The Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday and the Chiefs were able to secure a key victory in the AFC West race. Here is how:
The Kansas City Chiefs marched into Los Angeles and came out with a hard fought victory. In this article, I will break down some of the key plays in the Chiefs victory in week one against the Chargers.
If you review the film, you will see that the game had more depth than just Patrick Mahomes’ brilliant performance and the defensive backfield struggling.
First a quick look at some game stats:
Passing:
- Philip Rivers: 34/51, 424 yards, 8.3 avg. 3 TDs, 1 INT
- Patrick Mahomes: 15/27, 256 yards, 9.5 avg. 4 TDs, 0 INTs.
Rushing:
- Melvin Gordon: 15 carries, 64 yards, 4.3 avg, 0 TDs
- Kareem Hunt: 16 carries, 49 yards, 3.1 avg, 0 TDs
Receiving:
- Tyreek Hill: 7 receptions on 8 targets, 169 yards, 24.1 avg, 2 TDs.
- Keenan Allen: 8 receptions on 11 targets, 108 yards, 13.5 avg, 1 TD.
Totals:
- Chargers: 541 total yards, 33 first downs, Time of Possession: 34:26
- Chiefs: 362 total yards, 19 first downs, Time of Possession: 25:34
Key Plays:
14:12 1st Quarter. 3rd-and-1.
The Chiefs defense got off to a great start. After a seven yard pass and a two yard run, the Chargers needed only a yard to get a first down and continue the drive. The Chiefs made a play that we rarely saw from last year’s defense, a quick stop against the run.
It was a simple misdirection play that is designed for a short gain. Melvin Gordon took the hand-off and thought he had the lane, but Ron Parker made an excellent open-field tackle in run support. Along with Reggie Ragland the Chiefs are able to get the Chargers off of the field.
13:48 1st Quarter. 4th-and-1.
Incredible start for Kansas City. The Chiefs got a quick lead and Patrick Mahomes didn’t even play a snap. I thought everyone was aware that you should not allow Hill to return. Apparently, the Chargers didn’t get the memo.
Tyreek Hill returns the punt for a 91 yard touchdown. Watching the tape, Armani Watts made a great initial block to spring Hill around the corner. Once Hill got to the outside, Marcus Kemp made the final block to make the return a no-doubt touchdown. 7-0 Chiefs.
10:03 1st Quarter 3rd-and-8.
The Chiefs show a zone look giving up the drag route. Philp Rivers finds his biggest receiver, Tyrell Williams over the middle. just when it appears that he may find an edge to get to the first down marker, Orlando Scandrick makes a shoelace tackle. Interestingly enough, the Chiefs brought Kendall Fuller off the edge. Keep an eye on that moving forward.
After this stop, the Caleb Sturgis made a 45 yard field goal. 7-3 Chiefs.
7:11 1st Quarter 2nd-and-4.
Chalk this up as one of those plays that few quarterbacks can make. Mahomes gets immediate pressure and instead of trying to get away first and make the throw second, he steps up and makes a great throw. Not only was his velocity exceptional, but the placement was near perfect. Mahomes threw the ball in-between two defenders to a spot and hit Tyreek Hill in stride. Off of his post route, Hill excellerates to edge. Once he gets there, it’s game over for the Chargers defense. 14-3 Chiefs.
5:31 1st Quarter 3rd-and-10.
Philip Rivers does not have time to think about anything. I thought watching this live that the Chiefs blitzed on this play. However, Dee Ford just gets there incredibly quickly. Ford fakes outside and busts inside quickly. Ford makes a good move and a great tackle.
After the Chiefs failed on a drive in their own territory, they punted to the Chargers who drove down the field on a couple of long runs. Caleb Sturgis made a 39 yard field goal. 14-6 Chiefs.
The next drive included Tyreek Hill’s circus catch and a couple of misplaced throws by Mahomes. The Chiefs were forced to punt as they were out of field goal range.
7:54 2nd Quarter, 2nd-and-10.
Touchdown, Chargers. Philip Rivers is again under duress, but gets rid of the ball quickly. This was a great route by running back Austin Ekeler. He shows good acceleration and on this corner route, he turns Anthony Hitchens around. While Hitchens comes close to knocking the ball away, he just can’t quite recover. This looks like a little bit of rust that Hitchens needs to knock off. The Chargers fail the two point conversion. 14-12 Chiefs.
