The Kansas City Chiefs are in a race for first place in the AFC. They are sitting at 4-2 with plenty of tough football teams ahead. The passing attack seems to be doing well with Travis Kelce playing some of his best football, but right now, the biggest question is if the Chiefs are they the best version of themselves on offense? The rushing attack has been sub-par with the weapons they continue to cycle through.
This year is Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s chance to prove that he is the guy, and he currently has 256 yards on 59 carries and only two touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Isaiah Pacheco has been running the ball well when he is given a chance as he is averaging 4.8 yard per carry. The issues seem to lie with the play calls themselves.
So, let’s dive into the rushing attack to see where the Chiefs can improve and where they fall flat.
Bland play calls
It seems like when the Chiefs abandon the run game, they lose football games. Usually this is the case when teams are trailing from behind and they don’t have the clock on their side. But against the Indianapolis Colts they were up by seven points in the second half and only handed the ball off nine times in the second half and only three times in the fourth quarter.
On top of the innovation being bland, they just aren’t giving their weapons the ball when the game is on the line.
During the Colts game, it was second and one, and instead of giving it to a Pacheco or Edwards-Helaire, they leave Jerick Mckinnon on the field and don’t even try and sell a run.
On this same drive on fourth down, they make a call to give it to their fullback Michael Burton.
Which ended up being a great play call, but they never go back to it.
On fourth down a couple plays later, they decide to give it to Pacheco with a lead blocker and a backside pull.
What is frustrating about this play is the motion itself. The motion is going in the same direction as the pull and lead blocker. So essentially the defense will shift in the direction and make it harder for the running back to find a hole.
Why not just go back to the fullback who gave you a fresh set of downs just a few plays prior?
Personnel
It’s not as if the Chiefs don’t have the personnel to run innovate play calls. In the same Colts game, they ran a spectacular play at the goal line.
On this play, the motion goes to the opposite side of the play and Edwards-Helaire now has two blockers leading the way and two different holes to choose from.
Another double pull they ran was back in week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Pacheco getting yards after contact.
The Chiefs have not been running the ball enough with double pullers or backside pulls, even though (per SIS) they are 9th in the league when they use backside pullers.
In week one against the Arizona Cardinals, they used Pacheco with a backside puller, and he ran for 20+ yards.
Against the Buccaneers they ended with 189 yards on the ground and against the Cardinals, 128 yards.
It’s strange when the Chiefs see one of the least amounts of 7+ boxes in the league (29th, per Sports Info Solutions), so why they wouldn’t run the ball more is the biggest question.
They have the innovation with Reid and Eric Bieniemy, yet they just don’t utilize their weapons. Here is what Bieniemy had to say after the Buffalo Bills game last week, “We’ve left a lot of yards. We’ve left a lot of rushing yards and passing yards. . . It just goes back to going back to the basics. . . We have to make sure we maximize the opportunities presented by running the football.”
Reid no longer has Brian Westbrook to bail him out of those tough situations like he did when he was back in Philadelphia, he has to realize that with a decent run game threat, it will open up the passing game, they have the heavy personnel to do it, they just have to stick to their guns.
Currently the Chiefs actually lead the league in play action touchdowns, with six. Imagine how much it will open up the passing game if they just lead drives with the run, instead of ending drives with the run.
