Tag: wasp

Will the 49ers get stung by Chiefs’ Jet Chip Wasp again in Week 7? Don’t count on it.

Expecting a redux of 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp when the #Chiefs face the #49ers in Week 7? Andy Reid says not so fast.

With Week 7 on the horizon, memories are flooding in for Chiefs Kingdom.

The last time the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers squared off was in Super Bowl LIV. It also happened to be when one of the most iconic plays in franchise history was born.

Only 65 Toss Power Trap compares to 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp in terms of its infamy. Third-and-15 and down by 10 points, the Chiefs needed some magic and Patrick Mahomes delivered.

“Do we have time to run wasp?” Mahomes asked offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

They did have time to run it.

The offense needed 15 yards, but Mahomes targeted Tyreek Hill on the play and they got 44 yards, which wasn’t too uncommon for the duo. That moment was the turning point in the game for Kansas City as they’d come back to defeat San Francisco 31-20.

The play call, 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp, immediately became a favorite among fans. The Chiefs Kingdom had it printed on T-Shirts, and it was added to the Madden NFL video game franchise.

Could the Chiefs revisit this iconic play in Week 7? Perhaps they can catch the 49ers off guard by using it again? Andy Reid says not so fast.

“Yeah, that play got a lot of publicity,” Reid said. “I’m sure they’ve worked on it, but we don’t run it anymore so.”

It appears the Chiefs have retired 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp from the playbook, or at least that is what Reid would have you believe. Of course, Hill is no longer on the team and this play was specifically designed for him.

Patrick Mahomes explained in the 2020 offseason that they’ve run variations of that play in the past prior to Super Bowl LIV. He reiterated that sentiment when asked about Reid’s comments on the iconic play.

“Yeah when you have a top offense in the league, I mean teams are going to study you in the offseason,” Mahomes explained. “They’re going to see what you do because it goes around the league too. I mean offenses steal from each other and run some of the same plays and so you see that defenses have accounted for that, accounted for some of the stuff that we’ve done so how are we going to combat that? How are we going to go out there and make plays that go off of it to get other guys open? That’s something that we – that’s a challenge every day – and we try to continue to do every week. We know that we’re going to have to continue to evolve if we want to be a top offense in this league.”

So, while there might not be a return to wasp this week, maybe we’ll get “Murder Hornet” or  “Killer Bee” as a variation or twist on the play. The question remains will they actually have time to run it against a talented 49ers defensive front?

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Chiefs’ signature Super Bowl LIV play ‘Wasp’ could be revisited in 2020

There’s mounting evidence to suggest that “Wasp” could make a comeback for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020.

The Kansas City Chiefs could revisit their signature play from Super Bowl LIV during the upcoming season.

The now-iconic play, “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp,” occurred on third-and-15 with just over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. During the play, Tyreek Hill catches the pass delivered by Mahomes for a 44-yard reception. This moment helped mount the comeback victory by the Chiefs when they were still down to the San Francisco 49ers by 10 points.

The play will live on in infamy among fans in Kansas City, but will the Super Bowl be the last time they see the Chiefs run this play? There’s evidence to suggest that it could be revisited by the team during the upcoming season.

First of all, Mahomes and Hill are still practicing the play vs. air at training camp. Take a look:

The video from training camp isn’t the only thing that suggests the team could use this play again. Mahomes joined Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe on FS1’s “Undisputed” on Wednesday morning. He spoke about the signature play, walking fans through the moment.

“Yeah, when the ball left my hand I knew it was going to be caught,” Mahomes said. “I mean Tyreek [Hill] got wide open on the route. I know you [Skip Bayless] describe it as a punt sometimes, but I’ll take that punt 100-of-100 times if the ball’s hitting for a completion like that.

“It was a good play that we designed for their defense that we had kind of ran vs. the Chargers a little bit,” Mahomes continued. “[They] play a similar type of defense. I asked Coach Reid if we could call that play in that situation. He called it. I mean he has trust in me to call plays like that. We ran it. Tyreek got wide open. Sammy [Watkins] did a good job holding that corner on the backside. Then all of a sudden, we threw it and got some momentum in our favor and everything started snowballing after that. We were able to go out there and find a way to win the Super Bowl.”

Then Mahomes was asked about the design of the play and the routes ran, that’s where things start to get interesting.

“We actually run a play off of this where we have Tyreek run straight down the middle of the field and I usually throw it up there,” Mahomes explained. “I think you saw it in the preseason when I threw it to Tyreek vs. the Falcons about two years ago, where I just chucked it super far. Him having that speed, he threatens that safety, he runs at him like he’s going to cross his face. Right when he gets [the safeties] hips to flip, he breaks it out to the left side over there. We have Sammy as our second read, he’s the Dagger route. Then [Travis] Kelce’s running like almost a stutter over across the field. We have a lot of different options with a lot of our best players down the field. Third-and-15 you want to give guys a chance and I just try to buy enough time, the O-Line gave me time, and I threw it up to Tyreek and he made a play.”

Now that people will be paying more attention to Hill on this play, if the Chiefs run it again it could open up opportunities for the second and third reads, in Watkins and Kelce. But it’s not just about running the same play again. As Sharpe brought up to Mahomes, the Chiefs have plays with subtle differences that they can run out of the same alignment. Those plays will exploit defenses who prepare to defend against “Wasp.”

“You said it exactly right,” Mahomes told Sharpe. “I think the biggest thing you see when you have Coach Reid’s offense, he’s always making a play that he’s used weeks before and he uses a play to go off of that. I’m sure Jimmie Ward saw that same play that you saw and he was trying to open up to get out there knowing Tyreek, how fast he is…”

So when you see the Chiefs run “Wasp” in 2020, the end result might not be the exact same. Mahomes could go to a different target or there could be a different route combination used to fool opposing defenses. One thing is for certain, Super Bowl LIV won’t be the last time you see the “Wasp” or some version of it in Kansas City.

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