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Nothing has come easy for the Kansas City Chiefs this season, and as the offense continues to look a step behind where they’ve been in recent years, tension is mounting. The receiving corps has been totally shut down by the standard of what they’ve been able to accomplish in the past, and Mecole Hardman seems to think he knows why.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Friday’s practice, Hardman told the media that the offense just hasn’t followed through on some of the basics that have made them a premier scoring threat in the NFL. He made an apt comparison to a much less physical game when asked what defenses are doing to slow them down, and emphasized how much of the problem has been getting out of their own way.
“It’s a long chess game,” Hardman explained. “It’s a long mental chess game honestly. With us as an offense you got to find different ways to get the ball down the field whether that’s the short game, intermediate game or long game and taking the chances when we get the chances. It’s been a little challenging, but I think we’re figuring it out and we’ll be fine going down the road. Got to take what the defenses give us and go from there.”
Clearly, Hardman knows that the offense hasn’t been the well-oiled machine he’s been part of in recent seasons, but he stopped short of saying there was any kind of frustration in the huddle or meetings in preparation for games.
“[There is] not frustration, [we’re] just trying different things, just adjusting,” Hardman said. “But I think we’re all together as one. We know what we need to do, and we just have to execute the game plan and have good things going into the game. It’s up to us to take care of the ball and execute whatever play is called so no problems, we just know what we got to do.”
Football is the ultimate team sport, and Kansas City will need all parts of the roster to contribute to get a win on Sunday and eclipse the .500 mark for the first time since Week 1. A big game from Hardman would enable Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to have breakout performances facing one-on-one coverage, which would play into all of the Chiefs’ strengths on offense.
The better the team plays, the less stress they’ll put on themselves as the season wears on. They’ve been given a gift with Aaron Rodgers out of this matchup, and to Hardman’s point, it seems all Kansas City has to do is keep from beating themselves.
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