Chiefs: Thoughts on Week One – A lot has been running through my mind since Thursday’s game. My “Complaint Dept.” article on Monday was intended to poke fun at the pundits, and fans, national and local, who saw huge negatives in the game. I didn’t see a lot of negatives, and the bottom line was a convincing win by 14 points. True. There are things to work on and that’s what is going on this week in practice.
Here are my thoughts after watching film, reviewing the game flow, the game plan as it was carried out and the actual mauling of the Texan’s team despite the garbage time 4th Quarter. Before I dig in, please refer to Alan Haupt’s article from Tuesday. See it here: Chiefs: What We’ve Witnessed That’s Good and What We Need to See Improved.
The Secondary
The rush on Texans QB Deshaun Watson by Tyrann Mathieu, where the ball was deflected and intercepted by L’Jarius Sneed and run back for 39 yards to the Texan 17 was a huge swing in the game. Sneed came out of the first Quarter with having given up a couple of passes and a whiffed tackle on the TD run by Douglas. After that? He shut down whichever receiver he was up against, including WR Will Fuller. Plus, Sneed had two PBU’s to boot. What a lift for the Chiefs secondary! Sneed said he was afraid you would muff the INT because it was a wobbling floater. He didn’t. ‘Nuff said.
Another positive? Juan Thornhill had 68% of the snaps. I really didn’t think he would be back so soon. They apparently kept him on a snap count. The thing is, having Juan on the field was also a high positive for the secondary. Even with their garbage time score, the Chief’s defense held the Texans to 20 points and the outcome was not in doubt for most of the game.
A negative for the secondary is the inability to cover receivers in the 4th Quarter and shut them down. A second negative was the play where Charvarius Ward fractured his hand in the 3rd Quarter. I don’t think he is going to be go for Week 2, but believe he will start in Week 3, versus the Ravens.
K.C. Cornerbacks
Watching the game told me stories about how effective the CB play can be with Ward and Sneed manning the outside and Fenton and Hamilton mixed in. It’s not all bad as was proven against a pretty good Houston team. This group was my decided weak point for 2019 season along with linebackers. Obviously, Breeland’s suspension hurt. After the draft, I was hugely supportive of drafting Willie Gay, Jr. Unfortunately, he didn’t see a defensive snap in Week One. At the same time, when Brett Veach drafted L’Jarius Sneed in the 4th round. Sneed has high positives that are needed in the NFL and speed is a huge factor. As well, he has versatility and that made him the perfect choice for Veach at that point in the draft.
I do think that the Chiefs need to draft to the CB position group again in 2021. I doubt that Bashaud Breeland will be retained beyond this season. Obviously, the Chiefs are hurt by his 4 game suspension, again. What the first week’s game showed me was that Veach and the scouting crew knew what they were doing and the fulfillment of that was what we witnessed in Thursday’s game.
Sneed Indeed
The promise given was a promise kept in the person of L’Jarius Sneed. Sneed has all the tools needed to be a top successful CB in the NFL. He has the right size and length plus speed. Not only that though, he diagnoses plays well for a rookie breaking into the game in Week One. He struggled in the first quarter giving up passes for first downs and he whiffed on tackle when Douglas scored on the ground in the first quarter. After the opening of the game though, he settled in, had two pass breakups and an INT. I think he proved Veach and Co’s diagnosis of his skill-set and his fit with the Chiefs. Opposite Ward? The two did fine work until Ward Fractured his hand in the 3rd Quarter. Sneed though did fine work shutting down receivers and he was targeted by Watson as was revealed in the interviews in Houston after the game. What made Sneed’s emergence easier was having a complete game of pressures on Watson during the game as detailed in the next topic.
The Front Four and the Defense Overall
What can you say about the defense that doesn’t mention the names Stone Cold and Frank Clark? The defense as a whole was good, but those two bothered Deshaun Watson the whole game and between the two of them, had 11 pressures on Watson. However, it was a team effort. The Chiefs registered 24 pressures, 4 sacks, and 7 hits on the QB. Think about that. Mike Tannenbaum observed:
It’s tough for any quarterback to operate an effective offense when pressured as Watson was. Even for a QB like Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees or Patrick Mahomes… to have a top game when facing this kind of defense. I’m not diminishing Watson when I say this because I think he is among the top 5 or 6 QB’s in the NFL. Unfortunately he plays football for the Texans and Bill O’Brien. I look for a big organizational change after the 2020 season ends for Houston.
Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Tanoh Kpassagnon, and Frank Clark did very well not only pressuring the QB, but shutting down the run game. True, the Texans did have over 100 yards on the ground but after the initial TD was given up, they turned up the boilers. Some of that ground game yardage was also from Watson himself. For a first outing, the Defensive Front played a darned good game.
Using my new magic number of — 20* — the Chiefs defense held the Texans tight until garbage time. Reid apparently made a decision to take his foot off the pedal and play vanilla football, hence the Texan’s scoring in the fourth quarter as Reid was “running out the clock.” I hate it when he does that, but that’s what he did. I am sure the bookmakers were rooting for the Texans to close the game up to the predicted line, but it didn’t happen. The Chiefs walked away with a 14 point win and the Texans did not figure into the game much at all, largely due to the work of the Chiefs front four… and to think that Taco Charlton was not even active for the game!
* 20 Point Limit – The magic number: If the defense holds the opposition to that number or below, the offense should win the game. For many years, I used the number 17, but adjusted that to 20 last season taking into account the shift to the aerial game by NFL teams. Even back in the time of Alex Smith, the Chiefs averaged more than 26 & 28 points per game. Going back even further I used that number in the 21st century, all the way until 2019.
