Mellinger: Chiefs’ inability to stop the pass is too big a playoff weakness

[OnTheWarpath15]

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/12/24...-the-pass.html

After the Chiefs have lost in the playoffs and the obituaries of their season have been written, we will remember this team in two primary ways.

First, it’s the group that brought pride back to an organization that had lost its way, one of the great turnarounds in recent NFL history.

And second, it will be the team that kept alive the franchise’s 20-year drought of playoff wins because it could not stop the pass.

This season is such a wild ride, already. It started with the cloud of an embarrassing and shameful 2-14 team hanging overhead, then it picked up steam with a string of good breaks and overwhelming defense, and it’s now spinning its wheels uphill through the icy conditions of better competition.

What most people thought before the season was turned to fiction through the first nine games, and what many people thought through the first nine games has again been turned on its head by the last six.

Specifically, this is no longer a defense that fans should be confident with or a competent offense should be concerned with.

Even including a gift against an imploding team from Washington, the Chiefs are giving up 27.8 points per game since their bye week. They rank 21st in opponents’ yards per play (edging out No. 22 Jacksonville).

Their best cornerback from the first month or two of the season has been benched, and the results didn’t change. Their best cornerback from last year has been moved from the outside to the slot and now back to the outside, and the results didn’t change.

A defense that was the talk of the league through Halloween is now a liability against good quarterbacks, at a time when the Chiefs are unlikely to again face anything but a star quarterback.

The Chiefs’ four losses have clear similarities, starting with their inability to stop the pass.

In those losses, opposing quarterbacks completed 67 percent of their passes for an average of 340 yards with 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions. That’s a cumulative passer rating of 111.9. If you prefer ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating — it’s complicated, but it’s a scale of 0-100 with 50 being average — the Chiefs have given up QBRs of 66.5, 86.7, 97.2 and 55.5 in their losses.

In those losses, we saw Marcus Cooper bullied, Brandon Flowers beat, and Sean Smith complaining about penalties that were fairly called on him.

We’ve also seen circumstances that demand far more from the cornerbacks than should ever be asked — a neutered pass rush giving quarterbacks too much time and a lot of plays with only one safety deep to help.

Using Pro Football Focus’ numbers, almost without exception, the worst games for all three primary cornerbacks are the losses. Then again, the guys at the line of scrimmage aren’t doing their job, either: 6 1/2 sacks and 18.7 quarterback hits and hurries in the wins, compared to one-half sack and 13.2 hits and hurries in the losses.

Even watching video, without knowing assignments and schemes (and who is playing at less than full strength), dividing blame is a circular argument. Receivers are often open, at least in part, because the pass rush isn’t getting to the quarterback. The pass rush can’t get to the quarterback, at least in part, because receivers are open too quickly.

This week, Chiefs coach Andy Reid talked about how much of his team’s inability to stop the pass in the four losses is more on the pass rushers or pass defenders.

“I’d probably say there’s a combination of things,” he said. “The bottom line is we’re not having quite as much pressure on the quarterback. … Pressure and coverage kind of work together. Each (game) is a little different.

“You saw (against Indianapolis), we didn’t have guys covered. We’ve got to make sure we get that straight. … One breakdown, the quarterback sees it, there’s an issue. We need to make sure we get that better.”

You’ll notice there are separate bits of Reid’s answer that put the blame on the pass rush and the pass coverage.

There is enough blame to go around.

The expected return of Justin Houston will help, of course. Everything that defensive coordinator Bob Sutton wants to do is based on pressuring the quarterback, and even on a team with Tamba Hali, Houston is the best pass rusher.

But we’ve seen enough to know that Houston’s return will not be an instant and total fix. We’ve seen enough to know that the cornerbacks aren’t fast enough to keep up on deep routes, that they need more than one safety helping in the pass game, and that the coaches haven’t figured out how to properly defend against crossing routes.

