The Problems?

[Bub 20]

What do you guys see as the problem areas? Why are we struggling. For several weeks we've been backing over the finish line and this time we ran out of gas. Here's how I see it.

 

Defense

 

Stopping the run is a major issue. We are getting gashed more and more regularly as the season goes on. Reyes is bad and you can tell Howard is missing. Nunez-Roches is pretty good but he obviously doesn't yet have the stamina to play all day or he would be in there all the time. I could tell Poe was banged up yesterday. He was much slower than normal hustling to the ball. Ramik Wilson is bad against the run and is a bad tackler in general. Derrick Johnson looks old and slow. He is missing a lot of tackles and his run defense is not what it was. Parker's run defense also sucks. The defense is better against the pass with Berry as the high safety but, the run defense  is not working like last year. Zombo has also played MLB several times over the years. It might be wise to give him a look in there.

 

Dee Ford needs to play LOLB. He was doing great on the left side going against RTs. It's obvious it will take some time for Houston to come back to form but, having Ford on the right and Houston on the left was awful yesterday. Understand that Tampa's line sucks too. I mean they suck bad. I don't think we should fix it if it's not broken.

 

All in all the defense was good as a unit yesterday. They only allowed FGs until there was around 7 minutes left in the game. It was a long time before they broke and the offense really didn't help them yesterday.

 

 

Offense

 

Last year, the offense really struggled until Charles got hurt. Reid was forcing the ball to him all the time. When he went down, it forced Reid to be creative and we started winning. I feel like this is happening again. We are forcing the ball to Hill. We are forcing down the field. We were so much more effective with Maclin, Wilson, or even Avery running those short crossing routes or slants that are so hard for corners to cover. When we weren't running those Alex was throwing back shoulder quick outs. Generally, the only plays straight up the middle of the field went to Kelce. Now we are running comebacks and posts consistently. Conley is not good at running those drag routes and slants. Alex obviously doesn't like those routes as much. Throwing a deep ball to Hill a couple of times is great but the constant screen and reverses are becoming ineffective. We have gone to that well to many times. You guys can bash Wilson all you want but he should have been the focal point yesterday. They need to put him in a position to succeed. Crossing routes are what we need to be doing.

 

Alex has been fine imo. It looks like they have put a leash on him to me - at least I hope they have.... A huge part of Alex's game is running with the football. He had a nice TD yesterday but when we are running on all cylinders he is running 40-50 yards a game. He led the league in QB rushing yards the last couple of years if I remember right. Maybe they don't him to run because he got his head banged up? Maybe they are trying to save it for the playoffs and division games? Whatever it is, he is in the pocket more than ever. They aren't even calling bootlegs very often. We signed the #1 right tackle because we like running boot legs so much. Think about that for a minute. He threw a bad pick yesterday but that is pretty rare. I would say he messes up less than anyone else on the team. I bet that play worked great at practice. Also there is no way he audibled to a TE reverse at the goal line. There is no way that's a play he can audible guys. Come on now.

 

The RB screen game is almost non existent. This was our bread and butter when Charles was in there. Last year West picked up where he left off. If you remember, West played more than Ware last year. Ware is decent at catching balls out of the backfield to. Either way, we've got to get this running back screen game going again.

 

The running game is struggling because we are overusing the read option. We run out of the pistol and shotgun way to much. We hardly ever use Sherman anymore. He used to be a big part of the offense. We never line up in the I-Form and pound it up the middle behind Sherman. Isn't that Ware's strong suit? Remember how in years past we used to run long slow methodical drives? Why can't we get back to that instead of forcing the ball so much?

 

 

Special Teams

 

Colquit has been great. We need to capitalize when we pin people deep. That's why we pay him so well.

 

Santos has been good and only missed one easy one all year. He makes the extra points which is better than half the league.

 

I expect more from the return game. We should have had one or two by now. De'Anthony Thomas needs to go in my opinion. It's stupid to have him out there on STs if you aren't going to use him in the offense. Get Frankie Hammond out there and maybe he can hit a block to help get a TD or two.

[artsy 1,137]

Defense sucked. Nelson looked like the second coming of Jamel Flemming. Every time they needed a 3rd down conversion, they went right at Nelson.

 

We are in trouble at that 3rd DB position. IDK, maybe move PG 23 inside and Acker to the outside when they go 3 WR sets. (When Peters returns)

 

Or Maybe Parker on the outside, and PG23 on the inside, w/Murray playing SS??

