The Arizona Republic

Chiefs are clearly far ahead of Brady, Bucs

- Mike Jones

TAMPA, Fla. – They called it the “The Black Pearl,” a tip of the hat to Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and a play off the theme of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their stadium. The architects of the Kansas City Chiefs’ play? Quarterbac­k Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce.

They drew it up in practice one day leading up to Sunday’s showdown with the Buccaneers and convinced coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinato­r Eric Bieniemy to add it to the game plan.

And sure enough, the Chiefs broke out “The Black Pearl” – a double reverse that gave Kelce the option to either run the ball or pass to Mahomes in the end zone – on their first trip inside the red zone.

All played out perfectly. The snap to Mahomes, the flip to Tyreek Hill, the flip to Kelce, and the big tight end had an opening to run into the end zone as Reid had instructed him. But on the sideline before the possession, Mahomes had urged his tight end to throw him the pass rather than run, the quarterbac­k confessed. That planted the sliver of hesitation in Kelce’s mind before he threw and gave Bucs cornerback Carlton Davis enough time to swat the ball away, negating a potentiall­y viral highlight.

The Chiefs wound up settling for a field goal to open the scoring of their 2724 victory over the Buccaneers.

By the end of the quarter, Kansas City held a 17-0 lead, Mahomes had passed for 229 yards and two touchdowns, and Hill had seven catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

You can get away with early-game exercises in creativity like “The Black Pearl” when your offense boasts such potency and you can score from anywhere on the field, like the 75-yard bomb to Hill, or the 44-yarder that followed, or the 20-yard strike for Hill’s third touchdown of the game.

But “The Black Pearl” was more than just a failed trick play called to humor players. It represente­d the level of trust, alignment, cohesion and creativity that serve as the lifeblood of the defending Super Bowl champions.

As they moved up and down the field, seemingly at will, racking up a seasonhigh 543 yards against one of the better defenses in the league, Reid, Mahomes and Co. put on a clinic.

The Buccaneers found themselves on the receiving end and again were reminded of just how far they have to go (star-studded roster and all) to reach the ranks of the elite.

There’s good, as evidenced by the 417 yards of offense (including 345 passing yards and three touchdowns from Tom Brady) and six plays of 20 yards or more. And there’s great, like the Chiefs’ output, which featured 462 passing yards from Mahomes, a 50% success rate on third downs, 26 first downs, and a textbook display of how to put away the game.

But, in another sign of greatness, the

Chiefs still saw room for improvemen­t.

“We played well enough to win,” Mahomes said. “There were times, offensivel­y we could be better… Great thing about football and the NFL is you build and build each week and try to be your best at the end of the season.”

A further improved Chiefs offense sounds terrifying for their opponents, particular­ly a squad like the Bucs, who came from behind and still weren’t good enough.

“We battled back. Unfortunat­ely, left ourselves a big deficit to start, couldn’t convert any third downs,” said Brady, whose team lost its second consecutiv­e game and third in the last four to drop to 7-5. “Poor execution early. … When you play a good offense like that, we’ve got to do a better job and keep them off the field.”

As Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians put it, “Everybody tried to hand us the Lombardi Trophy in August. You don’t just throw guys out there with names. You’ve got to practice. You’ve got to learn to get in sync with each other. That takes time.”

Time and continuity are part of what have transforme­d the Chiefs from entertaini­ng regular-season team to Super Bowl champs — and now favorites to repeat.

Each year since they turned the team over to Mahomes, the Chiefs’ cohesion and chemistry have strengthen­ed. We’ve seen Reid and Bieniemy’s creativity reach new heights. They certainly have their staple plays. But they’re always expanding upon them.

The last three years, they have tailored Reid’s playbook to Mahomes’ strengths. And now, Mahomes has such a strong feel for his teammates’ capabiliti­es and a masterful understand­ing of how to manipulate defenses.

When the Buccaneers landed Brady in free agency and added Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown to an already handsome collection of weapons, many expected similar explosiven­ess from them.

But as Sunday’s outcome, last week’s 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and the blowout defeat to the New Orleans Saints have revealed, this Bucs offense very much remains under constructi­on.

It’s clear that Brady isn’t yet comfortabl­e in this system, and Arians and offensive coordinato­r Byron Leftwich have yet to fully figure out how to blend their playbook with what the threetime MVP does best.

That’s why the Buccaneers struggled early, punting on their first four possession­s of the game and trailing by double digits at halftime before finally stringing together back-to-back scoring drives in the fourth quarter.

“Football is so much about being in rhythm, staying in rhythm and finding rhythm,” Brady said.

Said Arians: “Offensivel­y, we knew this was going to be a work in progress.”

Meanwhile, the coach couldn’t help but admire and respect the work of the Chiefs and marvel at Mahomes’ feats.

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