Kansas City Chiefs LB Anthony Hitchens is a Super Bowl champion, he finished as the teams tackle leader with 88 tackles, but he’s still critical of the job he did. While the defense improved as a whole late in the 2019 season, in Hitchens’ eyes, the run defense must improve for the unit to reach their true potential.
“We improved from Week 7 through the whole season and I think we can get better in the run game,” Hitchens explained. “Our DBs and our secondary saved us a lot of games. T5 [Tyrann Mathieu] and people getting picks and batted balls on fourth downs and all that. Once we get that going with the run game, not making predictions or anything like that, but we should be a top-five defense.”
Kansas City finished in the bottom seven in rushing yards allowed (2,051). On average the defense gave up over 120 rushing yards per game. That’s nearly 40 yards more per game than the top-ranked team.
“We weren’t a top-five, we had a good pass defense but not a good run defense,” Hitchens continued. “Once we get all that clicking and stuff like that and we added guys this year and we’re still working on it. We’re doing walkthroughs and stuff like that to get better in that area. When we put everything together in one season this could be great. It was good enough to win a Super Bowl, but I feel like we all know. Even in our first meeting Spags [Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] he was like we all know we won a Super Bowl, but we can be a lot better and we all shook our heads yes. There were a lot of heads shaking yes, we can get better. I just think it’s more of the run defense than the pass defense. Once we get that settled and complete and make it a defense, we’ll be good for years to come.”
The addition of players like Willie Gay Jr. and Mike Danna through the draft has Hitchens excited for the future of the Chiefs’ run defense. Keep in mind that Kansas City will also return some players like Breeland Speaks and Darius Harris from injury, who should also help the run defense improve in 2020.
