ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — It took only nine snaps to realize things were still awry with the Chiefs' first-team offense.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was unremarkable in his first preseason game against the Houston Texans, throwing 5-of-7 for 33 yards. Mahomes was sacked and running back Kareem Hunt only rushed for one yard. Much of the blame went to the offensive line for not keeping Patrick cleaner on the field.
Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy said that's something they have to work on quickly.
"Well, you know, I will say this. First of all, [the offensive line] did some good things," Bieniemy said. "Obviously, we wanna do a better job of keeping the quarterback clean. There's a little few detailed things we need to continue to address. That's why we play the game. But, it's never gonna be perfect. But, we wanna make sure those same mistakes are not happening."
To compound the early offensive struggles, wide receiver Sammy Watkins was not thrown to during their 17-10 home loss to Houston.
Patrick Mahomes certainly has a lot of options to choose from. Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce are the first duo coached under any Andy Reid team that had over 1,000 receiving yards (1,183 and 1,038 respectively in 2017). They are certainly Patrick's security blanket.
But, in addition to Watkins not being targeted against the Texans, it appears he's not getting the ball as much in training camp. When asked if Sammy was making adequate progress on the field, Coach Bieniemy defended him.
"I think we've done a great job of mixing it up and making sure that he's getting his amount of touches," Bieniemy said. "As we grow, and you guys gotta understand this, camp is all about finding your rhythm, making sure that we get in sync together. And so, part of that process is making sure that we're spending the right amount of time with each other. But also too, giving [Mahomes and Watkins] an opportunity to just link up a little bit more."
The Chiefs have another opportunity to improve when they travel to face the Atlanta Falcons at 6 p.m. Friday, August 17.
