The #Chiefs are hiring Steve Spagnuolo as their new defensive coordinator, sources say. The former #Giants DC and interim HC/#Rams HC began his NFL coaching career as an #Eagles assistant under Andy Reid. Now rejoins Big Red in KC.
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Meanwhile, the Panthers, Chargers, Texans, Cardinals, and Chies all had very difficult passing schedules. In particular, this is noteworthy for Kansas City: after adjusting for SOS, Kansas City’s pass defense ranked 3rd in the NFL in 2019. Derek Carr had his worst and third-worst games of the season against the Chiefs; Tom Brady had his second-worst game of the season against Kansas City; and Philip Rivers had two of his five worst games of the year when facing Kansas City. Lamar Jackson struggled, too: he had a rare game with no passing touchdowns against Kansas City, and averaged just 5.41 net yards per pass attempt
19.4 points per game
113 rush yards per game
61.36% opponent red zone TD percentage (25th in the nfl)
-KCs whole year ranking was 8th in the nfl at 51.56%-...that 41.7 mark would place us 2nd in the nfl.
SF was ranked 7th in opponent passer rating during the regular season at 84.1
KC was ranked 6th at 83.5....the 73.4 over the last 8 game is 2nd in the nfl.
So, in short, KC can make a legit argument that they have a better defense... or at least equal. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BossChief:
49ers regular season stats for defense:
19.4 points per game
113 rush yards per game
61.36% opponent red zone TD percentage (25th in the nfl)
-KCs whole year ranking was 8th in the nfl at 51.56%-...that 41.7 mark would place us 2nd in the nfl.
SF was ranked 7th in opponent passer rating during the regular season at 84.1
KC was ranked 6th at 83.5....the 73.4 over the last 8 game is 2nd in the nfl.
So, in short, KC can make a legit argument that they have a better defense... or at least equal.
49ers went up against Russel Wilson x 2, AR, Brees, Lamar Jackson, Rams 2nd time around - and other prolific offenses.
AFC west is a joke compared to NFC west. Ignoring injuries b/c every team deals w/ those. [Reply]
Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!:
Bruh so Fuller is a safety now allowing HB to basically be wherever the fuck he wants on the field is such a genius move. Also allows Sorenson to just focus solely on playing a LB type of role.
Did you see the interview prior to the AFCCG? Spags talked about watching HB keying on offenses and seemingly being out of position frequently, but a player as instinctive as HB MUST be trusted and afforded that freedom.
It requires some serious testicular fortitude to extend that trust to a player, but it has paid off in spades. [Reply]
Originally Posted by WC_offense:
49ers went up against Russel Wilson x 2, AR, Brees, Lamar Jackson, Rams 2nd time around - and other prolific offenses.
AFC west is a joke compared to NFC west. Ignoring injuries b/c every team deals w/ those.
Rams = Chargers. Seriously. They caught lightning in a bottle last season, and regressed to the mean.
You're not seriously touting the 5-10-1 Cardinals as serious competition?
9ers played the Bengals, Bucs, Browns, Panthers, Redskins, and the scrubby Cardinals...twice. And barely beat the mother fookin Redskins. I won't bring up the loss to the Falcons, because you know, they are hot diarrhea in a dixie cup.
Woof Woof. Go read the Mercury News some more to feel better about your chances. Because they are slim. [Reply]
People should be talking about the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense more than they are right now.
The Chiefs’ AFC Championship Game victory over the Tennessee Titans should have opened some eyes nationally as to the improvement Kansas City has made in stopping the run. Titans running back Derrick Henry was an unstoppable force barreling through the playoffs one run defense at a time, and the Chiefs, it was believed, were weak in that area. It looked like the perfect foil for Kansas City’s Super Bowl chances.
Instead, the Chiefs held Henry to his lowest rushing total since Week 10, and his lowest yards-per-carry output since Week 6. They also handed him a net loss catching the ball, tackling him behind the line of scrimmage on both of his catches for a total of minus-8 yards.
Despite that impressive performance, a strange narrative has emerged from the game that the Titans “went away” from running the ball and that was the reason Henry didn’t dominate the game as anticipated.
The common discourse surrounding the game is that all-universe quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ buzzsaw of an offense forced the Titans to start playing catch-up and Henry was thus contained. As always, though, it’s important to fact-check claims to see whether they match up with reality. An easy way to do this is to check the drive logs, which show you every single play that occurred throughout the game.
Doing so in the Titans-Chiefs game shows that the Titans didn’t go away from using Henry because they were trailing by too much to run the ball. Rather, it appears they went away from him because he was largely ineffective. On Henry’s first 9 carries, he averaged 5 yards per carry, a respectable number. However, 24 of his 45 yards came on 2 attempts. His remaining attempts averaged 3 yards and set the Titans behind the chains several times, requiring passes or penalties to bail them out of bad down-and-distance situations.
After those first 9 carries, things got worse for Henry and the Titans rushing offense. On Henry’s final 10 carries — all of which came before the fourth quarter and the Chiefs seizing their biggest lead of the day — he gained a paltry 24 yards. The first carry of that ineffective stretch came with 13:39 remaining in the second quarter and the Titans holding a 10-7 lead. After that point in the game (keeping in mind the Titans extended their lead to 10 points), Henry’s runs gained 3, 5, 4, 3, 1, 1, 0, 3, 4 and 0 yards. And that’s leaving out a 3rd-and-1 stuff in which Henry was unable to gain first-down yardage despite a holding penalty on the Titans (that play can be found here).
So how did the Chiefs do it? Were they stacking the box constantly and daring the Titans to pass? Well, no.
Pennel, Nnadi, Clark, Suggs and the rest of the defensive front are set to face a very different run game in the San Francisco 49ers’. However, the way in which the front was able to dominate the action against the Titans bodes well for their ability to control the line of scrimmage. While the Chiefs’ defense did struggle to stop opposing run games in the first half of the season, the additions of Pennel and Suggs, Clark’s return to health and the continued development of Saunders and Kpassagnon have them playing like a very different group now. If they continue to operate the way they did against Tennessee, the 49ers will not be able to get away with ignoring the passing game like they did against the Packers, and perhaps the Chiefs’ front seven will start getting the respect it deserves. [Reply]
Bob Sutton refused to try and confuse offenses through scheme. He just counted on his players winning their match-ups. It works fine when you've got a defense full of Pro Bowlers. But it's an absolute disaster when you don't. Last year, teams would find a match up they could exploit in our defense and just do it over and over and over again.
Spags creates a new gameplan every week. He makes in-game adjustments. He at least attempts to confuse opposing QBs. Even Aaron Rodgers credited his gamepaln earlier this year and admitted he misdiagnosed several of our coverages. I'm confident we'll have as good a gameplan we could ask for against the Niners. Just going to come down to execution. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wachashi:
Bob Sutton refused to try and confuse offenses through scheme. He just counted on his players winning their match-ups. It works fine when you've got a defense full of Pro Bowlers. But it's an absolute disaster when you don't. Last year, teams would find a match up they could exploit in our defense and just do it over and over and over again.
Spags creates a new gameplan every week. He makes in-game adjustments. He at least attempts to confuse opposing QBs. Even Aaron Rodgers credited his gamepaln earlier this year and admitted he misdiagnosed several of our coverages. I'm confident we'll have as good a gameplan we could ask for against the Niners. Just going to come down to execution.
I'm excited for the schematic innovations we'll see. I doubt either team comes out vanilla on O or D. [Reply]