The Kansas City Chiefs have always seemed to have some unique play names to go along with their unique and most successful play calls. They unveiled a pair of those plays during Week 3 against the Baltimore Ravens, including a play called “Smoked Sausage” to FB Anthony Sherman. Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy revealed the name of Sherman’s play call on Thursday, but he couldn’t remember the name of the play for Eric Fisher’s two-yard touchdown grab.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid revealed to reporters on Friday that the play was called “Catch and Release.”
“Yeah, ‘Catch and Release,'” Reid said. “You know, ‘Fish’ [Eric Fisher’s nickname]. And actually, that was EB’s [Eric Bieniemy] play. He’d been bugging me about it since we were on the plane coming back from the Chargers. That would be a good one, so yeah. You know, ‘Catch and Release.'”
Really, this is just a perfect play name all-around. Consider the fact that everyone calls Eric Fisher by his nickname ‘Big Fish’ or simply ‘Fish.’ Then when you consider the context of the play, it’s an even more perfect play name. Fisher acted as if he was blocking the defender and then released to run a little fade and catch a touchdown pass. Very clever stuff from the Chiefs’ coaching staff on that one from the play design all the way down to the name.
Where do you think this play name ranks among some of the greats from Andy Reid and his coaching staff, Chiefs Kingdom? Remember play names like, “Hungry Pig Right” and “Bloated Tebow Pass.” Be sure to let us know your thought on Facebook and Twitter.
This week Bill Belichick takes on Andy Reid and the dangerous Kansas City Chiefs offense. How might he craft his game plan?
In approaching preview pieces I often try and place myself into the minds of the various coordinators in each game. What will keep me up at night? What are our assets? What are the other team’s weaknesses? What advantages can we press, and what would we need to do to shore up our liabilities? Almost crawling into the mind of Westley from “The Princess Bride.”
Some weeks that is harder than others, as when one must figure out how to stop the Chiefs’ offense:
On Wednesday morning, I tried to crawl into the mind of Bill Belichick. I drew up a rather standard formation and alignment from the Kansas City Chiefs on the whiteboard in my office and began to think.
Hours later I had yet to come up with an answer.
Yet that is the task that the game’s foremost defensive mind faces this week. How do you stop – or at least slow down – one of the game’s most dangerous offenses? An offense that has weapons everywhere, and still managed to throw touchdowns passes last week to a fullback and an offensive tackle?
After pouring through some of Belichick’s past game plans, including games against these Chiefs, I have some potential – potential – answers.
Dare them to run
(Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)
Prior to Super Bowl XXV, the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants stood in front of his charges. A group of men who prided themselves on tough defensive football, and stopping the run. A group of defensive players who were proud when they limited opposing rushing attacks to less than 100 yards in a game.
That defensive coordinator told them that the only way to beat the Buffalo Bills was to let Thurman Thomas rush for over 100 yards.
He was met with incredulity.
“I thought it was a collective brain fart, like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’” linebacker Carl Banks said a year later, via Michael Eisen of nyfootball.net. “I think because we were a team that prided itself defensively on not giving up hundred-yard rushers, not even giving up 100-yard games for a total offensive rush stat. But he said it, we are all in an uproar, and we’re thinking Bill is just conceding that Thurman is just this good of a football player that we won’t be able to stop him. And then he reeled us back in and kinda gave us a method to the madness.”
But Belichick’s game plan did have a method. As he said later:
Thurman Thomas is a great back. We knew he was going to get some yards. But I didn’t feel like we wanted to get into a game where they threw the ball 45 times. I knew if they had some success running the ball, they would stay with it. And I always felt when we needed to stop the run, we could stop it. And the more times they ran it, it was just one less time they could get it to [Andre] Reed or get it to [James] Lofton, or throw it to Thomas, who I thought was more dangerous as a receiver, because there’s more space than there was when he was a runner.
There indeed was a method to the madness. If the Bills kept the football on the ground, then they were not letting Jim Kelly carve them up in the passing game with quick throws, or hitting them over the top on deep shot plays for quick scoring drives. Better to grind the game out, and to do so dare them to run the football. Dare we call Belichick the grandfather of “running backs don’t matter…?”
That is the first step in Belichick’s thought process this week. Every time #15 turns to hand the football off is a win for the New England Patriots, because that is one less time that Patrick Mahomes has a chance to beat you over the top for a one-play scoring drive.
This is something that Belichick has done before when facing Andy Reid and the Mahomes-led Chiefs. How? By employing a 3-2-6 defensive package. Even in the red zone. Even on the goal line.
