Kansas City Gap Run Game vs Tampa Bay

How the Chiefs leaned on Power and Counter in the 2nd half to stay undefeated.

The Kansas City Chiefs keep finding ways to win. Give credit to Andy Reid, who has been adapting to the Chiefs' injury struggles at wide receiver. While Hopkins continues to get comfortable with the system, the offense has relied more on the run.

When the Chiefs needed big run plays, they relied on their Gap Scheme concepts. Today we’ll take a deeper look at how they attacked the Buccaneer’s defense.

Gap Scheme defined

Terminology isn’t universal, so before we dive into the schemes let’s talk about what I mean by gap schemes. In gap schemes, each offensive lineman is responsible for his gap away from the play call. This is often accompanied by someone pulling on the backside, typically the backside guard. (There’s not always a puller and it’s not always the guard who pulls, but this is the most common variation)

If you want a deeper dive into Gap Schemes, you can see a previous article detailing last year’s West Virginia Gap schemes here:

2023 West Virginia Gap Schemes

Counter

Counter is the guard trapping the end man on the line of scrimmage with either a tight end, full back or tackle wrapping for the play-side backer.

Power

Power flips the responsibilities, so a full back or tight end traps the end man, while the guard wraps for the play-side backer.