Second Look/New England: Offense
Guess who graded out the highest among the Chiefs offensive line from the season opener in New England?
How about rookie LT Branden Albert (right)! Without a play of action in four pre-season games Albert took the field at Gillette Stadium and played well. He was good enough to score better than his more veteran teammates.
We spent the day looking at the tape, and I don’t mean the TV broadcast, but the coaching tape with a full field view and end zone angle.
A few impressions on the offense:
Larry Johnson ran well. For the most part he read his blocks very well. He was sticking his foot in the ground, making one move and heading north. There was none of the dancing behind the line of scrimmage that he showed at the start of the disappointing ‘07 season. There were a couple plays where Johnson may have picked his hole too quickly. But for the most part he ran well, especially on his 22-yard run, when he hit up inside, then jumped outside and got a big block from Albert that sprung him around the left end.
There were simply not enough holes open for Johnson or any of the Chiefs runners, especially on the right side of the line. RT Damion McIntosh and RG Adrian Jones did not get much push off the line of scrimmage and McIntosh had problems in pass protection. Watching the game live, it looked like C Rudy Niswanger was getting mauled by New England NT Vince Wilfork. But a look at the tape showed that Niswanger didn’t play that poorly. LB Brian Waters and Albert were the best OL performers.
The Chiefs were able to get Johnson to the defense’s second level, but that’s problematic against a New England unit that’s one of the better ones in the league. Sometimes the Chiefs handled ILB Tedy Bruschi. Other times Bruschi filled the hole, fought off blocks from FB Mike Cox and stuff the play.
RB Jamaal Charles took the blame for the hit that led to a separated shoulder for QB Brodie Croyle. As the single back in the shot gun, he picked up an outside blitzer (S Rodney Harrison) and allowed LB Adalius Thomas to rush in untouched. No matter who Charles blocked, one of the rushers was coming free at Croyle, who held the ball too long because he could see the rushers coming at him. For the most part in this game, Croyle got rid of the ball quickly. This was one play he held it, trying to make a big gain. He paid the price.
Charles also blew another blitz pickup late in the game, when CB Ellis Hobbs came off the quarterback’s left edge on the Chiefs last possession. Charles hesitated after the snap, and then ran a short route, running right past the blitzing Hobbs who took down Damon Huard.
There were two other sacks by LB Mike Vrabel. On his first he split Jones and McIntosh and went to the ground, but got his hand out and yanked Huard down by the ankles. On his second sack, Vrabel was unblocked by the Chiefs. McIntosh and TE Brad Cottam doubled up on the defensive end, leaving the rushing linebacker with a clear path to Huard. If Vrabel had not gotten him on that play, Wilfork probably would have as he split block attempts by Jones and at the end of the play by McIntosh.
There was not enough consistency on the part of the Chiefs offense. Here’s an example that came late in the second quarter.
The Chiefs offense had 1st-and-10 at the New England 24-yard line. They had already moved down the field on nine plays and as the seconds were ticking off the second-quarter clock, they were having some success. But it came to a halt on three plays:
1st Down – Croyle dropped back to pass, had good pocket protection and threw down field to Bowe who had his hands on the ball and was hit at the same time. It fell incomplete.
2nd Down – The Chiefs went with two backs, two tight ends, with Johnson going in motion to a wide receiver spot to the right. The offense had five people on that side of the ball. The pitch to Charles to that side went nowhere, as he gained just two yards. Gonzalez couldn’t handle Vrabel on the outside, as the Patriots LB forced the play inside.
3rd Down – With eight yards to reach a first down, the Chiefs went shotgun with three WRs, Gonzalez and Charles on the field. Croyle got good protection early, but eventually was flushed to the right. He was able to stop set up and throw towards Bowe in the end zone. But the throw was short and Bowe never had a chance to compete for the ball with two different New England defenders.
4th Down – Nick Novak kicked a 40-yard FG.
Another interesting read Bob, keep up the great reporting, it seems to be, ummm thin, in the Kansas City Chiefs blogisphere. Thank You!
I was just curious, on the first T.D. of the game,
(the one to Moss) were the Chiefs playing a zone D, or did someone blow their coverage? or both?
I was trying to watch it streaming and didn’t see it very clearly. Something didn’t look quite right from what I seen.
I’d like to see more of a take on what you thought of Brodie’s overall performance. I actually think he did very well, he got rid of the ball quick and made pretty accurate passes. He didn’t make any bad decisions with the ball and didn’t try to force it. If Bowe didn’t drop a few balls that were on his hands his completion percentage would of been up that at around 70% I believe.
Overall I thought he did a great job in the first half, but we need some guys to get open a little more, and some more holes in the running game to take pressure off. (hard versus the NE front)
Only thing I’d like to see Croyle work on is the ability to look off the secondary and have better vision of the entire field.
I agree that Brodie did greatly. Does anyone know of his leeway when using audibles? They really didn’t seem very affective. I know when Matt Leinart started in Zona he was only allowed to audible to change directions. Was this the case for Brodie? If so, then we need to start opening that up.
Was there a problem with our route running or our receivers getting separation and getting open? I really hope that was the problem when Brodie kept using his check down receiver. If that’s the case, then I think he did very well. If not, then there was definitely a problem.
Thanks for a great overview Bob. I too, was impressed with the work of Albert at LT in this game, particularly given the fact that he had so few reps in the pre-season.
1. I would like to see you address the playcalling. some think it was Solari conservative, others have a diffrent point of view.
2. Although there were a number of dropped balls, i think part of the problem is that Brodie throws it too hard for the WR to catch. They seem to have an easier time with catching Huard’s passes.
JohnNdallas…where did you watch the game streaming?
Base on their first game Albert should have been our 1st choice Dorsey our 2nd. That may change but the haters should give Herm & his scouts their due.I don’t care what they say Herm is- was the right choice for the rebuilding job that need to be done. I have felt Brodie was the answer at Qb time well tell. He has to be able to stay health to show us he can be . This just makes me think we had a chance for Brees that was young & all it would have taken was money . The down fall of Peterson was his inability to find a future Qb in the draft or in free agency .
findthedr
Brett Favre- John Elway- Jeff George- Bert Jones- Terry Bradshaw – all QBs with howitzers for arms whose receivers theirs managed to regularly hold on to passes thrown them. Croyle throws the ball no harder (in fact, not as hard as most each and every of these aforementioned QBs.)
What I saw Sunday was not a matter lack of touch on passes but more so a lack of concentration on the part KCs receivers – or more so ‘a’ receiver in particular…one. Don’t recall any player not wearing KCs #82 having a case or pallet full the dropsies.
The great Otis Taylor was still dropping passes well into his 3rd season with the Chiefs before he eliminated the dubious knack almost entirely from his repertoire.
See that rookie Royal catching Cutler’s bullets last night for Denver? Me too, enviously.
Is there any way that a fan can get access to the game tapes the nfl provides to nfl teams and coaches?
Nick email me at boomrt175@yahoo and I’ll give you the link there. I don’t know if Bob would want me putting it on his blog.