A Secret From The Inner Sanctum

Albert Einstein said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” This assumes your sources have secrets to hide. Scott Pioli must have read that book because so many of his statements are veiled in creativity. However, paying careful attention to both Scott Pioli and Todd Haley has yielded a secret from the inner sanctum.

As Scott Pioli and Todd Haley took over the reins at One Arrowhead Drive two years hence the new brain trust swiftly settled upon the 3-4 defense as the path for the franchise’ future. The player-personnel to run that defense was mostly nowhere in sight and so the transition would be years in the making.

The key ingredients in the recipe to whip a 3-4 together would have to be taken from the previous 4-3 line-up and needless to say some pieces would fit while others clearly did not.

Tamba Hali learning to cover in space and line up without his hand on the ground was no easy task. Making that transition is likened to learning to be a switch hitter when you’ve been batting right since little league. However, Hali has become one of the best in the NFL at outside linebacker. Still, Hali has never had prototypical size for his position yet he excels. The same is essentially true for Glenn Dorsey. Previously an inside defensive lineman stand-out in college his move to defensive end was not an immediate success and although he has become a strength for the Chiefs defense he doesn’t have the prototypical size for a DE.

Why does it matter? Scott Pioli and Todd Haley had a plan two years ago. That plan is still in place and this year’s draft was a big step, in a positive direction, towards completing their mission. It also matters so you can fully understand what the secret entails.

More after the jump.

A true 3-4 team typically calls for stocking players who are bigger and stronger. This does not necessarily require faster or quicker players, who would be needed in a 4-3 defense. Think about the Pittsburgh Steelers or Baltimore Ravens then you’ll have a more accurate picture of a true 3-4 scheme and you’ll get a better picture of the physicality required. I was excited, like many, to learn in early 2009 that the Chiefs defense would be converting to the 3-4 and I immediately envisioned results that would be Steeler-esk.

However, as time has passed it’s become clear that the transition is not a light-switch quick proposition. All of the personnel needed to be a good 3-4 team was not on the Chiefs roster and the conversion process was going to take time. The question is, towards what end? Exactly what kind of players are the Chiefs looking for that will man the oars of their version of this unique defensive alignment?

Is this approach still unique? As recently as 2004 there were only 5 or 6 teams in the NFL who were running the 3-4. Now, we’re approaching half the league using a 3-4 defense. I’m not digging into the history of the 3-4 here but, the demand for the players to effectively operate the 3-4 has created a drain on specific position types and many teams consequently have been playing their own variation of the vaunted attacking style defense.

To be highly effective, against all offensive sets, while running the 3-4 you must employee blitzing from different and unpredictable areas. Unpredictable to the opposing QB and the OL. Otherwise, the 3-4 can often be ineffective against the passing game because it ends up putting little to no pressure on the QB.

Understanding these principles of the 3-4 is necessary to understanding the moves the Chiefs have been making. Not only the moves they’re making but to get a better picture of what their long term goals are for staffing the most distinctive aspect of the team.

You hear Scott Pioli say on a regular basis that they are looking for big, strong, fast and smart players who could be part of the “right 53.” While Pioli has been telling us the truth about what they’re doing it’s been like a kid who comes home after school and tells you they had a salad for lunch while neglecting to tell you they really only had one bite of their friend’s salad but also put a lot of other crap in their mouth. It’s this untold portion of Pioli’s story that he’s purposely intending to omit.

A kid does this to evade a protracted conversation that includes a parental diatribe. Scott Pioli does this to keep the public, and specifically the competition, from knowing what his organizational specificities are. He is rigorously ambiguous.

The real predicament for Pioli is that he actually is giving us clues every time he speaks about where the team is headed and what his precise player personnel aspirations are. Then when he selects and signs players his vision becomes even more concrete.

Pioli says he wants players who are “big-strong-and-fast”.

What team doesn’t want players like that, right? The common fan hears that and then thinks, why do I even want to sit here and listen to a cook tell me he needs to put lettuce in the salad, isn’t everyone putting lettuce in their salad? The answer is no. That’s right, no.

