If you thought the Kansas City Chiefs played a lot of man coverage, you’re right. In fact, they play more man coverage than any other team, according to this stat from Pro Football Focus.
NFL teams that play man coverage the most frequently:
— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) January 4, 2017
1. Chiefs
2. Titans
3. Cardinals
4. Broncos
5. 49ers
This is the style that Bob Sutton prefers. The Chiefs have a great cornerback for this in Marcus Peters. He’s big enough to bump at the line of scrimmage and yet savvy enough to run your route better than you and pick it off. The Chiefs put pressure on the receivers with their coverage and then hope to pressure the quarterback into a bad throw. It’s probably a reason they have so many turnovers this year.
Alex Smith used to light teams up running the ball when they played man and the defenders backs were to him. The Chiefs haven’t been dinged by that from opposing quarterbacks a ton. Andrew Luck went for 60 yards rushing and Cam Newton went for 54.