Kansas City Chiefs show myriad issues on both sides of the ball

While most complain about defensive coordinator Bob Sutton not changing his gameplan or playcalling, we saw him be much more aggressive against the run game this week and to an extent, it worked. Cowboys running back who is the league’s third highest rusher was held to 3. 4 yards per carry and his biggest run was for 11 yards.

Sutton consistently had three down linemen and two inside linebackers for much of the game which really limited the Cowboys run game. While there were still some struggles in the run defense yesterday, it was that of the secondary that was a real issue. The secondary is still struggling with one on one coverage making it very hard for the defense to focus on the run game.

My biggest issue with the play calling regarding the secondary is that Sutton is not calling plays and schemes that allow his secondary to play to their strengths. He tried to bring in cornerback Kenneth Acker to replace Terrance Mitchell and that has been nothing close to a solution as we have seen Acker get burned time and time again.

I have mentioned in other articles how Mitchell plays best at the line of scrimmage instead of ten yards off his receiver. He is a physical, aggressive, and contest the catch point type of corner and is being set up to fail when he is forced to play off his man.

Coaching on both sides of the ball has to improve for this team to get back to being a true Super Bowl contender this year. Players have to be put in the best position for them to succeed, and coaching has to realize that they have to make changes when there are injuries or players not getting the job done.

If they can go into the bye week to regroup and get back to both sides of the ball doing their job, this team can be a huge threat for the rest of the league. If not, I fail to see this being yet another year of one and done in the playoffs.