The Kansas City Chiefs lost a close one to the division rival Denver Broncos in Week 11, dropping to 5-5 on the year, and head coach Andy Reid was under fire after the game for his usage of star wide receiver Rashee Rice throughout the entire second half.
“Don’t understand why the Chiefs went away from their easy button, Rashee Rice,” Arrowhead Addict analyst Adam Best posted after the loss. “Drops happen. Can’t just ignore your most dynamic playmaker who can win quickly and defang the pass rush.”
Many KC fans agreed, as several of them took to social media to voice their displeasure.
“Not involving Rashee Rice this entire second half is coaching malpractice by Andy Reid,” one fan stated on X. Adding later that the Chiefs chose to use Rice as a “decoy this entire second half.”
Another had a similar take, questioning: “Where is our WR1 Rashee Rice???? Shouldn’t we throw him the ball??? It’s not supposed to be this hard.”
While a third fan wrote: “Rashee Rice lowkey looks like he’s tired of playing glorified running back…”
Finally, one user noted that “Kansas City [is] going to lose just because they are neglecting Rashee Rice.”
What on Earth Was Chiefs HC Andy Reid Doing With His Deployment of Rashee Rice Against the Broncos?
GettyKansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice was only targeted twice during the second half of Week 11.
These fans and analysts aren’t wrong. For much of the second half, Rice was in the backfield with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, except the designed touches never came.
After 5 catches for 35 receiving yards off seven targets in the first half, Rice was only targeted twice over the final half, and zero times in the fourth quarter. He caught one of those two third-quarter targets for three yards and was stopped just short of a touchdown on the lone second-half reception, finishing with 6 catches for 38 yards.
This was Rice’s least-involved performance since returning from his early-season suspension, and it was the way he was deployed that was hard to understand.
On most plays where Rice started at running back rather than wide receiver, he’d just motion into the flats away from his QB, taking a meaningless defender out of the play.
The dynamic playmaker hardly ever even got a glance from Mahomes on these motion routes, as the Chiefs QB turned into a “Checkdown Charlie,” targeting his tight end Travis Kelce more often than not. Unfortunately, this strategy only yielded 19 points.
So, was this a Reid problem or a Mahomes issue?
If you ask the fans, the Chiefs’ head coach was at fault for the routes he asked Rice to run, which mostly took him out of the play. Reid was not asked about Rice’s lack of targets and designed plays during his postgame press conference.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Only Completed 64.4% of Passes Against the Broncos in Week 11
Denver flaunts one of the best defenses in football, if not the best. At home, they’re even more difficult to break through against.
As a whole, Mahomes struggled to find his usual magician’s touch versus such a formidable opponent.
The Chiefs’ superstar QB only completed 64.4% of passing attempts against the Broncos. Most of those completions were to Kelce, who caught 9 of 13 targets for 91 yards and 1 touchdown.
Aside from one deep ball to burner Tyquan Thornton, the more dynamic KC wide receivers were mostly nonexistent.
Rice had the hot start, but as noted above, was barely targeted in the second half. Speedy former first-round pick Xavier Worthy wasn’t much better, with 3 catches for 25 yards; meanwhile, Hollywood Brown finished with 4 receptions for 40 yards.
The plan is typically to get this trio of playmakers going a lot more than that. And whether it was Reid, Mahomes, or the wide receivers themselves who were at fault, the Chiefs’ offense simply failed to get the job done in Denver.
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