After ‘kick in the pants,’ Chiefs’ O-line pledges to keep Mahomes cleaner on Friday

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Article from the KC Star this Sunday with some needed encouragement: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nf...216549170.html

Full article in the spoiler tags below:

Spoiler!

By Brooke Pryor/KC Star

ST. JOSEPH —

The way center Mitch Morse sees it, Thursday night was the kind of reality check the Chiefs’ offensive line needed.

The first string of linemen played only nine snaps in the 17-10 preseason loss to the Texans, but those nine snaps revealed plenty about the group tasked with protecting the Chiefs’ young quarterback this season.

Patrick Mahomes was hit on four of those snaps, including on the very first one.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Morse said. “You are not going to come off of that and be OK with how it went. Sometimes you need a kick in the pants to rev it up, get out there and see what you need to work on. If anything, we are glad it happened now. We wish it hadn’t happened, but if it’s going to happen, now is the time so we can get out there and be all-cylinders firing by the end of training camp.

“It’s not going to be perfect next game. We are just going to get better little by little every day. That’s all we can ask for.”

After being drilled from behind on the first play of the day — Houston’s Brennan Scarlett and Christian Covington beat left tackle Eric Fisher and left guard Cam Erving — Mahomes got through the final three snaps of the first series without taking another hit.

But the line broke down even more on the second series.

Mahomes delivered a clean screen pass to Tyreek Hill to open the series, and followed up with another clean completion to Travis Kelce, getting the ball off just and the Texans’ pressure ramped up.

Mahomes ended his outing by taking three consecutive hits, beginning with a sack as Angelo Blackson slipped under Mitchell Schwartz to make the initial tackle. Soon after, Duke Ejiofor and Scarlett converged on Mahomes as they beat tight end Demetrius Harris and Fisher, respectively.

On the next snap, Mahomes targeted Kelce but badly overthrew him in the corner, absorbing a hard hit from Ejiofor as the outside linebacker spun around Schwartz to hit Mahomes with ball leaving his hand.

The series ended on the next play when Mahomes was taken down by Ejiofor, Covington and Carlos Watkins, grounding the ball right before he was tackled.

“Protecting the quarterback is something we work very hard at,” offensive line coach Andy Heck said Sunday. “We’ve got to continue to work hard at it. You see on the first play of the game, our quarterback got hit. As an O-line, that’s not acceptable. We know the importance of protecting the quarterback, particularly early in the game. So we’re busting our butts out here, working on throwing our hands, making sure we’re accurate with those punches in our technique.”

Even after the breakdowns in Thursday’s game, the top offensive line unit remained the same in Saturday and Sunday’s practices until right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif left early to be evaluated for a head injury. With Duvernay-Tardif out, second-teamer Andrew Wylie took over at right guard.

Each first-string player on the Chiefs’ line — LT Fisher, LG Cam Erving, C Morse, RG Duvernay-Tardif, RT Schwartz — has at least four years of experience in the NFL. Fisher has six years’ experience with the Chiefs, and Schwartz has been in the league seven years.

Even so, the group still struggled to jump into the rhythm of a game on Thursday night.

“What I saw out of that group was great effort and intensity and probably a little bit of jitters and over doing some things,” Heck said. “We’ve got a high standard. We’ve been a young O-line in the past, but right now, we’re one of the older, more experienced groups on this team. We expect a lot out of those guys and a lot out of ourselves in that area.

“So we know that we’ve got to amp up the intensity, put the pressure on ourselves, raise that bar a little bit and keep working hard.”

The Chiefs’ line will have a chance to give Mahomes a smoother start against the Falcons on Friday night before heading to Chicago the next week.

“I think you want to give the first few plays, your quarterback an opportunity to get a rhythm going,” Morse said. “As an offensive line, we need to do a better job to give him that opportunity. So we go out there and we do what we’re told. That’s part of the gig.

“Coach puts together a great first few plays, first few drives, and that’s our chance to get out there and really protect.”

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nf...#storylink=cpy

[srvy]

Originally Posted by -King-

Lol watch film in preseason?

The clearly thought Texans would play extra vanilla like they did. Obviously they were wrong but they don't really need to change anything. Just take preseason a little more seriously.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thats a bit of a stretch dont ya think? That shitty O line has any delusions of grandeur that they are good and all safe then we really have problems.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by srvy

Thats a bit of a stretch dont ya think? That shitty O line has any delusions of grandeur that they are good and all safe then we really have problems.

