Dissecting the Secret to Matt Moore’s Success Sunday

As the late Jim Mandich might have said, “Let me reinsert my eyeballs!”, after Matt Moore had shredded the Kansas City defense while putting together an astonishing 147.5 passer rating.

He might also have shouted “All Right MIAMI!!” at least four times on Sunday afternoon in Arrowhead Stadium.

But on Monday, while discussing the game with fans on his radio show, “riding around with the windows down”, I’m pretty sure that Mandich would not have given all the credit to Moore like Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald did on Monday.  According to Salguero, Sunday’s shellacking of the Chiefs was an example of the importance of great quarterback play for a team.

Great quarterback play is indeed important.  Right at the top of the checklist prepared by most head coaches and offensive coordinators actually.  But ask any great quarterback and he’ll surely tell you that it’s real tough to produce great quarterback play when you are lying on your back under a few hundred pounds of linebackers, or being chased within an inch of your life by a sack hungry defensive end.  Ask Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassell his opinion on that question once he’s had a chance to recover his senses from Sunday’s mauling at the hands of Miami’s defense.

Prior to Sunday’s exciting and intoxicating performance by the Dolphins, it was Matt Moore who was the unfortunate victim of questionable pass coverage, resulting in a passer rating below 70 and a set of painfully bruised ribs.  And coincidentally Miami’s offense was unable to muster an average of even 17 points per game and were winless in seven games.

I have watched many so called great quarterbacks have days when their offensive lines, for whatever reason, just weren’t able to give them the coverage they had become used to receiving.  And the result was always the same.  The great became ordinary.  I watched it happen to Tom Brady in the Super Bowl against the Giants.  I’ve seen Peyton Manning flustered and beaten.

On Sunday it was the other way round.  Matt Moore, usually chased and hurried, hit and smacked and sacked, found himself with time to survey the field.  Stand in the pocket like a Tom Brady clone.  And the extra time gave the receivers time to run their routes properly and get open.  And boy, did they ever get open.  It all looked so easy.

And you know what?  That kind of success and dominance on the offensive side of the ball has an uplifting effect on the defensive players.  The defensive front finally started to play as advertised at the start of the season, and put all kinds of pressure on Cassell, and the effect of that was to take pressure off the struggling defensive backfield.

So we ended up with a sort of domino effect, from the great quarterbacking performance of Matt Moore to the touchdown shut out by the Miami defense.

But really, what was the catalyst for all this?  What allowed Moore to explode into temporary greatness and influence the performance of the whole team?  Was it Brian Daboll with his daring and aggressive play calling?  Maybe.  Somewhat.  Was it Coach Sparano, whose constant support and belief in this beleaguered team has been steadfast throughout.  Sure.  That played into it.  That, and just plain better execution by all involved.

But the true reason for this offensive breakthrough, the real reason why Matt Moore was comfortable in the pocket, was the emergence for the first time this season of a dominating offensive line.  On Sunday, the offensive line was quite simply outstanding.  For the first time they played up to their potential.  Not only were they providing great protection for Moore but they opened up holes for Reggie Bush for the second week in a row.  If Jake Long is still injured, I can’t imagine how dominating he will be when he’s 100%.  Pouncey and Carey continue to progress and even Colombo escaped without giving up a sack.  Incognito was sound and Nate Garner is a huge plus now that he’s fit again

It is sad that it’s taken this long to reach this point, with the season already lost.  But now at least we can look forward to watching this team continue to develop over the second half of the season.  It’s a tough situation for all you misguided Suck for Luck bandwagoners.  But if it makes you feel any better, Sunday demonstrated that to be a great quarterback you first need to have a great offensive line.  There’s a few guys not named Luck who could have excelled behind that line on Sunday.

Make sure you vote for Matt Moore on NFL.com for the Air Player of the week!