KC Second Half Adjustments

[st pete gogolak]

Not trying to obsess about Kansas City but as a football fan, I’m genuinely curious as to whether Spagnuolo made adjustments at half time of various games and if so, what those adjustments were.  Not going to go through the entire season, just the two Bills games and the Super Bowl.  Also, not going to look at Miami, which was never going to be a threat against anyone in zero degree weather.  Baltimore was an anomaly. Even though it only scored three points, its offense was markedly better in the second half.  But in the two games against the Bills and the game against the 49ers, the stats are striking. Bills regular season - 14 first half points and 208 yards. Second half - 6 points and 119 yards.  Playoff game - 17 first half points and 225 yards. Second half - 7 points and 143 yards.  Super Bowl - 10 first half points and 204 yards. Second half - 9 and 112.  
 

Has anyone come across any expert analysis as to what KC changed up, if anything, at the half of any of these games?  

[beebe]

The Chiefs played a lot more man coverage vs the 49ers after Brock Purdy was tearing apart their zone through 1.5 quarters. 

 

The Chiefs-Bills playoff game, Buffalo's halves weren't terribly different. Buffalo had only four drives in each half. So it was a very low possession game. KC's defense got off the field once more in the 2nd half than first half and made the Bills work a little harder on offense, especially on the final drive. Chris Jones usually is at his absolute best when it matters most.

 

If Buffalo didn't extend the drive on the first possession after facing 3rd-and-17, the halves would have been closer on a per-play basis, not on the actual scoreboard. 

 

Buffalo 1st half: 

14 plays, 60 yards 

11 plays, 75 yards

5 plays, 15 yards

12 plays, 75 yards 

 

Buffalo 2nd half:

15 plays, 75 yards 

3 plays, 5 yards

3 plays, -2 yards

16 plays, 54 yards 

Edited February 23 by beebe

[ShakAttack]

3 minutes ago, beebe said:

The Chiefs played a lot more man coverage vs the 49ers after Brock Purdy was tearing apart their zone through 1.5 quarters. 

 

The Chiefs-Bills playoff game, Buffalo's halves weren't terribly different. Buffalo had only four drives in each half. So it was a very low possession game. KC's defense got off the field once more in the 2nd half than first half and made the Bills work a little harder on offense, especially on the final drive. Chris Jones usually is at his absolute best when it matters most.

 

If Buffalo didn't extend the drive on the first possession after facing 3rd-and-17, the halves would have been closer on a per-play basis, not on the actual scoreboard. 

 

Buffalo 1st half: 

14 plays, 60 yards 

11 plays, 75 yards

5 plays, 15 yards

12 plays, 75 yards 

 

Buffalo 2nd half:

15 plays, 75 yards 

3 plays, 5 yards

3 plays, -2 yards

16 plays, 54 yards 

That 16 play, 54 yard drive… just looking at that makes me want to cry. It was THE perfect drive for that situation, until we went off script, stopped doing what we were doing to get to that part of the field and got greedy. 
 

I think the part that hurts the most is if we kept chipping away (I.e. throw to Diggs on 2nd and 9) you probably end up around the 10 yard line eventually where the Bills are likely one of the most efficient teams in the NFL at striking from the distance, in large part due to the threat of Allen as a runner.

 

But we all know this already, so I will stop. 
 

It’s just, I knew that was a perfect drive, but I did not realize until reading the OP that it was a 16 play 54 yard drive. Just wow. 

[SCBills]

3 minutes ago, BobBelcher said:

That 16 play, 54 yard drive… just looking at that makes me want to cry. It was THE perfect drive for that situation, until we went off script, stopped doing what we were doing to get to that part of the field and got greedy. 
 

I think the part that hurts the most is if we kept chipping away (I.e. throw to Diggs on 2nd and 9) you probably end up around the 10 yard line eventually where the Bills are likely one of the most efficient teams in the NFL at striking from the distance, in large part due to the threat of Allen as a runner.

 

But we all know this already, so I will stop. 
 

It’s just, I knew that was a perfect drive, but I did not realize until reading the OP that it was a 16 play 54 yard drive. Just wow. 

Yup.  This is why Allen catches criticism for throwing to a guy he knew would be open for the TD pre-snap.  
 

It’s an insane standard to hold him to.

 

And honestly, it’s probably the biggest indictment of this organization around him if one play could be a microcosm of why we haven’t won it all with him yet. 
 

But it is what it is, and given game flow, it just felt inevitable that we were going to drain the clock and Allen wills us to a go ahead TD with 30 seconds left and KC out of timeouts … until it wasn’t. 

[ShakAttack]

5 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Yup.  This is why Allen catches criticism for throwing to a guy he knew would be open for the TD pre-snap.  
 

It’s an insane standard to hold him to.

 

And honestly, it’s probably the biggest indictment of this organization around him if one play could be a microcosm of why we haven’t won it all with him yet. 
 

But it is what it is, and given game flow, it just felt inevitable that we were going to drain the clock and Allen wills us to a go ahead TD with 30 seconds left and KC out of timeouts … until it wasn’t. 

Especially when you consider down the stretch of last season, Allen and the offense came up with TDs over and over again at the end of games when needed. That includes games in which Allen struggled during the first 3 quarters. He was insanely clutch last season. 
 

Ironically, one of the only times we failed to score a TD in that scenario was the regular season game against KC, where we instead had to settle for a FG. Granted, that was a go-ahead FG, but it still felt like a TD was necessary in that situation at the time. 

[John from Riverside]

This is not been talked about enough. It wasn’t just the bills the Chiefs made second-half adjustments on everybody in the playoffs that enable them to win the games.
 

