19 Comments

So why is our line so utterly beatable this year?

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How do we combat this with a crap o line?

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founding

The offensive line has not been good all season. Our interior offensive line is here on the cheap; our tackles are not. Last year our interior was also suspect. It appears that our tackles are playing poorly, but Patrick also seems to have happier feet this season. Have defenses caught up with Reid/Mahomes and confusing him post-snap? He looks like Alex (What an AMAZING return!) a fair amount of the time with clean pockets. Yes, I saw clean pockets. I love Patrick Mahomes, but he is not playing as well as he has in the past. And Andy really brought my ire with that 3rd and 2 reverse to the short side of the field after our defense got a stop on the first drive of the 2nd half. Tyreek is great, but Patrick showed few signs of struggle at that point. Let him make a play!

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Agree they haven't looked good all season, but I think it has been an issue longer than that. Pat had issues last season taking too deep of drops, a natural reaction to a pocket that regularly collapsed up the middle. I think we are seeing those deeper drops rear their ugly head again, which also puts him in the line of fire from the defenders' the tackles are trying to route around and deep, but what can he do? He can't stand in the pocket and get creamed.

I have been harping on this for 2 seasons now, and I just don't understand why this organization doesn't put more emphasis on the middle of the OL (Osemele was a good find, but he is done for the season). They finally have an elite QB, and they act like they could care less about his longevity, which to me is criminal. Teams have finally figured out the way to take advantage of this glaring weakness, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. This, my friend, is NOT good. Just take a look at the video of Dak Prescott's ankle pointing 90 degrees right, and you can see what scrambling for your life can do to your health.

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I think PM15 had a clean pocket several times & still bailed early. If he gets a sense early in a game that the line is having trouble, he starts to revert to his Texas Tech days. We need to shore up the line for sure but when he HAS a clean pocket he needs to climb up into it & scan the field. I get it....it's hard to do but he IS PM15! Go Chiefs!

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founding

Thanks for explaining what my untrained eyes were seeing, Seth. Are we finally paying the price for staffing our line with late round picks and other teams’ castoffs. How has this disintegrated so quickly? And then there is the perpetually poor run blocking. I am hoping this can be repaired soon. Reason to hope?

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On the 4th and 7 play, it appears that Patrick could've backed up and rolled out to the left where it looked like there was plenty of green ahead and he could've made it to the sideline or thrown open someone.

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He had a linebacker spy on him who would have had an angle wherever he went, would have made it tough either way.

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The most concerning thing (to me) is how frequently Mitchell Schwartz is getting beat, now. Last year he was lights out, but this year it looks like a toss-up between him and Fisher as to who's gonna be first to let his guy through.

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founding

Schwartz and Fisher regressing at the same time could be the difference between running it back and Patrick running for his life. The loss of Osemele also seemed to make a difference, although I don’t recall Remmers having any bad beats.

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It’s been SO painful/frustrating to watch the OL this season in both Pass Pro AND running the ball. Hope I’m wrong - but I can’t see how this can be fixed any time soon & this season could rapidly disintegrate.

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Thanks Seth this just confirms my apprehension about our OLine and the tackles in particular. Can you explain the so called holding calls the one against Osemele that erased the 1st TD to Hill and the 1 against Mitch in the 4th q. Because they both just look like good pancake blocks to me that drove the defender to the ground. Maybe that’s a form of holding and if so that’s ridiculous!

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Damn it, Seth! Your articles are so much more entertaining when describing the awesomeness of the Chiefs. Pat looked like he was back at Texas Tech, running for his life on every play. He wasn't seeing ghosts. It seemed like there was immediate pressure on roughly 50% of his dropbacks. Since this appears to be a recurring problem, how do they fix it?

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founding

Seth, just reread the article and it looks to me that the 6th video shows the pass rusher being able to blow by Fish’s left shoulder because Patrick dropped back 12+ yards. Do you agree that he drifted too far in this instance?

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This is spot on - the one thing that can really stop the machine ... three of five teams successfully using the same MO to stifle our O - Also, I don’t know for sure, but when PM gets frustrated his demeanor changes as well - also was trying to force into more coverage in these situations it seems - thoughts on that?

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Not too sure that scoring 32 points is being "stifled" but I agree that those 3 teams have given the template to frustrate PM15

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Agree 30+ should win games - but as in 2018 the O has to keep pace w our own D - and we got stiffed Through the 3Q

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author

Right, it's the best teams have been able to do. The onus is on the defense to at least be "OK" in those games.

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founding

Wondering if Schwartz is playing through some nagging injury. Remember when Frank Clark had awful start in 2019 and found out later about pinched nerves.

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