The Kansas City Chiefs now have a 4-2 record on the 2019 season after losing to the Houston Texans 31-24. The Chiefs are in a bit of a slump right now, suffering from sloppy play on both sides of the ball.
Here are five takeaways following the Week 6 game:
The Chiefs need Chris Jones
The Chiefs failed to get a sack or much pressure at all against Deshaun Watson, even though his offensive line has given up the sixth-most sacks in the league. The notable absence for the Chiefs’ defensive line is Chris Jones, who is dealing with a groin injury. Jones is the Chiefs’ best pass rusher from a season ago, recording 15.5 sacks. He seems to be the only one who can consistently cause havoc in opposing backfields for Kansas City.
It’d be ideal for Jones to return sooner rather than later from his injury if the Chiefs are to improve their pass rush. This is a contract year for Jones and now we’re getting a taste of what life looks like without him in the starting lineup. I think I speak for all Chiefs fans when I say things were bleak without him.
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Tyreek Hill made a huge impact
In his first game back from injury Tyreek Hill was able to make a big impact on the Chiefs offense. I can only imagine what the showing would have looked like had he not returned to the lineup.
Hill had five catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns, which helped keep the Chiefs alive against the Texans. If it weren’t for Hill making a play on the Chiefs opening drive, the offense would have failed to put up 20 points for the second consecutive week. Unfortunately, Hill’s efforts resulted in a loss against the Texans, but at least we know that Hill looks good after a scary injury against the Jaguars in Week 1.
It’s clear now that Hill is Mahomes’ favorite weapon and that the trust between them is matched by none, so having Hill back is huge for a struggling offense. I believe the connection between Mahomes and Hill will get better as the season continues. They missed a few times today, but with more repetitions that chemistry will return. Hopefully, Hill can continue to stay healthy especially if the Chiefs continue to be without Sammy Watkins and Eric Fisher.
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The offense is part of the problem
Although the Chiefs’ defense has some issues we can’t ignore the offensive struggles from the last two weeks. The final two of the Chiefs’ drives were for a combined two yards. The Chiefs’ offense has to be better in these crucial moments, especially when the defense struggles to get off the field.
There are a lot of reasons why the offense is struggling including injuries, the offensive line, the run game, play-calling and Mahomes playing on a sore ankle. The Chiefs will be facing a good defense in the Denver Broncos on a short week. They just shut out the Tennessee Titans and are coming off of two consecutive wins. If the offense doesn’t find their footing it could result in a third straight loss for the Chiefs and third straight win for the Broncos.
I do believe that the Chiefs are capable of playing winning football — once everyone gets healthy. They’ll need that to be sooner rather later if they want to keep their playoff chances alive.
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The defense is a bigger problem
The defense just couldn’t get off the field for the fourth week in a row as they lost the time of possession battle 39:48 to 20:12. Kansas City did make a few plays as they had two interceptions and a fumble recovery, but they failed to capitalize on many of those turnovers.
The Chiefs allowed over 180 yards rushing for the fourth week in a row, and on top of that, Watson did a good job picking at the Chiefs’ secondary. If it weren’t for a couple of dropped passes he could have a multiple touchdown game. I wouldn’t be as concerned if the offense wasn’t struggling but they are, so it’s up to the defense to pull it together and make stops on third down.
The inability to tackle has been perplexing as it was a big emphasis during the offseason. They allowed a couple of big plays because of missed tackles including one on the final drive. Chiefs’ linebacker Darron Lee missed a tackle on DeAndre Hopkins that would have forced a third down and with another stop, it would have forced the Texans to punt the ball. The offense would still have around two to three minutes to score which is plenty of time for Mahomes, but they couldn’t get the job done due to sloppy tackling.
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Penalties are killing the team
This is the third time this season where the Chiefs have had double-digit penalties, two of the three being the last two games. The Chiefs had 11 penalties for 79 yards today, stalling drives and giving the Texans free yards. The sloppy play needs to come to an end. I know the Chiefs have a lot of moving pieces with the injuries, but every time the Chiefs have something going for them they move backward because of a penalty.
Championship football teams don’t have penalty issues like the Chiefs do. If they want to make it to the postseason they need to make a point of emphasis to fix it. If not it could come back to haunt them if they don’t manage to clean up these issues.
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