Kansas City Chiefs: How much have they improved?

Nov 1, 2015; London, United Kingdom; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) throws a pass against the Detroit Lions during game 14 of the NFL International Series at Wembley Stadium. The Chiefs defeated the Lions 45-10. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Another example would be the number of quarterback sacks both allowed by the offense and totaled by the defense. In Kansas City’s three wins they have allowed about 2.3 sacks on offense and the defense has averaged about 4.4 sacks per game.

However, in their five loses the average sacks allowed is about 4.4 while the defense is only averaging 1.6 per game. If you just look at those numbers you could say if Kansas City protects the quarterback on offense and gets after the quarterback on defense they will win.

While both of those are important and key components to winning it isn’t that clear cut. When a team is down they often are forced to pass in order to try and come back. The defense knows this and can attack the quarterback more aggressively. Therefore it makes sense that in wins you would have less sacks allowed and more defensive sacks.

So does this mean that its pointless to look at stats to understand where Kansas City has improved in these past couple of weeks? In a word…..no. I did find one number that I believe is instrumental to both of Kansas City’s latest victories. That number is the third down conversion percentage.

Next: How much better has Kansas City been on 3rd down?