Chiefs: What I Thought I Thought
and What Was Wrong With That
by David Bell | January 23, 2019
What Wasn’t True, Wasn’t True
Honestly, I did not think the Chiefs would play as poorly as they did. I thought Andy Reid would have a game plan that worked for the first half and not just the second half. I believed the defense was at least improved over the version that played at Foxboro in week six. I did not believe the Patriots could beat the Chiefs a second time and at Arrowhead to boot!
None of These Things Were the Case.
Andy Reid did not adjust play-calling to account for the pressure that was brought to bear. Nor did he counter the Patriot’s defense which was determined to shut down Ty Hill and Travis Kelce — and the Patriots did this for a complete game. Between the two top targets in the passing game, Kelce and Hill managed 4 catches for 65 yards but the pair did get a TD in this game.
In the first half especially, Patrick Mahomes was under duress and the Chiefs could not sustain a drive. Bill Belichick’s plan was to harass PMII and they did a masterful job — from different positions across their defensive front. In the first half, the Mahomes led Chiefs managed only 32 yards and ZERO Points. It was awful.
So much for the masterful play-calling of Andy Reid. So much for the multi-layered, multi-faceted playbook and offense with it’s genius play designs. So much for the blocking schemes laid out at in the playbook. So much for the simplified blocking scheme that worked so well when implemented over the last 6 or 7 games of 2018. That blocking scheme was successful. What we saw Sunday night was dismally insufficient.
I think you have to go back to the Bill Walsh motive: the simpler the better. That worked for the 49’ers. What didn’t work was what the Chiefs did on Sunday evening even though they might have been fortunate to actually win the game and advance to the Super Bowl, were it not for Dee Ford lining up in the neutral zone, negating an interception by Charvarius Ward and giving the ball and the game back to Tom Brady with only about one minute to play. If I am going to give a credo to anyone on the defensive side of the ball, it is to this young cornerback.
The Patriots on Offense
On the other side of the ball, the Patriots controlled the game, the game tempo and scoring, though they shot themselves in the foot at the same time. How they failed to score 28 points in the first half is a mystery to me. The Patriots racked up 245 first half yards vs 32 for the Chiefs. While the Patriot defense was doing a number across all positions, their offense ran the ball, passed the ball and as noted, should have scored a ton more than they did.
What Bob Sutton Didn’t Do
So what did the Chiefs do to counter what was presented to them? Nothing until after the half that I could tell. Adjustments were not made. The defense sets called by Bob Sutton were a dismal failure, much as they were the whole season. Why he just didn’t throw up his hands and tell the defensive unit, just go play football is beyond me.
My Near and Future Plans
I am going to review the game many times, to catch the nuances of the many breakdowns. I will pay special attention to the first half. Without lament, for such is only a biblical injunction when it has value — the Chiefs were poorly prepared, the coaching staff failed the players and if it were not for Patrick Mahomes himself, pulling the Chiefs along on his back, they would not have had a chance to win the game in the “second” place.
No single player was the reason for the loss. The Chiefs were beaten by a motivated team that out played the Chiefs for nearly all of this game.
Now… How Do I Feel?
I am sick at heart and lay this loss at the feet of Andy Reid. There is no way for him to avoid blame. He is the offensive genius, the play-caller and the man responsible for all three phases of the game. My problem? What I thought I thought was wrong and what I had previously thought and believed was what was truly the case.
This was classic Andy Reid in a crucial game and his team lost again!
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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