Have the Chiefs Found the Right Combination On the Offensive Line?
After a strong showing from the offensive line against the Buffalo Bills in the Kansas City Chiefs 26-17 win on Monday night, is it fair to wonder if the Chiefs have finally found the right combination in the trenches?
Now, this could be an overreaction — I'm aware of that — but this is the best we have seen the men up front play and I think it warrants this question.
That's what I talk about with Arrowhead Report's Jordan Foote as we recap the Chiefs' win over the Bills on today's Roughing the Kicker podcast.
While we didn't see the high-flying passes of Patrick Mahomes or the phenomenal deep ball catches from Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs offense was still effective against the Bills on a cold and wet October night.
Their solution was to run the ball. Bills head coach Doug McDermott said after the game he was content with letting the Chiefs gash his defense in the run game as long as they didn't give up a big passing play.
To McDermott's credit, they only gave up one big passing play where Mahomes found wide receiver Byron Pringle on a third-down play to continue the Chiefs game-sealing drive.
But what was most impressive about the Chiefs' offensive performance was their dominance on the ground and a lot of the credit goes to the offensive line. On Monday's Roughing the Kicker, Joshua Brisco and I dove into the Bills defense and how they are ranked in the bottom of the league in overall DVOA, passing DVOA and rushing DVOA. Overall, the Bills' defensive unit has been underwhelming.
We saw McDermott healthy scratch two defensive linemen in order to shake things up but it didn't seem to help as Kansas City ran for an Andy Reid-era high 245 yards. Coming into the contest, the Chiefs had averaged 119.4 rushing yards per game. It's no secret this isn't the best defensive front Kansas City has faced, but they played the majority of the game with only two of their starting linemen.
With opening day starters, Kelechi Osemele, Austin Reiter and Mitchell Schwartz out, reserves Daniel Kilgore, Mike Remmers and Nick Allegretti stepped up and helped the offensive line command the trenches.
Not only did they dominate in the rushing game, but in pass protection, Mahomes was only sacked once and the 25-year-old quarterback had plenty of time in the pocket to throw when the Chiefs needed him to.
I've admittedly been a bit lukewarm on Andrew Wylie this season, but his performance on Monday made me excited and I think the Chiefs has something going here with the group they put out.
I'd obviously love to see a healthy Schwartz back in the lineup but with Allegretti at guard and Remmers at his natural tackle position, the line seemed to flourish. I don't think there's any need for Schwartz or Reiter to hurry back with the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Carolina Panthers awaiting the Chiefs.
It only gets better knowing Le'Veon Bell is bringing his awareness and patience to the backfield in Kansas City. Things are looking bright after some dark days for the offensive line and they might just have something figured out.
