Alarms sounding: Reid and staff failing Chiefs
By Ryan Tracy
The Kansas City Chiefs are in trouble.
Andy Reid and Bob Sutton are officially asleep at the wheel. They are not being out-coached by the opposition. They are being dismantled by their own lack of innovation.
Playcalling, on both sides of the ball, against Green Bay was lackluster and incredibly all-too predictable. Both elder coaches are in danger of losing all control of this team’s good fortune. Although successful at times, the Packers knew what the Chiefs were doing before the Chiefs did.
Sutton continues to be so stuck in his base defense that he cannot get out of his own way. Continuing to stick to the same sets/looks makes it far too easy for the opposing offense to target weak points like Marcus Cooper. Aaron Rodgers is far too experienced to be given that advantage by Sutton. Rodgers capitalized early. In the third quarter, Sutton moved Houston and Hali around and was able to get the Packers off the field on two straight possessions to start the half. Then he turned to his base call and promptly gave up two touchdowns.
The fourth quarter woke Sutton up and began to adapt. He moved Peters to cover Cobb part time. He moved players around, putting Cooper at safety, and Parker at corner at one point. Sutton went to a zone-blitz and it showed well. He got Dee Ford on the field. In the end is was a failure too big to recover from. To right this ship, Sutton must not return to his normal, sickeningly predictable defense. He must keep making changes and giving new looks to progress this team.
Andy Reid was no different. His same old screen-pass laden playacting did not challenge the defense at all. He ended the first half, down 17 points with 56 seconds left and 80 yards to go, by running two draws with Charles. He completely mismanaged the playcalling until the middle of the third quarter.
Then, desperation inspired some creative calls and got some yardage. Reid finally woke up and began attacking the middle of the field and low and behold, they began to climb back into the game. It led to a Maclin touchdown.
He got rookie Chris Conley into he game to take advantage of his size and speed. Conley promptly put pressure on the Packers defenders, drawing a penalty and making a catch for a 16-yard first down. He got Maclin on a deep crossing route, again attacking the deep middle. in the red zone, Reid began to fade, calling for 3-yard drag routes and a Charles draw that did score.
In short, Reid had a streak about a quarter long, where he was calling good football. Again it was to little too late.
This was a systemic failure for both sides of the ball and their coaches. worse still, it followed a full three extra days of preparation and recovery from a tough loss to Denver.
Reid and Sutton woke up for a quarter in Green Bay. They cannot afford to fall back asleep. As they regroup, they’d better have the coffee ready to go. Its a short week to Cinci and they need a win.