Stopping the run
 

Seriously, what about it?

A lot of experts will tell you that Run D is the best indicator of success so how are we doing? I seem to recall that our Run D wasn't that bad last year stat wise, but on the other hand I recall seeing people run all over us. What is the consensus on our run D last year and how is it going to be this year?
I'm still concerned about our D line for one, and I saw some nasty habits from the line and the lbs during the first preseason game.. hrm..

Our run D was horrid last year.

The #1 indicator of how good your run defense is is yards per carry.

2002 - 4.8
2003 - 5.17
2004 - 4.61

We're headed in the right direction. But we need to be DRAMATICALLY improved this year in order to compete for a title. We have to be under 4 ypc.

2004 Pats - 3.88
1995 Chiefs - 3.78

The thing that scares me about that is that we only got it down to 4.6 by blizting our asses off and giving up the big plays. Still, we've done a lot of upgrades this year and some guys are coming around, gotta keep hoping.
I like that Gun is trying to get that message across by benching Allen. That has to make people give pause and seriously think about their assignments. 10 sacks a year isn't worth jack if you're giving up 6 yard runs to your side every other play.

I've long been a believer that run defense is the key to a winning season. Pass defense can even be BAD if you can stop the run, see 1999 Rams.

YPC is an important stat, but it can be a little misleading. If a team jumps out to a big lead, they tend to go into a pass defense and allow teams to run all they want late in the game. IIRC, the Broncos had the worst, or one of the worst, defenses in the NFL in terms of YPC allowed during their 2 Superbowl seasons.
That said, if the Chiefs can get down to 4.2 or 4.3, we're in business.

If someone wants to break it down, I'd like to see our run D stats in the second half of last year.

Second half as in "last eight games"? Or second half as in "after halftime"?

I think I know where you're going with this. Our run D "improved" significantly in the second half of the season. But if I remember correctly, it had a lot more to do with the teams we faced than the way our d played.

Hell no one else is going to do it. I will.

I'm already on it.

Shaun Alexander is gonna be a good test for our run D.

I thought our run D was good at the beginning last year.

I'm probably mistaken.

Swiss cheese

We gave up 4.5 yards per carry in the first 8 games, and gave up 4.5 yards per carry in the second 8 games.

You're REALLY mistaken. Carolina's 3rd or 4th string RB got around 175 yards against us. We were pretty good against the Ravens, though.

Our run d was inconsistent all year. We held some good running teams under 3 ypc, but gave up over 6 ypc to other teams.

Our 2004 Run D stats are helped significantly by a couple games where we only saw 12 or less attempts.