Why it's IMPOSSIBLE to Cover Travis Kelce

there's just some connections out there that seem impossible to stop playing backyard football at the highest level of the game the dynamic duo of Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes continues to dominate The League playing the game one step ahead of everyone else and having a good ass time while doing it we've discussed Mahomes on this channel plenty and don't worry we'll get to them but first let's start it off with the new number one Swifty one of the game's most intelligent players Travis Kelce has mastered the art of the option r taking Andy Reid's route conversion offense to a whole new level he's constantly finding the open space to attack knowing when to improvise to break a perfect defense the option route has been prevalent throughout the NFL for the last decade and in its purest form it gives the offensive weapon a choice of directions to break based on the coverage and leverage of the man guarding him here the Chiefs motioned Kelsey into a stack and with Josh Mattel's following this shows a pretty clear man coverage he's got Sky Moore in front to release and clear space and with 44 staying with outside leverage this opens up an easy inside break for Kelsey and momes finds him in stride more motioning for Kelsey on this one to reveal the coverage and with the safeties rotating with such structure Kelsey knows he's likely seeing Zone a quick scan of the line for Kelsey reads 3-3 Zone and another Choice route allows him to attack wherever the defense is leaving vacant knowing mvs will run off the deep third and seeing the safety playing with inside leverage Kelsey quickly cuts to the open flat offering momes a man before that and takes his legs out and he's the perfect man to have on the hot route Kelsey shows great vision for the defense noticing the safety in top lock technique and then spying the linebacker with the backer blitzing Kelsey knows he's in man but with a massive cushion not even really running a route just curling into the space for an easy momes completion one of the beauties of Andy Reid's offense is how seamlessly routes convert based on coverage and Kelsey is the best in the league at doing this to some extent every team is doing doing it unless you're mad Canada but it's a testament to both coaching and talent that the Chiefs are able to pull this off so well the Chargers are in quarters coverage which is a difficult defense to attack unless you give your offensive players options to attack the rules we've got a full video on quarters so we won't fully break it down here but its aim is to play Man match from a cover four base look the Chiefs flood the right side of the field with the 1/4 set and bring Pacho in from the boundary on the motion faking the tunnel screen before releasing Kelsey and mvs upfield Kelsey reads that no one's Bitten on the Mahomes pump fake and quickly identifies the coverage knowing Derwin James is watching him from safety ready to clamp onto him on the Deep Crosser Kelsey correctly converts his route to a Seattle pattern hooking up with momes in space for a rifle and against the Bears here Kelsey shows more Elite reading of the defense the Chiefs have two hook routes to try to pull down the lower level and run Kelsey in behind on a corner route but seeing the safety Buzz downhill to fill the flat Kelsey reads that the Bears must be to cover three and continuing his corner will get him covered but thanks to the rules designed by Reed and the talent of these two Kelsey can just hook in the space sitting his route down in the soft spot and momes throws heater with touch allowing him to go up and get it while still protecting him with the early ball and again mvs is executing a clear out to run off the coverage and Kelsey will wheel out to attack the same sideline if the Bears in a cover three Kelsey will hook himself into the Zone cap to create the most amount of distance from any Defender and homes and him are always in sync letting Travis Rumble for 25 for as much smarts as Kelsey shows in his reading of coverage some of these are absolutely not planned and it's just the Brilliance of Kelsey improvising his ability to know when he can freelance and when it's time to break the rules is downright genius here Kelsey hitches up immediately when the Bears defense makes no effort to be physical and mahom simply pitches him the ball to get some yards and again against the Jags if you sit so far far off and make no effort to engage momes and Kelsey will play pitch and catch for easy yards on first motioning from right to left against the Broncos Kelsey is going to be running an out route but will sit down to find the open space mahom spots his favorite man wide open getting the ball to him to attack the space and for most that'd be the end of the play but Kelsey's got a little something extra seeing his fellow tight end Noah gray in his peripheral vision and feeling the Defenders collapse down on him he flicks the lateral to gray allowing him to get to the edge and the first down that's some good right there of course none of this can be mentioned without the psychic connection between him and the man under Center Mahomes to Kelsey is an all-time classic connection currently playing out in front of our eyes I get there might be greater stats and more famous iconic pairings but let's be honest it's hard to find two people who operate with the exact same breed for the game managing to play backyard football at the damn professional level some of the connections these two pull off I don't think we've ever really seen in the NFL and it might take us a while to find another pair like you it's sacriligious in most offenses to work against the grain calling for receivers to work towards their QB when he's flush from the pocket but Mahomes and Kelce have the skill set to break this trend working into the vacated space when Defenders flow with Mahomes Kelsey's running the middle hitch in the Chiefs mesh concept but with Denver in zone nothing comes open before Mahomes is forced right reading the linebacker