Bucs Vs. Chiefs: Stopping Josh Freeman And Co.

The Kansas City Chiefs will line up on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Arrowhead Stadium for the first preseason game of the 2011-12 season. We're obviously excited about this as it's the first since the first week of January that we can see the Chiefs on the field.

It's just preseason and the games don't count but we still want the Chiefs to win. Todd Haley and Co. will be asked to stop Josh Freeman and the Bucs, who were the19th ranked offense in the NFL last year. The Bucs are sort of like the Chiefs as a solid rushing team ranking eighth in the NFL last year and 17th in the pass.

We talked to Sanders over at SB Nation's Bucs Nation and I asked: If you're Romeo Crennel, what are you doing to stop the Bucs offense? His answer:

If I'm Romeo Crennel, I play with eight men in the box on early downs to take the running game out of the equation. The Bucs like to start a game by running the ball a lot, but they've struggled to do so these past years. And once they fail to run the ball, they usually steer clear of that tactic for the rest of the game.

Once you've got the Bucs passing more than they're running, I'd send Tamba Hali after the right tackle, whether that's Jeremy Trueblood or James Lee. Then play coverage behind that and force Josh Freeman to check down to his third-down back.

That is if Tamba Hali plays. We think he has a shot to play but Todd Haley hasn't clearly indicated how much the starters will be playing. The logic makes sense though and it's pretty much what the Chiefs want to do every game -- stop the run and unleash Tamba.

Only a few more days until we get to see the Chiefs on the field...