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Four games remain in the NFL regular season for every team, and perhaps no squad will be focused on more than the Kansas City Chiefs.
Not only will there be a new winner of the AFC West for the first time in nine seasons, the Chiefs are in danger of missing the playoffs entirely after losing to the Houston Texans in Week 14.
Kansas City sits at 6-7, meaning they likely need to win out, while hoping some other teams lose to help their playoff chances. It’s certainly doable, but the question becomes how do they make that a reality?
Robert Griffin III, the ex-NFL quarterback and current FOX Sports analyst, has been studying the Chiefs all season like many others. With the Chiefs not being their usual dominant selves this year, Fox News Digital asked the 2011 Heisman Trophy winner what he sees as a glaring issues for the team right now.
“Predictability,” Griffin answered quickly, while helping USAA gift two military veterans with new vehicles before the 126th Army-Navy game this weekend. “I’m pretty tapped in with Kansas City, and I think there’s a predictability element right now.”
Griffin knows that head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy are some of the most creative minds in the league, but he explained why he sees this Chiefs’ offense as predictable.
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“The offense really hasn’t been super explosive consistently since Tyreek Hill left, but they’ve been able to dink and dunk, run really good concepts, utilize Rashee Rice, and Travis Kelce, and Xavier Worthy, and Juju Smith-Schuster, and Tyquan Thornton in various ways to make it hard to cover because you have to be prepared for everything,” Griffin said. “But you know when Tyquan Thornton comes into the game, it’s going to be this. You know when Xavier Worthy comes into the game, it’s going to be this.”
To Griffin’s point, the home run threat that Hill provided in the years before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins made the Chiefs a juggernaut, while MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes became arguably the best at his position in the league.
But Hill’s absence hasn’t hurt the Chiefs in the record column, having won the last three AFC Championship Games. However, the Chiefs find themselves in a different position now, more that borderlines desperation with their Super Bowl hopes in the balance.
So, what exactly do they have to do moving forward? Griffin has a suggestion that revolves around Mahomes.
“This is just a suggestion from a guy who’s played a ton of football, who’s watched a ton of football and has been studying them all year, I think the Kansas City Chiefs need to transition their offense into a two-minute offense,” he said. “Allow Patrick Mahomes to do what he does best, run up-tempo, call what he is seeing. He’s at a point into his career where he can see it, and he can make the calls and adjustments and control everything at the line of scrimmage. I think that will also alleviate some of the pressure on their offensive line, tire out the defense.
“Ultimately, they have to relinquish some control to Patrick so he can have complete ownership of it. If he wants to run no-huddle, two-minute, they should let him do that. That’s when they’re performing their best right now.”
Griffin’s thought process is, “No team wants to be in a close with the Chiefs with two minutes left in the game. As soon as they see that, they’re like, ‘Oh damn, here we go.’”
But Mahomes also needs some help from his teammates, as the loss to the Texans on “Sunday Night Football” showed key drops from Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce, who are both favorites in the pass game.
The Chiefs understand the situation they’re in, but we’ve seen Mahomes and company make runs in the win column since he’s taken over as the starting quarterback.
The adjustments will be tested at Arrowhead Stadium once more on Sunday, as the Chiefs host their AFC West-rival Los Angeles Chargers, who are also looking to help their playoff hopes with a 9-4 record after a big overtime victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
HELPING THOSE WHO SERVE US
Griffin was back in Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his NFL playing career, to show honor through action in the tradition of the annual Army-Navy Game by gifting two recycled rides with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL.
Cryptological Technican Petty Officer First Class Jamil Lewis, who is currently serving in the Navy, and veteran Patrick Huber, Specialist 116th Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard were both surprised by Griffin with the brand new vehicle at Inner Harbor in front of the USS Constellation.
Griffin, who comes from a military himself with his mother and father serving in the Army, has long enjoyed his partnership with USAA and couldn’t have been happier to help out with this.
“I’ve been so honored to partner with USAA. We’ve been partnered together for the last 13 years and I’m a guy who likes to do genuine, authentic partnerships. Military brat, mom and dad both served in the Army. So, I’m a ‘Go Army, beat Navy’ guy — 31 years combined between them. To see the impact we’ve been able to make over the last 13 years, doing things to make our military members know they’re not forgotten, it does something for me,” he explained. “If it’s doing something for me, it’s doing something for these families we get to impact, to make their lives a little bit easier. It’s not a free car. I say that because, yeah, they didn’t have to pay money for it, but there was sacrifice for us and our freedoms to be able to get this type of treatment. We want them to know that, ‘Hey, man, we appreciate you.’”
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