PFF: ReFo: Chiefs @ Saints, Week 3

[aturnis]

ReFo: Chiefs @ Saints, Week 3
John Maney | 2012/09/24

After taking a 24-6 lead with just over five minutes left in the 3rd quarter of Sunday’s game, it looked like the New Orleans Saints would cruise to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. However, the Chiefs had other ideas, turning the game around on a 91 yard touchdown run by Jamaal Charles and eventually winning in overtime. Kansas City’s defense took its play to another level as well, completely shutting down the New Orleans offense. The results of the Saints’ final five drives following Charles’ run totaled an interception with four 3-and-outs.

This stunning late-game turnaround leaves New Orleans as one of just two 0-3 teams in the league (Cleveland being the other) and looking for answers. They better find them fast, because 0-3 can quickly become 0-4 with a trip to Green Bay next on the schedule. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are back in the thick of things in a wide open AFC West, as they now turn to their division opener against San Diego.

What happened in New Orleans? Let’s take a few key performances from each team.

Kansas City – Three Performances of Note

Jamaal Charles Carries the Offense

What a day for Charles as he had a career-high 33 rushes for 233 yards including a game changing 91 yard run for Kansas City’s only touchdown of the day, along with 6 receptions for 55 yards. He didn’t have to make many guys miss, only forcing a single missed tackle on the afternoon, but Charles hit the holes hard when he found room to run. Credit the blocking line for opening many of those running lanes for Charles. Jon Asamoah (+5.5) and Ryan Lilja (+4.0), filling in at center for much of the game, dominated the Saints’ front seven. The downfield blocking wasn’t too bad either: late in the 3rd quarter, wide receiver Terrance Copper put a big time block on Roman Harper that sealed him inside, allowing Charles to turn the corner for a 40 yard gain.

For as well as he played, it seems that Charles may not be fully healthy. He was dangerously close to being caught from behind on the TD run and failed to finish his other long run, opting to cut back instead of trying to outrun Malcolm Jenkins – two things I don’t think we see from a completely healthy Charles.

Houston is Huge

While Charles was the man on offense, Justin Houston (+5.1) stole the show on the Kansas City defense, producing one of the most complete performances you will see from an outside linebacker in a base 3-4 defense. Lining up on the left side of the defense on 52 of his 61 snaps, Houston abused Saints’ right tackle Zach Strief, finishing the game with three sacks, three hurries, and a QB hit. When he wasn’t in the face of Drew Brees, Houston was also a force in the run game, adding a further stop to his sacks, and in coverage. Dropping back 11 times, Houston didn’t allow a reception either time he was targeted, breaking up one of the passes. The Chiefs defender produced many of these big plays at critical points in the game. Late in the 4th quarter, Houston ended two straight Saints drives with sacks, the second of which went for a safety which then setup the Chiefs’ game tying drive.

The Curious Case of Matt Cassel

Though he made some key throws late in the game, Matt Cassel (-2.0) put on what was otherwise a very poor display for the second week in a row. With a clean pocket for most of the afternoon, he was pressured on just 9 of his 47 pass attempts, you’d think Cassel would have shredded a New Orleans defense that has been one of the league’s worst. Instead the Kansas City QB missed on far too many passes that a player of Cassel’s experience should make. His 3rd quarter interception, which led to a Saints touchdown, came on a badly forced throw that had no chance before it even left his hand. Many of his misses were on throws downfield, as he was just 4-of-16 on passes beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, including 0-6 on balls thrown 20+ yards. A performance like that isn’t going to help Cassel shed the “Captain Checkdown” moniker that some have given him, and may have fans calling for Brady Quinn before long.

New Orleans – Three Performances of Note

Trouble Up Front

Coming into the game, we told you that a key for the Saints would be how left tackle Jermon Bushrod handled Tamba Hali. While Bushrod allowed five pressures, perhaps we should’ve focused on the matchup on the other side of the line, where Zach Strief (-2.7) was on the opposite end of Justin Houston’s monster game. Strief was responsible for five pressures, including two sacks. None of these pressures was worse than the sack allowed for a safety late in the game. On the play, Strief didn’t even slow Houston as he went around the edge far too easily, giving Brees little chance to get rid of the ball.

Inconsistent Offense

Three games, three largely uninspired performances from Drew Brees. Although he played better this week, Brees (+3.8) still wasn’t quite as sharp as he needed to be. Early in the game, he underthrew a wide open Devery Henderson. Henderson still caught the ball for a 36 yard gain, but it was underthrown just enough that Brandon Flowers could recover and make the tackle. Another miss came on a throw to Pierre Thomas in the red zone when Brees, under pressure on the play, just tossed the ball short, though Thomas almost made a spectacular catch. Like the other two examples, his lone interception was also slightly underthrown, allowing the defender to make a play on the ball. On this particular play, Henderson was well covered by Stanford Routt, but a perfect pass to the outside shoulder could have gone for a TD – a pass we’ve seen this QB make many times. Even though these misses were slight, they were misses that Brees can’t afford to make given the team’s other problems.

Speaking of other problems, the receivers dropped four passes, with Jimmy Graham (-1.5) adding two for the second straight week, while the offensive line allowed pressure on 15 of Brees’ 40 drop backs. The run game never got going either; outside of a 47 yard run by Darren Sproles, the Saints were held to2 yards per carry on 18 attempts.

