The Kansas City Chiefs defense is playing much better than you think

Frank Clark is not a bust

When it comes to the defensive line, there has been a tremendous amount of debate surrounding the group given the amount of turnover and money committed this offseason. Defensive end Frank Clark received a visit from the Brinks truck to sign with the team and fans are already starting to give him the bust label because he has yet to put up big sack numbers through his first three games with the Chiefs. That’s right, three games.

While many fans are still frustrated following a game where Clark came away with three pressures and a sack, many fans have yet to understand why he’s not putting up these big sack totals right out of the gate. Most of these fans were not fond of the trade and contract from the beginning, which is your opinion to have, but box-score analysis and overall Pro Football Focus grades fail to provide any type of context to fuel your argument on why Frank Clark is a bust and hasn’t played well since coming aboard.

Clark was one of the major key players to watch over the last three games when reviewing the defense and while he didn’t pop off the screen when I watched the broadcast viewing of each game, he certainly stood out when I reviewed the tape later. The thing that stands out the most is the amount of extra attention he has received in all three games in both the running and passing game.

Just like Week 1 when fans were criticizing Clark for not dominating inexperienced tackles in Jacksonville, the Ravens sent extra help to slow him down and continuously designed their plays to go away from him. It wasn’t until Spagnuolo started moving Clark around this week that Baltimore actually ran the ball his way more than once.

In both running and passing situations, Baltimore schemed up blocking assignments to assist tackles lined up across from Clark with either a double team from the guard, tight ends staying in to help block, or chipping him off the edge. Clark has demanded more attention from opposing offenses that Dee Ford did all of last season in the passing attack; instead of purposely running at him as teams did against Ford, they run the other way.

The Chiefs were playing an offense that has the most athletic quarterback in the league. The Ravens offense is also explosive running the ball in their Read-Option and Run-Pass Option offense coming out of bigger packages that include extra offensive linemen and tight ends. Despite all of that, Clark was still able to come away with three pressures and a sack while having to spend most of the afternoon simply trying to contain Jackson inside the pocket. Kansas City put a big emphasis on limiting Jackson’s ability to take the ball and run following the first couple of drives and dared him to beat them with his arm deep down the field.

While I can understand not being happy about how much general manager Brett Veach spent in draft capital and contract structure to acquire Clark, saying that he hasn’t done anything so far this season is far from the truth. Fans also need to be reminded about how much turnover this defense saw over one offseason in coaching, personnel, and scheme to remember that it’s going to take time for the defense to reach its full potential and gel with one another.

Come the day that a team decides not to consistently double team Clark and that day will feature those same fans silenced in awe.