Kansas City Chiefs Front Seven Evaluation: NFL Week Two

It's Wednesday night, and it's time for the Front Seven KPM! Last week's numbers were great, and it was easy to shower praise on the front seven. However, this week's numbers weren't as great, and I had to come down on some players who didn't show well. It may have been the short week, but there was a lot of sloppy play on the defensive side of the ball this week and a lot of rotational players seeing more time on the field. Alright, let's get down to business!

• 64.9% of the time, the Chiefs were in a standard 3-4.
• 31.6% of the time, the Chiefs were in a nickel formation.
• 3.5% of the time, the Chiefs were in a goal line formation.
• 15.8% of the time, the defense blitzed a linebacker or safety.

• 3^rd down on the Browns first series, Magee and Gilberry are the down linemen in the nickel. Tamba absolutely bowls over Joe Thomas on his pass rush. Looked really strong on that play.

• A great sniff out of a running back screen by DJ in their third series. Tamba rolled out and forced the throw to float over him and DJ lined up the back for a tackle for no gain.

• Nice stat they showed in the middle of their third series: 7 plays for 5 yards and a turnover. Fantastic start.

• 3^rd and Long in the third series, Williams, Magee, and Tamba as down linemen, DJ and Vrabel as linebackers. After the play, DJ drops into coverage and Vrabel delays, then rushes the passer. When the running back comes into the flat, Vrabel doesn't see him and DJ's too far in coverage. Easy checkdown and a first down. I'm sure that was the called coverage/rush, but it wasn't a good call.

• Four series in, Smith already has let three Free Men through with only one double team. Not good at all.

• Seeing lots of Magee in the nickel. Trying to keep Dorsey from getting worn out after a long game the week before? Started the fifth series at right defensive end.

• Toribio started the fifth series at nose tackle. In the first play, he let a free man through and got shoved off the line. Bad start. He was immediately replaced by Shaun Smith who threw his man out of the way and made a great play on the next down.

• Lots of defensive substitutions on the fifth series. Several snaps from Toribio, Magee, Gilberry, and Studebaker in the 3-4.

• Goalline formation had Mays, DJ, Studebaker, Vrabel, Dorsey, Gilberry, Edwards, Belcher, Tamba, Berry and Smith.

• On Cleveland's first touchdown, Gilberry gets pancaked, creating the hole. DJ overcommits and jumps the line, missing a tackle in the process and leaving one less linebacker in the hole. Both received negative points for their involvement. Side note: Berry was trying to contain the edge but allowed the running back to get outside of him for a path to the endzone. He overcommitted just a little bit too much.

• Nice switch on Flowers' pick six between him and Vrabel. The running back came out into the flat and Vrabel passed him off to Flowers, who picked it off and took it the distance.

• Great pickup of two pulling blockers by both Edwards and Smith on a running play in the 2^nd quarter. They were doing a great job of stringing the play along, and when the pulling blockers hit the line, those two did a great job.

• Not only was there a run fake on the Browns' second touchdown, it really looked like a screen pass was setting up. Pretty much everyone on our defense bit on one of the two, so Berry wasn't the only one to bite badly.

• Berry is everywhere in the run game. This kid looks like Bob Sanders at times in run support...the healthy Bob Sanders.

• After a rocky start out of Belcher, he's hitting gaps left and right before halftime. He and DJ are everywhere all of the sudden.

• On back to back plays in the 3^rd quarter, a free man was let through to the second level. Both times, DJ shed the blocker and made a tackle for little or no gain. Great job from a guy who typically struggles in that area of the game.

• Good pressure into the backfield on a 3^rd and medium pass play, but Wallace gets it out to the running back. DJ lines up Hillis, but whiffs on a tackle and allows Hillis to get the first down.

