Pete Prisco's take on the Chiefs Offense

[Couch-Potato]

Saw this on Reddit:

“This is just like last year where everyone is talking about concerns with Mahomes & the offense well I can tell you exactly what’s going on. They have a fantastic elite defense that does not get the national love or headlines they deserve. That young defense their GM built by trading Tyreek Hill to Miami, since last regular season is allowing Mahomes & Reid to be conservative with their pass play calls, run the ball more in September, October & November & slowly build up their pass game with rookie WR’s & cheap veterans who are not highly valued around the league but fit the Reid system well. You gotta understand Mahomes is 29 in his 7th season & Kelce is 35 but if you factor in their deep playoff runs over the last six years they have played an entire extra season & every game they play their opponent treats them like it’s their Super Bowl & it’s hard for them to get up week after week and match that intensity.

So their elite young defense & run game is allowing Mahomes & the pass game to take the LeBron approach. LeBron got to a point especially in his second stint in Cleveland where in the regular season he not play defense and settled for 3 point shots but when the playoffs arrived you saw LeBron at his peak form playing elite defense & attacking the rim relentlessly. Because of their defense, Mahomes & Reid in September, October & November are comfortable handing the ball off and being conservative in the pass game. Mahomes is not being aggressive throwing the football downfield right now or using his legs to make many throws on the move right now because it’s by design!!

He no longer prioritizes September, October, November and no longer cares about winning MVP’s or regular season awards, he prioritizes his body & peak play for when it matters most in late December & playoffs in January thanks to an elite defense. They’re (5-0) and Mahomes has been pretty dormant thus far and I’m telling you Kansas City feels great about themselves because it’s by design.” - Pete Prisco

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Yup. Anyone who watched the playoffs, especially the SB, should know this

Yes, but much of the offensive struggles come from turnovers and untimely penalties. Obviously Andy isn't encouraging those mistakes.

They turned it up offensively in the playoffs but you have to remember that Miami and Buffalo were both beat up defensively and put up little resistance. The offense still struggled in the red zone against Miami, not by design. They played well against Baltimore in the first half but got shutout in the 2nd half. The Super Bowl was the other way around. Bad first half but got it going in the 2nd half. Even in the SB though, they had two turnovers that could have cost them the game.

So yeah, Reid holds back some plays offensively but the mistakes are not deliberate and the injuries have accounted for much of the conservative offense this season. Cut their turnovers in half and this offense would be looking much better this year. Same with the red zone inefficiency. A few more TDs instead of FGs and the offense looks much better overall.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

It's really not a cope at all. Our eyes can see it and the boots-on-ground reporters back it up.

Andy would blow his load during his first 20 years all within the first couple months and then defenses would seem to figure the O out. It just looks different to me in recent years. I'm sure some of that is just getting the other team's full focus of every week, but whatever it is, it leads to their best performances when it's needed most.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

It's really not a cope at all. Our eyes can see it and the boots-on-ground reporters back it up.

Andy would blow his load during his first 20 years all within the first couple months and then defenses would seem to figure the O out. It just looks different to me in recent years. I'm sure some of that is just getting the other team's full focus of every week, but whatever it is, it leads to their best performances when it's needed most.

Wut? When did this happen?

So next season when they're hopefully fully healthy and come out of the game scoring 30 again, are you guys going to change your narrative again? You can just say the offense hasn't played well but will likely get better as the season goes along and if we had another piece or two. Pretending like they're purposefully tanking offensive production is silly.

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

10-20 years from now, analysts, reporters, and players are going to be lauding Andy on podcasts and other bits of media for dragging these teams to wins and Super Bowls when we were outmatched talent-wise multiple times.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by kysirsoze

Coping with what?! Winning 11 straight games including the Superbowl?? The offense was rebuilt in the offseason and then had the rug pulled out by injuries and uneven LT play. Mahomes had a couple down games trying to compensate and then looked awesome last game. Our running game looks better than ever and Patrick is figuring it out with his patchwork WR room. What in the holy **** do any of us have to cope with?

So wait, it is injuries and trying to figure it out or are they holding things back and they don't need to play well cause the defense is awesome? Can't have it both ways.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by -King-

Wut? When did this happen?

So next season when they're hopefully fully healthy and come out of the game scoring 30 again, are you guys going to change your narrative again? You can just say the offense hasn't played well but will likely get better as the season goes along and if we had another piece or two. Pretending like they're purposefully tanking offensive production is silly.

