Has our defense been HARSHLY judged?

[UChieffyBugger]

It seems to be in fashion to knock the Chiefs defense. WE as fans slaughter them daily, the local press slaughter then daily, the NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL media slaughter them daily, and when I sit and think about the circumstances sounding that group, one could argue that they are getting judged a little harshly.

Now let's start with the preseason. Ragland and Hitchens played ONE warm-up together against the Bears and both missed several practice sessions. Nelson got knocked out of the Atlanta game and missed sessions himself, whilst Parker wasn't even In our building during the preseason. Then we have Ford who Is just returning to the team after being out for most of last season, and Houston barely played In the warm-up games himself.

Last year there was a perception that we had "the worst defense known to man", but I argued it was an overblown notion because the reality was that we were around fifteenth In the points allowed tally. But that notion has stuck with the team and now this unit that has barely played together Is thrown together and Is trying to both gel as a unit and get their football legs going all whilst facing TWO quality offenses on the road. The Pats defense started off badly too last year and then managed to be a decent unit until the superbowl where they contrived to drop their best corner, so there is a clear example of how things can change quickly In this game.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by FAX

Stats are liars.

FAX

Nope. Stats are stats and don't lie. They are what they are. What you meant to say was "they don't tell the whole story in full context".

[FAX]

Originally Posted by DRM08

Refs helped the Steelers for sure. I grant you that one. I am hoping Berry will come back for the Jaguars game. I think the Chiefs will need to play better defense against teams like the Jags and Rams. Mahomes is probably not gonna drop 40 on those guys.

When the Romans were fighting Hannibal in the Alps, they said, "There's no damn way that Carthaginian is going to get those elephant deals up this hill."

Doubt not The Human Trebuchet, Mr. DRM08. Simply enjoy the show. This is a truly generational cast of performers. Mahomes, Tyreek, Sammy, Kelce, Hunt, Spencer, and Conley are a burgeoning, brewing cloud of supernatural destruction about to rain down on the gays.

FAX

[RunKC]

It’s easy to see why the defense is giving up points. It’s because they are literally on the field all game long and opposing offenses have to pass bc they are in the hole early.

The average throws a QB makes in a game is usually around 30-35.Rivers threw the ball 51 times. Big Ben through it 60. That’s why the stats are so bad.

That happens when Tyreek is taking punts to the house, ST’s is giving your high powered offense a short field and your offense starts a normal drive at the 30 and still scores in 5 plays.

Seriously this stat is insane. The Chiefs have had 23 offensive drives in 2 games. Only 3 of those drives consisted of 7 or more plays.

My God. For 90% of the offense’s in this league, 7 plays is simply 2 first downs.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by RunKC

It’s easy to see why the defense is giving up points. It’s because they are literally on the field all game long and opposing offenses have to pass bc they are in the whole early.

The average throws a QB makes in a game is usually around 30-35.Rivers threw the ball 51 times. Big Ben through it 60. That’s why the stats are so bad.

That happens when Tyreek is taking punts to the house, ST’s is giving your high powered offense a short field and your offense starts a normal drive at the 30 and stil scores in 5 plays.

Seriously this stat is insane. The Chiefs have had 23 offensive drives in 2 games.Only 3 of those drives consisted of 7 or more plays.

My God. For 90% of the offense’s in this league, 7 plays is simply 2 first downs.

I attempted to start this conversation on another thread-thing, but it went nowhere.

The point was this; we haven't had a ton of third down plays. It's almost as though we don't need the chains when the offense is on the field. It's first to first, unless we run it a time or two. Everything is downfield so far. Wally loves to attack, so he has to be shivering in ecstasy with every call.

But the weird part is that, since Wally loves the horizontal game in the form of bubbles, sweeps, etc. (the WCO uses it to spread out the enemy). This manifestation of Wally's crazy brain is using the empty backfield spread (out of motion) to accomplish the same thing but threatening the deep field first. You need unique talent to do that in the NFL.

FAX

[Imon Yourside]

Bend and sometimes don't break maybe the only kind of Defense we can have. Then again We won't be playing against Rapelisberger or Rivers every week.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by RunKC

It’s easy to see why the defense is giving up points. It’s because they are literally on the field all game long and opposing offenses have to pass bc they are in the hole early.

The average throws a QB makes in a game is usually around 30-35.Rivers threw the ball 51 times. Big Ben through it 60. That’s why the stats are so bad.

That happens when Tyreek is taking punts to the house, ST’s is giving your high powered offense a short field and your offense starts a normal drive at the 30 and still scores in 5 plays.

Seriously this stat is insane. The Chiefs have had 23 offensive drives in 2 games. Only 3 of those drives consisted of 7 or more plays.

