The Defense Never Rests
Oct 02, 2006, 3:16:42 AM by Bob Gretz - FAQ
Mark down the date and circle it in red ink. It was on a sun-splashed Sunday, the first of October in the year 2006 that defense returned to Arrowhead Stadium.
It’s about time.
Make no mistake: what happened in the Chiefs dominating 41-0 decision over San Francisco was a team victory. Offense, defense and special teams all contributed to one of the best performances this team has had in recent years. There were stars of the game everywhere, from Dante Hall on offense and special teams, to Damon Huard, Larry Johnson and Eddie Kennison on the offense.
The Chiefs offensive coaching staff deserves applause as they did a great job of shifting gear with their game plan. The 49ers came out determined to control Johnson, and played most of the game in a 4-4 defense, with four down linemen and then four linebackers. They were able to control the line of scrimmage and Johnson had very little room to run.
So the Chiefs threw the ball. That’s right, Trent Green was on the sidelines, so was left tackle Kyle Turley and still the Chiefs had great success throwing the football. Huard, who had thrown the ball well all week in practice, continued to do so in the game, throwing a pair of touchdown passes and racking up a 133.3 passer rating.
All that was hugely important. But the day belonged to Gunther Cunningham and the defense. There are finally some bullets for Gun to put in his defensive gun and they kept San Francisco’s young quarterback Alex Smith from ever feeling comfortable. Smith was under constant pressure in the pocket and the defensive line of the Chiefs created most of it. They went after him with a number of blitzes, but the best thing they did was cover. The 49ers do not have a great group of receivers, but they are all capable of big plays (coming into the game, they had a pair of 70-yard plus touchdown catches.)
They had none in this game; San Francisco’s longest pass play went for 22 yards. As a team, they had just 92 yards passing and Smith was sacked five times and harassed on many more of his 25 passing attempts.
Think about that number for a minute: 92 yards passing. They had 93 yards rushing. Subtract the sacks and they totaled just 165 yards in offense. Yes, it was the 49ers. Yes, they are now 7-29 in their last 36 games (2004-06.) But the Chiefs have played plenty of teams over the last few years that were not very good. Last year, Houston was the worst team in the league and they got 259 yards against the Chiefs. Buffalo also ranked among the NFL’s poorest teams and they totaled 209 yards.
This was total domination of the type the Chiefs have not seen in some time. Just consider this: the team has now played the last 156 minutes, 15 seconds without giving up a touchdown. Not since Cincinnati scored with 1:05 to play in the second quarter has an opponent unlocked the combination to the end zone. Denver won on field goals. San Francisco managed nothing.
Derrick Johnson was the star, with at least nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and he forced a fumble. But just about every part of the Chiefs defense played well. Jared Allen and Tamba Hali went screaming off the ends. There wasn’t much in the way of running room for Frank Gore. They forced turnovers, including an early one where Gore coughed up the ball after Johnson hit him. Sammy Knight and Ty Law grabbed interceptions.
San Francisco really only had one possession where it got anything done: that was right before half-time w hen they ran 12 plays, picked up four first downs and got in range so they could attempt a field goal. It was no good. That was just one of two times in the game’s 12 possessions when the Niners got into Chiefs territory.
The best thing about the game was the reaction of the players afterwards. Happiness was evident. But they were humble; they talked about the good things, acknowledged they have room to improve and looked to the future.
A victory is built one play at a time. A successful football season is built one victory at a time. The Chiefs laid down the first block of their foundation and it was impressive.
The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.
