NFL scoring is down; NBC’s Mike Tirico traces trend back to how teams defend Mahomes

The Chiefs offense has sputtered a bit in the last two weeks, with Kansas City scoring just 44 points, matching their total from the season opener. And seven points came as a result of a defensive score.

It’s not a sky-is-falling feeling to start the season because the Chiefs are still fourth in the NFL in a key statistic, as they average 6.2 yards per play.

The Chiefs’ uneven play on offense is not a surprise to NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico, who will call Sunday night’s game between Kansas City and Tampa Bay with Cris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark.

“You can put different people in, make changes, but when you take Tyreek Hill off of a team, as impactful as he was, it’s not ready for prime time right out of the gate,” Tirico said. “You’re going to need to go through some discovery, figure out what to do best. I think we’re watching the Chiefs develop some of that.”

The Chiefs traded Hill to the Dolphins in the offseason, then signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster. KC also drafted Skyy Moore, so there’s been a big change in the Chiefs’ wide receiver position group.

It’s not just the Chiefs who are experiencing issues on offense this season.

Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon reported an average of 42 points were scored in NFL games through the first three weeks of the season. That is four points fewer than a year ago. It’s early, but if that trend holds it would be the fewest in an NFL season since 2006.

Tirico believes part of the issue for NFL offenses can be traced to a change defenses made when facing the Chiefs.

“I think it’s been almost a full year now since teams have decided, ‘We’re going to keep our safeties back and make (quarterback) Patrick Mahomes go the long way.’ And that trend has spread around the NFL,” Tirico said. “I think this is the fifth game we’ve done this year, and in almost every game, there’s a significant element of that in defenses around the league. So these marquee quarterbacks are having a tougher time putting up those big numbers like they were a couple of years ago. And I think it all traces back to how do we stop Mahomes.

“So as usual, the chalk now belongs to the offense, they’re gonna find their way to defeat these defenses and that’s the joy of football. And if I needed someone to have the chalk to figure out a way, I like my chances with (coach) Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes together.”

Tirico also noted the Buccaneers’ defense has allowed a total of 27 points through three games, and it’s one reason why he’s excited to call Sunday’s game.

The bigger storyline, of course, is the quarterbacks: Mahomes vs. Tom Brady.

“These are the matchups that have helped make Sunday Night Football the No. 1 prime-time show the last 11 years, right?” Tirico said. “These are two terrific teams we obviously saw a couple of years ago in the Super Bowl, led by two quarterbacks who everyone knows and people don’t tire of watching. And I think the little intrigue here this year is if you look at the first three games for the Bucs and the last two games for the Chiefs.

“These offenses have a little bit of growth to do within this season. So it’s fascinating to watch these guys who always seem to get it figured out in the process of trying to get it figured out, and going head to head at the same time.”

Tirico’s crazy year

Tirico, who is in his first season as the main play-by-play voice of “Sunday Night Football,” has had an incredibly busy year. He called Notre Dame football games a year ago, and was a studio host for the Ryder Cup, The Masters, U.S. Open, the British Open, the Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl LVI and the Winter Olympic Games, which were in Beijing.

Those last two overlapped as Tirico was part of the pregame and postgame shows from SoFi Stadium, and was on hand for the Super Bowl trophy presentation. Then it was back to working on the Olympics.

“It was a great year but a challenging year,” Tirico said. “The totality of the schedule has been just terrific. I mean, I’ll never forget Feb. 13 as long as I live because it was something that you never even dream about doing: to host the Super Bowl pregame show, do the trophy presentation, and then host the prime-time coverage of the Olympics the same night. Nobody had ever programmed that in the history of those two events. And arguably those are the two biggest events we have in all of sport, and to be the television host of both of those and having them the same day was great.”