KANSAS CITY, MO – By one measure, it counted as one victory.
The Kansas City Chiefs smashed the Broncos on Monday night and had a feel-good moment for the ages at Arrowhead Stadium wrapped with the return of Patrick Mahomes and the arrival of Kenneth Walker III.
Shoot, it may have felt like a mass exorcism, too, given all the fury unleashed on the team that last season snapped KC’s string of nine straight AFC West titles.
But it was just one of 17 games, right?
Well, yes and no. By another measure, the 31-10 domination – even with the help of Denver’s defense missing 28 tackles, per NextGen stats – was much bigger than starting the season at 1-0.
Sure, there are 16 more to go, then maybe the playoffs. The first one goes into a special category nonetheless
because, well, despite all the Super Bowl hardware from recent years – and maybe because of the Super Bowl hardware, too – the Chiefs needed some confirmation that went beyond a confidence boost.
“It's a great way to start,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “The thing you have is you've got a lot of games (ahead) here, but for the guys to see it put together like that, without having a full game and training camp but working hard and going through the training camp that we had, which was tough, and then coming out and bearing down and seeing some production is great.”
Obviously, Reid was relieved to see his megastar quarterback in a real game again. And he must be tickled pink to see how his new blue blood running back – Walker, who snagged Super Bowl 60 MVP honors for the Seahawks in his previous game, rushed for a career-high 173 yards in his KC debut – can impact the whole operation.
It’s much deeper than that, though.
Mahomes wasn’t alone in his now-legendary rehab regimen to make it back to the field exactly nine months after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee.
The Chiefs were in rehab, too. No, this didn’t all fall on Julie Frymeyer, the assistant athletic trainer who was an unsung hero (again) for aiding Mahomes’ rapid return.
This other form of rehab was spearheaded by the likes of Reid, Chiefs GM Brett Veach, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, back-home offensive coordinator Eric Bienimeny and then some.
After tumbling to 6-11 last season and missing the playoffs for the first time of the Reid-Mahomes era, the Chiefs are challenged to prove that they are still to be reckoned with as a legit contender. Winning the opener is hardly a ticket to another Super Bowl date, but it was clearly a significant step in the right direction.
There’s the revamped secondary with three new starters, including the first-round cornerback Mansoor Delane, who got the early pick that set up the first TD. The infusion of youth was evident all over the place, with second-round edge rusher R. Mason Thomas getting a sack and first-round D-tackle Peter Woods getting all sorts of love from wily vet Chris Jones for his work in clogging the middle.
Yeah, it looks like the Chiefs had a strong draft headed by Veach and that Spagnuolo is up to his old tricks of helping young players speed up the learning curve. Meanwhile, with left tackle Josh Simmons out again, rookie free agent Khalil Benson has made quite an impression in transitioning from Indiana’s national championship team to primetime protector of Mahomes’ blind side.
“That progress is going to help us in the long run,” Mahomes said of the rookie crop. “They're still learning. They're going to get better and better.”
Mahomes wasn’t the only one gushing about the rooks. Jones, in his 11th season, said this is his favorite group of rookie D-linemen yet because they are so eager to soak up knowledge. He called them sponges.
All of that added to the sense for Jones that the made-over defense was capable of the type of complete performance seen on Monday night, when the Broncos had just 176 total yards – less than Walker’s 191 – yards from scrimmage.
“You can see in the young guys’ fight, day in and day out, their mentality during training camp,” Jones said. “With training camp, you can learn a lot about what type of team you are going to have. The fight during those hard days, those back-to-back days, and those long drive drills that Coach Reid gives us, I have seen these guys battle through it. Not only battle through it but push themselves to the limit. It showed up on the field tonight.”
Reid has long had the rep of running the NFL’s toughest training camp – even in an age with less contact and CBA-mandated limits. Jones, though, added another layer of context when he maintained that the most recent Chiefs camp was the toughest yet.
It was undoubtedly part of the Chiefs rehab as Reid, a year after scrapping rookie camp, began this year’s camp by bringing in the rookies early again for a few days before the vets arrived.
Jones said the physical camp was also tougher because they had padded practices for six consecutive days before getting a day off. It was as close as they could get in conducting an “old-school” camp.
“That happened three weeks in a row,” Jones reflected. “Your day off was Sunday. You know what I mean? That’s pretty challenging.”
He added, “Oh my God, I never had that many padded practices in my life. But it made us better.”
Like some sort of rehab. Bringing Bieniemy back was another key to the formula. Former coordinator Matt Nagy wasn’t retained, and Reid replaced him with his predecessor, Bieniemy, who comes with a reputation for a hard-line attention to details. His impact on the running game is crucial, too – and surely even more pronounced with Walker stepping into the lead role.
Still, the Chiefs realize there’s so much room to grow. For his part, Mahomes knows the passing game needs to go up another notch. The Chiefs did a great job of building the scheme around Walker and a short, quick passing game for Mahomes. Yet the starting receivers, Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy, combined for just 5 receptions for 37 yards, although Rice turned one catch into a 13-yard touchdown.
It’s a process. Or another reflection of the rehab.
“At the end of the day, I have to be better,” Mahomes said. “There were times where those guys were open, and I was a little bit quick with my reads and getting the ball out of my hand. And I have to have the trust in the offensive line. I have to have the trust in myself that I can stand taking the hits, but it's a good start as far as just being out there and playing.”
Jones similarly saw a bigger picture. He loves that they can build on the momentum of a big win, yet also keeps it in the context of winning one game.
But still, as rough as last season was for the Chiefs, they are coming from a different vantage point. Someone suggested to Jones that the Chiefs are now the hunters as opposed to the hunted.
“It feels real good to hunt, right?” Jones replied. “Last year taught us a lot as an organization, as a team. To experience the season we had last year, we learned a lot about ourselves. And it put us in a position to where we’re so eager to get back to being successful.
“I don’t think we ever stopped hunting, but it’s on such a deeper level right now.”
Like some type of mass rehab.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chiefs' team rehab looked a lot like a revival after tougher training camp | Opinion
