This one should have peaked a lot of interest in New England for a multitude of reasons. Of course, Pats fans love to root against the Colts, so there was that. Also, Patriots fans tuning in got a nice walk down memory lane in a rare opportunity to see the Chiefs.
There was Peyton Manning, suddenly looking — even if for brief moments — like that quarterback that everyone expected to wilt away whenever he played the Patriots. Manning was able to do enough to help the Colts win, but it certainly wasn’t a signature win for No. 18 — far from it.
Manning threw for 244 yards — but no touchdowns. In fact, the Colts put up 341 yards of total offense. All they had to show for it was one touchdown, late in the game, on their way to putting up a pedestrian 19 points.
It was the continuation of an early trend for a young Chiefs team working out the kinks of an emerging team trying to find its identity. One of the main reasons the Chiefs are 3-1 is their defense. The unit, though its given up the 16th-most yards of offense in the league, has yielded the third-fewest points.
Sunday, against the Colts, was just a continuation of that. Simply put, the Chiefs’ defense bent, but it never really broke. Nor has it all year, really.
Bend, but don’t break. … Where have we heard that before?
In a development that should come as a surprise to no one, the Kansas City defense may remind a lot of Patriots fans of the defenses the Patriots rode to Super Bowl championships early in the decade.
While I, nor anyone else would ever confuse the two — the Chiefs’ defense is not the same as those New England defenses, at least, yet — there are similarities.
The bend-but-don’t-break mentality is one that Kansas City defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel has made a living off of. Crennel, who of course was the defensive guru behind the Patriots from 2001 to 2004, was doing it then and he’s still doing it now.
In 2001, the Pats gave up the 24th-most yards per game. They only gave up the sixth-most points. After an off-year in 2002, the Pats improved their stinginess in 2003 and 2004 when they were among the top two in scoring defense despite giving up more yardage than a handful of other teams. The Chiefs have forced five turnovers already, another hallmark of those Patriots teams.
The Chiefs, like the Patriots in years past, are doing it without the benefit of any real big-name defensive studs and at least one name — Mike Vrabel — is rather familiar to Patriots fans.They’ve got a solid core of young and old, who have bought into the system — a system that Crennel clearly feels confident employing with his new unit.
Is it a stretch? Yeah, maybe. At least a little bit. But the parallels are there. If the Chiefs are lucky, those parallels will become more and more distinguishable. With Crennel calling the shots, there’s a good chace they’ll continue to evolve. And if that’s the case, preparing for the Chiefs’ defense will be no picnic.
Maybe the Chiefs are a legitimate contender now. Maybe they are worthy of that early 3-1 record, which, with a little bit of offense, could have been 4-0. Either way, their defense is their strength, something that will also sound familiar to Patriots fans.
Now, if the Chiefs could only get offensive coordinator Charlie Weis to do something with that young quarterback.
