Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
It'll be hard to hunt 'em up, to be honest.
I noticed it around week 5 or 6 when I was trying to figure out why our run defense was just so god-awful. They had more talent than that. So I started watching individual guys along the line on a play to play basis. That's when I realized that Williams was a pretty lousy run-defender despite having the frame to do the job. It's also how I became such a Stan for Nnadi. You watch the play and you'll never notice him. You watch him, OTOH, and so many little things he does jump out at you. (This was also when I realized that Justin Houston was, to my surprise, a pretty shitty run defender as well all of the sudden)
So when you have those two on opposite sides of the spectrum and you watch what Jones is doing out there - he's WAAAAY closer to the Williams side than the Nnadi side. He was constantly looking to penetrate. Even on the run plays he made, that was how he did it. But the problem is that you could watch the linebackers behind him trying to read the running lanes and they just couldn't do it because he'd just LEEEROOOOOOY JEEENKINS!!! shit and blast forward. In the process he'd absolutely hang them out to dry.
I don't know that I ever saw a real breakdown of his run defense because he was kindof a sacred cow last year. He's damn likeable and he made big plays so people didn't criticize him much. But starting in October and through the rest of the season I know we had several conversations 'round these parts where we'd talk about it.
It's not a new thing and it's not smoke blowing by the Chiefs. He was constantly going out there and trying to 1-gap. At times it made for big plays but just as often it hung out the guys playing around him.
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Leroy is in my head now. One of the best vids ever.