Defense still matters if you want playoff success

[blueblood70]

I don’t need to spend time describing how bad our defense has looked. We know. Yes, there have been injuries, but it didn’t look that great on paper when everyone was healthy.

Much of the offseason Koolaide being drunk by some of our fans centered on the idea that our offense is so good, we can out score teams in most games, and hope the defense just keeps it close enough for the offense to win 11 or 12 and win some playoff shoot outs. After all, the NFL has certainly become an offense heavy league where the rules completely favor offense.

But despite all that, the teams winning in the playoffs mostly still have some of the league’s better defenses. You have to have a respectable defense to win. Looking at last years playoff teams, that bears out:

• 10 of last year’s 12 playoff teams had top 15 defenses.
  
• Even the chiefs had an underrated defense, ranking 9th last year.
  
• The two teams in last year’s SB both had top ten defenses.
• The chiefs were 5th in the league in sacks and INTs.
• Turnovers and sacks are very predictive of playoff success. Teams with a combined sack/turnover amount of 50+ are historically good bets to win big in the playoffs.

I’m glad we have a good offense. But that is never enough. Apparently, Jerry loves his jersey sales more than playoff contention. Because until this organization starts really investing in some top notch young defensive talent in the draft, coupled with an occasional top FA on defense, we’re probably going to continue what we’ve been getting for a long time- a lot of 8-8 seasons.

sure in perfect world but look around the league a ton of defenses are way behind offenses and most due to major injuries', the Seahawks defense has as many holes as ours..they have let teams pass on them for more yards then our or pretty close..i mean Ryan hung 450 on them and Cam of all people hung like close to 400...

they are harder to run on but just lost their best LB and starting S ..both teams banged up on D , will most likely be shootout.

our offense and ST hijinks put our D in hole last week with TOs , we gave up a lot less points to the rams who hung 37 on the eagles.so hopefully we gel some, Nolan gets feel for what he has and ways to get more pressure to help the backend..

many defenses are behind the offenses right now..we have 14 left to get it worked out..its how you finish not how you start see ex we started 3-0 last year ..")

 

[CouchCoach]

Normally, I would agree but where are the defenses this year?

The two best NFC teams so far are GB and SEA and they've both given up 27.5 ppg in the first 2 games.

All comes down to the matchup in the playoffs and who a team draws.

 

[pitt33]

Normally, I would agree but where are the defenses this year?

The two best NFC teams so far are GB and SEA and they've both given up 27.5 ppg in the first 2 games.

All comes down to the matchup in the playoffs and who a team draws.

Interesting point on GB and Seahawks.

I just wish we could give our offense a short field to work with every now and then

 

[Bobhaze]

sure in perfect world but look around the league a ton of defenses are way behind offenses and most due to major injuries', the Seahawks defense has as many holes as ours..they have let teams pass on them for more yards then our or pretty close..i mean Ryan hung 450 on them and Cam of all people hung like close to 400...

they are harder to run on but just lost their best LB and starting S ..both teams banged up on D , will most likely be shootout.

our offense and ST hijinks put our D in hole last week with TOs , we gave up a lot less points to the rams who hung 37 on the eagles.so hopefully we gel some, Nolan gets feel for what he has and ways to get more pressure to help the backend..

many defenses are behind the offenses right now..we have 14 left to get it worked out..its how you finish not how you start see ex we started 3-0 last year ..")

Blue, I think you’re right about defenses being behind the offenses right now. It will be interesting to see if that remains true as the season progresses. We haven’t had a really good defense here for a long time. It’s hard for me to have much faith that this defense is going to be better than average but time will tell. Getting some turnovers can help.

 

[blueblood70]

Blue, I think you’re right about defenses being behind the offenses right now. It will be interesting to see if that remains true as the season progresses. We haven’t had a really good defense here for a long time. It’s hard for me to have much faith that this defense is going to be better than average but time will tell.

only variable is we have all all new staff and ST are vastly improved..hopefully new coaching staff can adjust and gel over the next 5-6 game sand get it figured out..

