There has been a lot of consternation over the Kansas City Chiefs’ record and point differential this year, but despite some of their struggles, they were 9-0 coming into the game.
What set the Chiefs apart was their third-down execution on both sides of the ball.
On offense, the Chiefs are first in third-down conversion rate. This is often when Patrick Mahomes becomes a superhero, uncorking ridiculous throws out-of-structure or scrambling. On defense, the Chiefs aren’t quite as efficient — they rank 21st — but were top-10 before November. Third downs on defense are when Steve Spagnuolo cooks, going into his bag of pressures and designer coverages to throw offenses off.