Tyreek Hill and the Wheel Route

On November 29, 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa and looked like the superior team. Two and a half month later, the Bucs flipped that upside down and ended up with the Super Bowl LV Lombardi Trophy in their hands. In the first game, the Chiefs ran a Wheel Route Left to Tyreek Hill. It was a highly successful play, which we’ll review here today. In SB LV, K.C. didn’t run the play at all, leaving one to wonder why.

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First, let’s take a look at the play I’m talking about.

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There’s a lot to like about this play so I’ll allow Brian Baldinger and Kurt Warner break it down.

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Baldinger’s breakdown of this play is more of an advertisement for Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy or QB Coach Mike Kafka than it is a breakdown of the actual play. Kurt Warner does a better job.

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How many times did K.C. execute a RPO (Run-Pass-Option) in the Super Bowl isn’t known, but if they ran 3 or 4 on the first several plays back in November, there’s no excuse for not sticking with that game plan in the Super Bowl. I do know that this play, a Wheel Route, a Bullet, or Circle Route, or whatever you want to call it, was not used once in the Super Bowl, but it should have been. I’m encouraged by the ability of Patrick Mahomes plus the speed and ability of Tyreek Hill. There’s no answer for their combined passing threat and the play above was critical in stretching the field wide, which didn’t happen in the second game between the two teams.

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It’s taken me some time to get over the Super Bowl loss to the one player I’d least want K.C. to lose it to. So, I finally reviewed the tape this week and found the following reasons for the defeat:

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• Drove to the 31, but only got 3.
• Byron Pringle had a 38 yard KO return, wasted.
• Chiefs had a great goal line stand followed by a dropped pass by Kelce on the ensuing drive which stalled out.
• Drove to the 14, but only got 3.
• A Tyrann Mathieu INT wiped out by a holding call.
• Long penalty on Breeland, tripping.
• With 6:05 remaining before halftime: K.C. had the ball but their drive only covered 5:00 and only scoring 3, allowing the Bucs a minute left to get 7 more before the half. It could have been 10-to-14 at the half but ended up 6-to-21. That could have meant a world of difference going into halftime discussions and planning, but being down by 15 hurt.
• Clyde Edwards-Helaire averaged over 7.0 YCP, but he only got 9 carries.
• CEH averaged 11.5 yards per catch, but only had two passes thrown to him.
• The Chiefs ran the ball 17 times and passed 49 times.
• Bucs RB Leonard Fournette had a 27 yard TD run around right end… but was never touched.
• The Chiefs D-line was consistently winning the LoS, and held Tom Brady to only 201 yards passing, but the Bucs defense held Patrick Mahomes to a 49.9 QBR.
• Consistency was the over riding issue for K.C. and knitting together long drives that ended in a TD never happened, not even once.

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HC Andy Reid apparently made no in-game adjustments, when clearly adjustments were needed. Why? We’ll never know. However, with his son causing a car accident just three days before the game, endangering the life of a child, I’m sure his heart was elsewhere. I could say a lot more about this situation, but am convinced that Britt Reid’s car accident played a bigger role in Andy Reid not being able to do his job than any of us can imagine.

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Hill had 269 Yds and 3 TDs in the first game and 79 yards and zero TDs in game two. Mahomes may have totaled 497 yards — running — before throwing the football in SB LV, but there are a host of other reasons that led to the loss, starting with play calling. Yes, execution is always important, but the fact that neither Reid or Steve Spagnuolo could turn the corner and the page in the playbook, is likely the biggest reason of all.

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There are so many facets of playing quarterback which Patrick Mahomes is not just good at, but great, and RPO’s is one of them. I’ll leave you with a short clip of some of my favorite plays from Super Bowl LV.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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