The Kansas City Chiefs can point to a host of problems behind their offensive struggles. including Matt Nagy’s play calling, but their rapid disarmament over the past two years has hit them where it hurts. If you’re looking for someone to blame for Kansas City’s offensive demise and falling out of the top 10 in scoring for the first time since 2016, their wideouts have already been caught holding the bloody knife on the gridiron over the body of the Super Bowl held champion. Patrick Mahomes, king of the tight end, discovered this season that he too is subject to the whims of his wideouts. For the second time in a few weeks, a Chiefs receiver has become the main protagonist of NFL Twitter after slaughtering a miraculous Mahomes play on national television.
Kadarius Toney gave a taste of what kind of season this would be in the Chiefs’ season opener against the Detroit Lions. That evening featured a perfect trinity of drops from Toney, including his piece de resistance in the last two minutes, after a botched pass that should have put the Chiefs in position to win. Lightning struck again when MArquez Valdes-Scantling dropped a deep bomb in Philly’s 5 on one of the final plays of their Week 11 loss to the Eagles. On Sunday, Toney treated the scrimmage as an abstract concept, drawing offsides and brushing aside the highlight of his and Kelce’s careers. The Chiefs offense continues to ramp up and the calls are coming from within.
The cause of this period of discontent is Kansas City’s negligence in drafting or signing an elite receiver for Mahomes. It’s analogous to New England’s miscalculations in evaluating offensive skill positions during Tom Brady’s twilight, with the Pats declining to draft a wideout in the first round.
Reid has previously experimented with this method of team building around cardboard recipients, but it failed. Welcome to the Donovan McNabb experience. During Reid’s early years at the helm of the Philadelphia Eagles, he surrounded McNabb with wreckage at receiver and developed Brian Westbrook into an amorphous multi-purpose defender who could create splash plays at receiver or in the run game.
The McNabb era in Philadelphia was defined by McNabb’s hero ball, despite receivers dropping the ball like they had carpal tunnel. The one season Philadelphia was gracious enough to bless him with Terrell Owens resulted in Philadelphia advancing past the NFC Championship in their fourth try and reaching the Super Bowl in McNabb and TO’s only full season together.
It was a near-perfect storm that led to McNabb posting career highs in yardage, yards per attempt, touchdowns and quarterback rating. Mahomes’ career was the opposite of McNabb’s. He’s a superior above-the-shoulders quarterback than McNabb in almost every way, but Philadelphia’s bayonet attack forced McNabb to do significantly more of the dirty work than Mahomes has had to deal with with Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Travis Kelce creating separation on the field in the Chiefs. high octane attack.
McNabb was haunted by the follies of his wide receivers. Freddie Mitchell thanking God for his hands was the highlight of his Eagles career. James Thrash dropped a crucial pass in the 2004 NFC title game, costing the Eagles a trip to the Super Bowl months before they acquired Owens. Staley and Todd Pinkston were Drop City residents at the time championship loss to the Rams, with McNabb playing it out for nearly three quarters with injured ribs.
In Owens’ shadow, Mitchell and Pinkston were the only Eagles receivers to haul in touchdowns for Philadelphia during their Super Bowl campaign, with a total of three. Philadelphia should erect a monument to the heavy lifting McNabb did with such a mediocre cast of receivers.
During his time in Philly, his top receivers were Westbrook, Pinkston, Chad Lewis, LJ Smith, Thrash, Staley and Reggie Brown. There isn’t a single 1,000-yard receiving season between the three of them. Not a single one. McNabb formed masterpieces from clay and manure.
Today’s Kansas City receivers emphasize the importance of having competent hands in your lineup. For years, NFL pundits have made it their mission to minimize the effect a big receiving corps can have on an offense led by a quarterback god. A major transgression is a polytheistic exercise. If anything, Kansas City’s shortcomings should only get worse Tyreek Hill’s MVP case.
One season of this is enough. Kansas City cannot afford to prolong Mahomes and the passing attack’s suffering. If this season has taught us anything, it’s that even though Reid has secured a spot in Canton after starting over in Kansas City, we should have a lot more respect for Donovan McNabb’s name and that this should serve as a warning to Reid serve not to repeat his mistakes. of that era.
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