Let's Not Give up on the Chiefs' Offensive Line Just Yet

Arrowhead Report's Tucker Franklin and Sam Hays discuss the offense's early struggles in the Kansas City Chiefs' 23-20 overtime win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and how they can fix their flaws before Monday's game.

I'm not usually one to totally lose faith in a specific area of the team this early in the season. Especially this year with no preseason and an abbreviated offseason, players are really just getting acclimated to the game in these first few weeks.

After seeing a promising showing from the offensive line in Week 1, the performance we saw in Week 2 was concerning but I don't think it was frightening.

On today's Roughing the Kicker podcast, Arrowhead Report's Sam Hays and I talked all things offense and broke down their struggles against the Los Angeles Chargers last week. We also discussed some of the ways they got back on the right track in the second half and how they can stay on track heading into this week's matchup with the Baltimore Ravens.

I'm not going to argue with the fact the offensive line had a poor performance. It was not a great showing from the guys upfront but there are several factors that played a role.

First, the Chargers pass rush is one of the best in the league. It's not every week the O-Line will face Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Jerry Tillery and Uchenna Nwosu. In total, the Chargers fearsome foursome pressured Patrick Mahomes on 44.2% of his drop backs Sunday. 

I want to be clear, this is not good, but that doesn't mean the line is not good.

Mahomes didn't help his cause in some instances, dropping too far back in the pocket making it harder on his tackles to set the width of the pocket. As the game went on, Mahomes adjusted this and began to trust his interior lineman a bit more.

So maybe before we go calling for the jobs of Fisher and Schwartz, let's give some credit to the Chargers pass rush. It was phenominal. Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley has figured out how to bother Mahomes unlike any other coordinator has. 

Off games happen, especially without a preseason. These guys are human and I expect them to make adjustments in time for Monday night, because they can't play like that again and expect to win.

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