A Tree Blossoms, Reid’s Stuff, Allen’s Gain and the ILB’s are the Bomb

A Tree Blossoms, Reid’s Stuff,

Allen’s Gain and the ILB’s are

the Bomb

by David Bell

Recent Reid Coaching Tree Blossom —

Pederson’s Leadership is Top Drawer

You may not have noticed: already the word is out that the Eagles won’t repeat as winners of the NFL Championship. Ah, well. I would not state this to be a solid pronouncement myself but then I probably think to much of my own opinion. The Eagles will be in the big hunt of 2018.

Doug Pederson’s motivational approach is sound, he has a very good playbook, he inherited to an extent, from Andy Reid but it is not as complicated nor with as many specific variations making it easy for his players to digest and execute the plays. The connection to the Chiefs is of course the fact that Pederson left as OC and became head coach for the Eagles. At the same time, in his second season his outfit won the Super Bowl. Yes, he inherited a team that was pretty decent but, Roseman over that same time, did a very nice job of supplying Pederson with players necessary to win a championship — including the #2 QB who won it – Nick Foles, who gave the Chiefs a solid #2 in 2016 and is something that the Chiefs are missing in 2018. Between Chase Daniel and Foles, the Chiefs were covered… and now this is a worry.

Pederson installed the offense, called the plays, gambled where appropriate and was innovative even with their starting QB out for the season. When Nick Foles came in, he adjusted and put Nick in a position to win games with play-calling that matched the quarterback’s talent. I hope this is not lost on Andy Reid. Before departing, Nagy showed that he knew what he was doing when he simplified the front 5 blocking scheme and this boosted the offensive line’s performance to win out after losing only one close game before the win streak.

Andy Reid’s ‘Stuff’

Andy Reid has developed a playbook and it is creative, expansive but difficult to digest for players. If it takes two years to digest the plays and that is compounding the time it takes for a newcomer to effectively be able to hit the field. It also is a complication due to the fact that the receivers are to learn all the positional routes. Hence, there is a wasted product that takes longer to get on the shelf to be effective: wasteful of implementation time. There is nothing the players can do about that. There is nothing the coaches can do but encourage, teach and assist.

Reid’s playbook is far too complicated. It makes it difficult for talented players to get on the field and begin contributing. Another observable dilemma: Reid created the offense and he has vision to go along with it… however, it that he gets so caught up in his head with his philosophy of how the book should be implemented in a game that he loses track of what should work at the right time and place. He gets caught up with certain plays and even calls a play that is not timed with what is happening on the field. Or, it’s not in sync with how the players are rolling, so sometimes he just plain gets in his own way.

When Reid turned play-calling over to Pederson, and then after that, to Matt Nagy, the team performance was immediately upgraded. They knew, apparently, how to use the plays in the book effectively.

The Chiefs are far better off when Reid is in command of the field but he uses some coach on staff to help him manage the clock situations, allows his OC to call the plays and also has a DC he trusts to set the defense, play by play. When Reid is field general and using his faculties to be decisive about the action on the field, the Chiefs were, and should be, a far more potent problem for opposing teams. Reid apparently is very good at picking the right coaches. He must turn them loose and give them advise or suggestions, on the field of play, or orders based on his determination of what is going on and what the next right thing is going to be. He is field commander and he knows how his coordinators think. He has his own constructs. He should pass commands for situations and formations or what he sees the opposing team trying to work against the Chiefs.

Of course Reid knows before game time what the plan is but, he gets too busy with running a component of the offense and then looses sight of the action on the field. My advice to Reid? Turn over play calling to the coordinators and use the construct of high command in exploiting your Lieutenants, as did Robert E. Lee.

One Step Removed to the Windy City —

Matt Nagy, Another Feather in Reid’s Cap

In 2017, when the down turn occurred, Matt Nagy cut into the blocking scheme and simplified it and from that point on the Chiefs lost one game and then won out for the season. Good stuff by Nagy. But then he is a product of the Reid coaching tree too. Why is this important? Nagy was hired away with just one year of OC duty in K.C. to be the Head Coach for the Bears and is the second Reid Staff member of recent times to take on the duties of an NFL Head Coach. The Bears have a decent base of players to start from so Nagy isn’t inheriting a “dead” team. He has brought in the needed staff and personnel to mount his teams attack on the capture the NFL’s highest trophy, The Lamar Hunt Trophy… err… The Vince Lombardi (Well, it should have been Lamar Hunt’s Honor as the primary mover and shaker of building the AFL and Forcing the recognition and Merger though I wish the latter had not occurred). It appears to me that though the Bears have some distance  to go, they will be compeititve and they should soon be positioned to look forward to Playoff Appearances and from there? Who knows. I do believe Matt Nagy will be a fine Head Coach. [aside: If you watched the Bears-Ravens game, you will have noticed Eric Kush, a Dorsey Draft pick and is the Bears number 2 Center…he looked pretty decent and he did start 4 games last year–DEB].

