Niners’ stout run defense will test Chiefs’ ground-based attack

Chiefs coach Andy Reid could sense the satisfaction among his players in the locker room Monday night, and he wanted to stoke that a bit.

After the way his team had destroyed the Patriots 41-14 in front of a national audience, he felt they deserved that much.

“If anybody questioned your heart,” Reid said to scattered cheers, “they’ve got to think twice.”

After a season-opening loss to Tennessee, the New England win capped the Chiefs’ third straight week of solid football and pulled their overall record to 2-2. That meant they wouldn’t be in a sub-.500 hole after the first quarter of the season, which would have been a bad omen for their playoff hopes.

So yes, this was certainly cause for celebration, though Reid was also quick to piggyback his praise with a friendly warning.

“Listen,” he added, “you have got to stay on top of it. You’ve got to prove it every week.”

Perhaps it was the memory of the Chiefs’ devastating playoff loss to the Colts last season, in which they blew a 28-point third-quarter lead, that led Reid to harp on the importance of displaying a killer instinct.

Or, perhaps, it was the looming specter of Sunday’s road test against the San Francisco 49ers, one of the league’s most successful — and toughest — teams since Jim Harbaugh took over in 2011.

“Their front seven is a tough unit,” Reid said. “Big, physical guys; the linebackers can run. I would say that their defense is one of the top defenses out there right now.”

The stats would bear that out. Despite missing two of the league’s best players in outside linebacker Aldon Smith (suspension) and inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman (injury), the 49ers rank second in the league in run defense, allowing a mere 69 yards per game on the ground.

This could spell trouble for the suddenly run-dominant Chiefs, who have rebounded offensively after their miserable 10-point effort against the Titans. The Chiefs are averaging 30 points and 388 yards over their last three games — marks that would rank third and seventh in the league, respectively, if they were their season average — and the running game has led the charge.

Last season, the Chiefs ran the ball 58 percent of the time. This year, they’ve been running it at a 68 percent clip, and running it well. They rank fourth in the league in rushing, and backup Knile Davis is the league’s fourth-leading rusher with 321 yards.

“We expected him to be able to step in and do some things,” Reid said. “That’s kind of how we went about our OTAs (organized team activities) and training camp was rotating him in and making sure that he felt a part of it and comfortable in there with some of the schemes we’re doing.”

Davis did a fair portion of his damage in weeks two and three, when star running back Jamaal Charles was felled by a high-ankle sprain. But when Charles returned against the Patriots on Monday, the Chiefs still pounded the rock with Davis, who rushed for a team-high 107 yards in 16 carries, compared to 92 yards in 18 carries for Charles.

The emergence of Davis, a third-round draft choice in 2013, as a legitimate option in the running game is one of two reasons why Charles — who, at 5,938 career rushing yards is only 133 yards away surpassing former Chiefs great Priest Holmes as the team’s all-time leading rusher — would seem to be a long shot to make a little history this week.

The other reason is San Francisco’s stout defense. The 49ers held the Philadelphia Eagles, who led the NFL in rushing last season, to a measly 22 rushing yards in 12 carries in San Francisco’s 26-21 win last week.

Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson watched the tape of that game and came away thoroughly impressed with the 49ers’ front seven, a group that could cause problems for the Chiefs’ zone blocking-based running game because of the way the players use their strength and gap discipline to shutdown the cutback lanes.

“They can close a hole,” Pederson said. “These linebackers, Patrick Willis ... they’re fast-flow guys. You saw what Philadelphia tried to do on some of these cutback runs, and it’s not there because they’re a disciplined group on defense.

In addition to Willis, Pederson mentioned defensive end Justin Smith, a former Missouri star, and safety Antoine Bethea as run-stopping standouts.

“Justin Smith is a Pro Bowl tackle … If you don’t put four hands on that guy, he’s gonna wreak havoc,” Pederson said. “Then they add Bethea as the eighth element, and now you’re playing a single safety in the middle and trying to run against an eight-man front, which you can’t do. Then you’re trying to throw the ball.”

The latter isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how well quarterback Alex Smith has been playing. Over his last three games, Smith has completed 72 percent of his passes for 689 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions as Reid has seemingly fixed the problems in the Tennessee debacle.

“I didn’t think it was effort,” Reid said, when asked when the offense looks so much better now. “I thought the guys played hard. … I’ve mentioned to you before that I know, from a personal standpoint, I wasn’t very good in the first game doing my job and so I think everybody took accountability for that. We’re trying to do better as we move forward here.”

Over the last three weeks, Reid has kept defenses off balance by varying his personnel groupings, handing a bigger role to budding star tight end Travis Kelce, and spreading the ball around.

“When you’re using six or seven receivers in there, they’re all having an opportunity to be a part in it,” Reid said. “Everybody feels accountable ... the coaches, the players feel accountable for their job and making sure that they do it like professionals.”

Reid has also drawn up some creative plays, particularly in the running game, which has thrived behind a makeshift offensive line that features only one returning starter playing at the same position he did last year, center Rodney Hudson.

“They’re getting that confidence and that rhythm,” Davis said. “They like run blocking.”

On Sunday, they’ll get to see just how good they are at it against a top-two run defense.

“You’re gonna try certain runs, and there’s gonna be something that sticks and you’re gonna come back to it,” Pederson said. “Or you may get stuffed on a couple, but you’ve just got to stick with it and stick with it. Teams that have beaten them out there have done that.”

If the latter comes to pass, and the Chiefs do come away with a win, it will also show the team might be serious about heeding Reid’s words when it comes to proving themselves on a weekly basis.

“Collectively, we all know we have a ton of room to improve,” Reid said. “So that’s how we are going about our business everyday as coaches and players. Guys are getting to know each other and coming together a little bit.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Niners’ stout run defense will test Chiefs’ ground-based attack."