The clear cut top answer was that they shifted their offensive philosophy from that of being a passing offense that occasionally runs the ball for a change of pace to being a team that establishes the running game first to set up the pass. I pointed out last week that Alex Smith was on pace to challenge the all time record for passing attempts in a season through four games. That’s absurd.
I don’t need to explain why that’s absurd, in fact I feel confident that there isn’t a person alive that thinks Smith setting a NFL record for passing attempts in a season is a smart thing for KC to do. Despite all those passing attempts, Smith’s productivity (completion percentage and yards per attempt) was still down from previous seasons.
Alex Smith is not a bad NFL quarterback. He is also not an elite quarterback that can carry an offense. That has been apparent in the first four weeks of the 2016 season. Smith is at his most productive when he has a solid running game and can pick and choose when to take shots in the passing game. Under these circumstances he is incredibly efficient.
Through the first four games of 2016 the Chiefs had yet to really establish their running game. They were averaging a pedestrian 20.8 carries per game for 90.2 yards. On Sunday against the Raiders they rushed the ball 40 times for 183 yards. They literally doubled their production in the running game from what they were averaging in the first quarter of the season.