1. Bringing back the deep passing game was ill-advised
Even when Alex Smith was Kansas City’s quarterback, head coach Andy Reid would often take a deep shot in the first few plays of a game. It rarely worked, but the idea was to get the defense committed to defending against it.
In Sunday’s game, Kansas City called three straight deep passes on its opening drive. All three fell incomplete, forcing the team to punt after just four plays.
That was well beyond putting a play in the opening script to keep the defense honest.
In Sunday’s game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes attempted 10 passes described as “deep” in the matchup’s official record. Only one of them was completed: a 61-yard third-quarter strike to wide receiver Tyquan Thornton that set up Kansas City’s first touchdown. Another was intercepted, ending a drive that would have put at least three points on the board — and led to Denver’s first touchdown. Two more drew pass interference penalties that gained a total of 87 yards.
Mahomes’ passer rating on these throws was a horrifying 12.9. If they could be removed from his 29 completions on 45 attempts for 276 yards, one touchdown and one interception — which gave him an ugly rating of 79.5 — he would have ended up with an adequate 101.8 rating. And Kansas City probably would have left Denver with a victory.