Chiefs film room: Reviewing the Jaguars and how to beat the Raiders
By Grant Tuttle
The Chiefs beat the heat AND the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Here is how they did it, and how they can beat the Raiders in Oakland next week.
Myles Jack threw punches. Patrick Mahomes threw touchdowns.
Despite a physical game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 in which Tyreek Hill went down with a shoulder injury and Patrick Mahomes was a bit hobbled from tweaking his ankle, the Chiefs came out on top.
While there are many reasons for why the Chiefs won the game, let’s start with the MVP of the game.
MVP: Sammy Watkins
Sammy Watkins showed Chiefs fans what they had been dying to see from him last year. It was a truly dominant performance, in which he found himself open against one-on-one coverage a lot. The Jaguars used both of their star corners, A.J. Bouye, and Jalen Ramsey, and it was not enough to slow him down. After nine catches for 198 yards, and three touchdowns, Sammy Watkins is easily week one’s MVP.
This is the play that many will remember from this game. Sammy Watkins finds himself open and runs away from three would-be tacklers. It is impressive the way that Andy Reid is spreading out the defense in Week 1. The Chiefs will likely look more “Air Raid” than ever before and this play shows it.
Mahomes takes the snap after sending Tyreek Hill out to the flats. Once the ball is snapped, he has four guys on different variations of a hitch route. It almost looks as though Kelce was used as a decoy underneath when he jumps up, thinking the pass is to him. When the ball is Watkins’s hands, the defense floods downward, giving Watkins a bit of space. After a defender flows right by him, he cuts quickly upfield and gets a great block from Demarcus Robinson who ultimately springs him for the touchdown.
This is just an excellent design by Andy Reid and it will give defenses trouble all season long. Watkins runs a drag route underneath and the linebacker and safety look to other places. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, they lost sight of him as he spun upfield to a wide-open area in the Jaguars zone defense. The safety is way too slow rotating over, and the linebacker is lost in the middle of the field. Easy 6 for the Chiefs.
On perhaps the most impressive play from Watkins, he makes Jalen Ramsey look silly. Off of the line, Watkins runs to the goal line, fakes inside, give Jalen Ramsey an armbar, fakes upfield, then cuts outside for an easy touchdown. It was solid coverage by Ramsey, it was just extraordinary route running from Watkins.
LVP: Charvarius Ward
While Sammy Watkins had a great game, the same could not be said for some of the defensive players. Among them, Charvarius Ward was particularly bad. Rookie 6th round pick quarterback Gardner Minshew went after Ward and he offered no answer. Ward looked a step slow and struggled to turn his hips to keep up with up with quick cutting receivers.
In this play, you will see Ward struggles to be “sticky.” While initially running with Conley, he lets his eyes wander to the backfield. In a flash, Conley takes one step to the middle of the field and is wide open. In man-to-man coverage, this is completely unacceptable. I would hate to be Ward when they have the team film session this week.
Unsung hero: Damien Wilson
While Frank Clark bragged about his interception and Sammy Watkins had the game of his life, Damien Wilson looked impressive on Sunday. With serious aggression and quickness, he finished with no other stat than five tackles. That being said, he caught my eye when I watched the tape.
To me, this is the most impressive play from Damien Wilson. It’s not only because he forced a fumble at the end of the play. Watch as the Chiefs send six on a blitz and where Wilson is positioned. He watches and trails the running back out of the backfield perfectly. This is particularly impressive because the play is executed perfectly by Gardner Minshew, getting the ball out quickly to the running back underneath.
Many times on plays like this, the running back scoots by the linebacker for a big gain. Wilson shows great speed and makes an excellent tackle before Fournette can get to the next level.