The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line looks dominant

The Kansas City Chiefs enjoyed an offensive performance for the ages in Week 1 and they have their offensive line to thank for it.

The Kansas City Chiefs went into Foxboro on Thursday and dismantled the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. While the defense performed well it was the offensive explosion of 42 points that really left people impressed with the Chiefs. Alex Smith was as good as he has ever been in a Chiefs uniform. Running back Kareem Hunt had the most impressive debut of any rookie in NFL history. Tyreek Hill showed he was definitely worthy of being considered a number one wide receiver. It was an impressive showing and the highlights have been fun to see on a national stage.

While the Chiefs stars definitely stepped up, the group that made it all possible was the offensive line. It may not be as flashy or make as good of highlights but the big guys up front were just as good as the skill position guys and their ability to maintain that success may just be the key to the Chiefs continued success on offense.

The Chiefs offensive line was fine last season. When I say they were “fine,” I mean that they weren’t bad but they also weren’t a huge strength either. They were average. Now, given the state of offensive line play in the NFL right now there are certainly plenty of teams that would love to have “fine”. However, if the Chiefs want their offensive production to improve from last season, they need a line that can help establish the run game and give Alex Smith the time and security he needs to stand in the pocket and find his weapons. That is exactly what happened on Thursday night against the Patriots, and if they can play like that all season this offense could take the NFL by storm.

There wasn’t a lot of buzz around the offensive line this offseason. I would attribute that to both the fact that they were just “fine” last season and because the Chiefs didn’t make any exciting additions to their starting five. The best thing you could say about the K.C. offensive line headed into the 2017 season is that they would have a lot of continuity and familiarity because of all the guys they returned. Therefore, if any significant improvement was going to happen it was going to have to come from that continuity as well as individual player development. So far it looks like that may in fact have happened.

Thanks to modern technology all you have to do is know who to follow on Twitter and you can see examples of this offensive line play. Let’s start by looking at the pass protection as a whole.