Question Mark No. 1 … Monday Cup O’Chiefs

From St. Joseph, Missouri

Sometimes when you look at a football team and its numbers, there are moments where they do not mesh, where one number next to another leaves you scratching your head for a rational explanation of what’s happened.

Take the Chiefs defense, please. Sorry couldn’t resist the Henny Youngman moment! (For the kids, here’s a link to who Henny was.)

Last year they were the eighth ranked defense in the NFL when it came to possessions where the opposing offense went three plays and out. They faced 201 offensive possessions and the opponent punted after three plays 49 times. That’s right around 25 percent of the time.

That ranked the Chiefs defense at the top half of the league with the likes of the New York Jets, Minnesota and Pittsburgh, some of the best defenses in the league. This was a very good stat. It was one of the few they were able to muster.

Here’s the flip side that doesn’t connect: the Chiefs had the worst defense in the NFL last year on 1st-and-10; they faced 430 such plays and allowed 2,878 yards, or 6.7 yards per first down play.

Do the math and that means after a 1st-and-10 play, the opponent had on average a 2nd-and-3 situation on the next play.

“We were either really, really good, or we were really, really bad,” said OLB Mike Vrabel. “We were high in the league in three and outs and that’s a good stat to have. But we had trouble in stopping the running game and sometimes we couldn’t get off the field.”

Head coach Todd Haley saw it the same way. “We were all or nothing,” Haley said.

Stopping the run is a major part of the scenario for any team that wants to contend and eventually win a championship. It’s one of the game’s most important statistics, and not just for the defense. The number of times an opponent runs the ball, how many yards they get and how many yards per run are indicators of more than just the status of the defense. It also says a lot about the offense, even special teams.

This is where the different facets of the game of football work together, one side helping the other. It’s why one factor in improving the Chiefs defense against the run will be the Kansas City offense and kicking game.

“We have to play better football across the board,” said Haley. “A lot of our problems on defense didn’t involve the defense.”

Added Vrabel: “We were in tight games and that affects what the opponent does. You need everybody to help for a good defense. You need good special teams and a good offense. They all make each other good.”

What wasn’t good was the Chiefs defense in 2009, and that followed a pattern that developed in 2008 and even back to 2007, and possibly all the way back to the start of the last decade. Quite simply the Chiefs defense has not been very good for a long time now.

It certainly has not had an identity since the day Derrick Thomas died. The Chiefs defenses of the 1990s were ball-hawking, turnover- creating, sacking and harassing groups that often altered the game and the scoreboard. With Thomas’ passing in early 2000, things changed. At that time, D.T. was on the downside of his career and who knows how many more seasons he could have been a factor on the outcome of games.

But his presence meant something to opponents and provided a personality that’s been missing since. Check out the numbers for where the defenses ranked in the NFL in total yards allowed, rushing yards allowed and passing yards allowed, along with takeaways, sacks and touchdowns scored by the defense:

From one decade to the next the Chiefs saw a 50 percent drop in defensive touchdowns and on average eight fewer takeaways and 12 fewer sacks per season. In yards allowed, the 1990s defenses finished on average 11th among the league teams. In the next decade they averaged a spot at No. 25.

The bottom has dropped out of the Chiefs defense against the run. In the 1990s, they allowed 27 opposing running backs to top 100 yards and only three topped 150 yards. The biggest rushing day against them in the ’90s was in 1998 when San Diego’s Natrone Means ran for 165 yards.

In the 2000s, K.C.’s defense allowed 53 opposing backs to top 100 yards, nine went over 150 and three went over 200 yards. The best rushing performance in the decade against the Chiefs was last December when Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison ran for 286 yards, setting a Browns single-game record.

Last year the Chiefs defense allowed more rushing plays of four yards or more than any team in the league, with 252. That was 10 more than the team behind them, Tampa Bay. But when it came to allowing runs of 10 or more yards, the Chiefs were seventh, allowing 57 and they were seventh in allowing runs of 20 yards or more at 15. That tells us that the Chiefs were hammered not so much by big plays as they were by runs of four to nine yards.

Evidence of that came on first down rushing defense, where they finished No. 31 in the league, seeing 281 running plays on the initial down and allowing an average of 5.2 yards per carry. Only Buffalo was worse, giving up an average of 5.6 yards per carry. The Chiefs caused the fewest negative rushes on first down with just 12 out of the 281 rushing plays they faced.

