Chiefs' offense finally ended second-half drought, but the play style is not ideal
We are through 12 weeks of NFL football now, and it still doesn't seem like the Kansas City Chiefs should be known as a defensive team. Sure, it's cool, but the entire Andy Reid – Patrick Mahomes era has been all about offense, featuring some of the best offenses we have ever seen.Last season, with […]
We are through 12 weeks of NFL football now, and it still doesn't seem like the Kansas City Chiefs should be known as a defensive team. Sure, it's cool, but the entire Andy Reid – Patrick Mahomes era has been all about offense, featuring some of the best offenses we have ever seen.
Last season, with a whole new group of receivers, the Chiefs had the best offense in football in terms of points per game scoring, and they won the Super Bowl. This season, they have a similar group but no JuJu Smith-Schuster, a Skyy Moore who didn't develop quite how we thought he would, and an injury-riddled Kadarius Toney.
The wide receiver issues are true, and they are very noticeable. They have been a huge reason the offense seems to sputter and stutter in the second half this season. Before Week 12 against the Las Vegas Raiders, the most points the Chiefs scored in the second half was 14, and they were on a three-game streak of not scoring in the second half at all.
Obviously, as we all know by now, they ended that streak. The Chiefs scored a season-high 17 points in the second half. They were down by 14 points and ended up winning by 14 points, a much lesser version of the 2019 playoff game against the Houston Texans.
The way they got their offense going is not ideal, though. It's certainly not something I would recommend going forward.
Chiefs offense vs. Raiders is not ideal moving forward
There were not many big plays in this game. What do I mean by that? Well, there weren't very many plays that really stretched the field. The Chiefs took a lot of underneath stuff instead of going deep. That's fine if it works, but it isn't sustainable.
Coming into this week, Patrick Mahomes was 0/9 on passes of at least 35 air yards, according to Seth Kysor on the Only Weird Games, Chiefs podcast. That means the Chiefs have struggled in the deep game, which is somewhat uncharted territory for the franchise with Mahomes at quarterback.
On Sunday against the Raiders, they had two big plays to Kelce, the 27-yard pass in which the throw was right over Raiders' Divine Diablo's hands, and the trick play. Of course, they also had Rashee Rice's 39-yard touchdown, which was mostly done in YAC form, as he just ran an intermediate in route.
The Chiefs didn't take many shots downfield, and it didn't look good when they did. That's why they took everything underneath and took the easy things. They stayed ahead of the stick, which is good. However, here is where it becomes not ideal:
Eventually, teams will sit on everything underneath, and then you have to stretch the field. The Chiefs found something, sure, for this game. And maybe they can do that next game, but eventually, they will need to take shots downfield, and eventually, they will need to hit on those shots. That's just how the game works.
They did, though, do two things great on offense, and they need to continue to do so. They got Rashee Rice going, and maybe they have finally realized he is the best receiver on the team. They got Isiah Pacheco going in the run game and in screenplays.
There are elements of the offense that will stick, but just remember, that game against the Raiders doesn't mean the offense is back.
Chiefs rookie breaking the mold for receivers in Andy Reid’s offense
He’s doing something rarely done before.