So, What About a Buffalo?
The Chiefs big men of the OL — the front five — must have done a pretty good job for “The Clyde” to get 138 yards rushing. The addition of Kelechi Osemele should have caught notice in Week One. I know he had some masterful blocking, and that Clyde ran off the left guard at least a half dozen times and scored his TD running behind Osemele. There’s an article about Kelechi’s game by Charles Goldman, here called: Chiefs HC Andy Reid praises LG Kelechi Osemele for aggressive playstyle.
Still, I know that improvement needs to be made for the 3 C’s of the offensive line: Cohesiveness, Consistency and Continuity. Although, this was just Game One and a pretty good effort by the front five.
I was pleased by the blocking of Fisher and Osemele that it has me salivating for the draft in 2021. In fact I went out and did a few mocks because I am looking ahead as well. What I want to see is that Veach & Co. find that next offensive lineman, maybe someone who is a blocking madman, another Cape Buffalo, to lead the way playing the offside from Osemele… think about that… at the same time we can break in Lucas Niang as the swing tackle.
Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz are not getting younger, quicker and more nimble. They are both now over age 30. I could mention two aging QB’s to buttress my point. Tom Brady is 43 and Drew Brees is 41. Watching Ben Roethlisberger gave me some of the same feel as well and he is only 38. To keep that in perspective though, the past three seasons Big Ben has taken a lot of punishment. None them are getting younger. Roethlisberger did get a good scramble to avoid a sack Sunday carrying the ball for about a 10 yards advance.
Ben’s not an RPO QB though. He is a big man standing 6’4” and weights in at 241. I think that may have been his playing weight 5 years ago. He may be tipping the scales at close to 250 now. None of them — Tom, Drew, or Ben — looked like their svelte youthful presence which they once had. None were playing at the top of their game this week. That observation deserves a “huh?” The reason I bring it up is… the truth of the matter is… that both Fisher and Schwartz may be looking to wind down their careers. So, it’s time to start thinking about finding the next man up in both cases.
Add Niang a couple of years from now as a starter and find me that OG — Cape Buffalo — to line up on the right and things for the OL are getting better and better. This may be solved by the return of Martinas Rankin to the lineup. I really liked Martinas performance in 2019 until his injury took him out of the game.
Other thoughts about the future flushed from my brain:
Maybe on the right side, Wylie gets it all down. Time to consider drafting a top center and another OT in the next two drafts. If Niang pans out as I believe he will, then we can see adding three Offensive Line positions in the next three or four drafts. That may be wishful thinking but the fact is, Martinas Rankin’s import to the future may be part of the plan with the hope that Wylie kicks up two notches at ROG. That would be some good stuff right there because in 2 or 3 years, Kelechi will be age 34. I do plan on paying the man and hope he wants to finish out his career in KC. Adding Osemele to the LOG was an inexpensive Free Agent acquisition that will be another feather in Veach’s hat. I must observe that the feathers are getting numerous and Brett can’t wear “head-dress” at ArrowheadOne. He could use the hat band of a Bear Bryant image and go with that.
Right now? I think the Offensive line is looking pretty stout. Improvement is needed for short yardage as was seen in the last three runs by Clyde late in the game, but they kept Mahomes panties clean and blocked very well for Edwards-Helaire. From the OL to CB, my thoughts also see drafting to the LB group as a priority at the same time.
Running Back
By the way, that is not all purpose yards as Edwards-Helaire did not have a pass thrown his way. I can’t wait to see this unfold in week two, with Clyde on the receiving end of passes thrown by Pat Mahomes. They need to get him onboard with receiving the ball in the NFL. It didn’t happen in week one. Need to have him give the other team butterflies to quote another NFL player (Cam Newton). I just want Clyde to make a catch so he doesn’t worry the wart.
I can see it now: CEH on a wide angle run ready to take the toss with Pat Mahomes ready to keep it, toss it or pass it! Edwards-Helaire is the missing piece of the game that has been needed since Hunt departed under a dark cloud. I am really very optimistic about expanding the Play-Action Pass and the RPO threat that the Chiefs will now be able to use as a counter to a masterful aerial Game commanded by the NFL’s one to be G.O.A.T. Quarterback. Even more: the DC’s must plan their approach and Andy is saying, “What are you going to try to take away now?”
The Numbers Game
I know that Tyrann Mathieu didn’t like the second half defensive lapse either as he stated in his press conference. The added negative of Ward’s injury is a tough factor though. All the rest of the defense had pedestrian numbers, but that is what it takes: players doing their job and as a whole unit. I think the numbers game shows why the Texans were no match for K.C. in this contest.
Chiefs Specialists
Harrison Butker was 2/2 in FGAs and 4/4 on EPAs. Tommy Townsend’s punts averaged 45.3. His long was 54. His first punt was a thing of beauty, even if it was too close to the goal line. It bounced up, but the gunner was blocked from making the play. All said and done, both our Kickers did very well.
The return specialists were Hardman and Watts. Neither broke one but both had returns of 20 and 28 yards. I didn’t see any errors by special teams. They stopped the Houston returns without fanfare.
In the Meantime
The Chiefs have now protected their first Practice Squad player, DT Braxton Hoyett. The Chiefs did not protect any player last week according to Charles Goldman at chiefswire.com. I find it interesting, to protect a Defensive Tackle due to all of the talent that the Chiefs have stashed to the PS, especially considering the wide receivers.
David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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