Chiefs' second half adjustments are something they should take notes on
Sunday was not a good day for the Chiefs, as they definitely did not play their best game of the season. The thing is, too, that the Kansas City Chiefs still almost won. There were just some adjustments made that helped out. And what do I mean by that? Well, the Chiefs didn't get Travis […]
Sunday was not a good day for the Chiefs, as they definitely did not play their best game of the season. The thing is, too, that the Kansas City Chiefs still almost won. There were just some adjustments made that helped out.
And what do I mean by that? Well, the Chiefs didn't get Travis Kelce the ball in the first half, and it's as simple as that. But hey, we knew coming into this season that every team would try to take away Kelce, especially with Tyreek Hill no longer on the team.
That's what the Cincinnati Bengals did in the first half of the game on Sunday. Kelce, for the first time all season long, didn't have a catch in the first half, and we know the offense flows so much better when he is consistently getting the ball.
So, Andy Reid made some adjustments for the second half.
“I could have dialed up more things that were a little bit more friendly for him (Kelce) too, and got him into space a little bit more," Reid said. "So, some of that is on the calls. (The) other is that they had a plan for him where they were going to double (him), in-and-out him, and take him out.
"Now listen, it opened up things for the other guys to be productive, but we take a lot of pride in being able to get guys open when somebody has a plan for them. And (in the) second half we did a little better with it – and Trav did better.”
I'm not saying that is why the Chiefs' offense didn't do as well against the Bengals, but in the first half, the Chiefs were down 14-3 with less than three minutes left in the first half, until Mahomes threw a passing touchdown to Jerick McKinnon.
The Chiefs are going to continue to see that from likely every team they face from here on out. They saw that it worked in the first half against the Bengals, so wouldn't they try it too?
In the first half we saw the Bengals not necessarily do things differently during the actual play, but pre-snap instead. They disguised a lot of looks using safety Jessie Bates and a linebacker at times, making it look like they would double him, and as Reid said, go "in and out" of that look.
On one play, I believe the third offensive play of the game for the Chiefs, the Bengals didn't follow Kelce when he was in motion, so in a way, it signaled that the Bengals were in cover three robber.
In cover three robber, the safety closest to the quarterback takes the deep crossers that may happen, and "robs" the middle of the field essentially.
Based on the look of the coverage, Mahomes knew that the Bengals would have underneath coverage on Kelce, and essentially didn't look that way due to that, and not having enough time to go through all of his reads.
The first-half struggles for Kelce had a lot to do with things like that, in terms of the defense just showing different looks, but was also a product of Kelce not being targeted as much as he usually is. A lot of times Kelce was the third or even fourth read on a play, and Mahomes just wouldn't have time to go through every one of them, which resulted in just two targets in the first half.
At least that's what I saw after reviewing some film from the first half. The Chiefs probably know more of what happened, but a combination of all of those things is what makes sense in my opinion.
Factor in what Reid said, and the fact that the Chiefs got it fixed in the second half and I think the Chiefs will be alright. You can't stop Kelce. There is no completely taking him out of games. He is too good. You can only hope to contain him, and the Bengals could only do that for a half it seemed.
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