A trend began to develop throughout the 2009 season when talking to the Kansas City Chiefs opponent. On Wednesday, there's a conference call with the opposing head coach and a player, which is usually the quarterback. During these conference calls, reporters would ask questions like, 'What player on the Chiefs defense catches your eye?'
That was a popular question because there weren't many things to look for on the Chiefs defense.
But the answer was consistently Tamba Hali. Quarterbacks would say that when they watch film he's the guy they notice. At the beginning of last year, this was a bit of a surprise to use hearing this because while Hali has been a solid player he's maxed out at about eight sacks or so -- hardly a sack artist.
But then we dug a little deeper and realized that Hali was among the best in the league in quarterback pressures. He wasn't getting the stat everyone likes -- the sack -- but he was putting pressure on the quarterback which is just as good in some cases.
This week Philip Rivers is on the conference call and he's talking about, who else, Tamba Hali. From the KC Star: