Chiefs Roster: How Wanya Morris looked in first start against Falcons

The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs narrowly defeated the Atlanta Falcons 22-17 in Week 3’s “Sunday Night time Soccer” matchup. The tightly contested sport additionally marked the primary begin of the season for the crew’s second-year left sort out Wanya Morris.

Final season, Morris began 4 video games whereas Donovan Smith was coping with accidents — with combined outcomes. So the crew chosen BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia within the second spherical of the 2024 NFL Draft.

As coaching camp started, Suamataia instantly stepped into the beginning function, which he retained all the way in which into the common season. However after a poor exhibiting in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, the crew selected to start out Morris on Sunday.

Whereas the second-year sort out wasn’t good in his first begin of 2024, he did present some indicators of enchancment from final season, offering a extra constant presence on the left facet of the road.

Let’s see how he did it.

Defending Patrick Mahomes

Maintaining the crew’s star quarterback upright will all the time be the No. 1 precedence for any of Kansas Metropolis’s offensive lineman — particularly the left sort out. Just a few of Sunday’s play-calls included further assist for Morris, however he had loads of snaps the place he needed to face the Falcons’ move rush alone, too.

Final season, Morris struggled in opposition to pace rushers. On Sunday, Atlanta tried to take advantage of this by placing third-year edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie throughout from him.

On this rep, Ebiketie shortly tries to get in Morris’ grille proper off the snap — however with good timing and a strong vertical move set, Morris fires the primary strike. Then he makes use of his lengthy attain to maintain Ebiketie out of the pocket.

The Falcons additionally examined Morris by working a collection of stunts and twists. These had been designed to get Kansas Metropolis’s blockers on completely different ranges and generate stress on the quarterback — however Morris (and the remainder of the offensive line) had been prepared.

On this play — with a large edge rusher outdoors and one other defender head up in opposition to him — Morris should keep disciplined and prepared for something. On the snap, Morris will get right into a vertical set. Then he stays affected person, staying sq. to the road of scrimmage as he reads the protection.

The pinnacle-up defender works up the sector, however the huge edge begins to loop inside. Working with left guard Joe Thuney, Morris identifies the twist and overtakes the defensive sort out whereas Thuney takes the looper.

Morris blocks the defensive sort out and offers him a strong shove to finish the play.

For a lot of the sport, Morris displayed strong fundamentals — and confirmed a new-found persistence in his move units.

Right here, Morris easily glides into his drive-and-catch move safety, sustaining a strong inside-to-outside ratio between the move rusher and Mahomes. The rusher desires to work again inside, however Morris fires a pleasant strike to shortly shut down the push.

The rusher retains combating, however Morris retains his toes shifting and re-sets his palms to win the play.

The Falcons could not have an elite move rusher, however veteran Matt Judon has been a fierce move rusher his complete profession. He can nonetheless give even the most effective tackles a tough time.

Right here we see Judon lining up huge. On the snap, he brings an influence rush. From his vertical set, Morris does an excellent job driving off his inside foot (and gliding together with his outdoors foot) on the right angle to satisfy the rusher.

When the 2 gamers collide, Morris wins the hand struggle together with his outdoors hand whereas each gamers struggle for management with their inside palms. Judon makes an attempt to overhaul Morris — however by dropping his hips and anchoring into the bottom, Morris stops him. This offers Mahomes a clear pocket.

Physicality

As a rookie, a method by which Morris stood out was the physicality and depth he displayed. This made him a strong match with the unit. He confirmed these traits once more on Sunday. Your complete offensive line created motion on the road of scrimmage all through the sport — and Morris made some good blocks with nasty finishes.

On this play, the Chiefs run energy. Morris is chargeable for blocking the head-up 4-technique defender. On the snap, he tries to seal the defender inside. Simply as Carston Steele passes, Morris — with an help from Trey Smith— pancakes the defensive lineman.

On this third-down rep, the Falcons’ entrance brings one other stunt — and Morris is prepared. Because the 5-technique begins to work his move rush, Morris makes use of his lengthy attain to land the primary strike — after which latches onto the defender to place him on the bottom. Morris jumps on high of him to create a pile within the center, which permits Mahomes to flee and fireplace a bullet for the primary down.

Needing enchancment

Whereas Morris performed a strong sport on Sunday, there may be nonetheless room for enchancment.

Right here we see that Morris is a fraction of a second too sluggish out of his stance, which permits the sting rusher to bend the arc. He additionally compounded the issue by turning his hips to the sideline, which supplies the sting rusher an optimum angle.

This was most likely Morris’ worst snap of the night time — but it surely’s solely a small flaw in an in any other case strong efficiency.

The underside line

On Sunday, Morris earned the appropriate to start out once more — and it appears probably he would be the front-runner at left sort out for the remainder of the season. Because the crew tries for an unprecedented Tremendous Bowl three-peat, Morris provides them the most effective likelihood at his place.

Because the season started, the second-year participant was counted out. However now, he can show he’s the person for the job.