The Kansas City Chiefs begin their title defense against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Who needs to step up for the team?
So it begins. The 2020 regular season, with all of its COVID hurdles, was simply a formality for the reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Though there were questions for the team, most saw them as the obvious favorite to win Super Bowl LV in Florida.
The Chiefs’ title defense begins against the surging Cleveland Browns, an organization that made the playoffs and won a playoff game for the first time in ages on both accounts. The Browns are riding high, but they haven’t faced an opponent like the Chiefs all season long.
There have been, and will continue to be, some who doubt the Chiefs’ credibility as Super Bowl favorites. To the detractors’ credit, the Chiefs have looked lackadaisical at times and flawed at others. They’ve also looked rather dominant against actual contenders, something most of the remaining teams cannot say.
Still, the Chiefs will be relying on some new and old faces to step their games up in the 2020 NFL Playoffs if they hope to repeat as champions.
Le’Veon Bell
Going into last season’s playoffs the Chiefs had put together their usual offensive production, ranking among the best in the NFL. Against a fairly decent schedule, with Patrick Mahomes missing a handful of games, they averaged an impressive 28.2 points per game. This was good for fifth place overall.
They took that production to another level in the playoffs. Their overall average of 39 points per game was boosted by a monster 51-point game, where they scored a NFL record-tying seven straight touchdowns, but they scored over 30 points every game.The primary difference seemed to be the offense’s utilization of the running back as a receiver.
After averaging only a little over two targets per game during the regular season, Damien Williams averaged nearly seven targets per game during the team’s playoff run. This was similar to the 2018 playoffs where his targets jumped from four targets per game, in the games following Kareem Hunt‘s release, to seven targets/game in the playoffs.
It’s a major reason why the Clyde Edwards-Helaire pick seemed to make so much sense. A running back who played in a pro-style offense in college who also had great production as a receiver would be a perfect fit.
The Chiefs didn’t utilize him quite as expected, but I have a feeling that Andy Reid was saving a little bit for the playoffs. As luck would have it, in the face of an injury to Edwards-Helaire, the Chiefs were able to pick up Le’Veon Bell.
Bell is a great receiving running back. If he can duplicate a portion of the production fans were accustomed to in Pittsburgh, and Reid does in fact have some special schematics up his sleeve, there’s a good chance we see this offense take a large step in the playoffs.
The Offensive Line (as a unit)
It is no secret that the Chiefs offensive line has struggled the latter half of the season. Over the last several games, Mahomes has had to run for his life seemingly more than any other stretch in his career. His overall play has suffered because of it.
He’s only been sacked 22 times this season, which puts him in the bottom half of the league, but he’s been hurried 63 times and hit 53 times which puts him top-five in both categories. He’s been blitzed 140 times this season, the most in his career.
The overall onslaught isn’t that surprising. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, one of the longest tenured Chiefs, opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns. Mitchell Schwartz, an All-Pro right tackle and arguably the Chiefs best offensive lineman, has missed every game since Week 7, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be ready for the playoffs.
The list goes on and on, but the main point is that the Chiefs are relying on some newcomers to protect their franchise quarterback. That’s not usually an ideal position to be in heading into the playoffs.
Players like Stephen Wisniewski went from unsigned in Week 13 to playing major snaps, including 98 against the New Orleans Saints. Martinas Rankin, who just recovered from a serious knee injury in 2019, will likely be expected to play major snaps going forward. Andrew Wylie, who up until this point took most of his snaps at guard, could be filling in at tackle at times during the playoffs.
In my opinion, this group’s performance will make or break the Chiefs title defense. If the offensive line gives Mahomes time, regardless of how the defense plays the Chiefs should have enough firepower to defeat the remaining teams in the AFC. If they don’t, the Chiefs can still win but their margin for error goes down significantly.
Frank Clark
Full disclosure, I was harder than most local pundits on Frank Clark for most of last season. While Clark was a great anchor against the run, it’s uncommon for teams to pay run-stoppers $100 million dollar long-term deals. The players who receive that kind of compensation do so based off their affinity to rush the passer.
