Chiefs EoS Report 2019-20

So Near, Yet So Far Away

Where to start?

Let’s start with the “experts”. I often look in on the VLOG of Colin Cowherd mainly because he offers analysis and not just “facts” - you know facts they are the things that The Donald calls “fake news”.

Fact One: Tom Brady has been sacked nil times in the last 90 snaps. He has been pressured 3 times. This is against the Chargers, Joey Bosa and Co, and the Chiefs, Dee Ford “Mr The Sack Leader”. Watching the Conference Championship game this was more than apparent.

Fact Two: The Chiefs never got close to even moving Brady off the spot. He just had a look and threw the ball away if required. That’s the three pressures accounted for.

Fact Three: In order to win play-off games you can’t be awful at anything – so says Colin. Agree. His analysis: the Chiefs are bad, no worse than that, historically bad on the defensive side of the ball. The Pats had 500 yards of offence. They had 31 first downs. I screamed every time we had them in third and long and could not either stop the run nor defend a pass. End of story.

Analysis of the season must start with the end of the season. The Chiefs won the AFC West and won a play-off game, albeit against a very poor Indianapolis team. Why. Simples, Patrick Mahomes. I was predicting the Chiefs to lose against the Pats. Why? I knew they had no defence and defence wins Championships and Super Bowls. (No wonder the Pats are the early favourites to win in Atlanta – they have a defence – not great one but good enough to stop the Chiefs scoring in the first half.) But, Partick Mahomes (if he stays healthy and injury-free) sets up the team to win next season and for many seasons to come. Can Brady go on forever? No, and when he leaves Mahomes is the next cab on the rank to win and win big and win often.

Back to this season.

The offence

Apart from Mahomes the tribe really missed Kareem Hunt. The back-up is Chad Henne and since he now knows the system there would be no profit in changing (Being a permanent back-up has some advantages – the pay is good and you don’t risk injury) I suspect the Chiefs may draft a QB low down – say Round 5,6 – as a project -after all Tom Brady was a sixth round pick!)

Now, it is not my call to pronounce on Hunt’s well-documented behaviour. However, his “replacement” Damian Williams, is a good serviceable back – but not a three down back. Only Kareem was able to do that and catch passes and make the defence account for him always, and block effectively picking up blitzes. Controversially, I might sign Hunt again. He must serve his time and rehabilitate. Brave, but could be done if the Chiefs are willing to take the flak. And, he would be cheap, very cheap cap-wise.

Spencer Ware has out-lived his usefulness along with Charcandrick West -they go.

The O-line has performed admirably this season. Mahomes has rarely been sacked or pressured (always excepting the Pats game) and the run blocking has been good. What, at the beginning of the season was seen as a possible liability has proven to be a real asset. (One dark note: I can’t understand why the Chiefs activated Laurent Duvernay-Tardif only for him to be declared inactive for the Championship game – coaches surely missed that one!)

On the wide-out front Kelvin Benjamin must be signed to a deal. (I believe he is on a one-year contract – once again he was inactive for the most important game, but he must have a future at Arrowhead. He’s a real, proven, big-bodied receiver who will complement Sammy Watkins, Tyreek Hill and one other (not Chris Conley whose time is surely up) Marcus Kemp gets a few snaps, so does Gehrig Dieter. Both are regular special term contributors, but never a third guy in the progression. Demarcus Robinson is not good enough. He goes.

Kelce is the tight end bar injury but a real receiving back-up would be good (DRAFT?)

Antony Sherman is the FB. Great on special teams. He stays. Darrell Williams is a running back. Not needed.

That’s about it for the offence. Not a lot do do there.

Let’s cut to the real problems.

The Defence

The D-line is not good enough (Whoa, Mal we have Chris Jones! Yes, but he is almost alone in being able to pressurise the opposing QB. There is no push in the middle – well-documented against the Pat and the present personnel cannot stop the run. Must be fixed! It will be interesting to see how the Rams fare against the Patriots – they do have personnel that can pressure up the middle.

The LB corps is poorer than weak. We have no inside line-backers capable of stopping the run and helping out in coverage. This may be the one area that absolutely should be an off-season priority!

