The DL is more self-suffient.
 

Some factoids about our passrush:

The Chiefs ended the year 2nd in the league in sacks, with 55 total.

Jones had 15.5 -- ridiculous.
The next four top sack-rackers were our DEs, which I guess is good. Karlaftis 6, Clark 5, Danna 5, Dunlap 4.

Saunders/Wharton/Williams combined for 5 sacks on the season.

The blitzers put up 14.5 all year.

7 from the LBs.
7.5 from the DBs.

I noticed around the bye week that blitzers accounted for roughly a third of our sacks. I haven't looked up pressures, but I'm going to assume the numbers are similar there.

End of the season, they accounted for 26% of our sacks.

The number dropped exactly for the reason you think:

Week 12 vs. Rams: 3 total sacks, 1 from blitz
Week 13 vs Bengals: 1 total sack, 0 from blitz
Week 14 vs. Broncos: 6 total sacks, 1.5 from blitz
Week 15 vs. Texans: 1 total sack, 0 from blitz
Week 16 vs. Seahawks: 2 total sacks, 0 from blitz
Week 17 vs. Broncos: 4 total sacks, 1 from blitz
Week 18 vs. Raiders: 6 total sacks, 1 from blitz

The last seven games of the season, blitzes accounted for 4.5 out of 23 sacks, or 19%.

I don't know if Spags is blitzing less, or if the blitzes are getting less effective.

I think the biggest factor is that the DL is rushing somewhat more effectively, led by Jones and Karlaftis.
--> In that same 7 week timespan, Jones has put up 6.5 sacks, and Karlaftis has put up 5.5 sacks.

Considering how important it's going to be to beat Burrow (and maybe Allen?) without blitzing, that's a very big development for the defense.

Danna seems to have a knack for knocking the ball loose when he gets to the QB. I really like him.

I'd like to see Georgie continue his hot streak into the playoffs, and playoffs Clark to come out of the wood work.

He got better and better as the year went on. Bodes well for the playoffs. :clap:

If you can add a real edge bending speed guy across the from Karlaftis and have Jones and add maybe another interior DT, this DL gets really interesting.

We do need a Parson's type guy (Who doesn't) but a speed rusher would be huge for us.

I want nothing more than for Clark to set the all time postseason sack record

Danna had a much better performances than I gave him credit for during the last couple games. Looking forward to him continuing that trend. DL has been making some plays recently. Also, someone recognized it; Spags is blitzing quite bit less the last few weeks, and we're still getting sacks.

It's interesting how the defense looks better against shitty teams.

He’s the most improved player on the team this season and it was evident from week 1. He had 6 pressures in Arizona, he hit Herbert twice in week 2 (one of those was Herbert’s injury).

He’s been a valuable Jack of all trades player who has been an excellent interior rusher next to Chris Jones on passing downs.

I wonder if Veach tries to extend him early to a team friendly deal?

Say what you want but this was a fantastic draft pick for a day 3 guy

If I'm not mistaking, I actually saw a double team on George at one point last game. He's had an even bigger impact than what's been said. Partly as a result, Jones had a field day. Lol

(One of the few games our pass rush was stale was against CIN. They had a pair of good T's and doubled Jones. Since then George has been ramping it up and CIN lost a key piece in their OL with Collins going to IR. We're going to need to have every ounce this DL has in order to disrupt Burrow and the three headed monster that is CIN's passing game.)

He's a lot like Saunders; a solid rotational player. Veach will probably make him some kind of offer.

Lol, is there a defense that doesn't?

The '03 Chiefs?

We're sacrificing some elite edge setting for pressuring the QB but so far it appears to be working.

Quality of opponents is definitely in play here.

Okay, yeah. I thought about it a minute after I posted; of course, there's plenty of instances where that isn't true. All you need to start down a bad road is a DC that can't adjust to the opposition. Everything could snowball from there. But in general, it should be true.

