ZachIsHere

Now that my site is on its way to being good to go again (thanks Ole and Meghann) it is time to talk about important matters.

How about my Chiefs?

The 3rd preseason game against St. Louis was quite a show of how things are going to be in Arrowhead and other NFL venues for the men in red this season. It was fantastic seeing the offense control the game with a long (7:14 mins. to be exact) and grinding drive that employed the run and pass equally for a touchdown. It was quite a show of power…the pass protection was great and the run was effective on both sides of the ball.

As nice as it is to see the offense flourish that is just another day at work for Kansas City. What about the defense?

They took the chains off the play book and started getting serious about playing defense. The results were impressive. The Chiefs showed a surprising and creative style of defense that controlled the tempo of the game. They are using a 3-4 defense but it isn’t in a traditional form. Gunther and Herm are dusting off some old defensive play books using a style of play that hasn’t been seen since the late Derrick Thomas was lining up for Kansas City. The “Falcon” position is making a comeback. Tamba Hali will be a free roaming defender with no set responsibility that is able to choose and pick a gap that he thinks will be the weakest link in pass protection. You can see the result of this in the animation below…

Unlike 1997 the Falcon 3-4 will not be the Chiefs base defense but another great part of the system is how easy it is to switch from 4-3 to 3-4 making fits for offensive lines and offenses as a whole.

It has been a long time since a defensive team in Kansas City has been able to execute a defensive game plan in that manner. It is only preseason but this is such an impressive departure from anything seen here in years that it seems like a very good sign of things to come.