Kansas City Chiefs: 5 Things to Work on during the Bye Week
By Nick Floyd
October 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid (left) argues with NFL line judge Mike Spanier (90) during the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi
1. Play Calling
As I said at the beginning, no one person is truly responsible for a loss. However, since we know that Andy Reid is the Chiefs play-caller, he needs to do better. The Chiefs are not constructed to be a pass-heavy team—bottom line. They don’t have the personnel nor the wide receivers to be a pass-first offense.
The Chiefs are a ground-and-pound team. Even with the offensive line issues that have plagued them—although, not one sack was allowed on Sunday—they still have the best backfield in the NFL. Jamaal Charles is the big hitter; the man you start to lead off with. Knile Davis is the clean-up. These two guys are so good that defenses have no choice but to try to game-plan for both, and sometimes that doesn’t work. If Jamaal goes down or is fatigued, they throw in Davis who runs fast and hard. When you establish a run game, what does that usually open up? Play-action passes, which Reid loves. Get the ground game going, Andy, then start to mix it up with a heavy dose of run and pass. This team is built for that, and quarterback Alex Smith knows how to run that. But passing on 2nd- or 3rd-and-1 is just plain stupid. Reid is a smart coach. He knows how to put his players in the best position, but sometimes he wants things from this team that it simply is not built for.