There is little under the category of “obvious moves” that Pioli/Haley have done to address the run defense. They’ve put their defensive eggs in the basket of new coordinator Romeo Crennel and a big jump in production and performance from the players that were on the roster during the ‘09 season.
Two days ago the focus was on DE Tyson Jackson, one of those returning performers who simply must get better in the ‘10 season. If he’s not a factor in shutting down his side of the field on the run, the Chiefs will have badly misjudged his potential and wasted the third choice of the 2009 NFL Draft.
But Jackson and the team’s other starting DE Glenn Dorsey can’t do it alone. They need help from the man between them. The Chiefs need more from their nose tackles like Ron Edwards, who is hitting Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger above.
They need a lot more.
Here’s what the 13 teams that played the 3-4 defensive scheme last season got in the way of production from their primary nose tackles:
Pickin’ On The Nose … Thursday Cup O’Chiefs-BobGretz.com
Carman-Ainsworth and Grand Valley State graduate Brandon Carr enters his third season in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs as a mainstay in the secondary, starting all 32 games in his first two seasons.
Now, Carr finds himself in a dynamic and young unit in the defensive backfield that includes fellow two-year starter Brandon Flowers at the other corner, first round draft pick Eric Berry, a safety out of Tennessee, and Javier Arenas, a second round pick who will be a nickel back.
Carr will be back in the Flint area June 26 for his second annual golf scramble at 9 a.m. at Sugar Bush Golf Club in Davison. Registration is $80 and includes 18 holes of golf, lunch, a reception (meal included), raffles and an autographed team picture with Brandon Carr and Dan Skuta (C-A grad who plays for the Cincinnati Bengals). Proceeds benefit the C-A football program.
A while ago, I talked about how the Chiefs really needed to complement thunder with lightning. Call me old-fashioned, but I just love the idea of a power back pummeling defenses to set the table for a quick, shifty back who can slide through an exhausted defense. Then again, I also liked the prospect of bringing in Darren Sproles (who ended up becoming unavailable). Although Sproles doesn’t strike me as a Jerome Bettis version of a power back, I still liked the idea of having a utility back that will give you quality carries and also serve in a third down role where you’d probably keep Charles off the field in a lot of situations anyway. What I really like about the thunder/lightning combination is that it requires the defense to change their speed, but it also requires them to re-think their personnel packages. You’d obviously want a very different guy tackling Jerome Bettis than you would Jamaal Charles.
Chiefs Offseason Grades: These Chiefs Can Run-Arrowhead Pride
Tags: kansas city chiefs
Patrick is the senior editor of Arrowhead Addict. Back when he used to have a life, he enjoyed theater and long walks in the park. Now he spends upwards of 18 hours a day looking at his computer writing about the Chiefs. He spends the other six hours thinking about writing about the Chiefs. It may one day cause him to lose everything,
Loading ...
FanSided Sports Blog
Kings of Kauffman
NFL Mocks
Stock Car Spin
Bolt Beat
Just Blog Baby
Predominantly Orange
Ramblin' Fan