They did it in the Super Bowl as well

[pennstate10]

2 hours ago, beebe said:

The Chiefs played a lot more man coverage vs the 49ers after Brock Purdy was tearing apart their zone through 1.5 quarters. 

 

The Chiefs-Bills playoff game, Buffalo's halves weren't terribly different. Buffalo had only four drives in each half. So it was a very low possession game. KC's defense got off the field once more in the 2nd half than first half and made the Bills work a little harder on offense, especially on the final drive. Chris Jones usually is at his absolute best when it matters most.

 

If Buffalo didn't extend the drive on the first possession after facing 3rd-and-17, the halves would have been closer on a per-play basis, not on the actual scoreboard. 

 

Buffalo 1st half: 

14 plays, 60 yards 

11 plays, 75 yards

5 plays, 15 yards

12 plays, 75 yards 

 

Buffalo 2nd half:

15 plays, 75 yards 

3 plays, 5 yards

3 plays, -2 yards

16 plays, 54 yards 

I’d never looked at that drive chart

 

5 drives of 54-75 yds and no turnovers. Should be good for 3 TD and 2 FG. 
 

But Bills had no short field easy scoring drives.  
 

Bills have been missing the aggressive D that gives you short fields in playoff games. 

[beebe]

1 hour ago, pennstate10 said:

I’d never looked at that drive chart

 

5 drives of 54-75 yds and no turnovers. Should be good for 3 TD and 2 FG. 
 

But Bills had no short field easy scoring drives.  
 

Bills have been missing the aggressive D that gives you short fields in playoff games. 

 

In retrospect, KC probably would have liked to try tightening the screws a bit earlier. But they largely did what they wanted, forcing seven 3rd-and-longs (and a pair of 4th downs, excluding the fake punt attempt). 

 

Buffalo was very good on 1st down in the first half. They gained 3 or more yards on their first 11 1st-and-10s and averaged 5.44 yards on first down overall in the opening half. In 19 1st-and-10s, they had only two plays that gained 0 or negative yards; 12 of 19 plays gained at least 4 yards (and another was a 2-yard touchdown.)

 

1st half, yards gained on 1st down: 3, 3, 6, 10, 4, 6, 14, 9, 6, 8, 7, 2, 2, 8, -1, 6, 0, 5, 2 (TD) = 5.44 yards avg 

 

In the 2nd half, they had 1 yard or less on six of their 13 1st-and-10s.

• 2nd half, yard gained on 1st down: 3, 7, 1, 8, 3, -2, 8, -4, 0, 8, 0, 6, 1 = 3 yards avg

Overall, everything was just a little bit harder for the Bills after halftime. Gaining 3 yards or less on 8 of their 1st-and-10s (including a pair of negative plays) made them far more predictable on the ensuing downs. But even then, they largely found a way to recover. They completed a TD pass to Shakir on 3rd-and-13, converted a 4th-down to stay alive on the final drive, etc. 

 

[90sBills]

Another KC thread? SMH 🤦 

[ProcessTruster]

6 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

Not trying to obsess about Kansas City but as a football fan, I’m genuinely curious as to whether Spagnuolo made adjustments at half time of various games and if so, what those adjustments were.  Not going to go through the entire season, just the two Bills games and the Super Bowl.  Also, not going to look at Miami, which was never going to be a threat against anyone in zero degree weather.  Baltimore was an anomaly. Even though it only scored three points, its offense was markedly better in the second half.  But in the two games against the Bills and the game against the 49ers, the stats are striking. Bills regular season - 14 first half points and 208 yards. Second half - 6 points and 119 yards.  Playoff game - 17 first half points and 225 yards. Second half - 7 points and 143 yards.  Super Bowl - 10 first half points and 204 yards. Second half - 9 and 112.  
 

Has anyone come across any expert analysis as to what KC changed up, if anything, at the half of any of these games?  

then stop obsessing about KC, please.   if Josh drives us in for a touchdown and wins the game, none of this "curiosity" would be happening.  Stop trying to diagnose something you have no real visibility into.  Please just stop.   It's basketball season, then its golf season.  Football season is over.   Let it freaking go.   geez.  

[stevestojan]

Peyton Manning: "I think that's the biggest myth in football — the halftime adjustments. You go in, you use the restroom, you eat a couple of oranges, and then the head coach says, 'Alright, let's go!'" 

 

Peyton's brother Eli agreed with his assessment. "You're in there for like, three minutes," Eli said.

[Comebackkid]

run game got shut down 2nd half, coaches abandoned what we had been doing and lost the flow to the offense.   

 

 

[Sweats]

KC does their homework.

They allow teams to basically march up and down the field in the first half, essentially blowing their load on their playbook and then analyze and adjust in the 2nd half. This is where good, sound coaching comes into effect.

 

Chances are, whatever worked in the first half probably won't be as effective in the 2nd half, however, coaching needs to be able to have some foresight as to how to exploit weaknesses. 

It's like on every play, we're just throwing plays out there to see what works and when we find something, we try to force feed it 12 times and hope to get lucky. 

We need sound creative ideas and to stop blowing our load in the 1st half.......you know, save a little for the endurance.

[foreboding]

On 2/23/2024 at 8:49 PM, ProcessTruster said:

then stop obsessing about KC, please.   if Josh drives us in for a touchdown and wins the game, none of this "curiosity" would be happening.  Stop trying to diagnose something you have no real visibility into.  Please just stop.   It's basketball season, then its golf season.  Football season is over.   Let it freaking go.   geez.  

Don't you got a basketball game or something to watch?