The Confusion Conclusion: Chiefs new look defense – Base D, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Prevent, Goal-line, Man, Zone, Single high, Tampa 2, a 4-3 front, a 3-4 front, inside, outside, Mike, Will or Sam. After a considerable amount of thought and deliberation, I have come to a conclusion:
WHO CARES!
Seriously, it doesn’t matter. With offenses playing more 3-WR sets — 11 personnel — than any other offensive alignment, Nickel defenses have become standard. At least they have been leaning more and more that way the past decade or so, but the percentage of nickel has tailed off a little the past couple seasons, at least depending on who’s data one peruses.
What we see more and more, is good offenses putting a certain alignment on the field to try and dictate the defenses personnel, and then the offense will audible to an entirely different set to take advantage of mismatches. In other words, Confusion!
Confusion: the Chiefs Head Coach, Andy Reid, does an excellent job of this with his offense, creating mismatches with the opposing defense.
Confusion, or the lack thereof. The problem as Chiefs fans, over the past six years (or maybe longer), we have become accustomed to a defense that was as predictable as any in the NFL.
How does the 2019 Chiefs defense create this confusion, you ask? Well, that’s a good question, and all we have is speculation and guesses, but some of the off-season moves that were made could lead to some hypotheticals.
A Few of the Additions
1. Hiring a new defensive coordinator. DC Steve Spagnuolo will bring a new look defense and hopefully he will have a bevy of tricks up his sleeve.
2. Hiring a new defensive line coach. DL coach Brendan Daly came to us from the Patriots, a team that uses all kinds of different alignments, tricks and stunts.
3. Hiring new linebacker and defensive back coaches. LB coach Matt House and DB coach Dave Merritt will hopefully get better play out of the back of our defense.
4. Signing DE Frank Clark, a player that is equally adept at rushing the passer as he is in stopping the run. Clark is also experienced in running defensive line stunts, a way to create confusion.
5. Signing Tyrann Mathieu, a “safety” that can play anywhere on the field. Mathieu can play deep if needed, or play in the box, he can even slide into the slot CB role if needed.
6. Signing LB Darron Lee, a very fast linebacker that excels in coverage. Lee is good versus the run and adept at blitzing. I can envision Lee lining up over the TE in the traditional “SAM” role, where he can do any of blitzing, defending the run or pass coverage on the TE.
7. The 2019 draft class, in particular, Juan Thornhill and Khalen Saunders: the best free safety in this draft class and a very athletic defensive lineman.
8. Signing Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah, two additional defensive linemen that will play a big role.
What does all this add up to?
Hiring an entirely new defensive coaching staff and bringing in a new scheme, hopefully one that shows innovation and some surprises, will be a breath of fresh air.
Hiring DLC Daly should have us showing multiple looks up front without a defined base unit. Playing a 4-3 or 3-4, or any other variation is irrelevant. The defense needs to be adaptive to the offense they will be facing on any given week, and the strengths of those offenses will vary greatly.
Having enough quality defensive linemen is a must. Defensive linemen rotate and rotate frequently in Spagnuolo’s front. This has to happen to keep fresh legs in the game, in order to not only rush the quarterback, but to hold up versus the running game.
I can envision the starting linebackers against predominately pass oriented offenses, being Anthony Hitchens, Darron Lee and Dorian O’Daniel. With Hitchens to support against the run and with two speed backers with good pass coverage ability, the Chiefs defense could stay in their “base” defense, still shift personnel around and create confusion as to who will be covering which offensive player: who, if anyone, will be blitzing, etc. Having speedy linebackers in the game will also be key defending fast running backs that utilize the edge, such as the Denver Broncos.
Bringing one of the very best safeties to the team will be paramount: Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu can play any safety position, he could play backer in the rare dime sets but I believe, most importantly, when in the nickel, he’ll be able to play multiple roles. He could be the nickel backer if necessary or, he could drop deep or, play in the box. Spags could even bring in a third safety, by putting Watts in the box and having Mathieu cover the slot receiver. Creating more… confusion.
A Different Defense
We are seeing some innovative defenses exerting themselves in the new age NFL. We all witnessed what the Baltimore Ravens were able to do in week 14 last year. If not for some heroic efforts by some offensive players, plus the game being played in Arrowhead, the outcome could have easily been different. We also saw how the New England Patriots defense was able to stymie the Chiefs offense for the first half of two different games. The Denver Broncos, as weak as they are, were able to be competitive in most of their games because of their defense.
Of One Thing I’m Sure
In the past, when I could sit in front of my TV, or in the stands, and see the defense on the field and know what they were going to do, you’re darn tootin’ that every NFL offensive coordinator and NFL quarterback knew what to expect also, and we’ve seen the results of that for the last time.
I am so looking forward to seeing the defense line up on the field, see some pre-snap movement, and then be totally surprised at what happens when the ball is snapped.
CONFUSION
Paul Pulley — ArrowheadOne
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