No D in K.C.: Is it time to start worrying about the Chiefs' defense?
New season, new questions! Welcome back to the Yahoo Sports NFL Mailbag, where we’re taking your questions via Twitter, Facebook, email and screaming into the void. Got a question? Hit us up by email at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or see below. Today, our teams discussed include the Chiefs, Patriots, Titans and Raiders. Let’s roll!
In Sunday night’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the New England Patriots punted zero times! That says a lot about K.C.’s defense. You put up 40 points, shouldn’t your team win?
-Michael, via comments
Yeah, talk to the Atlanta Falcons about that. The Chiefs are wretched at defense, ranking DFL in the NFL with an average surrender of 468.2 yards per game. But when you’ve got human cheat codes like Tyreek Hill and a quarterback who seems able to run out of multiple burning buildings at once, a terrible defense isn’t quite the liability it would seem.
Granted, you’re relying on your offense to continue to score the way they did against the Patriots last week. And that’s a dubious proposition even when you’ve got a humming offense like K.C.’s. If the Chiefs fall short of the Super Bowl this year, it’s going to be because the offense wasn’t able to repair the foundation that the defense couldn’t maintain.
(Aside: take a look at the results of all the drives in the K.C.-New England game last week. After the Patriots gave up the ball on downs to start the game, this went FG-FG-INT-TD-FG-TD-FG-TD-INT-Half-TD-FG-FG-Fumble-TD-FG-TD-TD-Punt (!)-FG-TD-FG. We’re a long, long way from three yards and a cloud of dust.)
What horrible historical deed did the city of Nashville perform to deserve the Tennessee Titans? #sadsacked
-John Hutcheson / @hutchmo, via Twitter
Yeah, last week was an ugly outing for the Titans, giving up 11 sacks to the Baltimore Ravens. Eleven! We have no idea whether the Titans are any good or not, but this is a pretty decent clue. But is Nashville cursed?
Well, here’s my theory. Each team gets a finite number of karma-reversing moments, defeat-to-victory instants like The Catch or The Immaculate Reception. In the case of Aaron Rodgers or New England, apparently, such moments are limitless, but for most others, you get maybe one or two in your team’s lifespan. Tennessee, therefore, is still surfing the karmic vibes of the Music City Miracle, and will continue to do so for some time to come. Sorry, Hutchmo.
Commercial break!
What the hell is this game? “NFL Strategy”? Is it a board game or a trivia game or what? And why the hell is this commercial lit like a David Fincher movie, with the creepiest possible line reading of “body contact” in there? The ’70s were strange as hell, man. (Plus, that football weirdo was born too early; he’d be a fantasy guru today.)
What position would you play if the football gods decided to bestow you with skills to play?
-Maggie, via Facebook
I was a brilliant receiver in high school. I completely took the entire secondary of every Fulton County, Georgia, high school we played out of the picture. Granted, I was a receiver in a run-first, run-last, run-only offense, but still: I played one hell of a decoy role for the Riverwood Raiders.
Being a kicker would be cool, because you’d get to be carried out of the arena if things broke your way, but you could get pulled apart like a wishbone if not. So I’m going to go with the backup quarterback role. You hold a clipboard, you stand on the sideline looking concerned. And if things get rocky with the starter, I can come in and take a knee or throw the ball right into the turf with the best of ’em.
What the heck is John Gruden doing in Oakland? Is he completely insane like many thought he was, or a genius on a level us mere peasants can’t comprehend? Is there a plan to his madness? Derek Carr will be back in Bakersfield coaching high school football with his brother if this keeps up.
–King George, via Facebook
There’s the temptation to think that Gruden is pulling some tenth-level, three-dimensional chess while the rest of us are scoffing and thinking he’s just in over his head. There’s also the possibility that the game has completely passed him by, and he’s assembling players the way you shop for groceries when you’re starving. Gruden will get it together at some point, and if he doesn’t, he’ll be able to stuff hundred-dollar-bills into his ears to block out critics for the next nine-plus years.
Bottom line: we won’t have any kind of verdict on Gruden until after his draft picks. If he’s able to whip up some kind of Golden State Warriors-esque mojo through the NFL draft, well, that’d be amazing (and highly unlikely). Sad and frustrating as it is for Oakland Raiders fans, you have to have patience, and you’re getting the worst possible team limping out the door to Las Vegas. This is like having a Thanksgiving guest show up at your place, eat your food and then throw up on your carpet on the way out the door. Delightful.
That’ll do it for this week. We want your questions! Hit us up via email at jay.busbee@yahoo.com, on Twitter using the hashtag #AskYahooNFL, on Facebook here, or in the comments below. See you next week!
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
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