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You may or may not have heard that last year the Kansas City Chiefs were, let's say, historic in their inability to sack the quarterback.
The Chiefs' 10 sacks last year was the lowest number of sacks made by a team in NFL history. The previous low - 11 by Baltimore in 1982 - happened during a strike shortened nine-game season. I'm still not sure why people don't mention that more often when talking about the team's inability to get to the quarterback.
All I have to say is that Jared Allen guy...He was good.
Of course, with defensive line additions in the first two picks in the draft, we're hoping that the Chiefs blow past last year's sack mark within the first half of the season.
Tyson Jackson and Alex Magee, while not pass rush specialists themselves, should take pressure off of other defensive line and linebacker positions to create more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Here are previous year's sacks totals to help you gauge your guess:
| Year | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Sacks | 31 | 54 | 40 | 40 | 51 | 31 | 34 | 36 | 41 | 29 | 32 | 37 | 10 |
My guess is 21 sacks, because it's not that many sacks off the team's yearly average and because we simply cannot, must not be as dismal as last year with our defensive pass rush. Tyson Jackson gets a couple of sacks. Tamba Hali and Glenn Dorsey will do the same. We won't have a sack specialist on this defense but I believe that four or five players can get about four or five sacks a piece.
So...what's the over/under on sacks for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009?