Chiefs-Jags film breakdown: Going deep with Nick Foles and Dee Ford

One thing we tend to forget while we spend far too much time talking and thinking about sports is that we are all biased. Each of us come to the discussion with a certain perspective, or at the very least a worldview. We all watch sports differently, in other words.

Some of us watch for an escape. Some of us watch for friends. Some of us watch because we’d be bored otherwise. Some of us watch because the alternative is yard work. Some of us watch for the thrill, some for the strategy, some for the gambling, some for the beer. Many of us watch for all of these reasons, depending on the mood.

The Chiefs’ 19-14 win over the Jaguars is an absolute case study in preconceived notions.

If you think the Chiefs are good, you saw a team without its starting quarterback, best two running backs, starting left guard, and for much of the game its best two pass catchers still win an NFL game. If you think the Chiefs are too flawed, you saw a sloppy performance aided by one of the NFL’s worst teams playing to character.

If you think Alex Smith does not stink, you saw Nick Foles throw deep, and make a few plays, and keep a boat with holes from sinking. If you think Alex Smith stinks, you saw Nick Foles miss too many passes, throw at least two that should’ve been intercepted, and are probably talking about how the Chiefs’ scoring drives went for 23, 5, 5, 25, and 38 yards.

So, maybe it’s worth noting that this film breakdown was done by a guy who thinks Alex Smith is above average in the right context, that Foles is a great backup quarterback, and that the Chiefs are a good team with both flaws and legitimate Super Bowl hopes if they get the right breaks.

Most of this is about Foles, and about Dee Ford, with a little Marcus Peters mixed in.

Here we go:

▪ This was the Chiefs’ first snap of the game and showed a couple things worth remembering. First, the Chiefs are not shrinking the playbook with Foles. And second, he is more apt to make “trust throws.” Smith will generally trust Jeremy Maclin to win a play for him, but Foles also seems more willing to trust Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill in space.

Anyway, the pre-snap read shows Kelce lined up to the left side against cornerback Prince Amukamara, with no help over the top. There aren’t a lot of tight ends you trust to beat corners with their feet, but Kelce is one of them. Foles throws a perfectly placed lob pass down the sideline here for a 23-yard gain.

 

▪ Also on the opening drive, and here is a bit of Foles’ bad. If the NFL would allow us to use GIFs, you could better see how Chris Conley is open at the top of the screen. But since the league does not like analysis done by non-rights holders, you’ll just have to trust me. Either way, Charcandrick West is also wide open in the flat.

Instead, Foles lofts it downfield to Albert Wilson, an undersized receiver with no track record of winning jump balls, hoping he can win a jump ball with two defenders. He makes up for the bad decision by overthrowing Wilson by a good five yards and gets bailed out by the Jags being the Jags and one defender knocking the interception away from the other.

It’s worth noting that Foles had to move around in the pocket a little, because offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif got beat by the guy he was supposed to block, but if anything that makes the check-down the smarter play.

 

▪ This is the touchdown pass, and a really nice play by Foles. He reads the safety, Gipson, committing to Kelce on the outside, which leaves Wilson one-on-one with the linebacker down the middle. The throw is nice, too, perfectly placed for Wilson in the end zone.

 

▪ This is actually a 17-yard gain for the Jaguars because Marcedes Lewis makes a nice play against Steven Nelson, but I’m including it here because Ford wins his play in a way I don’t think we’ve often seen.

The Jags are scheming against his pressure here, having Yeldon chip him on the way out to the flat. But in the split-second after this frame, Ford beats both Yeldon and offensive lineman Jermey Parnell by planting with his left foot, moving away from Yeldon and swimming back around behind the tackle.

He misses the sack by a blink, but this is the kind of thing opposing coaches notice and try to scheme around.

 

▪ This is Ford’s first sack, and it’s impressive for a few reasons. First, because of where the Jags bunched some receivers on his side, Ford had to line up closer to the ball than he prefers.

The wider angle lets him use his speed and agility, so he had to be creative here, which he did by initiating hand contact with the tackle and pushing him five or so yards into the backfield. When Bortles tries to step into the pocket, Ford is able to disengage with the tackle and make the play.

There’s no way Ford could’ve made this play last year.

 

▪ When the Chiefs drafted Ford in the first round in 2014, GM John Dorsey said the primary reason they liked him was his ability to bend around the corner. This is critical for all edge rushers. Derrick Thomas may have been the best at this, the ability to be both fast and powerful with your body tilted against a bigger man coming around that edge.

Ford is starting to show that bend more at this level, and this is a great example. This is a pure speed rush, around the bigger man, and getting to the quarterback in under three seconds. This is a Pro Bowl play ...

 

▪ ... which, of course, brings us to a personal favorite — the Five-Five celebration.

