Just a season ago, the Kansas City Chiefs constructed quite the clutch reputation. The eventual conference winners were triumphant in double-digit one-score games. Their ability to execute when absolutely needed late in outings was second to none.
Despite some of the same championship-level pieces being in place, the story this time is much different. Even with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and others on the field with Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo leading them from the sidelines, this year’s crew is 1-6 in games decided by a score.
How on earth does that make any sense? How does such regression take place? Reid attempted to sort through the mess this week.
Andy Reid Explains Chiefs’ Conflicting Point Differential & Record
Primary confusion surrounding the Chiefs stems from one key statistic: point differential. Their +73 mark is fourth in the AFC and seventh in the NFL, yet they’re well outside the playoff picture. Teams like the Baltimore Ravens (-4) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-22) currently occupy postseason spots.
Reid says having eye-popping numbers is nice but at the end of the day, the margin for error has never been thinner.
“We do have stats, but you need points,” Reid said. “You need to make sure you take care of business when you’re in the red zone. If you need to score 35, you score 35. If you need to score 20, you need to make sure that you have more points than they have. That’s all three phases — it includes everybody we pick up.
“You saw it in this last game. You pick up a play here or there, and that’s the difference in the game, and that’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got to flip that around. To do that, you’ve got to take care of some of these issues, and then it’s a different ball game, but you have to do it. I can stand here and talk about it, but you’ve got to go do it.”
At the end of the day, Kansas City’s numbers are impressive. On a per-drive basis, they’re second in scoring on offense and 10th on defense. They’re a top-10 team in overall scoring on both sides for the entire year. When you eat clock on offense and can’t get off the field on the other side, though, life becomes more difficult. The Chiefs run more plays per drive than any team and rank 24th in time per drive on defense.
Game-altering plays can’t be absorbed as easily under those circumstances. Reid knows it.
Reid Chalks Up Shortcomings to 4 Key Factors
Speaking of those circumstances, Reid singled out four things. Penalties, turnovers, third-down efficiency and pressure must all be focused on. Those things, in his eyes, are why the Chiefs have a 6-6 record despite underlying metrics suggesting something better.
“I’m telling you it’s a few plays there,” Reid said. “That’s what it is. Penalties are killers, and you want to create turnovers on the defensive side and when you have opportunities to do that, you’ve got to capitalize on them. Third downs become important [on] both sides of the ball [and] how you handle those. What can we do better with the rush? We can get a little bit more rush on the defensive side [and] on the offensive side, we can continue to work on our protection and scheme there.
“You can’t allow quarterbacks at this level to stand back there and throw the ball with just comfortable feet — I think we know that. You’ve got to make sure you have pressure on those guys [and] when that takes place, you’ve got to make sure your coverage is tight. That’s what you work on, and you go through that and work on trying to get better.”
The first two are backbreakers for teams. According to NFL Penalties, Kansas City is tied for 10th with 86 infractions against them. Thanksgiving Day’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, which saw multiple offensive mishaps and even more pass interference calls on defense, was an appropriate example of that. A +2 turnover differential is nice, but the team is 26th in takeaways on defense. Offensively, multiple games partially came down to costly errors resulting in interceptions.
On third downs, the Chiefs have the No. 9 offense in football at a 41.3% conversion rate. Spagnuolo’s group is where things break down, however, at 43.0%. That’s the 26th-ranked third down defense. To Reid’s point, a middle-of-the-pack pressure rate (22.1%) won’t cut it.
Games are oftentimes won and lost on the fringes. The Chiefs simply aren’t working to have that in their favor this year.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Chiefs’ Most Confusing Situation Explained By Andy Reid appeared first on Heavy Sports.