What happened to the Chiefs' OL against the Jets?

Examining a tough night for a group that had been previously protecting Patrick Mahomes very well.

After looking at the film and taking some time to set emotion aside, I have a bit of a hot take that has nothing to do with this article… The Chiefs’ struggles against a very good Jets defense on Sunday have been slightly overwrought.

Now to be clear, I’ll never claim the offense played well. I’ve called it a “C-” game elsewhere. But that said, it’s at least worth noting that the offense put up 23 on a defense that held a terrific Bills offense to 16 points (they gave up 30 to Dallas, but that was in large part due to 3 horrific picks by Zach Wilson, who apparently only plays like a demigod against the Chiefs), Further, the only reason it wasn’t 30 was due to a choice by Patrick Mahomes to take the guaranteed win and slide at the end of the game. And while the passing attack struggled, the Chiefs DID gash the Jets on the ground for 200+ yards.

So all that is good news. Of course, at the same time, receivers struggled to create separation against a very good Jets secondary, and Mahomes played arguably his worst game of the last 2 seasons (I’ll write his film review later this week). So there’s that on the negative side of the ledger.

What I want to talk about today, though, is the offensive line. Specifically pass protection. Because while the OL has attracted its share of controversy this season, it’s been widely acknowledged that pass protection has been quite good. With arguably the best interior OL in the league, Taylor pass protecting at a high level, and Donovan Smith being better than he was last season, overall Mahomes had been kept relatively clean through 3 weeks.

That changed Sunday against the Jets, as Mahomes spent much more time on the run and/or getting hit than what we’ve been accustomed to seeing this season.

(I’m trying out video clips rather than gifs on this one, let me know what you think!)

So what happened? Well, to answer that question (and since I’m already reviewing Mahomes’ snaps), I looked at every pass rush “flush” (plays in which a QB is forced to bail out of the pocket or sacked/hit due to the line failing relatively quickly) to see what the root causes were. Why exactly was the line struggling more than usual?

Let’s talk about OL play, a unique opponent and why one can find good news and potentially bad news in a rough performance.