Chiefs still have room for improvement after AFC title romp

Travis Kelce has spent better part of a month insisting Kansas City Chiefs have yet to put everything toger.

y still didn't in ir AFC championship game win over Buffalo.

y came much closer than y have all season, though, and that could be a scary thought for Tampa Bay Buccaneers as y prepare to face Kansas City in Super Bowl. Chiefs fumbled a punt near ir goal line to hand Bills an early touchdown, dropped a couple of passes, committed a couple of costly penalties and still won in a 38-24 rout.

“I mean, we've got room to get better,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, parroting stance of his star tight end. “We had a couple of things that went a little haywhacky, but we stayed course and did some good things. We did more good things than bad things. This job is a little like being a farmer; work is never done.”

Well, it will be in two more weeks.

Chiefs plan to spend time between AFC title game and Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, practicing at ir facility near Arrowhead Stadium. y are tentatively planning to depart day before game because of COVID-19 protocols, a big change from a rmal year, when y would arrive at site a week in advance.

It also means a much quieter two weeks to iron out those remaining issues, far away from harsh glare and intense spotlight that comes with preparing amid typical Super Bowl circus.

“ first week is similar to what you had last year. one thing you'll minus is long travel day, media deal — that thing,” Reid said. “You still have it but it's right here at home. Where you might lose a day, you don't necessarily lose a day on this. But you still have a tremendous amount of obligations to media and you have to work your schedule around it so it fits. second week, it's a little bit of a challenge."

One Chiefs have experienced, though. y returned almost intact from team that beat 49ers in Super Bowl last year, which should help to offset advant that Tom Brady might orwise bring to Bucs.

“I can't put my finger on it. It's almost like, a little more exciting,” Kelce said. “I feel like last year, it was a question of wher or t we belonged, and this year, ‘Let’s go out and prove we are who we are,' and resiliency — how we're going to handle adversity. I just love this team, man. ... I can't wait to go down to Tampa and give m our best shot.”

WHAT’S WORKING

Every facet of offense was in synch on Sunday. Mahomes had time in pocket and was mobile eugh on his ailing toe when he was flushed from it. Kelce and Hill made mincemeat of Buffalo secondary. Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Darrel Williams scored on ground, a good sign for a team that has struggle to get touchdowns in red zone.

WHAT NEEDS HELP

return game has been iffy for weeks, and two bad plays stood out Sunday. Mecole Hardman’s fumble of a punt gave Bills an easy touchdown and put Kansas City in a 9-0 hole, and Chiefs were unable to hop on an onside kick near end of game.

STOCK UP

Frank Clark is highest-paid player on roster — yes, higher than Mahomes — with a base salary of $12 million and cap hit of $19.3 million. Yet defensive end had just seven tackles and two sacks over previous seven games heading into AFC title game. Clark came through against Bills, though, twice sacking Josh Allen.

STOCK DOWN

Sammy Watkins has been out with a calf injury since Week 16, and while he practiced in a limited capacity all week he was again inactive on game day. Chiefs have proven y are just fine without ir oft-injured wide receiver, and that means re's a good chance he won't get ar $7 million contract from Chiefs for next season.

INJURED

Chiefs will have to juggle ir offensive line after left tackle Eric Fisher tore his Achilles tendon against Bills on Sunday. That means Mike Remmers likely will shift from right tackle to left, Andrew Wylie will kick out to right tackle from guard, and Stefen Wisniewski will join center Austin Reiter and left guard Nick Allegretti on interior of line.

KEY NUMBER

17: Reid moved into a tie with Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for fourth on NFL's career postseason wins list. Two more would tie him with Don Shula and a third with Tom Landry, though Bill Belichick is far-and-away leader with 31 wins.

NEXT STEPS

Chiefs began film study of Buccaneers early Monday, a day that is typically reserved for film study and rehab work with trainers. reason is simple: Reid wanted to cram as much in as possible before things get busier later in week.

(Im Credit: AP)