Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive trends and tabulation Authentic Mitch Morse Jersey , preseason game three Well, that was something.This weekend, our beloved Kansas City Chiefs took on the Chicago Bears in their last real preseason tuneup before the starters get preseason Week 4 off in the leadup to the regular season. The Chiefs got their first look at the starting inside linebacker combination of Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens. They were also able to see new cornerback acquisition Orlando Scandrick. Finally, there was some semblance of the Chiefs first-team defense before the regular season kicked off!That’s about where the optimism stopped.The Bears decided to rest their starters, pitting the Chiefs first-team defense against a second-team squad. It was a lose-lose situation even before the kickoff, and it just went down from there.Bears backup quarterback Chase Daniel lit up the Chiefs secondary in the first half of the game, scoring on every possession but one en route to a dominant performance. If you were on the fence about the Chiefs secondary prior to this weekend, this game may have tipped you all the way over to the bleak side for 2018.I can’t blame you one bit.I’m not here to try to make you feel better about this week’s game. I’m not here to try and tell you that the cavalry's coming with Eric Berry and Steven Nelson or that Bob Sutton was simply playing around with looks that exposed certain players. I’m also not here to try to stoke any fires of negativity and start the riot at One Arrowhead Drive.I’m just here to give you the numbers.Just like every week going forward, I’m here to tell you how the Chiefs lined up this week. I’m here to cover the trends against various offensive personnel, how often they blitzed, how often they dropped into coverage, as well as showcase some good, some bad and maybe something you might have missed.So let’s grab the ol’ hard hats, watch for blown coverages, and find out what the Chiefs defense did from a numerical standpoint this week.The Chiefs lined up in their base defense 36.6 percent of the time this week with their starters, always against the Bears 12, 21, and 22-personnel.The Chiefs lined up in their 3 defensive lineman/3 linebacker nickel defense 12.2 percent of the time with their starting defense, mostly against 11-personnel.The Chiefs lined up in their 2 defensive lineman/4 linebacker nickel defense 51.2 percent of the time with their starting defense, exclusively against 11-personnel.The Chiefs never lined up in their dime defense with the starting defense. That means that I tabulated exactly once that Bob Sutton ran a dime defense this preseason, a stark difference from the over 60 percent of the snaps the Chiefs ran the dime last year.The Chiefs dropped an outside linebacker into coverage 45.8 percent of their passing snaps this week with the starters and lined up their outside linebackers on the second level for 20.8 precent of their passing snaps this week. Sutton clearly was evaluating his OLBs in coverage this week, with Dee Ford, Tanoh Kpassagnon, and Breeland Speaks all getting at least three coverage snaps. Justin Houston only got one coverage snap, as some of you will be happy to know.The Chiefs blitzed 16.6 percent of their passing snaps this week with the starters, almost exclusively from the inside linebacker position. Anthony Hitchens does this well.The Chiefs rushed four players with their starters 79.2 percent of the time. That left one lone instance of the Chiefs rushing three players with their starters.Excluding quarterback scrambles, the Chiefs starting defense held the Bears to a fantastic 2.64 yards per carry. Operating out of the 3-4 defense it was 3.28 YPC, out of the 3-3 defense it was 4.5 YPC (on two carries), and out of the 2-4 defense it was a staggering 2 YPC. That should be music to Chiefs fans’ ears after a few years of sub-par run defense.When the Chiefs starters were in coverage this week, they allowed an abysmal 13.37 yards per play. Operating out of the nickel defense was even worse, bumping the average up to 14.92 yards per play. That simply can’t occur when the Chiefs get to the regular season if they want to be successful.Something goodDerrick Nnadi ought to be everyone’s favorite pick of the Chiefs’ 2018 NFL draft after this preseason. He’s shown the ability time and time again to hold his ground against double teams, and when he’s been single blocked in the run game, he’s been destructive. On this particular play, Nnadi gets fantastic leverage off the snap, gets both hands into the center’s chest inside of this arms http://www.kansascitychiefsteamonline.com/laurent-duvernay-tardif-jersey , pushes with his left hand and pulls with his right. This throws