{"id":5312,"date":"2024-11-09T14:44:52","date_gmt":"2024-11-09T14:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=5312"},"modified":"2024-11-09T14:44:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T14:44:52","slug":"breaking-how-this-terrible-chiefs-practice-routine-is-a-hidden-key-to-their-undefeated-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=5312","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: How this \u2018terrible\u2019 Chiefs practice routine is a hidden key to their undefeated season"},"content":{"rendered":"

How this \u2018terrible\u2019 Chiefs practice routine is a hidden key to their undefeated season\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"KC<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes provides an update on the ankle injury he sustained last game and what he’s doing to rehab.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs QB also speaks to the early start time on Sunday vs. Denver, including having his kids at the game for a change and the team’s unselfishness.<\/p>\n

On a hot summer morning in St. Joseph \u2014 the site of the Chiefs\u2019 training camp and the kind of heat that prompted players to mention it when sharing the forthcoming narrative \u2014 an Andy Reid practice script stipulated the ball be placed 80 yards shy of the end zone.<\/p>\n

The players knew what awaited.<\/p>\n

They dreaded what awaited. Over the next 12 minutes or so, they churned through 15, 18, maybe 20 plays without the escape of a single timeout. \u201cIt was 23 (plays) my rookie year,\u201d running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire recalled … and then repeated, just to let you know the number is planted in his mind: \u201cTwenty-three.\u201d<\/p>\n

They call it the Long Drive Drill, a name that probably didn\u2019t require a crackerjack focus group, and its aftermath is described in the tone of can\u2019t-shake-\u2019em nightmares. It\u2019s one play after the next in rapid succession, with a practice-field play clock hurrying the pace.<\/p>\n

The pure exhaustion is the worst of it, some will tell you. The mental grind is even more brutal, others will argue. Players have tapped out midway through the series. For some, the nausea, we\u2019ll call it, has tapped them out.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrible,\u201d wide receiver Mecole Hardman described it. \u201cIt will touch your soul,\u201d receiver Nikko Remigio said. \u201cIt sucks,\u201d quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s the best way to say it.\u201d Or you don\u2019t have to say anything at all. Asked this week about the drill, rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy spent the initial seven seconds of his reply without even speaking. Instead, a head shake.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Chiefs\u2019 scouting report on Worthy had featured one of his college coaches telling them, \u201cHe can run for days.\u201d In his first encounter with the Long Drive Drill, Worthy needed to sub himself out of practice. \u201cMan,\u201d he eventually replied. \u201cOh, my, God.\u201d The staple of an Andy Reid training camp \u2014 perhaps the reason players call the Chiefs head coach\u2019s camp the toughest in football \u2014 has survived for a generation.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a self-explanatory, purposeful effect in the exhaustion, and even those who hate it most will point to its in-season benefit. But there\u2019s a difference \u2014 or at least an enhancement \u2014 to that benefit this year.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs are using it to their advantage more than ever.<\/p>\n

THE CHIEFS AND THE LONG DRIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahomes and Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield met at midfield Monday night for a coin toss. Mayfield called tails. It landed on heads.<\/p>\n

We know how the game would eventually finish \u2014 the Chiefs prevailed 30-24 in overtime \u2014 but it appeared Mayfield already knew the result while standing in the rain at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. As the coin stuck in the mud, he tilted his head toward the sky and closed his eyes.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs took the ball and scored about six minutes later, Kareem Hunt finding the end zone from 2 years out. That touchdown capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive.<\/p>\n

A long drive, you might say. It\u2019s one of many. The Chiefs are averaging 9.1 plays per touchdown drive this season, using data on Stathead, their most since Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018.<\/p>\n

After the game-winner against the Bucs, 11 of their 22 touchdown drives \u2014 exactly 50% \u2014 have required at least 10 plays. In his first six seasons, that number was at 30.9%. It\u2019s new to 2024, in other words.<\/p>\n

Hunt\u2019s TD sealed the Chiefs\u2019 third such drive Monday. All three of those long marches came in the second half. KC used back-to-back possessions of 13 and 15 plays to turn the tide of the game in the third quarter. A familiar plot to the season. A familiar plot to the preseason. \u201cCoach Reid prepares us for those moments,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cIt\u2019s proven.\u201d \u201cHaving built that up as time passed, it really prepared me for the drive,\u201d Worthy said. \u201cLike when I\u2019m in the game, I\u2019m not tired.\u201d It\u2019s long-drive season.<\/p>\n

THE CHIEFS\u2019 OFFENSIVE FORMULA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kansas City\u2019s 11 touchdown possessions of 10-plus plays is the most in the NFL, and there\u2019s an interesting statistic beneath that. Eight of those 11 have either given the Chiefs the lead or tied the game.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a product of playing with the lead. Nor is it all the product of patience when playing from behind. It\u2019s necessity.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have to put together long drives, because, well, they can\u2019t score quickly. Kansas City is a top-10 scoring offense this season, which isn\u2019t exactly worthy of a headline for a two-time defending Super Bowl champion (even after the uncharacteristic drop to 15th in scoring offense a year ago).<\/p>\n

But it is quite notable when you consider this: The Chiefs are dead last in the NFL in explosive plays. Only 5.8% of their snaps result in an explosive play, per Football Insights. The team that employs Patrick Mahomes has fewer big-play moments than any in football. Everything is to blame.<\/p>\n

They have the fewest 10-yard runs in the NFL: 10. (The Ravens, for comparison\u2019s sake, have 47.) Among the teams in the bottom-10 in that rushing statistic, none are among the top-10 in scoring offense. Except the Chiefs. Mahomes has completed only six passes traveling at least 20 yards downfield this year. The Chiefs are 31st in the NFL. Only Miami has fewer. Among the teams in the bottom-10 in that downfield-passing statistic, just two are still in the top-10 in scoring offense. The Bucs. And the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing quick and easy \u2014 in the passing game or the running game. It\u2019s an astonishing combination for a successful offense. The Chiefs have flipped the conventional numbers on their head. How? The long drives. We\u2019re back here again. The Chiefs have mastered staying on schedule. A once boom-or-bust offense (with a lot of boom) now has neither.<\/p>\n

They lead the league in rushing success rate, which is basically a measure of whether the running game keeps an offense on schedule. They have the second fewest offensive penalties in the NFL, just a year after totaling the ninth most.<\/p>\n

Those two items certainly help factor into the league\u2019s best third-down conversion percentage.. It\u2019s a different concoction than the way the Chiefs moved the ball early in Mahomes\u2019 pro career \u2014 when you watched their games wondering when, not if, the explosive play would arrive.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s a different concoction than literally anyone else in the league is using.<\/p>\n

But while the just-stay-on-schedule method may be unfamiliar to the rest of the NFL, it\u2019s recognizable to those in the building. They can trace it to a training camp drill. A terrible one. With a not-so-terrible effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How this \u2018terrible\u2019 Chiefs practice routine is a hidden key to their undefeated season\u00a0 Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes provides an update on the ankle injury… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: How this \u2018terrible\u2019 Chiefs practice routine is a hidden key to their undefeated season - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=5312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: How this \u2018terrible\u2019 Chiefs practice routine is a hidden key to their undefeated season - 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