From the FanPosts. -PT

Long, Cruel indeed! I absolutely cannot wait for Football season to begin! Know this, you will forget this post, but you will not be able to get that song out of your head! :)

As Memorial Day Weekend approaches, I thought I would ask a question that I asked last season: Where is our Pass Rush going to come from? Somewhere in the locker room at One Arrowhead Drive I am sure there is a sign that reads "Sack Artist Wanted, All Applicants Welcome". 10 Sacks. That is the final total from a miserable 2008 season. 10 whole sacks. You have to get to #106 before you see a Chiefs player even listed in the Sack Leaders from last season, and that is Tamba Hali with 3. You would think some of our D lineman could have tripped into opposing QBs more times than that? By contrast the Dallas Cowboys led the NFL with 59 sacks and one of their players had twice as many as the whole Chiefs team (Demarcus Ware had an impressive 20 sacks). We all realize how important this stat, or lack thereof, is in the game of football. 

Last season I felt that the serious lack of putting ANY pressure on opposing quarterbacks severely affected our abilitly to close out games. How many times were we leading, or in a game, only to watch the other team come back and win? Heartbreaking! If we could have made it just a little more difficult on those guys, we might have been able to steal a few of those contests. Favre, Brees, and Rivers all notched a win against us because they could sit back in the pocket and pick us apart. I know Mr. Pioli realizes this, but besides picking up Mike Vrabel in the #7 trade, who on our current roster will be an upgrade in this area? Will our new scheme help us notch more sacks? Or is the somewhat improbable Peppers to KC trade still a possibility? None of these seem like a lock to provide solid answers at one of our biggest weaknesses.

Looking at the roster doesn't exactly instill great confidence that this season will be much better, although it could hardly be worse. Here are some career sack numbers for some of the veterans currently on the roster:

Best Hope: Mike Vrabel and Tamba Hali. As the roster stands right now, these two stand the best chance of leading the team in sacks in '09. They are also our current 1st Team OLBs, and both have experience rushing the passer. Are they quicker, faster, stronger than some of the young guys on the roster? Who knows? But they definitely know what it takes to get it done. It is interesting to note that the most accomplished guy, Vrabel, accumulated 22 of his 55 sacks in just two seasons, and averaged 3.3 sacks over his other 10 NFL seasons. Tamba Hali has regressed every season of his professional career and seems to struggle with knee and foot problems that hamper his pass rush abilitly. You could also add Tyson Jackson to this list based solely on his #3 overall draft status, but I don't think he will be asked to be a pass rusher as much as we would like. 4-5 sacks would be a great rookie season for T.J.

 Biggest Question Marks: Glenn Dorsey, Turk McBride, and Derrick Johnson. We have all talked about whether or not Dorsey can play the 3-4 Defensive End position. If he cannot, what are we going to do with him? He swears he can do it, but I want to see it to believe it. Turk is getting a look at OLB even though I feel he is better suited to play the end position. I am not sure if he can play without his hand on the ground, and if he can, how fast can he make the transition? D.J. has got the physical attributes to get after the QB, but moving him to ILB should regulate him to a partime blitzer. You could argue that there is a whole lot of other question marks on this defense, and you would be right. But I feel these three can contribute to our sack totals, I am just not sure if they will.

Darkhorse Candidates: Brian Johnston and NewChief91 Pierre Walters. Calm down all you Greenwood, Gales, Robertson, and Studebaker fans! I gotta go with my gut here, and I like Johnston in the situational pass rusher role. He has some serious speed, and if he worked hard this offseason, he could find his way to the QB quite a few times. Mr. Walters has great size for an OLB, and has some College sack stats to back up this pick. Out of the slew of undrafted prospects, I like him the best. I think it is this picture of him that sells it:

via cdn3.sbnation.com

He is quite the imposing figure on the football field. Keep in mind, that some of our starters are getting a little long in the tooth, and some of these young guys may see playing time sooner than you think. Go get'em Pierre!

Besides personnel, I do think that scheme will increase our sack total this upcoming season. The 3-4 typically disquises blitzes and coverages a little better than the 4-3, and causes opposing Quarterbacks to think twice about where the rush is coming from. But frankly, I am not overly optimistic about Clancy's ability to command a championship caliber defense. Yeah, defensive rankings are overated. Not.

If we hope to be successful next season, we must be able to generate pressure on our opponents. I don't think we will be like the New York Giants, but I am hoping that we at least double our sacks from last season. So here are my keys for success this season: the Front 7 on Defense, anybody who can get 7 sacks, and Matt Cassel (#7). The Lucky Sevens. Sounds easy enough!   

Go Chiefs!