Chiefs offensive struggles

[O.city]

Last 2 weeks have been pretty shitty on offense. Sure they scored yesterday, but that's against the shitbird Raiders and the Chiefs looked shitty doing it.

Mahomes doesn't look right to my eye. Anyone else notice he seemed to be laboring to even get back to hand the ball off at times? Is he still hurt?

He looks skiddish in the pocket (with the interior OL I guess I get it) but the Chiefs can't win in the playoffs without him being his normal self.

What's everyone's thoughts on whats going on? Am I just seeing shit?

[FloridaMan88]

Just find ways to get the ball to Tyreek, Mecole, Watkins and DRob in open space with short/quick passes.

They also need to be sure to consistently catch these passes as well.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by O.city

Last 2 weeks have been pretty shitty on offense. Sure they scored yesterday, but that's against the shitbird Raiders and the Chiefs looked shitty doing it.

Mahomes doesn't look right to my eye. Anyone else notice he seemed to be laboring to even get back to hand the ball off at times? Is he still hurt?

He looks skiddish in the pocket (with the interior OL I guess I get it) but the Chiefs can't win in the playoffs without him being his normal self.

What's everyone's thoughts on whats going on? Am I just seeing shit?

The last two weeks Mahomes had to play at 7,300 ft. and then in what amounted to a gale (I was told that gusts reached 40 mph). I'm going to give him a pass for now.

What is encouraging to me is that in spite of Pat's less than stellar performances over the last two opponents, the team has played fairly well around him, particularly the defense, so Superman wasn't necessary.

Also consider: before the Raiders game, Pat and Tyreek had been on the field for just 3 games this season or something like that. The OL that we started the season with had only been on the field for 56 snaps before the Chargers game.

Another consideration: the defense is now consistently producing stops and takeaways in each game. That's extra possessions. At the beginning of the season most teams were either getting the same number of possessions or more possessions than the Chiefs. Since the DEN game, the Chiefs defense has managed to give our offense at least as many possessions and in at least three games more possessions than our opponents.

That can only help the offense find its groove going forward.

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Another consideration: the defense is now consistently producing stops and takeaways in each game. That's extra possessions. At the beginning of the season most teams were either getting the same number of possessions or more possessions than the Chiefs. Since the DEN game, the Chiefs defense has managed to give our offense at least as many possessions and in at least three games more possessions than our opponents.

That can only help the offense find its groove going forward.

Aren't takeaways possession neutral, with the exception of the pick 6, which actually reduces offense possessions, rather than increasing them?

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Chargem

Aren't takeaways possession neutral, with the exception of the pick 6, which actually reduces offense possessions, rather than increasing them?

I'll try to illustrate my point with an example from earlier this season.

In the Colts game, the Colts finished with 10 possessions, while the Chiefs only had 8. We didn't generate any turnovers, nor could we produce any 3-and-outs.

In the Titans game, both teams had a total of 10 possessions. However, the Chiefs defense generated two of their 10 possessions by a strip sack that we recovered and a turnover on downs. Without those two turnovers, the Chiefs would've only had 8 or 9 possessions in the game.

And in one game, the Chiefs had 11 or 12 possessions, two or three of which were generated by turnovers, and our opponent only had 10. Just can't remember which game that was anymore, but I'll try to find it later.

[Buehler445]

As far as the OP, I’m going to point to the interior OL. Pressure up the middle and no run game are devistating to an offense.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

What was really strange was the number of single-high looks we were getting that we weren't attacking.

I get it - the wind was hellish. But Mahomes on 18-25 yard crossers can drive a ball through the wind. Dude has the best arm in the league and if you're getting single coverage out wide, why aren't you doing a little more to attack those deep seems?

The touch passes like the one he tried to throw to Kelce are going to be hell in those conditions and I get that. But there shouldn't have been as much of an issue on those bullets he can throw in the intermediate ranges. I wonder if more of those single-high man looks that I was seeing weren't disguised zones or something that I wasn't noticing in real time. It just seemed like he had more possible 'shot plays' that he could've muscled into windows that he just didn't look for.

It happens - teams get out of sync sometimes and there's little cause to believe it will continue. But they absolutely have to get something out of Watkins or find a miracle in Thompson because they can't put up 24+ points with regularity playing a 3-man offense.

As far as the crossers, I’m not going to bang on a play caller for keeping it short when you’re up 2 scores early. Quite frankly I wouldn’t call anything that took any time to develop in that game either. They didn’t need to.

That’s the same defense Reid and Mahomes got all rapey with the Faid in Oakland. I think those calls (and hopefully protections, which is what I’m worried about) will be there if we need them.

[carcosa]

Chiefs offense will average 35 a game from now thru the super bowl!!!!!

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

I'll try to illustrate my point with an example from earlier this season.