Worn Down Defense

A lot of the blame for the loss can be put on the offense, which repeatedly put the defense on the field with little rest and in poor field position towards the end of the game. However, there were plenty of errors on a defense that allowed over 270 yards on the ground. While LB Curtis Lofton (-3.1) contributed seven stops included in his 11 overall tackles, he took himself completely out of plays he could have made with terrible angles, looking nothing like the player we saw in Atlanta and in the first two weeks. By no means were the issues unique to Lofton, as Saints defenders repeatedly overran plays and took poor angles, creating big holes for Jamaal Charles.

One of the bright spots was the play of rookie DT Akiem Hicks, who put in his second strong performance in a row, logging 42 snaps. The 3rd round pick out of Canada, predicted to be a project, has contributed more quickly than expected and looks to be developing into one of the better players on the New Orleans defensive line.

Game Notes

- After not receiving a carry in the first two games, Darren Sproles led the Saints with 62 yards on 7 rushes.

- Subbed in after the Rodney Hudson injury for the Chiefs, LG Jeff Allen gave up two QB hurries, four stops in the run game and received a grade of -3.6.

- Talk about ball control; the Chiefs offense ran 98 plays, while the Saints ran just 61.

Game Ball

It’s a toss-up between Houston and Charles, but we’re giving it to the guy was responsible for over 288 yards of offense and the team’s lone touchdown. Not bad for a guy many thought would be a “change of pace back” as he worked his way back from last year’s knee injury.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Cassel is now 22nd on the PFF QB list.

24th in passing.

21st in deep passing

30th in completion percentage under pressure

29th in sack percentage

Has been pressured less than all but 5 QBs

The time of reckoning is nigh.

HE JUST NEEDS MORE TIME!!!!!!

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Another byproduct of Houstons emergence?

Opposing teams will need to keep their tight ends in line to help block him and that will help our pass coverage because it's one less guy to cover. That should allow us to blitz corners and safeties a little more too. More ice cream for Berry and Arenas and more field time for guys like Belcher.

I noticed that effect during the Patriots/Ravens game.

The Ravens were generating so much pressure that the Pats were eventually forced to keep Gronk in to block.

If Houston's able to do that with regularity, teams like the Chargers and even the Broncos will have no choice but to keep their TE out of the pattern. It could do a lot to help cover for our biggest weakness in the defense - coverage over the middle.

[L.A. Chieffan]

The OL that Pioli assembled is really starting to come together.

[58-4ever]

I'm surprised every time I look at Jeff Allen. It just sounds like a white guy's name.

[BossChief]

Get the emotion out of the picture...

#25 ranked corner + 3rd round comp pick + 4 million per year >>> #27 ranked corner

Figure in the fact that Carr WANTED TO PLAY FOR DALLAS and I don't think this is a log on the fire Pioli should be burned with. So far, it looks like a good business decision.

[Hammock Parties]

Give it time, Routt will plummet.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by aturnis

You're a fool. Judge his play with your eyes, not the PFF ranking.

My eyes say that Asomoah has struggled mightily this year.

I will also concede that I've noticed Lilja struggling far more in pass-pro than in the run, so perhaps I haven't been giving him credit for what he's doing well in the run game.

But regardless of the PFF rankings, it's not hard to believe that Asomoah has been our worst O-lineman this year. He's been pretty damn awful out there.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Give it time, Routt will plummet.

Negative, cancel that. Hes only going to get better.

Game changing INT on Drew "Super" Brees.

PIOLI ACQUISITION

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Sorter

No joke. He did play better this week, but wow. Not the guy I was expecting (which was an average run stopping 5-tech who could potentially be slightly above average playing the 3).

He has the worst technique I've ever seen.

The guy is 8 feet tall and makes sure to stand virtually straight up at the snap. He has one move which is something of a swim, but he's upright so all the swim does is wash him inside to leave the edge wide open.

He's absolutely awful. I have no idea why he's on this roster and Smith/Gordon aren't. He doesn't do a single thing well.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by L.A.Chieffan

The OL that Pioli assembled is really starting to come together.

After an injury to his hand-picked center...

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He has the worst technique I've ever seen.

The guy is 8 feet tall and makes sure to stand virtually straight up at the snap. He has one move which is something of a swim, but he's upright so all the swim does is wash him inside to leave the edge wide open.

He's absolutely awful. I have no idea why he's on this roster and Smith/Gordon aren't. He doesn't do a single thing well.

Great pickup by Scott Pioli.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by scho63

Are you fucking kidding me??? The guy had 39 touches and carried the whole offense-please excuse him for being just a little tired!

If you watch the play he got caught from behind on and cut back, it had nothing to do with fatigue.

Right before he cut back you could see the ball squirt up out of his arm. As the ball squirted up, he swung his left arm over to push it back into place and lost his stride. Once he lost his stride his momentum was shot and the only thing he could do was cut up.

Yeah, it was a stupid comment. It would've been a TD but Jamaal just lost control of the ball as he was running down the sidelines. It happens from time to time.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Give it time, Routt will plummet.

Not if we keep the heat turned up he won't.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by mcaj22

...and Ryan Lilja statistically is far and away our best olineman.

Over a very small sample size. Don't get too invested in that.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Molitoth

There are plenty of DB's that are just as fast as the fastest RB's.

EXACTLY - and take into consioderation that they had the angles and what Charles did was even more impressive. On the 91 yard TD run, I saw Charles lower his head a bit and switch gears as he ran down the sideline to outrun the defenders. The extra gear was there when he needed it.

On his other long run, I think it was more of a "rythm" thing. The ball was moving around and he fixed it and lost his stride so he instinctively said F-it, I'll cut back now because I lost my stride and try and get it going again...

Jamal Charles IS healthy enough - Now if we keep running him 33 times a game he won't be...