Arrowhead Pride
On Sunday, not a lot went right for the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense during the team’s 28-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills had a rushing success rate of 47% — a mark that would rank among the league’s top three — and a passing success rate of 65%, which would (by far) be the best passing offense ever. Buffalo generated a first down on 45% of its passing attempts and 26% of its rushing attempts. Josh Allen had an 88% completion percentage, averaging an efficient 6.3 yards per attempt. While the running game generated just 4.0 yards per carry, the Bills were able to turn to it whenever they needed. They also went 7 for 12 on third down.
Watching live, I noticed the defense was struggling when its three linebackers — Nick Bolton, Leo Chenal and Drue Tranquill — were on the field simultaneously. So I charted how Kansas City did in those situations.
The results were not great.
Note: data excludes any play with a quarterback sneak, as it skews the success-rate and yards-per-play metrics.
Outside of the Chiefs’ base defense against the run, Kansas City really struggled to defend when all three linebackers were on the field.
Let’s take a look at what went wrong.
The Chiefs only defended three runs from their nickel alignment, so there’s not too much to pick at.
This play was an important one during the Bills’ first drive, gaining 17 yards. The Bills are in 11 personnel, go under center and condense the formation. When they do this, it gets Kansas City into a 5-1 defensive front.
In a 3-3-5, teams typically put some of their linebackers on the line of scrimmage — typically on the edge — so offensive linemen can’t climb to the second level. This leaves the MIKE linebacker free to tackle.
Here’s the downside: the linebackers have to set the edge — which Chenal has to do here. While he is outstanding against the run, he doesn’t have long arms. This makes it harder for him to take on blocks when he’s on the edge. He gets pinned inside — and when Jaylen Watson also loses the edge, it leaves way too much space on the sideline.
When the Chiefs defended the pass from the nickel, the Bills were able to get Dalton Kincaid a 23-yard touchdown and a 49-yard chunk play. With both plays, the main issue was poor communication.
On the Kincaid touchdown, I’m not quite sure what the Chiefs were trying to do.
Chamarri Conner gets caught in no-man’s land, not covering anyone. He’s not over the slot or the outside defender — and he’s well outside the box. It could be Kansas City is running a Cover-1 double on someone — but if they are, it’s not clear Conner knows who he’s doubling.
Whatever it is meant to do, this alignment puts Tranquill on Kincaid — who is too fast and...
