Breaking down the defense

[TLO]

I think we've all seen the improvements the unit as a whole has made. The defense doesn't have the feel of, "Oh shit we have absolutely no shot of stopping this team." Granted we've also played the Jaguars and Raiders - not exactly 2 offensive juggernauts.

Who are some of the individual standouts though? Frank Clark has barely been noticeable. Tyrann Mathieu seems to never be around the ball. (Maybe teams are scheming things this way - but I haven't noticed him in run support much either).

Breeland has played well, overall. Chris Jones has caught my eye a time or two. And Kendall Fuller doesn't look bad either.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but it doesn't feel like we have any impact players on defense outside of maybe Jones.

Would like to hear your thoughts down below.

[MAHOMO 4 LIFE!]

Originally Posted by Wilson8

Yesterday we had several times where we met the ball carrier and stopped them at the point of contact. I think we tackle better now.

Breeland had a textbook tackle

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar

I’ve got a theory and I think it bodes very well for our future.

I believe that Spags was holding back for the entire Jags game and for the first quarter in Oakland, per Andy’s orders. I think they felt like they could get through these two games without being aggressive. After the disastrous 1st quarter, it became clear that more aggressive scheming would be needed, but we still didn’t see as many stunts and blitzes as Spags is known for. I’ll bet they throw the book at Baltimore this weekend. If necessary.

Granted, I’m a little concerned that Clark isn’t as disruptive as expected.

I think it's simply that Spags is installing the defense still. He's dialing up what he feels comfortable that his players can handle. We should see a little more every week and somewhere around mid-season we will have an idea of what we've got.

Week one was pretty vanilla. We saw some interesting shit week two with some creative blitzes, but mostly it was straight up, fundamental football. I think he'll open up his playbook more as we go.

[Chris Meck]

I agree that tackling is better overall as well.

Fundamentals are much improved.

Run defense looked leaky in the first quarter; excellent in the second. After that it doesn't concern me much as the Raiders were eating clock for us and we were playing to eliminate the big play, so softer on the run and short stuff.

[RunKC]

Damien Wilson has been a big upgrade over Ragland. He was PFF’s 2nd best LB in coverage last week and forced a fumble.

It’s simple plays like this that have improved the defense. Ragland was too slow to make these plays last season.

This is a great play by Damien Wilson against the run, Center tries to get to second level to make block but nice swipe to avoid him. Obviously there is blatant hold on Clark on this play pic.twitter.com/aoNaBzkcRC

— Chiefs Addict (@chiefs_addict) September 11, 2019

[rtmike]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I heard the announcer say coverage sack. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve heard that term used to describe a defensive play by the chiefs?

We had to pause the game and listen to it a few times.

Not since the Carter, Hasty days. Back then we had the defense.
Much rather have the offense we have vs. stout D and no O.