David Carr " Chiefs have higher upside with Mahomes"

[Deberg_1990]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yet, here we are looking at the same Kansas City Chiefs offense we've seen year after year.



The Chiefs have made three playoff appearances since Reid took over as head coach in 2013, losing once in the wild-card game (2013) and twice in the divisional round (2015, 2016). I'm a fan of Reid and quarterback Alex Smith, but with the way things are right now, they'll be sitting at home while Pittsburgh and New England duke it out on Championship Sunday.

I was Smith's teammate in San Francisco for one year (2010) and I got to know him well. When the weather starts playing a bigger factor in games late in the season, he's not a guy who can make tough throws in tough conditions. He's particular and wants the football a certain way. The colder the weather the firmer the ball and other conditions make the ball slippery. It's really hard to play in inclement weather as a quarterback, yet there are some guys -- like Brett Favre -- who could grab a ball out of a bucket of water or pile of mud and hurl it downfield. But everybody's not like that, including Smith. The conditions have to be right and the running game has to be there. As we've witnessed throughout his career, Smith isn't often going to transcend an offense and win a game on huge throws -- a frequent critique. He's just not that type of quarterback.

Early in the season, we saw Smith make those big plays and the Chiefs were rolling. We've seen downfield shots slowly digress as the season's gone on, a trend that goes back to at least the past two seasons. Since 2015, Smith has been far more effective throwing the ball down field (20-pus air yards) through the Chiefs' first eight games than he has in their final eight, completing more passes (42.1 percent vs. 36.7 percent) with a better TD-to-INT ratio (8:0 vs. 2:4) and a significantly higher passer rating (124.3 vs. 63.1).

Furthermore, since Smith's first year with the Chiefs in 2013, his passer rating on pass attempts of more than 20 yards has fallen off in the second half of the season.

September: 92.0
October: 111.1
November: 63.5
Dec.-Jan.: 68.8

The Chiefs' high-flying offense started to stall after the Steelers exposed a weakness in Week 6. Pittsburgh played more zone coverage and allowed them to throw the ball underneath by respecting the ability of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to make things happen downfield. In addition, the run game hasn't been as effective the last five games (the Chiefs are 1-4 in that stretch), averaging 81 rush yards per game. That's 70 yards per game fewer than Kansas City put up in its first five games (all wins). In my opinion, Smith needs the run game to improve or we'll likely see him continue to struggle throwing the ball downfield as this season progresses.

I know this sounds crazy, but there's a case for Patrick Mahomes, who played well in the preseason, to start in place of Smith as the playoffs near. The Chiefs gave up a third-rounder and next year's first to draft Mahomes, viewing him as their franchise quarterback of the future. He's a gunslinger who adds another dimension in the pass game when a) the weather worsens, and b) they're trying to go head to head with the AFC's best offenses.

It's definitely possible the Chiefs could find themselves in a Nathan Peterman situation, especially if they don't handle the timing of the switch well. We don't know. What I do know, though, is we can expect the same ending to the Chiefs' story if they don't change up their cast of characters.


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...-limits-chiefs

[OKchiefs]

Originally Posted by TigeRRUppeRRcut

Yep. Reid's got his slow cooker going for the kid. We don't even know his durability and are without a viable backup if he were to go down. 2 playoff wins and Smith more than likely stays.

Well we are not going to win in Foxboro in January so...

[RunKC]

Tiger hasn’t been this triggered since he started the “Alex is the QB of this team damnit quit hurting my feelings” thread in the RR.

It’s going to be interesting to see how he acts when Alex isn’t here next year.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Tiger hasn’t been this triggered since he started the “Alex is the QB of this team damnit quit hurting my feelings” thread in the RR.

It’s going to be interesting to see how he acts when Alex isn’t here next year.

Hopefully he just ****s off if he's going to just root for Mahomes to fail..

[TigeRRUppeRRcut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Tiger hasn’t been this triggered since he started the “Alex is the QB of this team damnit quit hurting my feelings” thread in the RR.

It’s going to be interesting to see how he acts when Alex isn’t here next year.

You said he'd be benched a month ago. WRONG

[stevieray]

won't win in foxboro

smith isn't here next year.

cheer for Mahomes to fail.

You guys are a bunch of repetitive, whiny vaginas whose main recourse is to spew bs opinion as fact.

