Chiefs Mid-Season Defensive Report Card

Secondary Jarrad Page: On pace to set career highs in almost every major statistical category and has improved every single season. Grade: B+ Bernard Pollard: No interceptions, several missed tackles and is consistently getting roasted for big plays a??.. Pollard has eight weeks to keep his job. Grade: D- Brandon Flowers: Not only the best playing rookie from a 12 player draft class, you could argue he is playing the best ball of anybody on the defense. Grade: A+ Brandon Carr: Not as spectacular as Flowers but has played well all season and has faced some big time receivers and held his own. Grade: B+ Patrick Surtain: Playing better than last year before suffering a quad injury, also has helped Flowers and Carr get acclimated to NFL offenses. Grade: C+ Linebackers DeMorrio Williams: Played decent filling in for a injured Donnie Edwards. Has displayed ability to get to the QB but has not held his own against the run. Grade: C- Pat Thomas: Came from no where to grab the starting MLB job, but when your are in the middle of a defense that gives up 300 yards rushing you are probably not doing your job. Grade: F- Donnie Edwards: Injuries have limited his playing time this season, but when on the field has been productive. Grade: C+ Derrick Johnson: In the middle of another solid season, problem is this was supposed to be his breakout year where he becomes a dominant defensive player. Grade: B- Defensive Line Tamba Hali: Played so poorly over the first half of the season the Chiefs had to switch him back to LDE from RDE. On pace to have two sacks, Hali is having a disastrous season. Grade: F- Turk McBride: Unable to get to the QB all season , McBride has got some pressure against the QB and played well against the run. Grade: C- Tank Tyler: Has not made a big enough disruption at the line of scrimmage to make a difference and has been pushed around and dominated at the point of attack by more physical competition . Grade: D- Glenn Dorsey: Half way into the season Dorsey is now playing much better than he was earlier in the year, but still has not played at the level you expect from the #5 pick in the draft. Grade: C- Coaches Chan Gailey: Earlier in the year the Chiefs offense looked like they brought a knife to a gun fight. After suffering season ending injuries to key players and other players out with suspension Gailey looks like he has finally righted the ship. Shifting to a more wide open offense that has allowed the Chiefs to move the sticks and has been a major player in the development of Tyler Thigpen. Grade: C+ Gunther Cunningham: As easy as Gunther is to like the results just have not been there for him. Every season since coming back to the Chiefs the defense had showed small improvement. This season the wheels have completely fell off for the defense, Gunther can't blame the youth movement this is the most talent he has had to work with in sometime. Grade: F- Herm Edwards: It takes guts to go with a rebuilding project, Herm Edwards knew this would start out slow he was there for the first Tony Dungy season in Tampa where they started out 1-9 and finished 5-2 down the stretch. If Herm can get a similar finish down the stretch the season will be a success. This team is better than it was week onea??a??This season was expected to be ugly but so far it has been a little too ugly. Grade: D+