Think about the St. Louis Rams in the year 2000 (Conan does the echo). Everything about them was based on speed and quickness. The Broncos, of the Shanahan years, were also built on speed and quickness based units and their offenses were incredibly adept at zone blocking so their backs could make one cut and get through the hole swiftly.

Running a team using a 3-4 defense is often not just about the front seven on defense. Many 3-4 teams like to emphasize pounding the running game on offensive side and stuffing the run on defense. Last year it looked strange to see Mike Martz attempt to execute his “fastest-show-on-turf offensive style in Chicago when the Bears have traditionally been a batter-em-til-their-black-and-blue run oriented squad.

The NFL is not a “Strongest Man Alive” contest and I don’t foresee a time when it ever will be. Recall all those Montana and Young teams of the 80s and 90s and you’ll have a better vision for the speed and quickness required of players to make those scheme specific teams thrive. Fine tuned finesse over… brutality and strength.

Why rehash a lot of this that you might already be aware of? I’m convinced the Chiefs are planning to do something a bit revolutionary. They’re changing the blueprint. Rewriting the script. They are in the process of doing exactly what they say they are doing. It’s not that they are doing exactly what they say they’re doing that makes this revolutionary (although I know that would be revolutionary for so many in the sports world). No, it’s that the Chiefs are getting “bigger, stronger AND FASTER players to be the torch bearers of their new 3-4 when most teams would just be looking for players who are big and strong.

A fine line distinction? Not really. Think about last off season and the Chiefs’ draft. Do you remember hearing Haley and Pioli saying “we improved team speed” following that draft? Me too. Ad nauseam. Take a look at this year’s crop.

Size and Speed (40 yard dash times) of this year’s draft choices*

Jonathan Baldwin (6-5, 228, WR)       4.45

Rodney Hudson (6-2, 299,OG/C)       5.18 (not great but, he had one of the best mirror drills I’ve ever seen– go to :39)

Justin Houston (6-3, 270, OLB)          4.68 (he was on you-know-what that day; he runs a whole lot faster!)

Jalil Brown (6-1, 204, CB)                     4.42

Gabe Miller (6-3, 242, OLB)                 4.57

Jerrell Powe (6-2, 335, NT)                  5.16 (faster than Hudson, we don’t pay Interior Linemen for speed)

Shane Bannon (6-2, 265, FB)                4.75

* Ricky Stanzi was left off the list because “bigger & faster” doesn’t always translate to being a better QB.

Almost without exception, each of the players listed above is bigger and faster than average for their position. Jerrell Powe is at least bigger. Rodney Hudson is the only one who doesn’t fit the profile (however, see the best mirror drills I’ve ever seen).

Last year’s draft could be thought of as “Lightning.” Eric Berry (4.46/40), Arenas (4.48/40), Dexter McCluster (4.42/40) and Tony Moeaki (4.60/40) were all part of a great draft. This year’s group would be “Thunder and Lightning” because they’ve got both giddy-up and girth going for them. Don’t ask me about two years ago. At least Tyson Jackson was “big.” Insert sad noise.

If you thought Scott Pioli and Todd Haley were focusing on “team speed” when they were supposed to be focusing on “bigger and stronger” players in last year’s draft then that actually lends some insight into their exact, long term, team building goals.

They want both.

Scott Pioli and Todd Haley can’t operate under a veil of secrecy forever because sooner or later they actually sign a player and draft a player… and those players are the realization of their grand design. Or not. I say “or not” because every team doesn’t get every player they want. Yet, that’s not what Scott Pioli has said following this draft. The look on his face was “the cat that swallowed the canary” and his words were too.

"“Things were falling together where we were able to fulfill a number of large needs…. We accomplished something that we talked about consistently when we first started here…. We became a bigger, stronger, faster, smarter team through this draft.” ~ Scott Pioli, following Day Three of the 2011 NFL Draft"

When you take note of that and piggyback last year’s draft with this year’s bumper crop of bigger, stronger and faster players… then the secret is revealed.

So, the grand design for the Chiefs’ defense is to be big and strong and fast enough to defend against all schemes with any type of personnel and the offense is designed to be big and strong and fast enough to be indefensible.  At least that’s the plan.

I guess it’s really not a secret anymore.