I just don't buy the "he's saving this or that"

There's only 17 games in a season. It's a full sprint.

Verderame said this on his Patreon this morning. Nick Jacobs and Matt Derrick have said this. Nate Taylor has said this. Grunny has said it too.

The Chiefs season is basically 3-4 games a year in January with 2-3 games in season to get the 1 seed for those games.

The Chiefs have shown next to nothing new on offense. Basically the Leo Chenal red zone plays. Basically Ravens, Bengals, Bills and Texans. SF is a game they’ll play hard in but it ultimately means nothing in terms of AFC seeding.

This team is playing like it’s preseason. They’re working on shit on offense. This is what the Patriots did for so many years.

It's not really about "showing new stuff" though. It's more execution and basic play to play stuff that they're just not doing as well.

People scoff at it, but he's said it himself, the QB just isn't playing well right now. If it's the injuries, sure that makes sense. But if he just needs the weapons....do it. Let some defense walk, inflate the offense at the skill positions, the OL whatever.

Get him back playing at his best.

That's the real secret. They're running the ball more. Each of the last two seasons they've run the ball 417 times and right now they're on pace to run the ball over 500 times. Obviously some of those runs are QB scrambles but I went back and looked and they've never come close to that 500 carries number with Mahomes even with his scrambling.

Given the WR issues and that defenses play the Chiefs so conservatively they may be trying to lean on the defense and beat teams out of playing deep safeties so much.

First of all he was great last game. Secondly, they absolutely keep their game plans simple and work on stuff during the season. Add in the fact that they can't possibly match their opponents intensity every week and it's easy to see why they don't look as impressive. They'll just keep disappointing you en route to the 1 seed (probably) and another electric playoff run (definitely).

I do agree with that part.

You can't be at your peak intensity every week, especially when they play into the postseason like they have.

If Pat plays like he did last weekend, we're golden.

Translation: mahomes is a game manager right now. We make it work because Reid and mahomes are exceptional talents. It was not our intention to be this way given that we fortified our offense with 2 guys who are exceptional at stretching the offense. Injuries happened before we could fully make this work.

So reid and mahomes adapt. They will continue to make this season work well despite our circumstances. But ultimately our goal is to let mahomes be mahomes and we know that an offense that wants to take it out of his hands or revolve an offense around one of the lowest ADOTs in the league is limiting our most explosive piece

Yep. It's a cope. You don't magically start trying or start installing new plays in the playoffs. There are tweaks here and there but no, if they could score 30 points a game right now, they would.

"cope" LMAO We're undefeated. I mean WTF?

And they flipped a switch in the playoffs LAST YEAR. IDGAF if they score 30 points a game. They don't need to because the defense is awesome and Mahomes will beat anyone when it matters. Sorry the games aren't more exciting.

Many of us understand that Reid holds back for the playoffs.

I agree that they will. But do you think Mahomes is just not trying anymore? Like he could play how he did 2018-2022 but just doesn't feel like it? He got tired of having fun and playing loose and scoring a bunch of points a game? He's throwing a pick a game and has the lowest yards per target in the league because he's doing it on purpose to save plays/points for the playoffs?

The offense has been bad because of injuries and because the players we usually count on haven't been performing to the standards we expect of them. Any other reason is a cope.

Coping with what?! Winning 11 straight games including the Superbowl?? The offense was rebuilt in the offseason and then had the rug pulled out by injuries and uneven LT play. Mahomes had a couple down games trying to compensate and then looked awesome last game. Our running game looks better than ever and Patrick is figuring it out with his patchwork WR room. What in the holy **** do any of us have to cope with?

Not sure I believe that. They can't empty the playbook because they have too many good players injured on offense. Not because they're deliberately hotdogging the offense.

Yup. Anyone who watched the playoffs, especially the SB, should know this

Mahomes is definitely trying to get himself back into playing form, hes too much of a competitor. Theres no way he doesn't care hes having his worst season as a starter statistucally. He himself said he wanted to bring back the offense of years past. Then the injuries happened and he honestly wasn't very sharp even before the injuries.

I think Prisco's point is "the Chiefs have gotten to a point as an organization that they can be playing C ball offensively through the regular season and id still be terrified of them in the playoffs because of their proven track record of success" and honestly hes not wrong.

Because as much as Mahomes wants to be throwing for 50 TDs every season, he wants to win Super Bowls more.