Kansas City Chiefs ‘answered the challenge’ with win vs. Lions | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

Kansas City Chiefs ‘answered the challenge’ with win vs. Lions | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

Uh Chris, you had a little spidey sense yesterday that the switch from man to zone helped the Chiefs defense. When you went back and watched the all 22 snap by snap, did you feel vindicated on that? Well, I did and you helped me out. You know, the numbers on the money are lying. You’re right. Right. And you know, I I like I always say, it’s I I do I I rely on Spidey Senses. I don’t know how to work most of the grading sites to figure out wait what like I see you do it and I’m like I at some point I have to ask you doing to pull things up that quickly. I just run filters. So like for me it’s like I want to see this team what they’re doing on third downs in the third quarter. And that’s a really deep example. I don’t sit there and do that for all of them. But when you have things that you see on tape it’s like okay let’s see if the it’s not analytics. It’s see if the numbers match up to what I think I’m seeing here. Right. they usually do. I I I got to uh get it get better at doing that stuff. But yeah, my my Spidey senses were right about, you know, the Sunday night game. Certainly, the the Chiefs did play more big people on the defensive side of the ball, more three linebacker sets, definitely more zone. The Lions took an approach of playing big people on offense for the majority of the football game. I thought that was interesting. We’ll talk about that as we go on too because I think at some point if I was them I would have got off of that a little bit. But yes, I mean the bottom line is the Chiefs continue to amaze me with answering the bell, answering the challenge. And I’ve always said this, you know, oh no, how can can the Chiefs really beat the 49ers in the run game in the Super Bowl? Well, they’ve done it twice. Oh, can the Chiefs, you know, can they can they handle the Eagles and and not get overpowered? Well, they beat them once. Now, I know the other time they got overpowered. I got that. But yet, they they bring it. That’s what I’m saying. And they brought it in this football game. And I think it caught Detroit by surprise a little bit. And if you really ask me, and I know you saw my notes, I Detroit’s game plan was we are going to overpower the Chiefs. That’s right. We are going to do that. We think we can. We’re going to come out and do that. It couldn’t have been more apparent if you turn on the film and watch it with two and three tight end sets, an unbalanced line, an extra lineman, and all of that. They really thought they were going to line up and overpower them. And not so fast, my friend, the Chiefs, of course, Spags and everybody else answers the bell in a big way, right? And the Lions, they are typically one of the teams that they’ll be at the top in terms of 12 personnel. They tight end on the on the field. But in this game, Chris, they were in 12 or 13 tight ends. Personnel 54% of the time that I mean that’s high for anyone doing that in the sport in this usually 11 personnel, you’re hovering 70 to the higher side like McVey over the years and some other coaches Okonnell will be 91%. That’s really high. So for a team to be playing with multiple tight ends more than half their offensive snaps and like you said, it’s not that that’s a problem because lines are really good at that. That’s why they have Sam Laaporta and these different guys. It’s that they didn’t adjust out of it enough when they probably needed to. That’s that’s what it is. And and and and get don’t get me wrong here. I I I pro I would have taken the same approach if I’m the Lions. Sure. There’s the thing I question about the Chiefs, too. I’ve questioned it every week. I just go, I don’t know if this Dline’s quite the same as what it used to be. I’m not sure that they’re going to be able to stop the run like we’ve seen Spags and that defense do for so long. But man, they proved me wrong. And yeah, I do think the Lions should have changed, especially in the second half. They continue to stay with it. and you’re down 10 points and you’re like, “No, no, it’s over now. Let’s try a new thing here.” And it’s what we talked about a little on Monday, the Chiefs. Here’s here’s one area I think that I probably underestimated with the Chiefs, right? Is that Yeah, they’re not real big, but they have a lot of versatility and a lot of depth. They throw fresh bodies at you on the Dline. I think that’s one thing probably I’ve underestimated. We know Dana Naughty, Chris Jones, Caris start, but then you get into Whoa. Okay, Norman Lot, he’s pretty good. All right, Tillery, he gets in there and has some good snaps, right? Uh Amenu Herring, I mean, you it goes it goes on to where you just go, okay, yeah, there’s some big bodies here that help their football team out certainly. And so, I think I’ve underestimated that. But the real key to this game more than anything was the three linebackers. the three linebackers. They played really well. They’re extremely athletic. They’re the three kind of three linebackers in football where you can keep them on the field and go, “Yeah, they might throw the ball here, but these guys can cover. They can run.” Leo Chanel and Nick Bolton early in the football game are everywhere. Drew Tranquil had his moments as well, but I’m just talking about early in the game. I mean, they make a lot of plays and of course with their defensive linemen and they do a good job of rotating, so they got a fresh body in there all the time. And then the linebackers abilities to what I call read keys, right? Because hey, Detroit’s one of those teams that they give you a lot of different stuff. Hey, look, we’re gonna fake it over here and do this over here. Oh, but we’re running up the middle. And then