The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line is better with Jeff Allen playing. Does that surprise anyone who has watched every game this season? The Chiefs o-line has come alive in recent weeks and the nasty attitude brought to the line by Jeff Allen has been cited as one of the reasons for the improvement.
"I thought (Jeff Allen) actually played better this week than he did last week," Reid said, via quotes from the Chiefs. "I thought he did a nice job. He's a tough guy so he brings a certain nastiness in there and you need that for that position."
Allen is playing in place of Ben Grubbs who remains out with a neck injury. It's not clear if Grubbs will return this season.
"I've mentioned this before, it's not always pretty with those guys up there," Reid said of his offensive line. "We're not going for style points right now, we're looking for toughness and grit, trying to work our fundamentals the best we can, but we're not going to forget the other part to do that. We're going to maintain a certain attitude. If you're going to be in there, you're going to maintain that certain attitude. If you're in there, you're maintaining that attitude, and Jeff brings a little bit of that with him."
Alex Smith was still sacked too many times (three) but overall the line play was much better. Jah Reid continues to struggle but everyone else has seemed to play pretty well in recent weeks. If Grubbs comes back to left guard, the Chiefs can flip Allen to right tackle, which would arguably be their best five linemen. It probably doesn't hurt that the Chiefs are running the ball so well as that can build some o-line confidence.