The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t play their best game defensively against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1.
While there are lots of things the defense will be working to improve upon after the season opener, there is one thing you can be sure will be an emphasis in practice this week. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is a stickler for good form tackling and his unit didn’t a subpar job in that area in Week 1.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Chiefs’ defense missed a whopping 12 tackles against the Browns. Five of those missed tackles came from a single player, Chiefs DB Daniel Sorensen. The only team that was worse at tackling in Week 1 was the Indianapolis Colts. This stat passes the eye test too, as the team had a particularly tough time bringing Browns players down on first contact.
Spagnuolo spoke about tackling ahead of preseason Week 1. It’s tough to gauge where a team is at until they get to play in games.
“The thing that’s always hard, obviously, is I don’t know where we are with tackling,” Spagnuolo told reporters ahead of preseason Week 1. “Now, the coaches do a great job as best we can at simulating. Where I’m going is when we put the pads on, Coach Reid allows us to what we call ‘wrap and release.’ The thing that doesn’t get used here in training camp anymore because we don’t go live is defensive arms. Then, you go out to these first games, and everybody is doing what I call ‘block-tackling,’ which I don’t like. It’s like a swear word. To me, I’m going to be really looking for that.”
Well, through one regular-season game, it’s abundantly clear that the team needs to work towards improvement in this area again.
Coming up, the Chiefs will face another team that thrives running the football in the Baltimore Ravens. Even though they’re very banged up along the offensive line and at the running back position, they’re still a threat on the ground. They also happen to have the most elusive dual-threat quarterback in the league.
The Chiefs will have a chance at a statement win against another AFC contender on “Sunday Night Football” in Baltimore. However, the tackling needs to be much better if they’re to avoid explosive plays on the ground.
[listicle id=100130]