Inside the Numbers
The Pass Defense in Game #2 (at Kansas City)
After a careful review of the official Gamebook at NFL.com, I have compiled the following summary of the Stillers attempts at playing pass defense yesterday. Here, in chronological order, is what happened on each and every attempt to pass by Trent Green and the K.C. offense. After each play I have graded the play on a scale ranging from �5 (very bad) to +5 (very good), using the following results-oriented rules:
+5 Interception returned for TD
+4 Interception not returned for TD
+3 QB sacked
+2 QB flushed but not sacked (i.e. QB gains yardage running)
+1 Pass defended
0 Incomplete pass not caused by defender (i.e. dropped ball or bad throw)
-1 Pass completed short of 1st down
-2 Pass interference not resulting in 1st down (i.e. defensive holding by player in coverage)
-3 Pass completed for 1st down
-4 Pass interference penalty resulting in 1st down
-5 Pass completed for TD
1st Quarter
1. 2-8-KC 17 (14:22) 10-T. Green pass intended for 87-E. Kennison INTERCEPTED by 30-C. Scott at KC 26. 30-C. Scott for 26 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
(great start to the game, +5)2. 2-14-KC 16 (13:30) 10-T. Green pass incomplete to 87-E. Kennison (31-M. Logan
). (Logan gets his only PD, +1)3. 1-10-KC 29 (7:51) 10-T. Green pass to 31-P. Holmes to KC 30 for 1 yard (91-A. Smith).
(-1)4. 2-9-KC 30 (7:03) 10-T. Green pass incomplete to 87-E. Kennison (20-D. Washington).
(DW gets his only PD, +1)5. 2-11-KC 35 (4:21) 10-T. Green pass to 31-P. Holmes to KC 40 for 5 yards (20-D. Washington).
(the start of a trend that lasts all day, -1)6. 3-6-KC 40 (3:40) 10-T. Green pass intended for 88-T. Gonzalez INTERCEPTED by 51-J. Farrior at KC 42. 51-J. Farrior to KC 33 for 9 yards (62-C. Wiegmann).
(nice play by Farrior, +4)7. 1-10-KC 28 (3:19) 10-T. Green pass to 87-E. Kennison to KC 32 for 4 yards (51-J. Farrior).
(-1)2nd Quarter
8. 3-6-PIT 9 (14:00) 10-T. Green pass to 87-E. Kennison to PIT 2 for 7 yards (30-C. Scott). P5 Penalty on PIT-92-J. Gildon, Defensive Offside, declined.
(Chad gives up a 1st down, Gildon lucky not to have to eat the penalty, -3)9. 2-7-KC 17 (9:14) 10-T. Green pass to 87-E. Kennison to KC 38 for 21 yards (20-D. Washington). P7 PENALTY on PIT-20-D. Washington, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at KC 38.
(insult to injury on this play, the UR penalty on top of a 21 yd completion changes �3 grade to �4, smooth DW, real smooth)
10. 1-10-PIT 47 (9:14) 10-T. Green pass to 80-J. Morton to PIT 40 for 7 yards (20-D. Washington).
(beginning to notice a pattern here with regard to DW? �1)11. 2-3-PIT 40 (8:18) 10-T. Green pass incomplete to 80-J. Morton. PENALTY on PIT-30-C. Scott, Defensive Pass Interference, 12 yards, enforced at PIT 40 - No Play.
(Chad racks up another PI flag, going for the season record Chad? �4)12. 1-3-PIT 3 (5:41) 10-T. Green pass incomplete to 88-T. Gonzalez.
(0)
13. 3-3-PIT 3 (4:55) 10-T. Green pass to 89-J. Dunn for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN
(If I remember correctly, Kendrell Bell had coverage on Dunn on this play �5)
3rd Quarter
14. 1-10-KC 26 (5:09) 10-T. Green pass to 88-T. Gonzalez pushed ob at KC 30 for 4 yards (31-M. Logan). KC - TONY GONZALEZ'S 400TH CAREER RECEPTION PITTSBURGH - #31 S MIKE LOGAN INJURED.
(nice of us to help Gonzo reach a career milestone, huh? �1)
15. 1-10-KC 38 (3:27) 10-T. Green pass to 80-J. Morton to KC 47 for 9 yards (20-D. Washington).
