Babb: Chiefs' Hali is quietly racking up sacks

[Tribal Warfare]

Chiefs' Hali is quietly racking up sacks
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star

Tamba Hali doesn’t say much, but when he does speak, he tends to mean it.

“You know,” he said after the Chiefs’ win Sunday against San Francisco, “Romeo Crennel has come in here and really changed our identity.”

Hali is Kansas City’s best pass rusher, and he took a vow of silence — or mostly silence — during last year’s training camp. He has said privately that he preferred to focus on his job, rather than speak his mind. He renewed that vow this year, and that became one part of Hali’s identity that hasn’t changed.

What Crennel, the team’s first-year defensive coordinator, has done is take Hali and turn him into the Chiefs’ most effective pass-rusher since Jared Allen was traded in 2008. It didn’t take that long, either.

And Crennel did it by changing the defense around Hali. Kansas City’s top priority now is stopping the run, and when that happens, Hali can chase quarterbacks. That’s how he spent Sunday, when he sacked Alex Smith three times. The Chiefs finished with five sacks in their 31-10 win at Arrowhead Stadium. The defense looked like an elite pass-rushing unit, and Hali had one of his best games since becoming an outside linebacker last season.

“All the things we were asking him to do within the scheme of our defense,” coach Todd Haley said, “he did.”

As big as Hali’s sacks were, it was the little things that stuck in his coach’s mind. Haley and Crennel have said that there are many factors that signal a disruptive pass rush, and only the most extreme of those is a sack. If a quarterback is hurried or rattled, or if an offense has to make adjustments that could compromise its objectives, then a defense has done its job.

Haley said Hali was part of a unit that did that Sunday, and Kansas City’s defense kept San Francisco out of the end zone for four full quarters; 49ers wide receiver Josh Morgan scored his team’s only touchdown after time expired.

Haley said that was, defensively, “the most complete game” to date, and it would be hard to argue that it wasn’t the best game Kansas City has played since Haley was hired in 2009. It was shortly after then that Hali was among several defensive players who had to shift to another position to accommodate the 3-4 defensive scheme that Haley hoped to run. Hali could still rush the passer, but he was raw as a linebacker, and few knew whether it would work out.

It took him six weeks to get as many sacks as he had Sunday, and he finished the season with 8 1/2 .

The Chiefs hired Crennel in the offseason, and he puts emphasis on stopping the run. If that happens, then quarterbacks are at an immediate disadvantage.

Sometimes things just go according to plan.

After the San Francisco game, Hali praised the Chiefs’ defensive line for holding the 49ers to 43 rushing yards, and Kansas City’s offense for scoring enough points to force Smith to pass more often — and Crennel for designing a scenario that Hali could succeed in.

That gave Hali his chances, and he delivered.

“Credit those guys for allowing me to rush this week,” he said.

So modest.

Haley has said that Hali, in his fifth year, has a chance to become one of the league’s best pass rushers, and he showed Sunday that he’s capable. Hali had three sacks in a game against Denver last year, and before that, the Chiefs had gone without a three-sack performance since Allen did it against Washington in 2005.

Hali might not say much, but that doesn’t mean he’ll go unnoticed the rest of this season. If Crennel’s scheme keeps working, you can be certain of that. That much showed in one afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

“That is a really good day,” Haley said, “and that is good for the Chiefs.”

[Marcellus]

He went from being called one of the worst LB's in the entire NFL to a less than elite pass rusher/CP.

Not bad in < 1.3 years.

[SenselessChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

I can't help but feel the same way. He's gonna have to show me more before I'm not going to want a premier pass rusher.

He could have 20 sacks, I would still want a premier pass rusher to start opposite of him.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

I can't help but feel the same way. He's gonna have to show me more before I'm not going to want a premier pass rusher.

Even if he continues this pace we still need another OPR opposite him...

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Even if he continues this pace we still need another OPR opposite him...

Yep. He's the "Smith", we still need the "DT".

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by ROR

Yep. He's the "Smith", we still need the "DT".

What a nasty thing to say.

That man has done nothing to you...

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Rausch

What a nasty thing to say.

That man has done nothing to you...

Damnit, Goober; you know what I mean.

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by ROR

Yep. He's the "Smith", we still need the "DT".

At the risk of being blasted: we have a DT type impact player in DJ...he's just not being used that way.

[The Chiefs Dude]

Hali is a Beast. I think this year is going to be his break out year.

[loochy]

I have to agree with Dane here. Hali is pretty good and I'm glad that he's on our team, but he's not really a sack superstar or future hall of famer or anything like that.

[bringbackmarty]

Originally Posted by GoChiefs

Sacks come in bi$%hes.

I don't really expect Hali to get a sack every game if that's what you mean by "consistently." Even Jared Allen didn't do that.

fyp, qft.

[bringbackmarty]

Originally Posted by SensibleChiefsfan

He could have 20 sacks, I would still want a premier pass rusher to start opposite of him.

I want him to see a urologist if he has 20 sacks.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

He's a very good player and with the improvement in the team and run defense, he'll have a ton more pass rushing opportunities. It's hard to rack up the sacks when the team is giving up eleventy billion rushing yards and being behind every week like has happened the last several years.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

No, he's not.

He has .5 sacks in two games and three sacks on a line that featured two rookie starters.

I'm not attempting to take anything away from Hali and his efforts, but let's see him consistently get sacks before saying that he's "quietly" doing anything.

Prior to that, the 49ers line gave up 2 sacks all year.

He slapped around Joe Staley too, who's in his 4th year.

I think having a coordinator who can effectively use him, and improved position coaches really can make a difference for Tamba.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by loochy

I have to agree with Dane here. Hali is pretty good and I'm glad that he's on our team, but he's not really a sack superstar or future hall of famer or anything like that.

I am trying to figure out where in the OP it even remotely refers to anything of that nature.

[Mr. Arrowhead]

Originally Posted by loochy

but he's not really a sack superstar

Shaun Smith is a sack superstar.