Chiefs: The Fourth Gasp!

David Bell

Considering my anticipation of the Kansas City Chiefs handily winning the game vs. the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead, I recognize that my view of holding the Titan’s offense at bay was a big part of the equation. On the other hand, and perhaps a bigger part of the final equation, was the inability of the Chiefs offense to put the game away and win running away which did not come to fruition.

As the first half unfolded, I was a bit nonplussed at DC Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, which did not contain Malik Willis and allowed Derek Henry to get up to full speed, mostly in the first half. However, the second half was a completely different story. I did anticipate that the Titans defense would be daunting, but I didn’t predict that mistakes, penalties, and execution failures would cause the offense such difficulty.

The aerial defense was very gratifying to watch. I was pleased to see Trent McDuffie play like a well-honed veteran. He did and matched up with L’Jarius Sneed to make a formidable pair of Cornerbacks… who played as well as any in the NFL.

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The season has been characterized by the Chiefs offense facing top-ranked defenses, week after week. Week Nine was no different. From the Colts and Bucs to the Bills to the Titans — and even the 49ers — the defenses have been stalwarts facing down the Chiefs potent offense. Yet, save the two losses, the Chiefs have overcome the hurdles to get to a 6-2 record. Not only that, but the Chiefs have found ways to win games coming from behind three times–this past week, winning in overtime was the fourth such last-gasp win. CBS analyst and Stat-head, Jeff Kerr, made a significant observation about the four wins which were comebacks and noted that in those games that the Chiefs have trailed by eight or more points.

Coming through games and winning after trailing the opponent is a characteristic of a champion. Finding a way to win despite being slugged in the mouth with a round-house punch, play after play, and then dishing it back to them against a fiery opponent educates me that the Chiefs are a tough bunch to get a knock-out against.

I went over the game tape to see that what I thought was an OL failure on the outside… just wasn’t so. Patrick Mahomes had time to throw play after play. He often held the ball into the 3.5-4.0 seconds before making a pass or using his feet. This indicates how well the Titan’s Secondary covered up the Chiefs receivers. I truly wanted to see how the failure of Chiefs Tackles caused the problems, but the truth is, the Titan DTs were the reason why their pass rush succeeded, up the middle using their strength inside against the Chief’s Strength inside. Unfortunately, that strength was also why the Chief’s running game was anemic.

In exchanging thoughts on the game and the OL performance, Laddie and I both saw that the problems with the RBs and the ground game were something Andy Reid, Eric Bieniemy, and Andy Heck have got to resolve.

Laddie’s observation in his article: “The Chiefs Running game: A Fly in the Ointment” identifies the problem. He wrote:

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“The Chiefs had 19 running plays, but 6 of those were by Patrick Mahomes, and not designed as running plays. That means the Chiefs actually had 13 running plays, by design.”

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This is not a good play mix between aerial and ground game play-calling.

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The blocking scheme that Andy has designed has too many reach blocks, blocks more than one position laterally beyond a particular lineman’s position. I recall a similar problem from 2014: the Chiefs were on the verge of failing to make the playoffs. The Chiefs shifted from their more complicated ZBS to power blocking–and it worked. The idea was to use the player’s athleticism and not focus on pure bull strength. If you think back to the OL of that time, the Chiefs had players who were not swift on foot, such as Mike McGlynn and Zach Fulton.

It wasn’t that the power blocking was straight ahead. Instead, the line used technique to combine the power of two or more linemen and focus the blocking laterally on one position to either side. They shifted from an outside ZBS to an inside ZBS to counter the foot speed problem by the OTs. At the same time, the Chiefs deployed a man/power scheme at the focused running slot. This shift in the blocking combining effectively powered blocking straight ahead as in the traditional sense. The combined change in the scheme was successful. I am going back through the game tape today to look specifically at the blocking scheme that was used and why it failed when it did.

Such a simplification occurred in the 2017 season as well. Matt Nagy simplified the blocking scheme to accommodate the offensive line players.

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I know this much: The ground attack by our RBs was abysmal. It hasn’t so much failed, as not called by the player callers – Reid and/or Bieniemy. There were successes on the ground. I think you have to hang the majority of blame on Andy Reid. They had 1st downs on the ground in the first half. They only called about ten running plays the whole game, which tells me the play mix in the game plan was at fault.