Yeah, if we had a healthy Rice, Brown, Worthy, Pacheco, I'd be curious to know how Andy would hide the offense? Run WR screens and 3 TE sets all season? I imagine they'd be airing it out now if not for the current personnel.

[O.city]

If you wanna say they're pulling the reigns a bit because of injuries, sure, I'd buy that.

But the other stuff? Nah. They're not playing how they want on offense.

[kysirsoze]

Originally Posted by -King-

So wait, it is injuries and trying to figure it out or are they holding things back and they don't need to play well cause the defense is awesome? Can't have it both ways.

Yes you can.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by O.city

If you wanna say they're pulling the reigns a bit because of injuries, sure, I'd buy that.

But the other stuff? Nah. They're not playing how they want on offense.

Pretty obvious that a lot of the playbook was cut out with the losses of Rice and Hollywood. Losing Pacheco and relying on Steele for a few weeks didn’t help. They also had a massive problem at LT with Kingsley which has slowly gotten better.

But it’s still painfully obvious that Andy is running old plays. In the playoffs they have new wrinkles added that they don’t show in the regular season.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by notorious

Many of us understand that Reid holds back for the playoffs.

Sure, but they simply aren't executing simple things either. Remember how many straight non scoring drives we had between the end of the AFCC and beginning of the Superbowl? Was that "holding back" too?

We are very fortunate for this defense

[gordonelloyd]

I don’t think they are holding back like the LeBron analogy. They had plans to have a great offence to complement an elite defense, but injuries stood in the way. So they are basically taking what they are given, they are also playing poorly in a relative sense with the excessive number of giveaways, penalties, and in some of the games, bad decisions by Mahomes. Given their injury situation at WR and the talent they have at RB (amazing how hunt came in when Pacheco went down) and the fact they have an elite defense, they have definitely turned to more of a running game.

But this is all about doing what makes the most sense in the situation that they are currently in , in my view, and not about purposefully holding back. True. Mahomes is not taking as many chances with his health as he used to because he has matured as a quarterback and realizes he doesn’t have to, and that it is risky.

All that has come together, and we are undefeated, despite many close calls. If our offence had of been able to live up to its potential before the injuries, this team would’ve been an unbelievable juggernaut.

If we beat San Francisco, and I certainly believe we can and will, I don’t see who’s going to defeat us this year. I can’t imagine we’ll go undefeated so someone will. But it will be
A trap game or a game at the end of the season when we are playing all substitutes because we don’t need to win.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

They aren't holding shit back. They're just winning a different way. End of story.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Pretty obvious that a lot of the playbook was cut out with the losses of Rice and Hollywood. Losing Pacheco and relying on Steele for a few weeks didn’t help. They also had a massive problem at LT with Kingsley which has slowly gotten better.

But it’s still painfully obvious that Andy is running old plays. In the playoffs they have new wrinkles added that they don’t show in the regular season.

I agree, but….. the issue was that early in the season you can see mahomes and Reid putting an emphasis on opening up the offense. Even with better pieces mahomes looks like he’s missing that gear he used to have. He was double clutching, holding onto the ball, skittish in the pocket, tunnel vision to the lower ADOTs. It’s not alarming, it just feels like something mahomes needs to work through. While we may limit our sets, Reid and spags will often find things to work on and make them points of emphasis early on.

What we did in NO will work. But I think we’ll will regress to a mean to ugly games like earlier in the year. We have the defense and running game to manage games this way. But I’d st

[pugsnotdrugs19]

They're not executing or scoring how they want no, but what I'm saying is Andy isn't gonna show his best cards in October in order to make it better.

They'll either clean it up with penalties and execution or they won't, but either way, they save wrinkles and new stuff for gotta have it moments.

They do it every year. They'll run that same FB trap play every damn time on 4th and 1, and then it'll be late in the AFCCG and they'll have some spin off of it we've never seen that works to perfection.

I mean even corn dog was a relatively new thing.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by -King-

I agree that they will. But do you think Mahomes is just not trying anymore? Like he could play how he did 2018-2022 but just doesn't feel like it? He got tired of having fun and playing loose and scoring a bunch of points a game? He's throwing a pick a game and has the lowest yards per target in the league because he's doing it on purpose to save plays/points for the playoffs?

The offense has been bad because of injuries and because the players we usually count on haven't been performing to the standards we expect of them. Any other reason is a cope.

I absolutely believe if this D wasn't elite and we needed 30+ ppg to win, then Patrick Mahomes would be playing at an MVP level. He knows he doesn't have to, so he doesn't play as good. I'm sure dragging this team got pretty exhausting, so now that he doesn't have to he's gonna let the D do it.