In the Colts game, the Colts finished with 10 possessions, while the Chiefs only had 8. We didn't generate any turnovers, nor could we produce any 3-and-outs.

In the Titans game, both teams had a total of 10 possessions. However, the Chiefs defense generated two of their 10 possessions by a strip sack that we recovered and a turnover on downs. Without those two turnovers, the Chiefs would've only had 8 or 9 possessions in the game.

And in one game, the Chiefs had 11 or 12 possessions, two or three of which were generated by turnovers, and our opponent only had 10. Just can't remember which game that was anymore, but I'll try to find it later.

Where are you getting the stats from? I am seeing 10 possessions for both teams in the Colts game on pro football reference.

And how would the Chiefs have had two less possessions if they didn't get the turnovers in the Titans game? If the Titans had scored a touchdown rather than turning the ball over, the Chiefs still get the ball back at the end of it?

The only two things I can see that genuinely affect possessions are muffed punts being recovered which affect possessions positively or a pick 6, which affects possession negatively.

I would suggest the coin toss actually makes a bigger difference to number of possessions over the course of a season than the two things above.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Top 3 offense DVOA with Mahomes missing 3 and a half games...you guys are silly sometimes

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Top 3 offense DVOA with Mahomes missing 3 and a half games...you guys are silly sometimes

Two and a half? Denver, GB, Vikings?

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

Just find ways to get the ball to Tyreek, Mecole, Watkins and DRob in open space with short/quick passes.

They also need to be sure to consistently catch these passes as well.

What’s interesting is that Matt Moore did A more consistent job of getting the ball to Tyreek.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by Chargem

Two and a half? Denver, GB, Vikings?

True, but you could say that ankle impacted the Indy and Houston 2nd halves. Dude couldn't move...

[mr. tegu]

I have noticed Mahomes leaving pockets a bit too early at times the last few weeks. Sometime it’s a necessity and sometimes I think he is just saying screw it and wants to get out of the pocket regardless to make a play. Sometimes that’s great but it seems like the last few weeks it was nothing but that.

But I think more than anything it is that for at least a few weeks now I think the offense has been somewhat bland on purpose and have been holding back. We haven’t seen quite as many creative plays instead opting for pretty standard plays. We haven’t seen guys running wide open as much with defenses looking lost.

We didn’t forget how to do these things. I think we are purposely holding back the offense which is actually really smart. Our team has often been ridiculously good on offense in the regular season or most of it, only to start dwindling as the season goes on. I think Reid finally realizes that we don’t need to do our best stuff every week in the regular season and saving it for certain teams and the playoffs is a better strategy.

I fully expect to see some new things this week incorporating Hardman and Robinson and for there to be at least a few plays with Hill running free. We will have receivers open and their defense will look confused at times. We will do whatever we want on offense just like we always do against them.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

What’s interesting is that Matt Moore did A more consistent job of getting the ball to Tyreek.

How many games has Pat had with Reek?

2....one of which was in a very windy game in which Reek was the only Wr to get the ball.....

The other game Pat threw for 435+ yards and 3 TDs.....

Just

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Chargem

Where are you getting the stats from? I am seeing 10 possessions for both teams in the Colts game on pro football reference.

And how would the Chiefs have had two less possessions if they didn't get the turnovers in the Titans game? If the Titans had scored a touchdown rather than turning the ball over, the Chiefs still get the ball back at the end of it?

The only two things I can see that genuinely affect possessions are muffed punts being recovered which affect possessions positively or a pick 6, which affects possession negatively.

I would suggest the coin toss actually makes a bigger difference to number of possessions over the course of a season than the two things above.

I have to admit I got the number of possessions for the Colts game from an ESPN show I saw about a week after the game. I never actually looked them up for myself, I took the analyst at his word.

However, when I look at ESPN's play-by-play of the game, the last possession by the Chiefs in the first half was a kneel down to close the half. So maybe he didn't count that possession because it was obviously not an attempt to score. But I further note that the Colts' last possession also was a set of victory formations to end the game. So, that's still 9 possessions per team.

I'm going to have to stop taking the talking heads at their word when it comes to stats.

And you can have more or less possessions. Think about it. Time is a factor. Every possession takes a certain amount of time. Without those turnovers it was possible that the Titans could've eaten up enough clock on both or either of those two drives so that they could effectively eliminate a Chiefs' possession.

But we're getting away from my original point a bit. The point I was trying to make is that getting those turnovers (unless the defense scores) puts our offense back on the field quickly. And rhythm is a factor for any offense, maybe even more so for ours. If the defense can quickly get the ball back for the offense, that can only help get our offense back into the rhythm they had last year. When our offense sits on the sideline for long stretches is when they seem to have the most trouble with stalling out, mistakes, etc.

[ModSocks]

Chris Simms talks about what ails the Chiefs offense.

And i totally agree.