The Chiefs have accomplished a lot this year. Jamaal Charles (offensive player of the year), Andy Reid (coach of the year) and John Dorsey (executive of the year) have strong cases for major postseason awards. The Chiefs should get at least five, and maybe as many as seven players in the Pro Bowl. They have grown from dysfunction to the playoffs, and that’s no small thing, even in the parity-driven NFL.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, this has been a successful and crucial season in the Chiefs regaining their fans’ trust.

But when the season ends with another playoff loss, the important thing will be to patch weaknesses in time to take advantage of the prime years for stars like Charles, Hali and Derrick Johnson.

Mostly, that means figuring out a way to stop the pass.

[BlackHelicopters]

Smoke and mirrors. Won't work against quality teams or playoff teams.

[Discuss Thrower]

The team's fate was apparent when Jeff Tuel smoked the secondary.

Dorsey better pull a rabbit out of his ass with the shitty dressy position they'll be in next Spring or else the team's in serious trouble.

[CaliforniaChief]

I sure hope Houston's re-emergence will help stop the bleeding.

[TambaBerry]

since are passing defense is so bad, the only way to negate that is with a pass rush or blitzing

[OnTheWarpath15]

A good QB will eat a blitz alive.

And we have been blitzing, and still not getting there.

[TambaBerry]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

A good QB will eat a blitz alive.

And we have been blitzing, and still not getting there.

almost every time we blitzed peyton manning his throws were short or off target

[stevieray]

"After the Chiefs have lost in the playoffs"

....stopped reading.

[BigMeatballDave]

The Sun is hot and bright.

[GloryDayz]

I'll agree (more like agree) that the defense is indeed suspect and in trouble. In this day and age when defense is all but outlawed, it's not hard to go from awesome to awful with the loss of one key player. But we all knew that. And sans a stud defense, we don't have a stud offense to simply out-score another team. Why??? Well I see it as two reasons...


1) The OC seems to be too dumb )or conservative) to ride JC like the horse he is. But that's easily fixable, Andy just needs to put him on the quota system and tell him that if he doesn't meet his quota he'll be asked to stop calling the plays (in that game) before it's too late. Reacting quickly enough (which doesn't mean to over-react) is one of Andy's issues, and in his new life in KC, I think he needs to be willing to try a new trick. It's not impossible, I've seen people who eat the fat on their steak and pork rinds move to lots of veggies and grilled chicken, so people can change and adjust.


2) We don't have WRs worth much. Certainly they don't help to stretch the field, and out #1 seems to take plays off (not all, but some). Not to mention his work ethic is questionable, so we all live through his irritating non-receptions. And the rest of the staff is considered to be "not as good" (or they'd be #1). So where a Manning enjoys his God-given talent of threading the proverbial needle with a football, and hitting his WRs in perfect stride, our QB wasn't as blessed with pin-point accuracy, is far more often (than Manning) hoping not to be killed by the defense, and normally has to throw to the most open WRs who had a DB stuck to his back like the name on his jersey (because they are not faster than the defense's DBs).


So I agree, the Offense don't help the Defense enough, and the Defense doesn't help the Offense enough.


I hope Houston's return (which I thought was going to be last Sunday) make a HUGE difference on defense, but that does very little for the offense. And on the offense side of the ball if the OC doesn't get his head out of his ass, then we're screwed on that side of the ball...

[Easy 6]

Cant wait to see what off season moves we make to address all of this, i've gained quite a bit of confidence in Dorsey/Reid in a short time... they'll get this rough sketch filled out i bet.

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

Not as bad as 2-14: Shitty QBs on the Chiefs side

Not as good as 11-4: Shitty QBs on the opponets side

[KCUnited]

“Yes, Smellinger, you worthless (sex act), the Chiefs do suck. But no worse than the Royals. At least we don’t have to listen to (sex acting) Hudler.”

[Bowser]

I've never quite seen a defense get figured out half way through the season, then said defense fail or refuse to try to adjust like this one has.

Our lack of pass rush and shit (free)safety play will end our season.

[crossbow]

Easy enough to fix. Just get better Corners, safties, and some wide receivers too. That is only about 15 players so we are really close. After we draft linemen in the first 3 rounds we can address those needs.