but this article completely ignores one big change – the coaching staff.

the new defensive staff and the new head coach may improve the defense, they may make it worse (though I fail to see how that is even possible).

But one thing is certain, the coaches have changed. let’s hope that helps.

The biggest improvement should come from the players now having been there for a year. I look for the D-line to have a big jump in production, Hali was out of position last year and should be better, Dorsey – DTs always take time to get better. Our secondary is set for years. LB is where I see the largest need for new talent and with the chance to get the best player in the draft two years in a row we should see improvement next year.

Also killing the cover 2 should help.

They obviously didnt pan out last year. Our defense was terrible, especially in clutch situations. The players that were on the defense last year just didnt get it done, so lets replace them and see what happens. New coach, new scheme, new players.

I really think the scheme makes a big difference.

There is more young talent on this team, especially on defense, than we’ve seen in years.

Dorsey, Hali, Johnson, Flowers and Curry? that is a core of a defense that CAN be great for years to come.

I firmly believe the Chiefs are one ILB, and one DE away from being a top 10 defense.
They also need to find more depth at LB and DB, so the whole season isn’t screwed when injuries happen.

without Sperm Edwards and his Tampon 2, bend dont break bullshit

I wonder if maybe B.J. Raji hasn’t worked his way back into the Chiefs’ possible draft plans? If they’re running a 3-4, they’ll need a nose tackle and he looks like a good one. And they could probably live with Dorsey as a DE until they’re ready to trade him away.

Personally I always saw the Chiefs second half collapses as a result of Herm’s bad coaching. Good coaches/the rest of the nfl made half time adjustments where the Chiefs always failed to adjust in the second half to the other team’s changes from half time. This wasn’t just the D either. How many 3rd quarter points did we score last year??? I believe Haley will change this (reference this year’s super bowl)

This is where coaching is important and I believe it is where Herm Edwards failed miserably.

Herm was a system guy and he forced his system down the throats of his team. The only time I can remember Herm making an adjustment for the players he had was when we went to the Arrowspread for Thiggy. This didn’t produce any wins but it did produce points and if you remember how terrible our offense looked after the Carolina and Titans games you will agree that it improved our offense.

This was a smart move and could have produced more wins than it did with better coaching. You have to admit that there were at least four games we should have won. The Chargers game jumps to mind, so does the Jets game.

The problem here is Herm never budged on his fing Tampa Two. It wasn’t working. There should have been a massive scheme change to fit the players we had.

Scheme change can help dramatically. Of course you still have to have the talent but you can’t back yourself into a corner by asking guys to do things they aren’t capable of doing.

It goes along with "the right 53, attitude. Get the team playing on the same page and mazimize the players talents. We don’t have to have a top 10 D this year. We just need a capable one. I think we have enough talent, especially if we draft Curry to have a capable D.

I believe our strength lies in the offense right now. If the team is managed correctly we should be able to compete and win some games.

And there are some things that really need worked on. My biggest concern in the line play, especially with the same line coach in there. Hopefully there will be something to mix it up.

2nd concern is getting to the quarterback. I don’t care how we are ranked next year, if we don’t produce some sacks it will be another very poor season.

But when I think about all these things I have to remember back to watching the games. The defense was forced to be on the field A LOT in the chiefs games. Unlike the offense, where the more your on the field the better chance you have of upping your stats, the defense ends up with better stats the less they are on the field. (okay i guess sacks and INT don’t count. But yrds allowed, etc)

So I really think if we can keep the defensive off the field, put some points on the board early to take some pressure off, and finish out the second half we could really improve next year.

How many of last years games did it seem we lost by just a few plays?

Porter, LB in Miami looked like crap a season ago, then last season he comes back and lights up the league. He wasn’t being used properly until last season.

The Chiefs have talent on the D, Herm just didn’t know how to move his pieces on the NFL chessboard, hopefully, this coaching staff does.

For all you arm chair coach’s…………I don’t care how much talent you have, if you don’t have the right coaches nor the right scheme , it won’t work!

I played football for 20 yrs and have been coaching for 15 yrs, I played LB, and I am a defensive coordinator, and I’ll be the 1st to say, if your LB’s are not the best athletes on the field, then you have nothing!!

I say this because scheme means everything, I run a 4/3 base look, with 3/4 personnel, basically 3 DL’s & 4 LB’s. I attack from the weak side, and I confuse offenses with my array of blitzes & coverages! I never run the same defense 2 times in a row(confusion)!

But my point is, over the years, I have recruited kids that played on other teams during the regular season for tournament play, and let me tell you…………………I’ve beaten those teams 50-0, saw talent on their team playing out of position, or being coached wrong. Once I got them, I put them in a position to excell……………….to me, that makes all the difference in the world!

The right coaching & scheme!!

Think of it like this. Jared Allen was drafted in the 4th round.

If he were in the draft today he’d be a top 5 pick. The dude had 9 sacks his first season. Pretty damn good.

Then in 2005 he had 11 sacks and a sick 7 forced fumbles.

2006 was a bit of a step back with only 7.5 sacks. Although his did have his highest tackle total ever at 77.

Then in 2007 he freaked out and blew up. He is arguably the best defensive end in football. He is now good for about 13-16 sacks and around 3 forced fumbles a season.

He came from the 4th round.

