The Kansas City Chiefs were better on third down against the Carolina Panthers but that’s not really saying much. Going from 1/14 on third down against Jacksonville to 2/12 against the Panthers isn’t exactly progress.
Big Red doesn’t usually give us much flavor at his press conferences but on Monday he flat out said the Chiefs have been terrible on third down.
“A couple of weeks ago, three weeks ago, we were kind of right there doing our thing, doing well in the third down and doing well in the red zone, we have to take care of that first. Our third down percentage the last two weeks have been just terrible.”
I looked it up and three third down conversions in 26 tries is not good!
“I have to make sure I get the guys in the right position and do stuff the right way,” Reid continued. “We have to cut it down, we have these third and gazillion yards, too many penalties that are working into that and putting us into long yard situations. We have to take care of that first and then cut those down and then your percentages have a tendency to go back up and then red zone, likewise. We have to stay aggressive in the red zone, but there is a time and place to check it down or run it and I have to make sure I’m giving the guys the opportunity to do that.”
It’s the mistakes. We saw it on Sunday. The false start pushes the Chiefs back to first and 15, forces them to pass and they end up with a third and long. The Chiefs had consecutive drives with false starts where this happened (they went for on fourth down and got it). False starts will be easier to avoid at home.