Even on 3rd and 1.
This play is from their regular season meeting a few years ago. Kansas City faces a 3rd and 1 and the Patriots come out with a 3-2-6 defensive package, using safety Patrick Chung as a joker-type player, dropping him down into a linebacker’s alignment. Up front they use a 4i-0-3 defensive formation, and they bring Kyle Van Noy down over the tight end. Once more, provided the players up front are disciplined, they can stop the run. Here, Van Noy strings out the toss play to Tyreek Hill and then gets help from the boundary player, and the run is stopped for no gain.
Dare them to run.
From that same game:
This is a 2nd and goal play. The Patriots employ a 3-3-5 package on this snap, even in the red zone, and they use a 4i-0-4i defensive front. You can see how the players up front attack their gaps and force Kareem Hunt to cut in the backfield, where he runs into Van Noy and Elandon Roberts. Van Noy keeps his outside leverage which forces Hunt back into the hole, and Roberts fills the hole for the stop.
Dare them to run.
The names may be different, but the premise is the same. Every time that #15 hands the ball off is a win for the defense. As Belichick said after Super Bowl XXV: “And I always felt when we needed to stop the run, we could stop it.”
Of course, Reid might not comply. So you better have an answer in the secondary.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid may or may not be a student of military history but he looked like one Monday night with his flanking maneuvers.
Football coaches often view themselves as students of military history. The overwrought clichés that draw comparisons between football and war should be left in an era of another time, but in terms of tactics, there are aspects of military history that do translate to the football field: Getting a numbers advantage and then pressing that position; Finding a weakness and then exploiting it; and most applicable here, outflanking your enemy when you can.
Perhaps Andy Reid is a student of military history.
If Monday night is any indication, he certainly is. The Kansas City Chiefs have a number of weapons on the offensive side of the football, chief among them quarterback Patrick Mahomes. But Reid seemed a master at outflanking the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, and it was evident on the ways he attacked their defense in the screen game.
(Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)
By my charting, the Chiefs ran four technical screen plays against the Ravens, two of which targeted rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the passing game. The second of those two was a smoke screen in the fourth quarter, when Kansas City motioned him outside and into an empty formation, and Mahomes took advantage of a soft Cover 3 scheme to simply get him the football:
Mahomes first sees the defensive response to the motion, which is to say there is none. The cornerback simply bumps outside a bit to cover the running back. The quarterback also sees the soft coverage, so he simply throws Edwards-Helaire the ball on a smoke route for an easy gain.
Not the best example of outflanking, but we’re just warming up.
I want to focus on some of the other designs Reid dialed up in this game. This first example goes for a 20 yard gain to Edwards-Helaire, and it is a vicious design that stresses the Ravens defense at every level of the field:
This is a three-element design that has more flanking maneuvers than Epaminondas used against the Spartans at the Battle of Leuctra. On the right side of the formation the Chiefs implement a go/out combination, with the outside receiver running the vertical and the slot receiver executing a deep out. Then with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce – aligned in a two-man stack – Kansas City sets up a shallow cross concept with the tight end sitting in the middle of the field.
All of that? Potentially just eye candy, as this distracts from the running back screen with a three-lineman convoy in front of the rookie:
The eye candy works to give the Chiefs a numbers advantage downfield, and the rookie running back rips off a 20-yard gain.
But that play is nothing compared to what Reid dialed up a little later. While not technically a screen, this play works because of the dual screen elements, which are now the eye candy. On this play the Chiefs align with 11 offensive personnel, but put Hill in the backfield along with Mahomes and Edwards-Helaire. They show the Ravens a swing screen to each side of the field, Hill on the right and Edwards-Helaire on the left. To really sell the screen element in front of Hill, Reid has both the right guard and the right tackle release in front of him:
Reid is setting up another flanking maneuver that would make what Hannibal did at the Battle of Cannae look like child’s play. Because this time the screens – even the one with the lightning-quick Hill and two offensive linemen in front of him – is just a ruse. A ruse designed to influence a rookie linebacker playing in his first NFL primetime game. The true target on this play? Kelce:
The tight end blocks for a moment, but then releases downfield on a simple pop pass. He is wide open:
That rookie linebacker is Patrick Queen. If you put yourself in his shoes for a moment, you more than understand his reaction to this play. After all, you see Hill in the backfield swing to the outside, and you see both the guard and the tackle race out to pave the road for him. I mean, what would you do?
It looks like you are getting outflanked, right? Two linemen in front of a dangerous speedster, so you have to race to the edge and shore up the defense. Well, in the process of doing that, you get outflanked, just not in the way you expected.
