Focus on Stopping Big Plays Doesn't Work for the Chiefs
by Joel Thorman on Oct 25, 2009 4:11 PM CDT
in 2009 Campaign
36 comments
Two weeks ago the Kansas City Chiefs surrendered two 50+ scoring plays from Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys. That, among other things, prompted Chiefs safety Mike Brown to say the following:
"We just have to play our defense and make sure we don't give up any big scoring plays. That's seemed to be our Achilles heel is the big scoring plays. We gave up two big plays against the Skins but we kept them out of the end zone. It's important that we tackle them before they cross the goal line but we don't want to give up big plays."
Mission failed.
The Chiefs defense gave up two 51 yard passes to receiver Vincent Jackson and a 58 yard touchdown pass to running back Darren Sproles. Somehow that's more impressive than Austin's 59 and 60 yard touchdown receptions en route to a record setting day.
Unlike the Cowboys game, those big plays didn't decide today's game. The San Diego Chargers jumped out to a three score lead and never looked back. The Sproles touchdown pass was just icing on the cake.
The feeling in the locker room? I think head coach Todd Haley nailed it: 'Mad and disappointed'.
"We just didn't play well at all. Nobody did," Glenn Dorsey said.
Dorsey echoed Brown's statements from earlier this week about big plays.
"You don't want to give up big plays," he said. "That's our goal not to give up big plays. When they do it's discouraging but you've still got a lot more to play and you gotta keep on working."
New nose tackle Kenny Smith hasn't seen the field in the regular season since 2003 but is still bothered by the 30 point loss.
"Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some," new nose tackle Kenny Smith said. He emphasized that it's important to build off of the positive in this game.
"No, it's just tough," newly activated receiver Lance Long said when asked if the team was down. "A loss is a loss in everybody's mind. Each week we come in and coach Haley gets us prepared. We put that last week behind us, whether it's a win or a loss."
The Chiefs are putting out the right attitude when the press is around but, geez, these losses have to begin to sting. I've already noticed that it's getting harder and harder for some of these players to point to the positives and build off of what they've done each week.
Tough loss today for the Chiefs and a tough one to build off of.
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Thanks....
I didn’t need to see a picture of that play
Predictions for 2009:
LJ runs for 1800 yards
Bowe in the pro bowl
Chiefs D finishes in the top 10 in points allowed
Chiefs 10-6
by bonesjackson on Oct 25, 2009 4:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Dude
I don’t get it. The way the team manned up on the goal line was unbelievable. Where was the D the rest of the game? We allow all these big plays and then the offense sucks it up….
Predictions for 2009:
LJ runs for 1800 yards
Bowe in the pro bowl
Chiefs D finishes in the top 10 in points allowed
Chiefs 10-6
by bonesjackson on Oct 25, 2009 4:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
our saftys are horrible and our line backers are weak
i dont know we have al ot to work on
FOUR F'S FIND UM FEEL UM FUGUM FORGET UM.
by sexassassin on Oct 25, 2009 4:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Our safeties can't be too bad.
We had average safeties last year, and we cut one and deactivated the other, so we should now be better than average at the safety position.
Ridiculous. Brown is terrible. McGraw I think is playing way over his head, he just is not talented enough.
by saskwatch on Oct 25, 2009 5:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
At 6'3'', maybe McGraw should've tried to bulk up and try to follow Donnie Edwards...
But both McGraw and Brown do look slow in space. McGraw could be a very pesky blitzing safety, if that’s what he did all day long… We really don’t have any safeties who can do anything 1-on-1 in coverage.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Goal line stand means you only have to cover 10 yards of field.
Then suddenly, you see that the front 7 are pretty stout. It’s when there’s more than just the End Zone to cover that you realize how poor the secondary is.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 5:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Somethin dont make sense
I have never seen so many blowouts in one week.
Bowe and Wade FTW.
When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
by NJChieffan16 on Oct 25, 2009 4:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Everytime we blitzed; we failed to get to the QB
Therefore, you get big plays against your defense.
by vincent2668 on Oct 25, 2009 4:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Good point
Founded Arrowhead Pride 7/26/2006
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by Chris Thorman on Oct 25, 2009 4:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Rivers
Has something called Pocket Prescience. It is something that has been missing in KC since ’05.
Predictions for 2009:
LJ runs for 1800 yards
Bowe in the pro bowl
Chiefs D finishes in the top 10 in points allowed
Chiefs 10-6
by bonesjackson on Oct 25, 2009 4:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Your predictions are worse than your spelling of presence
Speaking of a bad prediction:
Week 7 Prediction:
Kansas City Chiefs 77 - San Diego Chargers 2
by craig in calgary on Oct 25, 2009 4:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah
My predictions are a little optimistic and I clicked the wrong word on spell check but unlike others, I will leave the predictions up there another week or so before I revise them and not hide my optimism.
Predictions for 2009:
LJ runs for 1800 yards
Bowe in the pro bowl
Chiefs D finishes in the top 10 in points allowed
Chiefs 10-6
by bonesjackson on Oct 25, 2009 4:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm beginning to think
It may be time to revise my predictions too. This year is definitely going worse than I thought it would.
Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.
by Zodeman on Oct 25, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I dunno. "Pocket Prescience" is a misspelling that's actually apropos to its meaning.
It’s like the QB has ESP.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 5:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's a bit harsh, craig.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
You have to have a pocket at some point, before you can have pocket presence.
by vincent2668 on Oct 25, 2009 4:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
He had a pocket to work from
And when he didnt, he didnt realize it and throw the ball away
Predictions for 2009:
LJ runs for 1800 yards
Bowe in the pro bowl
Chiefs D finishes in the top 10 in points allowed
Chiefs 10-6
by bonesjackson on Oct 25, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Come on..The guy was getting blasted very often like he does every game.