Through 16 games of the regular season in 2019, Clark only had 8 sacks. That’s not exactly what the Chiefs front office was hoping for when they traded their 2019 first rounder to the Seattle Seahawks and signed him to a blockbuster deal.
Fortunately, Clark rebounded in the playoffs. After dealing with and seemingly resolving a stomach issue that had plagued him, causing him to lose a surprising amount of weight, Clark exploded in the playoffs for five sacks.
Most of the pressure he enforced came at critical junctures, including one of the last drives for the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. On a pivotal fourth down, Clark broke through the 49ers line to sack Jimmy Garoppolo for a nine-yard loss and force a turnover on downs.
With his performance in the playoffs came renewed confidence from Chiefs Kingdom in his long-term deal and expectations for a big year in 2020. Unfortunately, Clark’s season hasn’t exactly played out that way. In 15 games Clark has only generated six sacks, 15 quarterback hits, and eight tackles for loss. His sacks and tackles for loss are his lowest since his rookie season, and lower than his average output per season.
The Chiefs as a whole have struggled to rush the passer this season, so Clark isn’t the only player to critique. Even so, he’s one of the emotional leaders on the defense and his sacks usually do more than simply fill a stat sheet. A big sack from Frank Clark can ignite the Chiefs defense, and they’re going to need him to deliver as they move deeper into the playoffs.
Darius Harris
The Chiefs defense has been relatively thin at the linebacker position for a number of years. Ever since Derrick Johnson’s Achilles injury in 2016, the unit has never been the same. The 2020 season has been no different.
The team made an effort this offseason by drafting Willie Gay Jr. in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Gay possessed speed and raw ability that the Chiefs hadn’t had in a prospect for several years, and optimism was high he could overtake a starting position by the end of the season.
He was given more snaps near the end of the season, and while he definitely made some rookie mistakes, it was clear he was one of the more naturally gifted athletes on the Chiefs roster at the position. His ability to recognize plays and fill his gaps in the running game and cover running backs in the passing game flashed here and there, especially near the end of the season.
Unfortunately, Gay went down in the final game of the season with a high ankle sprain. This is the same injury Edwards-Helaire sustained, and is likely to come back from in a couple weeks, so it’s possible we see Gay play later in the playoffs depending on how things go.
Due to injuries, Darius Harris played 71 snaps against the Chargers and played 54 the week before. It’s tough to say where he will actually line up, as he practiced at Sam before the Chargers game but ultimately ended up taking many snaps at Mike, but regardless there is an expectation he will play quite a bit against the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns are running the ball in an incredibly efficient manner. Harris, along with all the other linebackers will have to step it up to ensure they don’t keep Mahomes and the offense off the field on Sunday.
Juan Thornhill
Juan Thornhill had what appeared to be a breakout campaign in 2019. It was only his rookie season, but he showcased speed and a ball hawking ability that the Chiefs had been missing at the free safety position since Eric Berry was healthy. Nabbing him in the late second round of the 2019 NFL Draft seemed like a steal.
Sadly, Thornhill suffered a season-ending injury in the final game of the season and was unable to join the team in their historic playoff run. Optimism was high though that he’d make a full return to his nearly Pro Bowl-caliber level of play.
Thornhill has had a solid season in 2020, but you can definitely tell he hasn’t completely regained his elite athleticism. He’s shown flashes of the old Thornhill, but you can tell from time to time that his unique agility hasn’t quite returned.
The Chiefs weighted defensive DVOA places them near the bottom of the league in recent games at 26th. They haven’t possessed the same “swagger” as they did last season, though the team hasn’t been majorly affected finishing with the best record in franchise history.
Thornhill’s speed at the backend of this defense has been sorely missed in 2020. If he can achieve a modicum of his performance from 2019 in the 2020 playoffs, the defense as a whole should make a considerable jump.