Chiefs offensive line dominates and other overlooked aspects of Week 1
By Byron Smith
A clean game
In 2019, the Kansas City Chiefs committed an average 6.68 penalties per game for 64.3 yards per game. In 2018, it was much worse, with about 8.56 penalties per game for an average of 72 yards per game. This largely has to do with the NFL calling more penalties as a whole, but the Chiefs have especially struggled to not commit defensive penalties.
To start the 2020 season, the Chiefs bucked that trend with only 1 penalty, a false start penalty which moved the offense back only 5 yards.
This has nothing to do with the league trying to call less penalties, since almost every game on Sunday was loaded with them. It also does not have to do with the crew officiating the game, since Houston managed to pick up 5 of their own penalties with the crew for 37 yards. With the Chiefs also picking up 4 sacks, 7 QB hits, and 2 tackles for loss, obviously it had nothing to do with a lack of aggression.
Instead, the Chiefs were extremely disciplined, both pre and post snap, and kept the refs out of the game as the result of their own clean performance.