Late night bullshit: CP is dead wrong about the Chiefs' #2 offseason priority.

[Direckshun]

Aside from extending Alex Smith, which we all know they're going to do, it's CP's general consensus that the Chiefs need to do two things to make the Chiefs contenders in 2014:

1. Add weapons for Smith. Particularly a better #2 WR, re-signing Dex or getting a good slot weapon, and/or a TE weapon.

2. Re-stock the secondary. Particularly finding a starting-caliber FS, and adding much better depth at the nickel and dime packages, and stocking up depth to fortify against injuries.

It is my belief that CP is dead-right about priority #1. In my most recent simulation of the Chiefs' offseason, I brought Dex back, landed Maclin in free agency, and drafted Amaro in the 1st.

But I think the board is dead wrong on priority #2. Stocking up the secondary, particularly landing a FS, is extremely important this offseason, but it's priority #3.

Priority #2 is bolstering the passrush.

Teams figured out how to design their offenses against Hali/Houston/Poe. And I'm not in the "Hali is slowing down" camp, as I think Hali looked really good pre-injury last year. The Chiefs got only spurts at DE, from Bailey and Tyson Jackson.

Fortunately, the Chiefs have two things in their favor: Tyson Jackson is actually leaving this offseason, which is a big loss in some respects, but should be looked at as an opportunity. What this team needs is another passrusher to force OLs to make a really impossible decision. I've drafted Stephon Tuitt out of Notre Dame in previous simulations in the 1st round, but Antonio Smith is an extremely good option at only 32 years old out of the Texans' system. You lose a little something against the run, but you make major gains against the pass.

The other thing the Chiefs have in their favor is a pretty impressive slate of passrushers in the draft who could fall to our 3rd rounder. In my latest simulation, I drafted Michael Sam out of Missouri, but there are several options there.

The Chiefs need to add a DE who can get to the passer, or do so within a season, while adding GOOD passrushing talent on the edge, before we lose either Hali or Houston again. I am sick to death of finger-in-the-dam talents like Zombo, Moses, or Studebaker.

If you improve your passrush that way (as well as use Poe smarter throughout the year -- he doesn't need to play 100% of snaps all year, as it likely wore him down), you are improving your secondary.

You don't need to invest a 1st (or even a 3rd) at safety, or throw insane money at the position for someone like Byrd. You need to beef up your passrush, and retain decent options at safety.

Do that, and the whole defense improves.

[Mr. Laz]

Denver showed the league how to get around our pass rush.


Take advantage of our shitty secondary with throws too quick for our pass rush to get there. After our pass rush is exhausted then hit us with long throws with speed WRs.

Adding more pass rush won't solve that.


That said, you can never have enough pass rushers and Hali isn't getting any younger.

[ThaVirus]

We need a scheme change as well. You simply can't play man every single down. Mix in some zone concepts now and then to keep the other guys from getting into a rhythm. Make the QB spend that extra second or two figuring out what coverage you're in post-snap.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

Denver showed the league how to get around our pass rush.


Take advantage of our shitty secondary with throws too quick for our pass rush to get there. After our pass rush is exhausted then hit us with long throws with speed WRs.

Adding more pass rush won't solve that.

Look at how Denver attacked us with a healthy Houston (scored 27 points on mostly dink and dunk passing) in the first game versus the second when Houston was out and Hali was playing with an injured ankle...BOMBS AWAY...

Adding another pass rusher to this front 7 is mandatory...I just happen to think going from Jackson to Bailey/Catapano is gonna add some much needed pass rush presence out of the base sets and will help the other guys break free sooner.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Look at how Denver attacked us with a healthy Houston (scored 27 points on mostly dink and dunk passing) in the first game versus the second when Houston was out and Hali was playing with an injured ankle...BOMBS AWAY...

Adding another pass rusher to this front 7 is mandatory...I just happen to think going from Jackson to Bailey/Catapano is gonna add some much needed pass rush presence out of the base sets and will help the other guys break free sooner.

like how you edited my post to fit your response

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

Denver showed the league how to get around our pass rush.


Take advantage of our shitty secondary with throws too quick for our pass rush to get there. After our pass rush is exhausted then hit us with long throws with speed WRs.

Adding more pass rush won't solve that.


That said, you can never have enough pass rushers and Hali isn't getting any younger.

Once Welker made Flowers his bitch, it was all over. KC's defense never recovered from that. How much of the problem was that the start was fraudulent because of the poor opponents, how much was because of physical issues, how much was playcalling and how much was just the breaking of wills and the showing of weakness in both Flowers and Cooper is what the front office and coaching staff have to figure out in the offseason.