The KPM's:

Glenn Dorsey

Glenn Dorsey didn't have the stellar week that he had last week, but still was okay. He was double teamed once, penetrated into the backfield and recovered a fumble, and recorded a quarterback pressure. He also let two free men through the line and was pancaked once. He saw quite a bit of time on the sidelines in the first half, and was not on the field in the nickel this week. I assume this was because he played a lot of snaps earlier in the week and was worn out. He really started to show it towards the end of the game, having trouble anchoring the line of scrimmage and generally being less disruptive. Let's hope he's ready to go full on next week.

Overall KPM: 3 Points

Snaps: 38

KPM/Snap: 0.080

Ron Edwards

After a KPM MVP performance last week, Ron dipped a bit...but was still pretty solid. He was double teamed eight times, but let three free men through and was pancaked once. He was definitely the better of the nose tackles this week, but was being rotated often. He still got solid push up the center of the defense, but had a couple more mental mistakes and less double teams than last week. This performance still blew the doors off of my expectations at the beginning of the year.

Overall KPM: 8 Points

Snaps: 27

KPM/Snap: 0.300


Wallace Gilberry

Wallace saw a lot more snaps in the absence of Tyson Jackson this week. He was double teamed once, got a quarterback pressure and a sack. However, he was pancaked, creating the hole on the Browns' touchdown run. He was in on every nickel snap and played some defensive end, but the most surprising was his inclusion on the goal line defense. He's not particularly stout against the run, so I think that rather than placing one of the new backups in that spot, the coaching staff decided on using Gilberry, which resulted in him being pancaked. He too seemed a little less active than last week, although his sack was fantastic.

Overall KPM: 3 Points

Snaps: 24

KPM/Snap: 0.130

Shaun Smith

Shaun Smith saw a ton of work this week. Shaun filled one gap, was double teamed six times, penetrated into the backfield twice, and recorded a tackle for no gain. On the flipside, he let four free men through, was pancaked once, and was shoved off the line once. As the starting left defensive end, he didn't start well, but gradually got better as the game went along. In his nose tackle snaps, he didn't look very good, and the coaching staff seemed to favor Toribio as Ron Edwards' replacement later in the game. He was still solid against the run and (after the bad start) is showing a consistent performance thus far. His play as a backup makes me feel comfortable about the front three's ability to stay healthy, rested, and performing at a high level...he'll be rotating in a lot.

Overall KPM: 8 Points

Snaps: 40

KPM/Snap: 0.200

Alex Magee

Magee was fairly solid this week as a down lineman in the nickel. Magee was double teamed once, had two quarterback pressures, one forcing him out of the pocket. He showed good explosiveness off the line and caught my eye several times with the way he walked his blocker back into the pocket. He did well to get his hands up on passing plays, something that I typically don't see the Chiefs linemen doing well. He's still not the answer against the run, but looked really quick and pretty disruptive in the nickel. If he keeps this up, the staff might have to use him more like Gilberry, as a hard to handle speed rusher.

Overall KPM: 7 Points

Snaps: 17

KPM/Snap: 0.410

Anthony Toribio

Toribio was not good in his first action as a Chief. He filled one gap and was double teamed twice. Negatively, he was pancaked once, let one free man through, and was shoved off the line twice. He struggled to command a double team, and got shoved off the line too easily. Still, the coaching staff played him deep into the game to try to help him find his groove. Sadly, he really never did...especially compared to how the other nose tackles have looked in front of him.

Overall KPM: -3 Points

Snaps: 12

KPM/Snap: -0.250

Mike Vrabel

Vrabel started out really strong with 3 gaps filled, one quarterback pressure that forced him out of the pocket, and one tackled for loss that resulted in the forced fumble. He did have a penalty that gave the opposition a first down on their first touchdown drive. After that, Vrabel disappeared for large sections of the game. It's too bad, because he really came out firing on all cylinders.

Overall KPM: 9 Points

Snaps: 53

KPM/Snap: 0.17

Tamba Hali

Tamba was largely invisible all night. He recorded one gap filled and turned two running backs toward the tackler. He did allow one completed pass that went for huge yardage and a first down, though. Finally, the refs saw what we've all been seeing and called two holding penalties against Tamba's blocker. Tamba really didn't effect the game like he has recently, which might be a testament to Joe Thomas being an incredible left tackle rather than Tamba's abilities.