171 Total

Jones - 40
Clark - 23
Karlaftis - 20
Dunlap - 17
Danna - 16
Sneed - 10
Saunders - 8
Bolton - 7
Wharton - 5
Reid - 4
Gay - 4
Cook - 3
Chenal - 3
Thornhill - 2
McDuffie - 2
Harris - 2
B. Williams - 2
J. Williams - 1
Fenton - 1
Stallworth - 1

I think the reason for the less blitzing is the addition of B. Williams combined with Karlaftis being more of a threat which frees up Jones from double teams. Additionally, the rookies in the secondary are really getting it now and fully capable of covering their guy for 4-5 seconds which allows the DL to disrupt the pocket and make the QB move AND decide what he wants to do. There is less of a need to blitz now.

it's so ****ing awesome that karlaftis is getting hot right at the perfect time.

and Dunlop has had a very amazing season too.

everything coming together nicely.

I am looking forward to these guys getting tested by a playoff team

I was actually surprised seeing his numbers in this thread. Five sacks and 16 pressures. I would've guessed higher on both those numbers. He's one of the sneakier guys on the team that I feel like consistently gets a little underrated. We've gotten some really solid value out of the guy thus far.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Williams has helped a lot.

I think this is basically defenses in a nutshell though.

They're good until they play elite offenses.

Yeah but I have high hopes for this defense going forward. The fact that we have seen marginal- to great defense from our DB's while they are so young.

Our safety play has drastically improved.

Next year tho has a chance to be special defense, like a legit top 10. Just need to find another edge rusher to replace Clark.

But I knew this year would be a learning year.

Yeah, you probably need a few more guys to round it out, but there's potential.

They have been better at pass rush but we play better teams in the playoffs. I was unimpressed when we played the Chargers, Bengals and Buffalo. We gotta be able to get home against them but we did get Lawence more so hopefully we play them if not the dream game of the Ravens.

Just get to Burrow.

The rest is masturbating.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why this team cannot touch Joe Burrow. The rest of the league beats him like a rented mule when they send 3 and yet we can't even get his damn jersey dirty when we send 6.

I don't get it and at this point I don't even care what the cause is. Fix it. Go hit that MFer. The rest will sort itself out.

Is anyone saying anything BUT that?

I believe you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's down on Mike Danna.

This this this this.

While true, I only meant to say that what's being cast as improvement here is mostly attributable to the easy back half of our schedule.

I want 2019 playoff Frank Clark to show up.

Dude wrecked games singlehandedly.

I still think the GP was to make Burrow "make the throws" and be patient, we know he wants to hit the deep throws to Chase and we really don't have anyone in the secondary that can cover him 1-1. So you sacrafice the blitz and make him be patient hope that he forces something. Kinda like how they tried to shut Patrick down and it almost worked against Burrow had TK not fumbled. Thats why we don't blitz him and hope a 4-man rush can get there - and with their starting RT and RG out for the season that is probably not out of the question anymore.

Danna basically getting 5 sacks from the DT position this year is underrated Spags genious

God damn, no. No he didnt. I swear the people that say this haven't actually went back and actually watched Rank in that playoff run. He didn't wreck shit.

I hope it’s a KC vs Cinci AFCCG.

4th meeting. Entire right side of his OL is out. It’s time to finally take one from them.

Yeah, he wrecked so much shit that we had to make a bunch of double digit comebacks.

Sent from my moto g stylus 5G using Tapatalk

This. No way those mofos are beating us a 4th time in a row. Let alone a 2nd time in AFC championship game at Arrowhead

So it's essentially the same OL that fisted us in the AFCCG last season.

Like I said, I don't even care about the Why of it. Largely because I'm flummoxed by it. But it just can't happen again. Those WRs are just too good to give Burrow that kind of time.

Look at what our offense did to the 49ers elite D. 44 points, our highest scoring output of the year.

KC was fortunate the Bengals pissed away 11 points deep in KC territory. Burrow threw a perfect pass that a wide open receiver dropped in the end zone, which cost them 4 points. And of course the great play by Carlos Dunlap on 4th & 1 near KC’s goal line. Zach Taylor and Cincy staff probably should have kept the ball in Burrow’s hands instead of attempting the silly/cute reverse play. Either QB sneak it with Burrow or let him throw it.

Regardless, the Bengals punted 1 time the entire game and moved the ball at will. KC’s offense was the only solid defense against Cincy’s offense. Chiefs offense ran a lot of clock and kept Burrow/Chase on sidelines. Obviously the Bengals did the same thing to keep Mahomes on the sideline as much as possible. Both teams were using ball control approach, which helped keep the score below 30 for each team.