 

IDK, but Nelson is not good....at all.

[Calichief 3,016]

Schemes on both sides need work.

 

West coast offense is played out.

 

We rarely stretch the field.

 

Andy calls 5 terrible plays a game.

 

Injuries to key players

[PhataLerror 370]

Remember how in years past we used to run long slow methodical drives? Why can't we get back to that instead of forcing the ball so much?

Because the Chiefs' defense is allowing longer, slower, methodicaler drives. Yesterday's game went eight drives long for each team. The shortest Buccaneers drive was their clock-chewing five-rush-and-one-pass-attempt drive at the end of the game, while overall they managed more than nine plays per drive. The Chiefs' defense allowed almost 2.4 points per drive, which is not something the Buccaneers' offense should have been able to muster.

 

And arguably, the Buccaneers never would have managed that sort of offense if the almost the entirety of the Chiefs' defense hadn't been either nicked up or unable to play.

[DieHard 2,061]

Offense:

I hate getting cute inside the 5. You have a big strong back. Pound it 3 times and once in a while play action. An end around with Kelce? I would prefer and option Smith and Ware. But we need to pound it up the middle more.

 

Defense:

D line is not as great as I had hoped. Poe has not been the same guy since the back surgery. I don't think you can throw franchise money at him unless he can show flashes of what he once was. I like our youth on D line. Jones and N-R at the ends and Howard at NT works for me next year.

 

Gaines and Acker are not good in coverage. Nelson is pretty decent. DJ has been banged up for about 4 weeks. Wilson, Zombo and Sorensen are pretty good role players giving you every thing they have. Gaines is a terrible tackler. Berry has played well, but Parker has disappointed me.

[Calichief 3,016]

Offense:

I hate getting cute inside the 5. You have a big strong back. Pound it 3 times and once in a while play action. An end around with Kelce? I would prefer and option Smith and Ware. But we need to pound it up the middle more.

 

Defense:

D line is not as great as I had hoped. Poe has not been the same guy since the back surgery. I don't think you can throw franchise money at him unless he can show flashes of what he once was. I like our youth on D line. Jones and N-R at the ends and Howard at NT works for me next year.

 

Gaines and Acker are not good in coverage. Nelson is pretty decent. DJ has been banged up for about 4 weeks. Wilson, Zombo and Sorensen are pretty good role players giving you every thing they have. Gaines is a terrible tackler. Berry has played well, but Parker has disappointed me.

Our offensive talent is not being utilized. Online allowed no sacks yesterday and is getting better weekly. No excuses.

 

The problems are

Andy Reid poor play calling.

 

Alex smiths limited ability...

[DieHard 2,061]

Agreed. The line did fine yesterday. You have the be able to score points. I think we could gain a lot with a change in red zone play calling. I think we could gain a little with Foles starting. Neither will happen and I think we can make some noise if healthy any way. We shall see.

[dhitter 1,424]

Nelson looked bad yesterday but I still think he has upside. Need to figure out how to do a better job of defending that button hook pass. It was there all day long. Go down 8 yards hard, turn quickly, ball there....first down. All freakin' day. I've seen other teams able to defend it...but we don't know how. 

 

I'm not an Alex Smith hater or lover. He has helped bring us from the bottom of the heap to respectability. But seriously?!.....what was that pass in the endzone that got picked? That had less than a zero percent chance of being completed. Unfortunately, for all of us that keep screaming "Get the ball into the endzone Alex"( when we have the ball at the 5 and he throws it to the 3 and we kick a field goal)...I am imagining AS thinking to himself "see...this is why I don't throw it into the end zone. Because bad things happen when I try that."

 

The cutesy end around to Kelce? Why...just why?

 

Not a single QB sack...and very few pressures. Were we playing the Cowboys Oline?

 

Back to bad tackling. I saw a lot of attempts at arm tackling, diving at legs. This is the NFL. Players are too good to just be knocked over with that. Learn how to wrap up and get a guy to the ground. I have not seen any of Reid's post game comments but I imagine he blames himself for not getting the team ready. My question is "why didn't you have them ready?"

 

And finally...even with 2 nice throws downfield to Hill and Kelce, in general our offense sucks!! That is all.

[artsy 1,137]

Whoever said Nelson is okay, did not watch the game yesterday. Nelson is NOT GOOD. Stiff Hips and has a lot of trouble tracking the ball while covering receivers in man to man. I think with Acker and White in the lineup, with a healthy Peters and Gaines, the secondary can be good enough to win.