In the secondary, and very controversially, Eric Berry must go. Again, we have been waiting all season for him to turn up. Then he does and plays very poorly. (I saw him in position to make a play on the ball if only he had turned around during the winning drive.) Clearly he is not healthy enough to justify the mega-mega contract as the Chiefs have given him. With Mahomes taking up a lot of Cap he has to go. The rest of the crew are mostly a project in process. Except for Orlando Scandrick – he’s 31 and not very good. He must be cut.

Chris Cooper:Experience: R: Height: 5-10: Age: 24:Weight: 202 lbs: College: Stony Brook (sorry not sure why he is taking up a roster spot)

Josh Crockett:Experience: R:Height: 6-4: Age: 23 :Weight: 195 lbs:College: Central Oklahoma (sorry, who is this guy? Have I missed something?)

Raymond Davison: Linebacker (on roster, never seen)

Gehrig Dieter:Wide Receiver: Experience: 1 year: Height: 6-2: Age: 25:Weight: 208 lbs

College: Alabama (gets some playing time, so the coaches must like him – special teams only?)

Step Durham:Defensive Back: Experience: R: Height: 5-11: Age: 23:Weight: 194 lbs

College: Georgia Tech (a rambling wreck?)

Dillon Gordon:Offensive Lineman:Experience: 2 years:Height: 6-4:Age: 25: Weight: 322 lbs

College: LSU (a project, a serviceable back-up?)

Justin Hamilton:Defensive Lineman:Experience: 2 years:Height: 6-2:Age: 25:Weight: 315 lbs

College: Louisiana-Lafayette (ditto the above)

Ryan Hunter:Offensive Lineman:Experience: R:Height: 6-5:Age: 23:Weight: 322 lbs:

College: Bowling Green (yet another unknown)

Joey Ivie:Defensive Lineman:Experience: 1 year:Height: 6-3:Age: 24:Weight: 295 lbs

College: Florida (it really is surprising, another unknown)

Tanoh Kpassagnon: Linebacker:Experience: 2 years:Height: 6-7:Age: 24:Weight: 289 lbs

College: Villanova (an enigma wrapped up in a mystery. The Chiefs have been working on him now for two years with no real results. Get on the field occasionally. Time to move on? Answer to the LB problems? Your guess is as good as mine? Could he play inside with his height, reach and weight?

They love Frank Zombo on special teams and as a back-up. Move on, he’s too old.

The above players are on the roster according to the Chiefs web site. I doubt it’s accuracy.

A nice selection of projects or also-rans from the roster. We also have Armani Watts to return - out injured all season. And Dorian O’Daniel a linebacker who the Chiefs are high-on – also injured for the Pats game.

And the big question – can we survive with the present Defensive Co-ordinator, Bob Sutton. Probably not.

Post writing news: The Kansas City Chiefs have relieved Bob Sutton of his defensive coordinator duties, according to the team’s official Twitter account.

Andy Reid is a offensive genius, but he requires the same from a defensive co-ordinator. Let’s be clear, the team’s woes are not Sutton’s fault. He can only work with the players he has. Both Reid and the front office just haven’t given him the tools. He should go and the Chiefs should already have his replacement lined up. End of.

Special Teams

Dustin Colquitt (punter and holder) A great servant of the club. Is it time to get a new punter? He should face real competition next season. Harrison Butker. May be the find of the season. Rarely misses. Should be a fixture for many years to come (BTW I was surprised that both kickers did not distinguish themselves in the NE game. Butt-kicker’s kick-offs were not as long as usual and Colquitt missed a few chances to pin them back. (We’ll ignore the potential game-changing muff by Julian Edelman) Tremon Smith has done well returning kick s and I can see why you don’t want to expose Tyreek Hill very often to the big-hits, so I have no problem with him remaining. He appears nowhere else on the depth chart? Odd?

Coaches

Andy Reid: sad that he can’t find a way to beat Belichick – but still there is no real pressure on him. Eric Bieniemy : Offensive Coordinator – now apparently in great demand and may be the next Head Coach to have trained under Reid – following in the footsteps of Matt Nagy at the Bears and Mike Vrabel at the Titans Good luck to him if he goes. Here’s an interesting fact: the Chiefs employ 26 coaches – that’s about one for every two players on the active roster. I didn’t know that!

Conclusion

Now that the dust has settled, fans can be well-pleased with how the Chiefs have preformed (remember many pundits had them at 9 and 7 for this season). Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Super Bowl win against the Vikings. Baring unforeseen disasters I expect the Tribe to win the big one next February.

That’s all folks.