Late night bullshit: breaking down the tape on our defense.
 

Just random thoughts on multiple viewings of our defensive snaps:

* During the first half (and the first half of the third quarter) the Chiefs were a fantastic, totally modern assortment of how they preferred to line up their DL. They played Poe 90% of the time, and they played him at nose and end. They played DeVito like 70%, and they played him at nose occasionally. They played Tyson Jackson about 70% of the time, and played him at both end positions. Catapano is our rotational guy.

* Catapano got some great snaps in, and looks incredibly promising -- a guy who was initially brought in as an OLB, but was insanely strong so the staff was like **** it, we have no depth at DE, let's try him out there. Not only does he give you extra athleticism, but the guy is stout as a mother****er against the run. You cannot run against the Chiefs.

* Let me say that again: you cannot run against the Chiefs. Jackson and DeVito are already incredibly good against the run, and Poe has finally developed to be perhaps the best of the bunch. Catapano has proven himself adept as well. Houston, Berry, Jordan, and DJ all serve their roles brilliantly in plugging gaps.

* That's probably the biggest difference between the Chiefs defense under Herm, Haley, and Crennel, compared to Reid. Under Reid (i.e. Bob Sutton), the Chiefs' gap integrity has so far been unrivaled. The entire defense moves as a singular cohesive unit. Poe is commanding double- and triple-teams, Jackson and DeVito are owning tackles, Houston and Hali are cutting off the edges, and Jordan, Johnson, and Berry are plugging gaps brilliantly.

* There are so many brilliant talents on this defense, but the emotional tone setters are clearly Hali and Flowers. Poe, Houston, Johnson, Berry, and all the others are very talented, but the emotional leaders on this defense right now are Hali and Flowers, and it looks like Berry is about a season or so away from getting there as well. Hali's hustle spreads like a virus across this defense, and you can see his pursuit borne out in Houston, DJ, Berry, Poe, and Jackson.

* Poe... what else can be said about this guy. His play today suggests he could keep developing to become the best DT this team has had since the franchise's Super Bowl days. There is only so much you can do against an all-muscle 330 lbs that's faster than most offensive lineman and stronger than most offensive lineman. You can tell his technique is developing, and the Chiefs are throwing him into all kinds of twists and stunts to create mismatches. My favorite play was probably his combined sack with Eric Berry.

* Eric Berry is being played like a linebacker, and against the Jags he played roughly 10% of his snaps at the line of scrimmage. His coverage has improved but the very best part of Berry's game: he is unblockable. Sending out offensive lineman to block him is a fool's errand. He sheds blocks like nobody's business.

* The Chiefs stuffed the box against the Jags -- they did more than stuff the box, they stuffed the line of scrimmage. So many times they lined up 7 guys along the line of scrimmage, some of them dropping back and some of them rushing. I still don't like Hali dropping back. Houston is money in coverage, though. He was on the field for every defensive snap because he is so ****ing versatile.

* Great game from Kendrick Lewis, too. Played very aggressive, lots of snaps up against the line of scrimmage. The Chiefs are treating Lewis as the FS and Berry as more of the SS, but they are mixing Lewis up all over the field, treating him as more of a hybrid between the safeties, while Berry is part-timing as a linebacker.

* If Jackson can rack up a half dozen sacks while being rock solid against the run, we should seriously work our ass off to resign him this offseason. He will be as close to that guy we drafted #3 overall as anything else we could possibly bring in.

* This defense has the talent and the defensive coordinator to be a Top 5 defense. It's definitely a Top 10 defense. The Cowboys game will be a phenomenal challenge, as Romo will willingly challenge our corners more aggressively, and Sean Smith, Husain Abdullah, and Quentin Demps will be challenged far more frequently. We can still be exposed in the passing game: Hali will have a bear of a time against Tyron Smith, but Houston and Poe should pave a path to Romo that Berry and DJ can follow. But if that passrush doesn't come as quickly as it needs to, then Sean Smith can get exposed if he's not on his game, which he all-too-frequently isn't. I don't fear any of Dallas' tertiary receivers against our nickel- and dime-backs, but I do fear Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, and Jason Witten against Sean Smith, Brandon Flowers, and Eric Berry.