 

Nelson is a good tackler. Maybe they should move him to SS.

 

The run defense is bad. I think that's a result from an old DJ and young Ramik.

 

My oh my, how I miss Mauga. (Can't believe I just said that)

[DieHard 2,061]

He got abused a little in the second half. What I am saying is... He contested more passes than anyone and had tighter coverage. We only have one decent CB, but Nelson is a distant second to Peters.

[Bilyous2 884]

What do you guys see as the problem areas? Why are we struggling. For several weeks we've been backing over the finish line and this time we ran out of gas. Here's how I see it.

 

Defense

 

Stopping the run is a major issue. We are getting gashed more and more regularly as the season goes on. Reyes is bad and you can tell Howard is missing. Nunez-Roches is pretty good but he obviously doesn't yet have the stamina to play all day or he would be in there all the time. I could tell Poe was banged up yesterday. He was much slower than normal hustling to the ball. Ramik Wilson is bad against the run and is a bad tackler in general. Derrick Johnson looks old and slow. He is missing a lot of tackles and his run defense is not what it was. Parker's run defense also sucks. The defense is better against the pass with Berry as the high safety but, the run defense  is not working like last year. Zombo has also played MLB several times over the years. It might be wise to give him a look in there.

 

Dee Ford needs to play LOLB. He was doing great on the left side going against RTs. It's obvious it will take some time for Houston to come back to form but, having Ford on the right and Houston on the left was awful yesterday. Understand that Tampa's line sucks too. I mean they suck bad. I don't think we should fix it if it's not broken.

 

All in all the defense was good as a unit yesterday. They only allowed FGs until there was around 7 minutes left in the game. It was a long time before they broke and the offense really didn't help them yesterday.

 

 

Offense

 

Last year, the offense really struggled until Charles got hurt. Reid was forcing the ball to him all the time. When he went down, it forced Reid to be creative and we started winning. I feel like this is happening again. We are forcing the ball to Hill. We are forcing down the field. We were so much more effective with Maclin, Wilson, or even Avery running those short crossing routes or slants that are so hard for corners to cover. When we weren't running those Alex was throwing back shoulder quick outs. Generally, the only plays straight up the middle of the field went to Kelce. Now we are running comebacks and posts consistently. Conley is not good at running those drag routes and slants. Alex obviously doesn't like those routes as much. Throwing a deep ball to Hill a couple of times is great but the constant screen and reverses are becoming ineffective. We have gone to that well to many times. You guys can bash Wilson all you want but he should have been the focal point yesterday. They need to put him in a position to succeed. Crossing routes are what we need to be doing.

 

Alex has been fine imo. It looks like they have put a leash on him to me - at least I hope they have.... A huge part of Alex's game is running with the football. He had a nice TD yesterday but when we are running on all cylinders he is running 40-50 yards a game. He led the league in QB rushing yards the last couple of years if I remember right. Maybe they don't him to run because he got his head banged up? Maybe they are trying to save it for the playoffs and division games? Whatever it is, he is in the pocket more than ever. They aren't even calling bootlegs very often. We signed the #1 right tackle because we like running boot legs so much. Think about that for a minute. He threw a bad pick yesterday but that is pretty rare. I would say he messes up less than anyone else on the team. I bet that play worked great at practice. Also there is no way he audibled to a TE reverse at the goal line. There is no way that's a play he can audible guys. Come on now.

 

The RB screen game is almost non existent. This was our bread and butter when Charles was in there. Last year West picked up where he left off. If you remember, West played more than Ware last year. Ware is decent at catching balls out of the backfield to. Either way, we've got to get this running back screen game going again.

 

The running game is struggling because we are overusing the read option. We run out of the pistol and shotgun way to much. We hardly ever use Sherman anymore. He used to be a big part of the offense. We never line up in the I-Form and pound it up the middle behind Sherman. Isn't that Ware's strong suit? Remember how in years past we used to run long slow methodical drives? Why can't we get back to that instead of forcing the ball so much?

 

 

Special Teams

 

Colquit has been great. We need to capitalize when we pin people deep. That's why we pay him so well.

 

Santos has been good and only missed one easy one all year. He makes the extra points which is better than half the league.