Believe it or not, the best example of Reid designing a screen to outflank the defense on Monday night resulted in an incompletion. Near the end of the first quarter Kansas City faced a 1st and 10 on the Baltimore 24-yard line. This is the design that Reid dials up:
Yes, there is a lot going on here. Let’s break it down. Mecole Hardman comes in motion before the snap from right to left, and then releases on a vertical route. Sammy Watkins is the single receiver on the left, and he runs a deep post. After the snap, Hill shows the Ravens an end-around.
All of it? Eye candy. Reid is setting up a screen to running back Darwin Thompson along the right side. Furthermore, Kelce and basically the entire offensive line set up in front of the running back.
Only the fingertip of Calais Campbell prevent this from being a touchdown:
Just look at how this sets up when Mahomes attempts the throw. You have Ravens defenders chasing the movement to one side of the field, and a convoy in front of Thompson to the other side with the numbers advantage. If the defensive lineman does not get his hands on this, it is likely six points:
Outflanked.
Defensive coordinators have enough to keep them up at night when facing the Chiefs. Their weapons alone are cause for many a sleepless night. But worrying about getting outflanked in the screen game is yet one more reason to reach for the Pepto.
In the week ahead, we’ll see if another student of history, Bill Belichick, is ready for these maneuvers.
Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid took advantage of former Kansas City Chiefs CB Marcus Peters in Week 3.
The Kansas City Chiefs are very familiar with Baltimore Ravens CB Marcus Peters.
Peters was draft by the Chiefs in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft at pick No. 18 overall. He’d spend just three seasons in Kansas City before he was traded to the Los Angeles Rams ahead of the 2018 NFL season.
Peters was a good player for Kansas City, racking up 19 interceptions and 55 passes defended during his career with the Chiefs. His opportunistic ball skills were put on display often. But his tendency toward freelancing would go on to cost him during his latest meeting with his former team on “Monday Night Football.”
Check out Mecole Hardman’s touchdown catch:
Look at #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes' eyes on this play. Looks to Tyreek Hill from the snap, gets #Ravens CB Marcus Peters to drive on that route, then uncorks the deep shot to Mecole Hardman. Way to take advantage of a former teammate. pic.twitter.com/GRzhpgRkTB
This play almost seems designed to impact and draw the attention of Peters. He leaves his deep thirds assignment to try and jump the route by Tyreek Hill. He also leaves his teammate, DeShon Elliott, who is tasked with covering the underneath route, in a really tough spot. He’s basically left in no man’s land trying to play catchup with Hardman.
It can’t be overstated how impressive it is that Mahomes is able to look Peters off, keep his eyes toward the middle of the field, and have the anticipation to get this ball to Hardman while under pressure. This isn’t the first time that Mahomes has been able to look Peters off like this either.
That familiarity with Peters came into play during the Week 3 game. Both Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes took advantage at times, knowing that Peters’ eyes would be elsewhere rather than focusing on his assignment.
The player responsible for taking Kansas City Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins out of the Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers will not be fined by the NFL according to a new report.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Chargers LB Denzel Perryman was not among the players fined by the NFL following his Week 2 hit on Watkins, which left him in the NFL’s concussion protocol. There was no flag on the play, but the NFL doesn’t need a flag in order to enforce a fine for helmet-to-helmet contact. Those who dole out fines examined the tape and determined it was not egregious enough to warrant a fine.
Following the Week 2 game, Chiefs HC Andy Reid was irate with the fact that it happened and wasn’t called a penalty on the field.
#Chargers LB Denzel Perryman was not fined for his hit on #Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins, who left last week’s game and is questionable for Monday night (neck/concussion). Andy Reid was upset about the hit. But no flag was thrown, and no fine either.
“Sammy (Watkins) got a hit to the head that was very questionable,” Reid said following the game. “Anyway, he got a hit to the head — we’re not supposed to have those in our game ever.”
Watkins took to social media following the game to let fans know that he was alright. He was wobbly getting up from the play and had to be helped to the sideline as he clutched his head. He wanted everyone to know that he harbored no ill-will for the helmet-to-helmet hit.
Doing well we all know football is a physical sport and we all are playing pretty fast things happen pretty quickly just happy I came out healthy on the next we will not be denied..! Great team win..! #LIMITLESS14#SOLAR14
“He practiced in full the last couple days,” Reid said. “He had a stiff neck, and tribute to the kid, he lived in the training room and got the knot in there worked out and I think he feels pretty good right now. So, we’ll just monitor him as we go and see how he does.”