the center off balance, and as Nnadi attempts to rip through with his inside hand, the center grabs him and pulls him down for a hold. A great snap for Nnadi, for sure.However, the running back is able to get free, due to the hold on Nnadi. The running back attempts to bounce outside, but Breeland Speaks stands up the Bears left tackle and sets a hard edge against the run. He’s able to shed the LT and make a play on the running back behind the line of scrimmage, preventing the RB from getting around the edge and cutting upfield. It was a good play from that side of the line after a bit of a breakdown during the earlier touchdown run.Something badIf you’ve followed my posts at all this offseason, I’ve preached the Chiefs need for communication in coverage. I wrote an entire post on the breakdowns in the 2017 New York Jets game. This week truly embodied the words “coverage miscommunication” for the Chiefs. Far too often, players were double-covered while another ran free or were passed into spaces where other players had evacuated. It was a mess.The above play highlights one of these miscommunications. The Chiefs are in their 3-4 defense, but they have OLB Tanoh Kpassagnon on the second level, mirroring the Bears H-Back. From the snap, Kpassagnon waits out the stacked receivers, getting a hand on the wide receiver and disrupting the route, then sits down on the flat where the H-back now resides. Reggie Ragland doesn’t step up to cover the curl route as Kpassagnon evacuates that area, and it’s an easy completion. Ragland’s either anticipating a crossing route from that tight end or he didn’t realize that the H-back has come into the flat. Either way, he needs to step up into that space and help to take away the route or hit the receiver short of the sticks with Kpassagnon evacuating. In the same vein, if Kpassagnon keeps his depth and plays the first down marker, he might be able to make a play on the tight end short of the sticks. One or both of the two players need to understand the width and the depth of their zones better on this play.Above, I highlighted a play in which Speaks set a good edge and stuffed the run well. We’ve seen several times this preseason that he’s been able to hold his own as a run defender and make a play. Unfortunately, we can’t really say the same about his pass rush ability to this point.After the Chiefs defense held in the Bears second drive, the Chiefs special teams lined up illegally, gifting the Bears a fresh set of downs. The holding penalty shown above has backed the Bears up into a second-and-forever, and the Chiefs still have the opportunity to get off the field. Even before the snap, Speaks jumps offsides, something we saw him do multiple times in camp. He luckily doesn’t have a starting offensive tackle opposite of him, so the tackle stays in his stance and Speaks gets away with it. Back in his stance, Speaks fires off the snap and is too rigid to turn the corner around the left tackle, and he ends up off balance. The tackle puts his weight into Speaks (does get his hands up into the face), and releases an off-balance Speaks before letting him fall to the ground for a pancake. Quarterback Chase Daniel sees the large opening and takes it for a 12-yard scramble to make it a third-and-manageable.Unfortunately, that’s not the only time Speaks got pancaked in the first half.This rush is arguably worse, with Speaks trying to duck under the left tackle and throwing his weight forward, making for an easy shove to the dirt.Speaks’ run defense has shown a lot of promise thus far this year, but if Chiefs fans are looking for him to supplant Dee Ford in anything but an obvious running situation, they’ve got to hope Speaks develops very quickly as a pass rusher.Something you may have missedThis week’s play was a great one from Ford Authentic Chris Conley Jersey , diving across the backside of the line and chasing down the running back, unblocked. Say what you will about Ford as a run defender, you better put a blocker on him if you’re running away from him. He’ll chase you down and make you regret it.But that’s not the part you may have missed. Instead, focus on the play of Nnadi and Ragland. Nnadi comes off the snap and puts an extended arm into the chest of the left guard, who is trying to climb to the second level and block Ragland. With this shove, Nnadi knocks the LG off the easy path to the second level. He then gets upfield and engages the pulling right guard, sealing him off and giving Ragland acres of space to shoot through and make a big stop.Ford ends up making the stop on this particular play, but even if he hadn’t, Nnadi and Ragland likely would have swallowed up this play as well. That’s fantastic work from a rookie nose tackle that will definitely keep his