Red Zone Efficiency

[st pete gogolak]

During the 2024 season, the Chiefs were 22nd in the league in red zone efficiency (53.95%).  In two games against the Bills, Chiefs were 100% (6 for 6).  Brutal. 

[Bagwell358]

That is horrible.

 

The defense was bad all season. Its magnified with the Chiefs and Reid calling plays. 

 

Hopefully McDermott is prepared to evolve some philosophies going forward. We saw some signs of that recently with more man. 

 

Also, it is time for Beane to start getting multiple immediate starters in the draft to help manage the cap. At the very least he has to hit on rounds 1-2 more frequently. 

 

The Chiefs are going to try and get better too so the gap isn't going away if we get better. 

[Dr.Sack]

If the refs didn’t put the thumb on the scale for KC we might have witnessed a game where a team was throughly out-coached yet some magnificent player efforts led to an upset victory.  

[JP51]

30 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

During the 2024 season, the Chiefs were 22nd in the league in red zone efficiency (53.95%).  In two games against the Bills, Chiefs were 100% (6 for 6).  Brutal. 

are you counting their 2pt conversion... cause I feel like you need too... red zone play for points...  Defense is a disaster.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Beane has to finally get the DL right.  I actually trust McD will figure out the secondary.  I don't think McD has a clue how to build a pass rush, as evidenced by Epenesa and PED Murphy playing valuable snaps over his tenure.  Hopefully Solomon will take a step forward and be a decent situational pass rush guy.  I doubt he will ever be a starter.  

 

Best bet is to mortgage the future and go get a proven star edge player.   Takes too long to develop DL and picking at 30 the chances of getting a great one is low.  

[beebe]

37 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

During the 2024 season, the Chiefs were 22nd in the league in red zone efficiency (53.95%).  In two games against the Bills, Chiefs were 100% (6 for 6).  Brutal. 

 

i'm guessing the chiefs overperform in the red zone vs all the best teams (particularly in playoffs). they're not wasting their good red zone plays against the raiders and saints in regular season games. the designed mahomes QB run was a rarity that the bills said they weren't prepared for. the chiefs have schemed skyy moore, kadarius toney, MVS and mecole hardman WIDE OPEN near the goal line in super bowls. justin watson wasn't targeted a single time in either playoff game this year yet caught the 2-pt attempt vs the bills. the list goes on. 

[st pete gogolak]

12 minutes ago, beebe said:

 

i'm guessing the chiefs overperform in the red zone vs all the best teams (particularly in playoffs). they're not wasting their good red zone plays against the raiders and saints in regular season games. the designed mahomes QB run was a rarity that the bills said they weren't prepared for. the chiefs have schemed skyy moore, kadarius toney, MVS and mecole hardman WIDE OPEN near the goal line in super bowls. justin watson wasn't targeted a single time in either playoff game this year yet caught the 2-pt attempt vs the bills. the list goes on. 

They were 2 - 5 the week before against the Texans.

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, JP51 said:

are you counting their 2pt conversion... cause I feel like you need too... red zone play for points...  Defense is a disaster.

Defense has been a disaster for the entire McDermott era. And as long as his GM continues to make failed early picks on defense, nothing will ever change. I'm not even confident McDermott shifts to more man or base 4-3?  It's like that dream where you're running down the hallway that never ends.

[beebe]

36 minutes ago, st pete gogolak said:

They were 2 - 5 the week before against the Texans.

 

The Chiefs have scored touchdowns on 58 of 91 (63.7%) red-zone trips all time in the playoffs in the Reid/Mahomes era which is a watered-down number considering some games they didn't attempt to score TDs (ie kneel downs, game-winning FGs etc). The true # is probably closer to 66%. 

 

Their regular season avg TD percentage in Reid/Mahomes era is roughly 61.5%. 

 

Defensive ranks of playoff teams KC has faced in Reid/Mahomes era (per ESPN power index): #4, #10, #1, #9, #11, #17, #2, #5, #16, #1, #14, #17, #6, #10, #19, #3, #15, #23, #8, #12. 

 

So against a playoff schedule that consists of 11 top-10 defenses, and facing defenses that rank 10th on average overall, the Chiefs have outperformed their TD percentage in the playoffs (when it matters) compared to the regular season (when it matters less).

 

And that's before adjusting for the tougher competition. 

 

[colin]

Advanced stats tell the deeper story.  Our d is even worse than many think in the playoffs overall, and woat vs kc.

