Chiefs run game success keyed by athletic OL

[Quesadilla Joe]

FYI: Brandon Thorn (the author) is kind of obsessed with OL play.

Spoiler!

The Kansas City Chiefs offense leads the NFL in rushing yards per game through three weeks (162), and their rookie running back Kareem Hunt leads the NFL in rushing by over 100 yards (401), with second place belonging to fellow rookie RB Dalvin Cook (288).

The Chiefs offensive line is one of the more underrated units in the league, led by right tackle Mitchell Schwartz and center Mitch Morse. Left tackle Eric Fisher has steadily improved his technique in pass protection since being drafted in 2013, improving his punch timing and pass set, allowing his athleticism to shine.

The Chiefs offensive line is an athletic group, highlighted by its heavy use of outside zone to create lateral displacement of the defense and pulling offensive linemen to get them out in space.

In Week 3, the Chiefs ran 25 times for 189 yards against their division-rival San Diego Chargers, with RB Kareem Hunt carrying the ball 17 times for 172 yards and a touchdown. Hunt’s success in the game primarily came running to the right side behind 2016 All-Pro Schwartz:

pic.twitter.com/K4DPw8a56W

— Jim Jeff (@CowboysGifs) September 27, 2017

The Chiefs had massive success on the ground despite missing Morse, a rising star. Filling in for him was key backup Zach Fulton, a fourth-year player who started 35 games for the interior OL since entering the league in 2014.

Outside zone is a staple of the Chiefs’ run game, which is predicated on creating lateral displacement of the defense. Offensive linemen are tasked with working laterally on combo or solo blocks to either hook/reach and seal inside, or take the DL where they want to go and push them past their assigned gaps. This creates a series of cutback lanes and alleys for the runner to make entry. Decisiveness, vision and burst are required from the runner to make the correct read on either a bounce, bang or bend read.

The first offensive snap of the game for the Chiefs have them in 12 personnel running outside zone to the left. The frontside of the blocking scheme are unable to hook and seal their assignment, so Hunt quickly deciphers his reads and “bends” back to the backside B gap. Notice how the Chiefs OL is able to get the Chargers defensive front moving laterally, creating a huge alley for Hunt on the backside:

https://t.co/WAURCUADPP

— Brandon Thorn (@BTNFL86) September 26, 2017

Morse is often used as a puller due to his elite athleticism, play speed and use of angles in space to get smaller/quicker defenders blocked. Having a backup center in Fulton who has similar traits (albeit on a lesser level) allows for the scheme to remain in tact despite injuries.

The Chiefs come out in 11 personnel with the strong side of the formation to the boundary side of the field. To the field side there is a B gap bubble, meaning no DL, and a LB responsible for filling the opening. Kansas City pulls Fulton here with RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif pinning the shaded NT. This creates a huge hole in the play side B gap, with RT Schwartz kicking out DE Melvin Ingram:

https://t.co/YXU887iodr

— Brandon Thorn (@BTNFL86) September 26, 2017

Fulton is unable to close the gap between himself and the LB in space the way Morse typically does, but does enough to force the LB to get flat-footed, allowing Hunt an alley up the hash. Hunt again demonstrates decisiveness and quickness to get through the hole, and does a nice job running behind his pads to finish the run strong for a 20-yard gain.

The Chiefs’ blocking schemes are diverse, consisting of a wide-range of misdirection and deception that put LBs in positions that make them wrong even when they are making the correct reads. With the running game off to a fast start, the Chiefs begin to incorporate their run-pass option (RPO) looks, putting tremendous stress on the second level of the defense:

https://t.co/PsUb33BOYH

— Brandon Thorn (@BTNFL86) September 26, 2017

The frontside LG/C double team the 2i technique at the snap, with QB Alex Smith reading the LB Jatavis Brown at the mesh point. Once Brown opens his hips to the run, Smith keeps the ball and knows the backside slant route by WR Tyreek Hill will be open. The result is a 17-yard gain on second-and-5. This is a great example of the Chiefs using early run success to open up the playbook and put the offense in a position to dictate terms to the defense.

The B gap bubble on the right side of the formation was an area the Chiefs attacked on Sunday, repeatedly pulling an interior OL in the opening to create a massive opening for Hunt to run through. Here the Chiefs run power to the right, with the C/RG blocking down and the LG/TE wrapping around in the hole as lead blockers.

