Looking at first down tendencies for the Kansas City Chiefs offense
The 2019 Kansas City Chiefs on 1st Down
Here are the basic numbers I found when looking at the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs on first down.
- 532 Plays
- 229 Rushes (43%)
- 303 Passes (57%)
The Chiefs passed the ball more on first down throughout their championship season. The overall numbers aren’t super pass heavy, but we’ll definitely take a closer look at how some situations affected those numbers. According to the team stats at NFL.com the Chiefs overall pass/rush percentages on all downs is slightly more pass heavy at 39.6% rushes and 60.6% passes.
In terms of the productivity of those plays, here are the average yards gained on rushes and passes on first down:
- 1st down rushes averaged 4.85 yards per play
- 1st down passing plays averaged 8.2 yards per play
As expected, first down passing plays averaged more yards per play than rushing plays. That’s true of passing versus rushing in general. On the season (again according to the stats at NFL.com), the Chiefs averaged 4.2 yards/carry and 8.1 yards/pass attempt. Overall they were more effective running the ball on first down than on other downs and their passing average was pretty close to the same.
Chiefs first down passing plays were much more “boom or bust” than their first down running plays. Here’ are some numbers to back this up.
Percentage of first down plays that went for 10 yards or more.
- Rushes – 10.9%
- Passes – 32.3%
Percentage of first down plays that went for 20 yards or more.
- Rushes – 3.5%
- Passes – 11.9%
However, surprisingly, there was also a much higher percentage of first down passing plays that went for zero yards or a loss.
Percentage of first down plays that went for no gain or a loss.
- Rushes – 17.5%
- Passes – 36.6%
If you add one yard gains to the figures it balances them a little more.
Percentage of first down plays that went for 1 yard or less.
- Rushes – 29%
- Passes – 38%
Still, between incomplete passes, sacks, and passes for no gain or a loss, first down passing plays were still more likely to leave the Chiefs in 2nd and long situations than rushing plays. The payoff being that they also were much more likely to go for 10 yards or more. In fact, one in ten first down passes went for 20 yards or more, so it seems to make the increased risk of no gain worth it.
So those are the overall numbers. Now let’s look at how the play calling varied by quarter.