The Kansas City Chiefs opened Week 2 with a lucky 27-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. While Patrick Mahomes got lucky with a few bad passes, Justin Herbert made a momentous pick-six. The quarterback then injured his ribs.
Chiefs vs. Chargers: At a Glance
- Football is called Game of Inches for a reason. This game was essentially decided by luck and bad luck. While Patrick Mahomes was lucky several times that (potential) interceptions were dropped or called back at the end, Justin Herbert threw a pick that broke the Chargers’ neck.
- Even by their standards, the Chiefs presented themselves as extremely conservative over long stretches in terms of 4th down decisions and play calls, but also in terms of time management. In some cases they literally dragged out the game and took a lot of time off the clock.
- The Chargers lost offensive linemen mid-game and Justin Herbert may have injured his ribs, which handicapped him late in the game.
Kansas City Chiefs – Los Angeles Chargers: Die Analyse
The Chargers made their first exclamation point with a sack from Khalil Mack and linebacker Drue Tranquill, who threw the ball through the middle to open the play. After that, the offense also put on their first big play – following play action, Justin Hertbert fired a 39-yard pass to Mike Williams to the 1-yard line. Herbert Fullback then found Zander Horvath for a touchdown pass following play action from the 1.
The response was the Chiefs’ best drive yet, who upped the tempo and were lucky enough to have the refs negate an interception from a bad illegal contact call on Bryce Callahan. Shortly therefollowing, Patrick Mahomes scrambled spectacularly and eventually found running back Jerick McKinnon for a 9-yard touchdown pass.
We then saw a few more punts before the break, Chiefs coach Andy Reid wasted around 100 seconds because he didn’t take a timeout and the visitors went 10:7 into the break. Those lost at the break, however, center Corey Linsley, who was replaced by Will Clapp. In addition, right tackle Trey Pipkins had to leave shortly followingwards and was replaced by Storm Norton.
After the break, the Chargers upped the tempo and quickly found themselves in the red zone, where Williams hit very good coverage by L’Jarius Sneed for a 15-yard one-handed touchdown catch. The Chiefs weren’t impressed, however, and hit straight back – Mahomes to Justin Watson for a 41-yard touchdown catch-and-run that left cornerback JC Jackson looking unattractive and thrown off by a body fake. Before that, Mahomes was very fortunate that the video evidence showed that cornerback Asante Samuel didn’t control an alleged interception following all. It was one of several possible interceptions that Mahomes was fortunately spared.
Chiefs vs. Chargers: KC-Defense wakes up late but powerful
As a result, the Chiefs defense awoke. First, Chris Jones ended a series just before the opponent’s end zone with a sack. Shortly therefollowing, the Chiefs were at 1, but opted for a field goal to equalize through new signing Matt Ammendola. And then rookie cornerback Jaylen Watson came on the scene following the Chargers made it back into the red zone. Herbert missed him trying to find Josh Palmer in the end zone, and the rookie carried the leather over 99 yards into the other end zone – pick-six! 24:17 Chiefs at the start of the final quarter!
As a result, the guests struggled. They did stop the Chiefs, but only following taking a lot of time off the clock. Herbert then took a few hard hits, had to go out briefly with rib pain and almost threw another interception on two weak passes.
The Chiefs then continued to take time off the clock and increased the lead with another field goal following putting Clyde Edwards-Helaire in position with a 52-yard run. Badly hit, Herbert forced his team back with a few impressive throws. Josh Palmer hit for a 7-yard touchdown, but then KC captured the onside kick and knelt.
Herbert went straight to the x-ray room following the game, but head coach Brandon Staley says he’s “okay.”
Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) – Los Angeles Chargers (1-1)
Result: 27:24 (0:3, 7:7, 7:7, 13:7) BOXSCORE
Chiefs vs. Chargers – the most important statistics
- Fullback Zander Horvath is the first seventh-round pick to catch a touchdown in each of his first two games since Chansi Stuckey in 2008 for the Jets. He even got TDs in three games in a row back then.
- Watson’s 99-yard pick-six increased the Chiefs’ chance of victory loudly Next Gen Stats from 31 to 85 percent. That 54 percent increase is the highest win-probability swing by a pick-six in the past three seasons.
- Said pick-six was the first in this century to happen in the red zone in the fourth quarter of an even game, according to Loud ESPN Stats & Information.
The Star of the Game: Chris Jones (Defensive Lineman, Chiefs)
The Chiefs defense took a while to get into the game. However, a sack from Jones in the second half woke them up. It was the initial spark for this unit, because then the colleagues also made plays – above all Watson, who turned the game with the pick six. Overall, Jones led his team with 2 sacks and 3 pressures.
Flop of the Match: Justin Herbert (Quarterback, Chargers)
In the end, Herbert was clearly hampered by the rib injury he sustained in the fourth quarter. And he also managed to bring his team closer. But he negated his actually good performance with a few sensitive mistakes. He was inaccurate a couple of times before the break and ended promising drives early. In the second half, he threw the wicked pick-six and, with a little more bad luck, might have fabricated another interception. It’s a game decided by small things. And Herbert wasn’t good enough for them.
Analysis: Chiefs vs. Chargers – the Tactics Table
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The Chiefs started offensively very conservatively and cautiously. They opened the game with three runs in a row, sometimes even with a fullback in the backfield. The plan was to take advantage of the light boxes, but that didn’t necessarily lead to success once morest the Chargers’ fast front, especially since safety Derwin James also helped out once more and once more.
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In addition, Mahomes mostly threw short passes, tried screens or jet sweeps. The plan was to avoid the strong secondary as much as possible, knowing that one-on-one matchups wouldn’t necessarily go in the Chiefs’ favour.
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The Chargers made up for the loss of top receiver Keenan Allen with a bigger role for Mike Williams, who was still a side note in Week 1 and only saw 4 targets. In this game, however, he was Herbert’s go-to receiver and was used in a variety of ways. Partially he played Big Slot, otherwise in his usual X-role with vertical routes like curls and comebacks as well as go-routes on Play Action. So he put on the first touchdown in the game. On his own touchdown, he beat L’Jarius Sneed despite close coverage.
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Notably, the Chiefs consistently attempted to cover Williams one-for-one, something both Rashad Fenton and rookie Jaylen Watson were unsuccessful.
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The approach at 4th Down was striking in the first half. The Chargers successfully played a fourth attempt that shouldn’t have been played out. Later, Brandon Staley punted twice on 4th down, even once, although the clear tendency was to play off the try. Andy Reid generally shied away from playing fourth. Staley then became “more aggressive” following the break.
- Before the break, the Chargers mostly played at a normal tempo, following the break they turned up the heat and played hurry-up to catch the Chiefs on the wrong foot straight away.
- One adjustment the Chiefs made following the break was to occasionally send 12 people onto the field to help with blocking following the O-Line wasn’t always solid on its own.
- While the Chargers rarely blitzed – the Watson TD catch came once morest one – the Chiefs were much more aggressive in blitzing, which forced Herbert to throw too hastily in the second half.