Same guys that question Chris Jones in the playoffs.

Pay them no nevermind.

If 'Playoff Frank' actually exists then **** that dude for taking his other 60 games off.

Agreed. Just get his ass on the ground. That’s it.

It was completely unacceptable to only manage 1 sack against that OL with that type of lead. The defense was alright overall, but that was an inexcusable performance from the pass rush.

Great time for Jones to have a dominant performance and leave no doubt that he’s one of the true stars of the league. He should be motivated for it.

Last couple games we played against them, according to Orlovsky/some other QB analyst, I think, our LBs and safeties have been allowing him to get the ball out really quick. Like 2.7 seconds. He's been having receivers get open almost immediately because KC is pretty weak vs. RBs/TEs, and our safeties weren't making him hesitate/pay for deep passes down the sidelines. And Dan said that Burrow had been trying to push the ball downfield early in the season but had adjusted by week 5-6(?) and was taking what the defense would give him, i.e., throwing underneath to RBs mostly, and the TE.

There's other things as well, like the fact that his OL was pretty bad early in the season, but improved rapidly, so when we faced them they were gelling and not the same OL they were early.



But yeah, if we can't get consistent pressure, and cover much better than the last two times we faced him, it'll be a long day.

The issue, imo, is mostly about consistency. We have the athletes to be a top-10-12 defense, the players with the higher football IQ, etc., but we've really lacked consistency in communication, situational awareness and execution. Particularly at LB and S.

So, while the defense as improved statistically these last 5 weeks or so, it's also true that KC has faced a significantly lower quality of opponent over that stretch, making it tougher to read.

What's concerning is that while playing the likes of DEN/HOU, they allowed a very high scoring efficiency, mostly TDs vs. FGs. That's a big problem, especially when viewed through the lens of the QBs/offenses KC faced. In nearly every other statistical respect, the Chiefs defense played fairly well, but not in that one, which is obviously the most important one.

Of course, turnovers didn't help them, but at least twice against both DEN and HOU they allowed TDs that were just far too easy. Especially when the QBs that executed those scoring drives were guys like Wilson, Davis, etc.

However, they've been playing better over the last couple weeks. Just lacked consistency in the DEN game, and a couple ticky-tack penalties in the second half of the DEN game make it look a little worse than it was.

Anway, I don't entirely discount the edge that recent success/confidence can bring either. They could take that and run with it through the playoffs, but at the end of the day, the front 7 will have to play better and be more consistent to beat CIN, period.

It will help a ton if we don't have to face Cheffers in the playoffs as well.:thumb:

He didn't have shit for a line in the post season last year.

He was sacked 19 times in 4 post season games last year. Hell Pat went 14 games in the 2019 regular season and was only sacked 17 times.

Raiders - 2 times
Titans - 9! times
Chiefs - 1 time
Rams - 7 times

If we can't get to him, then it's gonna be a close game. I like our chances, because if Jones is getting double teamed I think Karlaftis can beat the 1 on 1 more now, since he looks to be getting better week after week.

He didn't wreck games singlehandedly, no. he made some plays, and helped close out each game, sure. Mostly, he made QBs do things they didn't want to do a lot more consistently than in the regular season. made them move off their spot, made them scramble instead of throw from the pocket, made them check down, throw it out of bounds, that kind of thing. And held up his side in the run game, mostly.

Frank's not a game-wrecker; never has been. Okay, maybe one year when he was still with SEA. But his career doesn't suggest he's ever been a game-wrecker.

Which is why their injuries doesn't make my dick twitch. Wouldn't be surprised at all if it ends up being irrelevant. I'm not counting on it being a deciding factor, that's for sure.

AND weren't putting WR's on an island with Chase by blitzing. Gotta use that extra man to cover the most dangerous weapon on the field. Also, no Hardman or Toney for that game and we all know how they change the dynamics of our offense.

No clue if Hardman will be back in the playoffs. He might be outright finished in Kansas City since his contract is over this year. I hope Toney can stay healthy for all playoff games.

