September 11, 2016 – A sunny, fall day in the heartland of American Football: Arrowhead Stadium. Amid the opening ceremonies, honoring the victims of the 9/11 tragedy that had shook the nation 15 years ago, a sense of resilience and unity was held for a moment. This was the opening week of the NFL, and our nation had overcome tragedy. For a moment, everyone in Arrowhead Stadium was one: American. But, after that moment of unity, the tension rose once again and the celebrated rivalry that was the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Diego Chargers was full tilt.
Welcome to week one lessons; the Kansas City Chiefs comeback that springboarded their season.
A Charged Kansas City Chiefs Comeback – Week One Retrospect
A Tale of Two Halves
Week one for the Chiefs and Chargers was truly a tale of two halves. The first half featured ugly football from both sides of the ball from the Chiefs. The second half was a sigh of relief for fans of the team.
Opening the game, the Chiefs and Alex Smith took the opening kickoff back for a field goal. It was a decent way to open the season, but it lacked the conviction many fans wanted to see. The drive was more managerial than exciting. Still, the Chargers would get the ball back and the hyped Chiefs defense would stop them, right? Wrong. The next drive featured Philip Rivers charging up the field in a mere three minutes to score the game’s first touchdown. Melvin Gordon punched it in from the one yard line, and if possible question marks would appear over Chief fans heads.
The rest of the first half featured the Chiefs defense giving up two more touchdowns. Danny Woodhead and Melvin Gordon could not be put to rest on third down. Philip Rivers was a pest, and the tension in Arrowhead was growing. To make matters worse, the air was leaving Arrowhead as Alex Smith failed to complete any long passes to Jeremy Maclin or Travis Kelce. The dink and dunk concerns were flaring by half time as the Chargers lead comfortably 21-3.
Second Half Heroics
As any Chiefs victory starts out, the defense began to take control of the Chargers offense, stopping them on the opening drive. Although the Chiefs offense would need two more drives to get going, things were beginning to turn around. With 2:47 left in the third quarter, Alex Smith dumped a pass off to Tyreek Hill for the first touchdown of the season. A foreshadowing of great things to come, the game turned around as the play calling got inventive.
Despite throwing an interception on the second play of the next drive, Alex Smith looked calm as the game proceeded. He let the next three drives come to him, spreading the ball around to land a touchdown to Jeremy Maclin. After a field goal, and then a Spencer Ware rushing touchdown, the Chiefs tied things up, 27-27. For as much work as the offense did, the Chiefs defense lead by Steve Nelson and Justin March-Lillard (nine tackles each) frustrated Rivers and Woodhead, wrapping up tackles at the line of scrimmage. Mix this with a conservative Chargers offense, and the Chiefs surged in the fourth quarter.
Overtime was one, long drive. The air was back in Arrowhead Stadium, and it was not leaving any time soon. Ten plays later, Smith and Ware chunked away yardage to set up a two-yard quarterback sneak by Smith to secure the victory. It was improbable, it was emotional, and it was counter his nature, but Alex Smith had led the Chiefs back for their largest comeback in history.
Takeaways for 2017
It was glorious, but this is now a year past and the Chiefs are looking down the throat of 2017. This overtime victory was forced mostly due to three quarters of bad offense as well as a lack of confidence and control. Yes, it showed that Alex Smith can lead a comeback against a depleted Chargers team, but could he do it elsewhere?
Ultimately, the playoffs said no to the above question. Which gives rise to the hypothesis this game was won not because of any one player, but because of the leadership found in the coaching staff.
“You’re going to have games like this that show your character, show your grit. I’m proud of the way they handled it. They had confidence in each other.” – Andy Reid
Andy Reid took that fourth quarter and got into his team’s head. Confidence was instilled in each other, and no one player tried to do too much. Ware relied on his offensive line while scampering for 70 yards. Jeremy Maclin relaxed and was able to open himself up in key moments. Alex Smith stopped forcing the ball, and relied on his receivers to work after the catch. The defense relied on each other to complete tackles instead of playing others assignments on edge. This is the way the Chiefs need to play in 2017: confident in each other.
Another factor that helped in the fourth-quarter was an inventive playbook, specifically the threat of Tyreek Hill. Once the Chargers saw what he could do on his one touchdown play, they moved back onto their heels. The threat was just enough to give room for the Chiefs to work with more. Tyreek Hill needs to be a target early in games, rather than later. Use his versatility to promote the use of other players. Start out fast, earlier.
Tying into the defensive takeaways, starting out with a touchdown on the opening drive will be essential to take the life away from opponents quicker. Philip Rivers is one of the best quarterbacks at tasting blood when the opposing offense is not clicking. Tom Brady is the other quarterback that is great at sensing weakness, and will be the first opponent of 2017. The Patriots also make effective use of the wheel and bubble route; akin to what Danny Woodhead did to punish the Chiefs early in this game. Woodhead was able to sneak past sloppy tackling to keep grabbing quick first-downs. This is exactly what the Patriots are great at, even when deep on third down, and if the Chiefs defense shows any slop in 2017, it could be a rough year.
Play confident, versatile, and textbook football in 2017, and the Chiefs won’t have to scare fans with overtime comebacks.
