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One part of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ offensive struggles this season which was prevalent in the team’s 22-9 victory over the Denver Broncos in Week 13 is drops.
Through 13 weeks of the regular season, the Chiefs are fifth in the league in dropped passes with 17, per NBC Sports. Among the leaders on the team in drops are wide receiver Tyreek Hill (5) and tight end Travis Kelce (5), who are tied for sixth in the league in that category.
Against the Broncos, a combination of Hill, Kelce, and wideout Byron Pringle had several drops. One drop by Hill led to quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s lone interception on the day. A lack of focus from his pass-catchers was in part why Mahomes completed just 51% of his passes in Week 13 to go along with 184 yards, which is his second-lowest yardage total of the season, per Pro Football Reference.
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Mahomes Takes Blame for Dropped Passes
Instead of pointing the blame at his pass-catchers, Mahomes believes that issue can be resolved with more accurate passes.
“Yeah I mean for me all I can do is have better ball placement on some of those. Like the one to Tyreek (Hill) was a little high and hard so try to find ways to make it easier on them,” Mahomes said during his postgame press conference on Sunday, December 5. “These guys make plays so I’m going to keep throwing the football to them. They’re going to go out there and make plays happen and if it happens, it happens, and we’ll move on to the next play.”
Andy Reid Addresses Dropped Passes
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was also asked about the numerous dropped passes by the offense against Denver and if they were happening because of a lack of focus from the pass-catchers.
“I don’t think that’s it, but I would tell you on the other hand we’ve got to look it all the way into the tuck,” Reid said during his postgame press conference on Sunday, December 5. “So, we’ve got to make sure we do that and take care of those. Tipped balls become problems and drops become problems, and we’ll keep working on it until we get it right. So, if I’m saying it every week, we’re going to keep working on it.”
Reid also spoke about what he believes has led to a career-high in drops for Hill this season.
“Yeah well I mean every route is different that things have happened on,” Reid explained. “Going back to the basics I think is important. Some of these things come in cycles like that where sometimes the ball looks big and sometimes it looks small. Kind of like batters in baseball so you just got to refocus it back on the fundamentals and go right back to square one. See the tip of the ball, squeeze it and the tuck and then do that at mock speed and with whatever elements are out there. Just put all that together.”
Kansas City is in the midst of a five-game win streak in large part because of a massive turnaround from the defense. Through those five games, the defense is allowing on average 11.2 points per game, which is very helpful to an offense that is averaging just 23 points per game over that same span.
It’s easy to daydream about how good this Chiefs team can be once they start clicking on both sides of the football. However, there’s no telling when the offense will find consistency from one week to the next.