Offensive Progress

[MHSL82]

A New Alex Smith?

The biggest knock I and others have had on the Chiefs has been their lack of a passing attack, especially one downfield. Well, against Denver we got a glimpse of something that with some more fine tuning might add another dimension to this offense.

The previously gun shy Alex Smith (+1.6) would attempt 14 passes over 10 yards in the air and the biggest shame was that his receivers (four drops, three of them critical) couldn’t make the catches to give Smith that stat to go with his excellent throws. These four drops don’t even include his peach of a throw that bested the coverage of Chris Harris with 8:25 to go in Q2 (the play was called back for holding away from the target), where Smith fitted it in between the sideline and Harris only for Bowe to drop.

Still it was encouraging to see the team open up the playbook and by and large have their quarterback respond.

 

[MHSL82]

The Avery drop made mad. He jumps or falls when he doesn't need to do so. The first time in the early weeks, he injured himself. This time he made it harder to catch the ball. Bowe falls, too. Just catch the ball when it's thrown to you, no need to contort, one hand it, on fall down trying to catch it with your chest.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

This would be from PFF
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/11/18/refo-chiefs-broncos-week-11/

Chiefs – Three Performances of Note
A New Alex Smith?
The biggest knock I and others have had on the Chiefs has been their lack of a passing attack, especially one downfield. Well, against Denver we got a glimpse of something that with some more fine tuning might add another dimension to this offense.
The previously gun shy Alex Smith (+1.6) would attempt 14 passes over 10 yards in the air and the biggest shame was that his receivers (four drops, three of them critical) couldn’t make the catches to give Smith that stat to go with his excellent throws. These four drops don’t even include his peach of a throw that bested the coverage of Chris Harris with 8:25 to go in Q2 (the play was called back for holding away from the target), where Smith fitted it in between the sideline and Harris only for Bowe to drop.
Still it was encouraging to see the team open up the playbook and by and large have their quarterback respond.

Edit: Now, here is the peculiar part of that article.

Rusty Manning
Nobody has graded out better than Peyton Manning in our system this year. But for as good as he’s been, that doesn’t mean we can just look at box scores and assume they tell the whole story. Yes 300 yard plus passing days are nice, but with just three completions over 10 yards in the air all game it was hardly vintage from Manning (-1.3).
You might blame that on the injury, but Manning was guilty of making a number of bad decisions (an early batted pass by Houston could easily have been picked, as could an out route to Julius Thomas with 6:45 to go in Q3) while he failed to capitalize on a number of opportunities. As previously mentioned four times receivers had coverage beat down the sideline and only once did Manning hit his target, leaving yards on the field. That the game was as close as it was owed something to that and it’s not right to ignore.


Edit: It seems to me PFF overvalues downfield throws in certain circumstances. There is no way in hell that was a below average performance by Peyton. No F'ing way. He was dictating matchups with Cooper who has made some rookie mistakes, but only Manning has really burned him so far for it.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

The drops are really disheartening to see, the Chiefs are 4th in the league ( no, not in the good way) in terms of drops. There was one game without a "drop," it was against Cleveland when the offense scored 20 in a half. The 2nd half of that game however had another trait though, the O-line got dominated in the 2nd half. The offense scored 3 points in the 2nd half against Cleveland.

 

[NJBuckO's]

They should've found a way to trade for Josh Gordon, even if it meant giving up a low 1st rounder, Gordon has proven he's worth it. Now they don't have a real burner who can stretch the field, they're "stuck" with inconsistent Bowe and Avery, who's reliable but small. Plus they don't have a real difference maker at TE, as Fasano is just average as a receiver.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

They should've found a way to trade for Josh Gordon, even if it meant giving up a low 1st rounder, Gordon has proven he's worth it. Now they don't have a real burner who can stretch the field, they're "stuck" with inconsistent Bowe and Avery, who's reliable but small. Plus they don't have a real difference maker at TE, as Fasano is just average as a receiver.

It is all rather frustrating at this point, we have no clue what we have in Kelce due to injury. Would have been nice to see if Commings could push Lewis for playing time, but obviously that won't happen too much. WR should be the #1 Draft priority for the Chiefs. *duh* God, I would flip if we somehow got Marquise Lee, but that looks like pipe dream barring a stupid trade.

