The Kansas City Chiefs made a significant coaching change on offense, and no one really knows what the impact of new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will mean to the team.
But one player who does have a good idea is guard Trey Smith. He’s worked under Bieniemy before, and Smith is welcoming the hard work he knows will come with the coordinator’s return, according to a piece written by Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict.
"When I think of EB, I think about the first day of training camp at St. Joe's and that 90-degree weather, deep humidity in the morning, and just doing drills, man,” Smith said in a radio row interview at the Super Bowl with Jason Anderson from 810 Sports.
“For me, it's more so like EB is almost a mindset and mentality finish,” he added. “We're going to be the aggressors. We're going to be physical. We're out here to dominate. We're getting after you single play until the whistle blows, you know?”
The implication is that some of that grit and determination disappeared or slacked off under former coordinator Matt Nagy. The slippage showed at times, and Bieniemy brings the attitude of an ex-player to the table from his career as a running back.
Smith doesn’t think the transition is going to be easy for some of the younger players who haven’t experienced Bieniemy’s style yet. He brings a voice to the table, and it’s a loud one, with the goal being accountability.
He also sees Bieniemy’s intensity as an essential part of the coaching package. Smith calls it hard coaching, and he says it reminds him of his days playing the SEC, where that kind of coaching is a daily way of life. The goal is success, according to the offensive lineman, and Bieniemy wants his players to be the best they can be.
Will it be enough? That’s the big question going forward. Nagy didn’t add much strategically, for better or worse, mostly because the final game plan and the details of play design still belong to head coach Andy Reid.
But the Chiefs also made plenty of mental mistakes, and they committed a lot of bad penalties at the worst possible time, and it will be Bieniemy’s job to change that, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It’s a point of emphasis that will extend to all three phases, though, and it will be interesting to see if they new coordinator can deliver more discipline.