Andy Reid Limiting Chiefs by Relying More on Scheme Than Talent
The Arrowhead faithful are fully aware of the difference coaching can make. A talented Kansas City Chiefs team only won two games in 2012, but they were able to turn it around in 2013 under the leadership of head coach Andy Reid.
Reid’s schemes have also been a huge part of the turnaround in Kansas City over the past two seasons, but he also has a well-earned reputation for forgetting to use his best players. The only reasonable explanation is that Reid can come to rely too much on his own abilities and not enough on the talent at his disposal. It’s happened so much in 2014 that it’s limiting his team.
It makes sense to Reid because the scheme is something he can control. Reid can decide what players to use, what plays are called and if everyone does everything right there will usually be a positive result. Reid also wields a sizeable influence over quarterback Alex Smith, such as how he might change or adjust plays and whom he should target in certain situations.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with the way Reid operates, but scheme can only take a team so far. When his players are physically or mentally unable to do the things they need to do to make Reid’s schemes a success, Reid is the one that needs to be able to adjust.
At some point, Reid has to expect his star players to make a play for him. Reid can scheme to get running back Jamaal Charles in space, but it’s not as if Reid can design a play where Charles jukes five defenders and breaks two tackles.
Which brings us to Charles, the team’s best player and a player fans and media have criticized Reid for underutilizing. Charles is one of just five NFL players with over 3,000 yards from scrimmage over the last two seasons, but he’s averaging just 19.7 touches per game—more than two fewer carries than the other four running backs.
Charles makes up for the lack of touches with a ridiculous 5.8 yards per touch, but he’s still behind all but LeSean McCoy in yards per game. McCoy is also the only other back to have a slight downward trend in usage, but that makes sense because Darren Sproles is siphoning off a few opportunities.
McCoy’s downward usage trend also isn’t nearly as steep as Charles’ usage trend. Some game-to-game variance in usage is expected, but over the course of two seasons, an extremely productive player like Charles shouldn’t be seeing an overall decrease in work.
The notion that Charles is more productive because of a lighter workload also seems unfounded. Only one of the seven running backs other than Charles since the start of 2013 with fewer than 600 touches and more than 400 touches has been able to match those with 600-plus touches in yards per carry.
The fact that Charles has been able to produce at the clip he has over 533 touches suggests that a few more shouldn’t adversely affect his average. The truth is that Reid underutilizes Charles on average and the problem is getting worse.
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It’s time for Reid to let his talent shine on offense and defense. More opportunities for his best offensive weapons and more rest and a bigger impact for his top defensive weapons could do the Chiefs wonders. The Chiefs are more than capable of winning their final three games and making it back to the postseason, but only if Reid can get out of his own way.