So it has seemed that the playcalling is off this year, no question. It has led a lot of people to speculate that Andy Reid is not making all of the calls.
I personally was not in those ranks; I didn't think there was any chance the Chiefs, who just signed a franchise QB to a half a billion dollar contract, would change up playcalling during a Super Bowl window.
But I do think the Mahomes/Bienemy spat on the sideline gave the game away (because why yell at Bienemy if you hate the playcalls?). And just so you don't think I started a thread based on only my intuition, my suspicions were echoed by extremely sharp Chiefs analysts Tod Palmer and Nick Jacobs on their "4th & 1" podcast. They don't think Reid is calling all the plays.
There is some circumstantial evidence to that. The Chiefs have been run-happier-than-usual on 2nd & longs for much of the season.
We've also seen Mahomes demand plays coming in repeatedly this year, which I've suspected was a kind of angst or anxiety but I think what's happening there is Bienemy's playcalling rhythms may be slower than Reid's, with whom Pat's synced up with for years.
I think I read Mahomes' lips during the sideline spat, saying "call the fucking play" and "call it." Which could very well be a dispute over the playcalling itself, or really just the rhythm.
Either way, that may account for some wonkiness in Mahomes' play this year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
If Andy Reid thinks that we have the game in the bag, then he goes vanilla. He's not going to show his hand if he doesn't have to.
Good. We have the talent to line up and just beat almost anyone.
If we go out there and execute, Reid doesn't need to get creative when we've got a two score lead. [Reply]
Honestly, it looked like pre-season last night. Very vanilla. Sweeps, screens, RPO's were in short supply. Just ran up the middle or mostly short 5-10 yard passes. Maybe it was planned that way because of Devers Defense. Stay simple, don't get cute and you win the game. It worked but it wasn't pretty. I will take the (boring) win any day. The pass drops are bad, but watching our receivers tip passes up into the air is not good for my blood pressure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
35-45 mph wind can affect the flight of a football.
How many field goals did Butker miss?
Due respect to you, but if the wind isn't pushing Butker FG attempts wide, then passes aren't being unusually affected at field level. Yes, I know he missed a PAT, but he misses those far more than he misses FGs regardless. [Reply]
The only wild speculation that I’ve entertained is that they are stressing to Mahomes that he shouldn’t escape and extend plays the way he has in the past. My only evidence for this is watching him dirt so many balls the moment the play breaks down. Pre-2021 Mahomes never gave up on a play and his escape artist routine often led to some of his most impressive plays. You haven’t seen much of that this year. Having new tackles could be contributing to this approach. Just speculation that could be wrong. [Reply]
Originally Posted by davewan:
How many field goals did Butker miss?
Due respect to you, but if the wind isn't pushing Butker FG attempts wide, then passes aren't being unusually affected at field level. Yes, I know he missed a PAT, but he misses those far more than he misses FGs regardless.
That's not how wind works.
It can start and stop and gust at different times. [Reply]
Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath15:
IIRC, they run it less frequently than anyone in the league...
We run the ball about 25 times/gm - about dead average. On a percentage basis we're near the bottom (Bucs, Chargers and Jets run less frequently from% than we do) but if you give us a league average run rate we run the ball about 4 more times/gm.
It seems to me like Mahomes is playing conservatively simply because he can. There’s no need to do any more than he’s done the last few games because the defense has helped. If we were losing then he’d have to force things more. The way guys are tipping the ball up in the air for the opposing defense to pick off, I don’t blame him at all. [Reply]
I'm not ready to say definitively, but it is strange how when the plays are scripted Mahomes tends to do well. Perhaps he should have less decision making at the line of scrimmage, not more. And if there is any truth to Bieniemy now calling plays, that definitely would worry me if all of a sudden this year we don't have a historically elite offense anymore. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
We have the 19th most rushing attempts in the league. That's the highest we've been ranked in rushing attempts since 2016. We're running the ball plenty.
No we are not. If running the ball is working then keep running it. We don't do that and it's a problem. We could have ran on Denver all night and we just don't do it. We go pass heavy way to often when we shouldn't. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
We run the ball about 25 times/gm - about dead average. On a percentage basis we're near the bottom (Bucs, Chargers and Jets run less frequently from% than we do) but if you give us a league average run rate we run the ball about 4 more times/gm.
We're still hand-wringing over this?
This is just a non-issue.
We were talking about how often the Raiders play 2-high.
Originally Posted by Red Dawg:
No we are not. If running the ball is working then keep running it. We don't do that and it's a problem. We could have ran on Denver all night and we just don't do it. We go pass heavy way to often when we shouldn't.
The only reason we should have run the ball last night is due to the wind. That is it.
As it was, we averaged 3.7 ypc running the ball - soooo. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
We have the 19th most rushing attempts in the league. That's the highest we've been ranked in rushing attempts since 2016. We're running the ball plenty.
Originally Posted by Red Dawg:
No we are not. If running the ball is working then keep running it. We don't do that and it's a problem. We could have ran on Denver all night and we just don't do it. We go pass heavy way to often when we shouldn't.
Based on what, precisely?
We ran the ball at a 3.7 YPC clip last night. That's not good. Moreover, one of them was a bull-run from Williams where there was no hole, another a scramble. The only good 'blocked up' run was a 10 yarder by CEH.
The median YPC for CEH was 4 yards. The median for Williams was 2. They weren't just out there chewing up yards run after run after run.
The running game was adequate last night - barely.
