Our goal in the regular season is not to impress fans or break scoring records… it is to obtain the number 1 seed. We are nearly tied for that, with an easier schedule than the ravens coming up.
Has anyone considered, that Andy KNOWS Rice is our best receiver. And he is saving him AND McKinnon AND possibly Richie James for a late season playoff push?
Why give away our hand in November to win a game when we could save those surprises for the annual Arrowhead invitational (AFC Championship)?
Its not a surprise though. Every team looks at basic stats like this. Every team can tell who the best members of a particular position are. Rice being the best receiver would surprise no one.
We just lost to the Eagles because we over relied on two highly unreliable players - Watson and MVS. Look at any other top tier team - Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers, Bengals, etc. They do not spend a bunch of targets on WR3s. You feed 2-3 players most of your attempts, and spend 20-40% on your WR3s. That’s normal. The Chiefs should be targeting either Kelce, Rice, or our third best receiver - probably Toney - 60-80% of the time. Everyone else gets the remaining attempts. That’s exactly what we did last year with Kelce, Smith-Schuster, and MVS.
Right now our 3 most unreliable receivers - MVS, Watson, and Moore - are getting about 35% of attempts among our WRs and TEs. That’s just for our 3 most unreliable players. That’s just too much for those guys. You need a receiver to be “the guy” for Mahomes who is on the field 90%+ of snaps. That’s Rice.
I suggest the OP revive this thread if that indeed becomes the case come playoff time. Or even if it does not.
Now I have my suspicions considering the number 1 seed hangs in the balance but it’s possible. Lets see and revisit this theory come playoff time.
I added this part after your comment
Desean Jackson rookie year playoff performance: Jackson’s final touchdown of the season came in the NFC Championship game on January 18, 2009 against the Arizona Cardinals, when he managed to haul in a 62-yard touchdown to cap a six-catch, 92-yard game.[28] Jackson narrowly finished second to Curtis in postseason receiving yards with 207 to Curtis’s 211.
Jeremy Maclin rookie year playoff performance: On January 9, 2010, in the Wild Card Round against the Dallas Cowboys, Maclin became the youngest player to score a touchdown in NFL postseason history, aged 21 years and 243 days. In the second quarter, he caught a 76-yard touchdown pass from Michael Vick, which was the longest career touchdown pass of Vick’s career and Maclin’s longest career touchdown catch.[35] With 146 yards, Maclin broke the Eagles record for receiving yards in a playoff game, breaking Keith Jackson’s record of 142 yards set during the 1988 NFC Divisional Game against the Chicago Bears.
Fuck that