The Kansas City Chiefs' offense has been incredibly efficient through the first five games of the season. The Chiefs enter Week 7 leading the NFL in offensive yards per game and ranking fifth in points per game. Patrick Mahomes has been highly productive throwing the ball, and Kenneth Walker leads the NFL in rushing. The Chiefs are doing all this despite playing unproven players at both offensive tackle spots, but the Seattle Seahawks may look to exploit those tackles this week.
The Chiefs' offensive tackles deserve praise for their performance through the first five games. Despite being without former first-round pick Josh Simmons, the duo of Jaylon Moore and Kahlil Benson has done a solid job thus far. Last week, when Jaylon Moore left with a concussion, Joshua Ezeudu filled in nicely as well. The end result has been a highly productive offense that has allowed the second-fewest sacks in the NFL.
While KC's tackles deserve some credit, you can make a strong argument that the play design and play-calling in general have put an emphasis on protecting the tackles. The Chiefs' dominant running game, increased use of play-action, and use of running backs and tight ends to help with rushers have prevented KC's tackles from having to be alone on an island too much. Now those tackles will be put to the test against a great Seattle defensive front and arguably the best pass defense in the NFL.
Seattle's defense presents a major challenge for Chiefs tackles
The Seahawks are giving up an insanely low 141.3 passing yards per game. For comparison, Cam Ward is averaging 166.3 yards per game. The Chiefs have had a really good pass defense this season as well, but they're giving up 217.2 passing yards per game. Those low passing numbers come from excellent coverage from Seattle's defensive backs and a lot of pressure from its front seven. Both of those things make offensive tackles' jobs harder.
Obviously, when a team has a talented defensive line and good blitz packages, it can be hard on an offensive line. But when a team also has really strong coverage, it causes the offensive tackles to have to protect longer while the quarterback tries to find an open receiver. The Chiefs have tried to avoid putting their tackles in those positions so far this season, but that may be hard to do against this Seattle defense.
The Chiefs might be tempted to keep backs and tight ends in to help out against Seattle's pass rush, but there are two problems with that. First, if you keep more players in to protect, that leaves fewer players to try to get open, and KC has had some issues with wideouts getting open against lesser secondaries. The other problem is that Seattle's most dominant pass rusher may be defensive tackle Leonard Williams.
If the Chiefs are going to keep someone in to help one or both of the tackles on the outside, it makes it almost impossible to also commit a running back to staying in to pick up an interior blitzer like Williams. Williams has put up more pass-rush productivity this season than all three of KC's top defensive tackles combined. Williams has 20 total pressures on the season, including 12 hurries, five QB hits, and three sacks. Chris Jones, Khyiris Tonga, and Peter Woods have combined for 19 total pressures, including 14 hurries, three QB hits, and two sacks.
Byron Murphy also has 19 pressures and three sacks on the interior for Seattle. So the Seahawks are likely going to get some interior pressure, and when that happens, it forces the quarterback to scramble outside. If the edge rushers are able to get around the offensive tackles when that happens, that interior pressure can chase the QB right into a sack.
Kenneth Walker and the Chiefs' offensive tackles must step up
If the Chiefs want to beat this Seattle defense, two things need to happen. The first is that Kenneth Walker needs to continue his MVP-caliber season and keep the Chiefs in short third-down situations where the defense can't pin its ears back and attack the quarterback. The second is that the offensive tackles have to be able to hold up on the outside when asked to.
Kahlil Benson deserves a ton of credit for stepping in at left tackle as an undrafted rookie and not allowing a sack in his first five games. Knowing that, it seems almost impossible that Pro Football Focus would have him ranked as the third-worst-graded offensive tackle in pass protection this season. I mean, how could a player with no sacks allowed be graded lower in pass protection than someone like New Orleans' Taliese Fuaga, who has allowed four sacks?
While you can certainly poke holes in PFF's grading system, there is still some logic to this. Fuaga has given up four sacks and two QB hits on 275 pass-blocking snaps, and Kahlil Benson has given up zero sacks and seven QB hits on 187 pass-blocking snaps. So his man has actually hit the QB at a higher rate per pass-blocking snap than Fuaga's. Granted, a hit is way less detrimental to a drive than a sack, but sometimes a hit vs. a sack has more to do with the quarterback's ability to get the ball away than how the offensive tackle performed, and we can all agree that Patrick Mahomes has better pocket awareness than Tyler Shough.
PFF's grading system also benefits players who make dominant plays. So if Benson's man doesn't get a pressure, but due to the play design, PFF deems that an average tackle wouldn't have given up a pressure in that situation, then that play is a neutral snap and not a grade-boosting play. Benson's large number of neutral plays on passes where Kansas City has either given him help or gotten the ball out quickly have been effective for KC's offense thus far, even if they don't do much for his PFF pass-blocking grade. The question now is whether Seattle has the defensive personnel to force Benson out of these safe/neutral pass downs and make him prove he can hold up against a top defense on his own.
There's also a real possibility that Jaylon Moore may not be back from his concussion for this game, and KC may be starting Joshua Ezeudu for the first time. While Ezeudu only allowed one pressure on his 18 pass-blocking snaps after coming in last week, he is still a player that many viewed as a better guard in the NFL and may have to be protected as much as, or even more than, Benson is.
The Seattle Seahawks' defense was a huge part of their Super Bowl run last season (as was new Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker), and KC is in for a big test on Sunday night when they have to go head-to-head with them. KC's offensive tackles may not have faced a challenge of this magnitude yet this season. If they can hold up this week and keep Mahomes clean, it could be a huge statement that KC is poised to find success against just about any defense it will have to face. Here's to hoping they are up to that challenge.
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