Chiefs must start punishing zone defenses to break out of offensive slump

The Chiefs’ misery on offense has lasted for over a month now, and the frustrating thing about it –– for players and coaches alike –– is how they know what the problems are, but have been unable to fix them.

Take the running game, for instance. When the Chiefs were rolling in September, off to a 5-0 start and being hailed the best team in football, the starting offensive line was rolling up front, springing large holes for rookie Kareem Hunt.

Then, as injuries began to set in, they stopped working in cohesion. A breakdown here on one play, a breakdown there on another. It’s never the same guy.

Nevertheless, the inability to gain traction at the point of attack –– or sufficiently shield quarterback Alex Smith in pass protection –– up front has neutered their ability to make teams pay for the overwhelming about of zone coverages they’ve played against the Chiefs since their first loss of the season, to Pittsburgh, on Oct. 15.

“It is extremely frustrating –– we have a championship caliber team,” center Mitch Morse said, following the Chiefs’ 16-10 loss to Buffalo on Sunday, their fifth in six games. “I can only speak for myself but stupid mental mistakes and physical errors are putting us out of position to put our offense in a situation to score.”

Smith, however, is also culpable in the slide. Since quarterbacks have the ball in their hands every play, they play the only position on the field in which they can consistently overcome teammates’ mistakes with brilliance.

But after a scorching-hot start to the season, Smith has had a rough go of it the last three games, completing 68 percent of his passes for 692 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions with a passer rating of 79.1, which would rank behind the season averages of struggling quarterbacks like Miami’s Jay Cutler (82.7), Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles (79.5) and New York’s Eli Manning (82.7).

The consistent thing about his play in the Chiefs’ last three losses –– against the Giants, Cowboys and Bills –– is the sheer amount of zone coverages he’s seen and been unable to defeat. Tight end Travis Kelce even admitted after the Giants loss that until they beat Cover 2 coverage –– which features corners who squat on under routes and two deep safeties who patrol the deep halves of the field –– they’ll continue to struggle.

Thing is, it’s not just Cover 2 they’re struggling with. Other zone coverages like Cover 3 and Cover 4, have given them problems, as teams have decided to take away the Chiefs’ college-style, spread misdirection plays that worked so well during their 5-0 start by staying back, keeping things in front of them and making the Chiefs put long drives together.

“I think we do present some problems with some of things we do that are not conventional NFL stuff,” Smith said. “So I think, a little bit, you see (zones) as a way to kind of combat that.

“A lot of these teams, you’ve got a lot (to defend); here’s a way to simplify it for them and try to handle all that. They want to make you go the whole length of the field. They’re not going to give up the big play. They’re going to make you drive. What they’re betting on is that you get a negative play, you get a penalty, you get a sack, you get something that sets you back and that’s all they really need.”

Given the Chiefs’ inability to consistently execute at multiple positions –– whether it be the offensive line, or the receivers running the right route or the quarterback being on schedule with his reads or timing –– it’s a bet defenses have consistently won.

“I think it’s a timing thing,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. “For us, when you start seeing zone coverage, there’s holes in the defense, right? So you’ve got to be able to understand leverage and be able to find those holes for the quarterback to throw to.

“And then, from the quarterback’s perspective, with Alex, we’re trying our best to just find lanes and get the ball out on time. When you have the receiver who is working that leverage and finding that hole, and a quarterback who is trusting his timing, matching, then good things happen.”

Smith admitted he needs to be better at making teams pay via a thousand paper cuts, if that’s what they want to force him to do.

“All those things underneath have to be thrown on time in order to be successful –– you throw late, they’ve already rallied and got what they want, so as a quarterback, you’ve got to trust what you’re seeing, have good eyes, good feet and make good decisions That’s what I feel like I could have done better.”

He’s not the only one who needs to do better, however. Chiefs coach Andy Reid has mentioned that multiple times this week, and teammates have privately echoed those same words, with some saying that if the line blocked better, the running game would be more effective and Smith would have more time, and others saying that if the receivers executed their routes better or made the correct reads post-snap, some of Smith’s incompletions would have landed right on the money.

“We know we have to be in a certain area for Alex at the right time, and Alex has got to put it on us,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “We’ve just got to be more accountable. Guys have to step up and make plays.”

The good news is that the Chiefs have been in this type of hole before –– they bounced back from a 1-5 start in 2015 to win 10 straight games and make the playoffs. They’ve also been practicing against these zone looks relentlessly recently to get out of the funk.

“It’s not anything we haven’t seen before,” Kelce said. “We just have to weather the storm.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2017 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Chiefs must start punishing zone defenses to break out of offensive slump."