Reid insists that is not the problem with the Chiefs' woebegone defense.

[oaklandhater]

http://www.kctv5.com/story/30240072/...-older-players

Chiefs starting to face questions about older players

Posted: Oct 12, 2015 8:31 AM PDT
Updated: Oct 12, 2015 10:47 AM PDT
Posted by Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia ProducerCONNECT

Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt wears a pink ribbon as he shakes hands with head coach Andy Reid before an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt wears a pink ribbon as he shakes hands with head coach Andy Reid before an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -
Andy Reid and John Fox have been around the NFL long enough to see hundreds of players come and go, some of them only after age has rendered their once-potent ability ineffective.

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Reid insists that is not the problem with the Chiefs' woebegone defense.

The Chiefs are actually among the youngest teams in the NFL, the product of several seasons spent picking early in the draft.

But they also have a pair of starting linebackers in Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali that are among the oldest in the NFL, raising the question: Has the game started to catch up to two of the best to ever wear a Chiefs uniform?

"I don't see that decline from our older players right now. I don't think that's the issue," Reid said. "I think they're playing hard and doing the things they've done before."

Reid also acknowledged that the tape — and numbers — rarely lie.

In the case of Hali, the formerly feared pass rusher has just six tackles and one sack through four games. That puts Hali on pace for the fewest stops of his 10-year career, and the fewest sacks since he had three in 2008, his third season in the league.

More importantly, the fact that the four-time Pro Bowl selection has been less effective has had a spillover effect on the rest of the defense.

Teams are more easily able to double-team Justin Houston on the other side, or help with nose tackle Dontari Poe. And if a quarterback has more time to throw, it puts additional strain on the defensive backfield.

The result is the league's 29th-ranked defense, allowing nearly 400 yards per game, and one that is tied with this week's opponent, the Chicago Bears, for most points allowed.

"We've got a good group," Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. "You have to be very careful not to let your emotion, the highs of winning and the lows of losing, affect you."

Yet emotion is exactly what often forces coaches to leave unproductive players on the field too long. They remember what a player has done in the past rather than take stock of what he is capable of doing in the present, their image of him clouded by sentimentality and time.

Hali, who has not been available to reporters this week, has certainly made it difficult to view him as anything other than a star. He has 80 1/2 sacks in his career, trailing only Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith for most in franchise history. He had 14 1/2 during the 2010 season, which still stands as the fifth-best mark in the Chiefs record book.

He also has proven invaluable in tutoring Houston, now one of the NFL's top pass rushers, and Dee Ford, a first-round pick who is being groomed as Hali's successor.

"One of the foundations of being successful is the loyalty you have to people," said Fox, who is in his first season leading the Bears but got plenty of questions about whether Peyton Manning was washed up during his time coaching the Denver Broncos.

"It can be a tough call," Fox said. "I've had some very tough ones along the way. We're a performance-based business and as a coach or general manager or decision-maker, those are tough calls — how they fit in your system, how capable and reliable they are through time."

Hali, who took a significant pay cut to stay in Kansas City this season, has clearly been reliable. He has rarely been hurt, often playing through the pain of nicks and bruises.

Perhaps all of those are finally catching up to him.

"You know, a lot of them have accomplished a lot for you, so it makes it difficult," Fox said of the challenges that coaches face when it comes to aging players. "It's a tough thing to do."

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[notorious]

The title.......

[oaklandhater]

Originally Posted by Dayze

I got blasted last year for saying Hali was on his way to being toast.

I can't believe how much of a turd Ford is. WTF is his deal.

-1.1 Waste of a draft pick

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by oaklandhater

I think most of us are pretty much folding up our hope for this franchise until we draft a QB

Then what? Hope he plays well for a shitty franchise?

Say we get the next Peyton Manning, perhaps greatest QB possible. Now we have a team for him to be Peyton Manning, the Schottenheimer years. Which in case you forgot was nearly a decade of utter playoff failure.

[The Franchise]

Ford needs way more snaps. I know he sucks....but get him the hell out there so everyone can see it with a larger sample size.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Ford needs way more snaps. I know he sucks....but get him the hell out there so everyone can see it with a larger sample size.

It's not like he could do much worse than what's out there.

[Strongside]

Title of this thread makes no sense.

[Reerun_KC]

This is going to implode so nicely.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Strongside

Title of this thread makes no sense.

I think it's supposed to read 'AGE is not the problem'

[oaklandhater]

Originally Posted by Strongside

Title of this thread makes no sense.

Take it up with Reid I'm just quoting the man

[Reerun_KC]

How about Reid insist his play calling and game management is killing this team... More than Smith and the defense combined.

[oaklandhater]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Then what? Hope he plays well for a shitty franchise?

Say we get the next Peyton Manning, perhaps greatest QB possible. Now we have a team for him to be Peyton Manning, the Schottenheimer years. Which in case you forgot was nearly a decade of utter playoff failure.

I would settle for being the Colts with Luck right now I can not and will not be content with this offense anymore chiefs fans deserve a vertical offense.


opposing team's defense have been stacking the box since Green retired.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by oaklandhater

I would settle for being the Colts with Luck right now I can not and will not be content with this offense anymore chiefs fans deserve a vertical offense.


opposing team's defense have been stacking the box since Green retired.

So, that whole thing about playoff success was just a talking point.

You don't better, you just want different.

Great, then I'll settle for being the Chiefs with Marty. Good news is, Marty is actually available unlike Luck.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by Dayze

I got blasted last year for saying Hali was on his way to being toast.

I can't believe how much of a turd Ford is. WTF is his deal.

I hear Ford has an amazing first step.

[oaklandhater]

one good thing about our defense is that Berry had an amazing Rating form PFF

+5.1 overall

[Dayze]

Originally Posted by New World Order

I hear Ford has an amazing first step.

he does.
though it's the subsequent steps where he runs directly into the waiting arms of a LT/RT, or somehow otherwise takes himself out of a play completely, that he needs to work on.