[Easy 6]

Its pretty hard for me to give too much weight to one over the other, the two aspects are so symbiotic, a lacking in one of them hurts the other.

Its really 1a and 1b situation... we need upgrades in BOTH is the correct and simple answer.

[Eleazar]

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Once Welker made Flowers his bitch, it was all over. KC's defense never recovered from that. How much of the problem was that the start was fraudulent because of the poor opponents, how much was because of physical issues, how much was playcalling and how much was just the breaking of wills and the showing of weakness in both Flowers and Cooper is what the front office and coaching staff have to figure out in the offseason.

It's was a little bit of everything i would imagine.

If you can't cover then offenses will dink and dunk around your pass rush.

If you can't pass rush then offenses will run double moves etc in the pass game and go deep.

a crappy scheme will allow offenses to choose the matchups and strengths


We need to add FS to allow more flexibility in our coverages. Doesn't mean we don't grab a pass rusher if available. Really have no idea what we can do if Sutton sucks.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

like how you edited my post to fit your response

I didn't edit ANYTHING.

YOU did, before the 5 minutes were up were you can do it before it shows a line on the bottom.

Nice try, though.

[O.city]

I'm all for adding more pass rush from te dl, somehow.

[BossChief]

With all "backups" on the field, our pass rush was just fine...the sad part about that was Kendrick Lewis was still out there with the 2s and was STILL the guy Rivers targeted over and over.

Catapano and Bailey were both disruptive and Powe was in beast mode.

Getting him off the team is almost as cool as when we cut Cassel.

Almost.

[O.city]

So I'm starting to think we pushed the defense so hard early, guys playing 1000 plus snaps, that they just wore down.

It seems there was a big push to become relevant this year, and we burned guys candles down early, not subbing any etc.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

It's was a little bit of everything i would imagine.

If you can't cover then offenses will dink and dunk around your pass rush.

If you can't pass rush then offenses will run double moves etc in the pass game and go deep.

a crappy scheme will allow offenses to choose the matchups and strengths


We need to add FS to allow more flexibility in our coverages. Doesn't mean we don't grab a pass rusher if available. Really have no idea what we can do if Sutton sucks.

The biggest culprit in the playoff loss was Sutton. And I've been kind to him all year long. He developed a decent game plan to start, then went frustratingly conservative. Maybe that was a Reid decision. I don't know. But in a playoff game, I just don't understand the logic behind predictable 4-man rushes and stubbornly continuing to do that even after it's not working.

[BossChief]

Yeah the guys had to be near the bottom of the gas tank towards the end.

That was my one true gripe about Sutton...he almost seemed like he was completely unwilling to play a rotation and that hurt us.

When you have a 340 pound nose guard, you don't play him every snap...especially when you have guys like Powe backing him up, or for the majority of the year not even being on the roster and forcing Poe to play ALL of the snaps.

We have Kendrick Lewis out there getting burnt up ALL DAY and a quality player like Husein Abdullah standing on the sideline wondering why he can't get on the field.

We have a defensive unit that was STARVING for a pass rush for a span over a month long and didnt rotate in the guys that have talent in those areas.

That SD game was a complete eye opener.

The backup defense got to play a whole game against a red hot offense that was in playoff game mode and they did pretty damn good IMO. 5 sacks.

It's a shame we couldn't put that defense out there in the second half against Indy...or at least parts of it.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Yeah the guys had to be near the bottom of the gas tank towards the end.

That was my one true gripe about Sutton...he almost seemed like he was completely unwilling to play a rotation and that hurt us.

When you have a 340 pound nose guard, you don't play him every snap...especially when you have guys like Powe backing him up, or for the majority of the year not even being on the roster and forcing Poe to play ALL of the snaps.

We have Kendrick Lewis out there getting burnt up ALL DAY and a quality player like Husein Abdullah standing on the sideline wondering why he can't get on the field.

We have a defensive unit that was STARVING for a pass rush for a span over a month long and didnt rotate in the guys that have talent in those areas.

That SD game was a complete eye opener.

The backup defense got to play a whole game against a red hot offense that was in playoff game mode and they did pretty damn good IMO. 5 sacks.

It's a shame we couldn't put that defense out there in the second half against Indy...or at least parts of it.

Well, I think catapano, Bailey, and Howard played quite a bit. And at least he was rotating Abdullah in. Maybe that's a sign he's starting to get it. I hope.