Despite their double-digit win on Sunday against the Washington Football Team,
turnovers were still an issue for Kansas City . In the first half alone, the Chiefs
coughed the ball up three times — two of which came inside the redzone.
By Jack Johnson, Sports Radio 810
“Yeah I think those are fatal flaws,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said at Monday’s press
conference. “They kill drives obviously if you’re not on the end of recovering the fumble.
I’d tell you at times, and I mentioned this last week, at times guys will try to do too much.
You do that and that’s a problem.”
He continued.
“If you’re concentrating on not doing the fumbling part as opposed to practicing it all
week and making it a habit of covering the ball in traffic or making the right throws, all
the things, looking the ball all the way into the tuck, all those things. If you don’t make
those a habit and you’re concentrating on them on game day, then that can be a
problem. We just try to go back and focus in on the positive part of catching the football
and those fundamental things.”
Through six games, the Chiefs have turned it over more than anyone else in football
(14). Kansas City is last in fumbles lost (6), second-to-last in turnover differential (-8)
and interceptions (8).
On if Patrick Mahomes has gotten the interception bug out of his system, Reid
mentioned that some of it has stemmed from trying to make something happen.
“I’d say you’re accurate just on doing too much there,” Reid said. “I don’t know if the
whole other thing resonates in there, but he was trying to make something happen.
There was a fumbled snap, he picks it up and now it’s one of those deals, (Travis) Kelce
flashed for a second. I would put it in that category.”
So how fixable are these problems? Turnovers have been the crux of the early season
struggles, but they haven’t completely derailed the offense. In games where they’ve had
three-or-more turnovers, the Chiefs’ offense averages 25 points. If Kansas City
averaged that total in all six of their games, the offense would rank 11th in the NFL.
Good, but not great. However, in games where they’ve turned it over less than three
times, the offense averages 36.6 points per game. That total over six games would rank
1st in the NFL.
I
n reality, some of the turnovers have been fluky. Three of Mahomes’ eight interceptions
have been on missed catches by a wide receiver. Nonetheless, they’re turnovers — it
doesn’t matter how they happen. The silver lining, though, is that a lot has been due to
decision making — forcing the ball when it shouldn’t be going there. In regards to the
fumbling, there’s no strategy behind protecting the football better. You either protect it
well or you don’t. The positive side of it is that half of the six fumbles have been from
Clyde Edwards-Healire and Tyreek Hill — two players with strong ball security. In other
words, those things will correct themselves.
The Chiefs have been a turnover machine, and not in a good way, this season.
However, there’s reason to believe that the pattern will not continue moving forward.