With another good start on the verge of slipping away, the Chiefs have come to a brilliant conclusion.
Getting the ball in the hands of their best player might help.
According to Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs have figured out they have to get it to running back Jamaal Charles more often.
“We as a staff, and me as a coordinator, I have to allow him to touch the football as often as we can,” offensive coordinator Doug Pederson said. “You look at the stat sheet and look at the targets and the number of touches that guys get, and then you go back and say, ‘Oh, I wish I would have done this or I wish I would have done that, or more of this or less of that,’ after the game, win or lose.
“You say, ‘You know what, we should have given Dwayne [Bowe] two more targets, or given Jamaal two more or three more touches in a certain situation.’ But again, as the game unfolds, it sort of dictates how you spread the ball around, and it’s unfortunate that sometimes guys’ touches are sometimes going to go down or up based on game situations.”
Of course, not falling behind early might help, as the Chiefs were forced into playing catch-up by the Broncos, and only had 44 plays and 21 minutes of possession. And in the last two games (including the loss to the Raiders), the Chiefs have only led for around seven minutes.
That’s not the recipe the Chiefs want to follow, as it allowed Charles just 14 touches last week against the Broncos. He did carry it 19 times against the Raiders and caught four passes, which is more normal.
But as they move forward against a good Cardinals defense this week, the know they’ll need to maintain their own tempo, if they’re going to have a chance.