KANSAS CITY, Mo. — En route to a Super Bowl championship last season, the Chiefs were right at the league average for dropped passes, averaging just under two drops per game.
Nothing about the team’s 21-20 Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions was average when it came to dropping passes. Chiefs receivers were charged unofficially with five drops Thursday night — a drop percentage of 13.5%, well above their average of 4.5% last season.
“It’s unusual for us to drop that many passes, anywhere, anytime,” head coach Andy Reid said. “We’ll go back and work on that. You’ve got to take care of business and these guys know that and so we’ve got to fix that.”
NFL’s Next Gen Stats tracks a receiver’s catch percentage compared to the expected likelihood of them making receptions on their targets. Only two of the Chiefs’ wide receivers had an expected catch percentage higher than expected — Marquez Valdes-Scantling with 34.9% higher than expected and Justyn Ross at 25.8% higher.
Kadarius Toney, who caught one pass on five targets, had a catch percentage 58.9% lower than expected. Skyy Moore was shut out on three targets, 61.3% below expectations.
Patrick Mahomes said he still has trust in Toney, who missed all three preseason games due to a torn meniscus suffered during the first practice of training camp.
“Obviously, he wanted to play and fought in rehab hard so he could play,” Mahomes said. “Stuff is not always going to go your way. Obviously, he would have wanted to catch a few of those in the game but I have trust that he is going to be the guy that I go to in those crucial moments and he’s going to make the catch and win us some games like he did last year and get him more and more reps. “
Reid didn’t believe any of the team’s offensive woes stemmed from the absence of tight end Travis Kelce, who missed the game due to a bone bruise after hyperextending his knee in practice Tuesday.
“They got us on the tipped ball,” Reid said. “It’s unusual of the guys that dropped the ball to drop the ball. That’s not what I’ve seen from them and I wasn’t expecting them to do that so you do that, you take care of business there and you’ll be all right.”
Reality Check
The Chiefs defense allowed just 14 points against the Lions but that wasn’t any solace for safety Justin Reid.
We lost, you’re never gonna feel good,” he said. “There’s no participation awards. It’s like do you win or do you lose? We left some plays on the field on all three phases of the ball, offense, defense, special teams. We all have some plays on the field, and we just got to take this as a reality check and know that we’re gonna have a target on our back. We just got to play better.”
Defensive lineman Mike Danna, who tallied six tackles including the team’s only sack and also tipped as pass, agreed with his teammate.
“From start to finish, we’ve got to be disciplined,” Danna said. “We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal at any point. We’ve got to hold ourselves accountable – offense, defense, special teams everyone. We just got to watch the film, watch the tape and be critical of ourselves, back to work.”
Linebacker Nick Bolton said the Chiefs pride themselves on situational football, and that’s where the biggest lapses were on Thursday night.
“We lost the football game, and I think that’s where you measure yourself at – especially in this league,” Bolton said. “Games are won in inches and in a couple situations down the stretch, and we didn’t execute well enough. You can say that we gave up 14 points and that’s a good start and all that, but ultimately we lost the football game. Our goal was to come out of here 1-0 this week, and it didn’t happen. Back to the drawing board, the guys will be better and ready to go for Jacksonville.”
McDuffie Forces Fumble
The Chiefs held a 14-7 lead at the half thanks to hard-hitting cornerback Trent McDuffie forcing the second turnover of his career. The Lions faced a third-and-10 from the Kansas City 17-yard line with Detroit quarterback Jared Goff three a short pass to receiver Marvin Jones Jr.
“(It was a) tight bunch, we were blitzing so we knew that they were going to check a rocket screen possibly,” McDuffie said. “They did and I made a play. I didn’t even know I knocked it out, to be honest. I just got up, see we got the ball and I was like hell yeah, let’s get off the field.”
That was the third forced fumble of McDuffie’s career. It’s also back-to-back games with a forced fumble for McDuffie, who knocked the ball out of bounds from the hands of Miles Sanders during the opening kickoff of Super Bowl LVII in February.
Entering his second season, McDuffie is already earning a reputation as a hard-nosed defender and an aggressive tackler.
“I thrive on that,” McDuffie said. “I’m not the biggest guy, I ain’t the tallest corner so I got to be seen somehow and I do that by hitting.”
Injury Report
Reid reported no new injuries coming out of Thursday’s game. Running back Isiah Pachecho checked out of the game momentarily for what appeared a leg cramp but later retuned to the lineup.
Only Kelce was scratched from the lineup due to an injury against the Lions. There’s strong optimism Kelce can return to action in Week 2 but Reid suggested it was an easy decision to hold back the All-Pro tight end Thursday night.
“He just wasn’t feeling right so I wasn’t going to put him out there with that and he was honest with me and we talked,” Reid said. “Just not enough time there.”
What’s Next?
The Chiefs have a mini-bye week coming up with a few extra off days before traveling to Jacksonville next weekend. The players will be back in for a workout on Sunday before resuming a normal week of preparation starting Monday.
The Chiefs take on the Jaguars at noon, Sept. 17
