i think he will be better next year also but lewis had tackling issues from day one. NOT pollard style but still not good enough IMO

I saw a replay of the first pass of the game to Boldin being broken down by Merril Hoge on ESPN a couple nights ago. He showed the fullback going into motion to the left, and DJ following him out. He said that move by DJ allowed the offense to know the coverage was man coverage. Then once the fullback got to the outside, we wound up with Carr and DJ matched up on Boldin and the FB. However, somehow DJ wound up covering Boldin, and Carr had the FB. Boldin came across the middle and went for 27 yards. Hoge said the defense continued to make like this all day.

It was facinating to watch him break down the tape. And I am not blaiming anything/anybody for the loss. Just telling you what I saw about one play on TV being reviewed by Hoge.

Defenses have bad games, even the good ones. Hell how in the **** did Buffalo put up 30+ pts on the Ravens a couple months ago? It just so happens this was a bad time to have one of those bad games. I dunno if it was the gameplan or what...but this team has been notorious this season for letting opposing TE's rape the defense. Sometimes you just get outcoached, and sometimes coaches get outcoached because of the talent (or lack there of) that's out on the field. And sometimes your defense gets tired because the offense repeatedly over and over again goes 3 n out. There are many factors, and really you can never blame just one person when there are 11 players on the field and multiple coaches that are involved with the gameplan. You just got to hope that the coaches put the team in the best position to win the game and let the players play.

Overall I think the defense improved dramatically from what it once was. This team has had to dig themselves out of a roughly 15 year hole of defensive neglect with horrible old veteran FA signings and COMPLETELY ignoring the draft on the defensive side of the ball. (Hell really ignoring the draft all together - besides TG in 1997 we haven't really drafted shit on offense up until a few seasons ago).

We're making strides in the right direction. This is a team still in transition and some can say that we have 4 potential pro bowlers on our roster on defense in Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Brandon Flowers, Eric Berry. Not to mention some very serviceable defensive players to go along with them like Dorsey, Carr, Studebaker (man I wish he would get more snaps). Not sold yet on Lewis, Jackson, Arenas, or Belcher, but the secondary is the least of our worries on defense. Once the front 7 gets better bigger plays in the secondary will come. Everything starts up front.

Add another ILB, another passrusher, and a "true" big fat **** NT, and I think this defense is set and can be a force for a VERY long time. They're still a young defense, and last weekend they found out real quick what it's like to play with the big boys when it counts. I think if anything this year was a learning experience for a lot of players. Hopefully they can build and get better.

What worries me is the offense. Cassel improved but to be honest his mechanics and reads are just shit at times. If this team really wants to make some noise in the postseason we need a true franchise QB, not a game manager. We need Oline depth BADLY including a couple starters wouldn't hurt like RT and beef up the interior a little as Weigman is small/old and nearing the end of his career. Since we can't rely on our QB like the Colts, Pats, Saints, Packers can we need to get Cassel more guys to throw to and let them make the plays. We need 2 more WR's to compliment Bowe and I would love to get TE Kevin Boss in FA...anything to have Leonard Pope ride the pine.

Not to mention probably the most important thing that people rarely talk about that's a backup QB. Croyle sucks. I will eat my crow...I was wrong but I think in part of that is because I was desperate to see Cassel go (in any fashion). At times Cassel looked so pathetic (like last Sun) it looked like we wasted away a shit ton of money on a QB that had NO CLUE on how to play the position. This team, this city for the LONGEST TIME has wanted the Chiefs to draft/groom their own franchise QB, we've been starving for it....Croyle was a somewhat highly touted passer coming out of college, had a cannon arm, could make all the throws...Chiefs fans were badly desperately in need of a franchise groomed QB, not some clipboard holder from another team, even though at times we've been successful with some of them. Well this season Croyle officially knocked me off of whatever bandwagon I was on before supporting his ass. He's just not an NFL QB, never will be, maybe a 3rd stringer at best. He just doesn't have it, combine that with his injury bug. K Im dont ranting. This team needs an insurance policy if Cassel should go down....also needs to push Cassel in practice if anything.

The defense does what Belichik/Parcells/Crennel defenses do. They stop the run with 7, don't give up big plays, force you to drive the ball, and play good in the red zone.

Belichik plays a lot more straight up D than the media thinks. He doesn't mix up coverages near as much as advertised, doesn't blitz much, and will run the same defense snap after snap after snap. Look at the pats statistically on D.

As bad as the popular opinion against the defense is from that game, they gave us a chance. They got a sack fumble and held baltimore to 3 red zone field goals. The offense has to play better football.

BTW, Hoge also said something along the lines of even though the Chiefs continued to make the mistakes all game long, they were problems that were fixable and that as this team continues to grow he expected this sort of thing will be taken care of in the future.

For a little perspective. If you take away all of the stuff flacco threw underneath, Flacco was 10 of 19 for only 150 yds. If Romeo adjusts to everything that was happening underneath, this may have been a different game, it'd be really interesting to know how their third down percentage would have changed.

Was Crennel scared they'd beat us deep, or just didn't trust our young safeties?

You know, I would really, really like to see a Chiefs defense where I wasn't concerned about 3rd and long. It's been ages. I would almost rather see a team in 3rd and 4 than 3rd and 12 and it has been that way far too long. :banghead:

I think Crennel schemed to take the deep ball away from Flacco and tried ot make him a game manager, something that Flacco usually struggles with.

The problem was that that he made it too easy, and even a QB that struugles to manage games should have been able to take advantage of how the plan was executed.

I don't know what Crennel was thinking. It appeared that we were most often in sort of a man/zone type of deal which caused the middle of the field to be open and Heap to have his career day.

What I don't understand is this; why didn't they figure out the problem after say ... the 4th Heap catch over the middle for a 1st? I'm no Crennel, but I think I would have put a backer on him at the line and knocked Heap's ass into next week a few times when he came off the line just for starters.

FAX

One of the clips Baldinger broke down showed Vrabel lined up over Heap and let him off the line with no contact. By the time Belcher was on him, he was passed 5 yards with a head of steam. No way Belcher could cover him at that point.

Simple pitch and catch.

What am I missing?

It seems as though, if your enemy's go-to-guy is the tight end, you put somebody on the damn guy to, at least, disrupt his timing. (Not that they needed much timing since he was basically just running to the giant empty space in the zone.)

Moeaki, for example, was blanketed most of the day one on one. They could have played man on the WRs and zone with the backers and safeties and still taken him out of the game.

Maybe I just don't understand football.

FAX

They were talking to Heap after the game and were talking about his 10 grabs. I was disgusted when he basically said - until they could show they could stop it, we were keep going to the well with the same plays.