Chiefs As World Champions - Part IX

One of the things I caught in looking over all the Chiefs accolades post-Super Bowl glory was some of the similarities between the 2019 team and the 1969 one. There were a few, some I noted, but a couple I wanted to mention here.

One was each team had one of those regular season games that was just wretched. Of course the last game our present Chiefs lost as of this writing was that one way back in November at Tennessee when we just fell apart after being up 29-20 late. I originally thought this was an undoing that would be our complete undoing, but when you look at that game it required a planetload of inane things to happen in such a short period of game time for us to lose it.

In 1969 we faced a young and surprisingly decent Cincinnati team, one we should have beaten handily, but didn't. We were just off our game that day, and coach Hank Stram told his team that. Just too many slip-ups, sometimes that happens. (I happened to learn about this in Michael MacCambridge's excellent new book The '69 Chiefs.)

We went on to win every single remaining game that year against every team not the Raiders.

The other quite interesting similarity related to what I noticed in watching some of the Chiefs games over the season on the Game Pass we get to enjoy for a while. Do you even remember how well LeSean McCoy played for us? He really ran the ball well, and I think most of us feel that he didn't play so much -- and not at all in the postseason -- not because as it was presumed Reid wanted to rest him for more use later, but because he wasn't going to tolerate a nasty fumble at a critical time. We seem to only remember McCoy's excruciatingly costly fumbles in the Colts and Texans losses. But dang -- he was actually pretty danged good the other times he was given the ball.

The similarity here is this one -- did you know the 1969 Chiefs had on the roster, for the entire season, Paul Lowe? What, you don't know who Paul Lowe is? Well, he was only one of the very best running backs in AFL history -- look it up. With the Chargers Lowe was phenomenal, even helping them to a AFL Title in 1963. His best season was 1965 when he ran for 1,000+ for the Bolts. The Chiefs didn't use him nearly as much as they used McCoy this year, but still. Just an interesting similarity.

The most recent Chiefs news is that Brett Veach went all in on our receiver core. I think that's awesome. I saw someone write we'll regret picking up Demarcus Robinson for another year, you know, because he's just the fourth best pass catcher we've got and there're gobs of wideouts we could've had in the draft or wherever.

Wrong. Robinson is a phenomenal receiver and having an experienced guy like this on the other end of Mahomes' tosses is hugely more beneficial than anything else. He knows the system and is often enough coming up with highlight reel plays. He's also a hard worker and a fine special teams player.

Even better is Veach restructured Sammy Watkins contract adding incentives and a rare no-trade clause.

Awesome. After all the talk about releasing him or trading him or something, just to please the salary cap gods -- well how about this.

It seems Brett also knew all too well about the harrowing ghastliness of The Chiefs Wide Receiver Project. There aren't five guys on that list that match up with Hill, Watkins, Hardman, Robinson, and Pringle. Yes yes yes I know there is Taylor and Burford and Marshall and Paige and Kennison and a few others, I got that, fine players all. But this one young receiver core we have in the stable? With Mahomes the master of ceremonies?

Are you even freekin' kidding me?

It's as if the entire wretchedness of The Chiefs Wide Receiver Project has been vomited up and rocketed into oblivion. Go ahead and put one of those values from 1 to 10 on these guys, our current guys. Hill is a 9, for sure. Watkins I'd give an 8. Hardman's already got a 4 or 5 and the sky's the limit for him. Even if Robinson's a 3 (remember these are how-good-you-are values -- if you have even a "1" that means you've been at least a little positively serviceable), that's a value that only 11 receivers in Chiefs history have surpassed.

Here's the main thrust of my No. 9 take. It has to do with one of the reasons these receivers are so crankin' great. It has something to do with an idea I've had for a while, a version of which I mentioned a few years ago after one of those insufferable losses to the Broncos back before 2015.

It is getting our quarterback to make deeper drops so he could move around more to get our guys untracked downfield.

It is that simple. In other words --

Mahomes uses deep drops with extraordinary skill.

A number of years ago I'd watch the Colts Peyton Manning drop 20 yards back after the snap, then fire it to a gliding Marvin Harrison or Reggie Wayne without a defender in sight.

Well guess what.

This is what Mahomes is doing now.

The other day I watched his game against the Raiders, the one when we toyed with them in a 40-9 trouncing. I just noted how much Mahomes was able to accomplish, dropping deep and moving around freely to let things open up downfield. I'm hoping they do more of it, by design -- hey, have plays where Mahomes is dropping 30 yards back if you must, get those receivers -- oh, and Travis Kelce -- damnn -- to just fly high everywhere, and then let our magician put on his show.

Thing is, right after I enjoyed this extravaganza, I watched an extended highlight clip of an NBA game when my favorite basketball team Golden State Warriors came back from 26 down in the 3rd quarter against the Boston Celtics.

It was as if they had the game won the whole time.

The thing that caught my eye was just the exceptional play of these two teams, the Warriors and the Chiefs. Yes, there is no question the two players most responsible for this embarrassment of riches for my two favorite non-baseball teams are the two players just about everyone has recognized have radically changed their respective games.

Stephen Curry and Patrick Mahomes.

With these two players on their teams, they've easily made these teams the most dominant forces in sports. You can see it, you just feel it when you watch them perform. Sure they need a supporting cast, that's why Brett Veach got those guys back. That's why we see the Warriors floundering this year with Curry's fellow splash brother Klay Thompson injured for the season.

Point is there is clearly something about the transcendent play of those two players you know makes the difference for the entire team. The funny thing is I just caught a piece on Curry that mentioned one of the things that makes him so great is, get this: his freedom to improvise.

Wow. How much Mahomes can do that when he gives himself that space to operate, just as I was talking about. It is also a testament to the sublime strength of these two players, that they can do that and play at the level they do.

So yeah, Chiefs fans. We've got the Steph Curry of the NFL on our team.

Or...

Do the Warriors have the Patrick Mahomes of the NBA on their team?

Way way way too much fun.
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The first two images are from Andrew Mather, the third is from Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs website. The image of Steph Curry is from Business Insider. Thank you.
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