I think if Curry is the safest bet in the draft to be a good NFL linebacker for us for 7-10 years I say take his ass.

If Pioli lives up the his billing, he should be able to find us a Jared Allen in rounds 3 or 4.

all our hopes don’t lie in the first round. If we get Curry and he delivers and we find a guy good for 9 sacks like Allen was in 2004 and put Halli back where he belongs….we might just be ok.

If pioli brings the new england scheme over here its over. Like I stated before new england ran a machine they made old players look like stars and were able to throw in new players in the mix and they would be just fine. I think we are just a line backer and a pass rusher away after that everything will be down hill. Getting pressure on the qb can go a long way it makes everyone better .

Also, to answer the Everette Brown question, Conner Barwin(DE/OLB) 4.47 forty, had 11 sacks and 3 blocked punts last yr and can drop back into coverage, as well as catch a TD pass as a TE!

I wouldn’t take him with #3 pick, projected to go in 2nd round but he’s a guy we need as well!!

So if any team is offering a trade that would allow us to drop down in the draft, and pick up a 2nd rounder, thats the way I would go!!

Getting another team to trade picks with is the issue.

Overall, we think the position coach argument is garbage. It’s like trying to evaluate the painters at a VW plant: “Do they all turn into rust buckets after ten years? Yeah, but you don’t just assume its all the painters’ fault when that type of micro evaluation is impossible.”

As for Gunther, we don’t know, the lack of cohesion between the different defensive units was so terrible last year we’ll be interested to see what happens in Detroit.

We do know one thing, our HC was a former defensive back and last year our defensive backfield made up of primarily rookies looked like a pack of six year veterans. The AP was hollering to can Gunther and make Gibbs DC. Not to knock Gibbs, but he was immediately hired by his dad’s (Alex) team to be the Texans DB coach after Pioli & Co. didn’t see fit to retain him.

As for Krumrie, the fact he got invited to the combine a year ago to work out DL’s tell us whatever Pete Carroll and Hard Knocks have led us to believe, the rest of league respects him if for no other reason than he’s been around a long time and had an impressive playing career.

So here’s our prediction (which is vastly premature pre-draft, take note PT) it’d be damn near impossible to break top 15 (don’t discount Pioli’s ability Bruschi and Jarvis Green were 3rd & 4th rnd picks) but we expect to see better front seven play probably at the expense of seeing Carr and Flowers fall off their respective pedestals a bit.

It’s more about desire, attitude, leadership, and a mean streak than it is about ability. I do not doubt Dorsey, McBride, Tank, Flowers, Carr, DJ, or Pollard’s ability. They are physically gifted players that are more than capable of handling the individual tasks that are assigned to them.
The defense, however, severly lacks in attitude, fire, and leadership. There were times last season when the defense looked GREAT for a quarter here or there. During those flashes the defense always looked energetic, fired up, and just plain mean. Unfortunitly, most of the time they looked flat, lazy, and bored. They were individually goinig through the motions with no accountability to the rest of the defense.
There was NO leadership on the field lighting a fire in the belly of the unit. There was no mean streak. The defense didn’t look energetic and didn’t play with attitude. They played like a team that was hoping not to get beat instead of playing like a team trying to physically dominate the opponent.
The LB position was the obvious glaring hole on the unit. Stuffing the run game through the middle is just as much about desire and fire as it is about ability. You have to WANT it. You have to meet the RB straight up across the middle KNOWING that you aren’t going to give an inch. You have to have attitude and the desire to PUNISH the runner for even daring to try to run it through your gap. The team needs physically domionating LB’s that take it personally when anyone tries to push the ball through their territory.
You just simply cannot stop the run without the fire and desire to want to physically dominate the runner. It’s not enough to play your gap, read the play and bounce it to the inside, and put youself in position to make a tackle. You have to have a killer instinct on the field. You have to scream and yell and fire up your defense. You have to plant your feet in the dirt and refuse to give a single inch.
It takes a special kind of player to play with that fire and to make that attitude contagious. If you get beat you have step back up to the line the next play and hit the next guy even harder. A smart player that can read and call the defense will never be enough to dominate a run game. Without fire, attitude, physical explosiveness, and yes – the kind of mean streak that makes you want to hurt anyone that tries to make a fool of you the defense will never be anything more than average.
The team NEEDS a Ray Lewis, a Junior Seau, a Dick Budkis, a Mike Singletary, a player of that mold. No matter who is on your coaching staff they will never be able to give a defense that kind of attitude on the field. You’ve got to have a player that takes it pesonal every time he gives up even one yard through his gap. You’ve got to have a guy ON THE FIELD with that kind of fire that motivates the rest of the squad.
It all starts with dominating the run game at the point of attack. The entire defense’s production branches out from that point. If the Chiefs ever want to get back to being a squad that the other team fears they simply MUST find the guy that can anchor the middle of the field and proclaim, “This is MY field. No one gains an inch unless I say so.” Or for the LotR fans out there, “You Shall Not Pass!”

The last couple years can be blamed on a number of things, but now that he is where he is, and there is a new and very competent regime in town, Its make or break time.

If you stop the run the QB will have no other choice but try to pass. But if you can run all over a team then why not. I say run stopping outweighs trying to get a pass rusher….because no matter how good the pass rusher is he will be ineffective trying to run down the RB every play.