Mahomes’ MVP year. A Super Bowl title run. And now the Chiefs’ offense is ... better?
If you’d have asked him, 9-year-old me probably would have told you his three favorite things in the world were Bo Jackson, shooting baskets, and Chicken McNuggets.
The first was plastered all over the walls (and eventually ceiling) of my room, the second is what I spent more time doing than anything other than sleeping, and the third was a certified delicacy.
I graduated from the 6-piece to the 9-piece — which, criminally, is no longer a thing — way before it was age appropriate. I loved those things so much I’d trade fries to my sister for extra Chicken McNuggets.
Mine was a pure love. I’d eat them straight, or sometimes with a little ketchup. It was all I needed.
Then a friend convinced me to try barbecue sauce. Then another convinced me to try sweet and sour. And it is at that point, my friends, that my parents had a legitimately difficult time getting me to eat anything other than Chicken McNuggets with all the sauce.
Here’s the point:
The 2019 Chiefs offense was Chicken McNuggets.
The 2020 Chiefs offense is Chicken McNuggets with all the sauce.
Somehow, something so good is now only better. Let’s eat.
The Chiefs’ best back since Kareem Hunt
We start with the most fun, and the most obvious. Clyde Edwards-Helaire is different.
The Chiefs list him at 5 feet 7, and anyone who’s fibbed a bit at the DMV can relate. Up close, Edwards-Helaire looks like some sort of almost human. Watch him walk sometime. It’s the craziest thing, like his hips and torso are connected like a plastic action figure, each twisting to unusual lengths when he walks.
Someone who studies athletic freaks for a living could say for sure, but it would make sense that this is where his absurd agility comes from. Honest to goodness, his horizontal cuts look like a magic trick.
Also, combined with his unusual strength — the 6-foot-5 and 250-pound Travis Kelce says Edwards-Helaire has the strength of someone “my size” — essentially means he moves like a rabbit but carries the strength of an F-150.
According to Pro Football Focus, 106 of Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s 138 yards rushing came after contact. If you only counted those yards, he still would have led the league in rushing.
Simply put, the Chiefs have not had a running back like this since before we saw the Kareem Hunt tape.
This is sort of like putting a jet pack on the back of a Ferrari. As good as the Chiefs have been on offense — and they’ve been great — they ranked 20th in yards per rush last year.
More than just Edwards-Helaire
Assuming the Chiefs continue to run the ball well, Edwards-Helaire will continue to get much of the attention (especially in fantasy leagues).
But he might be (sorry in advance for this) running with the wind a bit. Andy Reid’s system has always and justifiably prioritized athleticism and pass blocking up front over run blocking.
That’s just good business when you employ Patrick Mahomes as quarterback. The Chiefs run the ball more than they pass, and of all the common criticism of the Chiefs using their first-round pick on Edwards-Helaire, the most sensible take was that any move that meant Mahomes would throw the ball less was questionable at best.
But what if Mahomes is now better positioned for success than ever before, even when compared to his MVP year, or the Super Bowl championship?
Here’s a thing: the Chiefs ran up the middle 112 times last year — nearly twice as often as any other direction — and averaged 3.4 yards, ranking 27th. The small sample size disclaimers should be flashing in bring neon colors here, but the Chiefs ran the ball up the middle four times for 22 yards (6.8 per attempt) against the Texans.
A lot of this is Edwards-Helaire, yes.
But what if some of it is better blocking, too?
Kelechi Osemele and Andrew Wylie replace Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Stefen Wisniewski as the starting guards compared to the Super Bowl. Osemele is a former first-team All-Pro who started during the Ravens’ second Super Bowl run. He was available after missing 17 games with injuries the last two seasons.
Lets go back to Edwards-Helaire’s 27-yard touchdown run. Him pantsing Justin Reid with the cut gets the attention, and rightfully so, but watch the push up front, particularly from Osemele at left guard.
OK, so. Now for all the sauce.
More options for a team that didn’t *really* need them
With the exception of early in playoff games and the time Mahomes’ knee cap danced to the edge of the cliff, the Chiefs have been largely unstoppable — but they have also been somewhat limited in their options.
That’s a high-level criticism — sort of like saying a supermodel’s look isn’t relatable enough — but still.
Some more numbers. A year ago when rushing on first-and-10, the Chiefs ranked 23rd with 4.3 yards per attempt. That’s one factor in them facing third down and at least 8 yards 74 times.
Again, small sample size disclaimers, but the Chiefs averaged 5.7 yards when rushing on first-and-10 against the Texans. They faced just one third-and-long.
Mahomes, the Chiefs’ skill talent, and Reid’s play calling are enough to get out of many messes. But now, the Chiefs figure to be in far fewer messes, their third downs more manageable, the stress on defenses much heavier.
The implications of this paragraph are significant. The Chiefs’ relative struggles to run the ball last year came despite facing nickel or dime packages on 87% of snaps, according to PFF. Presumably influenced by Edwards-Helaire, the Texans used nickel or dime packages on just 52% of snaps.
In summary: the Chiefs are better equipped to run when you’re defending the pass, which will force you to beef up against the pass so they can run against thinner boxes.
“Establishing the run” is an antiquated trope from the days when linebackers wore neck rolls, and at no point in time should anything in this space ever be interpreted as a suggestion that less passing and especially less Mahomes passing is preferred.
But what if the new “establish the run” simply means “use this curiously gifted running back to gain large chunks of yards, forcing already overmatched defenses into giving Mahomes thinner secondaries to throw against?”
It might start to be a whole lot more of this, when the Texans put eight defenders in position to stop the run on third-and-short near the goal line. By throwing to Sammy Watkins, the Chiefs basically ran a power run wide right against the defenders focused on the power run up the middle.
In Mahomes’ first season as a starter, the Chiefs spent airport prices to win the bidding for Watkins.
They decided that wasn’t enough, despite Mahomes’ MVP award, so they used their first pick (56th overall) on Mecole Hardman.
They decided that wasn’t enough, despite the Super Bowl, so they used their first pick (32nd overall) on Edwards-Helaire.
The Chiefs have gone so completely all-in on keeping strengths strong that they now surround the league’s best quarterback with the league’s best collection of skill position talent.
Maybe it’s overkill, like renting an RV for a day trip, but maybe it’s the best (and certainly most fun) way to keep winning. Putting defensive coordinators in position where they must account for everything has its logic.
Too much sauce is not a thing, in other words. And right now, the Chiefs have all the sauce.
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 1:58 PM.