An anticipated clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos turned into a botching festival for center Creed Humphrey in the 28-24 loss at Empower Field. The Chiefs went three-and-out on their first drive, with Humphrey giving a low shotgun snap to quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the third play, which made Mahomes get rid of the ball.

But this isn’t the first errant snap by the veteran center, and one of the Chiefs’ legends has now emphasized the responsibility Humphrey has been failing to execute.

“The most important thing for the center, it’s not – communication is important,” Chiefs Hall of Famer and Pro Bowler Tim Grunhard said on Arrowhead Allies. “Blocking a guy in front of you is important. Finishing plays is important. But the most important thing is to get the ball to the damn quarterback. That’s your job. It’s as simple as that. Guys, it’s not that much harder than that.”

Grunhard talked about how Humphrey was lacking one of the main responsibilities that he has as a center. Humphrey hasn’t quite been at the best of his game, and that can be seen this season. Humphrey gave yet another low snap to Mahomes later in the first quarter of the Week 8 loss, continuing the errant-snap count.

Even CBS Sports analyst and former NFL star J.J. Watt commented on Humphrey’s latest errors. While he suggested that the lousy crowd could be one of the reasons for his errors, he said, “So we’ll have to continue to watch that today,” after Humphrey’s second error. Former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz disagreed with Watt’s earlier claims, writing, “Creed’s awful snaps have nothing to do with the noise.”

“And when you’re not doing it correctly, then you’re just – I mean, it’s like giving up a sack. It’s like giving up penetration. It’s like having a missed assignment. You know, it screws the play up. You know, the timing of the play is so off when the snaps aren’t good. So once again, you know, I’ve talked to him over the years. And, you know, I’m sure he knows – I’ve said it before. And the reality is that, you know, listen, your number one responsibility is to get the damn ball to the quarterback in a timely fashion in a good spot that he can do his business and be productive in the play,” Grunhard continued, talking about errant snaps.

Humphrey himself has been aware of the errant snaps that have been causing his team to draw back on their offensive plays, with Mahomes losing time in controlling the ball and then looking for his teammates.

“For me, it’s just don’t make it harder than what it is,” Humphrey said. “Just do it; you’ve done it your whole life … But it’s something I need to fix right away. It’s affecting our offense, and I need to be better.”

While Humphrey is on the wrong end of the table for his mistakes, the overall offense hasn’t been too impressive either.

Chiefs offense struggles as Creed Humphrey looks to improve on snap errors

Making errant snaps after being told to focus relentlessly on the errors during practices isn’t the ideal situation for any player, let alone Humphrey. But we can’t ignore the offense as a whole.

While the Chiefs rank 8th in passing yards per game at 249, they haven’t been able to turn those yards into touchdowns more often, having 12 passing touchdowns and ranking 15th in the league.

The same is true of the Chiefs’ running game. The team has struggled in the first half of the season at wide receiver, plagued by multiple injuries, but still ranks 5th in rushing yards per game (134.1); however, they haven’t been able to take full advantage of those yards, with just seven rushing touchdowns. Compare them to other teams like the Buffalo Bills (16) and the Chicago Bears (17), and you start to feel the difference.

On the other side, the offensive line of the Chiefs has been decent in holding up the defense, with the team giving up only nine sacks, ranking second in the league for the fewest sacks. Humphrey also contributes to this stat.

While Humphrey ranks 22nd among 35 qualified centers with a pass-blocking grade of 58.3, his 11th-place run-blocking grade of 66.9 has been decent. He has allowed only three total pressures in pass protection, with no sacks or hits allowed, which makes errant snaps his main problem.

The Chiefs are next going to face off against the crumbling New York Jets with a record of 2-6. The Chiefs are themselves coming off a two-game losing streak and want to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.

A four-time Pro Bowl center certainly doesn’t look good handing away errant snaps, and Humphrey will look to address his mistakes before the game.