The Kansas City Chiefs will see their run defense at the forefront of the discussion on Sunday when they face the Carolina Panthers.
Panthers star RB Christian McCaffrey is expected to make his return from injured reserve on Sunday. The fourth-year professional is coming off of a 2019 season where he had the third-most rushing yards and second-most rushing touchdowns in the NFL. McCaffrey suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2 and has spent the season on injured reserve ever since.
“He’s a unique back, obviously, we all know that,” Chiefs LB Anthony Hitchens said of McCaffrey. “He’s a good receiving back, he’s a hard-nosed runner out the backfield. He’s one of the better athletes in this league. We have some things for him. Good for them for having him back, but our gameplan didn’t change much.”
Hitchens may downplay the impact, but McCaffrey will pose a big challenge for the Chiefs’ defense on Sunday. Perhaps the most glaring fault of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIV team was the run defense. It improved late in the season, specifically after Mike Pennel was added to the defense. Defending the run has been a constant struggle for the team this season too. So far, the Chiefs have allowed 1,142 rushing yards (fourth-most) and seven rushing touchdowns (17th-most) on 238 attempts (fourth-most) this season.
The players and coaches are well aware that it’s an area that needs improvement.
“We really like the idea of being a stout defensive team as far as stopping the run,” Chiefs DB Daniel Sorensen said following Week 7. “That’s something that we’re going to be chasing and always going to be trying to improve week in and week out. It always comes down to points for the defense. That’s all that matters, is the points on the scoreboard. Keeping those points low and closing games out.”
For defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, he preaches to his players that they must earn the right to rush the passer by stopping the run. The guys have taken to that, but there’s also a bottom-line sort of attitude for the defense. So long as teams aren’t scoring points, the defense will be happy.
“Yeah, we’ve just got to keep improving,” Hitchens said of the run defense. “I don’t think we’re where we want to be right now overall in the run game. But we’re showing signs of being great and we’re not giving up that many points. At the end of the day, that’s how you win games. Not letting teams score on you and making them kick field goals instead of touchdowns. Sometimes, you know, the score of the game might make the team run more or less. There’s a lot of stuff that’s kind of out of our hands. What we’re trying to do is just improve in every phase, every week.”
When it comes to slowing down McCaffrey in his return, if the Chiefs can keep him out of the endzone, they’ll feel that they’ve done their job. Everything else is gravy for the defense, so long as they come away with a win.
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