After a couple of good runs from Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs had made a decent drive down the field to get in field goal range. Harrison Butker nailed the 46 yard field goal. 17-12 Chiefs.
The Chiefs, with the help of Travis Benjamin’s big drop stopped the Chargers and got the ball back. Unfortunately, the Chiefs were not able to get any more points in the first half.
3rd Quarter 9:47 1st-and-Goal.
After a drive of misdirection and college type offense, the Chiefs were poised to get in the end zone at the one yard line. Andy Reid tricked the Chargers defense out of its shoes. This is a beautiful angle to show that with. 24-12 Chiefs.
4:45 3rd Quarter 3rd-and-3.
Welcome back, Ron. After a promising start to the drive, the Chiefs defense comes up big. Now, it seems strange that two receivers would be this close together in their routes, but, nonetheless, a great play from Ron Parker. Parker, playing in single high coverage ranges over to jump in front of both receivers and making a brilliant catch. Although it was likely an offensive mishap, Parker took advantage of what was given.
1:21 3rd Quarter 1st-and-10
The Chiefs were chipping away at the Chargers defense when BOOM. Patrick Mahomes made his his second prettiest pass of the day to the fullback. Anthony Sherman shows off some speed and Mahomes hits him perfectly in stride. That ball was perfectly placed. 31-12 Chiefs.
12:39 4th Quarter 3rd-and-2.
This looks U-G-L-Y. Rivers sends Keenan Allen in motion and when he sees that Scandrick is lined up to play him in man coverage, he knows where he wants to throw the ball. Keenan Allen showcases his quickness and Scandrick doesn’t even know what hit him. To be fair, Parker should be ranging over to that side of the field a little quicker. But, if you get beat that bad, the safety can’t fix it. The Chargers also convert on the two point attempt. 31-20 KC.
10:35 4th Quarter 4th-and-6.
Game time. This was the nail in the coffin for the Chargers. De’Anthony Thomas strips the returner and the Chiefs run another sweep play for the touchdown. This time it was Tyreek Hill. 38-20 Chiefs.
5:41 4th Quarter 1st-and-Goal
After picking a bunch of garbage time yards, the Chargers score again. Tyrell Williams is the new victor over Orlando Scandrick. It seems as though Scandrick expected help, but he should be two steps deeper to use the boundary as another defender. After another 2 point conversion, the Chargers score the last points of the game making it the eventual final score of 38-28.
Analysis:
So, after watching this game multiple times, I will tell you what I saw from a deeper film analysis standpoint:
Regarding Patrick Mahomes:
This was a great start. However, Mahomes is young and still wants to force plays to happen. For instance, he forced a ball to Chris Conley that could have easily been picked. Luckily for him, it bounced into Damien Williams’ hands. Additionally, Mahomes loves the big play and trusts his arm a little too much at times. In this game, he occasionally threw the ball downfield to the player that was less open for the chance at more yards, instead of taking the easy pass underneath. If he can improve on these things, the Chiefs have themselves a very capable quarterback. For the most part, it was an impressive game from Mahomes.
Regarding Travis Kelce:
I heard a few fans groan about the lack of involvement that they saw from Travis Kelce. To this, I would just give the Aaron Rodgers treatment. R-E-L-A-X. Travis Kelce was open several times in this game, but Mahomes liked what he saw in the deep routes. Kelce will likely be more involved next week in Pittsburgh. Furthermore, every receiver will have games where they don’t show up in the stat sheet. That is what happens when you have an over abundance of talent at receiver positions.
Regarding the Defensive Backfield:
No, it wasn’t pretty. I will give credit where it is due though: Steven Nelson and Kendall Fuller had pretty good games for the most part. I expect both to improve as the season progresses. However, Scandrick was beaten up and down the field, however, I think that he will improve as he grows accustomed to Bob Sutton’s defense. If he has a game like that next week, Ben Roethlisberger will destroy him and throw for 500 yards.
The safeties were up and down all game long. Ron Parker made a big play, but also looked rusty, often showing himself slow to shade over to where the quarterback was looking. Eric Murray made some good tackles, but found himself out of position on several occasions. We are all hopeful that Eric Berry can come back so that Murray can sit on the bench where he belongs.