Marinelli was from the same tree as his Kiffin, so he and Richard just continued to let us down because we saw the same bs all year every year for decade..

New staff get the benefit of the doubt..let them figure out who they have and how to use them..2nd half of games so far look a lot better then how they are starting so the staff shows they can adjust..

 

[Rayman70]

turns out, Preseason is a good thing, along with mini camps. Imagine that. I am shocked. My theory is defenses never had time to gel together in camp or preseason and they are woefully behind across the league. They may never catch up to offense. Its not just here in Dallas. Its across the board.

 

[Jake]

I don’t need to spend time describing how bad our defense has looked. We know. Yes, there have been injuries, but it didn’t look that great on paper when everyone was healthy.

Much of the offseason Koolaide being drunk by some of our fans centered on the idea that our offense is so good, we can out score teams in most games, and hope the defense just keeps it close enough for the offense to win 11 or 12 and win some playoff shoot outs. After all, the NFL has certainly become an offense heavy league where the rules completely favor offense.

But despite all that, the teams winning in the playoffs mostly still have some of the league’s better defenses. You have to have a respectable defense to win. Looking at last years playoff teams, that bears out:

• 10 of last year’s 12 playoff teams had top 15 defenses.
  
• Even the chiefs had an underrated defense, ranking 9th last year.
  
• The two teams in last year’s SB both had top ten defenses.
• The chiefs were 5th in the league in sacks and INTs.
• Turnovers and sacks are very predictive of playoff success. Teams with a combined sack/turnover amount of 50+ are historically good bets to win big in the playoffs.

I’m glad we have a good offense. But that is never enough. Apparently, Jerry loves his jersey sales more than playoff contention. Because until this organization starts really investing in some top notch young defensive talent in the draft, coupled with an occasional top FA on defense, we’re probably going to continue what we’ve been getting for a long time- a lot of 8-8 seasons.

One of the biggest differences between the 2018 Chiefs and the 2019 Chiefs was their defense.

2018 KC allowed 26.3 ppg
2019 KC allowed 19.3 ppg

That's a TD per game, and it's why 2018 fell short and 2019 won it all.

 

[DuncanIso]

I don’t need to spend time describing how bad our defense has looked. We know. Yes, there have been injuries, but it didn’t look that great on paper when everyone was healthy.

Much of the offseason Koolaide being drunk by some of our fans centered on the idea that our offense is so good, we can out score teams in most games, and hope the defense just keeps it close enough for the offense to win 11 or 12 and win some playoff shoot outs. After all, the NFL has certainly become an offense heavy league where the rules completely favor offense.

But despite all that, the teams winning in the playoffs mostly still have some of the league’s better defenses. You have to have a respectable defense to win. Looking at last years playoff teams, that bears out:

• 10 of last year’s 12 playoff teams had top 15 defenses.
  
• Even the chiefs had an underrated defense, ranking 9th last year.
  
• The two teams in last year’s SB both had top ten defenses.
• The chiefs were 5th in the league in sacks and INTs.
• Turnovers and sacks are very predictive of playoff success. Teams with a combined sack/turnover amount of 50+ are historically good bets to win big in the playoffs.

I’m glad we have a good offense. But that is never enough. Apparently, Jerry loves his jersey sales more than playoff contention. Because until this organization starts really investing in some top notch young defensive talent in the draft, coupled with an occasional top FA on defense, we’re probably going to continue what we’ve been getting for a long time- a lot of 8-8 seasons.

Look who our DC is.

Are you really surprised our defense is jacked?

 

[G2]

We need a defense that forces turnovers.

 

[CouchCoach]

Is there a great defense out there right now? MN can't score and is 0-2, SF is a MASH unit. NE gave up 35 to SEA. Belichick is committed to DB's and gave up 5 TD passes on Sunday.

