Kansas City Chiefs Stock Report: Week 3 2022

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It was an ugly offensive showing for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The special teams units? That may have been even worse. Even though it was a generally strong day for the defense, Kansas City could not make one final stop against the Indianapolis Colts offense. It was obviously a frustrating loss, losing 20-17 and the Chiefs shot themselves in the foot too many times. Many adjustments and improvements must be made moving forward.

Who were the main performers that stood out for the Chiefs in Indianapolis? There were not very many positives, although a few players or units saw their stock go up. On the flip side, Kansas City will still be looking for major improvements after a crushing loss. Each and every week, we will be listing the players or position groups that improved or hurt their respective stock. Who had their stock rise or fall in Week 3? Let’s kick it off.

Stock Up

L’Jarius Sneed

L’Jarius Sneed was all over the field making necessary plays for the Chiefs defense. Overall, he finished with seven tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery. There were other plays where Sneed had a beat on the pass attempt, but just missed out on creating a major play for the defense. For instance, an interception went off his fingertips and into the hands of Michael Pittman Jr. for a Colts first down. Sneed maintained great awareness, body positioning and timing all day long in coverage. That will be much needed next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Nick Bolton

Nick Bolton also had a strong day in many different aspects for the Chiefs defense. From a statistical perspective, the Missouri product had nine tackles and two sacks in Indianapolis. Bolton was able to create pressure from the A gap, led the front seven in containing Jonathan Taylor and displayed adequate range when working sideline-to-sideline. His leadership continues to impress, especially for a player that is only in the second year of his NFL career. Simply put, Bolton has an energy and tenacity that his defensive teammates feed off. Thus, you have seen more attitude from the Chiefs defense. His reads and reactionary timing should not be taken for granted, either.

Chiefs Pass Rush

Overall, the Chiefs pass rush has been strong in all three games. They wasted no time in adding extra pressure against Matt Ryan on Sunday. The Colts quarterback just looks so slow when drifting back in the pocket. As a result, the added speed and physicality of the Kansas City defense quickly got home and made life challenging on Ryan. The aforementioned Bolton had two sacks on Sunday. Sneed, Frank Clark and Carlos Dunlap each had one sack apiece, to boot. This group also forced a fumble. Meanwhile, this Chiefs pass rush has maintained gap integrity and is playing tricks on opposing offensive linemen, leaving them and their quarterbacks confused.

Stock Down

Special Teams Units

What a complete mess it was for the Chiefs special teams units on Sunday. From the jump, it was discombobulated and put Kansas City behind the eight ball. Rookie Skyy Moore muffed a punt inside his own ten-yard line, leading to the Colts getting on the board first. He did not look that comfortable in other instances as well. Granted, his history as a returner is fairly slim, but it was seemingly in his head all game.

On the other hand, kicker Matt Ammendola was unable to nail shorter field goal attempts. He was one for two on the day on three-point field goals and missed his only extra point attempt. Tommy Townsend actually had some decent punts on the day. However, his pass attempt was quickly snuffed out on a fake field goal attempt. The Chiefs coaching staff deserves more blame for that play call. Yet, Townsend and company did not even come close to getting the ball near the sticks on a haphazard attempt.

Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Mahomes was occasionally able to create and make plays happen down the field. Nevertheless, those results were few and far between. It felt like his internal clock was off all day long. Some of this may be attributed to the lack of rhythm with his receivers, bad play calling and the pressure from the Colts defensive line. Mahomes was making mistakes that haunted him in the past, at the same time. You saw him go for the deep shot on plays where he could have stepped up and ran or taken the checkdown. When he did take the shorter throws, the Chiefs did not move the needle much. He just simply looked flustered and was looking to get everything back in one major swing, so to speak.

Chiefs Wide Receivers (Sans JuJu Smith-Schuster)

JuJu Smith-Schuster had a couple of big plays, due to high yards after the catch. He is the only receiver that really showed some sense of productivity against the Colts. So far, it has been tough sledding for the rest of the Chiefs wide receivers, when it comes to separation and winning downfield. You see Kansas City trying to sit in between zones and look for missed tackles after the catch. The problem is, the Chiefs wideouts are unable to shake off the coverage and get on top of defenders. This leads to highly contested throws and lower percentage plays. We knew it would take some time for this pass catching group to get rolling. But, the Chiefs must be able to adjust against coverage and alter the way in which they attack opposing secondaries.

Chiefs Offensive Line

Orlando Brown Jr. was reportedly offered a long-term contract this offseason. It would have reset the offensive tackle market and kept him in Kansas City for the long haul. Rather than accepting that deal, Brown Jr. bet on himself and struggled mightily while playing on the 2022 franchise tag. He was beaten at the snap immediately in Indianapolis, while also struggling to maintain a firm base. Could this be the last year for him as the left tackle?

Meanwhile, the Chiefs saw their usually dependable interior offensive line succumb to the strength of the Colts defensive tackles. Joe Thuney could simply not match the physicality of those defenders on Sunday. Lastly, Andrew Wylie got banged up and put the anxiousness of the right tackle spot in perspective.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis 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.