I don't normally post paid for articles but this is a good read. Don't know how to embed- there's video I can't attach in here.
https://theathletic.com/592970/2018/...temic-problem/
Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitchens is struggling, and it might be a systemic problem
Something isn’t right with the Chiefs’ defense.
OK, so that could be one of the greatest understatements to ever begin an article. While the Chiefs’ D has
played well in the first quarter of games and has flashed a few times, overall the product has been … well, bad enough to be on pace to break records, and
not in a good way.
The defense has been so bad that, despite hanging 31 second-half points on coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots — something that had never happened to Belichick — the Chiefs were defeated at Foxboro Stadium on Sunday. While Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made a few mistakes in the first half, his brilliance was so absurd in the second half that it should have rendered such mistakes irrelevant.
The problem was that the offense, in order to beat the Patriots, couldn’t afford a few mistakes. It had to be near-perfect. And that, unfortunately, has appeared to be the case in multiple games this season. While the defense has managed a few stops, it has far more often surrendered yards and points at a disturbing rate (except when playing Blake Bortles and the Jaguars). This has put the offense in the position of having to score time and again, much like in the second half Sunday evening against the Patriots.
Many defensive players have struggled, and one of them is a veteran who was brought in to be part of the solution. Anthony Hitchens was signed to a 5-year, $45 million contract in the offseason and was touted as a player who would upgrade the middle of the defense, both as a run defender and a “three-down linebacker,” according to Chiefs general manager Brett Veach.
But so far this season, Hitchens has been anything but a solution, struggling significantly covering running backs out of the backfield and having less impact on the run game than many (myself included) hoped he would. Despite collecting 14 tackles Sunday, Hitchens was consistently a step slow and was exposed multiple times in coverage by Patriots running back James White. The most damaging of those plays came late in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs desperate for a stop.
With 1:36 left in the game, the Patriots had the ball on their own 36-yard-line. New England had all their timeouts remaining, but the Chiefs were still in a decent place in terms of field position. Then White got into the open field against Hitchens, and things shifted.
While the Patriots still needed a few more plays to get into field-goal range, this play gave them a great shot at going ahead to win the game while still controlling the clock. It was a tough play to watch, as Hitchens had already been beaten by White out of the backfield multiple times.
White is an extremely difficult player to defend in the passing game, and part of this is just a physical mismatch. However, it becomes a doomed play in part because Hitchens allows himself to be slowed down by a Patriots receiver and the covering corner. This appears to be by design by the Patriots, a pick play of sorts. Rather than going underneath the receiver or even delivering a shot, Hitchens instead slows down considerably and takes a wide angle, basically conceding the catch even as the ball is being thrown. He’s then embarrassed in space by the much quicker White.
This is a tough play for a linebacker to make, but hesitation was the word of the day for Hitchens. Watch this play from earlier in the game. Hitchens displays the same issue on a play he absolutely could have made.
There’s less space for Hitchens to cover here. However, he still gets hung up a bit. Then, when it’s obvious where the throw is going, Hitchens chooses to stay back and let White come to him rather than driving on the running back and trying to reach him right after the ball arrives. Had Hitchens played this aggressively downhill, he may well have stopped it for minimal gain or slowed White down long enough for the rest of the defense to swarm.
Instead, that moment of hesitation and conservative play helped the Patriots pick up a solid gain. This happened multiple times in the passing game. Look where Hitchens is on this play when the ball arrives.
While Hitchens appears to be preparing to drop into zone coverage, he’s also the defender with responsibility (based off what we can see, at least) for White if he slips out of the backfield. Despite this, Hitchens again doesn’t aggressively drive toward the ball and is a full seven yards away when White turns up the field. This is a terrible position for a linebacker to be in. There’s no way to funnel him toward the defense, and the runner has every momentum advantage. White uses that advantage to break Hitchens’ ankles and pick up another solid gain.
Hitchens does not look comfortable moving on the field. It’s impossible to say whether it’s a physical or a mental issue without the man himself saying something, but he looks tentative. It appears as though he’s thinking, then acting. But in the NFL, split-second hesitations are the difference between stuffs and big gains.
That hesitation came into play against the run as well. And to be fair to Hitchens, it wasn’t just him. Fellow inside linebacker Reggie Ragland seemed similarly afflicted at times.
Watch how Hitchens and Ragland react to this run as compared to safety Jordan Lucas, who comes into the box to cover Rob Gronkowski.
While it’s not entirely fair to compare different positions, given the fact that all three defenders are in a similar spot on the field their reaction is worth noting. Lucas has already taken two steps before Hitchens or Ragland are moving forward with any purpose. Ragland hops forward but still allows the blockers to come to him. Hitchens is entirely passive on the play.
