The Yin Yang of the Chiefs

The Yin Yang of the Chiefs – Britannica defines Yinyang as, “the two complementary forces that make up all aspects and phenomena of life.” The Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs personify that definition and in so many ways, it is the reason they won the most recent Lombardi Trophy.

First, I would suggest that you have to be a “force” before you can have two complementary forces. The Chiefs never really had that with their ex-Defensive coordinator, Bob Sutton. With Steve Spagnuolo, the word force captures his essence as well as it does for DL coach Brendan Daly. However, the “two complementary forces” more exactly refers to Andy Reid on Offense and Steve Spagnuolo on Defense.

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Since the Chiefs Offense was clearly outshining the Defense prior to 2019, the last two drafts have leaned more on the side of the Defense with 7 out of the last 12 picks going to the defensive side of the ball. However, notice that the 12 draft picks were still just one offensive player away from making it a totally balanced draft.

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That’s what Andy Reid is seeking: a balance. That’s the Yin Yang of it all.

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Take a look at the Offense in terms of running vs passing. At first glance it looks like mostly passing as the Chiefs threw the ball 61.43% of the time in 2019 and 61.46% of the time in 2018. Not so Yin Yang after all… Right? Not until you realize that 89 out of the 378 passing the Chiefs threw in 2019 were to running backs. That’s 23.5% of the time.

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For balance there, what we should possibly be looking at are the touches between RBs and WRs. If you take the 89 RB passing touches away from the number of Passing targets you get 469 touches by WRs. If you then add those 89 RB touches to the number of running plays you get 464 RB touches. Two and a half touches away from a RB/WR balance in touches for the season? As Confucius say: Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without

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Since it’s been 50 years since the Kansas City Chiefs have won the Super Bowl, and if it was a marriage, the 50th anniversary gifts is gold… Chiefs fans have been treated to a diamond set in gold. BTW, I can’t wait to see their Super Bowl rings (and I’m betting there will be diamonds set in gold).

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In an article written by Tim Childs for ArrowheadPride at the end of the 2019 season, just prior to the playoffs, he said:

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Chiefs attaining scary balance… Fast-forward to 2019… and the Chiefs suddenly boast a defense to match their potent offense. Don’t believe me, skeptics? Just take a quick look at the numbers. Kansas City is holding opponents to averages of 19.1 points, 348.5 total yards and 219.0 passing yards per game this season. Those figures are way down from last year’s marks: 26.3 ppg, 405.5 ypg and 273.4 pass ypg. Most importantly, the Chiefs are winning on third down, allowing conversions just 35.8 percent of the time. This makes life difficult on opposing quarterbacks, as evidenced by the 80.9 overall passer rating allowed. The Chiefs also struggled in these two areas in 2018 (41.5 percent on third down, 92.7 overall passer rating allowed), and this year’s drastic improvement has given the team a legitimate chance of toppling the heavyweights on the way to a title.

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Did someone say “balance?” Back when Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith were terrorizing NFL quarterbacks I used to enjoy watching the Defense more than the offense. Although Patrick Mahomes is now the preeminent quarterback in the NFL, I’ve “almost” returned to those days of Defense gawking. Who knows, if Willie Gay begins to make an impact this year, which I am hoping happens sooner than later, my Star Gazing Days on Defense may return before I know it.

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Even though the Chiefs balance between the WRs and the RBs, in terms of touches, has been nearly dead even, Andy Reid’s Offense has a reputation of being a pass heavy team. In an article for The Ringer called, “The Chiefs Have No Balance on Offense — And They Don’t Need It” by Tim McAtee, just before the Super Bowl he said,

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Conventional wisdom holds that NFL offenses should attempt to strike a balance between their passing and running games, but the Chiefs don’t even come close. An examination of their stats reveals that not only did Kansas City not get much out of its running backs, it frequently abandoned the running game altogether. Kansas City quietly pushed the limits of how heavily a team can rely on one aspect of the offense and became one of the most pass-heavy teams of all time. And regardless of what happens in Super Bowl LIV, the 2019 Chiefs should prompt a reevaluation of what it means for an offense to be “balanced” in the modern NFL.

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I would propose that the selection of RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire is an attempt by Andy Reid to… Yin Yang it up again. Ever since Kareem Hunt left town, the Chiefs have had a bit of a weakness at the RB position even though Damien Williams has been so good at times that he was considered (at least by me) for Super Bowl MVP. Although DWill had a 4.50 ypc average which was a healthy .30 above the league average of 4.20 ypc, he only had 213 receiving yards in 2019. In the meantime, Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 453 receiving yards in 2019, his last season at LSU.

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A stat that has likely been overlooked about Damien Williams is that he only started 6 game for the Chiefs in 2019. Both DWill and CEH together will give the Chiefs offense the balance they have been seeking since the Fall of 2018, when Kareem Hunt left the team.

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Just as the Chiefs are attempting to balance their Offense by bringing in Clyde Edwards-Helaire at running back, so too is the defense attempting to balance their act by bringing in Willie Gay Jr. on Defense.

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In 2019, the Chiefs pass defense was 5th in the league in completion percentage allowed at 60.5%. However, the run defense was 26th in rushing yards allowed at 2,051. The draft selections of both Khalen Saunders and Willie Gay in the past two Chiefs drafts show a decided effort to improve what needs improving. Signing Mike Pennel last year at mid-season (October 19) does the same.

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Let’s not forget that the Chiefs were known (prior to 2019) as a team with a weak run defense, so it seems reasonable that teams would attack the Chiefs there first and foremost (that of course changed as the year progressed). However, in 2020, opposing teams may view the Chiefs passing defense as a weakness and attempt to take advantage there. That’s the ebb and flow of the NFL.

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We can even trace some of this balancing of the Yin and the Yang to Clark Hunt changing the way the team would be structured, with both the Head Coach and the General Manager reporting to him directly. It was Hunt that brought the duality of Yin and Yang into an indivisible whole. It’s a good thing too, because his move to oust John Dorsey and bring in Brett Veach as the new GM two years ago, now looks like the Yin Yang move of the decade for an owner.

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I can think of no greater Yin Yang effect on the Chiefs than the 50 years of tears and jeers before the team had a major overcoming and brought home the Lombardi once again. Anton St. Maarten may describe our journey as Chiefs fans best when he says,

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Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.

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You see, to understand the Yin Yang process is to experience the dark and the light… the confounding and the wisdom… the pain and the glory. You could say that each of the Chiefs playoff games offered a unique view into the polar forces of… well, as the Moody Blues once wrote, it’s “A Question of Balance“… like: “Oh no, we’re going to lose again… wait… wait… OH YES, WE’RE WINNING BIG TIME!!!!!” To be a Kansas City Chiefs fan, is the odyssey of the Yin and the Yang. Chiefs 31, 49ers 20 (Full Game).

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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