Too Many 3rd Downs For Chiefs

From Arrowhead Stadium

There were 30 third down plays in Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and Dolphins.

Both teams converted 11 of those situations into first downs, or 36.7 percent.

The Chiefs actually had a percentage better than that, as they faced 20 third-down plays, converting eight of them for 40 percent. That’s still way too many do or die situations for an offense,

“Offensively, we did things to set ourselves back, whether it was a penalty or minus play, a sack,” said head coach Todd Haley. “We aren’t a high-powered unit to so speak. We can’t afford to be going an extra 10, 15, 20 yards during drives.”

On average, the Chiefs faced a 3rd-and-6 on 21 third down plays. On the eight they converted themselves, on average it was 3rd-and-3.8 yards. They got a first down on 21st third down attempt due to a penalty against Miami.

Only two of those conversions came in the second half, and the Chiefs offense made things hard for itself several times with 3rd downs for 10, 11 and 19 yards.

“You aren’t going to be able to keep an offense moving the ball when you can’t convert on third downs,” said WR Steve Breaston. “We had the ball a lot, but we needed to move the sticks more often.”

The Chiefs held the advantage in time of possession with a 9-minute, 18-second advantage. That would seem to be great potential for third down conversions.

Here are the third down plays for the game, including those involving penalties: