pass he was pressured. He had 22 completions on 38 attempts for 250 yards and 2 TDs.

While Melvin Ingram had 1 sack, the most obvious thing to me was the fact that neither Clark nor Jones had a sack. That is just as telling as anything. Obviously, the defense made a difference in this game overall compared to week 17 –> but not in the 2nd half.

What I Saw in the AFC Championship

This time, the Bengal’s defense tallied the sacks (4). The Chiefs blew the game on offense with the two errors in the last 5 seconds of the game. From that point on, they self-destructed. As a team there was a missing ingredient: call it desire, call it swagger, call it lack of “Juice.” Any of those descriptions define what was missing on the whole team, but specifically on the front Four on defense.

They didn’t get there, they reached, they didn’t overcome and those things don’t have a box score entry. Sure, the offense self-destructed but the defense deflated and imploded, which is the charge the Front Four must bear as well.

Part of that is not the fault of the players. The offense did nothing but put the defense back on the field possession after possession. Big men with such constant activity will tire, and they did. The offense failed to score or move the chains so the Front Four was faced with a motivated opponent as their strength dwindled. The defense was flagged, grew tired and worn, and ultimately, failed. When the Front Four fails, the Secondary must cover for an extended time. Time of Possession was a factor. The Chiefs did not even have 5 minutes of offense in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, the Front Four was enduring a constant onslaught.

Box Scores Don’t tell the story. The offense also lost the game. Patrick Mahomes had two more INTs and they were both equally dumb. He put the ball on the ground and failed to move the chains. The effect on the defense was telling in terms of fatigue as the game ended. The Defensive Front four did not fail against the run and held the Bengals to 116 yards by all ball carriers.

The Loss was not the fault of the defense overall either. After all, they held the Bengals to 24 points in regulation, which is only 4 points over the magic number. The high-powered offense failed. Play-calling failed. The staff again was not prepared to win. The reason for the failure of the defense overall was specifically the inability to pressure Joe Burrows late in the game. Plus, the offense gave them no help.

I do question why neither Clark nor Jones could not get to Burrows but that is another investigation. The Chiefs only sacked Burrows once and that came from Ingram.

The thing about Mel Ingram is, that after he joined the team and finally got on the field, his snap count steadily increased and the Front Four play improved greatly as time went along!

The Pressures that worked in the Championship game were largely in the first half and interspersed the rest of the way while being far fewer and further in between. Let’s save that topic for another time. End of that Story. While Frank Clark and Chris Jones did not play up to their potential in that game, Jarran Reed was perhaps the best DL of the group. PFF has this to share:

Obviously, Reed had the highest Pass-Rush Win Rate, so maybe the Chiefs should take a look at keeping him this offseason.

What Is the Real Story for the Chiefs in 2021?

Plus, What’s their Outlook for 2022?

The Chiefs Defensive Front Four must produce: stop the run and pressure the opposing QB. If they do not succeed at these two tasks, then the aerial defense is in trouble. You can figure that they will handle coverage for 2 to 3 seconds, preferably closer to the 2 seconds. The Front Four must force the opposing QB to make that pass early, in a hurry so that it is errant accuracy. That is why the Front Four is so important. A great rotation of DL players is the best way to approach staying fresh. Unfortunately, the Chiefs had missing pieces due to injury. Basically, the Chiefs Front Four go through five players. They were missing Kaindoh and Saunders. I see the front 5 in 2022 as:

• Unnamed Player (Edge),
• Ingram (Edge),
• Jones (IDL),
• Reed (IDL),
• Nnadi (IDL)
• Plus, two “effective players.”

I believe the Chiefs need at least six dependable players to handle the drought and a couple more bodies for spot snaps as well. The drought the team suffered in the first 7 games of 2021 as well as in the AFC Championship game. Much of what I thought was the drought, is contained in the following Chris Jones images:

Also note: when two of the playmakers accomplish little in terms of getting to the QB, it makes it even worse. Chris Jones seemed to come up short.

Frank Clark missed frequently as well.

In 2022, my premise is that Frank Clark is going to be released which means the Chiefs must have faith in Josh Kaindoh plus draft a top-level DE at the same time. They will need to find another DT in the process, either in signing a Free Agent or the draft. You will note that I have not mentioned Khalen Saunders as a player I am counting on. He is a possible fit for spot work, but availability means playing time and that has been missing. As the season closed down, both Saunders and Kaindoh were MIA. We, outside the Kingdom, don’t have the inside scoop on this.

What I am certain about is that Melvin Ingram should return for 2022. When he hit the grass after Week 7 he was an inspiration. The Defense suddenly became effective along the front line. I am certifying acceptance that Frank Clark will not return as a Chief and that might be the best course of action as Brett Veach proceeds to work through the offseason tasks. Salary Cap savings and legal problems may make this necessary, but more importantly, not living up to his billing.

Last Thoughts

Seth Keysor came up with two major conclusions in his post-game article about the loss to the Bengals (subscription required), and I agree with him. The focus of this article though was the Defensive Front Four. At any rate, here were Seth’s 2 conclusions:

1. An altering of the game plan when it was clear he was off, with Kansas City relying more on its bruising offensive line to punish the Bengals for their conservative looks with the run game. This could have given Mahomes a mental break and helped him reset, as well as forced CIN to re-think their strategy.
2. Adding another weapon or 2 who can help win against aggressive man coverage when teams are rolling help to Kelce and Hill. [A] healthy Watkins was missed [in] this game, and even one or two plays created by another weapon would’ve been the difference.

I wrote to Seth in response, these additional thoughts:

Second Half Advantage Not Used vs. 3 Man Front

This is a coaching/play-calling problem. In the second half, this was so apparent I was swearing at Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy on the TV screen.

The Miscue Before the Half

I am completely disturbed by the pass call to the flat to Hill just before the half. it should have been a pass to the end-zone or better yet, a run play called. Either it’s complete or incomplete. then clock management would not matter. As it was, the clock expired. This was a stupid play to call. and is one of those things that a critique of Andy Reid in the past — Clock Mgmt — came back to bite us. Or ditto if it was Eric Bieniemy who was calling the plays. This is also a coaching/play-calling error.

Even if the play-caller decided a run would allow the 5 seconds to expire, the pass would work. Either a TD or incomplete stopping the clock. A Field Goal could then be kicked. As it stands, this was a horrible play that took 3 points off the board if not 6.

Patrick Mahomes Performed Far Below Expectations in the 2nd Half

As I think about the loss in further review, just to get to winning the bye was a stressor. To win into the Super Bowl was a very tough assignment itself. The Bengals stymied the goal of getting the Bye. The Chiefs won the division, again.

1. Winning across such a long span of games is tough to do especially in a 17-week season.
2. Winning in post season playing 3 games to get to the Super Bowl is a tough road.
3. Maintaining the “Juice” as Terez Paylor might write about it for such a long stretch, proved illusive and in the 2nd half of the AFC Championship game. It just wasn’t there. (I sure miss Terez Paylor).
4. Changes on the Defensive Front Four are coming & Changes on Defense Overall as well.

It’s up to Brett Veach to work magic in 2022’s offseason in a similar fashion to what he accomplished with the Offensive Line in 2021’s offseason. Get After it Brett Veach!!! WTIV!

Cast your eyes to the football gods and utter a plea for offseason success!

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David Bell – ArrowheadOne

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