level and following Mahomes Kelsey chooses to drift Back Against the Grain knowing he'll find himself some open grass and momes shows that ridiculous arm going crossbody while getting taken out and here's an even more ridiculous version running a similar play that we looked at against the Bears earlier only with the rout swapped Kelsey is running a little outbreaking hook route the Jags emerging defense does a good job to stay tight enough to the hooks while maintaining depth to cut off the corner route so Kelsey will once again work back across the grain knowing where the space is momes throws this up with all knowledge of where it's heading throwing with great touch over the incoming rush to find a wide open 87 too easy and this one's just silly Brian Flores has everyone on the Vikings defense stand up at the line selling out on what appears to be a cover zero but it's a disguise dropping eight to model Mahomes momes feels the pressure and isn't sure what to make of the defense but having felt his scramble bring the Defenders to him he throws back cross body just knowing Kelsey will be there for while Travis might be the master improviser Mahomes is the one who keeps the beat and sets the tempo knowing Kelsey will get to his spot and that Andy Reid's Bunch design will work Mahomes can throw an absolutely ridiculous touch ball again more Hooks and hitches to hold the lower level with Kelsey's assignment being a corner route but with the safety playing outside leverage he turns this route into a drift post seeing the cut work Mahomes slops the ball over taine Edwards head with a gorgeous touch pass his laser Precision makes every part of the field a target from basically anywhere behind the line of scrimmage more creative play design here to get a one-on-one with Tony orbit motioning into a 1 14 set if you want to know more about that check out our Chiefs video from last year forcing a one-on-one matchup on the long second down momes loves his chances throwing a perfectly placed ball to Justin Ross to get those chains moving and well this is just absurd Kelsey's into pass Pro this time and momes is going to be targeting Justin Watson on the over route the end has pushed Kelsey too deep so there's no space for momes to roll out but he knows to step up to cause the most problems in the defense and that time allows Watson to curl his Deep Over up field away from the tight coverage the pressure is through and knowing he's going to get hit Mahomes throws an absolute gem looping this over the shoulder 35 yards down field while getting his head straight taken off that right there is a oneof one throw something we've ranted about on this channel before is just how good momes is with his legs and it's not just all behind the line dancing in and wiggling to extend although that's spectacular too he is one of if not the best scrambling quarterbacks in the league now I know this sounds like hyperbole but I've said it in the past and I'm sticking to my guns almost nobody gets a big shot at him in the open field and his ability to weave and quick twitch accelerate to make a Defender Miss is at the very top of his class now there's some scramblers with more speed more power and more Jukes but mahomes's craftiness timing and wiggle sets him a top my list he's so good at attacking through the pocket before he takes off making sure to keep his eyes up through the chaos then tucking and running when his numbers will on to call his feel for when to attack and how to hold linebackers is next level his hesitancy as he reaches the line of scrimmage halts defenders in their path scared that his arm can attack anywhere freezing them for a split second allowing him to extract extra yards and set up blockers on Long third down runs and Defenders are rightfully fearful because his dancing behind the line can lead to even bigger plays the Chargers are in manto man practically triple teaming Kelsey to force Mahomes to go elsewhere so Patrick buys time until he knows he needs to bail extending left this time but always with his eyes up field Asante Samuel has done a great job clamping with his receiver but seeing Mahomes start a Sprint to the down marker he breaks it off to stop him but he's picked the wrong poison with this wizard as momes throws cross body back to mvs fooling Samuel and getting the ball all the way down to the 12 and here here it is again against the Jags the man coverage is smothering and momes can't see anything developing so starts to eye the chains but he's probably broken contain too early as luon puts on the Jets and has a shot to capture him however Mahomes does his usual Tom Foolery side stepping and uncorking a bomb to Sky Moore that's another long third down conversion and the game practically iced while the pairing remains as dynamic as ever the offense has looked off at times on the BR broadcast angle and some of that is just playing too loose in particular Mr momes he's taking another step in his ability to just rifle the ball out quickly to expose the backed off defenses but when he's had time he's been a bit too careless with his choices of hero balls testing them when under far too much pressure rather than eating the sack or grounding it for the next down despite these not being pretty place to look at it's most likely a case of early season testing and seeing what exactly he can get away with this will need to tighten up as the season goes on though some have claimed the chief's offense hasn't looked as good this season and yeah there have been some ugly mistakes but snap to snap on tape they're just as potent as ever as long as the momes to Kelsey connection continues creativity is endless and the chief's team Remains the biggest threat come January

Channel: Thinking Football

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Keywords: NFL, NFL Highlights, all 22, Film Study, NFL breakdown, Thinking Football, Coaches Film, Scouting Report, NFL Draft, Film Breakdown, College football

Id: Mp8ZC1p0xKU

Length: 10min 50sec (650 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 28 2023