Not a great start for the Kansas City Chiefs on “Sunday Night Football.” They twice held a lead during the game, but the offense looked out of sync for the majority of the game. The defense has only been able to get one stop in the first half, struggling to get pressure and cover. Special teams have been very not special. Somehow, they’re only down a touchdown at halftime, but it feels like they’re down by a lot more.
Here are a few quick takeaways from the first half of play:
The run game is working, don't abandon it.
Chiefs running backs Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire combined for four carries for 40 yards in the first quarter of the game. With the team down for the majority of the first quarter, they really just forgot about the running game, but they’re going to have to go back to it at some point this game.
Edwards-Helaire is dealing with an ankle injury, but Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon can help the team down the stretch. The Chargers are thin on the defensive line and they’re surrendering a ton of yardage in the run game. Sticking to the run and wearing out that unit down the stretch — as much as Andy Reid wants to throw the ball — could end up being pivotal.
Mike Danna lives to sack Justin Herbert
The Chargers have allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL in their nine games and you can tell given how they’ve played in the first half. Justin Herbert has the entire day to throw the ball. The four-man rush from Kansas City is hardly getting an ounce of pressure on Herbert.
There was at least one player who has shown up during the game and he’s reliable against this team. There’s something about playing the Chargers that brings out the best in Mike Danna. The former fourth-round draft pick only has 6.5 sacks in his career, but three of those sacks are on Chargers QB Justin Herbert. One of those sacks came tonight and helped force a punt.
Of course, the problem was that Kansas City couldn’t capitalize on the change of possession and put their defense back out on the field rather quickly.
Special teams is a disaster for Kansas City
Early on it felt reasonable to give Dave Toub the benefit of the doubt. He lost over 1,000 snaps on his special teams unit heading into this season. The mistakes just don’t seem to stop for this group and they’ve become back-breaking for this team.
This week it was a kick return after a penalty. The Chargers angled the kick toward the sideline and had it gone out of bounds it would have been an illegal kick. All Isiah Pacheco had to do was let the ball go out of bounds or catch the ball with any part of him touching out of bounds for it to be a penalty. He caught the kick in bounds right by the sideline.
Obviously, this was a mental mistake by a young player, but it’s Toub’s job to get these guys coached up for these situations. A week ago it was the onside kickoff to start the game. What will it be next week?
