Chiefs: Adjustments, Adjustments, Adjustments

Chiefs: Adjustments, Adjustments, Adjustments – Week Two Reflections: I believe that the Oakland Raiders HC Gruden won the coaching battle to start the game on Sunday with a set “scripted” plays. Gruden came at the Chiefs trying to take away the run game, which the Raiders did an excellent job of, and trying to stifle Sammy Watkins. Gruden obviously thought that Patrick Mahomes tender ankle would be a bigger issue than it turned out to be. 

Adjustments

Once Reid got past his scripted plays and started making adjustments, the Raiders defense was doomed. The Raiders shut down the Chiefs rushing attack and tried to close down the short passing game, but in doing so, left themselves wide open to the deep ball. Even with Mahomes less accurate than his stellar self, he hit more than enough passes to be successful, and his long ball was excellent.

Wide Outs Stepping Up

No way in the world did anyone foresee the breakout game of Demarcus Robinson. I have known that DRob is really good at getting himself open when Mahomes scrambles, but he made himself a number 1 receiver Sunday, and it was a great thing. 

Mecole Hardman had a number of good plays. That touchdown reception (the one that counted) was a thing of beauty. Now, that was a fantastic pass by Mahomes, but anytime the ball travels for over 50 yards in the air, it’s not an easy catch, but Hardman made it look so routine by casually reaching out and snagging the ball  out of the air with just his hands.

Defensive Adjustments

Speaking of adjustments, with the Raiders offense running over the Chiefs D in the first quarter, the defense made some adjustments and shut the Raiders down the rest of the game.

Let that sink in… the defense made adjustments, the Defense Made Adjustments, the Kansas City Chiefs Defense made ADJUSTMENTS, and it worked.

This is indeed a whole new era of Chiefs football. In only their second game, versus a better offense than last week, the defense looked very much improved. I’m not saying mistakes weren’t made, there were several. The most glaring was the blown coverage that Tyrann Mathieu tried to cover for and drew a 43 yard DPI: I’ve re-watched that play a couple times and I can’t tell on the broadcast coverage who messed up, but since Mathieu came from the opposite side of the field, I’m sure that receiver wasn’t his responsibility. 

Communication Adjustments

There were a number of communication errors in this game, mostly in the secondary, but some on the offensive line as well. The Raiders defensive front ran several stunts that seemed to confuse the OL. Part of that could have been LT Eric Fisher being out of the game, and part is just… we need better offensive linemen, especially on the left side. Erving settled in after a rough start and had a decent game in pass protection, but there is a reason we finished an entire game with only 31 rushing yards.