Is the offensive line’s performance against the Bills sustainable?

On the mailbag edition of the Arrowhead Pride Laboratory, we were asked if we thought the offensive line performance in Week 6 against the Buffalo Bills was sustainable. The Chiefs’ line put on a show, helping the run game produce 245 rushing yards behind it — highlighted by rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s 161 yards.

What’s so impressive about the Monday afternoon performance is the shuffle the group had to go through shortly after the start of the game with All-Pro right tackle Mitchell Schwartz’s early exit. The group was already undergoing renovation — with center Daniel Kilgore replacing Austin Reiter in the starting lineup. When Schwartz exited, Mike Remmers kicked out to right tackle and Nick Allegretti moved to left guard.

The group was certainly moving people in the run game — but the sustainability is in question. The Bills were resigned to allowing the Chiefs to run the football, play for depth with their coverage at both levels of the defense and hope to stall a terrifying offense down in the red zone. Buffalo played with a very light box for a large portion of the game — the Chiefs were often even in box numbers. The group up front still had to execute hat-for-hat and they did. This isn’t the first time this season a team has tried to approach the Chiefs like this — but the results haven’t looked as good as they did.

There is a lot up in the air about what group the Chiefs will roll out against Denver. Does Allegretti sit for Remmers? Is Kilgore in there long term? Is Schwartz back?

I’d prefer to see a lineup of Fisher - Allegretti - Kilgore - Wylie - Schwartz moving forward. The small sample size of Allegretti and Kilgore is intriguing and deserves further exploration. This group is probably best suited to block for new running back Le’Veon Bell — and obviously Edwards-Helaire. There are still questions remaining about pass protection and the Bills game didn’t test this group all too much in that regard. It’s worth finding out the next few weeks with the re-shuffling on the interior that we saw this week if the can keep Patrick Mahomes upright.

How to listen to Arrowhead Pride podcasts

Arrowhead Pride podcasts are available on Amazon Alexa, Apple, Google, Spotify and Stitcher. Please rate and review, as this helps us grow AP Radio to reach more Chiefs fans all over the world!

Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.