Rodney Harrison: Kansas City Chiefs offense is too ‘one-dimensional’ | FNIA | NFL on NBC
Let’s get down to the Chiefs in unfamiliar territory. This was arguably the hottest team in football. Uh going into this game, one of the hottest teams in football. Uh we know how it goes. You know, usually in the regular season, the Bills, they’re able to get it done. In the postseason, the Chiefs, they get their revenge on the Bills and they go on to the Super Bowl. Uh right now, AFC West, Denver 7-2, Chargers six and three, KC five and four. How do you see this division, this group right now? Rod, I’ll start with you. Yeah, for me, I just think with Andy Reid, I know the Chiefs are you you guys call it unfamiliar territory, but for me, they just have to get back to being able to run the football. Coach, they become they’ve become so one-dimensional, waiting for Mahomes to go back there and always work his magic. To me, when they’re running the football, they’re running downhill. They’re play action passing, getting the ball out quick and then taking shots, that’s when this offense is at its best. And at times Andy Reid just shies away from the run game and he wants to make it all about Mahomes. I agree. And you see some of the issues that, you know, we’ve seen from Kansas City in the last year and a half, the pass protection, the penalties, the offensive line, but again, it has to be that way. And I’m going to, you point some of the finger at Andy, but I’m also going to point some of the finger at Patrick Mahomes when I go back and watch the tape because a lot of these RPOS where he could hand the ball off, he doesn’t. Uh, they’ve got a run play called and he throws the quick screen or the bubble or whatever. And sometimes if you’re Andy, you might have to say, “It’s not going to be an option, Patrick. Hand this ball off. We’re going to call a running play. we’re going to call a downhill run and get after it. Especially when you play against Buffalo, you go into Buffalo and the weakness of that team is their run defense and when you don’t run it at them, it just doesn’t make sense to me. And that that’s what I saw last week. You think about this coach, against the Raiders, the the Chiefs ran the ball 41 runs, right? They score 31 points. They win against the Commanders. They run the ball 30 times. They score 28 points. They win. Against the Jaguars, the running backs touch the ball 15 times, they lose. And Mahomes is the leading rusher. That’s just not that’s just not the right formula. You have to run the football. And coach, I’ve been going against Andy Reid my entire career, and it’s always been the same thing. Pass first, run second. He wants to get back to the big dance. Jack, they have to run the football. Period. The flipperoo. Coach, you agree? I totally agree. So, they’re Yep. And then it gets tough, coach. It it does, but but you look at some of these teams that they’re going to be playing and they are going to have to be balanced and they’re going to have to run the football. And I think they’ll look at their by week and say, “Hey, just some of the things Rodney pointed out, the games that we were really good where we were just uh unstoppable on offense, that’s because we’re balanced and we’ve got to get back to that.” So at Denver, then the Colts. So those those really tough Thanksgiving, they’re at Dallas. The Texans, they have really struggled to protect the passer this year. So we’ll see how that one goes. the Chargers now without Joe Al for the foreseeable future for the rest of the year. Then at the Titans who have not been very good, the Broncos again at the Raiders. So, there’s really a mixed bag in there. There’s some tough ones. I’ll be curious to see how they match up with Denver. I mean, Denver, one of the better teams right now. How do you view uh Rodney? How would you view Denver and Kansas City right now in the AFC West? Who’s the better team to you? I would say Denver right now. And I think Shawn I I’ll give a lot of credit credit to Shawn Peyton. I think he’s done a really good job um with the young quarterback, but I think he’s also getting used to his team, his offense. Um I think he understands them a lot better and that defense is fantastic. Um Talono Hufunga in the secondary, those guys up front. I like what the Denver Broncos are doing and each week it just seems like they’re gaining more confidence. They they are gaining confidence, but I still look at them and I say, who have they really beaten? Okay, they beat Philadelphia on the road, which was a good win for them, but their their other wins have been against the kind of the subpar team. We saw them against the Giants, be down 18 points in the fourth quarter. Last week, the same thing. They’re down to Houston. They get a last second field goal. So, they’re getting the confidence, as Rod says, to win these games. But uh to me that’s going to be the biggest game of the year. That’s going to determine to me the winner of the AFC West uh next week when Kansas City goes to Denver. If Kansas City can win that game, they’ve got some home games coming up. Their road games are against uh not really that tough a team. They could get on the street. But if they go and get shut down in Denver, then I think again that confidence level and and that’s going to tell Denver we can win this thing. Hi, I’m Mike Trico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.
Jac Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison discuss the current state of the Kansas City Chiefs following their loss the Buffalo Bills over the weekend. #NFL #FNIA #NBCSports
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Rodney Harrison: Kansas City Chiefs offense is too ‘one-dimensional’ | FNIA | NFL on NBC https://www.youtube.com/nbcsports
2 comments
Is this kind of a rebuild year for the NFL? It seems like a weaker year
Part of this is on KC roster construction. There were glaring needs at offensive tackle and DL run stopper, so Chiefs draft Simmons & Norman-Lott while big free agent was Jaylon Moore. It is hard to criticize these moves. But that leaves Pacheco as the only feature back that can be relied on to carry the ball a lot of times. Kareem Hunt is great as a short yardage specialist, but at 30 he is not a bell cow runner. No one else in the NFL wanted him. That leaves rookie Smith and CEH who has struggled with illness and only had 15 carries in the past 2 seasons. With Pacheco out for the game, that doesn't leave anybody to run the ball a lot of times.