During the Kansas City Chiefs five game win streak I felt as though I noticed a tendency: The Chiefs have been limiting the number of negative plays on offense.
Now I could have just sat on my couch and ate Funyuns and believed my pre-concieved notion to be true (which would have been awesome), but instead I chose to do the research and write an article. I had been itching to step out of the grading Andy Reid cave for a bit anyways. Is that sunlight I see?
We're going to be looking at a number of graphs in this article and I hope you enjoy them. The goal of this article is to see if the Chiefs have in fact lowered their percentage of negative plays on offense, and if they have what are the side effects are of doing so.
So what is a negative play?
The following are what will be considered a negative play. Keep in mind this focuses only on the offensive side of the ball.
- An offensive play from scrimmage that results in a loss of yardage.
- An offensive play that results in a turnover.
- An offensive penalty that is accepted.
The findings
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Negative Play Percentages | ||
Game | Win | Loss |
1 | 9.1 | 27.9 |
2 | 16.9 | 18.2 |
3 | 9.2 | 18 |
4 | 13.1 | 6.9 |
5 | 6.3 | 16.7 |
The Chiefs cut down on their negative plays on offense during the winning streak. If you don't believe me here are the averages during the two winning streaks.
Average Negative Play Percentage During Losing Streak: 17.54 percent
Average Negative Play Percentage During Winning Streak: 10.92 percent
So we can see the Chiefs really cut down their negative plays after their five game losing streak. Does anyone remember Reid mentioning that one of the reasons for the Chiefs turnaround was working on the fundamentals? Working on fundamentals could cause fewer mistakes, fewer mistakes means better execution, and better execution results in fewer negative plays.
But how much has this been helping the Chiefs on both sides of the ball, offense and defense?
I'm not saying the following tables are direct causalities, but I will say they must certainly have played a factor. As you can see in the graph below the Chiefs offense has scored more points thanks to fewer negative plays on offense.
The interesting thing is how the fewer negative plays on offense have affected the defense.
Conclusion
Reid made an excellent choice to "get back to the fundamentals." The Chiefs have lowered their number of negative plays on offense and a direct result of that has been a much improved Chiefs team. I believe the Chiefs ability to lower their negative plays on offense is one of the most significant factors in why the Chiefs have made the turnaround. If they continue to limit the negative plays they will not only make the playoffs, but they should also have a good shot at doing some damage when they get there.