But the Cowboys will not run on the Chiefs. Nobody will, this year.

Cowboys have zero in the run game...fully expect Hali and Houston to tee off.

We need to add the following to the lexicon:

Breaking down game tape = watching the game again

Mostly good points.

A few points of MAJOR disagreement:
-Tyson Jackson isn't going to rack up 6 sacks. He'll be lucky to get 2 or 3. He got into the backfield because nobody blocked him. I'll have to re-watch the game, but unless things have changed, he seems useless in the passing game
-I think you can run on this defense. We will see. I think a good team is going to hit the Chiefs with a ton of misdirection, counters, bootlegs, and playfakes. We will see if we can actually stop that
-Our secondary depth was not tested, and that's going to be the most important part. I think Lewis' lack of speed is going to be a huge liability given how aggressive we're going to play, and the fact that we're considering 3 safety sets tells you how bad our CB depth is

I like the way the defense is trending. I think our talent gaps keep us far from the top 5 rank. We are probably a borderline top 10 defense at best.

[QUOTE=cdcox;9955260]We need to add the following to the lexicon:

LMAO

Talent gaps?

We have like 6 defense players with Pro Bowl potential.

Was this Tamba Hali's first career TD?

I'm still anticipating a couple of "WTF we suck!" games from our defense this year, especially when legitimately good QBs start carving us up underneath on screens.

And we still don't know if we can prevent big plays downfield. The Jags have no offensive line and a shitty QB. It won't always be this way.

It's only one game, against a horrible team.

This is a passing game, and I think a lot of our secondary depth problems are will be exposed. From a run perspective, yeah, I think we have potential to be really, really good if we don't overpursue.

Congrats on the win. Manning will have to prepare.

And we did exactly what you'd expect a Top 5 defense to do to them.

He's coming off a brutal injury. I think he's done.

Saying that no one can run on the Chiefs is incredibly premature. Gore showed that in the preseason.

Poe is the big difference maker this year along with Suttons agressive style.

Whens the last time our NT ever had a sack let alone 1.5

congrats on the win but the fact is that Gabbert sucks and Jacksonville may very well be the worst team in the entire NFL.

They definitely are the worst lol

Gore got off because Hali did not contain.

It was that simple. Nobody beat us but ourselves on that play.

What would you expect a Top 5 defense to do to a shitty team like that?

6 sacks? Shut them out? Risk giving them the lowest yardage total in franchise history?

:) enjoy the week.

Branden Albert found it sickening

this, enjoy it! Winning cures many, many ills.

I'm actually coming to Atlanta in late January/early February.

What, Albert isn't good enough for LJS?

On a trip to New Orleans for the SB I ate at waffle house in Nashville. Had the worst case of the shits for the next 24 hours. Never again.

If the secondary can hold its own, I think this team has a shot at making a good run this year.

Next week will be the test. Romo has one of the quickest releases, so Hali and Houston have to come faster.

I'm sure it was just a one-off, and I think I ordered some weird breakfast with chili in it. But it's in my head, you know? Should have stuck with my favorite: chicken and waffles.

I think Houston is our best defender at the moment. He's very good in every aspect of the game, and off the hook when it comes to rushing the passer.

The Awful Waffle is pretty solid in my book. I don't go there very often, but i enjoy it when I do.

Give it 5 weeks and it'll be Poe.

4th quarter, 11:41, 2nd & 10 at the Jags 31 yardline.

Gabbert under center with MJD the lone setback and two receivers out wide with two tight ends in line with the OL, creating a seven-man line.

Chiefs have Jackson at RDE, Poe at nose, DeVito at LDE, Hali off the LT's shoulder and Houston off the RT's. Johnson and Jordan about three yards from the LOS.

Gabbert takes the snap with 1 second left on the play clock. The OL goes straight to manblocking to everybody's left. A TE engages Hali, the LT engages DeVito (who just got a dynamite jump), a guards slips through to get to DJ, the center and other guard double-team Poe, the RT and other TE leave Houston and Jackson unmolested as they race to the second level.

