Chiefs looking for more sacks
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s been the equivalent of only one game, making it far too early for panic or worry.
Except Tamba Hali is filled with panic and worry. He’s the right defensive end, the player the Chiefs designated as their new featured pass rusher and the replacement for Jared Allen, the NFL’s reigning sack king.
And through two halves of preseason football, Hali has yet to put a quarterback on the ground, making it seem like forever since he’s had a sack.
“There’s a lot of pressure because I am playing on that right side, and there’s a label on my head that I’m supposed to be replacing Jared,” said Hali, who moved over from left end when the Chiefs traded Allen to Minnesota. “How many times am I going to get to the quarterback ? A lot of people want to know that. I want to know that.” The Chiefs’ goal is to somehow make up the 15 1 / 2 sacks lost when they sent Allen away. If they don’t come from Hali, they’ll have to come from somewhere, and the Chiefs are still sorting through their options for that.
“When you trade away a very good player, you never look at it as, ’Well, we’ve got to find somebody to replace him, ’” Coach Herm Edwards said. “You’re not going to replace the guy. You have to figure out, ’OK, we got rid of this guy, so what are we going to do now ? ’ You don’t put the pressure on another player. You don’t put it on Tamba. You don’t put it on [left end Turk McBride ].
“ We’ll find a way to get to the quarterback. In a perfect world, you’d like to rush four guys every time to get to the quarterback. Most teams can’t do that, so you’ve got to bring pressure from somewhere.” The Chiefs have spent the four weeks since the start of training camp tinkering with their pass rush. McBride and Tank Tyler joined the starting defensive line, replacing Alfonso Boone and Ron Edwards.
Now that Glenn Dorsey is back from his knee injury, the Chiefs have also settled on their nickel pass rush, with Boone replacing Tyler.
They are hopeful but unsure whether that lineup will be enough.
“You can do it a couple ways,” Edwards said. “If you have a really good front four, you can rush them that way. If not, you’ve got to start bringing pressure. We’re able to do that. We’ve got some linebackers that can rush. They’re pretty good blitzers.
“ Now, if you do that, you’re going to have to play man-toman [coverage ]. In man-toman, you’ve got to have some corners you feel can cover. We drafted some guys here that we think can cover.” The Chiefs would obviously prefer that Hali make up most of what they lost without Allen. They immediately tabbed him as Allen’s replacement after the trade with Minnesota and the acquisition of Dorsey with their first draft pick.
Not only is Hali having trouble dealing with heavier expectations, but he’s trying to get comfortable in his new position after two seasons at left end.
“It’s coming, though,” he said. “I’ve got to be patient with it. I can’t get frustrated, even though I do sometimes. It’s a lot different. I’m having to focus a lot on the pass. I love playing the run, but that can’t be my focus anymore.
“ It’s an adjustment. I hope that after some more [snaps ] over there, gradually I’ll feel more at home. Maybe it will become second nature to me.” McBride leads the Chiefs with three sacks, though one came against Chicago when he happened to fall on quarterback Kyle Orton, who dropped the ball without being hit.
Still, his start has the Chiefs encouraged.
“There’s not a lot of [pass rushers ],” Edwards said. “They’re hard to find, and you never know who they are. No one knew who Jared Allen was. He was a fourth-round pick. Who knew he was going to be a heck of a pass rusher ? It took him four years to develop that skill.
“[McBride ] is only in his second year. You have to give the guy a chance.” A second-round pick last year, McBride was disappointing to the Chiefs as a rookie. They believed he would eventually be a part-time player, at best.
But he played well enough early in camp that they vaulted McBride over Boone and into the starting lineup.
“Everything seemed like it came too fast for me last year,” McBride said. “Now it’s starting to slow down. I took it upon myself in the offseason to really study the game and study the defense. A lot of veterans told me the biggest jump I would have is from your first year to your second year.”
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
