Laddie Morse
We’ll all want to wait until the Chiefs have played the Dallas Cowboys this coming Sunday to make up our minds about whether or not the team has been fixed, or if the defense and offense, have each truly turned a corner. However, the first 10 games tell a story of marked improvement. Let’s begin with the defense.
D-Fence: A Breakdown
“If a fence runs around the yard, does it move?” That was a question on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills from the 1990s when I was teaching 3rd grade (BTW, I would have been fired back then just for knowing a question on the ITBS test, much less sharing it). Anyways…………. during the first five (5) games of the 2021 NFL season the Kansas City Chiefs allowed opponents to score 163 points, or, 32.6 points per game. They allowed every team they faced to score 29 or more points.
In the last five (5) games, the Chiefs defense has allowed a total of 78 points, for a 15.6 points per game average.
The 7-and-2 Cowboys have one of the best offenses in the league this year. They’ve score 284 points in their first nine games for and average of 31.5 PPG. They’ve score 35 or more points five times this season with a 45.6 third down efficiency (53 of 116).
To contrast that, the Raiders had a 11.1 third down efficiency rate (1 of 9) on Sunday evening, while their seasonal third down efficiency rate is 39.2 (40 of 102).
If the Chiefs can hold the Cowboys to a similar third down efficiency rate, then… I think they can then say they’ve really turned a corner.
Golly Gee, How’d Dey Do Dat?
Third down efficiency vs the Raiders. Craig Stout at ArrowheadPride perhaps explains this best:
“Rising to the occasion” is what we’ve often associated to the Chiefs offense, especially on third downs, but in this case, it’s the defense that shut the Raiders, sometimes potent offense, down at those critical moments.
Singling out one of two Chiefs defenders doesn’t tell the whole story in this game. Many Chiefs contributed. Here’s PFF to tell who came up big versus the Raiders in Las Vegas:
The Chiefs defense SHOWED UP against the Raiders on SNF. Four of the five highest-graded Chiefs are on the defensive side of the ball:
1. Chris Jones – 90.3
2. Rashad Fenton – 88.4
3. Juan Thornhill – 84.1
4. Travis Kelce – 82.8
5. Derek Nnadi – 78.0
It’s worth nothing that the Chiefs defense had four (4) of the top five (5) PFF scores vs the Raiders.
Chiefs Defense vs Raiders QB Derek Carr
Derek Carr didn’t have a horrible game. However, even though K.C. only got to him twice in this game, the Chiefs defense was able to produce one (1) Interception, 5 QB Hits and 6 Passes Defensed. While many, including moi, don’t see Carr as an elite QB, that hasn’t been the case with the national media this year:
David Bell has spoken many times about the magic number the defense can give up and altered that number from 17 to 20, in this aerial age of the NFL, and that’s been especially true with Patrick Mahomes stacking up points. So, if the Chiefs D can continue to hold opposing offenses to under 17, as shown above, that makes the job of the Chiefs offense much, much easier.
The Chiefs Offense
The big bugaboo for the offense in 2021, prior to Sunday, has been turnovers and penalties. However, 4 penalties for 34 yards and zero turnovers by the offense (the fumble was by Mike Hughes on a Punt return) against the Raiders made this a game that many have been calling a turnaround game. The Chiefs 516 total yards may have something to do with that as well.
Adjustments For Desert
It doesn’t matter when we get to eat the desert, as long as they eventually serve the desert. Right? Many have been wondering out loud about why the Chiefs haven’t been able to make the right adjustments in their offense to combat the adjustments every team in the league has made to them since the Chiefs played the Bucs in Super Bowl LV. Finally, it looks like those adjustments have taken place and the production has followed suit:
The production was off he charts too:
Patrick Mahomes was so very Patrick Mahomes-esk in this game that he once again returned to the record breaking QB we’ve all come to know and love:
We haven’t seen this kind of production from the Chiefs offense on each drive in a long time. Here’s how each possession went:
K.C. was, one Punt and one missed FG, away from scoring every single time they had the ball. Our expectations for the Chiefs offense has become so overblown that we often can’t see the forest for the trees (BTW, I’m sharing the tweet below so you could see the second half of it):
Good Offense Plus Good Defense
Lyle Graversen at ArrowheadAddict has summed up how the rest of the NFL should feel right now:
“The rest of the AFC should be terrified after
watching the Chiefs beat the Raiders.”
>>>> So, are the Chiefs back? Maybe…………
When the Chiefs were 6-and-4 at this time of the year, two years ago, they went on to win Super Bowl LIV. While many of us are still in wait-n-see mode, I think I can begin to buy into that possibility much more… if… the Chiefs can handle the Cowboys this coming Sunday at 3:25 in Arrowhead.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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