New Orleans Saints

Chiefs' secondary faces test Sunday

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 16: Marcus Peters

The Chiefs’ secondary has been the barometer of the team through the first part the season. It will be challenged again on Sunday against future Hall of Famer Drew Brees.

The Saints rank first in passing (335.4 yards per game), and have one of the best young receivers in the game, Brandin Cooks. Although Cooks is New Orleans’ most talented receiver, he may not be the Chiefs’ biggest problem Sunday afternoon.

Other perimeter options such as Willie Snead IV and rookie Michael Thomas may impact the game as much as Cooks because the lack of depth Kansas City has in its secondary.

According to Pro Football Focus, heading into Week 7 it is ranked 19th in the NFL. Aside from Eric Berry and Marcus Peters, everybody else is a question mark.

Ron Parker can make clutch plays but is inconsistent. Phillip Gaines is best-suited to be the No. 2 corner but he still has problems with his surgically repaired knee. Steven Nelson is most effective in the slot and rookie D.J. White has talent but isn’t ready to take on as much responsibility as he’s had to the last few games.

Nov 15, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs strong safety Ron Parker (38) intercepts a pass intended for Denver Broncos wide receiver Cody Latimer (14) during the second half at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The Chiefs won 29-13. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

A Defense in Transition

The Chiefs also lost veterans that were key contributors to their secondary last season. Sean Smith and Tyvon Branch left in free agency, and Husain Abdullah retired. The pass rush hasn’t been the same either without Justin Houston, although he is expected to return in the coming weeks.

Even though Peters has an absurd 13 interceptions in 21 games, he still gets beat every once in a while.

For those reasons, the secondary has been up and down throughout the first five games. They’ve had winning performances against the Jets and Raiders. However, they were also exposed by the Steelers, and inconsistent versus the Chargers and Texans.

Even in their victories, it has shown flaws. Last week, they allowed Amari Cooper to have nine catches for 117 yards in the 1st half, mostly against somebody other than Peters. He did get torched by Keenan Allen and Kansas City didn’t start performing better until Allen suffered a season-ending injury early in the 3rd quarter.

Chiefs Go as Secondary Goes

Both times the game flipped in the Chiefs’ favor when their secondary started to play better.

Obviously, their Week 3 victory was fueled by the six interceptions they collected from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Five of which were by the secondary, with the lone outlier being the pick six by Derrick Johnson.

In their two losses, they were beat by the deep ball and outdone by receivers like Antonio Brown and DeAndre Hopkins. Those two players are expected to put up numbers, but their counterparts hurt the Chiefs just as much.

Texans’ rookie Will Fuller had four catches for 104 yards and Sammie Coates had six catches for 79 yards for Pittsburgh.

Although Coates’ 47-yard catch was against their No. 1 cornerback, Peters, the rest of his catches came against other defensive backs.

The lack of a dominant pass rush, the loss of veterans, and not having a true No. 2 cornerback have all lead to the inconsistency in the Chiefs’ secondary. It will be challenged again Sunday afternoon against the Saints.