The Kansas City Chiefs had not only hope to win at the finale of the game, but they had opportunity handed to them on the final drive. Yet, the Buffalo Bills secondary fought harder one moment longer, ending in Tre’Davious White intercepting Alex Smith to close that opportunity. The interception represented a wider swath of problems for the Chiefs, truly emblematic of the second half of the season. The interception came on a forced pass to Tyreek Hill in a desperate moment; a moment that has come far too often for an offense wholly bereft of purpose. After the Los Angeles Chargers have been garnishing momentum, the Chiefs are now heading into the second half of the season desperately floundering to keep their AFC West lead. Falling to 6-5, the 16-10 loss at the hands of the Bills provided week 12 Kansas City Chiefs takeaways that represent a litany of meta problems.
Week 12 Kansas City Chiefs Takeaways
1) Uninspired
The Chiefs offense could be synthesized in one word: uninspired. Through the first half, the Chiefs spent five drives finding no purpose, punting the ball all on three and outs. Their break did not come until the Bills Steven Hauschka missed a field goal. The offense need a short 32-yards to put Harrison Butker in bail out range for a field goal.
Despite the winnable 13-3 score margin at halftime, the Chiefs offense came out with no creativity in the second half. Andy Reid was poignantly stubborn in play calling, instituting the same pattern of formations used throughout the first half. A fine balance must be met between creativity and sticking to the game plan. Only the coaches know exactly how to institute a powerful game plan with fine-tuned tweaks, but that balance was not met.
As a result, the Chiefs gained no momentum from their opening half touchdown drive, Travis Kelce spent the day under double coverage, and linebackers knew exactly where to find Hill play after play. Kareem Hunt spent his afternoon running into a brick wall while the Chiefs offensive line was bamboozled by unique Bills fronts.
The trend of a flat offense that cannot manipulate defenses in the second half is now the Chiefs worst nightmare come true.
2) Providing Opportunity
Juxtaposed to the Chiefs offensive start, the defense started the game with conviction, rarely letting Tyrod Taylor and LeSean McCoy force the running game. After three straight punts, the Bills offense did find their way to a touchdown behind Zay Jones’ reception. The Chiefs defense began to break after that point, granting position for three field goal attempts. Fortunately, only two were made, and the halftime score was a 13-3 Bills lead over a ‘Bending but not breaking’ defense.
The halftime score is important to mention twice, as the Chiefs defense, while not perfect, created the opportunity for the offense to finish. They limited explosive running plays and played resilient down the stretch.
Frank Zombo was particularly focused in the second half, leveraging his way through the offensive line on several occasions. He made three emphatic third down tackles on the last three Bill drives of the game. Reggie Ragland became the laser in run defense, playing exquisite fit-to-run for nine tackles. Daniel Sorensen also had his name called on a blitz, and made the most of it by punishing Taylor for a sack.
The Bills won, but they had to work to overcome a definitive strategy in which the Chiefs defense was focused. With Darrelle Revis providing secondary support next week, the Chiefs defense may have found a game to study, learn from, and carry functional lessons to give the offense further opportunities in remaining games.
3) More Questions than Points
In a copy and paste of last week, the Chiefs offense creating more questions than points. There ought to be a dynamic change for the offense to institute defensive manipulation. The Bills defense was fearless, playing with eager foresight all afternoon.
Schematically, the Bills operated with two, deep zone safeties to negate opportunity for Kelce down the seam. As a result of the defunct run game, the Bills operated in their base two-deep style for the rest of the afternoon. The only play set that seemed to work for the Chiefs were screen plays that took opportunity of the second level being empty. Hence, this is a reason why Charcandrick West is starting to pick up more repetitions as Reid desires to work the flats.
As the safeties stayed in double high, Smith’s only option was timing routes to Albert Wilson, one of which resulted in a touchdown. However, the offensive line extrapolated upon Smith’s poor performance, giving up two sacks and a plethora of pressure. Thus, timing was more about Smith timing defenders nudging him.
Bills corners White and E.J. Gaines played profound bump and run coverage down the sideline. A lack of execution and purpose in high-percentage short routes lead to Smith’s intrinsic distrust in short-yardage plays, gluing his eyes deep. The results were seen in the game icing interception when he overlooked a wide-open slant route.
The Chiefs offense is not only failing to execute, they are fundamentally failing to impose their will onto defenses.
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