State of the Chiefs Passing Game After Week 6
The passing game continues to get a little more murky through week six.
I’d love to tell you that the Chiefs passing game is making strides and is looking better each and every week but that’s not the case right now. Patrick Mahomes has played well for the most part but is still not trusting his receivers sometimes. Drops aren’t a big problem, but the Chiefs still have a few more each week.
The biggest thing that has stalled the passing game and the Chiefs’ offense overall is the play-calling. Against the Broncos you could argue that the Chiefs staff took a big step back in key situations and getting the Chiefs in the right position to win the game. Let’s take a look at a few key plays before diving into the Chiefs’ passing attack.
On the first drive, the Chiefs made it down to the Broncos 17-yard line and Mahomes threw to Toney on a slant. The defender made a great play and knocked the ball down. Had the ball gotten through it looked like the Chiefs could have had a TD on the drive as they moved into scoring position not having a third down before the batted pass. A good play by the Broncos’ defense there likely took four points off the board.
Just a few minutes later after an interception by Wilson the Chiefs are back on the Denver 15-yard line. On 3rd and 8 Mahomes tried to do too much and threw his own interception. He had Moore right before the pressure arrived, but as the defender grabbed his ankle Mahomes attempted a pass to the endzone and his arm was hit for an easy interception. That took likely a field goal off the board as Moore getting the first wasn’t a given but possible if the throw was on time.
On the next drive, the Chiefs ran a fake field goal trying to use Tommy Townsend as the guy pushing Noah Gray to a first down. The biggest problem was the distance was two yards, not one. This took another field goal off the scoreboard for the Chiefs. So before the first half ended the Chiefs had left an easy 10 points on the field.
Kansas City would go on to have another third down inside the 10 of Denver on their first possession of the second half and had to settle for a field goal. Their second drive in the third quarter again had the Chiefs in a third and one and instead of running a regular play they put Toney in at the Wildcat and let him decide who he handed the ball to. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Toney called his own number and lost three yards when handing the ball to Pacheco looked like it would have easily converted the third down.
Offensively the Chiefs easily left 13+ points on the field against the Broncos on Thursday night. Had they scored closer to 30 I don’t think people would be as frustrated but they decided to try different plays in several high-leverage situations and just about every single time it went against them. The positive is I think on a regular week against the Broncos the score will be decidedly more lopsided but we will see in a couple weeks.
Patrick Mahomes
On a night when Mahomes broke 300 yards for only the second time this season, the offense was pretty efficient. Mahomes was at a 75% completion rate for the second game in a row but they couldn’t convert consistently on third downs. Mahomes was five for ten on third downs but only converted three of those five throws into first downs.
He also threw a TD on third down in his 6th consecutive game for the Chiefs but also added a third-down interception which I discussed earlier. His INT on third down against the Broncos is his first on third down this season. With Watson likely out for a couple of weeks, Mahomes is going to have to start trusting his receivers more if this offense is going to be successful.