What they get wrong about the Kansas City Chiefs

They say that the Kansas City Chiefs have a new offense now. That Andy Reid is dialing up deep balls and that’s why we see Alex Smith stretching the field more often in this early part of the season.

Is that really the case? Is the Chiefs offense that different? I don’t think it is. I think a lot of these plays were in the playbook before. I think it’s as simple as this: Alex is throwing it deeper now. Like, those guys were running those routes before. It’s that Alex is actually throwing it deeper now and he has the perfect personnel for it (hi, Tyreek Hill).

I caught the KC Star’s Terez Paylor on 610 Sports talking about this yesterday. He thinks there’s something to Patrick Mahomes’s presence and Alex stretching the field.

“I don’t think it’s not like it wasn’t in the playbook,” Terez told Carrington Harrison and Brad Fanning about the Chiefs “new” vertical offense. “I think Andy had some of this stuff dialed up. We saw it in the Pittsburgh game where guys were open downfield and Alex didn’t go downfield. I think, to a certain degree, Alex is comfortable of being protective of the ball. That’s kinda who he is, he makes the smart decision, the safe decision and doesn’t want to be the reason the team loses.

“I do think that, in a way, I think he had to see someone else come in here and start slinging the ball around like Pat and connecting on the deep balls and watching the way his teammates reacted to that and pushed him to take that final step to being a really, really good quarterback.”

I found that really interesting, talking about the way his teammates reacted to Mahomes deep balls in practice. Terez said later you’ll just have to “trust me on that” that those deep balls in practice meant something.

I don’t think it’s a new offense. I do think there is something to the “new” Alex narrative. It’s not “new” as in he’s gonna throw for 4,900 yards and 40 touchdowns. Nah, not like that. But if you get an Alex Smith that’s, let’s say, 10 percent better than what he has been? For a quarterback who has been to the Divisional round two straight years, that could be enough to push the Chiefs over the top.