KC Chiefs: Offensive line has had 2 very different games so far
After a dominating season opener, the KC Chiefs offensive line struggled in their second regular season game of the year.
One of the reasons why the Kansas City Chiefs had the run they did in the back half of last season was because their offensive line had started to gel and were working well as a unit. They got rocked quite a bit in the Super Bowl, but who wouldn’t against a 49ers defensive front that was the best in the league last year?
In 2 games so far, it’s been a tale of 2 offensive lines for the Chiefs though the stats might indicate otherwise.
While Patrick Mahomes has only been sacked twice this season (once in each game), the offensive line looked solid in one game and not so solid in the other one. Not only that, but they were able to create holes for rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire in week 1 and that wasn’t the case in week 2 against the tough Chargers defensive front.
The KC Chiefs had some changes to the offensive line over the offseason.
We all figured it might take some time for the Chiefs o-line to gel due to these changes, so when the unit played really well in week 1, everyone was taken aback a little bit. Kelechi Osemele was a star against the Texans and he was a newcomer to the team this summer.
Osemele wasn’t one who struggled mightily in week 2, but Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz of all people sure did. It was bizarre to see Schwartz getting worked so badly considering his track record, but he was having a really tough time containing Joey Bosa. It made me think Schwartz might be dealing with a minor injury or something because he didn’t look like his normal self.
The easy observation between the 2 performances is that the competition on the other side of the ball were much different. The Texans might have J.J. Watt, but he’s had his fair share of injuries and isn’t quite the same player anymore. Houston really wasn’t threatening up front.
As for the Chargers, the defensive line is where they thrive and it showed. They’ve always matched up really well against Kansas City and Bosa and company were after Mahomes all day long, hitting him 7 times and constantly pressuring him.
It could be another tough outing in week 3, as the Chiefs will go toe-to-toe with the Ravens, whose defense only got better this offseason. It won’t be as tough as last week hopefully, but it’d be nice to see glimpses of that week 1 offensive line performance again.