His defense lacks any sense of toughness and attack. He doesn't dictate anything. When he blitzes he blitzes to blitz and not to dictate what the ofense can and cannot do.
Take Wade Phillips on the other hand. The guy instantly upgrades any defense he coaches regardless of talent. Why? Because he has a defense that dictactes what an offense must do. Not sit back trying to defend against any and everything possible.
Preseason or not, toughness and an attacking mentality are something that shows regardless. Sutton's defenses are soft, reactionary and undisciplined.
How this guy still has a job bogles the minds of most. But I am afraid what we've seen the last few years is what we will see again. Minimal attack, dependency on a turnover. Lots of time on the field defensively. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TEX:
Except when it was needed most...
Proof positive that stats can be meaningless.
This is why you trust "your football eyes" and what you see and especially IF you have played the game. You can tell by some on this board who has played and who has not.:-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by TEX:
You're spot on here. I think people argue that it will have many new starters from last season and will get Barry back (but he's not back yet), so it's got to be improved... IMO, it's just a JAG Collection run by a DC who should have been fired after last season. I'm not expecting much improvement.
Yes, the starters on defense are Chris Jones, a declining Houston, Berry who's a question mark at this point... and a JAG collection. And the backups to the JAG collection look even thinner.
As far as getting younger and better goes, there will probably not be any rookies starting on either side of the ball, or getting significant playing time barring injury. It's not an especially young team overall.
We're running out more or less the same formula this year as last year, minus Peters, plus Mahomes. While that will be a lot more entertaining, it probably isn't going to translate to results. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Eleazar:
I don't know how you can say that the defense is going to be improved with the same coordinator, same scheme, having lost the defense's best playmaker, and with no really pivotal personnel changes. (other than Berry returning, who did not manage to singlehandedly turn the last defense he played on into a good one)
"more emphasis" and "more aggressive" aren't going to change the things that really matter, like the people on the field, the scheme, or the people running the defense. "emphasis" and "aggression" are tweaks you make when everything else is in place.
If this defense manages to not finish in the bottom third of the league in most categories we might be able to say some progress has been made, but there are no indications that's going to happen so far.
Adding Fuller mitigates losing Peters to an extent (hell, he might end up being a more consistent pass defender). Getting Berry and Ford back, and adding Hitchens and Williams don't qualify as pivotal changes?
Not to mention he just said that they're planning to tweak their schemes and strategy.
The defense was considerably better over the last month of the season last year. Partly due to Ragland getting involved, and Chris Jones ascending. Losing Jones in the playoff game was a big reason they fell apart.
I would say there are several ways you can argue the defense will be better. We'll find out. [Reply]
Goddamn Eligwe. All the blocks were taken up and the guy had every opportunity to get there and stop that run for 2-3 yards. He hesitated and then ran into his own freaking guy.
Originally Posted by Eleazar:
Yes, the starters on defense are Chris Jones, a declining Houston, Berry who's a question mark at this point... and a JAG collection. And the backups to the JAG collection look even thinner.
As far as getting younger and better goes, there will probably not be any rookies starting on either side of the ball, or getting significant playing time barring injury. It's not an especially young team overall.
We're running out more or less the same formula this year as last year, minus Peters, plus Mahomes. While that will be a lot more entertaining, it probably isn't going to translate to results.
We lost Peters (and a lot of old players) but added Watkins, Hitchens, and Fuller
Tamba Hali made 1 tackle last year but got paid $8 million. Yeah, I think we're going to be a bit better his year [Reply]
I think this OP is making a huge assumption based upon the performance of last year's defense. It's pre-season, where vanilla is largely what's on tap.
For starters, Bob Sutton has historically changed his defensive alignments, especially his fronts, frequently to make pre-snap harder on QB's, all the while masking his true intentions. This creates a lot of turnover opportunities, something the Chiefs have been very good at during his tenure. To say he won't try to dictate what the offense does is incredibly premature. He's showing them one thing to make them think they can do something they really can't. Now, if players fail to do their jobs, a la 2017, that's not all on Bob Sutton.
Bob Sutton has also shown that he is more than willing to attack when he has the horses and the situation to do so. He was one of the most attacking coordinators in the league when he came here. Whether or not he will attack is something we'll have to see in 2018, because he certainly left a lot on the table last year in that regard but I can't fault him entirely. I do fault him for being the least aggressive team on 3rd down with only a 14% blitz percentage. He didn't have much for options, but not having your top pass rusher rush the passer with the frequency he did last year was inexcusable. That, of course, doesn't mean Sutton won't go back to a more attack-oriented defense.
A lot does go into attacking. He has to trust the 6 he's keeping back more than he does the 5 he's sending on the attack (or whatever combination thereof). It's yet to be seen if he can trust his DBs enough to consistently send 5 (or more). Then, does he have the horses to actually get home on that blitz? I think the potential starting lineup might, but I think the depth could continue to lack. Not a lot of sense in blitzing just to blitz. A team that blitzes too often is very easy to counter and they will get burned in the NFL. Teams run even more frequently now out of the pistol and shotgun to boot, which makes it even more difficult to get a blitz home.
It's all a timing game. Most teams send 4 frequently, but most do not send 5 as frequently as you might expect. Sure, you have the teams that blitz 35%+ but most teams hover in the low 20's, around 23%. The Chiefs were on the low end at just under 18%, but the middle of the pack on pressure percentage created from that blitz. The problem is, even though they got pressure, teams got big plays on them with a league-worst DVOA. The Chiefs were middle of the pack in all categories when only sending 4. Anyhow, it's one thing to blitz and another to have an effective blitz. Sutton didn't blitz as much last year because the Chiefs just weren't good at it. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Eligwe oversold the run and was out of position completely on that first big run.
He was in position to stop that for a 2 yard gain but instead this happened.
Don’t expect that to happen with Hitchens. That’s a young players mistake.
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Goddamn Eligwe. All the blocks were taken up and the guy had every opportunity to get there and stop that run for 2-3 yards. He hesitated and then ran into his own freaking guy.
