Sunday Showed the Chiefs Defense is Still Looking For Answers
Possibly more questions were raised about the Kansas City Chiefs defense following the team's 35-31 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday than answers were shown.
The Chiefs at times looked helpless against Derek Carr and Co. as the Raiders continue to show Chiefs Kingdom what needs to be worked on.
I talk about that with Arrowhead Report's Conner Christopherson on today's Roughing the Kicker episode. We discuss what went wrong for Kansas City despite the win, but also give praise where praise is due.
One area that isn't receiving a lot of praise is the defensive line. In games past, Carr has shown he melts like butter when teams turn up the heat. The Chiefs pass rush was nowhere to be found all night long.
Kansas City has too much invested in the defensive line for them to be poor against the run and the pass. The Chiefs spend the third-most in the league on their defensive line and between defensive end Frank Clark and defensive tackle Chris Jones, the team is set to pay nearly $35.5 million on the season. The two of them combined zero pressures on Sunday.
Something has to change upfront. The Tampa Bay Buccanneers and Tom Brady folded when faced with pressure against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. There more than likely won't be any changes to who plays on the line because they are normally solid. The guys in the trenches just have to be better.
But when the defensive front can't get pressure, they aren't getting much help from the linebackers in the blitz. Ben Niemann's number has been called to blitz 50 times this season according to Pro Football Reference. He's only been able to pressure the quarterback four times.
While the answers on the defensive front are as simple as playing better, Niemann needs to get off the field. Not only is he a liability in the pass rush but he is on pace to allow a career-high completion percentage allowed on targets and has a missed tackle percentage of 13.3%.
There's no reason for Niemann to be on the field when Willie Gay Jr. is healthy. In nine blitz attempts, the rookie has garnered one pressure resulting in a sack. Gay's 8.3 missed tackle percentage is near the bottom third of Chiefs defenders and in coverage, he's only allowed three catches for 14 yards.
The defensive performance against the Raiders was frustrating but it showed Kansas City what it needs to improve on. If the Chiefs want to "Run it Back" they're going to need to make changes on the defensive side of the ball schematically and personnel-wise. They stand no chance of getting out of the AFC with the defense playing as they did on Sunday.
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