What's Wrong With Kansas City's 3-4 Part II: Shortchanging the Formation

Like a 2-liter bottle of soda left with the cap off, Kansas City’s defense is flat! They play flat and they look flat. 

This isn’t a commentary about playmaking or passion, however, but literally the Chiefs line up in a flat 3-4. 

There are two primary benefits to running a 3-4: confusing offenses and having more athletic playmakers on the field.

The 3-4 puts another athletic playmaker on the field at the linebacker spot, a player who can blitz, drop into a zone, play man coverage, or stop the run. Vital though is disguising, pre-snap, which of these responsibilities a linebacker assumes.

Key, though, is that the linebackers can perform any of these functions lining up anywhere on the field. 

The Chiefs are guilty of lining up very shallow on nearly every snap defensively. The defense stacks itself up upon the line of scrimmage as both outside linebackers look like defensive ends in a two point stance, in what looks like a 5-2.

Even if the outside linebackers are not going to blitz from this formation (thus disguising it, but the Chiefs almost always send their outside linebackers), it is difficult for converted defensive ends like Tamba Hali or Andy Studebaker to play in space for zone coverage, and may lack the speed to play man. 

It is no surprise the Chiefs have had to run a bastardized version of the 3-4, due to a lack of proper personnel. 

To build upon part one of this two part series, one reason the Chiefs are limited in capitalizing on the potential of a 3-4 defense in that the players they field may be athletically incapable of performing with the versatility required of linebackers. 

Lacking the arsenal of players to throw the full complement of 3-4 defense complexities at opposing offenses, the Kansas City Chiefs put up a defense suspect to giving up the big play, that same big play that has been a dagger to the Chiefs all season long.      

With the outside linebackers lined up essentially as defensive linemen, the inside linebackers are held close to the line of scrimmage as well.

If an outside linebacker is locked up with a tackle, they are unable to utilize their speed and read the offense to come in, plug running holes, or help force a running back wide toward the sideline.

Instead, the middle linebackers have a responsibility to plug the holes, (which suck them in on play-action and leave gaping holes in coverage right over their heads and in front of the safeties) and running backs have a corner to turn.

Most frustrating is that with all these bodies at the line of scrimmage, the Chiefs typically hold a running back to three yards or less, or give up the big run. 

Without the outside linebackers helping in coverage, the inside linebackers are asked to cover a lot of field, often against faster slot receivers.

This defense has a long way to go if it is truly the future for the Chiefs. Right now we have players outside of their position running a 3-4 defense that may be blander than a 4-3. It kind of defeats the purpose of the whole transformation.