German_Force » defense,” Reid said. “It is

KANSAS CITY Super Bowl Nick Allegretti Jersey , Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t draft Patrick Mahomes merely to make the playoffs.Matt Cassel accomplished that, and quarterbacks Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, Trent Green and Alex Smith went one better by making it to the divisional round. Smith even won a wild-card game, the first playoff victory by the long-suffering Chiefs since Joe Montana led them to the AFC title game in the 1993 season.No, the Chiefs didn’t trade up to select Mahomes just to make the playoffs.They did it to win in the playoffs.Now, Mahomes gets his first chance when the first-year starter leads the AFC West champions against the Colts — their longtime playoff nemesis — on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.Win and the young All-Pro quarterback has the Chiefs one game away from playing in the Super Bowl. Lose and Mahomes must wait a full year to get another crack at wiping away the stink of all those playoff failures.“A playoff run in general would mean a ton to everyone in this community, including us. I know the history,” Mahomes said, “but at the same time, we are a different generation.”That may be true, but he was on the sideline last season for the latest postseason letdown.Mahomes was given his freshman season to learn the ropes under Smith, who ended a Chiefs streak of eight straight playoff defeats by beating Houston in the wild-card round in January 2016. But they lost the following week at New England to end their playoff run, then lost at home to the Steelers in the divisional round in 2017 and blew a big lead at home against the Titans in the wild-card round a year ago.Three defeats after that rarest of playoff wins.The sting has been even more brutal at Arrowhead Stadium Football Nick Allegretti Jersey , where the Colts have won just as many playoff games as the Chiefs (two apiece) over the years. Both of the Chiefs’ wins were in the wild-card round.They’ve never won a home playoff game in the divisional round or beyond.Yet if there’s any reason to believe that stretch of futility will end Saturday, it just may be the optimistic kid with the big arm and curly Mohawk. Bono, Grbac and the rest never put up the kind of numbers that Mahomes has this season, nor did they engender the same kind of confidence in their teams.Mahomes exudes poise. And the rest of the Chiefs can feel it.“It’s the way he plays,” Chiefs center Mitch Morse said recently. “Not only his talent, which is uncanny, but the way he prepares, the way he conducts himself in the huddle, and then the guy has got a swagger about him that’s infectious.”There is no denying this is a new experience, though. Mahomes played in only one bowl game in three seasons at Texas Tech, which would be the only thing even remotely close to an NFL playoff game with the entire football world watching.“So far I haven’t seen anything that’s too big for Pat. I’m not even worried about that,” coach Andy Reid said Monday, just before the Chiefs resumed practicing following a well-earned week off.“He’s going to get himself ready, just like he does every week Mecole Hardman Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys , to play against a good football team,” Reid said. “But I don’t think he’s wired the other way. I’m not predicting anything, I’m just telling you, matter of fact, how he’s wired, how he goes about his business.”That doesn’t mean Reid hasn’t pulled him aside for a few extra chats.“Everything is a little faster in the playoffs. That’s how things go,” Reid said. “At the same time, he has to be himself and continue to lead and play like he has been doing. I don’t think he will have a problem with that. I think he understands that. He is wired the right way to handle all of it.”Mahomes said he’s chatted with Smith about his postseason experience, and he’s soaked up what he can from the veterans in his locker room. Defensive back Ron Parker, linebacker Justin Houston and fullback Anthony Sherman are among those who have been part of several postseason letdowns.As they take the field with Mahomes on Saturday, they have a chance to scribble over that history.“I mean, we are definitely ready. We know what it’s going to take,” Mahomes said. “It’s going to take a full effort from everyone, every single day Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys 2019 , to the game and hopefully on. We know that you have to capitalize on every single play. You can’t let one play get you down for the next. The next play is the most important play. We are excited we get the chance to do that.”100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta For the first time since Reid arrived in 2013, the Chiefs do not have defensive continuity going into the next season"So as Andy Reid stood before the media on Monday — the first day of the Chiefs offseason program for 2019 — it was necessary for him to do something he’s never had to do as Chiefs head coach: address the lack of continuity between the 2018 and 2019 defenses.Reporters steered him there by asking how the defensive unit would make up for lost time.“That is a good point,” Reid responded. “That is where the continuity of the defensive staff comes in.They’ve worked together. I think that becomes important in this situation. They have been working relentlessly to put it together, take the complex and make it simple to teach the guys. You have to be precise with how you teach it and present it. There is no time to waste. You can’t do that. I think that familiarity helps narrow that time margin down just a little bit.”Reid was asked if he’s ever had this much of a change in his defensive staff from one season to the next.(Hint: he hasn’t).“I’ve had changes before,” he said. “I don’t know how to compare. I am very confident in Steve. I’ve been around him for a long time. He knows how I roll and I know how he operates. That part has been easy. The guys we brought in are all workers. They have some affiliation to the defensive scheme and have been successful with it. I just think it has been a positive. What is new to the players today we have been doing for a few months. So we’re kind of in the grind, and [we’re] going.”The head coach acknowledged that in some ways, the change in scheme would be drastic.But he also sought to make another point — one that we have been making in these pages, too: that the change is more about style than it is about scheme.“It is a different defense,” Reid said. “It is going to be relatively drastic that way. It is a great challenge for the players that are coming back to learn. It is a four-man front as opposed to a three-man front. We had great success with the three-man front for the first few years. This four-man front I have had success with around Philadelphia. The one thing that probably needs to be noted is that [even in a 3-4 scheme] over 75 percent of that time now you are in a four-man front.”Still, Reid said that he doesn’t intend to be more involved in the defense.“I try to let those guys do their thing there,” he said. “They give me their plan and if I have my two cents to put in, I put it in. Normally, that’s not the case. We just roll. That’s how I like to do it. That’s the way I plan on doing it.”