This had been Ford’s go-to celebration, but the week before in Indy, he went away from it once, opting for a bull-ride dance. After the Jags game, I asked Ford to commit himself to sticking with the Five-Five.

Here’s what he said:

“If the people want that, I’ll do it. I want to dance, though. It just depends on how I’m feeling. But I’ve been hearing a lot that everybody likes that. So I’ll stick to it. I’m a people pleaser, of course.”

Yes, Dee. Please, more Five-Five. Anybody can dance.

 

▪ Here’s a play that would infuriate some Chiefs fans if Alex Smith made it. De’Anthony Thomas is even more open that he looks in this frame, because the safety is taking a step back toward the end zone. If Foles hits Thomas in anything resembling stride, it’s probably a catch-and-run for a touchdown.

Instead, he checks down to Charcandrick West for a five-yard gain that had no chance of going longer.

 

▪ Here’s another check-down by Foles. This is third down, and Wilson is open behind the sticks on an out-route if the ball is timed and placed well enough. Instead, Foles goes short to fullback Anthony Sherman, who has virtually no chance of making the first down.

 

▪ One of the knocks on Ford has been that he’s not well-rounded. A speed rusher without a second move, or a pass rusher who doesn’t help against the run.

He’s beyond the no-second-move critique by now — he chops, he swims, he clubs, he cuts inside, he even did a sort of bull rush a few times the other day — and he’s beginning to address the problems against the run. He’s still vulnerable there at times, but this is an example of his improvement.

Ford reads the run and makes sure to take a step toward the edge, cutting down a potential lane to the outside for Chris Ivory. Derrick Johnson — who made a few nice plays on Sunday, but more bad ones — has juked his man and filled the middle. This play went for a short loss.

 

▪ Here’s another example of a good play by Ford that doesn’t involve a sack. It’s another speed rush around the edge, and Ford gets to Bortles quick enough to affect the throw. It looks like Bortles has a play down the field, but Ford bothers the throw, and it flails incomplete.

This was on third and 5 from the 36. The Jags missed a field goal on fourth down, so Ford’s play saved at least three points.

 

▪ Nice play by Foles here. The Chiefs used pre-snap motion that moved the safety off the line of scrimmage and cleared a passing lane to Kelce. The throw still needed to be exactly on beat, and well-placed. The timing needed to be quick enough, and the placement needed to be over the top of the linebacker, who may have been reading a screen pass.

Either way, very nice play by Foles, and Kelce.

 

▪ This is the play where Kelce didn’t get the pass interference call, and threw the tantrum, doing a thing that was ridiculous.

That’s the story of the play, so nobody cares about this, but Foles may’ve been better off not even throwing to Kelce. The linebacker was in position to defend the pass in the back of the end zone, and even without pass interference, the window to get the ball in and Kelce to time the catch was very small.

It was second down, and without knowing the progressions, Foles had Conley and O’Shaughnessy open behind the first-down marker.

Yes, it is much easier to find open receivers in sweat pants and an overstuffed chair than in pads with enormous men running at your face. Another bonus: you can have a dog at your feet, and a nice big glass of ice water next to you.

 

▪ Here’s the 51-yard pass on Marcus Peters, on a double move by Marqise Lee. Everyone knows this is the hole in Peters’ game. He is aggressive, which means he’s productive, but he can also be had with the right timing and plan.

Lee breaks hard to the sideline, and Peters reads the hips and jumps what he thinks is an out-route. But once Lee sees Peters’ hips turn, he plants his outside foot and goes downfield. He is three or so yards behind Peters when the ball arrives, and this is one of those times when Bortles delivers a good pass.

I honestly don’t know how possible it is for Peters to cut down on these sorts of plays without taking away some of what he does so well. The best solution, I would think, is to make it situational, based on score, field position and whether there’s help over the top. If I was Peters or one of the Chiefs’ coaches, I would not want to take away what he does so well.

 

▪ Another ball from Foles that probably should’ve been intercepted, and in some ways, this was worse than the deep ball in the first quarter. Foles never looks anywhere but at Hill here, which Telvin Smith reads and reacts to.

If I could show the GIF, you’d see that Smith read the ball so well, he seemed to hesitate a step or two into his break, perhaps not trusting that it could be this easy. If he doesn’t hesitate, he would’ve been in position where the ball hit him in the numbers. Even with the hesitation, he knocked it down with his hands.

This was late in the fourth quarter, on what turned out to be the Chiefs’ final drive of the game before their victory formation. They ended up punting here, but if the Jags took over around the 30 after an interception, they would’ve been much better positioned for a game-winning touchdown.

 

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Chiefs-Jags film breakdown: Going deep with Nick Foles and Dee Ford."