Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Houston Texans by a score of 20-10 in Week 14. Let’s look at how the Chiefs used their players in this game:
Starters (offensive): WR Xavier Worthy, WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, TE Travis Kelce, LT Wanya Morris, LG Kingsley Suamataia, C Creed Humphrey, RG Mike Caliendo, RT Jaylon Moore, WR Rashee Rice, QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Isiah Pacheco.
Starters (defensive): DE George Karlaftis, DT Derrick Nnadi, DT Chris Jones, DE Michael Danna, LB Drue Tranquill, LB Nick Bolton, LB Leo Chenal, DB Chamarri Conner, CB Trent McDuffie, CB Jaylen Watson and S Bryan Cook.
Did not play: QB Gardner Minshew and OL C.J. Hanson.
Inactive: CB Kristian Fulton, WR Jalen Royals, RB Elijah Mitchell, G Trey Smith, T Jawaan Taylor and WR Nikko Remigio.
The Chiefs’ offense entered the contest knowing the challenge ahead: the Texans’ defense had established itself as possibly the NFL’s best singular unit. It would take a strong performance of controlling possession by Kansas City to outlast Houston in a low-scoring battle.
The Chiefs ran the ball on 29 of 64 total offensive plays; the 45% run rate is the fifth-highest mark for any game this season. In the four other games, Kansas City has a 3-1 record. Multiple blowout wins skew the statistic, but a healthy run-pass balance is important in close games and was the recipe for success in wins against the Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts.
The team’s hottest back continued to lead the backfield as well: running back Kareem Hunt was the primary ballcarrier and snaps leader in the backfield, although Isiah Pacheco cut more into the workload in his second game back from injury. Hunt took 59% of the snaps and ran 12 times, while Pacheco matched Hunt’s rushing total (30 yards) on nine attempts and 33% of the offensive snaps.
In total, running backs earned 67 yards over 22 attempts; it was not an efficient enough day to lift the offense.
When the Chiefs did throw the ball, it was neither effective nor pretty. That happened despite seemingly solid pass blocking with three backups along the offensive line, including left tackle Esa Pole, who played 98% of the offensive snaps in his NFL debut.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown was on the field for 49% of pass plays, the highest pass-play rate since the bye week in Week 10. It speaks to Kansas City’s game plan to attack the Texans’ coverage with all three of the top threats at wide receiver: Brown, Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy. Brown was also saved solely for dropbacks; he lined up for a season-low 17% of run plays.
The commitment to attacking the Texans’ pass defense included wide receiver Tyquan Thornton seeing the field for 31% of pass plays, the highest rate for the deep threat since the bye week. The game script featuring more passes to wide receivers failed miserably. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes finished with 160 passing yards and...