Schwartz is tasked with kicking out the frontside DE, and does an excellent job adjusting inside, with good inside hand placement to gain leverage, control and sustain. Schwartz brings his hips, drives his feet, and seals off the edge. Hunt follows the pulling backside OG/TE and gets skinny through the hole for another 11-yard gain to the B gap bubble:

https://t.co/2f2FdkAKN7

— Brandon Thorn (@BTNFL86) September 26, 2017

The Chargers defense failed to adjust to the Chiefs relentless assault on the B gap bubble on the right side of the formation, and here we have the Chiefs for the third time gaining significant yardage to the soft spot of the defense.

The Chiefs pull Fisher here to kick-out Ingram off the edge with motion-man WR Albert Wilson joining forces with Fisher to create an alley. RT Schwartz is aligned in a wide-split pre-snap in order to pull Ingram further outside of the formation to ease Fisher’s kick-out block.

Schwartz raises his pad level at the snap and freezes Ingram before releasing inside to the second level for the seal block on the scraping LB’s pursuit. Fisher gets a clean kick-out block on Ingram, and RG Duvernay-Tardif shows very good hand placement to strain and seal the 2i technique inside. Fulton works to the second level and is slightly early in his initial strike at the point of attack, but gets enough of the weak side LB to spring Hunt. This creates another beautiful alley in the B gap bubble, and Hunt again breaks the initial tackle for a gain of 20 yards on 1st down:

https://t.co/L7glLdRYNY

— Brandon Thorn (@BTNFL86) September 26, 2017

Credit coach Andy Reid and offensive line coach Andy Heck for marrying their scheme and personnel to take advantage of the linemen’s athleticism and play speed through multiple concepts predicated on misdirection, deception and fundamentally sound blocking. This weekend will provide perhaps be their toughest test to date, facing off against a revitalized Washington Redskins defensive front that handled the vaunted Raiders offensive line in Week 3.

The Chiefs run a more wide-open blocking scheme with more skill-position speed than the Raiders possess, so expect the Redskins to be tested more on the perimeter, forcing the second and third levels of the defense to play with tremendous discipline in their run fits in order to secure a victory.

https://www.fanragsports.com/chiefs-...y-athletic-ol/

[threebag]

Yeah I credit Hunt for the run game more than the OL. OL has problems with penalties and execution.

[Trivers]

Originally Posted by threebag02

Yeah I credit Hunt for the run game more than the OL. OL has problems with penalties and execution.

Spoken like a true fan.

[Hydrae]

Man those were fun to watch. Hunt is good (very, very good) but would not get anywhere without being kept clean through the LOS.

[Hammock Parties]

Homers blaming the OL need to can it.

[Direckshun]

QJ: you gotta clean up the OP.

You've cut and paste the same story like three times in the OP.

[Quesadilla Joe]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

QJ: you gotta clean up the OP.

You've cut and paste the same story like three times in the OP.

Damn. My bad...

Edit: It's fixed.

[threebag]

Yeah let's not act like the OL has stalled any drives.

[DJ's left nut]

Jesus - this offense is just clever as hell. Every time I'm able to go through those GIF breakdowns like this or what Nick Jacobs, Baldinger or MNChieffan do, you can find all kinds of creative wrinkles that just makes you wonder how the hell anyone ever gets a stop in the NFL.

That little quick slant to start the 2nd half to Hill looked basic as all get out, but look at what that RPO action does to drag the LBs down. How do you defend that play? If they bail, Smith hands it off and Hunt has a MASSIVE hole up the middle.

Reid/Nagy impress the hell out of me, man. Those guys have built one hellacious offensive system. Yeah, it takes skill and talent to make it work but can you imagine giving the keys to this ferrari to Herm Edwards? Ron Rivera? At least 2/3 of the staff in the league wouldn't have been able to come up with the stuff these guys have developed.

We have one hell of a staff.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Jesus - this offense is just clever as hell. Every time I'm able to go through those GIF breakdowns like this or what Nick Jacobs, Baldinger or MNChieffan do, you can find all kinds of creative wrinkles that just makes you wonder how the hell anyone ever gets a stop in the NFL.

That little quick slant to start the 2nd half to Hill looked basic as all get out, but look at what that RPO action does to drag the LBs down. How do you defend that play? If they bail, Smith hands it off and Hunt has a MASSIVE hole up the middle.

