Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs are 6-6 after Thanksgiving’s 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, which has put the team close to elimination from the postseason. Now the team has had a mini-bye to prepare for hosting the Houston Texans in this week’s episode of “Sunday Night Football.”
Here’s what I’ll be wondering as the Week 14 matchup gets underway.
The Houston defense features defensive end Will Anderson — who is playing like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate — and defensive end Danielle Hunter, who continues to play incredible football. They also get good pass rush from defensive tackles Tim Settle, Sheldon Rankins, Mario Edwards and Tommy Togiai, along with defensive ends Derek Barnett and Denico Autry. While Settle was just placed on the Texans’ Reserve/Injured list, those who remain can (and will) run a variety of stunts and slants to get their freak athletes looping inside very fast. They are, frankly, terrifying.
Unfortunately, the Kansas City offensive line is not healthy. Left tackle Josh Simmons has landed on the Reserve/Injured list after wrist surgery. Right guard Trey Smith and right tackle Jawaan Taylor are both doubtful for Sunday’s game. Even if they play, they likely won’t be at 100%.
There’s a real chance the Chiefs will be without 60% of their offensive line. That’s a nightmare. How could the team work around it?
For starters, it should play most of its snaps under center. I know head coach Andy Reid doesn’t want to do that, but getting into heavier personnel is a way to help the linemen. From a spread formation, the only way to support the offensive line is to double-chip both edges. This means just three passing routes can be run — which is far easier for the defense to cover
But by going under center, heavy personnel can pitch in on the protection — and it would help Kansas City’s running game. If you can only have two or three receivers in the concept, it’s better to pair them with play-action, which the offense can use to catch an aggressive defense napping. By leaning into an under-center game, Kansas City can hunt for deep passes as its runs slow down the aggressive Houston defensive front.
Given the offensive line, Kansas City cannot go into empty protection. That’s a tough matchup with how the team schemes its routes. The goal is to spread the field, allowing the Chiefs to hit as many quick-hitting passes as possible; the receivers can turn upfield to create yards after catch.
But the weakness of this offense has been beating man coverage. When defenses glove up the quick hitters, it becomes difficult for Kansas City to get its routes open — and that leads to offensive chaos.
The Texans’ defense is elite in man coverage, so it will either jam the Chiefs’ receivers or sit in quarters coverage, covering every...
