Chiefs: Will it be Mahomes on the Range?

Chiefs: Will it be Mahomes on the Range? – it’s difficult to imagine but when Pat Mahomes injured his ankle it meant a lot — with Hill out, his major over the top weapon and a gimpy anke, Mahomes pulled out a narrow margin win with the Detroit Lions. This was followed by two losses in a row dropping the team to a 4-2 record. In both game Pat could not maneuver and there were a lot of ‘gimpy’ players apparently. The OL was a sieve, the defense also. Both losses were losses within one score. Both could have been won but the Chiefs lost.

I cannot highlight anything from these 3 games except to observe that all three games had defense efforts that belied the talent and money spent on the defense side of the ball for both coaches and players.

In the 7th game, Patrick Mahomes went down in a pile of bodies and had injured his patella and was removed from the game. It looked horrible at the time but when Patrick reached the sidelines he was walking. First with assistance and then on his own down the tunnel for treatment. It turns out the next week the MRI gave tremendously good news and it was prognosticated that he would miss only 3 weeks play.

This particular game was against a less that stellar Broncos unit, and the Chiefs, as a team, stepped up. What was going on, on the defensive side of the ball is what is truly noteworthy. They came together, they supported one another, both before and after the injury to Mahomes. They played one hell of a game. It appears to me that the defense finally clicked, got in sync, gelled and the coaching staff from Steve Spagnuolo appeared to gel and get in sync with the players at the same time.

Mahomes on the Range

It’s been a week now since that Thursday night. On Wednesday, Mahomes, almost miraculously, hit the practice field and worked out with the team, running, cutting and making moves on his injured leg. Amazing!

I did not see that he was favoring the leg either. In his presser later in the day, Reid said it would be day to day, sort of, “Well, gee, we’ll see.” He didn’t say that he wasn’t ruling Mahomes out, as he did earlier after the win against the Broncos at Mile High.

So, we will see as the day approaches and the Packers arrive for the game Sunday evening. I know Mahomes wants to play. I know that Reid is cautious about bringing players back. So we will see. Chris Jones and Eric Fisher… both important cogs for the defense and offense respectively… also practiced on Wednesday. Reid also had a wait and see comment about them.

Spagnuolo Cautiously Optimistic

In another presser involving DC Steve Spagnuolo, he had a cautious upbeat session. You could tell that Spags was very pleased with the defense. I would not say… “Gushing”… but certainly not the serious looking coach that we had been seeing since the season began. If I had to guess, Spagnuolo is feeling as if his defense has arrived and though he won’t say it, he learned a lot about his players and how to plan to use them based on the results of the Broncos game.

Once again, we’ll see. I have high hopes that the defense has turned a corner though. You could see it in how the players played the game.

The Game Plan

I see the Chiefs giving Matt Moore the opportunity to make plays within the pocket. Reid’s play calling will be mixing in passes to RB’s plus slants and timed passes to WR’s to prevent him from holding the ball too long. A major concern will be to manage the clock and using the running game, so expect to see LeSean McCoy for 15 or 20 touches. I am not kidding, he makes a difference in finding a space to run through as you would expect from a Blue Chip Running back. If Reid mixes it up play-wise, we will see play action and the normal Chiefs game approach at the same time.

On the other side of the ball, we will see upbeat and aggressive play from the players on defense. They learned a lot about what they can do playing team football, backing up the guys in front of them making the plays and flowing to the ball aggressively. Also, Spagnuolo should be mixing in blitzes to keep the pressure on Aaron Rodgers. They will get a sack or maybe two but making Rodgers uncomfortable and getting hurries is the most important part of the effort.

The Forecast

Mahomes will play if at all possible but if we go with Moore, as Reid observed in the presser, he trusts that Moore will handle the duty. Moore said something to the other players as they huddled for the first snap after Mahomes went down and it was to the effect of, “Let’s roll, we’ve got this!”

Score? 24-30, Pack (if Moore starts).

Otherwise? It’s Mahomes on the Range!

David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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