The Kansas City Chiefs are known to have one of the best defenses in the league. They did last year, and the year before, and this year has been no different. But, they have been slacking a bit on that side of the ball. Look no further than giving up 27 points to the Carolina Panthers and 30 points to the Buffalo Bills.
While you may say that the Bills getting 30 points is more acceptable, well, the Chiefs lost that game, whereas they beat the Panthers. This week’s game against a bad Las Vegas Raiders team will be key in seeing if this defense is starting to fall off or if last week was an anomaly.
So far, it’s looking like a bit of an anomaly, as Bryce Young, the Panthers QB, had the game of his life. The Raiders are one of the worst teams in the entire NFL, as Antonio Pierce has already said. So, the Chiefs and their defense have to handle their business.
And, this isn’t a new thing — the Chiefs and their defense slacking. They have been very honest and vocal about it.
“Listen, there have been some real good things but there (are) some things we have to clean up,” head coach Andy Reid said on Wednesday. “The guys are taking accountability for that – and coaches and that’s what’s it all about (and) you work through those things and make sure that you can get yourself where you want to be.”
Under Andy Reid’s tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs starting from 2013, spanning both regular season and playoffs, the Carolina Panthers became just the third team to score on at least 75% of their offensive drives when facing off against the Chiefs’ defense.
The singular occasion where a team managed to score on such a high percentage of drives and still emerged victorious was in 2018. That game was a thrilling Week 6 encounter where Tom Brady’s New England Patriots outgunned the Chiefs in a high-scoring affair, securing a close win with a final score of 43-40.
According to NFL Pro and Next Gen Stats, during the Week 12 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, Bryce Young faced a blitz on an unprecedented 40.0% of his dropbacks, which was the highest for the season. Under pressure, he excelled, completing 11 out of 14 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown, achieving an impressive average of 9.6 yards per attempt, his best performance of the season under those circumstances.
Young was also effective on deeper throws, connecting on nine out of 16 passes that traveled over 10 air yards, totaling 165 yards. This performance led to a career-high completion percentage over expected, marking a significant +14.0% above what was statistically anticipated, given he had at least five such attempts.
The Chief’s defense just wasn’t what we are accustomed to. They blew assignments, missed tackles, and anything else you can think of. And, that’s not how this team plays football. I’m confident, as is the team, that they will get all of that sorted out before they play on Black Friday.
