Kansas City Chiefs vs Patriots: Breaking Down The O-Line Film

Week #11

The Kansas City Chiefs lose to the New England Patriots, 3-34.  The Chiefs drop to 4-6 on the season and are back at the bottom of the division after fighting their way to the top, from the slow start to the season.

After reviewing the film, I can't complain about how the line performed.  There were not a lot of missed assignments, players getting driven, or getting beat in pass protection (although there was some).  Much better than the last two weeks.

This week Rodney Hudson ends the game with a 94% assignment grade and a -1 dominance score.  He comes in for Ryan Lilja in the 2nd half and has a respectable day pass blocking from the left guard position.

Let's take a look at the rest of those grades...

Run Blocking Grades

	Percent	Grade Bar											Power	Pull	2/Level
	Grade												Blocking	Blocks	Blocks
Albert	80%												0	0	+10
Lilja	84%												-1	0	0
Wiegmann	84%												-2	0	+5
Asamoah	88%												-1	+3	0
Richardson	92%												0	+1	0
Hudson	75%												0	+1	0
Gaither	75%												0	0	0

Run Blocking Notes:

• Overall, the run blocking grade were good this week.  Albert had some trouble at the beginning of the game...but comes back and does a little better.
• Hudson has a 75% run assignment grade, but he doesn't get as many reps as I would like to see in the run game.
• Asamoah has a nice 2nd level block at 6:43 in the 3rd quarter.  He engages the defender and then drives him until he puts him on the ground.  Nice! (see pic, below)

*photo from Monday Night Football 

• At 11:21 in the 1st quarter, Barry Richardson and Jon Asamoah team up and drive the defender.  On the same play, Wiegmann and Ryan Lilja do the same.  I was just saying last week that the Chiefs have the fewest double team run blocks that drive the defender down the field of any team in the AFC West.  And against the Patriots, they do it a couple of times.  Nice job.
• If you would like to see how often the Chiefs ran at every line position how how well they did during the Patriots game, then go here.
• Jared Gaither comes in as an extra tackle at 5:37 in the 1st quarter.  He doesn't get many reps...and at 6:08 in the 3rd quarter, he gets thrown to the ground on a backside run block.
• Another double team run block at 4:23 in the 1st quarter by Branden Albert and Ryan Lilja that drives the defender 4 yards.
• If you would like to see how the Chiefs linemen have done over the past games, then look here.

Pass Blocking Grades

	Percent	Grade Bar											Power	Pressures	Sacks	Combo
	Grade												Blocking	Allowed	Allowed	Help
Albert	91%												0	1	1	8
Lilja	85%												-1	0	0	3
Wiegmann	91%												-2	2	0	30
Asamoah	94%												0	0	0	25
Richardson	83%												-5	1	2	14
Hudson	94%												-1	1	0	11

Pass Blocking Notes:

• Barry Richardson ends the day with an 83% assignment score.  That means he did his job 83% of the time.  But the problem was that Richardson had 14 help blocks and when he wasn't getting help..he was having problems.  Not all the time, but enough to get beat 5 times during the game.  One of those times was at 9:54 in the 3rd quarter.  (see pic, below)

*photo from Monday Night Football

• The pic, above, also shows a defender looping from the outside (around Albert) to the inside.  Later in the game...the Chiefs pick this up by having Hudson pass off his defender to Albert and then Rodney taking the looping end.
• The Chiefs show a new type of screen play at 14:24 in the 1st quarter.  It looks like a cross between a screen and an option play that Kansas City runs off their right side of the formation.
• At 10:53 in the 1st quarter, Richardson gets beat and Albert attempts another cut block...and misses.  I have said this before...Albert is the wost left tackle at cut blocks in the AFC West.  He does other things well, but cut blocking is not one of them.
• The pic below is an example of when the offensive line call demands that the offensive lineman pick up all of the defensive lineman and the quarterback is required to see any blitzes off the edge and adjust accordingly.  You can see that the receivers recognize the blitz and are going to a hot route...but the quarterback didn't pick it up.

*photo from Monday Night Football 

• At 7:51 in the 4th quarter, Richardson and Jon Asamoah have some miscommunication on who should take the inside pass rush of the defensive end.  The Chiefs actually communicate well when compare to other AFC West teams.  But instances like these still need to be corrected by the 11th week of the season.
  
• Hudson comes in and take the place of Ryan Lilja for the 2nd half.  He does a nice job of passing off a defender and picking up the looping defensive end at 8:22 in the 3rd quarter.  It is nice to see he has those skills...even after being on the bench all year.  You can see him in the pic, below.  He is just passing off the defender to Albert and has his head on a swivel, ready to pick of the looping defender.
  

*photo from Monday Night Football

• For the most part, the Chiefs' quarterback had a decent amount of time to make his throws during the Patriot game.
• As always, the tight ends and backs grades are at Pro Football Spotlight.  Click the button, below.

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