Chiefs' living and dying with pass rush will get ultimate test from Tom Brady

[T-post Tom]

Outside linebacker Justin Houston has played for some strong pass-rushing teams since joining the Kansas City Chiefs. He usually contributes to the effort in a big way, never more so than in 2014, when he had 22 sacks.

Houston said recently that he wasn’t sure how this year’s team compared. “That’s a tough one," Houston said. “I’ve been on a lot of great units."

Houston was certain of one thing, though.

“The best is yet to come," he said.

Houston has good reason to feel that way. The pass rush has helped carry the Chiefs to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs tied for the NFL regular-season lead with 52 sacks. Lineman Chris Jones led the way with 15.5, followed by linebacker Dee Ford with 13. Houston had nine despite missing four games with an injury.

For much of the season, the pass rush was about all the Chiefs could consistently rely on from their defense. Their rushing defense was woeful and their pass coverage spotty.

The most obvious example of the pass rush winning a game for them came in December against the Baltimore Ravens. With the game tied 24-24 late in the fourth quarter, Houston sacked Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, forced him to fumble and then recovered with the Chiefs in field goal range.

The Chiefs missed the kick, sending the game to overtime. But after taking a 27-24 lead, the Chiefs in effect closed it out with another Houston sack that pushed the Ravens into late-down and long-distance situations.

The rest of the defense has come around. The Chiefs allowed just one late touchdown and a defensive TD in their 31-13 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round, after giving up just a field goal in the final regular-season game against the Oakland Raiders.

The pass rush is still the basis of everything the Chiefs accomplish on defense. They sacked Andrew Luck three times on Saturday. Impressive, considering the Colts allowed a league-low 18 sacks this season.

“We don’t care who we are going against," Jones said. “We can go up against brick walls and we will find a way to beat them."

It’s not just about sacks. The Chiefs, for instance, deflected four passes against the Colts, three by Jones and one by Houston.

“[When] you start affecting [the quarterback's] spot, [when] he can’t get to his second or third read ... [when] he can’t step up ... there are a lot of things that affect the quarterback," outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said.

“The ball comes out quick these days, especially against us. It’s almost record time every time we play. They’re adding chips, keeping guys in. It affects an [opposing] offense. They’ve got to prepare every week for what we have."

Ford said, “Obviously, you want a sack but you’re not going to get a sack every play. You can’t rush with the mentality that ‘I want a sack every play’ because you could be hurting the defense. Getting pressure on the quarterback means disrupting the timing of his throws [when] he can’t step through on certain throws. That takes certain types of rushes and it takes you knowing how to do that every play.

“If the ball is going to come out quick, all we can do is disrupt that throw. That can lead to us getting off the field.’’

Getting off the field without allowing points is the goal on every defensive drive, the sooner the better because field position can be affected.

That’s where a strong rush comes in. The Chiefs generated a strong pass rush without blitzing a lot. They blitzed on about 12 percent of their plays in the regular season, which was the 10th-lowest rate in the league.

That approach could be helpful Sunday. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has historically had trouble facing defenses that can rush the passer successfully without blitzing.

The Chiefs blitzed even less against the Colts, on just five of the 53 snaps they defended.

“Everybody will tell you if you can do it with four people, that’s an even bigger advantage," defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. “Obviously it gives you more people to cover with and you can do more things schematically."

The Chiefs had a strip sack against the Colts when Ford knocked the ball away from Luck. The Chiefs recovered. In their 43-40 regular-season loss to the Patriots, the Chiefs sacked Brady twice, but Brady threw for more than 300 yards. On Sunday, in what could be another high-scoring game, disrupting Brady and getting the ball back to Patrick Mahomes and the offense will be paramount.

“A pass rush can get you off the field," said Sutton, whose defense gave up 500 total yards to the Patriots in the Week 6 matchup. "Even when you’re not playing dominant defense and giving up a lot of yards, the key part is always getting the ball back or getting off the field. One or the other. The other thing we’ve done a great job of is stripping the ball. It’s not just sacks but the ability to take the ball away. That’s a challenging thing for an offense to deal with. Not only do you have to deal with pressure but also the possibility of losing the ball."



http://www.espn.com/blog/kansas-city...from-tom-brady

[carcosa]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think the 'live and die with the rush' thing is starting to get a little overplayed now that Ron Parker isn't out there blowing coverage every other snap and Ward is giving us genuinely solid play at CB2.

There were definite coverage pressures against the Colts. And Sutton had his DBs sitting back and then driving on those short routes to screw up the timing patterns as well.

If the Patriots want to try to dink and dunk all day, they might have some success there but I think we've made personnel and schematic adjustments (made possible by said personnel adjustments) that can keep that from beating us if that's all they do. Where we might get gashed is by a double move or two but that's where the increased recovery speed from Lucas comes in and the Patriots can be hurt by their lack of deep speed now that Gordon's gone.

And Jones - man I loved the way he played Saturday. He was smart and disciplined. Played within himself and kept his responsibility seemingly every play. Nnadi was fantastic and Bailey was steady. I think the front can be run-responsible as well.

Now sometimes a good RB just makes yards and Michel is showing the ability to do that. And sometimes a fantastic pass-catching back creates big-time problems, James White qualifies. There are still some matchups where we might just get physically beat, but I don't think this defense is automatically a 1-trick pony, especially not at home.

If the Pats want to try to go full Ravens and run the ball while leaning on their short passing game, I think we have some ability to deal with that better than most expect. We won't skunk them, but I think we can keep them in the low 20s.

Hell, I'll just say it: yip

[Direckshun]

I don't much care what offensive line you trot out there.

Brady reads blitzes very well, and the Chiefs have the best 1-2-3 punch in football.

Send Houston/Ford/Jones and dare the Pats to block them. No offensive line can.

[FringeNC]

We definitely should take chances. Can Tom Brady really beat us over the top at his age in the bitter cold, dry, heavy air? Contest the short stuff.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I don't much care what offensive line you trot out there.

Brady reads blitzes very well, and the Chiefs have the best 1-2-3 punch in football.

Send Houston/Ford/Jones and dare the Pats to block them. No offensive line can.

Boy it would sure be nice if we could yeoman's work from the men in the middle using Suttons preferred 2-4-5 looks...

I mean that's just perfect for what the Patriots would like to do IF you can get Nnadi/Jones firm up the gut while Houston/Ford maintained the edges. With a healthy DoD alongside Ragland, that formation would be awfully tough for the Patriots to have their way with unless they just pounded it up the middle.

And I suspect that's exactly what they'd try. So it would come down to how Nnadi and Jones held their ground and if they could do enough for the guys behind them to rally to the ball.

[The Franchise]

Ward and Lucas have helped this defense immensely.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by The Pest

Ward and Lucas have helped this defense immensely.

Think about that 3rd and 8ish throw to Ebron in the (IIRC) mid-2nd. The Chiefs were up 14 or 17 at that point and Luck hit Ebron about 2 yards short of the sticks. If it's Scandrick/Parker that's an easy first but Ward him him hard and stood him straight up while the rest of the D rallied to the ball and finished the tackle off to force the punt. It was one of those plays that we've seen other teams make this year and though "c'mon guys - why the hell can't we do that? That's just effort..."

Ward put his nose in there and stopped a much larger man just long enough to let the cavalry get there and gang-tackle instead of getting dragged past the marker. It was textbook and it doesn't happen with the old personnel on the field.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Think about that 3rd and 8ish throw to Ebron in the (IIRC) mid-2nd. The Chiefs were up 14 or 17 at that point and Luck hit Ebron about 2 yards short of the sticks. If it's Scandrick/Parker that's an easy first but Ward him him hard and stood him straight up while the rest of the D rallied to the ball and finished the tackle off to force the punt. It was one of those plays that we've seen other teams make this year and though "c'mon guys - why the hell can't we do that? That's just effort..."

Ward put his nose in there and stopped a much larger man just long enough to let the cavalry get there and gang-tackle instead of getting dragged past the marker. It was textbook and it doesn't happen with the old personnel on the field.

When Ebron caught that....I thought....”here we go”. But the defense attacked and stopped him. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think the 'live and die with the rush' thing is starting to get a little overplayed now that Ron Parker isn't out there blowing coverage every other snap and Ward is giving us genuinely solid play at CB2.

There were definite coverage pressures against the Colts. And Sutton had his DBs sitting back and then driving on those short routes to screw up the timing patterns as well.

If the Patriots want to try to dink and dunk all day, they might have some success there but I think we've made personnel and schematic adjustments (made possible by said personnel adjustments) that can keep that from beating us if that's all they do. Where we might get gashed is by a double move or two but that's where the increased recovery speed from Lucas comes in and the Patriots can be hurt by their lack of deep speed now that Gordon's gone.

