ChiefsPlanet - Chiefs Babb:Chiefs’ Hali says his job is all about getting sacks

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Chiefs’ Hali says his job is all about getting sacks
BY KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star
Chiefs defensive end Tamba Hali, who pressured Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler in a game last season, said tackles are nice but his goal every game is to sack the quarterback.

Everyone keeps telling him to wait his turn and the sacks will come, but Tamba Hali can’t. Not any longer.

Hali went four preseason games with no sacks, and that simply will not do. Not in Hali’s world, and not when he’s been tabbed as Jared Allen’s successor, the defensive end who will fill Allen’s spot on the right side, and the man expected to at least pick up some of Allen’s 15 1/2 sacks last year.

Hali was close a few times in those four preseason games. But after each one, he staggered into the locker room, lowered his head and went home another night without a sack.

“I don’t feel good,” he said this week. “I can have a million tackles, but if I don’t have a sack …”

One moment, Hali said he was trying too hard; worrying too much at times about sacks and not playing within the Chiefs’ defense. A moment later, he said maybe he didn’t try hard enough. He was close a few times, but it just didn’t happen. He felt slow. Maybe it was the long grass at Chicago. Maybe it was the wet grass last week at Arrowhead.

“No excuses, man,” he said, correcting himself.

The Chiefs need Hali to anchor the defensive line. He’s the 24-year-old veteran of a group that makes him look like an old pro. The three other starters — Turk McBride, Tank Tyler and Glenn Dorsey — are in their first or second season. Heck, Hali is in his third year. But the others already are looking toward him for inspiration and guidance. And whether he is ready or not, the Chiefs’ young linemen expect Hali to lead them and set the sack standard.

“I’m starting to feed off the energy that he has,” McBride said. “I see how he goes at practice; now I know how to practice. Tamba is just one of those players at practice that you look at for how to do things.”

Hali said he hasn’t lacked intensity in those four games. And yes, Hali and the other starters didn’t play much. The preseason is about quick appearances and saved energy. Hali didn’t have time to make a statement, right? Just like everyone else. Right?

But there was McBride in the Chicago game, walking back up the tunnel with a sack in his back pocket and two more in the Arizona game. Each of those times, Hali walked up the ramp with nothing.

He hasn’t exactly gotten over that yet.

“It’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure on me to perform. It’s a production business.

“I don’t have a choice. What, am I going to quit? I can’t quit. I can’t fold. It’s a new position, and I can be a better player and help our team in a tremendous way.

“Do I want to have 15 sacks like Jared did last year? I’m sure everybody playing that position would. Is it going to happen? I can’t tell you I’m going to get 15. But I’ll tell you that every game, the goal is to sack the quarterback, especially on that right side. That’s my job.”

Hali hears about it every day. Coaches tell linemen that each sack translates to a three-point scoring difference. Translation: Sacks equal victories, or at least they give the Chiefs’ offense a chance.

Hali feels as if he’s not doing his part, even if his teammates think he’s being too hard on himself.

“All the great ones,” McBride said, “they expect to make the play every time. Even if the ball is thrown 60 yards down the field, he expects to make that tackle.”

Hali said he hasn’t thought much about his goals this season. But he knows this year is an important one, for him and the defense and team. Fair or not, he will be counted on to shoulder the load that Allen left behind when the Chiefs traded him to Minnesota.

Hali said he wants double-digit sacks, which would at least be two more than his career high last year.

“Otherwise,” he said, “that’s going backward.”

He’s had enough. Hali said he wants to talk about something besides his sack production; he’d prefer to talk about the team or the defensive game plan — anything that gets his mind off the itch he’s been trying to scratch for more than four weeks.

“It’ll come,” he said. “I believe it. I believe they’ll come when they’re supposed to. There’s no problem. I’ve just got to get there.”