I don't think it's delusions of grandeur. A lot of vets just aren't motivated to barely try in preseason games. Its a bigger stretch to suggest that 2 players who were average at worst last year just totally forgot how to play the position.
Posted via Mobile Device

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by -King-

I don't think it's delusions of grandeur. A lot of vets just aren't motivated to barely try in preseason games. Its a bigger stretch to suggest that 2 players who were average at worst last year just totally forgot how to play the position.
Posted via Mobile Device

These ****in idiots just want something to bitch about

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by -King-

Lol watch film in preseason?

The clearly thought Texans would play extra vanilla like they did. Obviously they were wrong but they don't really need to change anything. Just take preseason a little more seriously.
Posted via Mobile Device

I don't ****ing know. I'm not an NFL coach or player. I don't know what they have to change. They just have to change something if the best they can do was the product we saw last week.

If they CAN do better without changing their routine, then, uhhh... they should do that. Like... now.

[RealSNR]

We're ****ed. From Matt Lane's training camp report yesterday:

Cam Erving is the starting left guard—and there is no real competition there. No one will ever say the guy can’t get out into space and cover ground.

[OKchiefs]

What the **** happened to Ehinger?

And these guys should all be embarrassed getting whooped by the Texans backups. It'd be understandable if it was Clowney and Watt whooping them, but it wasn't. This OL is full of soft pussies.

[-King-]

We're going to need a completely line overhaul since we're going away from a west coast ball is out in 3 seconds or less to a more vertical offense with Pat holding the ball longer.

3/5 of our line is too small or too shitty for that offense long term and LDT is borderline small too. We can get by this year, but we need to get bigger.
Posted via Mobile Device

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by -King-

We're going to need a completely line overhaul since we're going away from a west coast ball is out in 3 seconds or less to a more vertical offense with Pat holding the ball longer.

3/5 of our line is too small or too shitty for that offense long term and LDT is borderline small too. We can get by this year, but we need to get bigger.
Posted via Mobile Device

Can't believe I'm saying this but we need to draft a fatty in the first next draft.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by -King-

We're going to need a completely line overhaul since we're going away from a west coast ball is out in 3 seconds or less to a more vertical offense with Pat holding the ball longer.

3/5 of our line is too small or too shitty for that offense long term and LDT is borderline small too. We can get by this year, but we need to get bigger.
Posted via Mobile Device

Has it actually been stated that this is what they're going to do? I have no doubt we are going to see more vertical passing because of Mahomes' arm strength, but Andy Reid has run an offense for 20 years that's built on stretching the field horizontally and having guys who can operate in space. I don't imagine he's going to completely trash it.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by tk13

Has it actually been stated that this is what they're going to do? I have no doubt we are going to see more vertical passing because of Mahomes' arm strength, but Andy Reid has run an offense for 20 years that's built on stretching the field horizontally and having guys who can operate in space. I don't imagine he's going to completely trash it.

I'm pretty sure we're going to keep a lot of west coast elements because that's Andy Reid's bread and butter but Alex was top 3 in time between snap and pass. I don't think Pat will be anywhere near that and I don't have confidence in the while left side of the line if they're asked to protect for much longer than theyve had to the past few years.
Posted via Mobile Device

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by srvy

I stopped reading at "The way center Mitch Morse sees it"

no shit man.

Morse is the equivalent of Cassel saying "I think I played ok out there" after throwing 3 INT's. I forget what he actually said post game, but it was something along those lines. He's the Baghdad Bob of the OL.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

We're ****ed. From Matt Lane's training camp report yesterday:

I still think Eric Fisher is garbage, going on year 6.

Wish the Chiefs replaced his ass a long time ago.

[tyreekthefreak]

I think its the scheme we try to run that is the problem. Both tackles just try and push their man past the QB...forming a pocket for the QB to step into. But with the center and BOTH guards being pushed back there is no room to step up into a pocket.


Schwartz sucks.....the last play in the Titans game his man was PAST him before he even got out of his stance!!!! Morse is small and gets bullrushed easily. LG has been a problem for years.

Andy Heck sucks and our line sucks...….period!

[Deberg_1990]

I’m sure this was just the ‘kick in the pants’ they needed!

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

I still think Eric Fisher is garbage, going on year 6.

Wish the Chiefs replaced his ass a long time ago.

The only reason our line as a whole isn't considered garbage is Smith's ability to scrable and move. We suck, horribly, at pass blocking.