The Kansas City Chiefs have a shot at being the NFL’s turnover king this year. I mean that in a good way as they could end up leading the NFL in turnover differential when it’s all said and done.
“It’s something we talk about every day,” Chiefs DC Bob Sutton said. “We show them every day if we have a takeaway in practice – that’s the very first thing they see in a meeting.”
Getting a takeaway against Alex Smith, who throws fewer interceptions than most, is good practice.
“There’s a lot of things that go into takeaways,” Sutton continued. “One, understanding when you have an opportunity to do it. Two, we use the phrase, ‘Numbers favor us,’ so, the more people we have around the ball, whether it’s being run or thrown, the better the opportunity we’re going to have, hopefully, to get the ball if it’s on the ground. Then, there’s certain times and techniques that you can use to try and get the ball out.”
Marcus Peters is a good example. Not only does he have five picks but he’s also recovered three fumbles, good for second in the league. Always around the ball. As for the technique, what was the technique for Peters standing up 6’5 Kelvin Benjamin and taking the ball from him?
“So, you have to learn how to do that,” Sutton continued, “but once you get guys that see it on film, especially when they start doing it themselves within their own group – just like when (Ron) Parker punched the ball out there against the Saints. We’ve been practicing that for two years.”
Sutton went on to talk about taking advantage of the obvious ones - the overthrows and the tipped balls, of which there seems to be many. If these defensive backs caught the ones you think they should, the Chiefs would have a lot more turnovers. I guess that’s why they’re playing defense and not offense (unless you’re ironman Dontari Poe).