Don't Look Now, But the Chiefs Defense Might Have Figured It Out
How the Chiefs have re-deployed Tyrann Mathieu lately to help spur six good quarters of defense.
Over the last six quarters of NFL football, the Kansas City Chiefs defense has finally put forward a decent foot, so to speak. Since halftime of the Buffalo Bills game, they have allowed two touchdowns and two field goal drives and that’s it.
They haven’t faced the stiffest challenges — a poor Washington Football Team and a Buffalo Bills team running out the clock — but the improvement may be happening.
Outside of changing some personnel and throwing out a few more exotic coverage looks, the biggest change to the defense may simply be how Tyrann Mathieu is being utilized.
Through the first three games of the season, Mathieu had played 94 of his 216 snaps (44%) of his snaps as a deep safety. He also played more snaps as a deep safety than he did in the slot or in the box during those three games.
Over the last two games, Mathieu has only played 35 of 116 snaps (30%) as a deep safety and has played his highest percentage of “box snaps” during that span. The concept is pretty simple, put Tyrann Mathieu closer to the football and let him attempt to make plays.
