General Defense

[Jakuvious]

 

[onejayhawk]

Saw that. Sneed is All-Pro if there is any justice.

J

 

[Chiefer]

 

[onejayhawk]

Did I hear him say, "Tackling was sharp."? That can't be right. 

J

[Chiefer]

“I got your back like four flats on a Caddillac” 😎😂

Edited November 25, 2021 by Chiefer

[Chiefer]

https://mnchiefsfan.substack.com/p/shrinking-the-field-willie-gay-jr

Good breakdown of How WG has helped the Chiefs, particularly in dumpoffs in the flat which have been a problem for years now.

[onejayhawk]

Willie Gay was drafted to be a sideline to sideline pursuit player. That play is an example of him doing just that. With Bolton in the middle, we should have solid play for years. 

Reflecting on the Cowboys game, I am struck at how little the Cowboys ran the ball. This allowed our defense to unleash the pass rush and live in nickel and dime coverage.How much of that was us getting an early lead?

J

 

[Jakuvious]

4 hours ago, Chiefer said:

https://mnchiefsfan.substack.com/p/shrinking-the-field-willie-gay-jr

Good breakdown of How WG has helped the Chiefs, particularly in dumpoffs in the flat which have been a problem for years now.

The athleticism in the center of our defense, from front to back, has gone from a huge weakness to a massive strength so very quickly. Reed/Jones on the DL, Gay/Bolton at LB, and Mathieu/Thornhill/Sneed (Sneed doesn't play traditional S, but he does a lot of what we ask our safeties to do.) It's the best we've had since we were rocking Poe/DJ/Berry at each level. LBs still need to get a little better covering more vertical routes, but it's so nice to not get beat so easily by just lateral short passes.

[Jakuvious]

26 minutes ago, onejayhawk said:

Willie Gay was drafted to be a sideline to sideline pursuit player. That play is an example of him doing just that. With Bolton in the middle, we should have solid play for years. 

Reflecting on the Cowboys game, I am struck at how little the Cowboys ran the ball. This allowed our defense to unleash the pass rush and live in nickel and dime coverage.How much of that was us getting an early lead?

J

 

The way Dallas called plays on offense, they had zero faith going into the game that their OL could win. Their OL and WRs could not win one on ones against our DL and CBs, and their play calling reflected it from the start.

[Chiefer]

23 minutes ago, onejayhawk said:

Willie Gay was drafted to be a sideline to sideline pursuit player. That play is an example of him doing just that. With Bolton in the middle, we should have solid play for years. 

Reflecting on the Cowboys game, I am struck at how little the Cowboys ran the ball. This allowed our defense to unleash the pass rush and live in nickel and dime coverage.How much of that was us getting an early lead?

J

 

Early lead and they tried running it, it just wasn’t effective. Besides a 31yard reverse trick direct snap run play to Pollard, he only got 6 carries for 19 yards. Elliot got hurt during the game and only got 9 carries for 32.

15 for 51 is not very good, DL and Lbs were killing them in the trenches. The run plays called were trash as well, no real outside runs, instead relying on short passes outside to widen The field

[Chiefer]

13 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

The athleticism in the center of our defense, from front to back, has gone from a huge weakness to a massive strength so very quickly. Reed/Jones on the DL, Gay/Bolton at LB, and Mathieu/Thornhill/Sneed (Sneed doesn't play traditional S, but he does a lot of what we ask our safeties to do.) It's the best we've had since we were rocking Poe/DJ/Berry at each level. LBs still need to get a little better covering more vertical routes, but it's so nice to not get beat so easily by just lateral short passes.

Still dont understand why Spagz was so stuck on playing the wrong guys in the wrong positions. Addition by subtraction when Sorensen and Neimann sit more, although he cant help himself with Dime Packages.

Still theyve got a system going that works well so far. Everybody is working very well off each other, and everybody is playing faster in response to this too.

Its night and day with WG out there, he just lightnings his way across the field and brings the thunder. Reminding me a little of DJ

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Chiefer

[Jakuvious]

7 minutes ago, Chiefer said:

Still dont understand why Spagz was so stuck on playing the wrong guys in the wrong positions. Addition by subtraction when Sorensen and Neimann sit more, although he cant help himself with Dime Packages.

