The Chiefs Defense: Are They Really as BAD as It Seems

The Chiefs Defense: Are They

Really as BAD as It Seems

by Paul Pulley

The Kansas City Chiefs defense is the number 32 ranked defense in the NFL. Just in case you aren’t sure, there are 32 teams in the NFL. There is no doubt the Chiefs defense is off to an awful start but… are they as bad as the numbers are indicating?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the number two rated offense in the league after two games and the Los Angeles Chargers are number three in that same category. Now, are these two teams rated that high because they played the Kansas City Chiefs or… has the Chiefs defense taken a licking because they have played two powerhouse offenses?

Prior to the season, many of us were discussing how if KC’s offense could start games fast and build a lead, it would make the opponent one dimensional and this is what has happened, being very evident versus the Steelers. When the opponent is forced into passing almost exclusively, they are going to put up huge numbers of passing yards. During NFL games, when any team is passing for 400 or more yards, they are almost always playing catchup and are losing the game, and this is what the Chiefs offense has done to both the Chargers and Steelers.

The Chargers had a respectable 123 rushing yards versus KC but had to abandon the run in the 2nd half to try to come from behind. The Steelers gave up on the run early and finished the game with only 33 yards rushing. The result of this is Kansas City’s rush defense is rated 7th best in the league after two games.

The pass defense, statistically, is bottom of the barrel. Currently, they rate so badly that they are probably underneath the barrel the rest of the defenses are in, surrendering 860 passing yards in two games. However, this has been against two of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL, both Ben Roethlisberger and Phillip Rivers are unflappable and extremely hard to sack and they each threw a ton of passes against the Chiefs.

• Rivers attempted 51 passes in game one, completing 34.
• Big Ben attempted 60, completing 39.
• That’s a total of 111 pass attempts Kansas City’s defense has had to defend and this doesn’t include ones that were not counted because of penalties of one kind or another.
• By comparison: Patrick Mahomes has attempted 54 passes in the two games combined, less than half of their opponents.

Ben Roethlisberger in 2018

Comparing what Roethlisberger did in week one against Cleveland, a game that finished in a tie after an additional 10 minutes of overtime. The Steelers, because of the extra game time, had an additional 3:01 time of possession than they did versus KC and yet Big Ben only attempted 41 passes in that game.

Philip Rivers in 2018

In week two versus the Buffalo Bills, the Chargers actually had 1:24 less time of possession than they had in week one and yet Rivers, because the Chargers had a lead, only had 27 pass attempts. Just a little more than half of what he threw against Kansas City.

Personally, I thought the Chiefs defense played quite a bit better in week two. Although the Steelers only rushed 13 times, they were held to only 2.5 yards per carry, whereas in week one against the Chargers rushed 22 times for a 5.6 yard average. The pass defense was somewhat improved also. There were fewer blown coverages and for the most part the play of the defensive backs improved. The Steelers WR, JuJu Smith-Schuster, looked at times like he was wearing Harry Potters invisibility cloak. Even the refs couldn’t see him pushing off, and the tight end got away from the safety a couple of times, but with a team attempting 60+ passes, the offense will undoubtably win their share.

CB Orlando Scandrick’s play was much better versus the Steelers, at least it seemed that way to me. His play was a lot tighter this week and except for the phantom holding call on Chris Jones defensive touchdown, I don’t recall him having a penalty called against him. From ArrowheadPride:

“Scandrick spent 58 snaps in coverage against Pittsburgh, was targeted eight times yet only allowed one reception for zero yards. His 58.0 coverage snaps per reception allowed not only led the league in Week 2, but it was also a clear 8.0 snaps higher on average than the next cornerback.”

Steven Nelson remains competent: some really good plays and then some not so good ones. The Chiefs are really getting their monies worth out of Kendall Fuller and I think KC may have won on that trade.

I saw both Tremon Smith and Armani Watts get a few defensive snaps against the Steelers and so it seems they are being eased into some playing time already and this has to be seen as a good thing.

With all of the new players on the defensive side of the ball, we knew it would take several games before they started to come together, plus we also knew the schedule to start the season was going to be brutal, so to be 2-0 really has us ahead of almost every early prediction. I don’t think the front office of the Chiefs or the coaching staff is in a panic mode, nor do I think Chiefs fans, should be either. We should let this ride out at least 4 more games and if we don’t see a substantial improvement in the play of the defense, then we can start to worry, but then again, 4 more games only gets us through the toughest part of the schedule.

Next weeks game will pit our defense against the San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco’s offense is currently ranked 21st in the league, averaging more than 100 yards less than either the Chargers or Steelers. San Francisco’s opponents have been the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions, whose defenses are currently ranked 14th and 16th respectively.

With this being the home opener, the defense will have the crowd to support them, something they haven’t had yet this year, so this game should let us know if our defense has hope or if we will be on the edge of our seats the rest of the season.

I’m expecting Justin Houston to be unleashed a little more on the pass rush against the 49ers. I think these first two games, against two of the hardest to sack quarterbacks in the NFL, he has been dropped into zone coverages and primarily been setting the edge to stop the run. I believe San Francisco’s offensive line will allow more opportunities to disrupt their QB than what we have seen in the first two games. The 49ers passing offense is rated 26th after two games and their O-line has allowed 9 sacks so far. Only the Seahawks, Bills and Browns have given up more sacks.

A Couple Quick Thoughts about the Offense

Enough is being said about Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, but to think we would be setting NFL records is almost incomprehensible. Two of the things that are impressing me the most:

1. The Chiefs have only attempted (and made) one field goal in two games and, 

2. Scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Four more against the Steelers and now six on the year, most impressive.

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