The race for the #1 seed in the AFC

[BossChief]

With Buffalo losing to NY today, if we beat Tennessee tonight we will be tied for 1st place in the AFC but Buffalo owns the head to head tiebreaker.

It’s going to be interesting to see the energy KC comes out with tonight.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by ptlyon

Nobody puts chargers in the corner (in the preseason)

Somebody is still holding out!

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Just:13

Buffalo is definitely better than they were last year.

They’re also more injured though, so it may even out.

In what way

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

So far the strategy has resulted in the #1 offense

If it results in a Playoff loss, you can take that "#1 offense" stat and flush it down the toilet. What did the eye test say last weekend? Sure looks like the Bengals have a better OL and better defense. That's problematic if you want to beat them.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by DRM08

The best way to view it is that KC is the underdog. They have the worst defense of these 3 teams. That is going to make it extremely difficult for them to win, especially multiple games in a row against teams with very good offenses and stronger defenses than KC.

If they somehow make it past these teams? Wonderful. If they don't? It's not surprising. Gotta find a way to get better on defense especially. Better tackling, better schemes, better pass rushers, better secondary. Just get better over time and come back with a more well-rounded football team.

This defense is better than the one last year. It is very young and will take time to work through their growing pains. Veach can continue to add to it, but how many players on this defense have more than 5 years experience?

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Not sure why you're so hellbent on the defensive narrative this week... maybe this weekend's effort brought back some Texas Tech PTSD?

Not sure what metric you'd use to say the Bengals defense is significantly better... they've given up like 1 point less per game against an awful list of QBs. If they had a good defense, they should be up where the Bills are at, or where the 49ers were at before facing the Chiefs.

And the Chiefs offense has been better than both overall, significantly more so than the Bengals, which is obviously far more important in the playoffs when you're going to need to put up 30+ points.

It's not 2018, we aren't seeing the Chiefs defense give up 38+ week in and week out, even if they obviously need a better effort than Sunday.

And depending on seeding, it may be unlikely they have to play both anyway.

Lest we forget the glory days of Mahomes and the offense scoring 51 points and losing.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Imon Yourside

Having come off of the Bengals loss I kind of agree, even though I hate it. Hard to shake it off after being owned 3 times in 1 year.

But was it the defense that caused us to lose three times in a row?

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by Just:13

The Chiefs have 2 of the worst tackles? Or were you talking about the Bengals?

The Chiefs have 2 of the worst. Someone posted the pressure stats. Orlando Brown & Andrew Wiley are #1 and #2 in the league in terms of pressures allowed, but part of that is because KC throws the ball more than other teams. But even when you adjust it based on percentage of blown plays by each OT, the two KC offensive tackles are in the bottom 15% of the league. So at least 85% of the starting OT's around the league are better than these two guys at protecting the QB.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by DRM08

What did the eye test say last weekend?

that we have the #1 offense

they averaged the exact same number of yards per play as cincy

the game was a battle between two elite offenses, and one turned it over

[Imon Yourside]

Originally Posted by tredadda

But was it the defense that caused us to lose three times in a row?

It was always something, basically being outsmarted one way or another. I'm not here to argue that we suck, but i'm going to be reserved until we meet again probably in a month or so.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by DRM08

I don't really care that much about the stats. KC's stats are boosted by playing against shitty quarterbacks for the Rams (backup rookie), Titans (backup rookie), & Colts (washed up Matt Ryan). Yes I know every other team has boosted stats from playing against bad QB's as well.

I'm looking more at the eye test and stuff like missed tackles. How much pressure are you putting on the QB? Cincy was getting pretty quick pressure on Mahomes even with 8 guys in coverage, while KC got almost zero pressure on Burrow the entire game. KC's tackling is bad/lazy, while Cincy seems pretty solid with that stuff. Cincy forced a fumble on Kelce. You don't really see the Chiefs players doing that kind of crafty gang-tackling to strip the ball.

It's been an ongoing issue for years. The Frank Clark & Anthony Hitchens deals kind of sum up the questionable decisions by the front office on the defensive side of the ball. We will see if the Chiefs can ever build a stronger defense. They haven't done it yet IMHO. Even in 2019, they were pretty fortunate to go against Tannehill & Jimmy G for the championship games.

Hitchens is gone. You seem obsessed with that deal. It’s like you want to ignore McDuffie, Gay, Bolton, Snead, Mathieu etc…. Got it Clark’s deal looks bad in retrospect but it’s like you can’t shake your bias against the defense regardless of stats that show otherwise.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Imon Yourside

It was always something, basically being outsmarted one way or another. I'm not here to argue that we suck, but i'm going to be reserved until we meet again probably in a month or so.

