Why the Chiefs running game and Clyde Edwards-Helaire were much better in Monday’s win
The exercise pops up every Chiefs training camp, so well-known that one player anticipated it before he had even experienced it himself.
As the second-string offense takes the field, offensive line coach Andy Heck maps out his five-man unit, from left tackle to right tackle. But the assignments last only a week, or maybe just a day or maybe even only a few snaps.
And then they rotate, like some sort of purposeful game of musical chairs. The concept is quite simple — Heck values versatility so much that he’s trying to outright create it. Get everybody ready for anything.
The concept, though, isn’t intended to mimic a single game quite this closely. The Chiefs turned the training camp device into practicality Monday in Buffalo, reshuffling members of their offensive line by both choice and necessity.
And they delivered their best collective outing of the 2020 season in their 26-17 win against the Bills.
“We had a lot of moving pieces there,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Tribute to Coach Heck and the job he does moving people around in practice. The guys didn’t really flinch. They just jumped in and went.”
The Chiefs opened the season with a five-man unit of (from left tackle to right tackle) Eric Fisher, Kelechi Osemele, Austin Reiter, Andrew Wylie and Mitchell Schwartz.
Osemele suffered knee injuries (plural) last week that ended his season. That’s one change. The Chiefs elected to start veteran Daniel Kilgore in place of Reiter. That’s two. And then Schwartz developed back tightness that required a first-half departure.
Let the reshuffling commence. Nick Allegretti replaced Schwartz, but he plugged in at left guard, prompting Mike Remmers (Osemele’s original replacement) to move from guard to right tackle.
By game’s end, only two members of the five-player unit finished where they started last week. And it was a group already absorbing some criticism after the Week 5 loss to the Raiders.
Not now.
The makeshift line paved the way for 245 rushing yards, the most the Chiefs have had in a game during Reid’s tenure in Kansas City. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had 161 yards on 26 carries.
“I think the offensive line really took it personally upon themselves — (with) the light boxes that we’ve been facing and the pressure that was given up last week — they took that personally this week and you saw it today,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “They gave good holes for Clyde to run through. We had to shuffle that around. Guys stepped up. Clyde really hit it and finished the runs well.”
Mahomes took only one sack, and the line was flagged for only one holding call, an Allegretti penalty that former offensive linemen ripped the officials for whistling. The Chiefs allowed three sacks and were flagged for three holding calls in their loss to the Raiders.
All five Chiefs lineman received grades of at least 70 on Pro Football Focus’ metric for Monday’s outing, the first time this season that’s been the case.
Edwards-Helaire finished with a career-high in yardage. His rushes were diverse in their direction — 10 attempts between the tackles, nine carries outside left and seven more outside right.
“The O-line did their job. They made things move,” Edwards-Helaire said. “So ultimately, it’s not just me. This is a career day for not just me but the entire O-line.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.