How the Chiefs Defense Kept the Chargers Off Balance

In the 5 seasons since Steve Spagnuolo took over, the Chiefs defense has never been considered a premiere unit in the league. They’ve hovered near the middle of the pack in yards allowed and have been all over the place when it comes to making impact plays like sacks and takeaways. However, they’ve found ways to make it inside the top-10 in scoring in 4 of those 5 seasons. And despite all the great new analytics and statistics out there, that’s still the most important metric for a defense.

The main reason why the Chiefs have been successful at limiting points is that they’ve been a disruptive defense under Spagnuolo, creating enough drive-thwarting plays to keep offenses from operating at their peak. They do this through a mix of elaborate coverage and pressure disguises that make the mental exercise of playing quarterback against them a difficult one.

Last Sunday against the Chargers was no exception.

It started on L.A.’s first drive of the game. The Chargers faced a 3rd-and-2 from their own 43-yard line. The Chiefs aligned in what appeared to be cover-0 or some form of combo-man coverage with no deep safeties:

Surely they wouldn’t actually stay in that coverage post-snap, right? This generally isn’t an area of the field where defensive coordinators feel comfortable being that aggressive.

That might be true for most, but it’s never been an issue for Spagnuolo. Here, he played man-to-man across the board and used the extra defenders in coverage to create two double-teams:

The doubles took away the easy throws inside. They targeted Herbert’s favorite receiver, Keenan Allen, who does most of his damage between the numbers, and tight end Gerald Everett, who aligned in the slot to the right. With his best options taken away, Herbert was forced to hold onto the ball, resulting in a sack: