The Kansas City Chiefs brought Eric Bieniemy back to bring discipline to the Chiefs, and the results are showing.
The Kansas City Chiefs brought back offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy to provide discipline, and he’s already doing that. The Chiefs struggled with some bad penalties in their 24-10 win over the Miami Dolphins last Sunday, which was all too familiar, but Bieniemy will still huddle up with his offense to provide reminders at any time in any game regardless of the score.
Jesse Newell of The Athletic did something about this recently, and he focused on a recent meeting late in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs 31-10 win over the Denver Broncos. Rookie quarterback Garrett Nussmeier commented on what was happening, saying that Bieniemy “brings the juice” at all times, and he added that the experience captures what it’s like to play for the offensive coordinator as a rookie.
For offensive linemen, it means covering downfield at the end of plays, which can result in a key fumble recovery or a final block to produce a big play, which has already happened several times.
Receivers have been reeled in as well. In the past, they’ve had plenty of freedom with their routes to find space or capitalize on a given matchup. But Bieniemy has altered that philophy by having them focus instead on their timing with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, per Newell. That means getting the proper depth on a route and finishing correctly.
According to receiver and returner Nikko Remigio, the result in camp was fewer of those wild scramble plays where Mahomes had to pull a play from out of nowhere, although a lot of this is probably about trying to keep Mahomes safe after knee surgery. Instead, though, Mahomes was able to shelter in place in the pocket and wait for receivers to come open.
Mahomes is now in the middle of the pack when it comes to his yardage under pressure numbers, although there was plenty of slippage against Miami.
The communication is better as well, per receiver Xavier Worthy. Players know exactly what’s expected on every play, and they hear about it when the don’t deliver.
Finally, there’s Bieniemy’s work ethic. Nussmeier joked that Bieniemy probably sleeps in his office sometimes based on the hours he keeps, and he expects players to match his work ethic.
It’s too early to deliver a final verdict on all of this, of course, but it is noteworthy. It points to some things that were missing last year, and the results are showing up so far.