MJD clearly wants to get to the edge but Hali has it set. So MJD tries to hit a sliver of a hole between the LT and LG. DeVito is holding up the LT and DJ has shed the block to plug the hole. MJD tries to find another option but Jackson closes in on him with a vengeance.

MJD is tackled half a yard later when Poe simply wraps him up and Jordan lands on top of him.

Textbook block-shedding, holding the point of attack, and gap integrity.

He was channeling his inner Eric Winston

ROFL

Dude, we absolutely have the talent to be top 5 if we stay this aggressive.


I have been worried about Lewis all off-season, and after watching the game again right now, and focusing on his play, I think it was more mental for him before. He does not look nearly as slow as advertised here. I think his reaction time has been slow in the past. The less he has to think, and the more he learns the faster he plays.

Yeah, we have a shit ton of Defensive talent.

Wasn't that Charles? I've had a few and my recollection might not be what it was.

The Chiefs have been utilizing the wrong defensive scheme for years. I've said since the 2009 season that they should be an attacking one gap defense instead of Pendergast and Crennel's read and react two gap.

This defense has an enormous amount of athleticism and speed. It's nice to see Sutton devising a defense that takes full advantage of those athletes.

It's unlikely that they'll repeat today's performance of holding an offense scoreless but they should play well enough to keep the Chiefs competitive each week.

Yeah that D looked solid up front, should keep you in a lot of games.

The truly crazy thing is the lack of perspective from Pioli to recognize the players required for the scheme his coaches were executing. He drafted the wrong players for the wrong scheme: a true disaster.

And with Smith being reliable yet unspectacular in not turning over the ball, damn near every game will be watchable, and dare I say...winnable.

(Please dont let this simple post turn this tread into a QB debate....maybe I should delete this post.)

I would totally expect our D to still look like shit if were still 2 gapping.

Like I said, I think our talent is trending upward. But let's be real here, past a great performance against a horrible offense.

Our D-line is stout. But Jackson and DeVito aren't going to do anything for us in the pass rush. We need Catapano to come along to do that. On Kendrick Lewis, I'm not going to believe that one solid game against a horrible defense that can't pass to save their life has changed anything. Given how aggressive our defense is, he has potential to be a liability. And our CB depth is seriously terrible.

I think these things get fixed if we can get more consistent push from our DEs in the passing game, and once we address our horrible secondary depth. But to say we're top 5 because we dominated a horrible defense is jumping the gun way too soon. We have terrific talent, but we also have some gaps.

A lot of what we do is 2 gap. It's one of the reasons why Reid's hire of Sutton is so brilliant. Our D-linemen do play a few 4-3 alignments, but the big difference isn't necessarily in 2 gap vs. 1 gap, it's moreso that our back 7 plays a lot different. Especially in terms of mixing up how we pressure.

The defense is way ahead of the offense and special teams at this point. They SHOULD be way ahead due to the sheer number of high round talent and athletes.

The offense needs quite a bit of work. I expect there to be better holes on the inside once Asamoah returns. I hope that Jeff Allen improves but it certainly appears to me that Stephenson is a better player, so I don't understand why he isn't the left guard with Allen as the swing tackle. I have a feeling we'll see some experimenting if the interior doesn't improve soon.

Fair enough.

I wish they would give Allens spot to schwartz..
My true hope was a new C and Hudson moving to G, where I think he would do well, but dont have anything to back that up other than his play in college.

Poe has obviously been turned loose. Of course we will play SOME 2 gap, but Crennel was running that shit 90+% of the time and it KILLED us.

Kush improved during the course of the preseason but I don't know if he'll be ready to start later this season. If so, Hudson at left guard makes some sense.

I'm not a fan of Schwartz, so I'd just as soon see Allen continue to get reps in the hope of improving. But as I mentioned earlier, from what I've seen, Stephenson shouldn't be on the bench.

