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A16 SPORTS
Wednesday 31 January 2024

Taking it easy: The Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl because of a

simplified offensive approach

By DAVE SKRETTA were repeated four times:
AP Sports Writer from Reid on the sideline to
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Nagy in the coaches’ box,
There was a moment back back to Mahomes on the
on Christmas Day, long be- field, and one last time to
fore the Kansas City Chiefs the rest of the team in the
could even start thinking huddle. By the time they
about playing in the Super broke it and got to the line
Bowl again, when Patrick of scrimmage, there were
Mahomes broke the hud- just a few seconds left on
dle in a game against the the play clock and the
Las Vegas Raiders. Chiefs were rushing to get
His team was in total disar- the snap off.
ray. Players were coming By simplifying things, the
off the sideline, then racing Chiefs have gotten to the
back, only to turn around line of scrimmage in the
and rush back onto the playoffs with 15 or 20 sec-
field. Nobody knew where onds on the clock, and
to line up. And all the while, that has given Mahomes
the play clock was quickly time to survey the defense,
clicking down to zero. change protections or au-
That moment may have dible to an entirely different
changed the course of the play if necessary.
entire season for Kansas Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gestures as he walks off the field after defeating “Nobody took offense to
City. the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in any of it,” Nagy said. “We
In the midst of that deflat- Baltimore. said, ‘How can we get bet-
ing loss to the Raiders, their Associated Press ter?’ And we started with
fifth in eight games, Chiefs points against the Bills and designing creative plays ed. In fact, former quar- that.
coach Andy Reid and his Ravens on the road to earn and share the same go- terback Alex Smith used There’s a lot of other things
offensive brain trust came a spot opposite the San for-broke attitude. When to warn his teammates in that go into it, with execu-
to the realization that their Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11 rookies show up to training the huddle that he had “a tion and play design and

famously complex offense in Las Vegas, of all places. camp each July, they are doozy” so that they could everything, but put it all to-
had grown well, too com- “When you see some of the hit with the entirety of the pay attention as he deliv- gether and see what hap-
plex. There were too forma- things that happened on offensive playbook, and ered the entire word salad. pens.”
tions. Too many motions. tape, like that game where it usually leaves their eyes “There’s so much verbiage What happened was back-
Too many route concepts. we had trouble getting spinning like slot machines in this playbook and so to-back wins to clinch the
In fact, there were too in and out of the huddle, and their brains feeling like much dialogue,” Chiefs AFC West and the No. 3
many words, often more whether it’s personnel or mush. general manager Brett seed in the playoffs. And
than 15 to spit out a single what we have in the play “It’s a complex offense. It’s Veach acknowledged last three more wins there, in-
play. call I think it is a combina- hard for young guys to do,” fall, “and there’s so many cluding the past two on the
So the Chiefs simplified ev- tion of all that,” Chiefs of- Mahomes admitted. tweaks to every assign- road the first road playoff
erything. And they haven’t fensive coordinator Matt There are unusual forma- ment in regard to where games of Mahomes’ ca-
lost since. Nagy said. “So sometimes tions. A wide range of they align and how they reer when the decibel
While their offense still may that stuff makes you look personnel groups. Lots of look at coverage and how level inside the opposing
not be the juggernaut that back and think, ‘What can shifts and movements, de- they alter routes. It’s super stadium should make com-
carried the Chiefs to three we do different to help signed to both confuse complicated.” munication for an offense
previous Super Bowls in four these guys out?’” the defense and provide a Fast forward to Christmas even more challenging.
years, it has at least be- In some ways, the decision tell as to what it might do. Day. One of the problems “I don’t like losing any
come efficient, and that’s to pare back everything There are ghost motions. the Chiefs had against the games, so every loss I feel
all it needed to be along- goes against common And even when a wide re- Raiders was the time it took like is tough,” Mahomes
side the league’s No. 2 de- sense. ceiver knows the route he to get plays into the game. said, “but we always had
fense. The Chiefs gained Shouldn’t an offense that is is supposed to run, it could Reid is usually calling them everything we wanted in
more than 400 yards in a more complex be more dif- change mid-stride de- from the sideline, but it is front of us, and we had that
wild-card win over Miami, ficult to defend? pending on what the sec- Nagy whose radio is con- mindset, and Coach Reid
or more than 100 than they It also seemed to go against ondary is doing. nected to Mahomes’ hel- preaches that every day
did that day against Las the instincts of both Reid No wonder the play calls met. we come into the building.
Vegas, and put up enough No one hung their head.q
and Mahomes, who relish themselves get long-wind- So, those long-winded plays