So it was first down where the run defense got slammed time after time. Allowing 5.2 yards per carry set up the opponent on average at 2nd-and-5; that makes it easier for the offensive coordinator to be creative and harder for the defensive coordinator.

There’s no question that the breakdowns in the Chiefs defense against the run last year came at all three levels of the unit: line, linebackers and secondary. Certainly the majority of the blame must fall to the front seven. The first year of the 3-4 defensive scheme under then coordinator Clancy Pendergast was a bust.

And the biggest exhibition of that came on December 20, when the Cleveland Browns ran for 351 yards. In pro football history that performance ranks No. 20 for the most rushing yards gained in a game. In the last 22 seasons (since 1988) it’s the fourth highest rushing total in a single game.

Last year’s Chiefs defense allowed 12 teams to run for 100 yards or more, eight ran for 150 yards or more, three topped 200 yards and the Browns went over the 300-yard mark.

Enough? Haley does not need to be reminded; he lived through the dismal defense against the run and its ramifications.

Given the size of the problem, the Chiefs obviously went out and spent a great deal of their money and time improving the situation, right?

Wrong. They added defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. They added journeyman defensive tackle Shaun Smith. They drafted safety Eric Berry in the first round and safety Kendrick Lewis and linebacker Cameron Sheffield in the fifth round.

On the roster, that was not a big infusion of new or experienced talent. Substituting Crennel for Pendergast was a definite upgrade considering his career and background and Super Bowl rings.

So how will the Chiefs get better against the run?

It will have to come from within, from young defensive ends Glenn Dorsey and Tyson Jackson, and all the linebackers from Jovan Belcher to Demorrio Williams. Safeties both young and old have to be better.

Improvement will also be fostered by an offense that can spend more time on the field and doesn’t turn the ball over and force the defense to come off the bench. It will be helped by a kicking game that continually effects field position in a positive manner for the Chiefs.

But essentially the defense has to help itself. Where do they stand now, the week of the first pre-season game and closing in on just 35 days away from the regular-season opener?

“I would say it’s a work in progress,” Haley said. “There are some days where I really get excited and really want to see how we look and there are some days where it looks like a little too much, like we’ve seen.

“The important is that we’re in training camp, we’re going to get a bunch of periods that we can take full advantage of them.”

Haley says watching the defense go through practice has given him evidence they know what to do. Now it’s a matter of stamina and consistency.

“The other important point is what I see happening in the drills; they look like they’re doing it the way we’re asking them to do it,” said Haley. “There are wins and losses there. Then when we get to one of these nine-on-sevens, team runs or perimeter periods, you’ve seeing some of that carry over but it will start to wane.

“Then you get towards the end of the practice and some of these competitive periods, it wanes a little more. The key with these young players that are developing is that they continually understand that the name of the game is moving it from one period to the next. I think that’s why our practices get a little more difficult at the back end because that’s what we have to get done. If we can be practicing at the end like we are at the beginning then I have to believe as we get into some of these pre-season games than that’ll start to happen – improved play will improve in those games and obviously when you get into the seasons, you’ve got to step up.

“I think it’s a work in progress, but I think they’re working.”

CHIEFS ALTER SCHEDULE BECAUSE OF THE HEAT

With heat index warnings ranging from 105 to 110 degrees predicted for the rest of the coming week, the Chiefs have made changes to their practice schedule for the rest of training camp.

On days when they practice twice (August 9, 11, 16 and 18), the start of the second workout has been moved from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The morning practice those days remains at 8:50 a.m. On days when they have just one practice (August 10, 15, 17 and 19), the start time will remain at 1:50 p.m.

Here’s the schedule:

NFL PERSONNEL FILE FOR SUNDAY, AUGUST 8

• BEARS – released QB Mike Teel, who suffered a hamstring injury in camp.
• 49ERS – signed WR Kevin Jurovich.
• JAGUARS – released injured WR Nate Hughes, who suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder and will not play this year; released S Terrell Whitehead and OL Andrew Crummey; signed LB Tony Gilbert, DT Leger Douzable and former Chiefs LB Kris Griffin.
• JETS – released injured OLB Kevin Basped; he suffered a knee injury in camp.
• RAIDERS – released injured WR Johnathan Holland; he suffered an ankle injury in camp.
• SEAHAWKS – re-signed WR Mike Hass, three days after they released him; released injured WR Isaiah Stanback, he suffered a torn Achilles tendon on Saturday.
• STEELERS – re-signed S Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, released in June by Pittsburgh; released injured S Tuff Harris.