the linebacker takes a few wrong steps and he’s like, oh no, they’re running right at me now. I got a blocker on me and they run for 20 yards up the middle. Right. The they the way they teach keys, I don’t even know if I could fully explain it, but they’re all over it. And they read and diagnose plays so fast to where Jir Gibbs gets the ball and he’s in the hole and you go, “Well, you know, Leah Chanel’s in the hole already. He’s already there. It’s too late. Nick Bolton’s there already.” You know, Spags taught them what to look at on this certain play with this personnel and they see it right away and they go, “Oh, I’m not faking. I’m not going to go for all the window dressing. I’m going I know the ball’s going to be over here somewhere.” So, that’s what I’m impressed with. And that to me was really one of the keys of the game, them with the three linebackers and them changing it up with the zone coverage that we pointed out on Monday morning, too. And to the point about the linebackers, they were fifth in the NFL this week of having a 43 front, like having those three linebackers on the field, but they also went 335 over 11% of the time. So even when they wanted the extra defensive back out there, they would take the down defensive lineman off the field to keep the three linebackers back. Yeah. What is what is the advantage of that? Yeah, cuz the 3-35, you don’t see the usage of it very high in the NFL. Like if a team is running 335 20% of the time, that’s very high. 335 can definitely change up certain looks, right? You can still go three down linemen, put the linebackers over the guards and go, “Hey, we’re in a five, fiveman front.” You can do overload blitzes. You can maybe go, “Hey, three linemen kick towards the tight end side, right? We got two other linebackers behind you on that side.” And then we might bring one of those weak ones off the weak side there to where we can slant and play the two tight ends to the right and we can overload that side yet we still have a guy on the backside to help with the cut back run or the bootleg or whatever else. Right. I think it’s another good way of just going we’re getting fast. We’re a little worried about you passing the ball here, but we’re still feel good if you run it up the middle. We’ll still have enough big people in here to stop the run game and and not get totally gashed. I think that’s what it what it is. And with those three linebackers, and I know I said to you before the show, right, they’re one of these teams where when I look at a film like that, I sit there and go, I might I I might not match personnel so much if I’m the Kansas City Chiefs. Like, if it’s second and five, I and a team brings in three receivers, one tight end, one back, 11 personnel like we call it. I with that group right there, I might go, nah, we’ll keep our base defense in. Sure, we we can do it. Those three all can run, right? You don’t want them playing manto man against certain guys. We get that. So, you got to adjust that. Like, if it’s an unbelievable tight end or an unbelievable back out of the back field, like, okay, yeah, you got to you got to maybe play zones, but I I think with them in that that would be something I’d dabble in a little bit. Oh, it’s it’s second and six and we’re playing the Chargers. Chargers might put in three receivers, but they still, you know, they might run the ball. So, let’s have some big people in so we don’t get beat in the run game, but yet we feel pretty good that they can drop into a zone and whatever else and rally or read the quarterback’s eyes and make the passing lane small or whatever else. And and if I’m them, yeah, that’s something that I would uh definitely tinker with a little bit more. And isn’t that, you know, kind of the point of having a true tranquil player out there as the third as a third linebacker because of what he can do? He can almost be like a a big thing. Yes. Right. He can do that. that him and Leo Shanal can kind of do both of it because both of them can really run. I mean, they really can. And of course, Nick Bolton can really run, too. And then and then Cook at safety can really run. So, in that middle part of the defense at the second/3 level, you know, you they have some holes sometimes, but you go, man, that hole closes in a hurry with those guys around there. That’s what you like about it, right? So, uh I understood the Lions approach what I said, right? But but Kansas City had a good move off of it and then them playing zone I think certainly threw a little bit of a wrench into the Lions. The And again, I don’t want to sit here and downplay but the Lions did right because let’s not forget the biggest play of the game. They were up 10 to six kind of in field goal range and if Aman Brown catches a slant route that he catches 99 out of 100 times, you go, whoa, this this they’re going to put pressure on the Chiefs right here on this drive. That was a huge moment of the game. But for a team that functions at such a high level offensively, yeah, they hit more bumps in the road this week and a little bit of that is because of Spags and what they did. And I think that the the Lions in the third and fourth quarter to my and for my money, handcuffed themselves a little bit in the two tight end, three tight end sets. And did you see did it feel like Chris Jones had a little more fire on tape after that tough last play against Jacksonville? Yeah, he definitely had plays where he was disruptive in the back field, dominated. Might not have got the tackle or whatever else, but there was definitely moments of that for sure. And they played as a motivated physical football team. Who’s the best player on this defense? Cuz it feels like more of the like the Spartan unit rather than, you know, the one lead. I think that’s right. McDuffy’s the best player for me. McDuffy’s the guy that you he can he can cover the best receiver on the