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Why aren't the Chiefs playing in the NFL Conference Championships?


mayanfootball

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Defense. In a word - Defense. (stats used from NFL.com)

Look who's playing while the Chiefs watch: Minnesota, Philadelphia in the NFC. Jacksonville and New England in the AFC.

Only NE isn't in the top 4 NFL defenses (pts/gm). Denver supplants NE in the top 4 defenses here. NE is in the AFC championship arguably because they have the NFL's best QB and a championship pedigree.

1/ The Chiefs defense couldn't get off the field. The Chiefs gave up an NFL worst 22 1st.dn/gm.. Jacksonville, Minnesota and Philly are in the best 5 teams giving up only 17 1st.dn/gm or less.

2/ You gotta stop the run.  Philly and Minnesota are 1,2. in rushing yds/gm. (80, 83 yds/gm).  New England is 20, Jacksonville 21.  Chiefs are 25. (118 yds/gm).

3/ You gotta stop the run for TD's. This was a killer for any team wanting to play in a Conference Championship. All defenses playing this weekend are in the best 10. NE gave up only 6 rushing TD's (2nd.best NFL).  Philly/7(3rd), Jacksonville/9(6th), Minn./10(9th). Chiefs gave up 15 rushing TD's (27 NFL). 

The Chiefs aren't getting gouged by huge rushing gains per play. In fact, KC didn't give up a run of 40+ yds. all season. Additionally, KC only gave up an NFL 2nd. best 6 runs of 20+ yds.. What's killing the Chiefs is arguably their porous 3 man DL that Bob Sutton insisted on playing, and having his LB's drop back into coverage instead of attacking the LOS and/or rushing the QB. RB's simply ran past the LOS and KC's back 9 were forced to make the tackle after 5-10 yd. gains. KC's weakness  here near the goal line doomed the Chiefs to give up too many TD's and failure.

4/ Passing D. The Chiefs are respectable in two facets here. Chiefs rank 2nd in completion pct. at 57%.. Championship contenders are Jacksonville/56.8%, Minn./58.4%, Philly/60.4%, NE/62.2%..             Interceptions: Chiefs collected 16 (good for 9th./NFL). Jags/21 (2nd./NFL), Eagles/19 (4th/NFL), Vikes/14 (9th/NFL),  Pats/12 (18th/NFL).

KC's problem? There are many here and lie in giving up the big play,  too many yds/gm., and too many 1st. downs. KC gave up the 4th. most yds/gm at 247yds/gm. KC gave up 14 plays of 40+ yds/gm. (2nd. most NFL) and 53 plays of 20+ yds./gm (10th/NFL). KC gave up 203 1st.dn. (4th.most NFL Philly, Minn., Jacksonville are top10 NFL best in defensive QBR.

SACKS: Chiefs failed to presure the QB. KC only collected 31 sacks (6th worst/NFL) Jacksonville and NE collected 56 and 42 respectively (top 7/NFL). Philly and Vikes got 38 and 37 respectively.

5/ Unknown variables. I don't see stats for missed tackls. The Chiefs exhibited poor tackling thrughout the season. A return to tackling fundamentals is necessary and required for the defense to improve significantly. It's unknown to what extent the absence of Eric Berry had on the defense, but i'm sure it was significant. What i'm concerned the most about is how does Berry return from his achilles  injury and how it affects his play. This is Eric's 3rd major setback (ACL, cancer, Achilles). 

6/ All of you know my feelings about Bob Sutton and his detrimental handling of the defense. I won't rehash this issue except to say Sutton is an obstacle to marked Defensive improvement.

Summary: There are many impediments to the Chiefs reaching a conference championship. Granted there are some issues on Offense such as Reid's ability to control the team, QB play, installing a new OC, playcalling responsibilities, etc. that need attention. But I think i've shown the defense needs plenty of attention if the Chiefs ever hope to get to a conference championship, let alone the NFL Super Bowl.                                                                                                                                              

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1 hour ago, valkrei said:

And coaching.  We let our good coaches leave.

The only defensive coach that matters to me is the DC, Bob Sutton and I'd gladly let him leave. This defensive disaster is all his responsibility. His and Reid/Hunt for continuiing to employ Sutton.

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On 1/19/2018 at 2:00 PM, mayanfootball said:

 

Only NE isn't in the top 4 NFL defenses (pts/gm). Denver supplants NE in the top 4 defenses here. NE is in the AFC championship arguably because they have the NFL's best QB and a championship pedigree.

That pedigree comes as a result of playing arguably in the weakest division in the NFL. The Pats continually enjoy winning 5 or 6 game a year at the expense of their dismal division opponents (I'll include the Pittsburgh Steelers here too). This contributes to helping the Pats to a yearly playoff first round bye in addition to a homefield advantage in the division playoffs. IMO, this is not true competitive football when it happens constantly.

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I could not believe that the Chiefs only ran 6 plays in the 3rd quarter [4 runs shocked me more]

When you run 6 plays in a quarter that is on your offense, but it is more on your defense for not getting off the field.

 

Kelce getting hurt was a body blow to the offense and the defense was super soft in the 2nd half. If you let the Titans run they can actually beat you.

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2 hours ago, valkrei said:

yea I think every knows Sutton was not a guy I am talking about. I am talking about Naggy, Cower, Solari, penderson, ect ect.

 

 

Yes. And still Bob Sutton lingers on to haunt us. That's pretty messed up. This is on Reid and Clark Hunt to brain drain the offense and continually penalize the defense.

