Chiefs run defense will show true colors in season’s first quarter
By Scott Loring
If we divide a season into quarters, the “first quarter” of 2019 will tell us a lot about the identity of the revamped 2019 Kansas City Chiefs’ run defense.
It’s no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs struggled to stop the run in 2018. The unit allowed 132 yards per game at an alarming 5.0 yards per carry. It should be noted that the Chiefs were the only playoff team anywhere near the bottom of the NFL in that category.
Teams at the bottom of the standings are often congruent with the trait of struggling to stop the run. Not so with the Chiefs, who spent most of the season ahead in their games yet allowed ludicrous amounts of yards on the ground every week. One can only imagine how many more rush yards would have piled up if teams hadn’t been trying to keep up with Patrick Mahomes through the air.
In the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots provided a decent blueprint for keeping Mahomes on the sidelines by hammering the run, particularly on first down. Bob Sutton’s unit was powerless to stop it. Mahomes and the offense managed just three first downs and zero points in the first half, and when the game had ended, the Patriots controlled the clock for over 40 minutes.
After watching the Patriots roll up a disgusting 176 rush yards, general manager Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid had had enough. Wholesale changes were made on the roster and the coaching staff on every level of the defense. It began with Sutton, fired just 48 hours after the season ended.
Moving the chains and keeping Mahomes off the field will be an objective at the forefront of every 2019 opponent’s offensive preparation, so new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is preparing the team to stop the run. The defense enters the new season with an almost entirely new staff, a new energy, and some key new players from front to back. Frank Clark and Tyrann Mathieu came in the fold and are expected to bring leadership along with Pro Bowl caliber play. Other acquisitions like Alex Okafor, Damien Wilson, Darron Lee and rookie Juan Thornhill are also expected to bring more competent tackling to the defense.
It should not take long to see if the plan works. In fact, we will have an excellent understanding of Spagnuolo’s rush unit after just four games. If we divide a season into quarters, the “first quarter” of 2019 will provide a tough task for the rush defense, and subsequently, it will also tell us a lot about the identity of the 2019 Chiefs. In those first four games, the Chiefs will square off against the Jaguars, Raiders, Ravens and Lions.
Let’s unpack those four matchups here.