Overall KPM: 4 Points

Snaps: 56

KPM/Snap: 0.070

Demorrio Williams

Demorrio again only saw a handful of snaps in the nickel as a down lineman. He didn't do anything to record a positive or negative KPM point.

Overall KPM: 0 Points

Snaps: 3

KPM/Snap: 0.000

Derrick Johnson

Stop the presses! We've got some consistency out of DJ!!! He filled seven gaps, forced a dropped pass, forced a checkdown, recorded a quarterback pressure, and made a whopping four tackles for no gain. The part of the game that hurt DJ was a completed pass for a first down and three missed tackles, one that was on the Browns first touchdown. For the second week in a row, he was everywhere in the run game and this week he played very, very good pass coverage. He got to the gap much before Belcher did, which shows in his tackles for no gain, and did a great job covering screens. Unfortunately, those screens were where two of his missed tackles occurred, and both would've resulted in tackles for loss. Still, the guy is putting himself in great positions and is playing great ball.

Overall KPM: 6 Points

Snaps: 57

KPM/Snap: 0.110

Jovan Belcher

Jovan was incredibly tentative this week. He did fill three gaps and a tackle for no gain, but he also allowed a pass and was late to the gap three times. This is the second week in a row that he has gotten "lost in the wash" more often than we need. If DJ wasn't playing lights out, this defense would really be missing Jovan's presence. If he steps up and starts playing strong, this run defense is only going to get stronger.

Overall KPM: -1 Point

Snaps: 38

KPM/Snap: -0.030

Corey Mays

After not seeing any time on defense last week, Mays got a couple snaps on the goal line defense. On the first play, he stepped into the gap and made a stop. He wasn't involved in the other play he was in.

Overall KPM: 1 Point

Snaps: 2

KPM/Snap: 0.500

Andy Studebaker

Studebaker saw a few snaps for Vrabel this week. However, he didn't do anything to record a KPM point. He did have a couple of good coverages, one on the long Watson pass, but he was covering the running back.

Overall KPM: 0 Points

Snaps: 7

KPM/Snap: 0.000

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KPM Rankings:

Defensive Line:

1. Ron Edwards 8

2. Shaun Smith 8

3. Alex Magee 7

4. Glenn Dorsey 3

5. Wallace Gilberry 3

6. Anthony Toribio -3

Linebackers:

1. Mike Vrabel 9

2. Derrick Johnson 6

3. Tamba Hali 4

4. Corey Mays 1

5. Andy Studebaker 0

6. Demorrio Williams 0

7. Jovan Belcher -1

KPM/Snap Rankings:

Defensive Line:

1. Alex Magee .410

2. Ron Edwards .300

3. Shaun Smith .200

4. Wallace Gilberry .130

5. Glenn Dorsey .080

6. Anthony Toribio -.250

Linebackers:

1. Corey Mays .500

2. Mike Vrabel .170

3. Derrick Johnson .110

4. Tamba Hali .070

5. Demorrio Williams .000

6. Andy Studebaker .000

7. Jovan Belcher -.030

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And now, time for Kalo's MVP of the Week! This week, it's DERRICK JOHNSON!

After coming in a close second in the MVP race last week, DJ stepped up and played really well again this week. Yes, he had a few bad plays that hurt his KPM, but I can't argue with all the big plays he stepped up and made time and time again against the Browns. Crennel has definitely gotten the best out of DJ this year. It's not just a good play every once in awhile, he's flying all over the field and making a big play on what seems like every series. The most important part I took from this game was his ability to shed offensive linemen in the gap and make a nice tackle. That has been a big problem for most of his career, but he didn't have any trouble this week against a pretty darn good offensive line. He's put on a clinic so far and is one of the major reasons this defense has people so excited about it.

Well, that'll do it for this week! Thanks for taking the time out to read and comment!