NFL: Kansas City Chiefs: A season of light and shadow

After the Kansas City Chiefs got off to a good start in the NFL season, successes have been missing more and more often lately. The reasons for this are the recent weakening of the offensive line and the crumbling defense, but a light schedule should encourage Kansas City for the rest of the season.

After a strong start into the season with five victories in series, Andy Reid’s men lost three of their last four games. With a record of 6-3, they continue to lead AFC West, but the dominance of late summer has now disappeared.

“We just have to be challenging on both sides of the ball again,”said head coach Andy Reid,”If we manage to play well with both units, we’re hard to stop. It is my responsibility to do so.”

Reid and his team will return to the winning track after a Bye-Week next Sunday in the game at the beaten New York Giants (live at the Red Zone on DAZN at 7 p. m.). The statistics suggest that Reid knows how to use the weeks off for ideal preparation: his teams’ record in games after a bye-week stands at a remarkable 16 wins to 2 defeats.

“We have to get back in shape,”said quarterback Alex Smith, after Kansas City’s third defeat against the Dallas Cowboys in their third season,”It’s good to get a break, not only physically but also mentally,” Reid doesn’t want to know much about a crisis:”We’re in good shape. I like this team, I like their attitude. We still have room for improvement, and this performance encourages me.”

The Chiefs have room for improvement especially in the Run Game, which they were able to use to broadcast a lot of danger at the beginning of the season. Especially Running Back Kareem Hunt, who climbed to the starting back of the Chiefs due to the injury of Spencer Ware, has proven that he can be a true game-changer for the Chiefs: Until Week 5, Hunt scored an average of 122 Rush yards per game, in addition to which he has collected 331 receiving yards so far and is thus also a good alternative in passing.

But the picture has changed abruptly – like the performance of the Chiefs. Hunt’s scores correlate with his team’s results: the rookie has only played 48 yards on average in the past four games, not scoring a single touchdown.

According to the coaches of the Chiefs, not a single player is to blame for this, of course:”The responsibility lies more with the coaching staff, but also with the people in front of Kareem,”explains Assistant Head Coach Brad Childress.

It’s clear that the offensive line can’t open up a big gap in every rush, but a look at the numbers shows that Hunt has been getting less and less support from his forefathers lately. In the first five games, Hunt still had 3.9 yards per carry before contact with the opponents, and in the four games after that he only ran 1.3 yards to the first hit.

“I don’t think the teams have adjusted to him. It’s more about doing our homework,”said Childress.

According to Football Outsiders, the rookie has 60 broken opponents’ tackles, and is now ranked second in the league by 19 more than Leonard Fournette, LeGarrette Blount and Le’ Veon Bell. In general, Hunt breaks through an attack of the opponent’s defence with about every third ball contact, also this value is above average good.

However, overcoming staffing problems in the O-Line promises to improve the coming games. Center Mitch Morse and Guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif have recently failed for some games. Our task is to position the line correctly and take it (hunt, note) to the right place,”Childress clarifies.

Good positional play will also be important in defence. Defensive Coordinator Bob Sutton has come under increasing pressure due to some strange assignments.

It was striking that the Chiefs-Defense already showed weaknesses in the winning streak at the beginning of the season, but an outstanding offense as well as ball wins at favourable times helped to conceal this.

On average, the Chiefs allow 390 yards per game, which puts them in third last place of all teams in this category. The problems are manifold, not only do the Chiefs look bad against the run, but they also allow big plays over and over again.

The team from Missouri lost one of the league’s best safetys through an Achilles tendon tear in their opening win against the Patriots with Eric Berry. The Cornerbacks Terrance Mitchell and Phillip Gaines were overwhelmed by the Oakland Raiders. The Chiefs expect Steven Nelson to do some relief for the Secondary.

“You can train, but it’s difficult to get the same intensity of a game,” Reid says,”but on the other hand, Reid is looking forward to support his defense:” You can never have enough people in the Secondary. We’re happy to have Nelson back.”

We have problems against the run,”said Linebacker Tamba Hali, who had to pause four games after the game in Dallas. Hali also blames concentration problems for the weak rush defense:”We have to play well throughout the entire season. I think we’re too relaxed sometimes.”

So Reid has some problem areas in his team, and he also has to do his own duty:”I have to make sure that we do the right things offensively, defensively and in our special teams. We as coaches must give the players the best opportunity to create the lay-ups.”

The Chiefs have a comparatively simple schedule for the rest of the season. According to DVOA statistics from Football Outsiders, Kansas City is the lightest of all teams, with the Buffalo Bills in Week 12, the Chiefs have only one opponent with a positive record. In the first nine weeks Kansas City still had the second heaviest schedule.

The Chiefs have a good chance of setting a winning streak at the end of the season. AFC West’s win seems almost certain, partly because the competition is weakening. It would be the first time in the history of franchising that this has been achieved in two consecutive seasons.

“We can do a better job at all levels,”promises Reid. This will also be necessary for Kansas City to provide a serious Super Bowl contender.