[New World Order]

Andy is gushing about Mahomes. It's going to take a serious playoff push to offset 'The Drive' from last night.

[bigjosh]

Tiger in full troll mode tonight.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Pueblo Chieftan

The kid is a natural for sure. He is making strides, no doubt. The 2nd gif in particular where he drops back then climbs back up in the pocket tells me that the kid has been working hard to improve his game.

Regardless, I don't think he pulls the trigger on Mahomes just yet unless Alex either struggles or gets injured. It's not the way Andy works. It would be uncharacteristic of Reid IMO

Yep. Andy definitely believes Alex deserves to finish out the playoffs. After we are eliminated then he can ride off into the sunset to Cleveland.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

Hopefully he just ****s off if he's going to just root for Mahomes to fail..

He’s going to and the mods will need to stick him in the RR permanently when that happens.

[TigeRRUppeRRcut]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

Denver played their starters, the Chiefs did not. You not figured that out yet?

You are trying to drag Mahomes' performance through the dirt with all of your BS excuses. Let me ask you one simple rhetorical question though....

Would Smith have won that game with the backup crew that Mahomes played with against Denver's starters?

Fact check:
Darian Stewart 34% of snaps played (Mahomes INT)
Talib 10 snaps
Chris Harris 15 snaps
Von miller 50% of snaps


It was basically a preseason/throwaway game.

http://www.chiefs.com/news/article-2...3-962d54c3581e

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

Would Smith have won that game with the backup crew that Mahomes played with against Denver's starters?

Absolutely. He owns this division.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Pueblo Chieftan

Alex will be a Chief next year. Because Mahomes isn't ready. Write that in Red all over your walls ! Reid knows that it takes time to develop a quarterback because he is smart. Be patient.

Pocket awareness is one of the most important skill for a QB. You see all the great ones make one step here or there that is the difference between a sack and a completion

It's not what Mahomes can do (As he can do a lot) but it's whether he can do what solid QBs do such as staying strong in the pocket when the situation calls for it instead of scrambling and throwing ints.

He took 2 sacks against a starting defense with 4 starters on the offensive line out of the lineup. In his first start. Wtf is the matter with you?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by TigeRRUppeRRcut

I'm confused. What was amazing about a 0TD game and that awful performance against the Seahawks backups?

The kid isn't Russell Wilson. RW came out of college a winner with experience against good teams. A natural born leader with exceptional maturity. Mahomes won't be on that level until at least age 25, likely because of his discipline and lack of experience of playing on a highly competitive level. We saw it with his decision-making yesterday. Things that make a coach go nuts.

Lack of discipline? Good lord you're a troll.

Thats pretty funny that you want to point to one preseason game in his ROOKIE SEASON as your argument. Ignoring that he played 3 excellent preseason games. And acting like scoring 3 points (could have been 10 if not for a failed td reception) in 5 drives is not awful playing WITH backups is not "awful" considering how many times your boy does that on a regular basis. And what does lack of discipline mean? Forcing passes into 3 defenders and shit like that? Name a single pass against Seattle where he did something like that?

And don't even get me started on lack of discipline against Denver. He had one awful decision in the 2 minute drill to throw a jump ball. Maybe 2 throws where he Ill advisedly threw across his body. But from what I recall, the jump ball was really the only time he was closed to picked off. Where is this body of evidence that he's undisciplined since he's been here? Totally ridiculous comment.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by TigeRRUppeRRcut

Fact check:
Darian Stewart 34% of snaps played (Mahomes INT)
Talib 10 snaps
Chris Harris 15 snaps
Von miller 50% of snaps


It was basically a preseason/throwaway game.

http://www.chiefs.com/news/article-2...3-962d54c3581e



Absolutely. He owns this division.

He led a TD drive against their entire starting defense with backups.

Von, Davis, Marshall, Roby (who most likely will be their starting corner next year), Barrett, Peko all played at least half of the game.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

He took 2 sacks against a starting defense with 4 starters on the offensive line out of the lineup. In his first start. Wtf is the matter with you?

He’s just a Bronco fan and DC loon that is trolling for attention.

[Marcellus]

WTF does this place put up with poster like Tigger? Posters like him and Black Bob are bringing this place to its knees. They bring zero value to any discussion.