Adrian Fedkiw
After 22 years without a playoff win, the Kansas City Chiefs returned to the scene of the crime where they got their last one.
Knile Davis got the party started on the opening kickoff and the Chiefs were off and running.
Kansas City’s defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions from Brian Hoyer, and the Chiefs moved on to the AFC Divisional Playoffs with a 30-0 spanking of the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round.
The Chiefs had dropped eight straight playoff games since beating the Houston Oilers in the Divisional Round on Jan. 16, 1994, a team led by aging stars Joe Montana and Marcus Allen.
Hoyer was atrocious and heard the boos as early as the second quarter. He finished 15-of-34 for 136 yards, with three of his four picks coming in the first half.
Davis took the opening kickoff six yards deep into the end zone, exploded through a gaping hole at about the 20 and galloped down the left sideline the rest of the way. It was Kansas City’s lone touchdown of the first half, however, as it led 13-0 at the break.
Prior to his introductory press conference in January there were reports saying that the Chiefs head coach Reid allowed Pederson to call plays, but nobody knew how often. During the presser, Pederson explained how much latitude he was granted.
His answer may have raised a few eyebrows.
“I was able to call plays since the Pittsburgh game on,” he said. “Coach Reid and I had a great understanding and great feel for the game. He allowed me to call the second half of every football game from that game on.”
That Steelers game was the start of Kansas City’s stunning turnaround in 2015. The Chiefs were in the midst of a five-game losing streak and 1-5 heading into that Week 7 contest, but their 23-13 triumph was the beginning of their 10-game winning streak to close the regular season.
The Chiefs held a lead at the break in nine of the 12 games Pederson called plays and six were by 10-or-more points, so he was usually put in positive circumstances. The wild card game was one of the six that Pederson had a double-digit advantage to work with.
Let’s go possession by possession and see how Pederson fared in his first playoff game calling plays.
How the grading works:
To put it simply a (+) is a win for the offense, a (-) is a win for the defense and a (/) is a tie. For example, if a team has a 1st and 10 and the offense picks up five-or-more yards it’s a win for them. It’s a victory for the defense if they hold the offense to three yards or fewer. A four-yard gain is a tie.
An offensive touchdown results into (+++), but a turnover forced by the defense gets (- – -). A field goal is (++) and a safety (- -).
(++)- Offense gains 15-29 yards past the original line of scrimmage. If the offense commits a holding penalty and they pick up 15 yards on a 1st and 20, the offense gets just one (+) instead of two.
(+++)- 30-49 yards
(++++)- 50-74 yards
(+++++)- 75-or-more yards
Other notes: A 75-yard TD gets (++++++++) and any pick-six/fumble recovery for a score results into (- – – – – – – -). Another example, if the defense forces a turnover and returns it for 50 yards, they will receive (- – – – – – -). If the defense forces a three-and-out they get a bonus of (- -).
KC 1st drive of second half: 9:58 left in the third quarter, ball at own 6 leading 13-0
1+10 (6)- offsides (/)
1+5 (11)- 10 personnel- Albert Wilson holding (/)
1+4 (12)- 12 personnel- Spencer Ware left tackle one yard (+)
2+3 (13)- 10 personnel- Charcandrick West left flat nine yards (+)
1+10 (22)- 12 personnel- Alex Smith flushed right and finds Jeremy Maclin over the middle (++)
1+10 (38)- 11 personnel- Cross for Travis Kelce incomplete (-)
2+10 (38)- 10 personnel- Maclin right flat seven yards (+)
3+3 (45)- 11 personnel- Kelce cross 16 yards (++)
1+10 (39)- 20 personnel- Inside handoff Ware left guard 12 yards (+)
1+10 (27)- 12 personnel- Kelce six yards on screen play, plus unnecessary roughness penalty moved the ball half the distance to the goal (++)
1+10 (11)- 11 personnel- Ware inside handoff left guard two yards (-)
2+8 (9)- 13 personnel- Chris Conley nine-yard touchdown on quick slant (+++)
13-2 KC on drive
Pederson loves the crossing route for Kelce on third down with five yards or fewer to go. Brian Cushing stayed in his zone in the middle of the field and Smith knew he had an easy first down once Kelce ran past him. It also helped that Kelce was left uncovered by the Texans defense.
Kelce motioned from right to left, first lining up as a tight end before setting up as a halfback. He came across the formation beautifully for a trap block on John Simon as the right tackle Donald Stephenson left him alone and down-blocked. If Zach Ertz wants to become a multi-dimensional tight end, this is something he’ll need to do if he wants to crack the upper echelon of tight ends. Ertz is still not a good pass blocker, but has shown improvements in the run game. This is a play I’ve seen Reid run over the years, we’ll see if Ertz will be up for the challenge.
Pederson lined up his star tight end as a wide receiver to the right in a stacked formation, so Kelce’s been a tight end, halfback and wide receiver on consecutive plays. With Maclin going down with a right knee injury several players earlier on the drive, Kelce became the go-to guy. He gained six yards on this screen play.
Pederson was in 13 personnel on the touchdown, a run-heavy formation. Instead, the Chiefs went play action, which Quintin Demps bit hard on, and Smith had a huge window to fit the ball into Conley. This has been another staple in Pederson’ play-calling, deception. He’s not afraid to run out of 10 personnel and throw out of 13 and 23 personnel.
