The Chiefs played a boring football game — but with one very key development
The ball rested at the 41-yard line on fourth down, 3 yards shy of the marker, and the Seahawks elected to keep their offense on the field. Quarterback Geno Smith would drop back in the pocket and whip a pass to the left, only for Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis to swat it down incomplete.
A turnover on downs.
The ball later rested at the 34-yard line on fourth down, 4 yards shy of the marker, and the Seahawks again kept their offense out there. Smith would complete a pass to his left to tight end Colby Parkinson, but Chiefs safety Bryan Cook would make a one-on-one tackle in the open field, well short of the chains.
Again, a turnover on downs.
The ball later rested at the 29-yard line on fourth down, 8 yards shy of the marker, and the Seahawks gave their offense another shot. Smith would find Laquon Treadwell to his right this time, but Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie would wrap him up 1 yard short.
Once more, a turnover on downs.
There’s a common thread within these three plays, maybe more hidden than obvious, and it was the impetus for a 24-10 win Saturday against the Seahawks.
They were plays made by rookies. All of them. Karlaftis, Cook and then McDuffie.
Rookie, rookie and then a rookie.
“We’re getting there,” Karlaftis said.
“That’s that momentum building,” Cook said.
“Wow, I ...,” McDuffie said, before interrupting himself, “You just hit me with that. I didn’t know that. That’s huge.”
The Chiefs played a pretty boring football game on Christmas Eve, but they departed it with one key development.
Or one potential key development.
Sure, we’ll have to see more before we call it some sort of trend, but ask yourself this: If you could pick one set of players to perform well in a late December game, knowing it might make an impact in a January game, what’s a better option than the rookie class? Patrick Mahomes is not a question mark. Travis Kelce is not a question mark. You know what you’re going to get from those guys.
But it’s becoming more and more obvious — unavoidable, actually — that much of what the Chiefs can do in the playoffs will ultimately be answered by what a large rookie class can do. That’s the aftermath of the eye-toward-the-future offseason that still imposed such a significant impact on the present.
Among all NFL rookies, five Chiefs rank in the top-50 in defensive snaps, and four of those five play in the secondary. Several teams have zero in that list on their entire roster. The Chiefs have four in one room.
For awhile now, Chiefs coach Andy Reid has expressed a combination of patience and optimism with that particular group because, let’s be honest here, it’s been a rough month. A good Bengals quarterback got them. A bad Broncos quarterback picked on them. A terrible officiating crew in Houston flagged them.
It might be too strong to say this outing Saturday came out of nowhere — bossing a game against a top-10 passing offense, cold weather or not — but it’s certainly not backed by recent evidence to call it expected. Geno Smith is in the middle of one heck of a season, and the Chiefs just delivered him his worst outing. His 74.5 passer rating is a season-low. His 62.5 completion percentage was his second-worst of the year.
We’ll know over the next few weeks whether that’s something. But it sure didn’t feel like nothing.
“I mentioned it the other way the last couple of weeks — (that) they’re making progress, but we need to get better,” Reid said. “I thought the guys did a nice job of that today. I do think that’s important down the stretch.”
It grew to the point, Mahomes said, that he would adjust his approach on scramble plays. The defense was playing well enough that his goal developed into just ensuring he didn’t flip the game’s momentum.
Let’s rephrase that: A rookie-laden secondary that has struggled recently did enough Saturday to turn Patrick Mahomes into a game manager.
That’s not the end goal here, of course, but it’s a critical step along the way. And if the Chiefs have plans to play for another month or longer, it’s a necessary one.
But just one step.
There’s a balance in seeing improvement and not making too much of it. But it’s noteworthy this is the first time in awhile we can point to a sizable set of plays — in quantity and quality — and talk exclusively about just that.
Improvement.
They made more plays than the fourth-down stops. Karlaftis had a sack. McDuffie made a handful of his stops while rotating to a new position as a nickel corner, allowing L’Jarius Sneed to move to the outside to follow DK Metcalf.
This was the idea back in the spring, when the Chiefs collected draft picks, and then collected defensive players with those draft picks. It was always certain to take time.
The payoff would be less certain.
But a little more optimism now.
This story was originally published December 24, 2022 at 6:06 PM.