Royals outfielder Alex Gordon announced his retirement on Thursday after 14 years with the team.
Across the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot, over at Kauffman Stadium, longtime Kansas City Royals outfielder Alex Gordon announced his retirement on Thursday after 14 years with the team.
Gordon was selected by the Royals as the second overall pick in the 2005 MLB draft after a standout career at the University of Nebraska. He’d go through some tough sledding early in his career, but he rallied to become a three-time All-Star, seven-time Gold Glove Award winner and he became a World Series series champion in 2015.
During Thursday’s media availability, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and HC Andy Reid spoke about Gordon’s career and legacy. Mahomes, who bought into the Royals ownership group over the summer, believes that Gordon blazed the trail for players like him in Kansas City.
“He’s done everything the right way his entire career,” Mahomes said. “The amount of gold gloves that he’s won, I’ve seen him dive around the outfield growing up… and throwing people out at the plate. He’s someone that set the example of how to be in the Kansas City community and lead his team to championships and do it the right way on and off the field.”
Reid too believed that Gordon did things the right way on and off the field.
“Yeah, a big-time fan of his,” Reid said. “I used to joke with Alex Smith that they looked like brothers and both of them played about as reckless as each other too. They’re both great, great athletes. But I’m happy for Alex (Gordon). He gets another chapter of his life here started and I know he’ll enjoy that. He’s a family guy and he’ll enjoy being around family and whatever else ventures into his life after this. But what a great career, he did it the right way. Kansas City was lucky to have him and he was lucky to have Kansas City.”
Kansas City sure was lucky to have Gordon, from the diving catches in the outfield to his legendary work ethic and commitment to the community off the field. His presence will be missed, but his legacy won’t be forgotten by either the Royals or the Chiefs.
Alex Gordon,
We can't thank you enough for all that you have done for Kansas City! Hope to see you real soon back at Arrowhead. #4EverRoyalpic.twitter.com/7W5DvftzvP
Reid and Tyreek Hill have now both discussed the challenge of playing in a fanless stadium.
After opening the season to a crowd of 15,825 Kansas City faithful, the Chiefs traveled to Los Angeles to a fanless SoFi Stadium in Week 2. Chiefs HC Andy Reid described the experience of playing in that environment in two words when speaking to reporters on Thursday.
“It’s weird,” Reid said.
Reid wasn’t the only one who felt that way either, for Chiefs star WR Tyreek Hill, he felt it was part of the reason for his early-game struggles in Week 2.
“Playing in a stadium with no fans is like the weirdest thing ever,” Hill said following the Week 2 win over the Chargers. “It almost felt like a scrimmage, and it felt weird for me at first. That’s why in the first quarter I didn’t feel like myself. . . . I feed off the crowd that’s what I do.”
Fans are obviously a huge part of the game. Reid’s team has always been one to feed off of the crowd in Kansas City and on the road. For players like Hill, who struggled early, they’ll have to make adjustments. Reid seems to believe that after the initial eeriness faded away, it became a manageable situation.
“I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now and you get out there and you can hear every penny drop there,” Reid said. “Every little sound is magnified. But, when you really get into it, you’re like focused in, you put yourself in a bit of a tunnel. You’re looking at the clocks, whether it’s the play clock or whatever and the field. Once it gets going it’s OK. It’s just that initial — coming out in a brand new stadium with nobody in it — that’s a little different.”
The Chiefs will face the challenge of playing in a fanless stadium once again when they head to M&T Bank Stadium for “Monday Night Football” against the Baltimore Ravens. What would typically be a raucous crowd for one of the biggest NFL games of the year will again be a quieted experience for both teams. Thankfully, Reid, Hill and others on the team have their experience from last week to lean on in terms of how to prepare for the upcoming match.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio is considering switching to an Andy Reid-style face shield after being fined by the NFL.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio was fined $100,000 by the NFL this week for not properly wearing a mask against the Steelers in Week 2.
Fangio wore a neck gaiter last week and frequently pulled it down and left it down. Before practice Wednesday, Fangio explained what happened.
“Obviously, I’m going to have to do better with that,” Fangio said. “What’s happens during the game is, obviously I’m calling the defenses and I have to pull it down to communicate that so it can be sent in to the players.
“When the officials come over and talk to me, they pull their mask down — I pull mine down to talk to them. And when I have my mask up, after 8-to-10 seconds, it starts fogging my glasses and I have to pull it down. All those times where I pull it down, I just have to do better at getting it back up more than I have been. It’s all been subconsciously happening during the game.”
