"It hurt their offense "- NFL analyst believes Tyreek Hill limited Patrick Mahomes impact on the Chiefs offense
Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill have been complimented in many ways. Few pundits have said anything different.
Fewer have said that one held the other back. However, that is the opinion of Dan Orlovsky. Speaking on Get Up, Orlovsky said the following:
"Well, I think that they decided to build around the best part of their football team, specifically their offense, and that's their offensive line, and really get away [from] schematically or philosophically from the stuff that I thought became a little bit of a crutch for them last year."
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He continued, explaining how he believed the team wanted to return to developing a robust scheme:
"I understand, Tyreek Hill is an incredible player, the most explosive player in the NFL, but this offense became so in love with the RPO, the run-pass option when Patrick Mahomes would put the ball in the belly of a back and he would read the defense and if it's going to be a throw, or he's gonna hand it off. And the reality was, it hurt their offense as good as it was three years ago."
Orlovsky's point seems to be essentially that the team was good when it was schematically dominant. When Hill broke out as a top receiver in the NFL, the entire scheme became about getting him the ball, which became predictable.
Now, without the wide receiver, the team will need to return to their roots. Continuing, here's what the NFL analyst said:
"And it led them to a Super Bowl, it hurt their offense because they became so dependent upon it. And I think this is a little bit of an organizational philosophy change, where they say we got a really, really good offensive line could be top three in the NFL."
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He speculated that the team wants to get away from throwing the ball as often and lean more on the running game to set up the pass:
"We want to get away from that RPO, hand the ball off a little bit more on some designed runs, and really go back to some drop-back football and spread the field a ton and allow Patrick to be the focal point of the offense with their drop-back passing game. So I think it's a little bit silly and ignorant of us to say, well, this offense can't be what it was with Tyreek Hill, it's gonna be different."
Is Tyreek Hill's loss further indication the Chiefs are sliding?
Over the last few years, the Kansas City Chiefs have regressed in terms of their goal of winning a Super Bowl. In 2019, the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. In 2020, the team lost the Super Bowl. Last season, the team failed to make the Super Bowl.
The team has taken one step back each season. Now, sprinkling in the loss of Tyreek Hill, the team seems to be further on a linear path of regression.
Perhaps all they needed was a clear indication that something needed to be fixed. Based on their slide over the last couple of seasons, it is now clear that a tweak needs to be made.
According to Orlovsky, the Chiefs will be changing the way they play football. Will it restart the engine of winning or will it further accelerate the Chiefs' decline?