[dirk digler]

As far as the offense goes Reid talked about the coverage comment Mahomes made last night.

Reid described how defenses are currently playing the Chiefs offense — and how it might overcome the change in looks.

As to be expected, defenses have made adjustments in 2021 to counteract the Chiefs' explosive offense.

"When Pat was on his first few years, we saw a lot of man coverage," remembered Reid. “They challenged us with man, and then we started to get pretty good with that. But we went through a phase where — like we are now, man — we struggled with a little bit. We pounded through that, and now we're seeing zone. We're seeing the shell zone, whether it's two-deep, or whether it's quarters, palms, which is kind of a mixture of Cover-4 — the quarters look and 2."

By playing more zone, teams are doing a better job eliminating the explosive plays we had become used to seeing from the Chiefs offense.

"They're making you kind of work your way down the field, so we're putting these drives together," said Reid. "We're having hiccups within the drive, where you're having turnovers or penalties, and those things — they kill you. So it's not that you're not racking up the yards. It's not that you're not moving the ball. You just got to be more consistent with it and be able to sustain these drives. They're not going to give up the big shot there necessarily."

Still, the Chiefs won't abandon the deep shots completely. But they do need to build to them.

"There's a time and a place for that," said Reid. "You got to be able to run the ball. You got to be able to throw the ball. You got to have a short-to-intermediate game. You've got to have the whole package. You've got to be able to move the quarterback around, but most of all, you've got to be able to sustain that. So does it take a certain concentration level to do that? Yeah, it's tough to drive the length of the field. But we've done it before and been successful with it.

"We did it the week before this week (against the Eagles) and were very successful with it. So it's a matter of letting everything play for you as you go, sometimes you got to pump the brakes a little bit, and just take what's given and you roll with it. It doesn't matter if it's the run game or the pass game. It's the same thing, and it's not just one position. It's everybody. It's everybody doing their job, coaches included, all got a part of it."