Teicher:Observations from week one of Chiefs’ offseason workouts

[Tribal Warfare]

Observations from week one of Chiefs’ offseason workouts
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Bringing the blitz

The days of the bend-but-don’t-break defensive philosophy appear to have left with former coach/coordinator Romeo Crennel. The Chiefs under new coordinator Bob Sutton were much more aggressive, blitzing at nearly every opportunity and from many different places. Sutton and the rest of the defensive coaching staff are still fine-tuning their plans, but look for the Chiefs to try to force opponents into mistakes far more than they have in the recent past.

Line ’em up

The Chiefs have settled on an offensive line that features Branden Albert and rookie Eric Fisher at tackle, Jeff Allen and Jon Asamoah at guard and Rodney Hudson at center. That’s an alignment Andy Reid, a former offensive-line coach, seems content with. The Chiefs have more depth than they’ve had in years in tackle Donald Stephenson and guard Geoff Schwartz. Shortly after taking over, the new administration of Reid and general manager John Dorsey reached out to former starter Ryan Lilja to see if they could talk him out of retirement. The issue is on hold because Lilja is rehabbing from some offseason surgeries, but the Chiefs may now feel they have enough capable bodies along their line.

Alex Smith on the run?

The hiring of pistol formation guru Chris Ault as a consultant seemed to signal the Chiefs would incorporate some of that offense into their plans and, sure enough, they ran a handful of plays from the pistol in Thursday’s practice. Option plays are part of the pistol, which would mean quarterback Alex Smith would be asked to use his legs as well as his arm. Don’t forget that Smith was featured as a runner in college while playing in Urban Meyer’s offense at Utah.

Bray waits for more chances

Perhaps deferring to the veteran, the Chiefs are using Ricky Stanzi as their third quarterback while rookie Tyler Bray is getting few snaps as the fourth quarterback. Hard to say if that will change any time soon, but Bray has better ability to make all the necessary throws than Stanzi does. While the Chiefs — with Smith as their starter and Chase Daniel as the top reserve — need to be in no hurry to develop Bray, he has already displayed enough skills to earn more work.

[Maverick91579]

Thanks for sharing. On the Bray Stanzi thing. They being Reid and Dorsey, probably have seen enough tape of Bray to know what they need to work on him, but probably have seen very little of Stanzi, so getting a look at him prior to training camp seems like a smart thing to do....know what you have....

[TEX]

I bet Geoff Schwartz is starting at Guard before mid season. The guy can play.

[ptlyon]

Also, don't forget that Smith was benched last year due to a concussion & didn't come back...

[Marcellus the True]

Originally Posted by ptlyon

Also, don't forget that Smith was benched last year due to a concussion & didn't come back...

Don't forget that because that means it will happen again this year?

[ChiefAshhole20]

Originally Posted by Marcellus the True

Don't forget that because that means it will happen again this year?

Just means you probably want to have a few backup plans ready. Especially since Chase is smaller and hasn't proven if he's durable enough to take a big hit. You may want to keep Stanzi along with Bray, if Stanzi proves enough to warrant a spot in Reid's eyes if course.

[CaliforniaChief]

Praise the living Lord they see the futility of the "bend don't break" defense.

I've argued that part of building a Chiefs culture is an aggressive, QB-killing, defensive machine that...coupled with the crowd noise of Arrowhead, once again makes home games unbearable for visiting QB's.

[Fat Elvis]

Bringing the blitz

The days of the bend-but-don’t-break defensive philosophy appear to have left with former coach/coordinator Romeo Crennel. The Chiefs under new coordinator Bob Sutton were much more aggressive, blitzing at nearly every opportunity and from many different places. Sutton and the rest of the defensive coaching staff are still fine-tuning their plans, but look for the Chiefs to try to force opponents into mistakes far more than they have in the recent past.

I think Gaz just Gazzed a little bit.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by Marcellus the True

Don't forget that because that means it will happen again this year?

If you think it won't, then quit lying to yourself.

And when it does, he's finished.

[DoucheMcCloud]

Originally Posted by TEX

I bet Geoff Schwartz is starting at Guard before mid season. The guy can play.

Then why has he been with three different teams in the past three seasons?

[qbsacker93]

Why am I not hearing anything about how Alex Smith is throwing in OTAs?

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by qbsacker93

Why am I not hearing anything about how Alex Smith is throwing in OTAs?

No comment

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by qbsacker93

Why am I not hearing anything about how Alex Smith is throwing in OTAs?

because his arm would fall off if he works it too hard.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

Praise the living Lord they see the futility of the "bend don't break" defense.

I've argued that part of building a Chiefs culture is an aggressive, QB-killing, defensive machine that...coupled with the crowd noise of Arrowhead, once again makes home games unbearable for visiting QB's.

We can only hope!!

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by qbsacker93

Why am I not hearing anything about how Alex Smith is throwing in OTAs?

His awesomeness is too great for words.