Chapter 578: Making improvements
This year’s offseason, the Kansas Chiefs put more energy into updating and adjusting their defensive team, but they still face a series of challenges.
The first is the defensive line.
Last season, the defensive front's pass rush pressure and quarterback raiding performance were average, forcing the team to rely on linebackers or cornerbacks many times to create enough pressure, but they had to risk the defensive void in the backfield. It’s dangerous. It’s not an option to keep tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall.
In the offseason, the team acquired the opponent's starting forward Xavier Williams from the Arizona Cardinals.
Williams was an undrafted rookie in 2015, but has become the Arizona Cardinals' starting forward in the past two seasons; this offseason, the Arizona Cardinals placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Williams.
Unlike Bell's exclusive franchise tag, Williams has access to other teams.
If an offer is made, the Arizona Cardinals have the option of matching it:
Once matched, Williams must stay in Arizona.
By refusing to match, Williams is free to sign with the team, and Arizona can get a draft pick in the corresponding round of the selected team that year. However, because Williams is an undrafted rookie, this condition is naturally cancelled.
In other words, the Kansas City Chiefs got Williams at no cost.
In addition, at the defensive end position, last season's two main rotation players Allen Bailey and Chris Jones relied on their outstanding performance in the training camp to get the starting position.
Especially Jones, this third-year player shows strong enthusiasm and willpower, and his performance in the new season is worth looking forward to.
Next is the linebackers.
The situation in the Kansas Chiefs' offseason training camp hides a lot of uneasiness. Last season's starting outside linebackers Justin Houston and Dee Ford both suffered injuries. Although they were not serious injuries and would not affect the game, both Each player's condition is not stable——
What's worse is that even though Houston and Ford have "exposed their flaws", other outside linebackers have not been able to seize the opportunity to win the starting position, and their performance is still not as good as Houston and Ford.
So in the new season, the two veterans are still the starters and play through injuries.
The situation at inside linebacker is also worrying. Anthony Higgins, who transferred from the Dallas Cowboys this season, and Reggie Higgins, who has been a backup linebacker after transferring from the Buffalo Bills last season, Reggie-Ragland became the starter.
However, neither player became a starter because of their outstanding performance and won unanimous praise. There was really no other choice, so they had no choice but to choose the taller one among the short ones.
Linebackers may still need Houston, the captain of the defensive team, to continue to shoulder the heavy responsibility.
Finally, there’s the defensive secondary.
Last season, despite the unstable performance of the defensive front line, they always stepped forward at critical moments. Another year of patchwork would not be too bad; on the contrary, the weakness of the defensive second line is the fatal shortcoming of the Kansas Chiefs——
The Super Bowl's offensive battle was exciting, but both teams' secondary defenses were beaten to a pulp, which is not good news for the cornerbacks and safeties.
During this offseason, Berry is still recovering, Revis announced his retirement, and the Kansas Chiefs' poor second-line defense urgently needs to replenish energy. This is also the focus of Vicki's busy entire offseason.
However, plans cannot keep up with changes.
In terms of cornerback, Fowler, who was traded from the Washington Redskins, partners with Steven Nelson, who was inactive due to injuries last season, as the starting cornerback. It seems that he can see some improvement in the new season.
But in terms of safety, last season's No. 4 backup safety Daniel-Sorensen, who had already confirmed his starting position, was injured in training. Although he was not reimbursed for the season, he is not expected to be able to make it to the game in September; and the rookie The performance of all the players was lower than expected, so much so that the coaching staff was forced into trouble - Murray, who came on as a substitute for Berry last season but always performed mediocrely, partnered with Jordan Lucas, who also appeared in the rotation last season and lacked outstanding performance. As starters, both players are free defenders.
In other words, the Kansas City Chiefs must start the new season without a strong back.
A headache.
Throughout the offseason, he was busy tinkering with things, like a tinker; but in the end, Veach was not able to build a satisfactory lineup.
This is the NFL. Under the restrictions of the hard salary cap, facing the huge layout space of 22 seats on the offensive and defensive teams, it is still too difficult to be reborn in one season. It takes time and patience.
It is precisely because of this that the NFL has strict requirements for team managers to view the overall situation.
Then, the new season begins.
Facing the Pittsburgh Steelers who lack Bell, the Kansas Chiefs defense team must not take it lightly. Not only Veach, but others in the league are also curious about the final result of the Kansas Chiefs' tossing and tossing throughout the offseason.
On paper, the defense is still...a mess. There is only one Pro Bowl player in Houston. Do they still have to rely on Houston to carry the Kansas Chiefs defense on their two old legs for another year?
I never expected that after lowering my expectations, a surprise came.
Kansas Chiefs defensive coordinator Sutton is a prudent coach. Last season, he tinkered with limited resources and held the bottom line. This season, he began to use his expertise again and continued to tinker.
Facing the Pittsburgh Steelers who lacked Bell, Sutton formulated a set of tactics——
Perhaps, judging from the actual ground advancement effect, Tomlin can always rely on tactical cooperation and ground cover to create advancement space for the running back. The ground advancement yardage may not be much worse than when Bell is on the court.
But from the perspective of shock and threat effects, the absence of Bell means one less threat, and the Kansas Chiefs' defensive strategy becomes clear immediately.
Front, pressure on Roethlisberger, but no surprise required.
Roethlisberger is a quarterback whose passing vision will be compressed when faced with pressure, and his passing selection is questionable; but when faced with a collision, this huge quarterback But he is often able to release explosive power. In crisis situations, he does not think randomly and follows his intuition to pass the ball, which can bring some surprises.
So, there's a fine line between pressure and sacks, and now the Kansas Chiefs just have to apply pressure.
Moreover, now that there is no threat like Bell on the side, the pressure on the Kansas Chiefs' defensive front line has been relieved, whether it is tactical choices or concentration.
On the second line, thanks to the relatively simplified defensive tactics of the front line, the linebackers can free up part of their attention to focus on short pass defense, which in turn can free up space for the cornerbacks and safeties to ensure that they can focus on their defensive tasks.
Sutton used a stupid trick here, simple but effective.
Fowler, a cornerback, is dedicated to guarding Brown, the big killer of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense. At the same time, a safety guard and a linebacker, while sticking to their defensive positions, allocate 50% of their energy to step up at any time. Defend Brown and use the numerical advantage to erode Brown's presence.
The entire defensive strategy is clear, concise, and efficient.
(End of chapter)