Chiefs: Four Keys, Four Concerns

Chiefs: Four Keys, Four Concerns – the Kansas City Chiefs win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night was a close one but the good guys came out on top in the end. “Good Guys”… if you are Chiefs fans. The reality is that Chargers QB, Philip Rivers, had a chance to pull out a win for his team on the second to last play of the game and the Chargers lost their 7th game of the season by one score. From the Chiefs standpoint, winning was dependent upon four keys… and also left me with four concerns.

Key One: the DL and Mike Pennel

If you think back to the “loss” the previous week vs the Titans, the play, or lack thereof, along the Defensive front, was the biggest difference. This week, with Mike Pennel activated, and active on the field, the DL was biggest difference. Here are some of the positive DL effects against the Chargers:

• • pressuring Philip Rivers into 4 INTS
  • one of those interceptions was by Derrick Nnadi
  • holding the Chargers to 93 rushing yards
  • holding the Chargers rushing attack to zero TDs
  • helping to hold the Chargers to 17 points

Mike Pennel’s stat line looked like this:

• • 3- Tackles
  • 1 – Sack
  • 2 – Tackles for a loss
  • 2 – QB Hits

Pennel accomplished this on 23 snaps, which was just 29% of the Chiefs total defensive snaps. Pointedly, 5 other Chiefs defensive linemen had more snaps that Pennel. Maybe it’s time to increase his involvement?

Key Two: Frank Clark

The Frank Clark we all hoped the Chiefs purchased in the offseason was the Frank Clark who showed up on Monday. Clarks day looked like this:

• • 5 – Tackles
  • 1 – Sack
  • 1 – Tackle for a loss
  • 1 – Pass defensed
  • 3 – QB Hits

Those QB hits were especially meaningful as Rivers could feel pressure all night long, helping to rush QB Rivers into throws that produced 4 interceptions. If the defense gets the game ball, Clark gets the game ball inside of the game ball.

One other point about Clark: he filled up the stats sheet except… he didn’t get a TD. That line is empty on the stat chart. How dare he!

Key Three: Patrick Mahomes Legs

A blogger on Twitter made an absurd claim on Tuesday, that given the chance, PMII would be as good at running the ball as Lamar Jackson. That inspired this tweet:

I, like Mike, will stick with the passer every day and especially twice on Sundays.

If not for Patrick Mahomes timely runs vs the Chargers, this game’s outcome would have flip-flopped. QB Philip Rivers nearly doubled Patrick Mahomes, 352 to 182 in passing yards. However, Mahomes ended up leading the Chiefs in rushing with 59 yards on the ground and many of those runs were timely, bringing one first down after another, extending drives.

While seeing PMII run with the ease of Alex Smith was affirming following his ankle and knee concerns earlier in the season. However, it’s not what we want to see out of the best QB in the league. Lamar Jackson is putting his career on the line every time he takes off on one of his highly entertaining, twisting and juking, jaunts, no one will argue that point. The way Mahomes won the MVP award last year was through the air, with hsi accuracy and acumen. Yes, Michael Vick says Jackson looks like him, but the danger will always be that he ends up in a heap, like RGIII.

Key Four, DBs: Sorensen, Ward and Fenton

While the defensive backfield for the Chiefs has been sporadic at times, there’s good news to report there in the form(s) of Daniel Sorensen, Charvarius Ward and Rashad Fenton. Let’s take them one at a time:

Dirty Dan – Sorensen made a great play on his interception basically ending the game. Rivers thought he could get the ball over Danny boy but he gobbled it in (my first and only Thanksgiving reference) and brought the drama to an end. Except: here’s how fast Rivers buried his head in the turf. No sooner had Sorensen made the grab than River flopped face down into the green.

Charvarius Ward – Ward has become the Chiefs best corner this year. Ward is on the rookie minimum and is currently scheduled to make $660,000 in 2020. Expect him to get extended this offseason. The Chiefs have very few CBs with contracts that last past this season so that will be job one for GM Brett Veach.

Rashad Fenton – our Mr. Fenton, of the sixth round in 2019, has come into his own. He had 30 snaps on Monday (38% of the Chiefs defensive snaps) and produced 3 tackles and an INT. Hopefully is he is given more time on the field, much as Charvarius Ward was given at the end of the 2018 season. DC Steve Spagnuolo needs to see what he’s got and getting hm more snaps is the only way to find out.

Concern One: Tyreek Hill

We’ll know more over the next 24 hours about Hill. His contributions to the Chiefs offense are immeasurable. Without him, other teams can assume the Chiefs can’t go long, which stretches the field, and they pack the box which becomes standard, basically limiting the Chiefs running game down.

Concern Two: Offensvie Line

Sure, injuries have decimated the OL this year but the total outcome on Monday wasn’t what I’d hoped for. Now, before getting your panties in a bunch, let me say that Mitchell Schwartz has been the most reliable performer on offense for years for the Chiefs and at a high level. Eric Fisher’s return was a positive, certainly when you consider the alternative: Cam Erving.

Aside from Fisher (who should get better and better following the Bye) and Schwartz, the interior of the Chiefs OL needs help. LDT is alright but Wylie at LG and Reiter at Center are liabilities. Reiter missed a block and completely whiffed when trying to keep a Chargers DL from getting into the Chiefs backfield on one play.

I know Andy Reid is not accustomed to making changes along his offensive line in mid-season but Reiter doesn’t seem to be able to block anyone who lines up on his nose.

Concern Three: The Running Game

It may be like howling at the wind for blowing so hard, but injuries have had their way with the Chiefs OL as well as Damien Williams, the Chiefs starting RB. All of that has had the Chiefs running game on the verge of extinct. At this point in 2018, the Chiefs running game had averaged 116 yards per game. In 2019, the Chiefs running game has averaged 94 yards per game. Yes, the Chiefs are missing Kareem Hunt but, it’s more than that isn’t it. The OL has been a hodgepodge of loose parts on a shoestring and Cam Erving has been everything we thought he was in Cleveland. I don’t have an answer but, it’s not a good look for the remainder of 2019.

Concern Four: Wide Receivers

Th is no a major concern but Patrick Mahomes only produced 182 yards through the air on Monday evening so something is wrong, and I doubt it’s Mahomes. Prior to the game against the Bolts, Mahomes was averaging 382 passing yards per game but on Monday, something was very, very different. Enough difference to cut his output in half. Less than half. Yes, Tyreek Hill was not present but there was a reason for Mahomes not being able to locate an open receiver… and that’s because they weren’t open… or… he didn’t have enough time. While being fully aware of the OL concerns, I recall the first TD Mahoems threw in 2018 when the Bolts were bring pressure into his face off he edge and PMII threw the ball so fast I was sure it would be a throw-away but instead, hit Hill perfectly in stride and he was… off to the races, as they say.

Part of this may be the lack of Hill and part be the lack along the OL but the WRs must take their own accountability into consideration. Mahomes doesn’t often miss an open receiver so we have o assume there weren’t many of those. 19 receptions on 32 targets isn’t going to cut it if the Chiefs are going to advance deep into the playoffs. That’s only a 59% catch rate. Not good, no, not good enough.

I don’t have a category for this one but, it’s “consistency.” One week the Offense is good and the Defense and Special Teams are inept. The next week the Offense is limited and the Defense is better and like Monday, the Special Teams were finally good. If the Chiefs can’t reach a place where they execute a consistently positive game plan for each of their units… it’ll be time to look ahead to another year.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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