Eye in the Sky Report: 2016 Kansas City Chiefs
By John Cooney
Senior Staff Writer for Fantasy Football Mastermind
Okay, so the 4th game was a train wreck… now what?
When a team loses in as spectacular fashion as Coach Reid’s squad did against the Steelers, it usually can be attributed to a complete systems failure. The question Coach Reid has to answer is, was this an aberration, and outlier performance, or a symptom of systemic flaws? If you listen to Big Red, he’s not concerned about his team’s long-term outlook and this was just one of those games. Of course, as has been his way going back to his very first day as a head coach in Philly, Coach placed the burden of game-blame on himself. That’s obviously his planned (everything Coach says and does is planned) tact in pre-defusing the sharp criticism and searches for the “usual suspects” by the media lynch mob.
Coach Reid has always protected his players publically, saving his own performance critiques of his troops for the private confines of his office or the film room. But he did give us and his players a public display of his displeasure with their week 4 work by leaving most of the starters in the game to the last snap. It’s an old, unspoken but, point-taken statement coaches utilize. But Reid will critique them face-to-face, as he has always done, point out the errors committed by both player and coach, move forward to work on righting the wrongs and come out of the bye week sabbatical with a clean slate.
If you know NFL coaches, they break down the regular season into segments, many prefer a quarterly matrix. This game would mark the end of the first quarter of the Chiefs’ regular season, closing out at 2-2. Big picture, that’s not a negative, but rather, a Mulligan. Sure, the bad taste of the crushing loss to Pittsburgh lingers because the memory of that stinker is fresh. But honestly, who didn’t see that coming? I’m sure Coach Reid, even in his ever-positive persona, felt his charges would do well just to keep the score close.
Getting ready to gear up for the week tilt against the Steelers, here is what Coach Reid was working with and/or what took place during the game.
CB Marcus Peters had been sick and missing practices; he clearly wasn’t 100% on game day.
CB Phillip Gaines banged up a knee and was out of action Sunday.
OLB Tamba Hali was dealing with an undisclosed injury and played 20 snaps.
ILB Sam Barrington missed three straight games with a hamstring injury.
RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif played on that sprained ankle.
LG Parker Ehinger missed the past 2 games with a concussion and played 3 snaps on special teams only.
G/T Jah Reid has sat out his second consecutive game with ankle and knee ailments.
RB Charcandrick West was out with and ankle
RB Jamaal Charles made his 2016 debut but saw just 10 snaps; you bet there’s concern.
RB Knile Davis sustained a concussion and left the game.
We knew that going into a match against the very dangerous Steeler aerial attack with anything less than two healthy corners could/would be a disaster, and it was. We knew that Steve Nelson and DJ White were prime candidates to be toast of the week honors tasked with sticking Pittsburgh’s wideouts and denying QB Ben Roethlisberger clean looks. Making matters worse for the Chiefs was the return from suspension, not injury, of super-back LeVeon Bell. Bell is the wildcard that opposing defensive planners just cannot account for once he starts lining up in a wide receiver formation: and he did. This was clearly a case of much could possibly go wrong if… and the IF happened.
Let’s start to put this one-game wreck in the rearview mirror and, like Coach Reid and his staff, find the few positive nuggets, build on those and come out week 6 ready to capture the 2nd stanza of the 2016 campaign.
GAME BALLS for Week 4:
… and there were a few. Yes, garbage time stats are what they are, but coaches never waste snaps and garbage time is when coaches will work on things for near future use.
WR Chris Conley saw 7 targets, snared 6 for 70 yards.
RB Spencer Ware ran hard to the end, turning his 13 carries into 82 yards; he loses half-a-ball for his inability to catch 4 of the 5 throws his way and the lost fumble, however.
KR/WR Tyreek Hill had a return called back thanks to a flag, and scored his 2nd offensive TD in 4 games.
OK, that’s about it for game balls.