Fair enough. It’s going to take the offense stepping up and not being shooting themselves in the foot.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by DRM08

I don't really care that much about the stats. KC's stats are boosted by playing against shitty quarterbacks for the Rams (backup rookie), Titans (backup rookie), & Colts (washed up Matt Ryan). Yes I know every other team has boosted stats from playing against bad QB's as well.

I'm looking more at the eye test and stuff like missed tackles. How much pressure are you putting on the QB? Cincy was getting pretty quick pressure on Mahomes even with 8 guys in coverage, while KC got almost zero pressure on Burrow the entire game. KC's tackling is bad/lazy, while Cincy seems pretty solid with that stuff. Cincy forced a fumble on Kelce. You don't really see the Chiefs players doing that kind of crafty gang-tackling to strip the ball.

It's been an ongoing issue for years. The Frank Clark & Anthony Hitchens deals kind of sum up the questionable decisions by the front office on the defensive side of the ball. We will see if the Chiefs can ever build a stronger defense. They haven't done it yet IMHO. Even in 2019, they were pretty fortunate to go against Tannehill & Jimmy G for the championship games.

Yet, they instead went up against better defenses that the Chiefs supposedly need and still put up 30+ on both.

Ironically, the Bengals haven’t really padded their stats with shitty QBs.. they gave up 440 yards and 32 points to the Browns, 400 yards to the Saints, 30 points to the Steelers. They should statistically be better and this place would be freaking out about numbers like that, too.

And I don't mean to completely excuse the Chiefs defense... Allen throwing to wide open receivers in both games last year was pretty terrible, when defender gets juked out of his shoes in one move and no one else is in the neighborhood down the middle of the field. They didn't seem to stop much of anything the other day despite giving up fewer than 30.

They obviously have to provide some resistance somewhere and win in one phase or another in terms of QB pressure, tight coverage, stuffing the run... because you aren't stopping everything, obviously.

And they have, too... Bills punted 4 times last year and the Bengals offense wasn't great by any means. Just not sure what people expect outside of the obvious, better effort than Sunday.

And I'd expect the Bengals' and Bills' offense to be better in the playoffs, but I'd also expect the Chiefs' to be as well (and hopefully defensive effort).

The simple truth is you need to score 30+ once you get to the Conference Championship and SB... and that's not an opinion, it's what the winners of those games have averaged over the past several seasons.

Giving up 30-35+ is bad and they haven't done that much at all, even having played two of the top offenses in the league. It's not 2018 where 40+ isn't out of the question any given week.

[Imon Yourside]

Originally Posted by tredadda

Fair enough. It’s going to take the offense stepping up and not being shooting themselves in the foot.

It's going to take both units doing what they're capable of and our ST's not killing us. For whatever reason the Bengals don't seem to do stupid things against us and if they do the refs always seem to bail them out. We should start by benching our 2 starting tackles.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by tredadda

Hitchens is gone. You seem obsessed with that deal. It’s like you want to ignore McDuffie, Gay, Bolton, Snead, Mathieu etc…. Got it Clark’s deal looks bad in retrospect but it’s like you can’t shake your bias against the defense regardless of stats that show otherwise.

I just think the Hitchens & Clark deals showed that they have a questionable eye for defensive talent. Some of the defensive draft picks lately have been a lot better, no doubt about that one.

But Veach & Reid both have an offensive background, so maybe it has hampered them at times in evaluating the defensive players. Veach played offense in high school & college days. Andy is obviously an offensive minded coach.

They still haven't proven that they can figure out the pass rusher situation. Hopefully they can do it. You're going to need that if you want to make it through the Playoffs against several high powered offenses in the AFC. I don't see it happening this year, but I hope they can figure it out in the future.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by DRM08

I just think the Hitchens & Clark deals showed that they have a questionable eye for defensive talent. Some of the defensive draft picks lately have been a lot better, no doubt about that one.

But Veach & Reid both have an offensive background, so maybe it has hampered them at times in evaluating the defensive players. Veach played offense in high school & college days. Andy is obviously an offensive minded coach.

They still haven't proven that they can figure out the pass rusher situation. Hopefully they can do it. You're going to need that if you want to make it through the Playoffs against several high powered offenses in the AFC. I don't see it happening this year, but I hope they can figure it out in the future.

The thing I see is that you say they don’t have an eye for defensive talent and use those tow as examples while saying they have gotten better. For every “bad” one they have, they have 2-3 more good ones. I would say that’s pretty impressive, especially considering where this team has drafted since Reid arrived. I will take that success rate all day long even if there are some whiffs. I promise you that Veach and Andy are not scouting and drafting these guys or even trading for them in a silo. I almost guarantee that any defensive pick is blessed off by the defensive staff.

I completely agree with you regarding the pass rush. It has to improve, especially considering the quality of QBs and overall offensive talent in the AFC. At this point Veach’s overall track record gives me confidence that he will attack this deficiency with the same effectiveness that he has for every other one. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt for me.