KC Chiefs Emphasize Need to Limit Costly Penalties and Turnovers

The Chiefs have had a difficult time staying out of their own way, and the team knows it.

Two of the Kansas City Chiefs' three losses this season have been one-score differences in which the offense had a late chance to take the lead but simply couldn't do it. Overcoming things like turnovers, drops and penalties seems to be more difficult in 2023 due to the increased volume of them. Even in wins, Andy Reid's team is underwhelming with its offensive output due to those factors (among others). 

In the second half of games specifically, Kansas City has fallen flat as of late. Three consecutive outings have seen Patrick Mahomes and company fail to score any points coming out of the halftime locker room. Two of those three games were losing efforts, highlighting a problem that needs to be fixed.

Reid spoke to the media on Wednesday and said there isn't a ton that the Chiefs can do differently other than stop making self-inflicted errors. 

"Not really, no," Reid said. "All of these things have been kind of self-inflicted. We've got to take care of that. We just take care of our business there, and we'll be okay." 

From a penalty standpoint, Kansas City ranks 12th in the league in most flags entering Week 12's play. Of their 67 called infractions this year, 14 are for offensive holding. That's tied with the Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens for the most in all of football. False starts have been an issue this year, too. In Week 11, such penalties led to the following downs being extended:

• Jawaan Taylor false start: first-and-10 to first-and-15
• Trey Smith holding: first-and-10 to first-and-20
• Taylor false start: third-and-2 to third-and-7
• Travis Kelce holding: first-and-10 to first-and-20
• Creed Humphrey false start: third-and-7 to third-and-12

Even for a club that ranks among the league's best when it comes to converting on tough third downs, shooting yourself in the foot doesn't help things. The added difficulty places more pressure on everyone involved to be perfect on ensuing plays. Reid brought up "procedure penalty-type calls" as something the team can hone in on and eliminate, adding that certain calls are out of their hands. With that said, understanding the reason behind flags might assist in decreasing the number of them being thrown. 

"I think you need to see why the official called it, and then you worked on it from there," Reid said. "That's one that's in the official's hands that you might agree with [or] you might not. But you better look at it and see why they're calling it. If it's truly something that you're wrong on, you fix it." 

Similar to penalties, Kansas City finds itself plagued by ugly turnovers quite often in the current campaign. The Chiefs have one of the 10 worst turnover differentials in the NFL at -5, which is fueled by their 19 giveaways to opponents. Only seven clubs have fumbled the ball more than them, with over half of those squads being outside of the current playoff picture. Just five teams have thrown more interceptions this season.

Not only did the Chiefs turn the ball over twice on the Monday Night Football stage, but they did so in the place teams absolutely hate. A red zone interception from Mahomes in the first half and a red zone fumble by Kelce in the fourth quarter made things much harder on the team than they needed to be. Ahead of a Sunday afternoon game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Mahomes said the burden is on him and his teammates to prove that they can protect the rock.

"Turnovers are so big in this game, and we emphasize that," Mahomes said. "But I have to be better and we have to be better at eliminating negative plays, especially when you play a team like the Eagles. We're playing a great team this week that plays hard, and they're going to make us earn it. We have to go out there and show that we can do it." 

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