What is Andy Reid doing wrong?
While there has been a lot of criticism on head coach Andy Reid lately, I don’t believe all of it is justified. There are however things that he should be held accountable for. Let’s discuss what criticism is warranted and what isn’t.
One thing that Reid should be criticized for is his consistency to go away from the run game. If you go back to the game against Dallas or New York, both games Reid called passing plays the second the run game started picking up momentum. In the Dallas game, Reid went away from Hunt completely following the first drive of the second half.
With one of the best rushers in the league who was setting records the first part of the season, I fail to understand why he has not been more involved in the offense as of late. It seems that we are seeing more and more of running back Charcandrick West taking snaps away from Hunt.
Most fans are blaming the playcalling on Reid thinking that the offense is struggling because of the conservative play calls. As I discussed above, Reid has had to dumb down the offensive play calls because Smith is struggling. In an attempt to get Smith back on track, Reid has called mostly one read and screen plays.
Reid has done just about everything he can to get Smith’s confidence back with these smaller and gimmicky plays, but it’s not working either. Reid has also called plenty of zone busters that open up receivers over the top of defenses to help with the big plays down the field. Smith is the one not making the right reads and missing wide open receivers.
My biggest question when it comes to Reid is the big elephant in the room. Why are we still putting Smith on the field? Of course, I can’t see what goes on in practice and have to rely on what veterans and coaches say about how rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes has looked, but when your team has gone 1-5 in the second part of the season, you have to make a change. Why are we waiting till it’s too late to put Mahomes in?
If the Chiefs lose to the New York Jets this week and the Los Angeles Chargers win their game against the Cleveland Browns, which is very likely if both teams play like they have been, the only thing keeping the Chiefs above the Chargers in the division is the tiebreaker from week 3. The Raiders just have to beat the New York Giants this week and could be at the top of the division this time next week since they hold the tiebreaker with the Chiefs.
Waiting till you aren’t winning a weak division anymore is a huge mistake in my opinion. I’m not saying that putting Mahomes in will take the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, but you’re kidding yourself if you think Smith is going to be that quarterback at this point. If you even want a shot at the playoffs, you need to put Mahomes in.
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It’s the perfect time to put in a rookie quarterback considering that he won’t have to be perfect to make the offense better. The offense is playing at such a poor level under Smith that even if Mahomes came out and just had an average game it would be an upgraded offense. It would also demand the defenses to respect the passing game more since they know Mahomes likes to throw down the field instead of in the backfield.
All in all, Chiefs fans have every right to be booing their offense off the field on Sunday’s. Something has to change and if the coaches aren’t going to make changes to help it improve, we as fans must show our frustration with this miserable offense. If the Chiefs lose this game in New York this weekend, the chants for Mahomes will only get louder and harder to ignore.