 

I expect more from the return game. We should have had one or two by now. De'Anthony Thomas needs to go in my opinion. It's stupid to have him out there on STs if you aren't going to use him in the offense. Get Frankie Hammond out there and maybe he can hit a block to help get a TD or two.

I like your analysis.  As for DAT, I was surprised he made the team at all.  He should have been traded or released before the season started.

[DefensiveMan 758]

Nelson would be a good safety covering TEs. He's got a strong build - there is a place for him on this team.

[Bub 20]

Nelson has been Ok in coverage in my opinion. He is better this year than last year for sure. He has gone against some seriously tall receivers the last couple of weeks. He saved a TD yesterday and that was one of our best plays of the game.

 

Acker is not very good and makes me wish we had Cooper.

 

I really like Gaines when he's healthy and he is clearly the number two. He is very good in coverage. He might be a better cover man than Peters imo.  Peters has been beat far more often than Gaines including last week when he was beaten deep by Funchess (one of the slowest receivers in the league).  People have selective memory. Aside from the strip, Peters was pretty mediocre last week. If you have time to re-watch the game again start counting the seconds that went by on those drag routes across the field. I re-watched a play in which Gaines chased a receiver around for six seconds before Winston threw the pass. What's he supposed to do about that? Deion Sanders couldn't cover someone for 6 seconds. He's been good all year imo.

 

Poe has been a major disruption the last few weeks. Especially against Carolina. He didn't practice much at all this week and looked hurt yesterday.

 

Sorenson had his worst game of the season yesterday.

 

Foles should never start in favor of Alex in this offense. No way no how. If Alex gets hurt that's one thing but Foles will clearly not be as good.

 

I never thought I'd say it but I do miss Mauga. Ramik Wilson sucks and there is a reason no one signed him off the practice squad. Time to put Zombo in the middle imo.

 

Alex should have never been in a position to throw a pass there at the goal line. That was a bad play call. There is no way he audibled to that and Tampa knew it was coming.

[liquidfriend 1,151]

I think I'd start with Acker drawing Mike Evans one on one in coverage.  Mike Evans is a good WR that will make a bunch of corners look silly and he kept getting single coverage looks.

 

I took a lot of shit because I said Sutton doesn't adjust from his general concepts, and he just flat out doesn't.  Sutton sucks.

[Calichief 3,016]

Whoever said Nelson is okay, did not watch the game yesterday. Nelson is NOT GOOD. Stiff Hips and has a lot of trouble tracking the ball while covering receivers in man to man. I think with Acker and White in the lineup, with a healthy Peters and Gaines, the secondary can be good enough to win.

 

Nelson is a good tackler. Maybe they should move him to SS.

 

The run defense is bad. I think that's a result from an old DJ and young Ramik.

 

My oh my, how I miss Mauga. (Can't believe I just said that)

Run defense gave up 3.4 ypc

[Bub 20]

liquidfriend, you wouldn't be saying that if Acker hadn't dropped that interception.

[liquidfriend 1,151]

Ah yeah, I still would be.  Evans was beating them badly and would of had a monster game if crablegs was more accurate.  Not having a S over the top was stupid.

 

I've said it all year.  The turnovers are all nice and what not, but this Defense has been leaky as hell all year long.  The turnover ratio has really helped to mask how bad they've been statistically on both sides of the ball in aspects, and they'll probably lose if a team keeps the football secured.

 

The Chiefs were a flat 0 on the ratio yesterday and they lost.

 

E:  Oh and there was one poster that said people were gonna miss Mauga a lot more than they realized. 

[DefensiveMan 758]

D Line run defense. Missing Bailey, Howard and DeVito. I say bring his ass back out of retirement.

[eraser 722]

Mauga of 2015 is missed this year. Unfortunately, it is 2016, and he is not healthy. Mauga had hip surgery. Will he be ready for 2017? Maybe everything will be alright, but he will cost close to $3 M to play one more year with the Chiefs. With a tight CAP, the Chiefs will be looking for ways to close that gap.

[Bub 20]

liquidfriend, there was a safety over the top most of the day. Did you see Parker drop the pick in the end zone? Again, the issue wasn't coverage. It was the all around lack of a pass rush. There were times Crab Leggy Leggerson had 6 seconds in the pocket. It doesn't matter if you are Deion Sanders with Ed Reed over the top. You can't chase a guy across the field for six seconds. Look a little deeper.

[liquidfriend 1,151]

Uh, no shit. There is always a single high safety. Thats Suttons D.

 

Thanks though, Captain Obvious