The Kansas City Chiefs ran their first quarterback sneak in over three years on Sunday. And promptly turned the ball over.
On a third-and-one early midway through the first quarter, Andy Reid brought in backup quarterback Justin Fields to run a sneak. Fields double-clutched the snap and then dropped the ball as he was going to the ground. After a replay review, officials determined that the Jets had recovered the ball in the pile.
The immediate sneak attempt on the Chiefs’ first possession of the game came after a week of consternation following the Chiefs’ short-yardage failures late in their 28-24 loss to the Denver Broncos. Until Sunday, the last time the Chiefs had run a sneak came in Week 6 of the 2023 season, and tight end Noah Gray took that snap.
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The Chiefs have essentially pulled the quarterback sneak from the playbook since Patrick Mahomes dislocated his knee running one in November of 2019. Given Mahomes’ importance to the team, you can understand why coach Andy Reid has been wanting to protect his franchise quarterback. But as more and more teams are utilizing the quarterback sneak across the NFL, the Chiefs have lagged behind.
A week ago in Denver, running back Kenneth Walker III got stuffed on third down at the Denver 1-yard line with nine seconds to go. The Chiefs scored on fourth down, but the play was blown dead for a false start. Mahomes was then sacked as time expired on the Chiefs’ final play from the 6-yard line.
