KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The 2020 NFL football season kicks off Thursday night.
The Houston Texans travel to Kansas City with an opportunity to exorcise their playoff demons. An offseason of torture potentially replaying in their heads until tonight.
Head coach Bill O'Brien and his crew return to the scene of their soul-crushing playoff failure. The Texans jumped out to a 24 point lead based on Chiefs special teams hiccups that led to 14 points and catching the Chiefs defense in an aggressive crash towards the line of scrimmage.
Houston's reliable receiving threat in DeAndre Hopkins was traded to Arizona in the offseason. The Texans are attempting to create a new offensive identity and their measuring stick comes tonight.
Here are the keys for the Chiefs to assist the Texans in their continued soul searching.
1. Put doubt in their minds
The Texans have relived the 51-7 comeback in their minds during the offseason. The best way to set the tempo early in this game is to put doubt in their minds. Attack them relentlessly and leave their heads in a cloud of confusion. Kansas City has the chance with the entire nation and NFL community watching to send a message loud and clear - we're back.
2. Isolate the backers
Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a dynamic running back and receiver in the open field. The Chiefs didn't have a running back with this explosiveness on the roster last season. Edwards-Helaire can routinely move the chains if he is left out in open space against the Texans linebackers. The Chiefs were able to take advantage of man coverage against Houston last year and run pick routes to create space for their running backs.
3. Motion Kelce
Travis Kelce accounted for 10 of the 23 completions in the Chiefs' prior matchup with the Texans along with three of the five receiving touchdowns. Houston will make it their mission to keep Kelce from getting clean releases. Lonnie Johnson and Justin Reid both saw time against Kelce.
Johnson was very physical in both of their matchups and created multiple pass interference opportunities. Kansas City would benefit from putting Kelce in motion to get him clean releases and run some double moves at Johnson that cause him to hold.
Kelce may not have an ideal night statistically, but Houston will likely put a lot of energy and resources into stopping him.
4. Have answers for the press man and interior pressure
Teams are going to pull from the Patriots, Lions, Ravens and 49ers playbook of how to slow down the Chiefs. The Lions copied press man coverage from the Patriots games. The Ravens brought unique pressure and the 49ers brought a relentless pass rush for three and a half quarters before they wore down, then wasp happened.
The Chiefs countered the 49ers pass rush with an up-tempo approach. Kansas City answered the press man coverage with pick routes, crossers and motions. They also blended in some misdirection, screens and double moves.
Throughout the season Kansas City will run variations of zone coverage with interior pressure, physical coverage with unexpected blitzes and teams attempting to rotate in pass rushers to sustain against the Chiefs. Tonight is their first test at how they will counter.
5. Contain, spy and the unexpected corner blitz
Deshaun Watson is an elusive quarterback that is capable of converting poor rush lanes into first downs with ease. The key to making him uneasy is running contained rushes off the edge to corral him in, a tackle or linebacker spying him from the middle and the unexpected blitz off the edge to force him into a quick decision. The Chiefs can keep him off balance early with this strategy.
These are some key points that can help the Chiefs come away with the first successful opportunity in the run it back defense. With that, the time is yours.