On to Camp and Pre-Season Games:

Jack Allen’s Gain

This week the Chiefs suffered their first injury. Sure, it was to the #2 center for the offense, Tejan Koroma who was a surprise in the first place – a UDFA earning a roster spot. He was a BYU Product, but undersized for the NFL: 6’0” 290. He does have the right mental approach to the game and played tough. He was not on my NFL list and I learned a bit about him after he came to the Chiefs, UDFA or Signee. If he muscled up and gained 10 pounds he probably would be the right solution though he would always have a length issue to solve. Let’s see if he comes back as a signed player but on the PUP.

Tejan Koroma was released by the team due to that injury. Meanwhile, Brett Veach immediately seized the moment and pulled away from the Bears, Jack Allen who was on the Bears Taxi Squad. You might suspect that this is a move of desperation but I had Allen on my late round draft list in 2016. He is intelligent, versatile and he has “Feet”, has an NFL Ready Body and he was a very good player at Michigan State. I was surprised Allen wasn’t selected in the draft. His talent and now experience fits the Chiefs offense very well. Brett Veach apparently had kept an eye on Allen and he snapped him up.

Five Ready to Rock Up the Middle?

To set the stage, before the 2016 draft, I was pushing for an ILB to be a high pick. This didn’t occur that year or in 2017. Why? At first it was DJ’s pending retirement soon. Then it was due to DJ’s rehab and that became a new exposure for 2017 that was a worry and that worry turned out to be valid. The Combo with Ragland and DJ had half of it working but DJ just wasn’t living up to his end of the deal as anticipated. Which brought the need to get 2 starter ILBs going.

Brett Veach(you guesed it–this has turned into David’s GM Crush #2 of recent years) had one done but  now the need was to lock up two. Brett Veach got busy early and got Ragland but he had first tried to get Hitchens. One of the first things he did was to trade a 4th round pick to acquire Alabama ILB, Reggie Ragland. I did have Ragland on my draft list as 2nd and suggested he would drop into the early 2nd round. I also said he was worth trading up acquire. I had my own favorite ILB in the 2017 draft but it was Jerry Jones who took the first year loss of a first round pick playing immediately. I would have done the same but Dorsey didn’t. It was after the draft and John Dorsey’s departure that Brett Veach tried to cut a deal to get Ragland. He would have to wait about a year to get him but in the end, Jones and Co were making Anthony Hitchens available. So what did Brett Veach do? He went out to get Hitchens a second time and signed him in Free Agency. Veach got a pair of high quality ILBs who will get after it, sideline to sideline and still drop in into pass coverage and more importantly help resolve the Chiefs difficulty with run defense.

I countered the critique that Ragland was a two down ILB by watching film. I think the pundits and scouts missed what Ragland can do and listened to others with the critique. Ragland’s show improved steadily in 2017 and topped it all with great play in the playoff loss to the Titans. I already had a very good opinion about Anthony Hitchens and was enthused with Veach going out to get him the second time.  With the starter ILBs lined up, Spring training and Camp was a time to look to the depth of the position and Lo and Behold, three men stepped it up a notch or two.

It Get’s Better Five Deep & Ready to Rock

It turns out that both Ragland and Hitchens missed practices due to injury and three other ILBs have shined their talent: Ukeme Eligwe and Terrance Smith who are posited as the #2 ILBs. In camp, with the opportunity, they have played well. Yesterday I listed players that have a shot at making the club and Ben Niemann, an UDFA out of Iowa, has turned heads in camp. It appears he has earned a roster spot with his performance thus far. He will need to continue that in preseason games as will 2017 draft pick Eligwe and Terrance Smith. What do I see? A successful group of ILB’s ready to rock and that means look out if you are a running back about to take a hit. All five of these players have feet, they are tough, they hit you with their own load of bricks. I am very pleased that the ILBs are at least this deep.

David Bell – Never satisfied

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