Chiefs HC Andy Reid's evaluation of the offensive line's performance vs. Texans doesn't line up with the stat sheet
One of the biggest storylines for the Kansas City Chiefs as they prepared for the Houston Texans in the divisional round was their offensive line. Rather than putting Joe Thuney back at his natural left guard position and starting D.J. Humphries at left tackle, coach Andy Reid decided to keep Thuney at LT and Mike […]
One of the biggest storylines for the Kansas City Chiefs as they prepared for the Houston Texans in the divisional round was their offensive line.
Rather than putting Joe Thuney back at his natural left guard position and starting D.J. Humphries at left tackle, coach Andy Reid decided to keep Thuney at LT and Mike Caliendo at LG. During a three-game stretch from Week 15-17, the Chiefs' offensive line thrived with Thuney and Caliendo in the lineup.
Whether or not Reid's decision was the right one is subjective. However, from his perspective, Reid is satisfied with the job his offensive line did against the Texans on Saturday. When asked about it on Monday, Reid mentioned to remember just how good Houston's defensive line is.
"First, I'd give credit to the Texans," Reid said. "I mean that defense is a good defense. And that defensive line is a big challenge. I thought our guys held up well against them. We did some good things in the run game, and did some good things in our play pass game, and we were decent on third down. So, I think all around it was it was good considering who we were playing against."
Reid is right to give the Texans credit as they ranked fourth in the NFL in sacks during the regular season with 49. However, there could be a little bit of coach speak going on here, as former Chiefs right tackle Mitchell Schwartz pointed out on X.
Reid is never one to throw his players under the bus, even if he knows they can do better. Anybody with eyes could see that Houston's defensive line was dominating the line of scrimmage, especially early on. Then there's the cold hard stats, which show that Thuney and Caliendo surrendered 13 quarterback pressures and two sacks.
Patrick Mahomes was sacked three times total on the day. As the game progressed, Mahomes was taking deeper drop backs and rolling out of the pocket to buy himself some more time to scan the field. He got off a tremendous throw to tight end Travis Kelce that went for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as he was being brought down by defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr.
Pass protection will certainly be a point of emphasis this week as the Chiefs prepare to take on the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game. It will be worth monitoring if Reid decides to give Humphries a try at LT and place Thuney back at LG, but he may not want to mess with the cohesion of the offensive line at this point. If nothing else, Reid will likely scheme some things up to give Mahomes more time and take less hits.
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It’s beyond old at this point.