And Jones - man I loved the way he played Saturday. He was smart and disciplined. Played within himself and kept his responsibility seemingly every play. Nnadi was fantastic and Bailey was steady. I think the front can be run-responsible as well.

Now sometimes a good RB just makes yards and Michel is showing the ability to do that. And sometimes a fantastic pass-catching back creates big-time problems, James White qualifies. There are still some matchups where we might just get physically beat, but I don't think this defense is automatically a 1-trick pony, especially not at home.

If the Pats want to try to go full Ravens and run the ball while leaning on their short passing game, I think we have some ability to deal with that better than most expect. We won't skunk them, but I think we can keep them in the low 20s.

Excellent analysis !!

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by The Pest

Ward and Lucas have helped this defense immensely.

I don't think any of us knew that when Veach made those moves at the start of the season that they'd help elevate our squad to legit Super Bowl favorite.

[VAGOMO 4 LIFE!]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I don't think any of us knew that when Veach made those moves at the start of the season that they'd help elevate our squad to legit Super Bowl favorite.

And people want Veach gone because Speaks sucks....

[MMXcalibur]

I'm reaaaaaaaaaaalllly hoping that Ward and Lucas pan out.

They've played very well since coming in. I know guys like to give Ward a hard time for his first game vs Seattle, but I thought Wilson was tossing perfect throws against predominantly excellent coverage (particularly on there last drive).

I would argue that Baltimore's win over the LA Chargers in Week 16 enabled this secondary resurgence over the past few games. If the Chargers beat the Ravens, Reid might be more pressured into starting the known shitty veterans (Scandrick, Parker) vs Seattle and we'd never know what we had in Ward or Lucas. (We also wouldn't have the #1 seed also.)

It's still extremely early and all of this can still go to crap, but I feel better about our defense (especially at home) then I have at any other point this season.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!

And people want Veach gone because Speaks sucks....

Hey, Speaks actually looked decent against Indy. You take that back!

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by KCtotheSB

I'm reaaaaaaaaaaalllly hoping that Ward and Lucas pan out.

They've played very well since coming in. I know guys like to give Ward a hard time for his first game vs Seattle, but I thought Wilson was tossing perfect throws against predominantly excellent coverage (particularly on there last drive).

I would argue that Baltimore's win over the LA Chargers in Week 16 enabled this secondary resurgence over the past few games. If the Chargers beat the Ravens, Reid might be more pressured into starting the known shitty veterans (Scandrick, Parker) vs Seattle and we'd never know what we had in Ward or Lucas. (We also wouldn't have the #1 seed also.)

It's still extremely early and all of this can still go to crap, but I feel better about our defense (especially at home) then I have at any other point this season.

Ward knew he was going to start at the beginning of the week.

[Aspengc8]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Boy it would sure be nice if we could yeoman's work from the men in the middle using Suttons preferred 2-4-5 looks...

I mean that's just perfect for what the Patriots would like to do IF you can get Nnadi/Jones firm up the gut while Houston/Ford maintained the edges. With a healthy DoD alongside Ragland, that formation would be awfully tough for the Patriots to have their way with unless they just pounded it up the middle.

And I suspect that's exactly what they'd try. So it would come down to how Nnadi and Jones held their ground and if they could do enough for the guys behind them to rally to the ball.

Chiefs have been playing some really good 1 high physical man with a safety in the box now that parker/scandrick are not on the field as much. They will need to do that since NE will definitely try to run the ball out of both 21 and 31 personnel. If they can supply a 4 man pass rush and play tight man, it will be a long day for Brady. If Berry is good to go, having him in the box as a secure tackler would be huge for the run game. Trying to stop the run while playing a 2 high look is a death sentence. Your asking your dline to two-gap at that point.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Aspengc8

Chiefs have been playing some really good 1 high physical man with a safety in the box now that parker/scandrick are not on the field as much. They will need to do that since NE will definitely try to run the ball out of both 21 and 31 personnel. If they can supply a 4 man pass rush and play tight man, it will be a long day for Brady. If Berry is good to go, having him in the box as a secure tackler would be huge for the run game. Trying to stop the run while playing a 2 high look is a death sentence. Your asking your dline to two-gap at that point.

Chris Jones is playing on another level right now. I just get this feeling that he's going to be disruptive enough that they won't have to rush more than 4.