Jeremy Maclin has had the definition of a hot and cold season in his first year with the Kansas City Chiefs. Maclin is known as a big play threat with durability questions, although he has only missed one game in 2015, his 3 TD’s and 13.5 yards per catch are a little underwhelming for a guy who is supposed to be a game changer. Maclin has had 4 games, out of 10, this season with over 85 yards. In those 4 games Maclin has accumulated 534 of his 772 yards, meaning he has only had 238 yards in the other 6 games this season. In week 12, Maclin went up against the Bills defense ranked near the bottom of the league in passing yards allowed but only allowing 6.8 yards per attempt, which is the 5th lowest in the NFL. The Chiefs offensive game plan was simple in this game as the Bills ran mostly man-to-man coverage. Maclin was able to exploit the man-to-man coverage using his speed to beat defenders deep several times. Let’s take a look at the film for Jeremy Maclin’s game of the season.

Play 1: 1st & 10. -25. 7:22 1st.

Coverage: Cover 1

The Chiefs start off with a very simple passing game, allowing their QB to get some completions and to get a drive going early on in the game. The Bills are in a Cover 1, which they will be most of this game. Cover 1 is when everyone is man-to-man with a receiver and the Free Safety is playing a deep 1 man zone in the middle of the field to prevent the deep pass. Maclin possess deadly speed and the CB knows it, Maclin does a good job of immediately closing on the CB so that he flips his hips to begin to run deep. As soon as the CB flips his hips to run, Maclin breaks down on his hitch route an easy pitch and catch for a gain of 7.

Play 2: 1st & 10. 40. 7:44 2nd.

Coverage: Cover 1

Once again the Bills are in Cover 1, this time though, the CB is not in press coverage but is 7 yards off of Maclin, in order to not get beat deep. This doesn’t matter though. Maclin closes down the gap between himself and the defender quickly. Once the QB sees Maclin even with the defender, he releases the ball. This is because he knows that Maclin going full speed is faster than a defender who is accelerating, this is true in most cases. Maclin gets good separation on the coverage but the ball is underthrown and he has to adjust to catch the ball. A nice catch and a gain of 37.

Play 3: 1st & 10. -20. 2:27 2nd.

Coverage: Cover 1

The Bills CB is back into press coverage on this play, and they are once again in a Cover 1. Maclin stems to the outside, getting the CB to flip his hips so that Maclin can get an advantage over him. Maclin then goes back to the outside while the CB turns to the inside and thinks that Maclin is going deep. Maclin then breaks off his route at the 11 yard mark on a hitch and makes the catch for a gain of 14.

Play 4: 1st & 10. 41. 1:54 2nd.

Coverage: Cover 1

An almost identical play as Play 2, the Bills are in Cover 1 and Maclin is going deep to try and beat the CB one-on-one. There’s not much to this play other than Maclin using his speed to beat the defender. This is a beautiful pass from the Chiefs QB for a 41 yard TD.

Play 5: 2nd & 9. -30. 0:54 2nd.

Coverage: Cover 1 Under

The Bills are in Cover 1 Under, with zones in the middle to take away crossing routes and man-to-man on the outside. Maclin is once again running a curl route as he has done a few times in this game so far. I’m not sure if it was actually a curl route originally or if Maclin breaks off his route when he sees the QB break the pocket and begin to scramble. Maclin does a nice job of coming back downhill towards his QB to give him a target. The throw is low and Maclin slides but he is unable to bring in the catch.

Play 6: 1st & 10. 44. 0:20 2nd.

Coverage: Cover 1 Robber

On this play the Bills CB gets the best of Maclin finally. Having run similar routes throughout the game, the CB is sitting on the curl route and gets physical with Maclin at the point of attack. What allows the CB to get the best of this play, is the fact that he keeps himself square with the WR without committing himself one way or another. This allows the CB to keep Maclin in front of him and get no separation to receive the pass. The ball falls incomplete.

Play 7: 1st & 10. -36. 14:53 3rd.

Coverage: Cover 1

This play is not a reception, but it is still a very nice play by Maclin and showing some of his versatility. Maclin is not the biggest WR so he is not known to be an imposing blocker but on this play he does a nice job of getting in front of the defender and getting a good block on his knees to get the defender on the ground. The play picks up about 5 yards but it may have been for a loss had Maclin not gotten his block.

Play 8: 1st & 20. -40. 13:18 3rd.

Coverage: Cover 1

Again, Maclin is running a hitch route against man-to-man coverage from the Bills. The CB is playing off coverage after Maclin has beaten defenders deep a couple of times already on the day. This situation allows for an easy route for Maclin and an easy catch for 9 yards.

Play 9: 2nd & 11. -49. 12:33 3rd.

Coverage: Cover 1

On this play we see Maclin in the slot for the first time and running a combination route with another WR to help free one another up. Maclin runs a fade route towards the sideline and away from the Safety help in the middle of the field. The Bills have good coverage on this play, with both of their defenders sticking to their man coverage but once again the Chiefs QB makes a nice throw and Maclin is able to run underneath of it and make the catch. The result of the play is a first down and a 32 yard gain.

Play 10: 3rd & 4. 48. 8:26 4th.

Coverage: Cover 2

On this 3rd down, the Chiefs run a sneaky play that is essentially a screen pass with the ball being thrown up the field a little bit. With the defender over Maclin being 11 yards off, it allows the Chiefs to throw a quick throw to him in order to get the ball in his hands for yards after the catch. The sneaky part of this play is that the outside WR is not even running a route, just blocking the CB in front of him which he does successfully. Maclin is able to catch the ball and get up field on a crucial 3rd down to get the first.

Jeremy Maclin has helped the Chiefs jump back into the playoff hunt in the AFC, now sitting with a wild card spot in the conference. For the Chiefs to continue their success, Maclin must be a big play threat each game for them in order to help give the offense balance so that they are able to run the ball. The Chiefs offense is very simplistic, especially for this game against the Bills. Most of Maclin’s routes are streak routes and hitch or comeback routes. These are easy, quick routes for QB’s to throw and easy completions most of the time against man-to-man coverage. Maclin excelled beating the press coverage that the Bills threw at him in week 12, let’s see what he can do the rest of season as the playoff chase continues to heat up.