The K.C. Chiefs are who we thought they were

The Offensive Line

When the Chiefs completely remodeled their entire offensive line this offseason, there was both cause for excitement and concern. The excitement came from what was widely viewed as an upgrade in overall talent on the offensive line. The concern came from putting the best young quarterback in football behind an all new line that would essentially be starting three rookies and a left tackle that had played mostly on the right side in a run heavy offense.

The general belief was that overall the line would be improved, but that their could be some growing pains with communication (especially with the rookies) and that they could be more susceptible to speed rushers off the edge with their bigger and more physical tackles. I think that pretty much held true in this game. The offensive line was clearly better than what they had in the Super Bowl, but there were still some growing pains.

The Chiefs weren’t dominant up front, but they did enough to get the job done. Clyde Edwards-Helaire only averaged 3.1 yards per carry on 14 carries and the tackles did struggle at times with Cleveland’s outside speed rush, especially Myles Garrett, but most tackles are going to have a hard time with Garrett. At the end of the day the Chiefs only allowed two sacks and put up 33 points and almost 400 yards of total offense.

I would say that the new offensive line was as advertised. They have definitely upgraded the position, but there still may be some growing pains to work out. We should also keep in mind that Cleveland is widely viewed as a top ten team in the NFL and that they are going to give lots of teams problems this season. The line will probably have games where they look even better this season when they are going against lesser opponents.

Next, let’s look at the assumption that the Chiefs will always have a chance to win if they have Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce.