The Chiefs miss Tyreek Hill?

The aggregate is not better than Tyreek Hill

Derek Dietz @OriginalMrDietz

A close loss to the Bills 20-24 showed some positives and some weaknesses. If this team wants a deep run into January, some things must change, and some players need to step up.

First off, the Chiefs miss Tyreek Hill. Period. Hard stop.

I agree that the WR line-up of Marquez Valdez-Scantling, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, and Skyy Moore may sound better than Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Byron Pringle, and DeMarcus Robinson- but it isn’t. None of the former can produce nor blow the top off the defense the way Tyreek could. I am also not saying that Tyreek’s salary demands could be met, but he is a superior player to everyone else mentioned above. Tyreek’s personal life was also a factor in letting him be traded, but he was a producer.

Most fans wanted Pringle, Robinson, and Hardman to go. And essentially they got their wish, sans Mecole. But the replacements aren’t much better. The league is scattered with many WRs that will get 300-600 yards and 4 TDs, and I feel that is what the Chiefs have. In the next 10 games, I truly hope they prove me wrong. Chiefs fans have gotten a good long hard look at what a true #1 WR looks like in the last 7 days (Davonte Adams & Stefon Diggs). Oh, and Tyreek is leading the league with 700 yards on 50 catches……..with poor quarterback play.

There was finally a nice game by JuJu Smith-Schuster on Sunday afternoon, but MVS was absent, so it canceled out. Skyy Moore has not been turned loose yet. Justin Watson is a JAG (Just a Guy). Mecole is about what we expected- a flashy player at times and absent at others. The 3 Chiefs Running Backs are all nice complimentary players but not top 20 or a real threat in the passing game.

Travis Kelce can’t carry the load by himself. He just can’t. Perhaps the greatest TE of all time can still be contained, and he isn’t really a threat to take a catch 60 yards to the house. Tyreek’s ability to move laterally at full speed always had defenders guessing and they usually guessed wrong. I hope he is happy in Miami playing with Skylar Thompson, but we sure do miss him here in KC.

Next up, is the O-Line. Orlando Brown looks worse every week. I wonder if he wishes he took that large offer in the pre-season. I don’t see how the Chiefs can extend him at this point. Andrew Wylie is a nice swing O-Lineman, much like Nick Allegretti. He is not a great starting Right Tackle. They are grading out worse and worse each week on PFF.

This is a clear problem for the Chiefs going into the next 11 games. They both need help from the fullback we keep on the roster for no reason other than special teams (some people were really impressed with his 3 first down runs last year though). Don’t be shocked if the Chiefs move up in the draft to get in the 11-20 range to nab a long-term solution at LT or RT. It is too important of a position to ignore much longer.

Some of the positives were that the Defense played tough. The young secondary played about as well as could be expected. The young linebackers tackled well. Leo Chenal is getting better every week. It will be nice to get back Willie Gay and Trent McDuffie. The D-Line is what it is. Not great at sacks, but OK with pressures. I would like to see more consistency stopping the run, but the focus against the Bills must be stopping QB Josh Allen, so I cut them some slack there.

Butker came back from the sprained ankle and looked good, breaking an Arrowhead record for a long field goal with a 62-yarder. But he then missed one. Kickers…….geez. Townsend looks like an All-Pro punter, but I wish he were getting less action.