Offensive Identity

What would you say if Anderson Cooper came up to you, stuck a microphone in your face and asked you, "______, the world is in desperate need of a voice here!  We're counting on you to tell us... What were the Kansas City Chiefs missing last few years?"

Well, I think I can safely say that we'd be able to come up with a rather lengthy list.  In fact, one can pretty much safely say that the Chiefs were MISSING more than they had these last few years.  I mean, we didn't have a decent running game (until JC), QB play, adequate receivers, pass rush, reliable secondary, team speed, ability to stop the run, team leaders, team discipline, and about 40 other things that it takes to have a winning team.

There were two big things we were missing overall though:  offensive and defensive identity.  Our team didn't really have one thing that we could point to and say, "this is what we do well.  This is what the other team has to prepare for when they face us, and this is what we'll build our gameplan around."

Even last year after the emergence of Jamaal Charles it was tough to say that we had an absolute identity.  Why?  Well, simply put, because he's only one guy.  And one guy can only do so much in the modern NFL, particularly if that one guy is only 200 pounds and plays a position that takes a pounding.

We all saw what happened when JC left the game.  Our offense basically dried up, and we couldn't do anything.  Bowe and Chambers are good receivers, but neither is a "primary threat" kind of guy (except maybe Bowe, but we've yet to see that).

So what is our offensive identity, and why am I wasting your time writing about it?  Well, I'd like to make an argument for MY dream of our offensive identity...

There's been a lot of talk about Dexter McCluster getting 5 carries in our last preseason game and being the featured back on one of our drives.  People seem to like that he did well, but there's been a lot of wariness as well.  Particularly, I've heard one argument made a few times that...

"McCluster's taking carries away from Charles and Jones when he touches the ball.  We need him more at WR."

While I'm not going to argue that We need Dex to contribute from the slot (that much is obvious), I'd like to talk about those carries he's taking away from Jones/Charles.

Last year, we averaged about 27 carries per game for our RB's.  This was while achieving 91 1st downs, a figure in the lower half of the league.  I think we all know that our team had a lot of "3 and outs" on offense.  In fact, it's been pointed out that our defense actually led the league in FORCING "3 and outs" from other teams' offenses.  

What does this tell us?  That we left a lot of potential possessions out on the field last year.

Where am I going with this?  What is the point?  Did the Resurrection really occur?  I'm going to answer 2 of those questions right now.

We can give adequate carries Charles, Jones, AND Dex... and maybe even have a few left over for some "up and comer".

The NYJ ran the ball 38 times per game last year.  They did that because they had a talented pair of RB's, and actually a trio while Leon Washington was healthy.  They also had pretty much zip going on in the passing game (sorry H2E) with bad QB play and ho-hum WR's.

But they had an offensive identity.  And I want us to commit identity theft.

I want us to carry the ball 35-40 times a game.  I want us to give Charles the ball 18-20 times a game, Jones 10-12 times, and Dex another 8-10 times.

I want us to be a team that throws the ball maybe 20 times a game.  I want us to play to what we can do well.  Let's face it, who do we have to throw it to outside of Bowe, Chambers, and maybe Dex/Moeaki (neither of whom are proven receivers at the NFL level)?  When you only have a few weapons to throw too, why do you need to throw it 35 times a game?

So there's my solution for our "problem" at RB.  Let's run that rock.  Let's use the weapons we have.  And let's make teams fear something that we do well.  We know that our line can effectively use zone blocking to block for a small, quick back.  And we know (at least, we think we know) that TJ is capable of muscling through when the yards are tough.

I want team's to look at our game film and say, "Wow, they really run the ball effectively.  We're going to have to make some adjustments based on that." 

Wouldn't that be nice?  Kansas City Chiefs; "They run the crap out of the ball".

As far as defensive identity... Well, I can't fix all our problems in one post, can I?

**********Quick disclaimer.  I don't think we should run the ball with the same STYLE as NY.  We don't have the hogs for that.  I think our "run the ball 40 times a game" offense should feature more outside runs, counters, and tosses than runs up the middle.**********