Chiefs: It’s The Difference Between Winning and Losing

Chiefs: It’s the Difference Between

Winning and Losing

by Laddie Morse | January 8, 2019 

There are a number of things that must go right for the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Indianapolis Colts four short days from now. There are a number of things that must go wrong for them to lose as well. For the Chiefs, it’s the difference between winning and losing. So, what must go right… or wrong?

Reid Must Be Reid

The Chiefs Head Coach, Andy Reid, must be at his creative best versus the Indianapolis Colts. We know the Colts Head Coach, Frank Reich, is also a creative play caller and that will make things especially entertaining this Saturday. What Reid must do is, out-creative-ize his counterpart. A basic premise of Andy Reid’s philosophy is to, “not be predictable” in the offensive playcalling and give them looks they’ve never seen before. Over the past several years we’ve seen Reid bring in the read-option, running the spread, and other schemes normally reserved for the college game. Next, Reid set out to stock the roster with the kinds of players who could deliver the needed ingredients to make his scheme cook: and he has. Reich, Indy’s rookie HC, has used a very talented QB in Andrew Luck to build a multi-dimensional attack around, and that has also begun to work well over the past two plus months.

If Reid can out-coach Reich in the playcalling department, the Chiefs are much more likely to beat the Colts.

Reid Must Not Be Reid

Andy Reid would already be a lock for the NFL Hall of Fame… if there was no postseason play. His poor coaching performance in the playoffs is equally legendary to his regular season offensive genius. The only thing that can change that is winning at this time of the year. Better clock management, keeping his foot on the pedal late in games, not becoming predictable in his playcalling when he gets a lead so he goes into protection mode.

If Andy Reid can avoid his postseason misgivings, the Chiefs have a very good chance of beating the Colts this weekend.

The Point of No Return Of The Mack

Marlon Mack is the Colts workhorse RB. The Colts had 35 rushing attempts in their victory over the Texans on Saturday which resulted in 200 yards rushing. Mack gained 148 of those yards on 24 carries: a 6.1 yards per attempt average. While the Chiefs must focus on stopping Mack, the Colts don’t throw to their RBs much so that’s a plus for the Chiefs (Mack had 6 yards receiving vs the Texans and only 17 receptions in the 2018 regular season). Since the Colts had 32 passing attempts — three fewer than their rushing attempts — it raises the question of whether or not they run-to-pass, or pass-to-run? 

If the Chiefs can cue on Mack and hold him to 110 yards of fewer on the ground, it will bode well for the Chiefs chances of winning this game.

Empty The Cartridge On The Cover-2

The Colts like to play a lot of cover-2 defense (two deep Safeties in a zone). Patrick Mahomes likes to play against the Cover-2 (he shredded the Steelers in Pittsburgh early in the season when they were in a Cover-2). The Cover-2 was originally called the Tampa-2 but was first used as far back as the 1970s by the Steelers. It requires an exceptional ILB who is quick and fast and can cover a lot of ground, as well as fast D-linemen who can tackle, and Safeties who can cover a lot of ground. Everyone in the Cover-2 must be able to cover and tackle for it to work well and that’s why it will be a stretch for it to work against an offense that has receivers like Hill and Kelce (and hopefully Watkins). While Indy has had success playing in the Tampa-2, the Colts will have problems using that scheme against a quarterback with the lightning bolt delivery of Mahomes. 

So, Patrick Mahomes needs to take advantage of any Cover-2 looks he gets from the Colts by loading his weapon and emptying it completely. As often as possible.

Andrew’s Un-Lucky Seven

Andrew Luck must be kept bothered by the Chiefs front seven. More specifically, by Chris Jones, Justin Houston, and Dee Ford. There’s been a lot of talk about the poor quality of the pass rush of the Colts last 10 or 11 opponents. It may explain why their group of offensive linemen have been considered one of the best in the NFL and why Andrew Luck’s Jersey seemingly never needs laundering. The Chiefs have faced other OL groups who have been highly touted and still gotten pressure on their QBs. That must happen here.

If the Chiefs front 7 can produce consistent pressure and make Andrew Luck uncomfortable, it may turn out to be the number one reason the Chiefs are able to beat the Colts on Saturday.

“Elementary Mahomes, Elementary”

The most obvious reason the Chiefs could win against the Indianapolis Colts is if Patrick Mahomes elementally remains who he is. Many QBs play well in the regular season and fade in the playoffs. There’s no reason to believe that will happen to Patrick Mahomes but since we haven’t seen him in a playoff game yet… we can only speculate… but with confidence. The most exciting development of the 2018 season for Kansas City Chiefs fans has been the ascendance and weekly high level consistency of their young quarterback. Unless Patrick Mahomes has an uncharacteristically poor game, the Chiefs should come out on top in this Divisional test. The QBs the Colts have faced this year haven’t been the best collection of star studded superjocks:

As long as Patrick Mahomes is who we know him to be, the Chiefs will win big over the Colts.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

.

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-its-the-difference-between-winning-and-losing/#disqus_thread)