Sam McDowell: The Chiefs have developed a play more effective than the 'Tush Push'

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Oct 23, 2025

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The words Patrick Mahomes shouted at the line of scrimmage aren’t suitable for publication here. You know that.

He used the F-bomb twice in the span of three words, butchering both the language and our ability to print it. But here’s the gist of the message: Trying to draw the opponent offsides never works.

The faux exasperation created a diversion, it turns out, to induce the Raiders to sit back and relax as he suddenly sprung into action and hiked the ball on a fourth-and-short snap. He turned and handed the ball to Kareem Hunt, and the Chiefs converted. The whole thing, uh, worked, you could say.

That’s not the only bit of irony.

The acting bit didn’t just distract the Raiders. It distracted us, too, from the real trend.

The Chiefs are executing these short-yardage conversions at a ridiculous rate, or at least a far improved rate, and they haven’t needed to trick anyone to do it.

In fact, the Chiefs typically have been just fine to telegraph their short-yardage plans: Give the ball to Hunt.

Guess what? It almost (bleeping) always (bleeping) works.

The Chiefs have handed Hunt the ball on third- or fourth-and-short (1-2 yards to go) on 16 plays this season. He’s converted 14 of them. (They’ve also passed to him once on a short-yardage play, and he turned that into a first down, too.)

That’s 15 first downs rushing and receiving combined, which leads the league, four more than any other player and six more than any other running back.

But it’s not just about the volume. It’s the effectiveness. Those 14 rushing first downs arrived on just 16 attempts, a success rate of 87.5%.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts ranks second in the NFL with 11 first downs from short yardage. No surprise, right? He’s the beneficiary of the Philadelphia-patented Tush Push.

His success rate on the Tush Push: 84.6%.

Hunt, therefore, is more successful converting short yardage than the Tush Push. He’s more successful converting short yardage than a play some NFL teams tried to ban this offseason.

How about that?

“I feel like I can always find a way to get a yard,” he told me. “That’s my thing — third-and-short, fourth-and-short. I take a lot of pride.

“I don’t even care if the O-line misses a block, I gotta find a way to get a yard — even if it means I gotta carry somebody.”

It is his thing.

The Chiefs have converted 88.2% of the plays in which they involved Hunt, either through the 16 rushes or the single reception. When they leave him out of the equation, that rate drops to 61.9%.

A sizable gap.

The Chiefs have confronted that exact situation — short yardage on late downs — a lot this season. But it’s not happenstance. It’s within their control.

Andy Reid has kept the offense on the field for fourth-and-short 11 times, tied for the most in the league with Indianapolis, voluntarily seeking out these spots. He should. His team is 9 for 11 on fourth-and-short.

The Chiefs have run the ball seven times in those spots. In all seven, they simply handed it to Hunt.

A week ago, I analyzed the effect of Reid being more aggressive on fourth downs this year. It sparked a win against the Lions.

Well, this is the cause. It’s an easier decision to leave the offense on the field when you employ the most effective short-yardage back in football.

Reid has used Hunt nearly twice as frequently in those spots as he did a year ago, which helps to explain why the Chiefs are converting them at a 12.3% higher rate than they did in 2024.

How’s this for a stat: Hunt has actually carried the football more times on fourth downs this season (7) than he has on second downs (6).

“He has a real knack for that,” Reid said when I asked him about using Hunt on short yardage. “He’s got great vision, and he’s always been good at that part of it. Having him back there — that’s a great thing.”

Which return to the irony of what the Chiefs did Sunday against the Raiders.

For all the attention on the places the Chiefs wanted our attention — the pre-snap motion from tight end Noah Gray, the pre-snap motion from Brashard Smith and the couple of F-bombs from the quarterback to sell it all — they ultimately converted a fourth-down play by doing what they do best.

By doing what they do better than any other team in football.

They gave it to Hunt.

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