Why Andy Reid still needs to let Bob Sutton go from the Chiefs

There need to be some big changes in the Chiefs organization and the defensive coordinator is one of them.

There’s no doubt in my mind that one of the big changes that need to be made for the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason is letting go of defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. Many of the arguments on why Sutton should be relieved of his duties could also be made about head coach Andy Reid. However, Reid isn’t going anywhere so we must think in terms of realistic changes.

Sutton became the defensive coordinator of the Chiefs in 2013. His defense has been the stronghold of this team for most of his time in Kansas City, but in 2017 it was more of a problem. Ranking toward the bottom in most categories, it’s obvious that there needs to be a change. There are some fans still loyal to Sutton and there’s one excuse that keeps coming around.

Injuries

We can talk about the substantial injuries over the past two years that have hurt the defense, but that doesn’t make up for what Sutton can control. I do believe that big injuries have made it harder for the Chiefs defense to have success, however.

In 2016, the Chiefs were without outside linebacker Justin Houston for most of the season. When Houston came back, outside linebacker Dee Ford was injured. Two of the team’s starting defensive linemen were also hurt early in the year, Allen Bailey and Jaye Howard. Dontari Poe was on and off with back spasms and Derrick Johnson was hurt late in the season.

In 2017, the year started off with a huge loss of star safety Eric Berry. Soon after, Ford was out once again and the team waited until late in the season to finally put him on injured reserve. Cornerback Steven Nelson was out for the first 7 weeks of the season as well. While Derrick Johnson wasn’t hurt this year, he was slow and late most of the time. He wasn’t his normal self.

Sutton’s defense revolves around Berry, Houston, Johnson, and cornerback Marcus Peters. With Houston and late Johnson being out in 2016, it made it tough for the defense to generate pressure or stop the run. The secondary was able to make up for it by leading the league in takeaways. In 2017, Berry and Ford are hurt early in the season. Add the fact that Johnson wasn’t a good player most of the time, and it made Sutton’s job even harder.

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There are plenty of injuries both seasons to set a defense back no doubt, but the problem was more adjusting when injuries occur. Look at 2017 for example. Berry went down in week one and was replaced by Daniel Sorensen. Sutton refused to change his scheme even though one of his key secondary members went down. He played Sorensen as if he was Berry and got abused for it.

Johnson was not playing up to expectations this season coming back from injury. Sutton waited till late in the season to give more reps to new inside linebackers Kevin Pierre-Louis and Reggie Ragland. Even later in the season, they were being pushed off the field and Johnson was getting most of the reps. Sutton played the fan favorite the same as any other year without the right help next to him.

During both seasons having edge rushers injured, Sutton failed to get any kind of pressure on the quarterback. This year with Ford being out, Houston was left on an island as defensive end Chris Jones had a down year, especially earlier in the year, and there was no one on the other side to draw attention. When Sutton should have drawn up some creative blitz packages to generate some pressure, he once again blitzed the least amount in the league.

Players giving up during games

During the ugly losing stretch by Kansas City in 2017, there was zero fire from the defensive side of the ball. Some players were even accused of not trying at all. One, in particular, was Peters who earned himself a suspension late in the season.

This was seen all around the defense as there was zero aggressiveness. Players were also making constant mistakes in blown coverages. The best examples would be if you go back and watch the first game against the Oakland Raiders. Sutton had help against wide receiver Amari Cooper to bracket him most of the night, but the blown coverages and terrible reads by players left him wide open.

This is a prime example with cornerback Terrance Mitchell lined up over Cooper late in the fourth quarter and Sorensen bracketing over the top. Both get turned the wrong way and can’t recover in time to leave Cooper without a defender over the middle. If it wasn’t for safety Ron Parker, Cooper might have made it six points.

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While Sutton did his job in this instance by getting help where it was needed, the players didn’t execute the play. Believe it or not, when this consistently happens, that’s on the coaches. Sutton failed to get his defense ready for this game and many others this last season as they were constantly making simple mistakes.

Sutton’s refuses to adjust his scheme to fit his defense

I mentioned a bit of this earlier under the injuries section about Sorensen being played as if he were Berry. Sorensen is unable to play all of the roles that Berry normally does, one being the safety inside the box to help against the run game. Sutton left Sorensen to play this role after numerous weeks of getting pushed out of plays.

He also played safety Eric Murray against big tight ends when it was shown that he couldn’t cover the bigger guys. The first Raiders game, Murray was left covering tight end Jared Cook even after countless times being burned. The Raiders constantly threw passes his way high because of the difference in size was so great. Murray is listed at 5’11 and 199 pounds whereas Cook is 6’5 and 254 pounds.

Sutton failed to adjust the defense and either line up another defender on Cook or give Murray help over the top. This isn’t just an in-game issue either but also going into games. Much like Reid, Sutton believes his scheme can beat any team. He plays the same scheme against every team expecting his players to win every time instead of setting his players up to win.

Kansas City Chiefs

We saw a glimpse of this changing when the Chiefs started giving Ragland more time on the field as the second inside linebacker instead of Sorensen being down in the box. The defense went three straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. Going into the playoffs, the defense went back to its normal scheme of playing nickel and dime the whole time.

The Chiefs slowed down some big name rushers this season and the playoff game against the Titans should have been an easy one. The Tennessee Titans had only one receiving weapon and that was the tight end, Delanie Walker. Quarterback Marcus Mariota had regressed in 2017 and had shown little reason to strike any fear on a defense.

If the defense plays with two inside linebackers and extra help in the box, the Chiefs win that game. Instead, they went back to playing mostly nickel and dime packages against a team that had struggled to get anything positive going in the passing game all season. The Titans ran for 202 yards against the Chiefs defense while running back Derrick Henry moved the ball 6.8 yards per carry.

We’ve all seen the 35-yard touchdown by Henry late in the fourth quarter when Sutton had two down linemen in on 2nd and 10 and they were both on one side of the line. The only defense on the side Henry ran to was Sorensen and Murray. How do you leave two safeties as the only defense on one side of the ball?

Last you have the fact that Sutton wasn’t even control of his own defense much of the time. I don’t mean this in the sense that he wasn’t calling the plays, but in the sense that it depended on how the offense lined up on the defense’s assignments. Houston was dropped into coverage almost 25% of the time because how the defense lined up was the determining factor on if he rushed or not. When the offense controls what your best player on defense does, you don’t stand a chance.

The Chiefs defense has been a big part of this team’s success over the last five years but it is time to move on at least at the coordinator spot. The Chiefs need someone that will be more willing to be aggressive and creative and will be willing to line his players up to succeed. The bend but don’t break system isn’t going to work enough to get further into the playoffs.

There are other positional groups like the defensive line coaching that needs replacing as well with the lack of development this last year. With the defensive line coach being Britt Reid (yes, that’s Andy’s son), I don’t see him going anywhere. If the Chiefs decide to keep Sutton after a year that his defense highly regressed being ranked 28th overall, they are admitting they are comfortable with a mediocre at best defense.