Kansas City Chiefs: Can Alex Smith sustain deep passing prowess?

The Kansas City Chiefs offense looked better than we’ve ever seen it, due in large part to Alex Smith throwing down the field, but can he sustain that?

Public narrative would have you believe that one of the primary reasons that the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to the No. 10 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft to select Patrick Mahomes was Alex Smith’s style of passing. In San Francisco before and since his arrival in Kansas City, Smith has been infamous for short throws, checkdowns and so on. Mahomes, however, represents the antithesis of that, a gunslinger with a rocket-launcher connected at the shoulder.

However, Mahomes was never going to be ready to start in the 2017 season for the Chiefs. Thus, it was another year of Smith dumping it off 4-5 yards ahead and being content with that — or so we thought.

Instead, in by far the most shocking result of Week 1, the Chiefs went into Gillette Stadium and Smith and the offense lit up the New England Patriots defense. A big part of that was undoubtedly a breakout performance from rookie running back Kareem Hart. But perhaps an even bigger revelation was Smith throwing the ball downfield.

Smith finished the resounding victory going 28-of-35 for 368 yards and four scores. When you dig a little bit deeper into the throws down the field, though, you see what a stark contrast it was in Week 1 compared to the player that Smith has always been.

According to Pro Football Focus Elite, Smith had four attempts in the game where he threw the ball 20 yards or more down the field. The Chiefs quarterback completed three of those attempts for an exceptional 178 yards and two touchdowns. What’s more, Smith’s QB Rating on deep throws was an astounding 156.3.

Last year was a completely different story for Smith and the Chiefs. The signal-caller had 46 attempts in the 2016 season that went 20 yards or more down the field, but he competed only 15. What’s more, those 15 completions only amassed 521 yards and two touchdowns. Even worse, Smith also threw two picks on such attempts and managed just a 72.8 QB Rating in terms of deep passing.

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So while Hunt may have been a great story for the Chiefs in his first NFL game, it’s pretty plain that the newest dimension to their offense was Smith being able to push the ball down field. Now the question for Kansas City becomes if the quarterback can sustain this newfound element of his game and the offense.

There’s no question that the Patriots defense aided Smith in being able to accomplish what he did. However, any notion that it was superb offensive line play that allowed Smith the time to throw the ball downfield with greater effectiveness should be dismissed.

Also per PFF Elite, the Chiefs offensive line allowed 12 pressures in the season-opener. By comparison, the KC line was the most efficient pass blocking unit in the league in 2016, allowing just under eight pressures per game. So the line play ostensibly wore than their average last season, yet Smith was still able to make plays throwing deep.

Perhaps the biggest change that benefitted Smith was having both Hunt and Tyreek Hill being so heavily featured. The two biggest pass plays of the game — that also accounted for Smith’s two deep touchdowns — went to those two, each catching one. Having that element of speed certainly has a way of opening up the offense in ways that wouldn’t have been possible with Jeremy Maclin a year ago.

But again, the real question is if Smith can keep this up. The Chiefs’ Week 2 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles will provide an interesting litmus test in this regard. Though the Eagles secondary is decidedly worse than New Englands, their front seven is one of the best in the league. Thus, there is the potential for more pressures, which could limit the efficiency of Smith’s deep throws, or could even just take it away as an option altogether.

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What’s clear, however, is that Smith playing like a different guy in Week 1 showed the Chiefs at their very best. They didn’t just beat the Patriots, a team that many thought had a chance to go 16-0 — they owned them and just eviscerated their defense. If Smith is able to keep this pace, or even just improve noticeably from last season, with his deep passing, this Kansas City team has a viable chance at being a Super Bowl contender.

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