If any of the top WR's fall to us, the Chiefs have got to draft him, the need is too great imo.

 

[MHSL82]

This would be from PFF
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/11/18/refo-chiefs-broncos-week-11/

Not sure what you mean by this. I provided the link, not try to pass it off as my own. Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post, here? Or are you suggesting PFF is less legitimate? Confused by the quoted part.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Not sure what you mean by this. I provided the link, not try to pass it off as my own. Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post, here? Or are you suggesting PFF is less legitimate? Confused by the quoted part.

I see your point, I just have a personal beef with how PFF grades QB's. It has more to do with me throwing a fit over PFF's QB grading than the site in general. One of the few things I dislike about PFF.

 

[MHSL82]

I see your point, I just have a personal beef with how PFF grades QB's. It has more to do with me throwing a fit over PFF's QB grading than the site in general. One of the few things I dislike about PFF.

Thanks. Didn't mean to cite that for the grade, but rather to point out that KC was taking more deep shots. More deep shots aren't always better, but for a team who rarely took any, it's progress, IMO. It might pay dividends later, even if the Chiefs weren't able to catch the passes (some were on a dime, as they say, flat out drops). Then, there are those that Smith will need to improve on or gain more confidence in (he'll overshoot on purpose if he thinks at the last second that it's too risky... regardless of whether he could make those passes, it looks worse because of that second-guessing/playing-it-safe).

 

[Black Adam]

I kept telling everybody that Smith wasn't the problem. Every time I've seen this guy play his passes are for the most part right on the money, but Bowe and others couldn't catch a cold if they were stuck in a blizzard. So yes, receivers will be the priority in the off season. Agree with Moose as far as Kelce, but it is what it is. Hoping the coaching staff can find some answers...

 

[MHSL82]

I kept telling everybody that Smith wasn't the problem. Every time I've seen this guy play his passes are for the most part right on the money, but Bowe and others couldn't catch a cold if they were stuck in a blizzard. So yes, receivers will be the priority in the off season. Agree with Moose as far as Kelce, but it is what it is. Hoping the coaching staff can find some answers...

NFL Alex Smith doesn't throw a bad deep ball - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Smith gets plenty of criticism for his perceived inability to throw the deep ball, but statistics compiled by Pro Football Focus show that the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is one of the better passers in the league when throwing the ball 20 yards or more in the air.

Pro Football Focus includes dropped passes as completions in this statistical category for Smith and all NFL quarterbacks. On those throws, Smith is a respectable 7-of-22 with three dropped passes. If you add the dropped passes into it, that would be a 45.5 completion percentage, which puts him near the top of the list among quarterbacks who have thrown 10 or more long balls.

Though Alex Smith throws few passes of 20 yards or more, he's connected on 7 of 22 so far this season.
He doesn't attempt many of those throws. Passes of more than 20 yards make up only 6.1 percent of Smith's throws, the lowest percentage in the league for any quarterback who has attempted one this season.

That may be starting to change. Smith attempted four passes in last week's game in Denver of 20 yards or more. He completed one, but the trend could continue in Sunday's game against the San Diego Chargers and beyond.

"We did take more shots down the field," coach Andy Reid said. "We'll continue to work on that. That hasn't necessarily been our strength in this offense up to this point but we're trying to get better at the things that we need to get better at and that's one of them. We'll keep working on it.

"Each [opponent] is going to give you an opportunity for something different. We felt maybe we had a shot at getting a couple of deep ones against that crew. Every week is different."

Smith's numbers suggest they should keep at it. Potential problems include less-than-reliable pass protection, the inability of receivers down the field to consistently get open and dropped passes.

But as sluggish as the offense has been, the Chiefs can desperately use the boost a few big passing plays could provide.

"You need to be able to attack all parts of the field," Smith said. "It changes week in and week out and play by play depending on how defenses are playing you but certainly if a defense is getting aggressive, you need to be able to do that, to take advantage of shots down the field."

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Well, Kyle Williams is not the solution. He apparently tore his ACL and has been placed on IR. Guess who the Chiefs resigned? Chad Hall... Can't wait for the Chad Hall package.

 

[Black Adam]

Well, Kyle Williams is not the solution. He apparently tore his ACL and has been placed on IR. Guess who the Chiefs resigned? Chad Hall... Can't wait for the Chad Hall package.

