Quote:
Originally Posted by FringeNC
Whatever stat you want to use -- fine, the point being is that we were much worse in 2012 than in 2011. You bring up Brandon Carr -- how much of a factor was he in the collapse? One can look at the stats last year and easily conclude that we were one of the very worst defenses in the league. My question is whether we should view 2012 as anomaly caused by incompetent coaching and a complete lack of accountability or does it accurately reflect the relative talent level on this defense? Are we near the very bottom of the league talent-wise on defense?
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I believe Carr had much to do with how poorly the defense played during the blowouts and games where the score was being run up at will by the opposition. For example, Tampa's offense struggled this season, the QB struggled, yet he had a good day against this defense and VJ caught 3 TD's. To me, that game was the result of a missing Brandon Carr.
This team is not at the bottom of the NFL in defensive talent, though stats do put them at dead last. There were other factors;
DJ was absolute idiocy the first 4 games. There was one game where announcers were LOL'ing at how DJ ran himself out of plays all day. They showed one playback where DJ, playing deep center field, ran to his right and there was nobody there for him to cover. As he did this, the ball went to that deep middle spot he vacated and it was just embarrassing to witness. It took him several games of embarrassing proportions to finally settle down and play smart football. Of course, he did and he's such a beast of a man he played so well he was selected for the PB. But, those stats from his poor play early on did not get erased.
Switching to a 1 gap defensive system is going to put the pressure on DJ. He's a big dude, has a rep for not shedding blocks, but has worked on that. A lot of the ability to shed blocks is mental -- smart LB's that shed well are seen not letting the OL get square on them, they know what's coming and they avoid linemen from getting close, getting hands on them.
I believe they will need to find a new ILB partner for this defense, too. They'll likely sign a veteran player for this.
The Chiefs had a subpar season pressuring the pass game. 27 sacks is indicative there weren't enough QB hurries either. QB's like Freeman were comfortably picking this defense apart this season. Not nearly enough pressure. When Dorsey was replaced with Rapoti, the DL pressure became better. When Poe got going, the pressure improved. When Tyson J was used during 3rd downs, the pressure improved. But it was sporadic. They were very inconsistent. They did not get it done when it came down to those times you need to get it done.
Some of this had to do with the coaching, for sure. The scheme, sure. It's evident this team does not have a pass rusher within it's front 3, the DL. We don't have a "Richard Seymour" playing for us. Coaching could have adjusted the scheme a bit. They could have changed up the assignments up front to allow the RDE a lane in some circumstances.
Bottom line, they still need players that can succeed at this level on the defensive line and coaching becomes complimentary, or should. This DL group is young and dynamic -- a lot of different shapes and different skillsets within this group. They should be improved next season, I expect it. I think the new staff will use 1 gap quite a bit this coming season, but I also expect them to use 2 gap styles during certain situations and these players simply need to get better at that. They need to become more explosive. They need to win some battles, collapse the pocket a bit and make hay, really. No excuses for Poe, TJ & the rest of them. If TJ can't get it going this coming season, they are going to move on without him.
Also, I think this defense is better than they look because they just did not have any help from ST & the offense. It was pitiful. It's a team game as they say, and to me, this 2012 Chiefs team is primary in example of that statement.