“I’m going to consider that,” Fangio said of Reid’s face shield. “I was going to use it the first game of the season but late in the process decided not to.”
Denver will host the Buccaneers at Empower Field at Mile High in Week 3.
Andy Reid says there’s a “good chance” that Pennel will be ready to go for Week 3.
The Kansas City Chiefs should be getting some reinforcements along the defensive line for Week 3.
Defensive tackle Mike Pennel is eligible to return from his two-game suspension following “Monday Night Football” between the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints. Chiefs HC Andy Reid anticipates that Pennel will be back and ready to play come the team’s Week 3 game on “Monday Night Football” against the Baltimore Ravens.
“Yeah, so there’s a chance he’s ready to go,” Reid told reporters on Monday. “I’ll let Veach do that part, but there’s a good chance that he’s up.”
A late addition to the roster in 2019, Pennel played a crucial role for the Chiefs’ defense down the stretch. He was the top run-stopping defensive lineman for Kansas City and helped bring their run defense to a respectable level. He finished the year with 31 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and a pass batted. He also had a crucial hurry in Super Bowl LIV that helped the team win the game.
Pennel should already have a roster spot waiting for him in his return to the action. Practice squad DT Braxton Hoyett will revert to the practice squad at 4:00 p.m. ET today. He was a standard elevation for Week 2 as part of the new practice squad rules.
Chiefs Wire’s Charles Goldman gave us a preview of what to expect from the Kansas City Chiefs when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Los Angeles Chargers are set to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to the matchup, Chiefs Wire managing editor Charles Goldman spoke with us on Los Angeles’ opponent.
Here’s a look at five things to expect:
1. What can we expect for this year’s Chiefs offense?
Well, first off it’s going to be a little different than the 2019 version of their offense. The goal this year seems to be finding a more balanced approach on offense and not be so heavily reliant on explosive plays. Andy Reid thinks that Patrick Mahomes can be the best version of himself when he doesn’t have to be Superman each week. That’s not to say they don’t want him improvising and doing the things that make him a special talent, they just don’t want it to all fall on him.They added some pieces in LG Kelechi Osemele and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire that give the run game the type of pizzazz that it hasn’t seen since early in the 2018 season before the Kareem Hunt situation. Also, Mahomes has said that he wants to do a better job taking what the defense gives him. That means recognizing when the shot play will be there, but also feeling comfortable checking it down to his army of playmakers.
2. The linebacker and defensive back group appeared to be exploited in the season opener. Do you expect that to be an issue again this Sunday?
I would say you’re spot on with the linebacker group, they’re easily the worst unit on this team. The three starters in Anthony Hitchens, Damien Wilson and Ben Niemann were the three lowest-graded defenders for the Chiefs in Week 1 according to PFF. The only good news out of that group is the 2018 third-round draft pick Dorian O’Daniel finally made an appearance and played well. As for the secondary, they were actually really impressive in Week 1. Rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed was the standout as he had a pair of passes defended and an interception. In garbage time the defense let up a couple of touchdowns. Tyrann Mathieu set the tone after the game, saying that he was, “pissed off.” Really, everyone echoed that sentiment this week in practice, so I’d expect a better performance through four quarters. Rashad Fenton will be starting opposite Sneed, you might remember him from the Mexico City game last year as he had a big interception in that game.
3. What area/position of the Chiefs could determine the outcome of this game?
I think it’s going to come down to the pass rush and containing Tyrod Taylor for Kansas City. They pressured Texans QB Deshaun Watson 24 times in Week 1, that’s 10 more pressures than the next closest team had in the first week of the season. If they can force the Chargers into some third-and-long situations it’ll be a long night for Taylor. Alternatively, they’ll need to keep a close eye on how they go about pressuring Taylor. We all know that he can gash defenses with his legs and he’s at his best when he can make plays outside of the pocket.
4. Who is an under-the-radar Chief that Chargers fans should know about?
Undrafted free agent defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, who played for the D-II Missouri S&T Miners. Wharton played just 16 snaps in Week 1, but notched a pressure and two run stops on the day. He lined up directly over the center a few times, so given that Mike Pouncey is on injured reserve, I think he’s someone who could make a big impact this week.
5. Score prediction?
I went with 34-17 Chiefs in my prediction over at Chiefs Wire. I thought that Thursday Night Football between the Bengals and Browns this week was a big indictment of the Chargers offense and their Week 1 performance against Cincinnati. I think they’ll definitely get some chunk plays in the ground game, but dropping back to pass against Kansas City is going to be tough, even with a few backups in the secondary.