Honestly, it could just be time to develop to NFL speed that is making Poe what he is. He was a diamond in the rough last year, but started to turn it on towards the end of the season. He then went on this diet and put forward max effort into becoming what we saw tonight. I really can't say that scheme is the complete reason why Poe is the way he is.

It's a big reason. The Chiefs scheme since Pioli was hired was crappy and antiquated.

Well, the beauty of the Ryan scheme is that he mixes up a lot of the looks. Big difference being that we'll run a lot more 4-3 and 46 looks than other defenses do, and we can do it with pretty much the same personnel. But the base defense relies a lot on 2-gap principles. Again, that's why hiring Sutton was pretty brilliant. I don't think it's a matter of Poe being let loose or the D-line playing a completely different scheme, as much as it is being a hell of a lot more creative in how we use the back 7. Romeo's defense was often solid when he turned up the heat, which he didn't do enough of for some weird reason.

Twas beautiful. Can't wait to see them tear it up next week.

Did I hear right from my telly that I heard cheers that Gabbert went down in the fourth quarter? Not a lot in the crowd to be heard.


Shame on them fans disgustppting.

The bigest difference with the team IMO is they are learning to control the highs and lows of the game. Credit that to the coaching staff and a team mentality on all levels of the game. Put the last play behind you good or bad another plays comming, line up and play.
Dosent hurt to have some very good talent thats been playing together for 5 years, the defense window is sky high with a couple of more studs on D we can slap the shit out of a few teams this year and years to come lovin the mentality of the team,
You could tell they are putting these guys in positions to make plays.
Carry on boys weather the storm accept the challange at hand.
Wish i was home for the home opener god i love being at arrowhead screaming my lungs out and of course the eye candy is awesome as well!

+26 is the largest point differential for week 1, so far.

Well, one of T-Jax' sacks came when Gabbart tried to bootleg out but 94 just didn't even bite.

juss' saine.

It slows the game down for him...

Great points all around. Kendrick Lewis deserved some love as he had a good game. The only thing I disagree with is the part above. The team voted Berry Captain over Johnson, Flowers, and Hali. He is the unquestioned emotional leader of that defense imo.

it's just amazing what a difference it makes when you get disruption from the DL...poe straight up whooped his man all game (something he never did in college)

at that point then, it's basically like releasing a bunch of jackals (Houston, DJ, Berry)...I didn't pay any attention to Jordan, but he's probably fine surrounded by that much talent

NFL doesn't credit catapano with a tackle, but it seemed like he was around the ball a lot for a 7th round pick

Catapano, a 7th round pick was lining up 1 on 1 with Joeckel and beating him, a #2 overall pick, like a whipping post

Now I see why they passed on him

I have issues, Lewis once again couldn't tackle anything. The lone player on the D that can't seem to wrap and tackle. Case in point he had Jones Drew short of the first down but decided to tackle him head high. On another play he simply whiffed. Rest of the D was pretty good but a weak link is a weak link.

Next week should tell us a lot. I especially want to see how we handle Witten. TE's always seem to kill us. If we can handle Witten, Austin, Bryant and Romo, I'll feel much better about our defense.
I also want to see if we can get pressure on Romo. The Giants weren't getting any pressure on him last night, which really surprised me.

we are the highest spending team in the NFL we better do a hell of a lot more than just shut down a shit team like Jax.

Albert came to the defense of Charles (not Smith) when Babin threw him down out of bounds.

Where did you get that info from? According to this neat interactive graphic, we're only the 7th highest-spending team in the league.

I think Poe's biggest improvement from last year is his ability to shed blockers. Last year blockers that could not move him could tie him up. Yesterday he was shedding blockers at will.
Gonna be fun watching this kid.

No the true disaster is utilizing talent that we had in the wrong scheme, now that's just moronic

Not to mention the limited number of 3 and out, and last year we were stringing together quite a number of those. Hell, we didn't lead in a game until week 46 and had our defense on the field playing from behind and winded almost exclusively!

Watching from the stands, it sure didn't seem like he was running very hard. He looks like a guy on a team that knows he's gonna get stuffed every game. They can't pass so he's their only option. I think he's tired of it.

Too bad. Used to be a good dude.