Not for nothing, but I think putting Sneed on Chase throughout the game will make some difference as well. I don't think we did that when we played them last.

Yep, Spags started having Sneed follow their WR1 around in the SEA game with DK.

He started it with Mike Williams in the 2nd Chargers game. Been kinda doing it ever since.

Yeah, but even in that game he allowed Jaylen/Josh (can't seem to keep those guys straight in my mind) to shadow Williams a few times in that game.

I was talking about just following a guy around the whole game. That's not Spags style really, but since the SEA game, Sneed has pretty much been following the other team's WR1 around from start to finish, I think.

Whatever. It's not just Sneed being on their WR1 that's making the difference.

The significant side benefit is that it has moved Trent to the slot, which has paid some nice dividends in the secondary, allowing him to be a kind of HB lite there. That should cover some of the issues we've been having with Reid/Thornhill, allows Reid to play closer to the LoS, and still allows Thorny to protect the deep zones on whatever guy Sneed isn't on.

Shart is gonna explode in the playoffs

He'd have to be 100% healthy. And we don't know the extent of his groin injury. Even then, i don't think 'explode' is going to be the right description.

I hope that he gets healthy, and has something similar to his 2019 playoff performance. That would go a long way towards helping the team earn another Ring.

We led the league in sacks the last year grandpa Bob was here.

Sack totals do not necessarily matter. When you can reliably get pressure on the QB does and in key situations.

Garbage time sacks should not even be a stat. Like if you are up 30 to 10 in 4th quarter. Who cares but what you can dial up on 3rd downs when it matters or on 2nd and short and how your defense plays the run and pass well at the same time

Points Allowed:
2019 308
2020 362
2021 364
2022 369

QB Pressures :
2019 145
2020 156
2021 183
2022 171

Sacks :
2019 45
2020 32
2021 31
2022 55

Interceptions :
2019 16
2020 16
2021 15
2022 11

Total Yards Allowed
2019 5,593
2020 6,117
2021 6,619
2022 6,201

Missed Tackles :
2019 101
2020 119
2021 93
2022 77

Wat about 2018

Sutton was DC

I know...

I can throw something together in a bit.

Yep, the 2018 defense had a bunch of sacks in regular season. When it came time to get pressure on Brady in the playoffs, they couldn't do it. The one time they did it, they were called for a bogus Roughing the Passer flag. Very similar to the most recent game against Burrow, where the only pressure on him the entire game was flagged for a bogus Roughing penalty. Getting one pressure on the guy for an entire game ain't going to cut it. I really hope they can find a way to do better in a potential rematch.

Of course it's possible the Bengals don't make it past Buffalo. That's one advantage KC now has on the Bengals. Last year Cincy got to play weaker QB's in Carr/Tannehill, while KC had a full blown knock down drag-out fight with Josh Allen & Buffalo. This year it's the reverse. Burrow & Cincy will have to get past Buffalo, which could be some kind of crazy overtime game.

Can they sack/hurry the good QBs who aren't statues and have multiple weapons?

Name 15 defenses that are better at it.

It's not easy to contain/sack mobile QBs, even if they aren't that good, but now you want to do it all the time against good ones? With multiple top-tier weapons? What year do you think this is?

They're better than average, statistically speaking. Considering the players we have on the table, that's pretty good. You want the 85 Bears, you're simply out of luck. We don't have HOFers/perennial All-Pros all over the defense.

No, you're not getting pressure on every play. No defense is that good. But getting pressure/sacks in key moments is huge. We've seen what pressure can do to elite offenses in the Super Bowl (Giants/Patriots in 2007; Broncos/Seahawks in 2013; Chiefs/Buccaneers in 2020).

in key moments is the critical phrase. And sometimes they don't, that's true. They have gotten better at it in recent weeks, but they've also been playing some bad OLs, so it might be a false read.

It obviously remains to be seen. My opinion, which can't get you a cup of coffee anywhere, is that Spags will have to dial up some blitzes in key moments and roll the dice with the LBs/Ss covering better than they have most of the season. It's just the reality of the situation. Reid and Thornhill played their best games last Saturday, so there's some hope they won't get gashed repeatedly when he does send an extra blitzer. But even then, sometimes the OL blocks everybody. It happens.