I will agree that there were a couple times during this game he had time to look down field. But, when you are under pressure 90% of the time, every game…you are going to make bad throws, even when you don’t have pressure. A little issue with never being able to get in a rhythm. Then add in that you get down 14 points to start the game. Now the D-fense can T-off on you because they know you have to pass.
by vincent2668 on Oct 25, 2009 4:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Or pocket prescience.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Our pass rush is worse than last year.
Last year we could not get pressure, but at least in that defense we usually only rush 4. This year we are bringing the house and still not getting pressure. That is why we are getting burned.
The only thing worse than no pressure, is blitzing and not getting pressure.
by saskwatch on Oct 25, 2009 5:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh, and the 4-man rush is just as anemic as last year's.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 6:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
On the bright side...
KC isn’t going to lose next week!
by 5280ChiefsFan on Oct 25, 2009 4:44 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
We didn't play very good last week
we just played a little better than one of the worst teams in the league. So, I’m not sure how beating the Redskins without scoring a TD equated into beating SD?
by vincent2668 on Oct 25, 2009 4:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I was optimistic, because I felt SD was fundamentally unsound up front.
Their O-Line came back tough from an embarrassing outing against Denver. And their front 7 on D, while I think they’re not the greatest, was MORE than enough to manhandle a poor KC O-Line that was made even WORSE by mounting injuries.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 5:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I wouldn't want to be in Haley's shoes. There comes a point where no amount of yelling is going to solve our problems.
After today, I have to admit it…I would throw in the towel for the season.
by SupremeChief on Oct 25, 2009 5:17 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
maybe all the yelling is the problem ... or part of it
check out mills’ post …
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisiton!
by upamtn on Oct 25, 2009 5:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Doubtful yelling doesn’t make unproductive c/g play happen when the players are bad, or our left tackle get hurt. Or bad coverage lbs playing bad in coverage, or bad coverage safetys playing bad in coverage.
by karkz86 on Oct 25, 2009 5:35 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
Good point.
Thx for the dose of reality. I DON’T want to be sucked into a soap opera!
And I agree that “bad players” appears to be a big part of what we’re seeing.
Actually, I wasn’t so much talking about “yelling,” per se, as seeing small clues (and blatant speculation) that Haley’s attitude/approach may be counterproductive with regard to the big men, who think differently and have different motivations than us competitive asshole types.
I’ve got a man-mountain of a nephew, who can WOW ya, if he feels like it, but doesn’t care one little bit what you think of him, and he’ll either squash you or ignore you or do the opposite of what you want, if you antagonize him, and no amount of pain or suffering you can inflict will tip the scales in his mind, if he’s set on fuckin’ with you.
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 6:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Pendergast
needs to get booted out of here.
His “exotic” blitz schemes are killing us. Usually when you blitz your pass rush should be better by design and maybe we are on pace to get more sacks but we have no consistent pressure on opposing QBs. These guys have way too much time in the pocket.
I think talent wise, the D is 2 or 3 players away.. that said, it shouldn’t be the worst in the league which to me it looks like it is.
by golfbard on Oct 25, 2009 6:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree, Everyone wants
To blame the safeties but it wasnt even half on them. Pendergast blitzed Mike Brown on 3rd down 4 times before I just shut the game off. Vincnet Jackson Burned us for like 40 yards twice and that deep pass to sproles. Pendergast is not a good play caller.
by darwithabar on Oct 25, 2009 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I am starting to wish for Herm's cover 2.
At least that was a slow death.
by saskwatch on Oct 25, 2009 6:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sad to say, up near the line of scrimmage is where those slow safeties can do the most good.
And without the extra quickness of a safety, the safety-less blitz isn’t getting it done.
I wouldn’t fault Pendergast for that. What’s disappointing is any kind of solid “base defense” that they can execute to a ‘T’ from which they can vary slightly with maximum uncertainty inflicted on the offense. It’s been a merry-go-round on personnel and there’s no decent “base level of execution” at any position, so it’s very unpredictable for the defenders who ARE doing their jobs. Bottom line is they failed to find enough players who are executing at a high enough level to simplify the jobs of their teammates.
So the merry-go-round is likely to continue, in a VERY dicey situation for player evals (serious time needs to be spent in the film room). There’s no foundation for reliable assessment, and anybody scouting the Chiefs has to be discount for missed assignments all over the field that factor into the evaluation of any single player. Heh. I’m back in preseason mode, studying the games more to see who might be making the team…
No question. Otis Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame.
by hmills110 on Oct 25, 2009 6:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'm talking about playcalling overall
especially situational playcalling.. it’s god awful. That falls on Pendergast. Yes he is not blessed with a ton of talent but there is some talent. I also have heard Clancy wasn’t their first choice for this role so maybe they do make the change. My guess is they will since they won’t be satisfied.
I also was thinking… would it shock anyone if they fired their D-coordinator now and gave them two weeks with someone else? Doubt it happens but with two weeks before the next game off an awful home loss, I gotta figure some sort of changes will be made.
by golfbard on Oct 25, 2009 6:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I had a bunch of dudes on a bye week
in my fantasy football league. I went against my heart and went w/ my head starting Sproles, LT and Vincent Jackson. That make the atrocity on the field a little better, I guess.
by Teabags on Oct 26, 2009 7:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
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