(not a 1st down, but still another big gain given up by DW, -1)4th Quarter
16. 1-10-KC 24 (14:09) 10-T. Green pass to 82-D. Hall to KC 26 for 2 yards (92-J. Gildon).
(Big Jay�s only significant contribution to the game, -1)17. 3-9-KC 25 (12:55) 10-T. Green pass to 80-J. Morton to KC 40 for 15 yards (20-D. Washington).
(DW gives up another 1st down, -3)18. 1-10-KC 40 (12:34) PENALTY on PIT-30-C. Scott, Defensive Pass Interference, 15 yards, enforced at KC 40 - No Play.
(very questionable call on this one -4)19. 1-10-PIT 45 (12:28) 10-T. Green pass to 80-J. Morton to PIT 32 for 13 yards (20-D. Washington).
(Yet another 1st down allowed by DW, -3)20. 2-9-PIT 31 (11:03) 10-T. Green sacked at PIT 32 for -1 yards (98-C. Hampton).
(Fat Casey gets his name called for the only time, +3)
21. 3-10-PIT 32 (10:27) 10-T. Green pass to 31-P. Holmes ran ob at PIT 18 for 14 yards. PENALTY on KC-62-C. Wiegmann, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at PIT 32 - No Play.
(I would grade this like a drop (0) but since they lost 10 yards, it gets a sack grade, +3)
22. 3-20-PIT 42 (10:03) 10-T. Green pass to 88-T. Gonzalez to PIT 38 for 4 yards (20-D. Washington).
(not a first down this time, way to go DW, -1)23. 2-6-KC 41 (7:14) 10-T. Green pass to 23-D. Blaylock to PIT 40 for 19 yards (31-M. Logan).
(Logie gets burnt, -3)24. 2-12-PIT 42 (5:54) 10-T. Green pass to 87-E. Kennison to PIT 31 for 11 yards (20-D. Washington).
(not a first down, but still another big gain given up by DW, -1)25. 3-2-KC 33 (2:34) 10-T. Green pass incomplete to 85-M. Boerigter.
(0)
Final score: -21. So what does this number mean? Well, you�d like to see this number be as high as possible, preferably above zero. But even if you had the best secondary in the history of the game going against a bad passing team, that�s unlikely to happen. Teams will complete passes, and even a 1 yard pass is worth �1. So to put this number into perspective, divide it by the total number of pass attempted plays (including penalty plays). Our result from this game �(21/25) = -(0.84). This gives us the average result of all attempted pass plays. The closer this number comes to zero, the better you did. In this game, the average result of all K.C. pass plays was nearly �1, which corresponds to a completion short of a first down. On the face of it, that seems like a pretty decent day, overall. However, lets look at some other numbers to see if they support that conclusion.
Penalties: 2 Pass Interference calls on Chad Scott. One Unnecessary Roughness flag on DW. One Holding call on Gildon, declined. Total yardage gained on these 4 plays: 70 yds, 4 1st downs
Out of 25 pass attempted plays, 7 1st downs and 1 TD were allowed (includes penalties). That�s 32% of the time (8/25). A more respectable number would be around 20% or less.
Total net yardage gained by attempting to pass: 161 (includes penalties and sacks). Average gain attempting to pass: 6.44 yards (161/25).
Dewayne Washington recorded 10 tackles in this game (9s + 1a). Of those, 8 were recorded in the passing game. DW gave up 85 yards through the air on 8 plays, plus another 15 on his penalty, for a nice round 100 for the game. Throwing at DW yielded an average of 12.5 yards per play (penalty yardage included). No wonder they kept doing it all game long. Perhaps "Burnt" Alexander should give his nickname to Dewayne, because he got scorched this game.
Final analysis:
Dewayne Washington was a complete and total liability. He should lose his starting spot as a result of this game. He really was that bad. He accounted for better than 50% of all the completions and better than 60% of the yardage K.C. got via the passing game. Horrendous.
Chad Scott played decently, if not spectacularly. His two PI calls were balanced by the INT returned for TD. Of those two flags, one was highly questionable.
The rest of the pass defense unit was slightly above average, considering the quality of the opponent. Farrior had the nice INT, Logan had a PD, and Fat Casey Hampton got himself a sack. However, the lack of consistent pressure on the QB is still a huge cause for concern. Also consider that the Chiefs did not need to pass much because Holmes was gouging the run D left and right, to the tune of 122 yards and 3 TDs.
Given all these factors, I�d give our pass defense a B-/C+ for this game.