team. He can play slot nickel. He’s a phenomenal blitzer. He’s a phenomenal tackler in the run game. Right. So, I look at him and go, that’s the best player on the defense with, like you said, a bunch of other really good I’m not sure if anybody’s a superstar anymore, but a bunch of really good. Um, yeah. So, so that that’s I I mean, listen, they’re they’re they’re smart, they’re creative, they change it up, they do all that, right? But let’s hit on the Lions a little bit and why they should have gone 11 personnel for my mind. And they really didn’t floor it on that until they had to at the end. Yes. Like you look at the 11 personnel I looked went up in the second half cuz it was like, “Oh we got to make up some points and we can’t play our pace, right?” Like I always say like the Lions and the Broncos are two teams that to me they always want to dictate the pace of the game and they’re really good at it. Yes. They’re like, “Oh, if we want a rock fight today, it’ll be a rock fight. if we want a shootout today. Broncos not lately, but we know we think Shawn Payeyton at some point could find the Lions can be in a shootout and they could survive that way. And it felt like the Lions at the end of this game were like, “Oh, like we are not dictating the pace of this play.” Definitely not. And then they continue to kind of stay with what they were doing and and which I just at one at some point, especially like I said late in the third quarter, I just go, “Well, wait, you’re not doing what you just talked about. You’re not dictating tempo. You’re not dominating the football game with what the approach is. They are playing 43 a lot and getting into fiveman fronts and playing big people. Let’s change it up. Let’s change it up a little bit. And within that, I don’t know why. Now, 11 personnel, you go three receivers and you get in passing. We know Spag can be very creative with blitzes and different looks and all that, but you’re a you got a quarterback who’s really good at handling that stuff. He he reads the field really well. I if I was the Lions, I at some point in the third quarter would have gone, “Okay, we’re not running the ball real good today.” Right? They can do some creative stuff, but can they really handle, you know, uh Ammon Raw, uh Jameson, Leaporta, and let’s say Tesla or uh you know what’s the other damn quick receiver they got? I’m blanking on his damn name. The punt returner. Um, hold on. Khalif, right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like at some point I would have tested that out and gone. Okay. Play zone on this. Let me see. We got a lot of good zone. Oh, wait. You want to play man? I I think one of our guys in this matchup are going to win against one of your guys. We might not be able to beat McDuffy, but the other two guys like we think Almanra can beat whoever else and we think Khalif Raymond or Tesla could beat somebody else or Leaporta could beat the safety manto man. I thought they let Kansas City off the hook there in that way. and not kind of just going, “Okay, what we did didn’t work. Let’s attack a different way. Let’s unveil the passing offense and let’s see if they can handle our heat in the passing game and the receivers and all we got.” I thought they were uh they never really adjusted like you said until it was like we’re down 13 and the game’s kind of over. And even further to enhance your point, Jir Gibbs had one snap away from the backfield. He played one snap in the slot. He feels like a guy that maybe you move around a little bit more. And he he can’t walk out of a game with two targets, one catch, and no receiving yards. Jamir Gibbs, we just you and I recap this week the Falcons with the way they use Bejian Robinson in both the run and pass game like Gibbs needs to be and we’ve seen this from Gibbs. It’s not like but he this is a game where he stay in your two or three tight end sets if they’re playing three linebackers get in an empty formation now put Jir Gibbs in the slot move them out right to me this was a game also with the fact that the that Kansas City was keeping the three linebackers in. I’m usually one that sits here and goes give Jir Gibbs the ball a lot. There wasn’t a lot of holes. This was a David Montgomery let him smash it in there for four yards a bunch. They didn’t do that either. So yeah, I thought their read and the game and how it was going as spoton as it usually is with the Detroit Lions and they usually do adjust to the right things and felt like they didn’t in this one for whatever reasons. I would love to ask John Morton like why did you stick with the two and three personnel two and three tight end personnel so much. You know sometimes offensive coordinators do that because we’ve talked about this. It quiets down a creative defense because they go, “Wait, I like this blitz, but if I bring this blitz and they run this play with two or three tight ends over here, we’re not going to have enough people.” So, it makes everybody be gap sound as far as a Dcoordinator. They go, “Oh, let’s just be simple and make sure we got guys so we don’t get overpowered.” Uh, yeah, that was something that I think John Morton would probably uh re-evaluate the next time he plays the Chiefs. Yo yo homies, it’s time to watch some games. That’s right, we’re on to the NFL season here with Chris Sims Unbutton. Hit subscribe to get our weekly picks, Sunday night recaps after every game, and much, much more. Thanks for watching. Peace out, homies. Remember, subscribe. Peace out.

Chris Simms and Connor Rogers break down the Kansas City Chiefs’ big win over the Detroit Lions during Week 6 Sunday Night Football. #NBCSports #NFL #ChrisSimmsUnbuttoned
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Kansas City Chiefs ‘answered the challenge’ with win vs. Lions | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC
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