Trying to find any silver lining

[treeguy27]

Just grasping at straws here to find any small positive from Mahomes' time off.

Any pressure that was on Mahomes to repeat as MVP and back up his stats from last year has been removed now. I honestly doubt that he was worried about it anyway, but now he can just go out and play loose and win games. The only stats to worry about now are the wins and losses. Again, I don't think Mahomes was concerned about it anyway but it would only be natural to want to validate last years performance.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

They did a little segment on GMFB this morning about this.

Mike Garafolo said he’s talked to people within the organization who think it can be a blessing in disguise down the road as they learn to play more complementary football.

It's a chance for our d to step up and lead.

[St. Patty's Fire]

Originally Posted by MAHOMO 4 LIFE!

Green Bay is gonna bring constant pressure all day long. Sherman needs to be in the game at least 50% of the time

Reid is going to HAVE to call plays that help out our tackles, the Smiths have been wreaking havoc on O lines all year for Green Bay. If we think we can just leave Erving and Schwartz 1 on 1 with them all game long, it’s probably not gonna go well.

[Wilson8]

Completely agree with Chris Meck and penchief. Good points!

Also -

Maybe the season helps point out the importance of having a balanced team and come new contract negotiation time for Patrick, Leigh Steinberg leaves enough cap money for an offensive line to protect Patrick and all the other essential parts of a team. Steinberg and Mahomes will more than make up the money difference with commercial endorsements.

I'm sure they are already aware but maybe it reinforces the importance.

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

I see several......

Agree with all of those.

[Master Chief]

Expecting lots of screens and dump-off passes next weekend. But Green Bay will be ready for that. Likely going to be a rough first game without PM.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

While it can’t be as frequent, they still have to take a handful of shots each game to keep the secondary honest... we don’t want things to be suffocated underneath.

Which we hit one Thursday night to Hill of course.

[NJChiefsFan]

Many great points. I think a lot of us saw this offense becoming too much back yard football. It's fun to watch but it's also not a great formula. Even before Mahomes got hurt on Thursday, KC seemed to be determined to reset the formula a little bit. This will force them to do so even more.

Obviously we would rather have KC adjust while also having Mahomes but if we can establish the run without him that really would take pressure off him that was over-due.

[ChiefaRoo]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

While it can’t be as frequent, they still have to take a handful of shots each game to keep the secondary honest... we don’t want things to be suffocated underneath.

Which we hit one Thursday night to Hill of course.

They have to throw deep to The Cheetah. Have to take those shots

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by ChiefaRoo

They have to throw deep to The Cheetah. Have to take those shots

Offensive line is going to have to step up too cause Moore isn't going to be able to buy time for Hill to work downfield like Mahomes could.

[bevischief]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

I see several.

Mahomes is so phenomenally talented that the Chiefs got away from fundamental football. There seemed to be an attitude of standing around waiting for Pat to do some crazy shit and win the game.

We're going to need to run the ball. We're going to need to play defense. We're going to need to do all the little things that we'd gotten sloppy with.

Andy's going to have to dust off the Alex Smith 2015 playbook. Screens and draws and short passes. Play-action.

We can absolutely be competitive while Mahomes is out, and will likely be a more fundamentally sound football team when he comes back. Other leaders are going to have to step up and lead by example. We already saw some of that Thursday.

This can bring the team together. This can absolutely be a positive, a gut-check.

Going to find out if this is a team or just the Mahomes and the other spots.

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

I see several.

Mahomes is so phenomenally talented that the Chiefs got away from fundamental football. There seemed to be an attitude of standing around waiting for Pat to do some crazy shit and win the game.

We're going to need to run the ball. We're going to need to play defense. We're going to need to do all the little things that we'd gotten sloppy with.

Andy's going to have to dust off the Alex Smith 2015 playbook. Screens and draws and short passes. Play-action.

We can absolutely be competitive while Mahomes is out, and will likely be a more fundamentally sound football team when he comes back. Other leaders are going to have to step up and lead by example. We already saw some of that Thursday.

This can bring the team together. This can absolutely be a positive, a gut-check.

Agree

The defense was sleepwalking because they thought the offense was going to win all by itself. Now our defense has seen that it can play better and that their energy was too low. Being without Mahomes for a couple of games will force them to maintain their improved play. When Mahomes comes back hopefully we have a more complete and healthier team.

Fisher back
Jones back
Defense playing harder

I also wonder if this will show Chris Jones how much of a liability he's become against the run.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by ChiefaRoo

They have to throw deep to The Cheetah. Have to take those shots

Cheetah shots need to come off of play-action; play action will work if we've made a commitment to running the ball.

Those dreaded WR screens stretch the field horizontally, helping to tire out a defense and widen those running lanes as well as offer a lower risk way to get the ball in Hill's hands.

We need to give Moore plenty of easy throws, high completion rate stuff.

I remember watching Moore a few years ago with that Dolphin team he took over and if I remember right, got them to the play-offs. They were pretty lousy.

I remember thinking he's a pretty gutsy, gritty LUNCHPAIL kind of guy.

Thursday that bomb to Hill couldn't have been any more on the money had it been Patrick himself.

I think the guys rally around him and we win a couple of these next three.

[Megatron96]

My gut reaction was that really wasn't a silver lining to be found.

But after reading some of the posts in the thread, and some reconsideration, I think you guys maybe onto something.

It maybe true that the rest of the team (not all of them, but a significant number of them) may have felt that Mahomes would just make up for any issues the team had. Maybe they got a little complacent.

After Mahomes got hurt, maybe they suddenly realized that every play matters, that winning and losing is in the details, that the game is decided by an inch here and an inch there.

One thing I've been noticing in the Chief's run game this year is how many times some offensive lineman aren't finishing their blocks as physically as you'd like. Don't get me wrong, mostly they do a pretty good job. But every once in a while I'd notice that a guy wouldn't 'finish' his block. Really try to physically send a message at the end of the block. Play angry.

And sometimes I was seeing that among the defensive starters, but not as often.

One of the plays I really liked was when we got that sack on Flacco, and whoever it was that landed on him kept trying to rip the ball out of his arms even after the whistle. That shows effort, and emotion, and a killer instinct. And that can translate to the rest of the unit. And as a player that's what gets you amped up. And that can turn an average team into a really good team. Or even a great one. See: the 2018-2019 St. Louis Blues. Benched their starting goalie. Worst to first. Won the Cup, the hardest championship to win in sports. With a team entirely composed of JAGs. Not one superstar player on the team. Just incredible effort and teamwork.

If the team can carry that kind of emotional content into the next four games, we're going to be a better football team for it, I guarantee you.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

I remember watching Moore a few years ago with that Dolphin team he took over and if I remember right, got them to the play-offs. They were pretty lousy.

I remember thinking he's a pretty gutsy, gritty LUNCHPAIL kind of guy.

I watched some of him late that season too and he actually looked pretty decent. I remember thinking this also-ran looked more aggressive than Alex Smith.

I thought Moore looked jumpy at the start on Thursday though finished better. With a week of Reid's gameplanning to his strengths and time spent working with the 1s in practice, I'm pretty curious to see what he's able to do.

Separately, CM, check your DMs.

[Hammock Parties]

This is going to be an amazing month.

We are going to see our Super Bowl hopes increase exponentially.