Five keys for Kansas City Chiefs to defeat the Houston Texans
Pressure the quarterback
After a little bit of a shaky start to the season, the Kansas City Chiefs defense really came on strong in the second half of the season. The Chiefs ended up finishing 7th in the NFL in scoring defense. It was a fantastic turnaround and a big reason why many believe the Chiefs are capable of making a Super Bowl run this year.
An important part of that turnaround mid-season was the improved success of the pass rush. The Chiefs led the NFL in sacks last season, but through their first six games they were only averaging 1.8 sacks per game. The last 10 games wrote another story. The Chiefs almost doubled their sack rate after those first six games, averaging 3.4 sacks per game the rest of the way. If the Chiefs had averaged that rate for the entire season they would of actually surpassed the 52 sacks they had last season when they were tied for the NFL lead. This isn’t a tiny sample size either, 10 games is over 60% of the season.
The Chiefs first match up with the Texans was their sixth game of the season and the last game before the sack production picked up. That’s significant because getting after Watson is a major part of how you beat the Texans. On the season, the Texans gave up 49 sacks (compared to KC’s 25). That was the 8th most sacks allowed in all the NFL this season. However, the Chiefs didn’t sack Watson once in their first match up this season. Not once.
At the beginning of this piece I said it wouldn’t simply be a “don’t do this same thing from the first game” post. This is the biggest exception to that. The Chiefs must get after Watson better than they did in that first game. Not only is getting after the quarterback a big part of the Chiefs new and improved defense, it is a big part of what has hurt the Texans in the games they have lost this season.
I looked at the four games the Texans lost when Deshaun Watson was playing this season. In those four losses the Texans allowed an average of 5.5 sacks per game. In their close win over the Bills on Saturday they allowed 7 sacks and the early pressure from Buffalo was a huge reason why the Texans got off to such a bad start on offense. Not only can the Chiefs not afford to not get after Watson in this game, they need to do it early and often.
Just like Andy Reid and the offensive staff need a smart game plan that will feature Patrick Mahomes and the passing attack getting off to a fast start, Steve Spagnuolo and the defensive staff need a smart game plan that will feature creative ways to get pressure on Watson.
On a side note, you may read a lot this week about how the Chiefs need to do a better job of stopping the run in this game after giving up 192 yards rushing in the first match up. While they certainly do need to be better than that at stopping the run, it isn’t one of my keys to this game. In those same four losses the Texans had this season when Watson played, they averaged 131.5 yards rushing on offense. In other words, in all four of those losses the Texans ran the ball well and it didn’t matter. The Chiefs can afford to let the Texans get some rushing yards on offense if they do the other five things on this list. Trust me, if the Chiefs do all five of the things on this list, the Texans won’t have 192 yards rushing again because they’ll have to throw the ball to try and get back in the game.
Now let’s talk about a huge key to this game that involves both sides of the ball.