Looked like Thornhill had a great game Saturday too.

I would rush four and dare Burrow/Allen to move down the field slowly. That may be death by 1,000 papercuts, but it worked against the Chiefs last season. The key is stopping the run of course. If you can't stop the run, you're cooked against these offenses. Also, no coach is as unlikely to commit to a run game as Reid. I think McDermott and Taylor would be less stubborn and more willing to run.

Points Allowed:
2012 425 26.5 PPG (2-11)
2013 305 19.0 PPG (11-5)
2014 281 17.5 PPG (9-7)
2015 287 17.9 PPG (11-5)
2016 311 19.4 PPG (12-4)
2017 339 21.18 PPG (10-6)
2018 421 26.3 PPG (12-4)
2019 308 19.2 PPG (12-4)
2020 362 22.6 PPG (14-2)
2021 364 21.4 PPG (12-5)
2022 369 21.7 PPG (14-3)

QB Pressures :
2018 197 12.3 PrPG
2019 145 9.0 PrPG
2020 156 9.7 PrPG
2021 183 10.76 PrPG
2022 171 10.05 PrPG

Sacks :
2018 52 3.2 SPG
2019 45 2.8 SPG
2020 32 2.0 SPG
2021 31 1.8 SPG
2022 55 3.2 SPG

Interceptions :
2018 15
2019 16
2020 16
2021 15
2022 11

Total Yards Allowed
2018 6,810 425.6 YPG
2019 5,593 349.5 YPG
2020 6,117 382.3 YPG
2021 6,619 389.3 YPG
2022 6,201 364.76 YPG

YAC:
2018 2067 129.1 YACPG
2019 1865 116.5 YACPG
2020 2087 130.4 YACPG
2021 2446 143.8 YACPG
2022 2037 119.8 YACPG

Missed Tackles :
2018 116
2019 101
2020 119
2021 93
2022 77

That game pissed me off more than any other in a long time. These guys are about to hang 3 in a row on you in a Calender year and you STILL aren't motivated enough to lay Joe Burrow on his ass? How does that happen?

I thought he did. He looked really comfortable playing deep, imo. And he made a play or two in the box, iirc.

Yeah, 7 tackles, 4 solo, a run stuff, a PD, and the INT.

Well, Spags is a blitzer. It's genetically hard-wired into him; he's going to blitz at some point. Honestly, I've been impressed at how little he's blitzed this season. I thought at first it was like working out lines in hockey. Insert player X here and see what he does. Try player B over here for a couple games. Play around with the combinations until you start seeing something you can work with.

I swear he does that with the secondary.

Anyway, i think he's figured out somethings about what works and doesn't work on the DL, or rather Cullen has. So I think there's a better than even chance the DL will be able to be significantly more effective against the CIN OL if they meet in the playoffs.

I wouldn't necessarily bet my house on it, but I think it'll happen.

Their rebuilt offensive line got better after a really bad start, since Oct. 31 st they haven't given up more than 2 sacks a game. However, losing their LG and LT will make it harder in the post season.

That was the worse OPI/Pick by Chase that wasn't called, they even talked about it on the broadcast. I call that Karma.

Some things that come to mind...

-Holy shit! 2nd in sacks in a year the entire fanbase believes we have a poor pass rush
-Keep Jones.
-Karlaftis will continue to improve, this was his floor for the next 5 years+
-Not sure if DL is as high a draft need as prev thought, but imagine adding another star!

Agree with you it was a dirty OPI/Pick play and pretty good Karma when the guy dropped it. :thumb:

he didn't wreck the opponents, but he did close out all three games if i recall correctly? :D

I'm kinda 50-50 on this. It does feel like Reid and to some extent Thornhll have improved significantly at the same time, I just can't tell if it's connected. If I'm honest I don't know about sitting Sneed on someone like Chase. In principle I like the idea of bracketing him and leaving a guy on Higgins but I think Sneed's strengths are in his versatility rather than being a true lockdown CB. He can tackle, blitz, has amazing closing speed, reads the game pretty well. He's decent in coverage but I don't know if he's "stay with Chase good" - maybe no-one is. If we tried it and he got torched for a quarter you'd hope there's a Plan B. either way we need something new against the Bengals

It's all connected. All of it.

