The Kansas City Chiefs are facing a ton of adversity right now.
They have multiple injuries to key players, schematic problems on both sides of the ball and the pressure of having to break a losing streak during a short week on the road.
Despite those issues, the Chiefs still have plenty of talented players and an experienced coaching staff that is capable of getting things turned around. This matchup against the 2-4 Denver Broncos is one a team like Kansas City should win.
Let’s take a look at the keys for a Chiefs victory over the Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
Attack the ball carrier
One of the problems with the Chiefs’ defensive players is that they aren’t in attack mode. Instead of being aggressive and attacking, they let ball carries and blockers come to them. Instead of playing their game, they’re playing hesitant and letting offenses dictate the pace of the game.
Earlier this week defensive end Frank Clark said that the defense has to find a renewed aggression and passion for stopping the run. This means that the issue is on every player’s mind and is a focal point for improvement. The defense is already getting gashed, so continuing to stay hesitant doesn’t make sense. If it’s going to go down, it might as well go down swinging.
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Quarterback Patrick Mahomes getting rid of the ball quickly
The Chiefs have been working with a patchwork offensive line and it has taken a big toll on the offense’s explosiveness. It has put Mahomes under duress on too many of his dropbacks this season. He suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 1 and has re-aggravated it in almost every game played since then. It has affected his mobility and his ability to step into his throws.
The Chiefs’ coaching staff can help Mahomes by keeping him in shotgun and having him get rid of the ball quickly. Too often last week coach Andy Reid called play-action passes from under center that required five or seven-step drops. Quick hitters off three-step drops would keep Mahomes off his back.
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Keep with the misdirection
One thing the Chiefs’ offense did well last week its usage of misdirection. Last week Reid rolled Mahomes away from the left side of the offensive line, which is the side most of its struggles have come from. There was a ton of pre-snap motion, fake end-around and screens.
With receiver Tyreek Hill back, defenses have to respect misdirection even more. The Chiefs should use him in every way to keep the Broncos guessing, handing it off to him and using him as a decoy. Once Denver becomes overly concerned with Hill, the Chiefs can sprinkle in receiver Mecole Hardman in the same role.
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Keep the box stacked against the Broncos’ offense
Like every offense that faces the Chiefs, the Broncos will likely be looking to run the ball early and often. Kansas City is currently allowing the most yardage of any NFL team on the ground on first down. The Chiefs can help themselves out by stacking the box with more defenders than the Broncos have for blockers.
This could make the Chiefs’ secondary vulnerable, but the Broncos have the 23rd ranked passing offense. Quarterback Joe Flacco isn’t much of a threat to stretch the field and he has accuracy issues, throwing an interception in each of his last five games.
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Play smarter on special teams
After being a very good unit for many seasons, the Chiefs’ special teams has regressed in a big way. It is committing a ridiculous amount of penalties on kickoff and punt returns, costing the offense valuable field position and negating some decent returns.
Speaking of returns, there is no consistency among the return specialists when deciding to call a fair catch or return a kick. This is also costing the offense field position and is opening up the possibility of turnovers. The Chiefs will be looking toward long-time special teams coach Dave Toub to right the ship against a Broncos team that doesn’t have the greatest punt and kick return coverage units.
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