Reid/Nagy impress the hell out of me, man. Those guys have built one hellacious offensive system. Yeah, it takes skill and talent to make it work but can you imagine giving the keys to this ferrari to Herm Edwards? Ron Rivera? At least 2/3 of the staff in the league wouldn't have been able to come up with the stuff these guys have developed.

We have one hell of a staff.

So that begs the question of how they tend to get bogged down at times?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

So that begs the question of how they tend to get bogged down at times?

I've made my position on that known.

I think Reid's just slow-playing. He's checking through, so to speak; a rope a dope. He's running plays designed to set up plays in the 3rd/4th quarter. Or plays designed to expose tells/weaknesses later on.

They talk about attacking that B gap, I think he was running plays in the 2nd quarter to test out where they might have a weakness and I'm betting part of that process exposed those flaws in the Chargers run-fit.

I don't think Reid has any inclination towards just keeping the hammer down for 4 quarters and never has. We've seen it over and over and over again. If they're falling behind, he may let it hang out. But if he can move pieces around and not show his hand while figuring out what the opponent has to work with, he'll do that until he feels like he has/needs an advantage.

I very much doubt that for a quarter or two every week he just forgets that he's one of the brightest offensive minds in the history of the league. He does it on purpose. Besides, there's only so much clever you can show play after play before the defense has a chance to get a feel for and diagnose it. I think he understands that and tries to avoid letting the offense get too predictable, perhaps at the expense of allowing it to stagnate at times.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I've made my position on that known.

I think Reid's just slow-playing. He's checking through, so to speak; a rope a dope. He's running plays designed to set up plays in the 3rd/4th quarter. Or plays designed to expose tells/weaknesses later on.

They talk about attacking that B gap, I think he was running plays in the 2nd quarter to test out where they might have a weakness and I'm betting part of that process exposed those flaws in the Chargers run-fit.

I don't think Reid has any inclination towards just keeping the hammer down for 4 quarters and never has. We've seen it over and over and over again. If they're falling behind, he may let it hang out. But if he can move pieces around and not show his hand while figuring out what the opponent has to work with, he'll do that until he feels like he has/needs an advantage.

I very much doubt that for a quarter or two every week he just forgets that he's one of the brightest offensive minds in the history of the league. He does it on purpose. Besides, there's only so much clever you can show play after play before the defense has a chance to get a feel for and diagnose it. I think he understands that and tries to avoid letting the offense get too predictable, perhaps at the expense of allowing it to stagnate at times.

Maybe

But it seems it would be damn hard to figure all that out during a game while in the sidelines. But he does seem to be a savant so I'd imagine it's easy for him.

It could very well be some of this though, paired with a conservative qb. I'm really interested to see what it's like in the next few years with Mahomes.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by threebag02

Yeah let's not act like the OL has stalled any drives.

Sure, then let's not act like our running game is all on Hunt and not partially because of the job our offensive line is doing.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Maybe

But it seems it would be damn hard to figure all that out during a game while in the sidelines. But he does seem to be a savant so I'd imagine it's easy for him.

It could very well be some of this though, paired with a conservative qb. I'm really interested to see what it's like in the next few years with Mahomes.

Well he has Chilly in the press-box and Nagy with those little tablets that can get the coaches tape in damn near real-time.

And I suspect he has an idea what he's going to see before he tries it based on film study. He just runs the plays to confirm.

[Beef Supreme]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I've made my position on that known.

I think Reid's just slow-playing. He's checking through, so to speak; a rope a dope. He's running plays designed to set up plays in the 3rd/4th quarter. Or plays designed to expose tells/weaknesses later on.

They talk about attacking that B gap, I think he was running plays in the 2nd quarter to test out where they might have a weakness and I'm betting part of that process exposed those flaws in the Chargers run-fit.

I don't think Reid has any inclination towards just keeping the hammer down for 4 quarters and never has. We've seen it over and over and over again. If they're falling behind, he may let it hang out. But if he can move pieces around and not show his hand while figuring out what the opponent has to work with, he'll do that until he feels like he has/needs an advantage.

I very much doubt that for a quarter or two every week he just forgets that he's one of the brightest offensive minds in the history of the league. He does it on purpose. Besides, there's only so much clever you can show play after play before the defense has a chance to get a feel for and diagnose it. I think he understands that and tries to avoid letting the offense get too predictable, perhaps at the expense of allowing it to stagnate at times.

Or ...they are just monkeys throwing darts at a board and get lucky every now and then. I've heard it both ways.