The main concern about the Kansas City Chiefs’ so-so pass rush, and potential solution
Hello there. Thank you for visiting this specific part of the world, where we will spend the next 900 or so words criticizing a 10-1 team that won the most recent Super Bowl.
Sounds kind of crazy, right? And maybe it is! The Chiefs are good enough that any criticism is by definition a high-level criticism, because the standard is another Super Bowl championship.
Anything with this team that’s good enough to win a Super Bowl is a box that’s checked.
Anything that’s not good enough to win a Super Bowl is open for fair criticism.
Thems the rules, and the Chiefs did this to themselves, because they used to be so mediocre and uninteresting that the editors once ordered the definitive profile of Matt Cassel when he had the chance to be the first man since Joe Montana to quarterback the Chiefs to a playoff win.
Anyway, the Chiefs’ defense is in a slump. They are giving up an average of 28.7 points in their last three games, and 3.2 points per possession. Both are significantly higher than their performance over the first eight games (19.0 and 1.7), and only part of that can be explained by those first eight games including one against Brian Hoyer and another against Adam Gase.
The problem lies largely in their pass rush, and this much has been clear the last two weeks. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr completed 81 percent of his passes for three touchdowns and no interceptions when the Chiefs did not create pressure, and 60 percent for no touchdowns and one interception when they did.
Bucs quarterback Tom Brady’s split was even more exaggerated: 74.2 percent, three touchdowns and no interceptions against no pressure, and 40 percent, no touchdowns and two interceptions against pressure.
The problem in these games is that the Chiefs have produced pressure on just 29 percent of opposing quarterbacks’ drop-backs, despite blitzing on 39 percent (pressure and blitz numbers according to Pro Football Focus).
Pressuring the quarterback is the single most important objective for any defense, and the specific way the Chiefs are constructed amplifies this point.
Brett Veach’s front office has emphasized the pass rush since the beginning. They replaced what had become the stale predictability of Bob Sutton with what they hoped was varied looks and pressure schemes with Steve Spagnuolo.
The Chiefs gave up first- and second-round picks and $63 million guaranteed for Frank Clark and spent, too, on free agents Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah. Tanoh Kpassagnon had fallen out of favor with the previous coaching staff; Spagnuolo gave him a place in the scheme. Veach’s first two draft choices were defensive linemen, and they spent $60 million guaranteed to keep Chris Jones.
Veach’s priorities are clear: Do everything possible to support Patrick Mahomes, and whatever possible to aggravate the opposing quarterback.
This is all said to make the point that the Chiefs have to pressure the quarterback. It’s how the front office built this roster, how the coaching staff game-plans and how Spagnuolo makes specific calls.
The Chiefs currently deploy a decent pass rush: 21st in sacks, ninth in pressure percentage and ninth in hurry percentage (according to Pro-Football-Reference).
Again: decent. But back to the point: not good enough for how the Chiefs are built, and the specific way they intend to play defense.
So, that’s all big-picture stuff. The Chiefs need more pressure. The next question is how to generate it?
The oversimplified answer is they need more from Clark.
Clark should not be blamed entirely for an underwhelming pass rush. Spagnuolo’s defense is best when done collectively: Jones pushing the interior, Clark and Okafor on the edges, blitzers through the gaps and eventually pressure busts pipes.
And everyone could be doing better. Jones is on pace for eight sacks, which would be fewer than last season, when he missed three games, and his lowest total since 2017. The Chiefs do not have anyone other than Jones and Clark averaging even two pressures per game, and Taco Charlton remains third on the team with two sacks despite missing virtually all of the last three games.
But Clark is the focus here, and we’re taking cues from the coaches paid to stop the Chiefs’ pass rush. Watch the tape and you’ll see lots of snaps like this one, with Jones doubled and without much of a chance:
That’s been a theme. Jones has been doubled on 47.4 percent of his rushes this season, according to PFF. He’s actually done well in those situations — his 19.4 percent win rate is twice the league average and virtually identical to Aaron Donald (19.5 percent).
So, that’s not a problem. The problem is that opposing offenses are routinely leaving a tackle one-on-one against Clark, and Clark isn’t winning those matchups often enough to force a change.
We’ll use this example because Brady sat on Clark’s side, unthreatened, trusting standout rookie right tackle Tristan Wirfs for solo protection for the Bucs’ longest play of the day.
PFF’s numbers back this up: Clark is being doubled just 19.7 percent of the time, at least in part because he’s winning one-on-one matchups just 13 percent of the time. That’s simply not good enough.
Clark hid injuries last year and he was perhaps the best individual example of how the Chiefs’ defense improved as the players and coaches understood each other’s strengths better.
He was the team’s best defender in the postseason, producing five sacks and the rush that wrecked the 49ers’ last chance in the Super Bowl. Early this season, he appeared to have even more of what football people call get-off — power, and especially speed, at the snap.
We’ve seen it in flashes — he was excellent against the Patriots and Panthers, for instance — but when it’s gone, a broader problem is created.
The Chiefs spent quarterback resources to acquire Clark, considering both the draft capital and money, and he is one of several men the Chiefs likely could not have won last year’s Super Bowl without.
But the Chiefs don’t want to win a Super Bowl. They want to win Super Bowls, plural, and to do that they need Clark to again be the guy who demands double teams by winning one-on-one.
That’s when the next tier of Chiefs pass-rushers, guys like Okafor, Kpassagnon and Tershawn Wharton, can be more effective. And that is when the Chiefs’ defense really gets rolling.
Spagnuolo can help create those opportunities with blitz design and timing, but at some point it’s up to the players to beat the man in front of them.
We are far from panic here. The Chiefs rank sixth in the NFL in fewest points allowed. They are the deserved Super Bowl favorite, and they have the luxury of using the regular season to present the best version of themselves for the playoffs. A year ago, that included, in part, a ferocious Clark.
There is time, in other words, and if Clark is carrying a light injury it would explain some of the issue we’ve discussed here. But at the moment, these last five games before the playoffs should largely be about Clark getting back to being the force who helped them win the Super Bowl.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.