Chiefs Film Room: Dontari Poe is a beast

Pressure Up The Middle

While Poe’s impact will predominantly be felt by Forte and the rest of the Jets running backs, Fitzpatrick won’t be feeling too left out. Although his sack numbers don’t jump off the page, Poe is capable of applying some serious pressure up the middle.

Another double-team by the Texans leads to another opportunity for Poe to show off his strength. On this particular play, take a look at how quickly Poe gets off the snap and how he converts that speed into power. Neither the center nor guard have had a chance to anchor before Poe engages with them and starts driving them back.

The QB steps up in the pocket, but Poe’s push up the middle forces Osweiler to alter his throwing motion and deliver a ball that isn’t where it needs to be.

There’s more than one way for a DT to abuse an offensive lineman during a game, and Poe put the Houston’s center through the ringer last week. Just check out how Poe sets him up with an absurdly quick jab step left, and then blows by him on the right with a big swat thrown in for good measure.

While Poe misses the sack by a split-second, there’s no doubt he forced Osweiler into rushing the delivery of that ball.  I’ll give Osweiler some credit here as no human in their right mind would stand there with a monster like Poe bearing down on him.

Andy Reid claimed that Poe’s game against Houston was one of his best in the past two seasons. It’s hard to argue with that sentiment considering Poe’s play jumped off of the screen when watching the tape. Hopefully for the Chiefs this is the beginning of the norm for Poe as they’ll need a repeat performance if they want to climb back above .500 on Sunday.