The Chiefs Offensive Line's Depth will be Crucial to Success in 2020
While the Kansas City Chiefs didn't have to use their full playbook to take down the Houston Texans, they showed enough of their offensive prowess to impress.
The Chiefs scored 31-unanswered points after allowing the opening score to the Texans. Kansas City showed it hasn't missed a beat since winning Super Bowl LIV in February but what makes this offense so good?
Arrowhead Report's Conner Christopherson joined me on today's Roughing the Kicker podcast where we discussed the Chiefs' stellar offensive ability and what makes them better this year than in years past.
One thing that stuck out to me is the offensive line. On the Thursday Night Football broadcast with NBC's Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth, the play of Kansas City's new addition, guard Kelechi Osemele, was frequently noted by Collinsworth. His physical dominance on the line was something missing from the Chiefs team a season ago.
Now with running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, the duo of tackle Eric Fisher and Osemele will create a strong running side for the rookie. We saw in Thursday night's game Edwards-Helaire just needs a little room to do a lot of damage.
Another aspect on the offensive line that Kansas City lacked last year was solid depth. The Chiefs had utility man/tackle Cameron Erving, guard Jeff Allen, guard/center Nick Allegretti, and tackle Martinas Rankin for their reserves. None of these guys really instilled that much confidence once they entered a game.
Now the Chiefs' reserves include tackle Mike Remmers, center Daniel Kilgore, Allegretti and rookie guard Yasir Durant with Rankin on the physically unable to perform list. The depth of this unit is much more sound.
With Remmers' ability to play confidently at any position on the line and Kilgore's experience, if an injury occurs it seems there will be an adequate replacement waiting. Allegretti has another year under his belt and could see some time with an injury to a guard.
In all, the offensive line's reliability can give the offense an extra boost in late-game situations when they seem to be unable to ice games by running the ball or milking the clock, which was the only area of improvement that I could see for the unit.
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