Chiefs Rewind: Tale Of Two Halves

It was not perfect in the early going. The Chiefs were once again beating themselves on offense in Washington. Thankfully for Kansas City, the defense made some early stops and largely grounded the Washington offense. Leaders of the Chiefs stepped up in the second half. Getting back to the basics, while also seeing some top names play through injuries, allowed for a dominant showing after halftime.

The Chiefs defense played their best game of the season and held Washington to their lowest point total of the year. Meanwhile, Kansas City’s commanding offensive line and running game forced Washington’s defense to stay honest for any kind of play call.

What are the top five things we learned from the Chiefs in this victory? Plus, what player’s stocks are rising or falling entering Week Seven? Let’s kick it off.

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Top Five Things We Learned

The Chiefs Can Still Overcome Adversity

Over the past few years, Kansas City has shown a resilient attitude. That never say die approach gave them more confidence going into the most important games on their schedule. At the same time, the Chiefs were able to give their opponents multiple looks and options to prepare for or think about.

The first half was about as good as the Chiefs could have hoped, except for one thing. Multiple turnovers and horrid ball security reared its ugly head once again. Patrick Mahomes threw two interceptions. One was because of another drop by Tyreek Hill. On the other hand, Mahomes made one of the worst decisions of his career on the other interception. He not only fumbled the snap, but also threw a sky high, lame duck ball straight up into harm’s way. He admitted after the game that it was a “dumb turnover.”

Turning the page to the second half, the attitude started to shift for the offense. Head coach Andy Reid mentioned that leaders stood up and said “enough was enough” at the midway break. The Chiefs came out in the third quarter both determined and under control.

The running game refused to go down easily. Meanwhile, Mahomes and his pass catchers were sharp and focused, leading to an efficient second half. This was truly the first time since Week One against Cleveland where the Chiefs dug themselves out of a deep hole within a game.

This Defense Still Has Pride

Facing Washington was not the toughest test of the season for Kansas City’s defense. Nonetheless, there were many major improvements that this unit showed on Sunday. Let’s start with the fundamental strides that the Chiefs took on defense.

Stronger communication from the back seven led to inconsistent ball placement from Taylor Heinicke. Some throws were low. Deep pass attempts were often too long. Additionally, the pursuit by the defensive backs led to drops and double clutches by the Washington pass catchers. The secondary also did not panic as much in coverage.

The tackle attempts and angles taken by defenders were mostly accurate or correct. To boot, seemingly every defender was showing proper leverage or contain against the opposing ball carriers. If any failures resulted in this aspect, it was largely due to the superior speed of Washington’s skill players.

Most of all, the discipline, pride and belief was there throughout the entire game for the Chiefs defense. Tyrann Mathieu’s leadership was on full display. Nick Bolton and Willie Gay were each resolved after Anthony Hitchens left with an injury. Lastly, the entire Chiefs defensive line showed tremendous effort as a collective group for the first time this season.

The Chiefs faced 12 total Washington offensive possessions. They only allowed one touchdown. Washington punted four times, was two of three on three point field goal attempts and turned it over to the Kansas City defense twice.

Kansas City Is Much Tougher Than They Have Been Before

We have touched on the determination the Chiefs showed a bit already. There were a couple of clear areas where the nastiness and tough style stood out more than it has in the past. Both of those units physically wore down the Washington defense, while also leaving them mentally fatigued. That would be Kansas City’s offensive line and running game.

Darrel Williams pulled off hard nosed runs multiple times. His angry running led to 49 of his 62 total rushing yards coming after contact. Surely, Washington was ready for his straightforward rushing style. They just were not as motivated as Williams was, however. He just appeared to be one step ahead of Washington’s defenders, while also showing more of a fight.

Upfront, Kansas City’s offensive line has been consistently dominant. The push is significant and they continue to drive down the field. The interior of Trey Smith, Creed Humphrey and Joe Thuney have left opposing defenders helpless week after week.

Elsewhere, there was true toughness shown by multiple Chiefs offensive players against Washington. Thuney only gave up one pressure while playing with a broken hand and a cast. Both Travis Kelce and Hill fought throughout the entire game while playing with nagging ailments. It was still a highly productive showing for each pass catcher.

Change Is A Good Thing

After the embarrassing loss to the Bills, the Chiefs had no other choice but to make some personnel changes. Even before Hitchens left with an early injury, the expectation was to see more of Bolton and Gay together. Juan Thornhill got the start at safety over Daniel Sorensen. Thornhill played 100 percent of the defensive snaps and out-snapped Sorensen 59 to 19.

