There’s no need to panic about the Kansas City Chiefs run defense
DISPELLING SOME MYTHS
The question will continue to remain whether or not this unit will improve this season and when. With that being said, looking at box score stats doesn’t give you that indication nor does where the team ranks among the league in rushing yards allowed. It most certainly has not been enough to lose a big game. The narrative that the Chiefs have lost due to the inability to stop the run in the playoffs over the last few seasons is wrong.
In 2018, the Chiefs were historically bad on defense, yet they still were within arm’s reach of the Super Bowl. That defense led by former defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was considerably worse ,and the coach’s inabiity to make adjustments were what killed their season. Spagnuolo has put out a much better product already despite what some box score stats might lead you to believe.
Another point that has been made a few times in these discussions is that the run defense isn’t just bad this season; it’s historically bad. Is the offense not historically good, too? I’m not trying to say that makes it okay that the defense struggles against the run because the offense is so good, but you have to provide context there. Looking at this season alone, teams have tried to use the game plan of running the ball heavily against the Chiefs to keep Mahomes off the field to gain some control.
Last time I checked the Chiefs were still 4-0. The only game that was close was this last game against the Lions and that took Matthew Stafford having an excellent performance, Patrick Mahomes and the wide receiver group not being in sync, numerous fumbles in the third quarter, and the Lions cornerbacks playing out of their mind. Kansas City had a bad game yet still came out on top.
Baltimore chose to run the ball and control the clock by playing aggressively on fourth downs to keep the former MVP off of the field. While they had 167 yards on the ground entering the fourth quarter, their passing attack had been almost completely shut down by the Chiefs defense and they trailed 30-13. When they had to get back into the game on those last few drives, it wasn’t the run game that got them down the field, but a couple of lucky throws by Lamar Jackson that he put up for anyone to grab. While final scores and box score analysis won’t show you what has changed for the defense, there are stats that will.
The part that has changed so far this season is that the defense has been able to make stops when they need to. They’re better in coverage for the most part as well, even though they gave up some big plays in final drives the last two weeks. What makes them different from last season is their ability to bend but not break—hilarious considering that was Sutton’s philosophy—and create turnovers when they need them. The Chiefs rank 12th in the NFL through Week 4 in the red zone keeping their opponent’s touchdown success rate to only 52.9% compared to last year at 70.7%. Many of the Chiefs six turnovers have come inside the red zone in 2019.