Chiefs Stock Watch, Week 13: Isiah Pacheco shines on disappointing night
By Ken Coltharp
Stock Down: Other Chiefs WRs
There is an infuriating dearth of talent among the Chiefs' pass catchers outside of a rapidly aging Travis Kelce and rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice, which was on full display during Sunday Night Football. Outside of those two, Chiefs pass catchers combined had only 5 catches for 46 yards. Green Bay's pass defense certainly is nothing to sneeze at, coming into the game ranked in the top ten in both passing defense and points allowed, but the performance put up by the wide receiver corps is wholly inexcusable as it has been all year.
Skyy Moore put up his fifth game of the season with less than 2 catches and under 10 yards receiving and had a considerable role in Patrick Mahomes' lone interception. It appeared that Moore stopped running mid-route, which threw off the timing of the pass, and the ball fell right into the hands of Packers defensive back Keisean Nixon. Moore's sophomore season has seen him regress to the point where there is a legitimate question about whether he even deserves a roster spot.
Outside of the two usual suspects, no one else showed up to pick up their slack. The Richie James experience has been nothing short of a complete failure to this point, but he still had a better game than Moore (by seven yards) and had 40 fewer plays to accomplish that feat. Justin Watson had as many total yards as I did despite being on the field for 60% of the plays on offense. Kadarius Toney was nowhere to be found outside of a dinky little six-yard gain during his 12 plays.
There is nothing to show that this group of receivers will be anything other than a range between wholly underwhelming and mediocre for the rest of the season, and the coaching staff is finally starting to see that. Rashee Rice led all wide receivers in snaps with 46, and I expect that number to increase. If the Chiefs have any hope for success come playoff time, they will have to lean on him to get it done because these other guys ain't it.