When a new season begins, you never know prior to that, what the team will actually look like. Add in some rookies and some new faces though trades and free agent signings and every season becomes an altered state of the team it was the year before. This year’s team looks like the offense has the ability to carry the defense when they face a team whose offense goes off. After a 42-27 drubbing of the world champs, it’s clear, the Kansas City Chiefs “gots” some weapons.
Let’s begin with last year’s rookie sensation…
The Stealth Weapon: Tyreek Hill
Tyreek Hill had 7 receptions for 133 yards. Somehow, with everything else going on around this victory, Hill’s 
performance has been diminished. Multiply Hill’s stats out to 16 games and it comes to: 112 catches for 2,128 yards. Now do you see what I mean by diminished? I don’t believe Hill is likely to achieve those numbers but if you recall some pundits saying the Chiefs are going to miss Jeremy Maclin and that Hill will maybe get to 900 yards receiving this year… 1,000 at the most… well I think it’s safe to say he will eclipse those numbers, if he can stay healthy.
The Space Cowboy Weapon: Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce had 5 catches for 40 yards and one run for 4 yards. Head Coach Andy Reid appears intent on running 
Kelce up the middle on a sweet-n-sour shuttle pass from Alex Smith. It never seems to gain very much but it is effective enough that you’re guaranteed to see if again at a stadium near you. Although those kinds of plays bring Kelce’s average per pass play down, the play action of sending Tyreek Hill across the formation first, gets the defense spread out and should continue to force defenses across the league to stay honest when it comes to covering both Hill and Kelce. They can’t cover everybody all the time… and since Kelce and Hill are Thing One and Thing Two when it comes to Chiefs offensive weapons, then plays like that should create a nothing but havoc for Defensive Coordinator’s who game scheme for the Chiefs.
Swiss Army Knife Weapon: Kareem Hunt
I commented during the game, as soon as Kareem Hunt fumbled his first carry in the NFL, that coach Reid would make sure he carried the ball again. Not only did Hunt carry the ball on the Chiefs next offensive play, but he carried the team 
to victory. The Chiefs were accused last year — and rightfully so — of having purely a two-pronged attack with Kelce and Hill but now that Kareem Hunt is in the mix, teams will have to account for his whereabouts at all times. Draft analyst and college football savant Daniel Jeremiah said this of Hunt when he came out of Toledo, “The vision and the balance that has, I think he’s one of the most instinctive players in this entire draft class. I think this guy is going to be an outstanding pro.” Vision, balance, instincts: Kareem Hunt showed all of those skills in his first game in the NFL. I will remind fans whenever I can that I believe that Hunt will be the Chiefs best #27 when all is said and done. Great first game. However, the real value of having Hunt on the roster is that he gives the team another weapon and consequently, a balanced attack. Something the Chiefs haven’t seen since Trent Green and Priest Holmes were both in the backfield. He’s also got this long time Chiefs fan dreaming… dreaming about the a Mahomes/Hunt combo down the road and and got me wondering just how far they can go together.
Here's what makes Kareem Hunt different. Backside backer doesn't get picked up. Should be -3, stops on a dime then explodes for +3 pic.twitter.com/hcNrkQv8Ij
— Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) September 9, 2017
The Ringleader of Weapons: Alex Smith
Alex Smith had a great game. It may be redundant to quote his stats in the game at this point. Many have made a huge deal of his willingness to go long and Reid’s willingness to trust Smith to do so. Others have made a huge deal of 
Smith’s ascension above and beyond the “Game Manager” role we’ve so often heard him associated with over the past four years in a Chiefs uniform. Some have said Smith is taking his game to another level or that he came to compete with Brady and won. However, I would say that Smith has been in competition with Patrick Mahomes for months now and watching Mahomes go long has been a mental template to draw from. While re-watching the game today, I was struck with the idea that this offseason the Chiefs wide receiving corp has had to learn to keep moving once a play breaks down and make themselves available downfield beyond the route that they’ve run. With six minutes left in the game, that’s the very thing that happened: from the ten yard line, Alex Smith dropped back, saw no one open, moved out of the pocket to his left, saw Albert Wilson open and flipped the ball to him and Wilson made his way to the 3-yard line setting up a first and goal and ultimately a TD for Kareem Hunt at the right pylon. There’s nothing like a swift kick in the seat of your pants… to give others a swift kick in the seat of their pants (the Pats).
Lesser Weapons: Demetrius Harris
and De’Anthony Thomas (DAT)
TE Demetrius Harris has begun to show up lately with the ball in his hands while he’s standing in the end zone. Andy Reid likes to run his multiple tight end sets and if Harris is going to start holding onto the ball now, he can be counted on to be another weapon… even a lesser weapon. DAT has begun to be more consistent in his routes and has begun to fight for yards after first contact instead of falling down when sneezed on. Just as Mahomes has had a positive effect on Alex Smith, I think the presence of Tyreek Hill has made DAT a better player all the way around. Getting both DAT and Hill on the field at the same time is becoming a dynamic feature of Reid’s offense and it looks like it has teams dancing like they’ve got ants in their pants.
And… I like that dance.
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