Derrick Johnson: the Quiet Force

I'm amazed that Derrick Johnson's injury has received such little scrutiny.

Derrick Johnson has been a difference maker for the Chiefs. I'm pretty quick to blame Keyaran Fox for a few screw-ups in Sunday's game, but then, perhaps I'm asking too much of Fox. He has some pretty big shoes to fill.

In 8 games, DJ had 49 tackles and 4.5 sacks. He was on pace for about 98 tackles and 9 sacks, which are pretty terrific numbers for a linebacker. In fact, those could reasonably have earned him his first pro bowl berth.

There have been multiple times when DJ's absence was visibly noticeable.

The Chiefs struggled to stop Randy McMichael in DJ's absence. Had DJ been in the game, McMichael wouldn't have made even a mouse whisper. DJ has been terrific at covering tight ends all year long. You don't read about that in the stat sheet, you don't hear about that from the supposed NFL "gurus," but with the increased presence of tight ends in the modern NFL, the ability to shut down tight ends in the passing game becomes an increasingly important ability for a defender to have.

The Chiefs were also noticeably lousy in the pass rush. Blame a large chunk of that to an injured Tamba Hali trying to muscle out a painful injury; however, also blame that on Keyaran Fox's absolutely inability to bring heat on the blitz. DJ has been in the backfield all season long and he takes away a pretty big dimension from the Chiefs' pass defense when he's on the bench.

Finally, Keyaran Fox just doesn't blow up screens or tackle as surely as DJ does. Fox let two key tackles slip from his fingers. These were tackles that DJ surely wouldn't have screwed up. I also noticed that with Fox in the game, some of those outside runs just don't get bottled up the way they do with DJ in the game.

DJ is missed, that's for sure. Luckily, the Chiefs' defense faces two teams that are struggling offensively in Oakland and Denver. But the Chiefs miss Derrick Johnson a lot more than the critics will point out.