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Williamson: 3 reasons why the boring Chiefs will be a playoff threat

Jim Dedmon / USA TODAY Sports

Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns, and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."

After going .500 in the first month of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs have ripped off five straight wins and are tied with the Oakland Raiders at 7-2 atop the AFC West despite only outscoring their opponents by 37 points over nine games. Going back to last season, the Chiefs are 18-3 in their last 21 games, including their two playoff games last year. But the thing is, this team, despite their win-loss record, is about as boring as it gets, which is exactly how they like it. Here are a few reasons for Kansas City's recent, and likely future, success:

Andy Reid

No, he hasn't won a Super Bowl as a head coach and isn't Bill Belichick. And yes, he has blundered his share of clock management situations. But make no mistake, Reid is one of the best coaches of this generation, and will garner Hall of Fame consideration.

Reid's career record is 168-112-1 since he took over as Philadelphia's top dog back in 1999. During these 18 NFL seasons, he has just three with a losing record - one of which was his first year taking over a poor Eagles squad. In Kansas City, he has now won 36 and lost 19. He's also an even .500 in the playoffs, which is much better than it sounds considering the level of competition in the postseason. This guy knows how to win games at the highest level of his profession.

The offensive guru tailors his offense around his quarterback, and has had success with signal-callers such as Doug Pederson and Donovan McNabb, who he drafted immediately after taking over in Philadelphia. Others include Jeff Garcia late in his career, Michael Vick out of jail, journeymen like Nick Foles (who has played his best football under Reid and followed him to Kansas City), Koy Detmer, A.J. Feely, Kevin Kolb, and now Alex Smith. Reid has won 60 percent of the 281 regular season games he has coached with those quarterbacks, as well as a few other even lesser names sprinkled in. Now that is impressive.

Lastly, it isn't a coincidence that he got the Chiefs' season straightened out coming off their Week 5 bye, as his history after bye weeks is simply amazing.

Big-play defense

Another feather in Reid's cap is the freedom he gives defensive coordinator Bob Sutton to totally run the show on that side of the ball. No defense has been making big plays like Sutton's group during this 21-game stretch, and this week in Carolina was the perfect illustration of that, with Eric Berry and Marcus Peters ripping victory from the jaws of defeat to propel Kansas City to 7-2.

The Chiefs have an underrated defensive line, and Chris Jones has been quite good in both phases in his rookie season, but those guys overall are more run-stuffers than pass-rushers. However, with their edge pass rush (Dee Ford has been a revelation) as well as their cornerback play - and they play quite a bit of man coverage as well as Cover-3 - Kansas City's defense is well equipped to play against today's passing game.

Sutton loves playing with six defensive backs on the field, and that gives him great speed and versatility on this side of the ball. On the second level, Derrick Johnson leads the entire unit and is still playing very well, and Berry is the do-it-all playmaker.

The key thing here is that the best is yet to come, as Justin Houston is nearly ready to return. Even if Houston contributes at a level close to what the team's used to seeing on passing downs only, many more big plays will be in store for a Kansas City defense that already leads the league in turnovers created.

They don't make mistakes

This goes back to Reid having an exceptional grasp of his offensive personnel, particularly his quarterback. But it's also where the boring comes in. Smith apologists cite his win-loss record, but the fact is that he is a limited passer that is ultra-conservative. Some of that could be what Reid is instructing him to do, as it's obviously resulting in wins, but he leaves an awful lot of throws on the field.

Reid's expert play designs make Smith's job much easier, and this offense has benefited greatly from all the defense's takeaways. This is basically the definition of a ball control offense, and the Chiefs' offensive line, particularly the guard spots, has exceeded expectations thus far, but hasn't been great by any means.

Reid and Smith aren't exactly Belichick and Tom Brady, but they've been together now for quite some time, and know exactly what to expect from one another. Smith's best quality, his mind, is used well in a system he's now extremely comfortable and familiar with.

The quarterback isn't alone, either. While no one recognizes it, Spencer Ware is a high-quality running back, and the Chiefs face a very enticing slate of upcoming run defenses. Also, Travis Kelce has been the best player on this offense, and would have out-of-this-world statistics with another team.

Finally, it helps that Kansas City has been very strong on special teams, another boring but vital weapon that lends itself to excellent coaching.

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