linebackers (and his coaches) happy.In conclusionNobody’s going to try to pretend that the defense was good this week. There were critical execution failures and tons of miscommunications that led to big gains and bad performances.However, we can look at some of the things that the Chiefs did this preseason and see that there are some potential changes from the 2017 season.The run defense was very stout this week with the Chiefs starting ILBs, and the Chiefs defensive line has performed well against the run all preseason.Bob Sutton hasn’t been running a dime defense as his primary defense, instead opting to lean on a 2-4-5 nickel defense that should be better against the run.The Chiefs have blitzed 6.8 percent more this preseason than they did in 2017, and the preseason is for vanilla rushing attacks.The Chiefs rarely rushed the passer with three players or less. Most snaps featured a four-man rush, which could see some success this year with Ford, Chris Jones, and Justin Houston regularly pursuing the quarterback.If the Chiefs can get their personnel all on the same page or find some personnel that can in the secondary, there are some trends coming out of this preseason that Chiefs fans can keep an eye on for Week 1 this year.I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what sort of shifts the Chiefs make between now and then, and I can’t wait to kick this 2018 season off with all of you!In a world Eric Berry can’t go, there’s a plan at safety Eric Berry’s heel weighs heavily on the minds of Kansas City Chiefs fans this week.It’s not just that Berry — when he has been on the field — is a next-level contributor to defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s defense.It’s that when Berry has been absent from the field, the Chiefs defense has been measurably less effective — as Craig Stout noted in his outstanding article about how the Chiefs value versatility in their defensive safeties:So as the season opener looms — and concerns about the defensive secondary linger after the veritable tornado of moves the Chiefs made at positions including cornerback and safety around last weekend’s roster cutdown — it’s completely understandable that a humble writer like myself might compose Tuesday’s Chiefs Haiku:You’re not seeing the daily Chiefs Haiku?That’s just one of the reasons you should follow me on Twitter.Others include my effervescent personality — not to mention my daily drawing, in which a lucky Twitter follower is chosen to help a Nigerian prince recover millions of dollars from a US bank account.But I digress.So it came to pass that Wednesday’s press appearances at Arrowhead included lots of inquiries about Eric Berry’s readiness to play — not only this Sunday, but also in the weeks to come.As our in-house medical expert Aaron Borgman noted in his rundown of Chiefs sports medicine VP Rick Burkholder’s turn before the cameras, there was no real news about Berry; he is still day-to-day with soreness in his heel.(For the umpteenth time, we remind you that this is not the same foot in which he had the Achilles injury in Week 1 of 2017).Head coach Andy Reid also drove this point home.“We’ve kept great communication with [Berry],” Reid said. “He’s letting us know he’s improving — which is the most important thing — and he’s done a great deal of work today. Let’s see how it goes. We’ve done that to this point, and will continue to do it. If he’s ready, he’s ready. If he’s not, then we go a different direction and roll with that.”To be clear, both Burkholder and Reid emphasized that the work Berry is doing isn’t on the practice field, but with the Chiefs training and medical staff, where Burkholder said Berry is improving every day.Reid said that the final decision on whether Berry would play on Sunday would be up to him.“We’ll see if he can practice, and go from there,” Reid explained. “I want to see what he’s got — if and when he does that. I’ll make the decision from what I see there.”This would suggest that a decision made this week might have to be made before the Chiefs decamp to Los Angeles for their game against the Chargers.But as tight end Travis Kelce noted on Wednesday, we should probably still expect Berry to make the trip — whether he is going to play or not.