I read that people are complaining about the OL. Slugging through the game film, I can say that is not true. Stupid mistakes stopped the Chiefs drives. They scored 1st and second. Butker missed the PAT. Mahomes was intercepted, and that’s what stopped another drive and a Kelce drop cost another punt. Player error, a drop, and a penalty, stopped another drive. These errors were all in the first half. PBUs or dropped passes accounted for failures to maintain headway. Both #87 and #9 had drops.

It is more frustrating to view the game the third time and see what is happening. As the game proceeded, a pass to Kelce was deflected off his hand, resulting in an INT. Travis was upset about it. Another INT was clearly an overthrow by Patrick Mahomes. Those things happen in most games. The Chiefs over-came that in the second half and were capable of tying the game and then winning with a made FG in OT. Game done. The result is in the book.

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Of note: The Chiefs did not use the run. The Titans did, and it used up a ton of possession time. If I were an opposing HC, I would try to do the same thing — use the running game to keep the ball out of Mahome’s hands. Unfortunately, it was a game plan they had to go with using 22 and #7 to advance the ball, keeping the aerial game to a minimum due to Willis’ being a rookie.

Sure the OL had two breakdowns, and Mahomes was sacked…. But?

Catching back up to my review of the game film: At that point, the Titans mounted one more drive into scoring position and kicked an FG. Chiefs 9 – Titans 17. From that point on, the defense stopped the Titans cold. They had stopped Henry cold all of the second half. Mike Vrabel may have occasionally erred, pulling Henry from the field and going with plays with an empty backfield. Henry was held at bay in the second half by the Chief’s defense. by Pulling Henry from the game in the second half. Willis could do nothing.

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Trip after trip downfield, the Chiefs got into the red zone or failed to get there. The Drives failed. Once on a missed FGA by Harrison Butker. Another, Mahomes, was intercepted. Two occasions failed due to player errors. Vrabel used the Ground attack, which kept the ball out of Patrick Mahome’s hands. If the Chiefs did not have Mahomes, who carried the team to victory in this game, the Chiefs would certainly not be 6-2. More like 3-6 without Mahomes.

Whatever Failures existed in this game, the OL Pass Protection Blocking, though not exceptional, was not the cause of the failure to move the ball. Again, note that one sack suffered by Mahomes came over and through Creed Humphrey. Another occurred through Wiley. The Edge Players were not what caused the offense to stall — it was the Interior Titan DL.

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I touched bases with Laddie before getting this article ready to release tomorrow [today]. So, I won’t have time to look at the blocking in the 2nd half before then. But, if PMII was consistently given 3-4 seconds to make a pass, the OL was performing well.

The game plan did not have enough designed running plays in the mix. They only ran the ball, by design, about ten times. That is a problem for the head coach to resolve. I listened to Matt Derrick in the RGR game review video. He observed that when the players hit the locker room, the OL took a seat and rested before hitting the showers. He stated they were all exhausted to a man.

As Laddie observed this afternoon, the offensive line players fire off the ball and have initiative and force when a running play is called. With pass protection, you have men getting set for finding who to block, so they are waiting and reacting. To keep the opposing team’s defense confused and uncertain, Andy Reid needs to design his game plan to take a course that uses far more designed run plays than he does. Indeed, regarding the game versus the Titans, he fell far short of a modicum of efficiency in the play mix.

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Mike Vrabel’s (Titans HC) game plan was effective, but I don’t think Andy Reid’s was a good game plan at all. Here’s some notes about how the Chiefs won, and about their Defensive players:

•  The Secondary aided the run-game defense with hard hits and some violent tackling.

•  Bolton and Gay were all over the field and involved in plays.

•  Khalen Saunders played perhaps the best game of his career.

•  Kadarius Toney had 2 catches on 2 targets but also made 3 very effective blocks.

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My review of the game film didn’t see the OL as a failed unit. Quite the contrary: they often gave Mahomes 4 seconds or more to find an open target. The Titans played hard, and the Chiefs were faced with a very tough defense. It was a smash-mouth type of game. It was more frustrating to watch the game film, going through it a 3rd time, than it was to watch the game live. The team is relying too much on Mahomes… and Mahomes is taking over games too much. It’s a team game and he should not feel that he has to do so much to keep his team on a winning track. The Chiefs came out on top 20-17. You can try to figure that one out.

I’ll stop here.

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David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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