Kansas City Chiefs Laddie Morse

The 2018 Chiefs Offense: Kingdom Air Forces

LadnerMorse March 29, 2018 No Comments

 

 

 

 

For the first time in Andy Reid’s coaching career, he may have the best roster that’s most well suited for the offensive scheme he runs. That may also be a bit of a misnomer because Reid is known to tailor his offensive approach to the player’s skills on his roster. Nevertheless, this cast of characters seems to be exactly why Reid has stayed up late at night scribbling routes and diagrams on the back of his Mad magazines and voilà, “The 2018 Chiefs Offense: Kingdom Air Forces.”

 

At the center of this storm is the second-year quarterback of the future — or more appropriately named, Back to the Future Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes II. It’s been a year since this regime gave up, the 27th pick in the 2017 draft… plus their 91st pick in that draft… plus a 1st round pick in this year’s draft… for the right to move up to the 10th pick in that draft… where they selected QB Patrick Mahomes. What many may be forgetting is why the Chiefs masterminds would do that.

 

Patrick Mahomes threw for 5,052 yards in his junior year and 4,653 yards as a sophomore and although the Texas Tech Red Raiders averaged nearly 45 points per game in those two seasons, they only went 12-and-13. While those teams could not overcome their porous defense most Chiefs fans don’t need to be reminded of what happens to a team with a bad defense… we need only look back at the Dick Vermeil era of the early 2000s.

 

 

 

 

Air Commander: Patrick Mahomes II

I don’t think any Chiefs player has been deified as much as Patrick Mahomes has prior to the time that he’s played a meaningful down in the NFL. There are those who will argue that his game vs Denver at the end of the 2017 season was filled with “meaningful downs” but that was only within the context of his proving he’s ready to take over in 2018. Surely enough, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now unless he had knocked that door down vs. Denver. I especially liked the late come-from-behind- drive.

 

 

 

Head Coach Andy Reid said in a recent interview,

 

“Besides that Oklahoma game when he [Mahomes] came and threw for 600 yards. We watched every snap that he played. Brett Veach had been on him from the get go and he told me about him before he was ‘Patrick Mahomes’.”

 

Mahomes actually threw for 734 yards that day (an NCAA record that Patrick Mahomes shares with Connor Halliday). So, I decided to look that game up and watch it to see if I could tell what made Reid want to watch “every snap that he played.” It didn’t take long before I noticed that the game had a freakish resemblance to every game Andy Reid has ever called. Well, yes, that might be an exaggeration but, if you decide to watch a couple minutes of this 9:44 game-clip, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

 

  • Oh, be sure and look in on the 1:53 mark. Great escape and long pass.
  • Oh yeah, and there’s another one you don’t want to miss at the 5:49 mark when Mahomes passes with his right foot on the 50 yard line and the ball ends up 5 yards deep in the end zone for a TD… while rolling to his left.
  • One more… at the 7:00 minute mark Mahomes runs the RPO to his left, fakes to the RB and cuts it up field for a 22 scamper into the end zone… all very Alex Smithsonian.

 

 

 

 

Oklahoma QB, Baker Mayfield, was 27 of 36 in that game and he was also the winning quarterback. Patrick Mahomes was 52 of 88 and his team lost 66-to-59. The lesson here is one for Andy Reid: you may have a quarterback who can get you a lead — even a large one — but you must not attempt to “keep from losing that lead” but instead, keep the peddle to the metal. What seems apparent is that Patrick Mahomes is capable of creating large leads and running up the score. Oh, Happy Days are here again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ground Control: Kareem Hunt

 

Coach Reid has already made is clear this offseason that he intends on getting the ball into Kareem Hunts hands more… through the air. Hunt had 455 receiving yards in his rookie season so he’s already shown he has that skill. With Spencer Ware returning — and his 447 yards receiving in 2016 — the Chiefs show no signs of backing down from throwing the ball out of the backfield more this season.

