Mitchell Schwartz says the Kansas City Chiefs have a lot of improvements to make along the offensive line after Sunday’s win over the Browns.
The numbers tell an expectedly positive story.
The Kansas City Chiefs put up 37 points on the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in a road win that took them to 8-1 on the year. The win included a team that went a perfect 4-for-4 in the red zone and put up 499 yards of total offense. Patrick Mahomes put up another 3 passing touchdowns and 375 passing yards, while the Chiefs averaged 5.8 yards/run in the ground game. It was another strong offensive showing.
After the game, however, right tackle Mitchell Schwartz was quick to point out the team’s failures up front, claiming the team “didn’t play that well up front” against Cleveland. After the game, he talked to reporters in the locker room at FirstEnergy Stadium. When asked about the key to the team’s offensive success, he had a sarcastic answer.
More from Arrowhead Addict
- Former Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las Vegas
- Chiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract news
- Chiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in Germany
- Podcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battles
- KC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator
“Apparently getting a lot of penalties and getting 2nd-and-30s,” he said. “I mean, we didn’t play that well up front. We had a lot of penalties. A lot of getting us back and putting us in adverse situations. Obviously Pat is special and Kareem and those skill guys, so I think we’re going to look back and think about what could have been in terms of up front—cleaning stuff up, cleaner pockets, less penalties. We’ve got a lot of improvement ahead.”
Schwartz is right that the referees blew their whistle a lot, especially when it came to throwing flags at the Chiefs. Kansas City fans will be quick to point to unfair penalties like an offsides flag thrown on Dee Ford that eliminated a strip sack or an intentional grounding call that no one can explain on Mahomes. That said, Schwartz would point to the total of 11 penalties on the Chiefs in the final stat column.
The Chiefs were quite fortunate on offense that they were able to overcome the holes they put themselves in. Check out this screen pass to Spencer Ware that eliminated one such situation.
SPENCER WARE! https://t.co/j9vvfmBOZZ
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 4, 2018
Schwartz seemed quite dissatisfied after the win with his line’s performance, but it also needs to be said that the Chiefs are compensatin for injuries to 40 percent of their starting line. Mitch Morse remains out with a concussion, while Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is on injured reserve. Jordan Devey, the primary interior backup, is also on IR as the Chiefs rolled with Austin Reiter, the third center, up front for the second straight game.
The Chiefs are 8-1 and in full control of the AFC at this point, tied for the best overall record in football. If there’s that much more room for improvement it’s a scary thought for the rest of the NFL. This offense is already unstoppable as it is.