Still theyve got a system going that works well so far. Everybody is working very well off each other, and everybody is playing faster in response to this too.

 

I imagine some of it was just faith in what they'd done in the past. In the early weeks, I stood by Sorensen as well. He was always a guy who would get burned in spots, but would come back and make plays that more than made up for it. Two weeks, three weeks in, I figured he'd turn it around. Four weeks, five weeks, it was time to give up. But I can see why a coach would be a little more willing to trust their guy to get it right than a fan would. I know it's not exactly comparable, but we don't want the team giving up on Mahomes for his struggles, or Hill for the two drops turned INTs, or Kelce for the drops, etc. Sorensen isn't in that echelon, but I imagine the coaches had a similar feel, that they've seen what he has done before, and were waiting for him to get back to it. I don't know if you've ever been a coach or a manager or a leader of some group, but you always want to trust someone to work out of a funk. It's very hard to settle on the fact that someone doesn't have it anymore.

And for what it's worth, Sorensen has played better of late. They've been using him more in blitzes and shallow zones, and keeping him out of man or deep zones, and he has done well within that role. His current dime role is fine. I actually think they've been using Niemann more intelligently as well. Though I struggle more to see the justification of Niemann over Bolton/Gay/Hitch than I do Sorensen over Watts. I can only think the Niemann obsession is a coach putting stock in knowledge over athleticism. But there's a point where that scale tips too far. Doesn't matter if a guy knows where to be if he can never get there. And that's Niemann.

[RedGold]

2 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

And for what it's worth, Sorensen has played better of late. They've been using him more in blitzes and shallow zones, and keeping him out of man or deep zones, and he has done well within that role. His current dime role is fine. I actually think they've been using Niemann more intelligently as well. Though I struggle more to see the justification of Niemann over Bolton/Gay/Hitch than I do Sorensen over Watts. I can only think the Niemann obsession is a coach putting stock in knowledge over athleticism. But there's a point where that scale tips too far. Doesn't matter if a guy knows where to be if he can never get there. And that's Niemann.

I don’t much facts to back this up.  But the eye tests seemed to show we had Niemann on the field more when we sent blitzes on 3rd and long.   The base 4-2 without much blitzing is when Bolton and Gay seemed to be on the field. 
 

Obviously I doubt that’s 100% true,  but I think we blitzed every time Niemann was out there.  

[Chiefer]

8 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

I imagine some of it was just faith in what they'd done in the past. In the early weeks, I stood by Sorensen as well. He was always a guy who would get burned in spots, but would come back and make plays that more than made up for it. Two weeks, three weeks in, I figured he'd turn it around. Four weeks, five weeks, it was time to give up. But I can see why a coach would be a little more willing to trust their guy to get it right than a fan would. I know it's not exactly comparable, but we don't want the team giving up on Mahomes for his struggles, or Hill for the two drops turned INTs, or Kelce for the drops, etc. Sorensen isn't in that echelon, but I imagine the coaches had a similar feel, that they've seen what he has done before, and were waiting for him to get back to it. I don't know if you've ever been a coach or a manager or a leader of some group, but you always want to trust someone to work out of a funk. It's very hard to settle on the fact that someone doesn't have it anymore.

And for what it's worth, Sorensen has played better of late. They've been using him more in blitzes and shallow zones, and keeping him out of man or deep zones, and he has done well within that role. His current dime role is fine. I actually think they've been using Niemann more intelligently as well. Though I struggle more to see the justification of Niemann over Bolton/Gay/Hitch than I do Sorensen over Watts. I can only think the Niemann obsession is a coach putting stock in knowledge over athleticism. But there's a point where that scale tips too far. Doesn't matter if a guy knows where to be if he can never get there. And that's Niemann.

Sorensen has always been a guy who was a good 3rd safety, he comes in support on 3rd downs and plays special teams. He had some initial success at FS when Spagz first got here cuz of the smarts, but for the most part has never really succeeded  in a starting role. It shouldve been obvious by game three that Sorensen wasnt getting out of a funk, hes just old and a 3rd safety. 
 

Im not absolving Thornhill, he was missing assignments too. Not that bad though lol.  
 

i dread every third down, when i still see them in the middle.  Spagz is a man that plays with fire, teetering on the edge .

[Chiefer]