 

 

 

 

With the signing of RB Damien Williams and Reid wanting to run some dual RB sets, the aerial attack should be even more pronounced in 2018. For some 2016 highlights of Damien Williams here’s a short video. Check out the 1:15 mark for a super nice catch in the end zone [WARNING: MUTE THE VOLUME].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High Speed Flight Officer: Tyreek Hill

Tyreek Hill went from 33.3 snaps per game in 2016, to 49.6 snaps per game in 2017. That also represented about 75% of the Chiefs total offensive snaps. So, in three-quarters of the Chiefs offensive snaps, Hill had 75 catches for 1,183 receiving yards in 2017, which led all K.C. wide receivers. 

 

 

 

 

Andy Reid said of Tyreek Hill this offseason,

 

“Tyreek can do anything…. He is a smart kid. He picks up things quickly. It is just a matter of him—remember he was a running back. It is just a matter of him learning all the intricacies of running routes…. That’s what his challenge will be this year. Remember, he can play inside or outside and we can move him around, which we do anyways. He had as many inside plays as he did outside. He has a good feel for things.”

 

 

 

I would still expect more of Tyreek Hill in 2018, not less, even with Sammy Watkins coming aboard.

 

 

 

 

Air Artillery Sergeant: Sammy Watkins

 

Sammy Watkins also played about 75% of his team’s offensive snaps in 2018. He had 39 receptions for 593 yards. Although Watkins receiving yardage was about one-half of Tyreek Hill’s in 2018, Watkins had one more receiving TD with 8. So, Watkins is a threat to go all the way, every time he touches the ball and he’s noted for his yards-after-catch. That’s something the Chiefs haven’t had and that ability will force defenses in the NFL to plan more over-the-top protection from their Safeties. Which in turn, should make Tyreek Hill more of a threat to go long every time Patrick Mahomes can move a Safety with his eyes, or even detect where a Safety is heading with a pre-snap read, which often comes off of the motion the Chiefs employ. Am rubbing my hands together now… oh boy this is going to be fun to watch! The season needs to begin soon… my hands are getting hot.

 

 

 

 

Adding Sammy Watkins to the Chiefs wide receiving corp will be dangerous… for other teams to deal with. While Sammy Watkins is excellent “after-the-catch”… so is Travis Kelce.

 

 

 

 

 

Totally Un-Civil Air Patrolman: Travis Kelce

If you’re from Kansas City then you KNOW who the best tight end in the National Football League is: Travis Kelce. In Tony “The Best TE Ever” Gonzalez seasons 2-through-5, he gained an average of 898 yards per year. In Travis Kelce’s first four seasons, 2-through-5, he gained an average of 975 yards per season. Not to get too ridiculous with this comparison but, in Tony G’s best four seasons (he only had four 1,000 yards seasons) he averaged, 1,173 yards per year. In Travis Kelce’s last two years, he’s averaged, 1,082 yards per year, or, 91 yards less than the greatest ever to play that position. Tony had one 1,000 season in his first four years while Kelce has had two, and looks to be on the rise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hey, but there’s not that many balls to go around, right?”

 

Wrong. As I mentioned up top, this group of offensive players is a hand-and-glove fit for Andy Reid’s offensive scheming. If Kansas City Chiefs fans are getting excited… they should be.

 

 

While it seems nearly impossible to compare college production to NFL production, consider that the Chiefs averaged 25.1 points per game in the past two seasons while Patrick Mahomes teams at Texas Tech averaged 44.4 points per game in 2015 and 2016 combined. As I said, it’s not a fair comparison by any standards but… Patrick Mahomes helped produce those 44 points per game and we should expect to see an uptick in the point production for the Chiefs right out of the gate. After all, that’s a 19 points per game difference and if you watch the game tape of Mahomes above, you can get a flavor for just how the Chiefs offense will look in 2018. Add Kelce, Hill, Hunt, Ware, Williams and now Watkins to that mix and well, you get the idea.

 

The Chiefs offense in 2018 should be a Danger Zone… for other teams.

 

 

 

 

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