FanPost

It all starts with Dontari Poe: My take on Chiefs defensive woes

Rob Carr

From the FanPosts -Joel

These preseason flags are going to cause me to burst a blood vessel. I'm more frustrated than an Amish electrician. If things don't change during the regular season, I'm going to picket Roger Goodell's house.

Despite the ridiculous amount of penalties thrown out to defensive backs, I'd like to discuss (what I think is) the source of the Kansas City Chiefs defensive woes in the past two games. Yes, I know they're preseason games. Yes, I know we're using a pretty vanilla playbook and our players probably aren't going at 100 percent. But we had struggles last year as well, and if the last two games are any indication, we're in for a tense season.

The Chiefs can't play good coverage anymore with this many penalties. I can understand that. At first, though, I didn't get why we (in our base 3-4 pretty often) couldn't stop the run or get to the quarterback quickly. Even our starters didn't do great. And we have, or so they say, one of the best front 7's in the NFL. So what's going wrong?

The answer to this question lies in the schematic makeup of the Chiefs defense. Bob Sutton moved Kansas City from a two-gap "read-and-react" trench system to a more aggressive "gap-shooting" system. The defensive line is expected to generate pressure, and the fourth and sometimes fifth rusher will come from the linebackers or defensive backs at a favorable blocking match-up and angle to the passer. Bob Sutton is praised as knowing how to "dial up the pressure" on opposing quarterbacks.

However, when you consider the base defensive alignment of the Chiefs' front 7, one might argue that Sutton does not know how to set up the pressure on opposing quarterbacks. When in a base 3-4, the Chiefs often line up one of two ways:

(hint--ignore the defensive backs. I made educated guesses as to where they go)

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In this alignment, the strong-side defensive end is in a 5-technique over the offensive tackle, and the weak-side end is in a 3-tech over the guard's outside shoulder. Both outside linebackers are walked up to the line of scrimmage, and are "tilted", indicating that they will rush the passer. This is the whole point of the 3-4 defense: trading a big hog in the trenches for an athletic linebacker who can either rush the passer or drop in coverage. In terms of keeping the offense guessing, Sutton does a pretty good job of mixing blitzers and coverage.

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In this alignment, the linebackers move outwards a little, setting up the tackles for a wide-angle pass rush. The weak-side end moves to a 5-technique. However, nothing else really changes. The overall alignment remains a 3-4 "double tuff".

So what's my point? To generate pressure in Bob Sutton's defensive system, the nose guard must fight a double team, leaving the ends and the fourth rusher with one-on-one battles (which need to be won). Furthermore, the D-line is supposed to charge through the gaps and into the backfield, producing sacks and stops.

The nose guard is pivotal to the success of this defense in both the running and passing game. Against the run he must hold strong against a double-team and take away some of the offensive line's blocking options. Against the pass he needs to collapse the pocket up the middle, preventing the quarterback from stepping up to avoid the edge pressure. However, the way Bob Sutton has lined Dontari Poe up thus far (as a traditional nose guard) may be counter-productive.

By lining Poe up at the usual spot, head-up on the center (that is, "up his nose"), Sutton makes the big man's job harder. In order to shoot the gap, Poe must move across the body of the center, allowing the center to engage him. One guard or the other can then join in. Lining Poe up on top of the center, in other words, does not take away any of the offense's options before the snap. Limiting the offense's choices--making them adjust to what the defense is going to do--is vital to the success of Bob Sutton's pressure system. Granted, Dontari Poe is a freakish athlete. But Sutton should understand that in order to fully harness the potential of a gap-shooting Poe he must make some alignment adjustments. My own ideas follow, first gapping Poe over to a strong 1-technique and second to a weak 2-technique. In each picture, I show only the front 7, and illustrate gap responsibilities with blue.

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I know it's not exactly self-evident how each of these alignments help take away some of the opposing team's blocking options, but I'm getting to the "TL; DR" length. Scratch that, I'm already past it. I will be glad to discuss these alignment's benefits against certain blocking (on run or pass plays) in the comments below. I'm certainly an amateur at best, but I definitely think that Sutton's defense is going to live or die with Dontari Poe -- and to a certain extent the other interior defensive rushers.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.