Coach Reid now has 2 weeks to get his Chiefs’ rested, refreshed then readied for the week 6 showdown in Oakland against the high-powered Raiders. If Kansas City fans are looking for something to hang their arrowhead hats on, it is this:
Coach Reid is 13-2 in his career coming out of the bye week break.
This is NFL football, and on any given Sunday (or Monday) a pro team can flourish or flop. Coach Reid is a planner and it is quite obvious that he uses the 2 weeks off to his advantage. The 13-2 post-bye game record is overwhelming evidence. What can happen in two weeks that flips the downtick of the last game? To start:
+ Jamaal Charles has more time to get up to game speed and come back stronger, healthier than what he showed in week 4. The very banged up offensive line also should be back to opening week strength both in the starting unit and the depth.
+ CB Marcus Peters will no longer be playing through the effects of whatever illness he had.
+ CB Phillip Gaines could be available.
+ And overall, Reid will get the week 4 mistakes cleaned up and script a solid game plan for the fun but flawed Raider defense. The bye week is also the time when Big Red installs a couple of new offensive wrinkles. Rest, healing and a push of the reset button goes a long way in this grueling sport.
A few observations that we best not ignore. Let’s remember that in Philly Coach Reid was lambasted for NOT running the football enough. In fact, the Eagles’ fans and media types labeled Big Red as a pass-happy play-caller. Since coming to Kansas City Coach has run a conservative, run-based offense. It was still West Coast scheming, but with a heavier emphasis on rushing, screens to the RBs and short WR slants. Heading into this season I projected that, based on the personnel changes and some history, the Chiefs would be throwing more. Not bombs-away, down-the-field chucking, but for sure more footballs in the air. After 4 games in the books QB Alex Smith is 4th in the league in pass attempts and 2nd in completions. Yes, the game flow and defensive struggles have contributed to Smith having to throw more often, but honestly, those two circumstances will remain a factor all season. Again, NFL coaches do not waste snaps, even in blowouts. I like that Coach Reid called WR Chris Conley’s number 7 times against the Steelers. Don’t dismiss mop-up play as unimportant. Coach Reid made a statement to his players by leaving the starters on the field to the end of the blowout loss, but he also had those starters working together on the field.
Over at ArrowheadOne.com, writer Merlin Merlin penned in his KC Chiefs First Quarter Review:
The talent level in the NFL is spread quite evenly. The difference between a 10-6 team and a 6-10 team is not much at all. A couple of balls bounce the right way, you catch a team at a good (or bad) time, you stay fairly healthy (or not). All those variables can create a variance of four wins. That is one reason that (GM) John Dorsey is looking for high-ceiling athletes. He is looking to move the Chiefs above the 10-6, 6-10 mass of teams.
Smith staying in there working with Conley was a latent clue for what we may very well see coming out of the bye. I for one am looking to add Conley to my fantasy football rosters right now. Alex Smith is on pace to put it up 672 times; there’s a lot of football out there ticketed for someone other than Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce. If there is one thing this offense needs it’s a 6’2-215 pound outside receiver with 4.35-forty wheels and supreme athleticism.
Chris Conley, 6’2-215
4.35x 40 with a 1.52-10 yard get-off; 45” vertical (WOW!), 11’7” broad jump (another WOW!). Hails from University of Georgia, the college program that produced some guy named AJ Green.
Just Sayin!
Hey! KC is 2-2. Let’s get past the bummer that was week 4 and, like Coach Reid, start a new slate with a fresh 0-0 record. Exciting things are ahead. This is an offense with playmakers and Coach will get it figured out. Oh, sure, he’ll mess up with his clock management and some week the opposing coaches will be one-step ahead, and Big Red will stubbornly stick to his “script”. But along the way, this team is “in it”. It’s a quality roster with quality coaches.
Like Coach Vince Lombardi made clear, “you’re not gonna be perfect, but you’re gonna be excellent!” Yeah, that about describes our Chiefs.
John Cooney is a Senior Staff Writer for Fantasy Football Mastermind.