Offensively, veteran Mike Remmers replaced Lucas Niang at right tackle. This appeared to open up the play calling to a degree. Also, the Chiefs have trust in Remmers. He obviously struggled in the Super Bowl. But, that was at left tackle. He was steady and strong at right tackle last year, while replacing an injured Mitchell Schwartz. I still have faith in Niang. Though, the team is clearly looking for more development after an up and down start to the season for the TCU product. All in all, the Chiefs were more sound situationally after making necessary personnel changes.

Andy Came Out Aggressive

Coach Reid came out with his guns blazing from start to finish in Washington. He went for it on a fourth and short attempt on the first drive. Reid has been hit or miss on wanting to push the limits in those situations beforehand. Moreover, he helped out Mahomes by getting back to what has worked in the past. Allowing Mahomes to have options while moving outside of the pocket gave the Chiefs more life.

They also had a good mix of offensive looks, rather than sticking to one formula like they mostly did against Buffalo. Reid ran a fair share of RPOs, deep passing concepts, play action passes from under center and man coverage beaters one on one. Mahomes fed off of this and turned things around after a rough first half. He was calm, made intelligent decisions and was efficient through the air once again.

Report Cards

Winners

Darrel Williams

We touched on Williams a bit already. His attitude was a perfect mix with this current version of the Chiefs offensive line. Nearly all of his rushing yards came after contact as mentioned above. He ran for two touchdowns, caught three passes for 27 yards and secured a larger role in the offense. The former undrafted player out of LSU made the most of his first career start.

Pass Catchers Not Named Kelce Or Hill

It was still a nice day in the end for Kelce and Hill. But still, we have to talk about the other pass catchers. Their performances have been up and down throughout the season. However, guys like Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle made a positive impact in the passing game.

Hardman had a frustrating fumble on a rushing attempt late in the first half. He overcame that by continually creating separation, not stopping his routes too early like he usually can and did not drop a pass. Mecole did a good job of securing a deep ball for 49 yards without breaking stride against tight coverage.

Robinson showed more urgency with securing the catch and not being too careless in the open field after making the catch. He ran a great route to score a 24 yard touchdown on an outside fade route.

Pringle made a couple of difficult catches in traffic, including one near the sideline in between defenders. This made up for a bad decision to take the ball out on a kick return right beforehand from eight yards deep in the end zone.

Rashad Fenton And L’Jarius Sneed

From a coverage perspective, no one has been more effective than Rashad Fenton of the Chiefs cornerbacks in recent weeks. His focus on where the football is at stands out immensely. Fenton appears to be largely unfazed by opposing receiver’s counter moves.

On the other hand, L’Jarius Sneed had his best showing of the season. It looked like his old self from last season. Sneed was able to break up a couple of passes in the deeper portion of the field. His tackle attempts were also a lot more secure. He flew through ball carriers with force and got low to take out their legs.

Tershawn Wharton And Mike Danna

It has been a while since we have seen Tershawn Wharton make impact plays like he was making last season. In Washington, he was flying around to create pressure. He kept the run game contained to the inside. Wharton also gobbled up a unique looking interception that bounced off of the opposing Washington blocker at the line of scrimmage.

Mike Danna’s effort keeps resonating week after week. He has shown improvement in his hand technique and eye discipline. Furthermore, his impact has been felt in both the pass rush and on run defense. Danna helped force an early fumble against running back Antonio Gibson.

Losers

Josh Gordon and Jerick McKinnon

There were not a lot of drops or fumbles that landed Josh Gordon or Jerick McKinnon on this part of the report card. It was just surprising to see how little each of these two were involved offensively.

Gordon ran some routes and even threw some blocks after quick passes to other players. Unfortunately, he did not register a catch or a target. This felt like a prime matchup for his ability to best man coverage and work vertically. The results did not come for Gordon, however.

McKinnon was also not utilized. There is obviously confidence in Williams. Yet, McKinnon’s speed, field vision and pass catching prowess was barely used with Clyde Edwards-Helaire injured and out of the lineup. He ran just three times for 10 yards and caught just one pass for five yards on four targets. Possibly, each of Gordon and McKinnon will receive increased looks down the line.

Jody Fortson

Similar to Edwards-Helaire last week, Jody Fortson lands on this list due to no fault of his own. Just as Fortson was starting to generate multiple pass catching opportunities over the last few weeks, an injury derailed his momentum. He high pointed a ball on the far side over the top of a Washington defender. Fortson also ran a variety of different routes to play a hybrid wide receiver role at the tight end position.

Sadly, Fortson slipped and suffered a non-contact injury. Coach Reid called it a torn Achilles, meaning his season is over. Fortson has been highly praised for his hard working nature. That determination will help him to get back on the roster next season.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.