The two teams that have been so D focused in the past, along with NE, are BAL and PIT and look at what they done on the O side of the ball. It was as if they saw it coming, the days of the shutdown and riding a D to glory are gone. If they built one, they couldn't keep it together more than a year. But what separates BAL is that they always seem to have that opportunistic D that gets turnovers at the right time.

The rules favor the offenses and it's just too hard to stop teams without them helping the defense out with mistakes. The refs still miss most of the pick plays and all the freaks are coming in as receivers like Hill, Waller and Metcalf and it's damned near impossible to cover them, best they can do is try to control the damage they do.

Then, how do they cover for the loss of a stud D player. The Broncos have the most cap committed to the D said and with Von Miller out, they're 0-2. They're only giving up 21 ppg but only scoring 17.5 ppg.

I do think the Cowboys have the offense to make the playoffs but the defense necessary to advance all depends on the luck of the draw.

 

[CouchCoach]

We need a defense that forces turnovers.

Well, we've had coaches that said they were going to focus on that. It's hard for them to get turnovers when they're on the sideline.

The Colts and Saints won SB's just that way. They played a different kind of bend don't break defense. They bent but then broke the other team with a turnover. Starts with picking the right guys. I liked Byron Jones but I wouldn't want to play catch with him and I've never seen so many DB's with a surprised look on their faces when they see the ball in the air.

 

[Diehardblues]

Good stuff Bob.

But it’s really tough taking this franchise serious with Jethro, his Cheapskate Son and now Riverboat Mike. Lol

 

[G2]

Well, we've had coaches that said they were going to focus on that. It's hard for them to get turnovers when they're on the sideline.

The Colts and Saints won SB's just that way. They played a different kind of bend don't break defense. They bent but then broke the other team with a turnover. Starts with picking the right guys. I liked Byron Jones but I wouldn't want to play catch with him and I've never seen so many DB's with a surprised look on their faces when they see the ball in the air.

There were multiple opportunities, right off their hands.

 

[conner01]

Joe Thomas saved he day as he covered for LVE absence and helped jaylon a lot .

He played a good game

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Normally, I would agree but where are the defenses this year?

The two best NFC teams so far are GB and SEA and they've both given up 27.5 ppg in the first 2 games.

All comes down to the matchup in the playoffs and who a team draws.

This.

I'm seeing a lot of bad defensive play all around the NFL... Lot's and lots of defenses giving up a lot of points and yardage.

 

[Diehardblues]

We had the top defense make the SB last year in SF. It just lost to the best QB.

Top defenses are still an asset. They just can lose out to the greater QB’s.

But the better defenses stymied us last year.

 

[gongjr]

Considering how much time people complain about the QB, you'd never know our defense has been an issue for very long time. I will say this though, if this coaching staff can figure out how to get turnovers out of this bunch we might have a chance. I'm thinking along the lines of the Saints super bowl run. Here's hoping I guess.

 

[Bobhaze]

It doesn’t require a #1 defense to win a championship. But it does usually require a top 10-15, and/or a D that gets a lot of sacks and TOs.

 

[gimmesix]

Exactly..... a lot of changes on defense. As stated before, it could take 3-5 games for them to come together. This would have been a 2nd preseason game in a normal season.

I'm kind of hoping for a 2007 Giants-type thing with the defense. They weren't that good for the first half of the season then peaked for the second half and the playoffs. I don't think we have the same talent as that defense, but we've got some good players if we use them right and some young ones who could come on to elevate the play of the unit.

 

[CATCH17]

Jaylon is a frontrunning fraudster. Smoke and mirrors. But yeah, your right... Thomas is our best linebacker right now and its not even close. Jaylon and LVE get all the hype, but Joe just keeps showing up and doing his job. He had a nice game Sunday.

Jaylon's a mess but dude can blitz as good as anyone.