Without being inside the huddle, it’s impossible to know what Hitchens/Ragland were supposed to do there. Additionally, the defensive line didn’t exactly eat up the blockers. However, it’s highly concerning that Lucas, who had to worry about potentially covering Gronk on the play, appears to react significantly more quickly than the players who are actually there to defend the run.
Something is causing the inside linebackers to play passively on far too many snaps, Hitchens in particular. Plays like this, during which Hitchens doesn’t even attempt to engage/shed his blocker and instead gets caught up in an extended game of patty cake while getting moved 10 yards off the line, are genuinely bizarre.
It’s surprising to see Hitchens play this way. I reviewed him fairly extensively after the Chiefs signed him, and he appears to be a very different player in 2018 than he was in 2017.
Going through Hitchens’ snaps in 2017, there are many plays like this, whether he’s involved in the tackle or not. In Dallas, Hitchens was a decisive player who mostly read plays, reacted quickly and got downhill in a hurry, hitting with purpose and seldom missing tackles. Suddenly, in 2018, he’s playing hesitantly and missing tackles left and right.
Hitchens didn’t suddenly forget how to play linebacker at the NFL level. And while some have voiced concern that he has perhaps gotten complacent after getting paid, literally every Dallas analyst and beat writer I spoke to about Hitchens indicated that he doesn’t have that type of personality whatsoever. It seems unlikely that a player would go from beloved hard-working tough guy to “I got paid, so who cares,” and I don’t believe that’s the case here.
Another possibility is that Hitchens continues to be bothered by the injury that kept him out of action for much of training camp and preseason. That seems more likely, but it doesn’t explain why on some snaps, he appears perfectly capable of moving well.
I chose this play because Hitchens is placed in space, where he seems to have struggled so much. Here, Hitchens moves quickly laterally even after being sucked up by play-action. He keeps his eyes up while getting to the sideline, then recognizes the throw coming. The change of direction he must make here is something that he struggled with in other situations, but he didn’t seem to have any issues on this play. He changes direction well and closes very quickly, finishing strong to collect a tackle for loss.
An injured player should move roughly the same way all the time. The fact that Hitchens, on this snap and a few others, looked much more like the player he was last year tells me that this isn’t an injury situation.
So what’s the most likely possibility?
Hitchens is thinking too much, or is being asked to think too much. I recall a conversation I had with a Chiefs defender years ago about Sutton’s requirements of defenders. He made it clear to me that Sutton has very specific requirements for his players, and that inside linebackers were fairly frequently asked to “lay back” and read what gap a run was going to rather than simply attacking a single gap. It’s no coincidence that this conversation revolved around a play in which an inside linebacker hesitated, blockers reached him and the opponent had a nice gain.
Every defensive coordinator has plays where linebackers are asked to wait rather than attack. However, it’s starting to strain credulity that every single inside linebacker the Chiefs have fielded in the Bob Sutton era — outside of All-Pro Derrick Johnson — has struggled with appearing hesitant far too often. Even DJ, in his final year, had those same issues with blockers reaching him as he hesitated and waited.
It could well be that DJ’s freakish athleticism and ability to read plays allowed him to compensate for an issue whereas other linebackers could not. As his athleticism faded, his ability to make up for lost ground went with it, and the struggles we saw last year emerged. There’s no way to know for certain, but DJ’s fade fits in with the idea that Sutton has his linebackers thinking far too much rather than simply moving up the field and attacking.
At a certain point, when multiple players demonstrate the same issue over a period of multiple years, it’s time to question whether the problem is higher up. Right now, Hitchens is a shadow of the player he was in Dallas. It’s Sutton’s job to figure out why, and whether his scheme is indeed part of the problem. Otherwise the Chiefs are going to be looking at a rather large sunk cost at inside linebacker for the next few years.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was asked about the inside linebacker play on a conference call Monday, and he was, as is his habit, quick to take the blame off individual players.
“It’s not just two guys, everybody can do better on that,” Reid said. “Normally teams aren’t going to destroy you with the run game. That’s not where it happens. But we’ve got to do a better job solidifying some things there. That’s everybody, the whole front and including safeties if they’re in the position. We had a couple overloads (Sunday) where we had people in position, and you just got to make the play. We’ve got tighten that up a little bit.”
Reid will never throw players or coaches under the bus. That’s one reason people love playing for him and coaching underneath him. However, something needs to change, and quickly. Because a historically bad defense is not going to be good enough to win the Super Bowl, and after watching a wounded Chiefs stand and trade blows with a healthy Patriots team in Foxboro, it’s obvious that the goal should be going all the way. That will require at least a semi-competent defense, and the Chiefs need Hitchens playing like he’s capable of playing to get there.