“I have all the faith in the world in what coach Sutton and everyone is doing over on that side of the ball,” Kelce said. “They’ve got great leadership over there. Even if Eric isn’t ready to play — or not able to play — he’s still out there being a coach Womens Terrance Smith Jersey , and making sure the guys are ready to go.”So this begs the question: if Berry is unable to play this weekend — or after — how will the Chiefs deal with it?Last season, Daniel Sorensen was listed as Berry’s backup, and stepped in alongside Ron Parker — who has just returned to the Chiefs after being cut in a cap-saving move in February.But Sorensen is also unavailable due to an injury, and since he is now on injured reserve, cannot return until after Week 8 — even though Burkholder said on Wednesday that he might be ready to play before then.This would seem to ensure that Parker would start if Berry doesn’t go.But Reid said that Parker might start even if Berry is ready to go, saying, ”there are a couple of different personnel packages” the Chiefs could use at safety.Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsThe packages to which Reid alluded could include Chiefs veteran Eric Murray — whom our own Matt Lane profiled in June as a player to watch this season.Or they could include the just-acquired Jordan Lucas, a 2016 sixth-rounder who came to the Chiefs from the Miami Dolphins in last weekend’s flurry of activity.In Kent Swanson’s initial film review, he noted that Lucas has the versatility the Chiefs like to see in their safeties.Incidentally... this is why — as Craig Stout pointed out in the earlier-referenced article from yesterday — the Chiefs didn’t go after some the big-name safeties that have appeared in recent months.Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsThat brings us to the other safety: Armani Watts.Proclaimed as one of the draft’s clutch players, the fourth-round pick from Texas A&M got a lot of snaps in the preseason — and shined in the final game against the Green Bay Packers, snagging two interceptions.In Kent Swanson’s May film review, he noted that Watts — while unquestionably possessing the instincts that made him a popular pick in the draft — didn’t come out of college with the skills to tackle consistently in space.This would suggest that Watts might not yet have the versatility the Chiefs will want to see in him.Still... Watts could be learning fast.Bringing all of this together, you could argue that should Eric Berry be unavailable, Murray has the inside track to start alongside Ron Parker, while Lucas and Watts become situational and special teams players — at least for now.But let’s be clear: what we want to see is a healthy Eric Berry — and Ron Parker — on the field together.Why?Because these two guys have played together in all five years of Reid and Sutton’s tenure in Kansas City, and have been the starting safeties in the last four.Lest we forget, Parker was one of the group that play-by-play man Mitch Holthus dubbed The Magnificent Seven — the seven players the Chiefs picked up on waivers immediately after the 2013 cutdown.Parker spoke of his relationship with Berry on Wednesday.“When I’m playing with Eric, I don’t have to say anything. We can just make eye contact and know what the other guy is doing. With other guys, we have to communicate more, because we haven’t spent as much time on the field together as Eric and I did. But everything’s coming together. It’s just like riding a bike.“Eric has been happy to have me back in the building,” he said. “It’s been nothing but love -- from me to him, and him to me.”Jeff Curry-USA TODAY SportsAfter Parker’s release during the offseason, it was natural for Chiefs fans to suggest that Parker’s release had more to do with a dropoff in his ability than his cost against the cap.That’s how fans tend to rationalize these kind of moves — and that’s OK.But the speed with which the Chiefs moved to put Parker back on the roster suggested that for the Chiefs, Parker’s release was a more of a move to get short-term cap relief.Should we believe that Parker has little value to the Chiefs unless Berry is on the field?That is a possibility — that Parker is the Tonto to Berry’s Lone Ranger.(Now that I think about it, since Berry is famously afraid of horses, perhaps that isn’t the best comparison to make.Just in case, let’s go with Parker’s Robin to Berry’s Batman).But we shouldn’t count out Parker’s leadership role on the field — especially if turns out that in a particular game, Berry can’t be on it.On his first day back, the other players were asking him about the defense.“From the time I walked in, the guys have been asking questions,” he said on Wednesday. “It seems like they’re trying to figure it out. And there’s no time to wait. It’s a good thing for the young guys to be hungry, and want to go out and get it.”Parker was clearly excited to be back with the Chiefs — in no small part because he loves playing in Sutton’s defense.“Bob has so many different jobs and so many different things players in the secondary can do. Being interchangeable, and being able to move around so I can have flexibility in the defense makes it fun for me. I don’t have to sit in one spot. I can be anywhere at any time. That’s the good thing about playing in this defense.”