Wonderful...

Guess we'll see how THAT works out...

 

[cdumler7]

This would be from PFF
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/11/18/refo-chiefs-broncos-week-11/

Chiefs – Three Performances of Note
A New Alex Smith?
The biggest knock I and others have had on the Chiefs has been their lack of a passing attack, especially one downfield. Well, against Denver we got a glimpse of something that with some more fine tuning might add another dimension to this offense.
The previously gun shy Alex Smith (+1.6) would attempt 14 passes over 10 yards in the air and the biggest shame was that his receivers (four drops, three of them critical) couldn’t make the catches to give Smith that stat to go with his excellent throws. These four drops don’t even include his peach of a throw that bested the coverage of Chris Harris with 8:25 to go in Q2 (the play was called back for holding away from the target), where Smith fitted it in between the sideline and Harris only for Bowe to drop.
Still it was encouraging to see the team open up the playbook and by and large have their quarterback respond.

Edit: Now, here is the peculiar part of that article.

Rusty Manning
Nobody has graded out better than Peyton Manning in our system this year. But for as good as he’s been, that doesn’t mean we can just look at box scores and assume they tell the whole story. Yes 300 yard plus passing days are nice, but with just three completions over 10 yards in the air all game it was hardly vintage from Manning (-1.3).
You might blame that on the injury, but Manning was guilty of making a number of bad decisions (an early batted pass by Houston could easily have been picked, as could an out route to Julius Thomas with 6:45 to go in Q3) while he failed to capitalize on a number of opportunities. As previously mentioned four times receivers had coverage beat down the sideline and only once did Manning hit his target, leaving yards on the field. That the game was as close as it was owed something to that and it’s not right to ignore.


Edit: It seems to me PFF overvalues downfield throws in certain circumstances. There is no way in hell that was a below average performance by Peyton. No F'ing way. He was dictating matchups with Cooper who has made some rookie mistakes, but only Manning has really burned him so far for it.

I agree Peyton had a better game than the grade dictates but they are right in he missed some shots that in most games have been routine for Peyton. I would say the one area on the Chiefs defense that they are susceptible to is the deep ball since they do play so aggressive and Peyton missed a few opportunities. Now some of that is Peyton trying to get rid of the football with the Chiefs pass rush coming at him, some of it is the press man the Chiefs were playing to throw off the timing, but I think another part for Peyton is that ankle of his does make some of his throws a little more inconsistent than they were earlier in the year when he was healthy. Hopefully not taking many shots this past Sunday and hopefully none this week can help that ankle heal a little so he can improve on a couple of those deep shots to help open up the offense a bit more.

Honestly if I was the Chiefs I don't know if I would alter the defensive game plan too much for the next match up. I would maybe throw in some more blitzing especially up the middle but otherwise I would keep it about where I had it if I was the Defensive Coordinator. Peyton missed on a few throws that could have been turnovers and I just don't see the Chiefs missing on those opportunities two games in a row.

 

[Black Adam]

I agree Peyton had a better game than the grade dictates but they are right in he missed some shots that in most games have been routine for Peyton. I would say the one area on the Chiefs defense that they are susceptible to is the deep ball since they do play so aggressive and Peyton missed a few opportunities. Now some of that is Peyton trying to get rid of the football with the Chiefs pass rush coming at him, some of it is the press man the Chiefs were playing to throw off the timing, but I think another part for Peyton is that ankle of his does make some of his throws a little more inconsistent than they were earlier in the year when he was healthy. Hopefully not taking many shots this past Sunday and hopefully none this week can help that ankle heal a little so he can improve on a couple of those deep shots to help open up the offense a bit more.

Honestly if I was the Chiefs I don't know if I would alter the defensive game plan too much for the next match up. I would maybe throw in some more blitzing especially up the middle but otherwise I would keep it about where I had it if I was the Defensive Coordinator. Peyton missed on a few throws that could have been turnovers and I just don't see the Chiefs missing on those opportunities two games in a row.

Agree with your points as far as adjustments. Guess we'll see what the coaching staff does...

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Agree with your points as far as adjustments. Guess we'll see what the coaching staff does...

Well, they better because our pass rush with Hali and Houston out is anemic.

 

[Black Adam]

Well, they better because our pass rush with Hali and Houston out is anemic.

Not worried...yet...