For the Chiefs, a tale of two Brandons

There is an old saying that offensive line coaches have to be willing to work in relative anonymity because no matter how good their groups perform, they are not going to get noticed.

A similar thing could be said about defensive coordinators who operate on teams with great offenses. George Seifert learned this lesson well when he guided the defense for the Bill Walsh San Francisco 49ers dynasty.

Seifert's platoon finished in the top five in the league in points allowed in his first five seasons as the 49ers' defensive leader (1983-87) and yet he struggled to get much credit because of the presence of Walsh. Walsh's dynamic offense tended to be the central point for anyone focusing on the specifics of that team's success and whenever the subject of defense came up, Walsh also tended to receive the lion's share of praise because of his innovative draft-day strategies.

This same type of scenario could be playing out to a certain extent in Kansas City. Credit for that team's turnaround has revolved around the exploits of Jamaal Charles, Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe, but a closer look at some of this team's defensive metrics shows that side of the ball has plenty to brag about as well.

The case for lauding this unit as a dominant one starts with some of its overall totals. The Chiefs' defense ranked in the top 10 in sacks, passer rating, passing yards per attempt and completion percentage allowed (and they ranked in the top five in the last two categories).

For Joyner's full argument on the upstart Chiefs here, you need to be an Insider.

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KC Joyner

NFL Insider

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• NFL and CFB analyst for ESPN Insider
• Known as "The Football Scientist"
• Uses proprietary metrics from game tape study