Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense has underwhelmed in two recent losses to the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos. The two-game skid currently has Kansas City on the outside of the AFC playoff picture.
Some frustration among the fan base has risen from watching quarterback Patrick Mahomes force passes while the Chiefs’ running game has seemingly been abandoned in the second half of each loss.
During his weekly Zoom call with Kansas City media on Monday, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid denied that the run game is being ignored. He explained that the results of calling run-pass option (RPO) plays have slanted towards passing.
“We’re calling quite a few of the RPOs,” Reid said. “[The Broncos] were giving us opportunities to throw the football, so we utilized the opportunities there, and those things end up being as good as a run for you. We’re getting four plus yards, and you go with it. The runs are being called — it’s just sometimes they get turned into passes in today’s world. That’s how it goes. We’re getting them in.”
The coach also acknowledged he should have considered using true run plays in the losses.
“Now, we have some hard runs where you just get up, line up and go. [We] probably could call more of those.”
Before Wednesday’s practice, Mahomes assessed his performance on balancing the run and pass on such plays.
“I feel like I’ve done a good job of it,” he remarked. “I think there are times when I should hand it [off], and there are times I should throw the ball more. You have to continue to read and get better and better with it. More than anything, I think it’s just giving guys chances, either catching the ball or running the ball, even if the perfect look is not there. There are times where I might’ve thrown it and we got five or six yards — and that’s a positive play — but you can hand the ball off and kind of keep defenses honest as well.”
“That’s stuff that I’ve worked with throughout my entire career,” Mahomes continued. “It’s something that has been huge in our offense for a long time. I think for us, it’s just continuing to get better and better each and every game.”
Mahomes discussed his process for the plays by explaining the preparation with Reid and offensive line coach Andy Heck. Run or pass, they have the same yardage threshold to measure success. Sometimes, however, the decision is made to ensure defenses see different looks throughout the game.
“There are times where we’re reading a certain guy, and there are times we’re reading coverages and there are times where you’re reading space,” Mahomes began. “It just kind of depends on that week and the team that you’re playing and being able to adjust accordingly. Our goal is to get five or six yards every single time we run RPO — either running the ball or throwing the ball — and I...
