Five Reasons the Chiefs Will #RunItBack – The Kansas City Chiefs are in a great position to repeat as NFL Champions, perhaps more than any other team in the past ten years. That would be partially because of the pandemic, which has required NFL teams to stay at home during this offseason, and that mainly has to do with the ability of the Chiefs coaches, to communicate via zoom during this time. However, there are other reasons as well.
5. Andy Reid:
The Allocator
Andy Reid is the best play caller in the NFL, hands down. I heard recently that a national pundit had said that Kyle Shanahan was the best play caller in the NFL. Pshaw! The convergence of Reid’s play calling and Patrick Mahomes ability to do the unimaginable, is deadly for any Chiefs opponent. It all begins with Reid. He was asked recently about the quote from Bill Parcells who said, “If you want me to do the cooking, I need to be able to buy the groceries” to which Reid replied, “I used to do that in Philadelphia but not any more.” So, Andy Reid learned to trust others. While a cohort like GM Brett Veach now takes much of that responsibility for dredging the college football marshes for talent, Andy Reid still has a hand in who gets drafted and signed. Remember, it was Veach who brought Patrick Mahomes to Andy Reid’s attention and not the other way around. While Reid remains involved in the final say-so of personnel decisions, he’s now able to devote most all of his attention to the game planning. This enables Reid to do what he does best: coaching and the human side of that proposition. It’s hard to say Reid is #5 without including those around him:
4. Roster Changes
and Non-changes
With 20 of 22 starters returning, the Chiefs have an upper hand on the offseason of NFL teams frozen in their homes. While other teams talk about “getting better” and “closing the gap” the Chiefs have gotten better and widened the gap with their own player acquisitions of: DE Taco Charlton, OL Mike Remmers, CB Antonio Hamilton, and TE Ricky Seals-Jones. Plus, the Chiefs had a very good a draft, one full of players who can contribute in year one of their careers, namely: RB Clyde Edwards Helaire, LB Willie Gay Jr., OT Lucas Niang and CB L’Jarius Sneed. Eric Bieniemy says of CEH:
“I think this is more important than anything — we know the person. We know one thing that the kid is going to do. He’s going to come in and work his tail off…. I think the kid is just a special kid. You’ve seen the things we’ve done on tape as far as running the ball, having the ability to get outside in the open field and make some plays as a receiver. You can create matchups with him. He’s one of those ideal kids that fit in what we do.”
Bucky Brooks of NFL.com says of the Chiefs pick of Willie Gay Jr.,
“The Chiefs gets an explosive second-level defender with exceptional speed and athleticism. Gay is a sideline-to-sideline defender with the burst to track down runners all over the field.”
Seth Keysor says this of Lucas Niang:
“Standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 315 pounds, Niang has a ridiculous wingspan and width that teams covet when looking for offensive linemen, offensive tackles in particular. Heading into the 2019 season, Niang was considered one of the best tackle prospects in college football and a potential future first-round pick.”
3. The AFC West Spread
The AFC West has been ruled by Andy Reid ever since he came to Kansas City in January of 2013. In 2019, the Chiefs won 12 games while no other team in the AFC West has won more than 7 games. Those two teams were the Broncos and the Raiders. Have they done enough to make up a five games gap between the teams? I don’t think so even though some have the Broncos draft graded at A+ and the Chiefs at B+. Both the Broncos and the Chargers have very good defenses, although the Chargers let Philip Rivers walk and will be going with Tyrod Taylor at QB until their first round pick (6th pick in the draft), QB Justin Herbert, can get up to speed. The Raiders offseason moves include the loss of Safety Karl Joseph who they replaced with Safety Jeff Heath. Not an upgrade in my book and one of their biggest offseason needs was to improve their defensive backfield. So, they drafted Damon Arnette out of Ohio State in the first round. That is likely too little too late to save their season. The Raiders best additions include: LB Cory Littleton, LB Nick Kwiatkoski, DB Damarious Randall, DT Maliek Collins. Will those players be enough to make up the five game difference in the AFC West? I doubt it.
Following is a chart revealing the AFC West points scored and scored against. Besides making up five (plus) games, the rest of the West would have to first get on the plus side in the Difference column before we can take one of them seriously.
Could another AFC West team make the playoffs besides the Chiefs? With the AFC North offering the Ravens, Browns and Steelers, that doesn’t seem likely either. Even with an extra playoff team added this year, the rest of the AFC West looks like they’ll have to wait until another year.
2. Steve Spagnuolo:
Bringing It!
Steve Spagnuolo is hitting his stride. Give him a solid list of defenders and he’s going to give you a top ten defense, which is exactly what happened in 2019. The Chiefs, down the stretch, had a defense that could get a 3-and-out when they had to, something a Bob Sutton defense could seemingly never do. Consequently, Patrick Mahomes was able to do his thing because Spags D was getting the necessary stops to allow PM to go MVP on opponents.
After the Super Bowl victory, ArrowheadPride’s Craig Stout wrote an open letter to Steve Spagnuolo and stated:
“You added aggression and unpredictability to a group that struggled in both of these areas under the previous coordinator. You brought in an all-star coaching staff to help execute your vision and add new wrinkles to your scheme. You added brash, vocal leaders in Tyrann Mathieu and Frank Clark to help align the locker room as a singular unit. You made adjustments — putting each player in their best position to succeed — which led to a unified group that was even better than the sum of its parts.”
1. Patrick Mahomes:
Tampering with Greatness
When it’s Go-Time, Patrick Mahomes is already gone. Leading the Chiefs from behind in every playoff game last season is a testament to his ability and resolve. However, Mr. Mahomes hasn’t yet reached his peak. Joe Montana’s peak seasons were in years 4-11. Peyton Manning’s peak seasons were years 5-14. Tom Brady’s peak seasons were years 8-18 (being generous). Take a look at a comparison of Patrick Mahomes first 31 games — first two seasons as a starter — to these other QB greats in NFL history;
The only category that any of these other QB greats were better than Mahomes was the number of Attempts by Peyton Manning. In every other way, Mahomes has far outshined them early in his career and in most cases, in one less game.
The point is… Mahomes is yet to peak and we are all going to be witness to his ascent to greatness. More than anything, Patrick Mahomes is the number one reason the Chiefs will #RunItBack in 2020.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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