This was as good as it gets when it comes to a knockout blow. Although the Texans turned the ball over four times in the first half, with Brian Hoyer tossing a trio of interceptions and his accuracy being very erratic, the Chiefs let them hang around. So much for that, what a masterful 94-yard march. Pederson also made Kelce the focal point after Maclin went down, a very well orchestrated series for the first year play caller.
KC 2nd drive of second half: 4:09 left in the third quarter, ball at own 29 leading 20-0
1+10 (29)- 11 personnel- Ware left guard six yards (+)
2+4 (35)- 13 personnel- Smith five-yard scramble (+)
1+10 (40)- 20 personnel- Ware right guard loss of one (-)
2+11 (39)- 10 personnel- Kelce deep in route 48 yards (+++)
1+10 (13)- 11 personnel- West up the middle six yards (+)
2+4 (7)- 10 personnel- Ware left guard one yard, Jared Crick personal foul (+)
1+GL (3)- 12 personnel- Ware left guard loss of two yards (-)
2+GL (5)- 12 personnel- Ware right guard five-yard touchdown (+++)
10-2 KC on drive, 23-4 KC in second half
Pederson tried to go to the well again by throwing the ball out of his 13 personnel package, but the Texans played all three levels beautifully as each tight end ran a crossing pattern. Smith, however, was able to scramble and move the chains.
Pederson attempted to use the Kelce trap block again, but to no avail. Kelce motioned from the left to his right this time, but Simon knew what was coming and made the tackle before Kelce had a chance to get his hands on him.
We see the versatility of Kelce again, lining up in the slot to the left side, burning cornerback Kareem Jackson on a deep-in route and rumbling to the Houston 13 for 48 yards.
After Ware lost two yards on a 1st-and-goal from the three, Pederson elected to use the same play that had just been stuffed again. Lined up in 12 personnel with stacked receivers to the right instead of the left this time, Wilson faked the jet sweep and Ware took the handoff. Crick knifed into the backfield and Houston seemingly had the play sniffed out again, but Crick missed the tackle and Ware trotted in for the score.
We’ll call this the double-dip drive because Pederson unsuccessfully went to a pair of plays that worked on the possession prior. He then used the same concept on the final two snaps of the sequence, getting away with it due to Crick’s missed tackle. He’s still utilizing Kelce wonderfully, as evidenced by his huge catch and run for 48 yards.
KC 3rd drive of second half: 10:45 left in the fourth quarter, ball at own 29 leading 27-0
1+10 (29)- 11 personnel- Ware draw right guard five yards (+)
2+5 (34)- 20 personnel- Smith zone read keeper three yards (/)
3+2 (37)- 10 personnel- Smith zone read keeper three yards (+)
1+10 (40)- 11 personnel- Ware draw left guard two yards (-)
2+8 (42)- 21 personnel- Anthony Sherman right flat four yards off play action (/)
3+4 (46)- 10 personnel- Smith sacked by Mercillus (-)
2-2 on drive, 25-6 KC in second half
There’s nothing much going on here. Up by 27, the Chiefs are just trying to run some clock and not make any mistakes. We saw the zone read play again with Kelce trap blocking, but this time Smith decided to keep the ball for a minimal gain.
KC 4th drive of second half: 6:12 left in the fourth quarter, ball at Houston 21 leading 27-0
1+10 (21)- 12 personnel- Ware right tackle two yards
2+8 (19)- 13 personnel- Davis right guard one yard
3+7 (18)- 11 personnel- Frankie Hammond three yards on wide receiver screen
Cairo Santos’ 33-yard field goal is good
The outcome has been decided so there’s no need to grade anymore. Kansas City got the ball right back after Hoyer threw his fourth interception of the game a play into Houston’s previous drive.
KC 5th drive of second half: 3:10 left in the fourth quarter, ball at Houston 49 leading 30-0
1+10 (49)- 22 personnel- Davis off right tackle five yards
2+5 (44)- 22 personnel- Davis right guard two yards
3+3 (42)- 22 personnel- Davis off right tackle four yards
1+10 (38)- kneel
2+11 (39)- kneel
The Chiefs ran the remaining three-plus minutes off the clock and we have a Chase Daniel sighting!
Overall Thoughts:
There’s been many times in my Pederson play calling series where we’ve seen Reid hand his pupil a sizeable halftime advantage and Pederson get ultra conservative over the final 30 minutes. We didn’t really see that here. Houston was turning the ball over on seemingly every possession in the opening half, yet the Chiefs only led 13-0 at the break. Kansas City quickly put the game away with a pair of touchdown drives on its first two series of the second half. Pederson mixed everything up beautifully.
I loved the way Pederson used Kelce in the second half, especially once Maclin injured his knee. He lined out wide, in the slot, as a tight end and halfback. Kelce was everywhere and rewarded Pederson with eight catches and 128 yards. He was a beast!
The Chiefs lucked out that star 3-4 defensive end J.J. Watt exited the contest in the third quarter. Pederson has had his fair share of problems handling elite pass rushers in some of the games I’ve covered, but didn’t have to worry about that here once Watt went down.
This was by far the best game Pederson has called and it came in the postseason. I gave him an A+.
WEEK 9: BYE
BRONCOS WEEK 10 GAME GRADE: C-
Phuck the philadelphia eagles and Jeffy lurie can stick his midnight green garbage up his anus while howie Roseman licks his nuts