The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense were able to do something in the playoffs that the Los Angeles Chargers couldn’t, and that was to mitigate the Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing offense by pressuring the quarterback.
Trevor Lawrence only completed 61.5% of his passes for 217 yards in the divisional round, finishing with a 74.4 quarterback rating. In the wild-card matchup against the Chargers in that historic comeback win, Lawrence threw 6.1 yards per attempt, and against the Chiefs, that number dropped to 5.6 yards per attempt.
The Chiefs’ defense wanted to bring the pressure, so they brought a blitz on 22% of the dropbacks, and hit the quarterback seven times. Kansas City’s defense grabbed one interception, sacked Lawrence twice, and only allowed him to throw one touchdown.
It seemed like the Chiefs’ defenders were everywhere all at once, and that is exactly what head coach Andy Reid thought after the game:
“I thought from the defensive backs to the defensive line to the linebackers, I thought everyone was flying around making plays. Again my hat goes off to the guys, they were incredible on third downs and second downs they just played a great game all the way around. “
The question now is if the Chiefs’ pass rush can get to Joe Burrow in order to slow down the Cincinnati Bengals’ offense in the upcoming AFC Championship game. Burrow is playing at a ridiculous level right now, so that’ll be Job One if the Chiefs want to vault the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
How the Chiefs put Trevor Lawrence in a small box.
In their last matchup, back in week 10, Lawrence threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
So, the Chiefs’ defensive plan was to shut the Jaguars’ offense down early. To open last week’s game, the Chiefs blitzed on the first three plays forcing the Jaguars to go three-and-out.
Each blitz came from a different player. The first blitz came from cornerback Jaylen Watson, second was strong safety Justin Reid, and then on the third down the Chiefs brought, linebacker Willie Gay and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.
Lawrence only had one pass that was more than 15+ yards down field in the first half. The Chiefs brought a blitz on only 10 out of 44 drop backs but they finished the game with 18 total pressures, six hits and 10 hurries, and an interception.
It’s great to see a young quarterback stand in the pocket and take a hit while letting go of the ball, but there were times where Lawrence was taking hits unnecessarily.
The Chiefs were even bringing simulated pressure. Instead of using extra pass rushers, they would have some players creep up and then drop back. In the clip below, their defensive end George Karlaftis dropped into coverage, and they brought L’Jarius Sneed from the secondary to pass rush.
Instead of Lawrence stepping up and avoiding the pressure, he just stands there and takes a hit while throwing it.
Of course, there were times where the blocking for Lawrence failed which resulted in a sack. But the point is that the Chiefs will be facing off against a completely different quarterback in Joe Burrow.
A quarterback who played behind some of the worst offensive line blocking, and still made it work. Burrow is a seasoned pocket passer.
The Chiefs got pressure on 29.5% of Lawrence’s total dropbacks, but only 7% of their pressures came without a blitz. If the Chiefs can’t bring down Lawrence, who only rushed the ball twice before six minutes left in the fourth quarter, how do they expect to bring down Burrow?
Well, it won’t be easy.
Getting to Joe Burrow.
In their last matchup, a 27-24 Week 13 game in Cincinnati’s favor, Burrow was only sacked once, which was the same number of times Burrow was sacked in last week’s game against the Bills. And the Bills had the NFL’s fourth-best defense, per Football Outsiders.
One sack won’t be enough if the Chiefs’ defense wants to limit the Bengals offense. Here is what Andy Reid had to say when asked about Burrow in the pocket,
“He’s a strong kid, he’s elusive you have to make sure you wrap him up, Chris probably said it the best, he was out there working it, so yeah, he’s a heck of a football player.“
In their last matchup, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo brought five pass rushers, and Burrow was still able to find an open player.
Burrow has great pocket awareness, so he can actively dance in the pocket while still maintaining his eyes down field. Then when all else fails, he tucks it and goes.
Back in week 13, Burrow had a whopping 11 carries for 46 yards and one touchdown. Last week against the Bills, Burrow rushed six times for 31 yards on the ground.
He runs it only when necessary. Burrow is 11th in rushing yards (291), but sixth in total first downs (31) when using his legs, per SIS.
He’s still at his best when using his arm.
The Chiefs will have to switch up the blitzes, like they did against the Jaguars, if they want to get to Burrow, but it shouldn’t be a big part of their gameplan.
In week 13, against the Chiefs blitz, Burrow went 7-for-8 for 54 yards and had one touchdown and zero interceptions. Overall, when facing pressure, Burrow is tied for third in touchdowns, with nine, and has the second highest quarterback rating 85.3, per SIS.
According to Pro Football Focus, Burrow has the third best completion percentage when facing pressure, 55.3%. Between Justin Herbert (56.0%) and Daniel Jones (53.5%).
The Chiefs are better off playing their dime coverage and preventing the deep ball. Chiefs have the best EPA (-23.10) when running a dime defense, with 6+ defensive backs. Burrow and the Bengals have a 55.3 completion percentage when facing six defensive backs or more, and a -3.92 EPA, which is 21st in the league.
If the Chiefs get to Burrow in the AFC championship game, it’s likely to be the result of winning one-on-ones. It should be a battle in the trenches and whichever offense has the ball last, might be the one to come away with the win!
Expect a fight all game long.