 

Given that MCD is just gonna run it back all over again, I say sign one stud upfront who can steal some plays and make Oliver Groot and then better, some kind of CB so we can actually play man effectively from time to time, and put all the other chips into the O.

 

Higgins or Metcalf on our team on Sunday might have broken a couple big ones and also improved our short yardage stuff by stressing the d.  Maxx Crosby terrorizing mahomes wouldn't get Hamlin or Groot to their jobs better containing basic QB runs to the edge, so the bigger gains are likey to be from improving the O.

 

We have to min max the roster changes

[turbo044]

2 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

During the 2024 season, the Chiefs were 22nd in the league in red zone efficiency (53.95%).  In two games against the Bills, Chiefs were 100% (6 for 6).  Brutal. 

Isn't efficiency measured by TD'S scored when inside the 20?  On KC's game winning FG drive they were on our 10 yard line and settled for a FG.  Seems that makes them somethingless than 6 for 6??

[beebe]

27 minutes ago, turbo044 said:

Isn't efficiency measured by TD'S scored when inside the 20?  On KC's game winning FG drive they were on our 10 yard line and settled for a FG.  Seems that makes them somethingless than 6 for 6??

 

the chiefs were 4-for-6 scoring TDs in the red zone in playoff game.

Edited January 28 by beebe

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

25 minutes ago, turbo044 said:

Isn't efficiency measured by TD'S scored when inside the 20?  On KC's game winning FG drive they were on our 10 yard line and settled for a FG.  Seems that makes them somethingless than 6 for 6??

 

Not really sure what OP was looking at, KC was 3-3 in the regular season game against us and 4-5 in the playoff game (it was technically 4-6 but im excluding the end of game kneel down). 

 

Point still stands that our red zone defense was abysmal vs KC 

[Mango]

2 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Beane has to finally get the DL right.  I actually trust McD will figure out the secondary.  I don't think McD has a clue how to build a pass rush, as evidenced by Epenesa and PED Murphy playing valuable snaps over his tenure.  Hopefully Solomon will take a step forward and be a decent situational pass rush guy.  I doubt he will ever be a starter.  

 

Best bet is to mortgage the future and go get a proven star edge player.   Takes too long to develop DL and picking at 30 the chances of getting a great one is low.  

We need a bigger body to put next to Ed. Rousseau is a great complimentary pass rusher but not a great primary edge rusher. Getting somebody opposite him would be huge. 
 

I really liked Rapp this year. A major upgrade from Hamlin would go a long way. 
 

We need a better option on the outside at WR. 
 

 

[gjv]

I surprised our defense did as well as it did this season. We didn't have a single player on this defense that made the Pro Bowl roster. Not to mention,  we might have maybe one player on this defense that could start for KC or Baltimore.

[Goin Breakdown]

We puke all over ourselves against them in the playoffs. It'll be much of the same next year. Mr bright side until it's not. 

[transient]

6 hours ago, Bagwell358 said:

 

Also, it is time for Beane to start getting multiple immediate starters in the draft to help manage the cap. At the very least he has to hit on rounds 1-2 more frequently. 

All well and good, but McDermott also has to be able to get them ready and trust them enough to play them then. 

[Sojourner]

1 minute ago, transient said:

All well and good, but McDermott also has to be able to get them ready and trust them enough to play them then. 

 

Theres 3 of our best players on defense getting wiped out by Ju-Ju. 
 

If that’s what there doing can’t blame him for the lack of trust in some of the other guys lol

[JohnNord]

Dan nails it right here.  They don’t have enough high impact players on defense.   He speaks only about the back 7 and he’s right but I’d also argue that they need a better pass rusher.  

 

 

 

[Sojourner]

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

Dan nails it right here.  They don’t have enough high impact players on defense.   He speaks only about the back 7 and he’s right but I’d also argue that they need a better pass rusher.  

 

 

 

I’ve always liked the majority of what Dan has to say and there’s a lot of validity even if I might not wholly agree. We need better backend players on that secondary, for sure but a game wrecking pass rusher changes everything. 
 

not to turn it into another type of post but trade for a guy. Even throw in Groot if you have to as no one is available in 2025. The next best is 2026 and that really only Hendrickson for the Bengals as it stands right now. Can’t see him not getting big money let alone traded to a conference rival. 2027 is the year there’s a few but they’re all hovering around 30 years or older.