Spags doesn't really have a 'scheme' in the way a Fangio has a 'scheme'. Other than generally showing one thing pre-snap and doing something else post-snap and creative blitzes. One of the reasons he doesn't just lock a specific corner up on a specific receiver all that much is because that's one easy read for the QB.

I think the idea is that the QB theoretically should have to instantly read the defense post snap as we don't show them any truth beforehand.

We can debate the merits of that, but I find the concept solid.

I think the fact that our safety play has improved is huge. For most of the season our safety unit was horrible. They were on the field, but not making any plays at all. They weren't supporting our LBs on tackles and they sure as hell weren't providing over-the-top support for our corners. I cannot imagine that they suddenly became better football players, so I suspect a scheme change of some sort has yielded tremendous results in their effectiveness. Have any of you noticed a scheme change???

This is just my opinion; but I don't think Sneed is a true lockdown corner. I think he's great, and can do all the things you listed above, but . . . I don't think he's fluid enough. He doesn't flip his hips as quickly/smoothy as Trent does, HB did . . . or as well as say Darrelle Revis did. Now, I don't think it's fair to expect him to, either. He's not that guy. But he's so good everywhere else in the spectrum of things he has to be good at to play DB, he kind of only needs to be good enough, not great/elite in that one area.

But given all the things he does do well, plus his length and willingness to be physical, he can play press man with the opposing team's WR1, and even if he gets beat early, he has the speed and length to get back into the fight.

And really, if I understand Spags philosophy at all, that's all Sneed has to do. Be physical, delay the WR long enough to kill any timing routes, and be sticky enough downfield to make most QBs cancel that route.

For about 4 seconds.

For the top-tier/elite QBs that are going to try and come back to their WR1 down the sideline, Sneed's long speed, physicality, and length forces the QB to make a great-to-elite throw in a tight spot, and if our deep safety is doing their job correctly, they're throwing into a rapidly closing window, and the ball has to be perfectly placed to even have a chance.

I mean, when I think about how Burrow and Chase like to operate, which is a lot of deep sideline back shoulder type plays, what you need is a DB that is very physical, sticky, has great long speed, and has that height/length to fight for those 50/50 balls downfield. A guy like Trent, as good as he is, and that much more fluid, just isn't as hard to throw over as Sneed is.

Plus, Trent's ability to flip his hips and short area acceleration, make him an ideal slot DB. And since most slot receivers aren't much bigger than he is, his lack of size isn't a big deal. And, technically just based on how the slot lines up, he doesn't have to be very physical, though I think McDuffie is a pretty physical DB.

Anyway, my theory is that Sneed doesn't have to be Darrelle Revis the way Spags schemes his defense. he doesn't have to stick to the guy forever on an island. He just has to be able to do it for about 4 seconds, then he's probably either going to get help, or it's a footrace down the sideline, and Sneed can hold his own in that scenario. He's pretty good at using the sideline and his body to slow down receivers. You're going to have to make a very low-percentage/high-level of difficulty throw to beat Sneed 35+ yards down field along the sideline.

Anyway, if all that is working, and Reid is patrolling closer to the LoS, it takes some heat off the LBs in coverage; they just have less area to cover, and one less responsibility. Then we just have to get pressure in less than 4 seconds (probably ideally less than 3) from the down four, force the QB off his spot, which destroys a timing route, and make a scrambling QB have to checkdown, or run, or throw it away. Or put it up for grabs.

Anyway, that's the general idea, from what Spags has said and from what the analysts are breaking down from the tape.

The weak links this season have been the rookie DBs outside of Trent, and the LBs poor coverage. Having Reid in/near the box, and Trent in the slot mitigates some of those short-comings. Or it's supposed to.

Oh, an before someone freaks out, I'm not saying our rooks are bad. I think they're doing a pretty good job. But they aren't Sneed, or Trent. If you're a QB playing our D, you're going to pick on those guys every time instead of throwing at Sneed/Trent, just from the math perspective.

Anyway, at this point I don't know if I even answered the question. But I got to go. If I didn't, I'll try to do better next time.

Lots of great points, great post imo