In last week's Kansas City Chiefs game, the Cincinnati Meng Hus still used the league's popular defensive strategy against Mahoms. Fearing for Mahoms' far-reaching strike capabilities, they arranged for two security guards to stand in the far-reaching backcourt. But this time, Mahomes found a solution.
In the first wave of the chieftain's attack in the second quarter, Meng Hu still adopted the tactic of standing high in the security guard. The two men were 13 yards from the starting line before kick-off, and the two men stepped back after the ball was fired.
At this point the Chief called the option to attack, and Mahomes' choice was easy, handing the ball over to running back Darrell Williams, who advanced seven yards on the road attack.
The offensive Chiefs advanced in 9 slots of 73 yards to complete the touchdown, and Mahomes could complete the advance without having to connect Terrick Hill and Travis Kelsey with his own highlight passes. Williams played a key role in this wave of attack, advancing a total of 32 yards and completing the final 1-yard dash.
As a result, the Chiefs' offense has been more balanced since the second half of the season. With opponents limiting Mahomes' long passes, the team's offense can still find a way. Williams gradually became another point of launch for the Chieftain's attack.
Williams said in an interview: "The most important thing is that I have confidence on the field. When I saw the gap, I pushed in that direction desperately and did what I could to help the team. He has been in the league for 4 years and this season he was given the opportunity to start first because of an injury to the collarbone of the team's main running back Clyde Edwards Heller.
Against Meng Hu, Williams advanced 88 yards after only 14 runs, setting a new career record and completing two touchdowns. At the same time, he has had 3 successful catches in this game, and in 4 of the last 5 games, he has more than 3 catches.
When the Chiefs suffered a crushing defeat to the Tennessee Titans, Mahoms decided to re-watch the game footage to analyze his problems. He found himself in need of passing options to capture the weaknesses of his opponent's targeted defenses. When the opponent puts seven defenders in the backcourt, especially 2 security guards to stand behind in order to prevent passes, he can use short passes to runbacks to easily complete the advance.
During the match against Meng Hu, Mahoms accurately executed this tactic. Starting from 22 yards, Mahomes pretended to hand the ball over to the running back, after which he intended to pass the ball near the touchdown zone. When he sensed that the defender was defensive, he passed the ball to Williams. When Williams received the ball, the nearest defender was 10 yards away. Finally he pushed 7 yards.
Mahomes said in an interview that he has been more patient in his offensive choices this season, which is his biggest improvement. Once his offensive choice was very radical, he wanted to do his best in one battle. But the targeted arrangement of his opponents forced him to rethink his choices.
According to Mahomes, this was the season he passed the most to the running back. According to the statistics of the data website, he has passed the ball to the running back 101 times, successfully advanced 744 yards in 81 successful times, and intercepted 1 of 4 touchdowns.
Mahomes was particularly fond of Williams, who received even more balls than outside receiver Pringle. When he became the Chiefs starting running back, there have been seven games to advance more than 75 yards. In the final game of the season, Williams only needed to advance another 37 yards to achieve the first 1,000 yards of her career.
In the second half of the season, Mahomes showed off his talent for long passes, targeting not only his old partners Hill and Kelsey, but also the likes of Williams and veteran Gore. In the Chiefs' race over the Las Vegas Raiders, Mahomes completed a 38-yard long pass to find Williams, a running back who was pressing against rival security guard Abram in the touchdown.
Later, in the win over the Steelers, when Mahomes ran out of his pocket to find Gore, the ball flew 30 yards in the air, and the Chief completed a 50-yard offensive advance. Keep in mind that last season, Mahoms flew more than 20 yards of long passes, and did not get into the hands of a running back once. In the past 7 games, Mahomes has completed this connection with the running back three times.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid is happy with the role of the running back in attack: "They're doing a good job. It's an efficient combination and we hope the momentum will be maintained."
If the opposing defensive team dares to hoard defensive forces in the backcourt, the chiefs have found a countermeasure, and they will make the opponent pay a terrible price for it.