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5 hours ago, mayanfootball said:

Yes. And still Bob Sutton lingers on to haunt us. That's pretty messed up. This is on Reid and Clark Hunt to brain drain the offense and continually penalize the defense.

hah a list of bad coaches we keep and good ones we let leave would maybe make me cry.

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Suggested changes to improving the Chiefs defense.
1- Replace Sutton as DC


2- Improve run defense. Add another Dlineman at the LOS. Chiefs need to add bulk to reduce effectiveness of double team blocks, reduce the number of unprotected gaps and allow our DL to succeed against more one-on-one blocking. Chiefs gave up 50-100% more rushing TD's than anyone playing in the NFL conference championships. This must cease immediately.


3- Improve pass defense. Draft a starting caliber FS to replace Ron Parker. Parker will be 31 before the next regular season. He's been ineffective in too many ways. Late to cover, poor tackling skills, inability to force turnovers, interceptions, fumbles or sacks, Parker is just not special. Both Parker and SS D.Sorenson should be reduced to backup roles. Hopefully Eric Berry's return will ensure Sorenson is used elsewhere. Sorenson's poor tackling ability was demonstrated frequently throughout the season. Tackling is a SS's primary skill. Sorensen is quick, but has ineffective closing speed making it paramount that he anticipate. If his instincts are wrong, he gets out of position to make the play. This forces Sorenson to attempt too many arm tackles instead of being in position to square up on his target to make the play. Sorenson plays a bit out of control, which lends himself to be maybe the worst tackler on our defense,
Chiefs' safeties inability to cover deep routes properly, take proper angles, along with poor tackling allowed offenses to exploit a weak Chiefs secondary. Again, Chiefs safeties were primarily responsible in giving up an NFL 2nd. most, 14 passing plays of 40+ yards.


4- Hali and DJ are old, hurting and ineffective. Chiefs should let KPL take over for DJ. I think Ragland and KPL could be capable at ILB. KPL impressed me with flashes in 2017. Hali and Zombo make for a poor OLB. Ford may be washed up as an OLB due to his back injury. It's necessary that KC find another pass rusher at ROLB. Another possibility is getting both Houston and Tanoh Kpassagnon on the field at the same time at OLB.


5- Another CB may be necessary if Revis fails to return. Nelson is a possibility but he plays a vial nickle-back position. Otherwise the quality of play drops off substantially using anyone else opposite M. Peters.

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33 minutes ago, kingseanjohn said:

Losing Berry made us go from good to average. It happens when you lose your best player and leader.

See Shazier/Steelers, Chiefs/Maslowski, Watt/Texans, Meyo/Patriots, etc.

This defense is light years from being good even WITH Berry. Eric Berry isn't going to address all or most of the issues outlined above. No, we are not good with just Berry returning (if he can even return AND play at a high level). I'd love to see Sorenson either gone or sitting it out tho.

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33 minutes ago, mayanfootball said:

This defense is light years from being good even WITH Berry. Eric Berry isn't going to address all or most of the issues outlined above. No, we are not good with just Berry returning (if he can even return AND play at a high level). I'd love to see Sorenson either gone or sitting it out tho.

Chiefs were 15th in scoring and 2nd in turnover ratio. Where they struggle is yards. So no, they are not light years away from being good. Berry will be better than Sorenson (obviously) and Sorenson will do better in his intended role. I do agree that he could be upgraded. But he was also put into a role that he wasn't re-signed to play.

With the adjustments that Sutton made, our run D improved a lot. Where I do agree is that he took way too long to make those changes. Upgrading at CB, OLB, and adding more DL depth will improve the team and potentially put us back into the top 10 in scoring. And that is where we have been until this year with Sutton... 2016 (7th), 2015 (3rd), 2014 (2nd), 2013 (5th). The year before he became DC we were 25th.

I know it's unpopular, but Sutton should get another year. Average is the worst that he has done for us at this point. If average become the norm, then I'll agree about making a switch. But I don't want Reid/Hunt to make emotional decisions based on one average year.

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15 hours ago, kingseanjohn said:
16 hours ago, mayanfootball said:

 

Chiefs were 15th in scoring and 2nd in turnover ratio. Where they struggle is yards. So no, they are not light years away from being good. Berry will be better than Sorenson (obviously) and Sorenson will do better in his intended role. I do agree that he could be upgraded. But he was also put into a role that he wasn't re-signed to play.

So what if the Chiefs are 15th? That's middle of the pack and won't get us to a conference championship game.  All 4 teams currently  playing are in the NFL top 5 for points given up.

How do you propose our defense improve in points allowed?

How do you propose to improve the run defense? KC is 27th/NFL in giving up 15 rushing TD's. All 4 teams playing for a conference championship are in the top 10/NFL.

How do you propose improving our "big play" pass defense? Specifically, How do the Chiefs reduce the number of pass plays resulting in 40+ yds? KC gave up 2nd. most/NFL (14). Teams playing this weekend only gave up 5, 10, 10, 12. Or how do we reduce pass plays resulting in 20+ yds? KC gave up 22nd. most/NFL (53). Teams playing this weekend gave up 35, 40, 40, 49.

 

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7 minutes ago, valkrei said:

I see the Eagles are in the SB to bad we got rid of that coach as fast as we could. Just another example.

We didn't get rid of him. He got signed elsewhere for a promotion. Not really a mistake on our part there. He was hired away after our season was over. It was an upward move, so we can't block that interview or that signing. Pederson leaving had nothing to do with us. And no course of events was going to lead him being HC here either, if that's what you're implying. Short of Andy retiring 3 years ago.

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