My God. For 90% of the offense’s in this league, 7 plays is simply 2 first downs.

The same issue happened at Tech. Mahomes would lead drives that scored in a minute pretty much every time. It was like a super car going 0-60 in 2.5 seconds.

But I will say for the Chiefs defense at least they have faced HOF quality quarterbacks the last two weeks and they were also road games. That's not easy to shut down QB's of that quality on the road. I will be curious to see if Eric Berry can make a big impact. Hope he comes back soon.

In the case of Tech's defense, we legitimately were the worst ever. It wasn't just guys like Mayfield at OU that torched us. Even scrub QB's were torching us, lol

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by KILLER_CLOWN

Bend and sometimes don't break maybe the only kind of Defense we can have. Then again We won't be playing against Rapelisberger or Rivers every week.

Or on the road every week. That roaring crowd just might help a little.

[Coochie liquor]

Also we’ve played 2 prettt good offense. And both of their O lines have been allowed to hold by the refs for a good majority of the plays. Also our offense scores pretty quick and has led to our D being on the field for extended periods of time, no Berry hurts too. Once we get past this murderous row it should get easier for them.

[eDave]

Prevent runs clock.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Coochie liquor

Also we’ve played 2 prettt good offense. And both of their O lines have been allowed to hold by the refs for a good majority of the plays. Also our offense scores pretty quick and has led to our D being on the field for extended periods of time, no Berry hurts too. Once we get past this murderous row it should get easier for them.

I subscribe to your worldview, Mr. Coochie liquor.

I should also like to add that every single one of The Human Trebuchet's games has been played on the road. Interestingly, that means that all of our defensive players' games have also been played on the road.

Arrowhead used to have an impressive and significant home-field advantage. My fervent hope (Mr. milkman, could you check my usage of 'fervent' here?) is that we will recapture the magic. Wally loves him some sea of red and if the crowd brings it tomorrow, the gays have absolutely no chance in hell of keeping it close.

FAX

[suzzer99]

Originally Posted by KILLER_CLOWN

Bend and sometimes don't break maybe the only kind of Defense we can have. Then again We won't be playing against Rapelisberger or Rivers every week.

I like the idea that we should gamble more. Try to get a quick stop but don't be afraid to give up the big play. Keeps our D from getting too tired, and gets the ball back to our offense quicker either way - so Mahomie can demoralize their whole team.

No one needs to see a 9 minute TD drive and our D completely gassed at the end of it.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

Wait are you advocating firing Reid?

Lol. Dude just unleashed an offensive juggernaut with the hottest QB in the league and the play calling has been phenomenal.

No Suttons ass should have already been gone.

Reid will be around for another decade.

Absolutely not. I'm saying Reid's play calling appears suspect in the last 5 years because his QB is Alex Smith.

Bob Sutton's defense is suspect because there's literally 3 legitimate starters, a few role players, and bunch of crap.

Were you going to fire Sutton before or after he field 2 of the best Chiefs defenses of the last 30 years?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DRM08

You still need a defense. Mahomes played a nearly perfect game against the Steelers with 155 passer rating, 97 QBR, 6 TD, 0 INT, and only 5 incompletions. Chiefs won the game by only 5 points.

Jared Goff threw 1 TD and 1 INT against the Cardinals but the Rams won by 34 points because they have a defense. Helps that the Cardinals QB situation is a dumpster fire compared to the Steelers.

You do realize that the Cardinals have a JV offense, right?

[ku_jhawk23]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

You do realize that the Cardinals have a JV offense, right?

In most preseason projections, the Chargers and Steelers were the 2 teams from the AFC that were picked for the Super Bowl. Our D has been crap, but we also just played what are statistically two of our 4 hardest games (with LA and NE the others). Our D is shit right now. Berry (if he ever plays) will help, but won't solve the problem, but our D isn't as bad as it seems based on who we played. With Sutton, we should assume we will always be at the bottom on D, so none of this is a surprise, but the stats will improve.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by ku_jhawk23

In most preseason projections, the Chargers and Steelers were the 2 teams from the AFC that were picked for the Super Bowl. Our D has been crap, but we also just played what are statistically two of our 4 hardest games (with LA and NE the others). Our D is shit right now. Berry (if he ever plays) will help, but won't solve the problem, but our D isn't as bad as it seems based on who we played. With Sutton, we should assume we will always be at the bottom on D, so none of this is a surprise, but the stats will improve.

Why would we assume that with Sutton we’ll always be at the bottom? Is it the 5th-ranked scoring defense? Or maybe the 2nd and 3rd-ranked scoring defenses? Last year was his worst defense here and it was FIFTEENTH. That’s not anywhere near “the bottom”. It’s in the top half of the league.