Chiefs: What’s Up Sunday?

⚡️ 🏈 💥 Happy New Year, 2021! 💥 🏈 ⚡️

Chiefs: What’s Up Sunday? – by David Bell – View from the Cheap Seats – The biggest regret that I have in regard to the 2020 Season was that the only loss (thus far) was to the Dastardly Vegas Raiders. It’s hard for me to even remember not to automatically type “Oakland” when dealing with this historic arch-nemesis. The Chiefs have clinched a playoff position, the division title, the AFC Bye for the playoffs and home field advantage throughout. They should play their next road game at Tampa on February 7^th. I certainly hope that is the exact truth and not the first regular season road game of the 2021 schedule.

would be great. The team is certainly deep enough to get this done and end the season 15-1. As it looks, the Chiefs could rest and let recuperate 18 players from their starter groups, 9 on both sides of the ball. An NFL season is a 17 week schedule of hard knocks. Let’s give them a week to get the bruises and contusions taken care of and get players off the IR to the roster for the bye week and practices. Go win that first playoff game as healthy as possible.

A One Finger Deflection

Going back and reviewing film from week 16, it does appear that Tanoh Kpassagnon deflected the attempted tying field goal by Atlanta Placekicker Younghoe Koo with one finger. This week in his presser KPass said he got a finger on the ball and deflected it slightly. I have to believe him— he said it and there is photographic proof to boot. Tanoh’s Tweet:

Yea I got a finger on it 😝

— Tanoh Kpassagnon (@Passinyo) December 29, 2020

All’s well that ends well. I am pretty much going with Lev Bell’s comment that it is a good thing that games are determined by letters not numbers. In this game’s case? The tally that counted was a “W.”

What will the roster look like this week with many starters being rested? Here my view.

Players held out of the game – Offense

Chiefs rest: Patrick Mahomes-QB, Tyreek Hill-WR, Travis Kelce-TE, Le’Veon Bell-RB, Eric Fisher-OT, Stefan Wisniewski-OG, Austin Reiter-OC, Andrew Wylie-OG. More? I think I would hold out Mike Remmers also if I could. If you look then to the remaining roster, you can determine who is going to get the nod to man positions as starters. The Chiefs have very good depth. For example, I see Darrell Williams being the feature back in this game. At WR we will see Hardman, Robinson and Pringle plus other men who haven’t had opportunity to get in games on offense: I’m anxious to see WR Gehrig Dieter for example. Nick Keizer, Deon Yelder and Ricky Seals-Jones should provide service as TE’s.

Players in Street clothes – Defense

Chiefs rest: Tyrann Mathieu-S,  Daniel Sorensen-S, Juan Thornhill-S, Chris Jones-DT, Frank Clark-DE, Tanoh Kpassagnon-DE or Alex Okafor-DE, Derrick Nnadi-DT, Bashaud Breeland-CB, L’Jarius Sneed-CB.  Rashad Fenton-CB. It might be that Sneed is kept in the game because he is a rookie. I don’t have a problem with that if it’s the case. See a note below on that possibility. Willie Gay, Jr, at LB should again be a starter. He needs real time snaps under his belt as do both Darius Harris and Omari Cobb.

There are two CB’s that I want to see in NFL game situations in starter type roles: Cornerbacks Deandre Baker and Chris Lammons. We should also see Antonio Hamilton getting significant snaps and at safety, we have Armani Watts. Another player who should see a lot of playing time is Tim Ward at DE. It may be that they focus on getting Dorian O’Daniel, Darius Harris and Amari Cobb a lot of snaps in this game. Here I am presuming that DOD is ready to roll. I did post about Ryan Tracy’s video study of O’Daniel and came away impressed. This is going to be quite interesting.

Now if all the above were true, and it probably isn’t totally accurate, but if it all were true, it’s no wonder the Chargers are the favorite in this upcoming matchup. What I think this does though, is add a preseason-esk training game for 2^nd and 3^rd tier players and that can be huge advantage for the players themselves as well as the coaching staff. Also… if L’Jarius Sneed does play, he might see snaps as a Safety given that DC Steve Spagnuolo very much employs a disguise system with a CB dropping to Safety and the Safety taking on the CB task. I’d watch for that possibility/probability employed multiple times in this game.

As it is, players nursing nagging injuries can have the week to heal up. Starters won’t be exposed to the best extent possible.

What’s Next?   

The Chargers game serves no postseason purpose for the Chiefs. What will count is getting as healthy as possible. The Chiefs starters have a week to rest and recuperate followed by a week of practice before their first playoff game. Everyone should be healthy by then. I am hopeful still, that somehow RT Mitch Schwartz can make it back during the playoffs, but there are a lot of indicators that teach us that it’s unlikely. From there? Sammy Watkins should be good to go.

After the Falcon’s game, HC Andy Reid only detailed two injuries: Sammy Watkins’ calf-injury was troublesome as was the injury to Ben Niemann’s hamstring. During the Falcon’s game, Travis Kelce left the game with a banged up knee, but returned to finish play the rest of the game. He has 2 weeks to get ready, but Kelce’s injury did not even make Reid’s report on injuries. We have to presume it was minor.

Schwartz is my biggest concern as I have noted, and I must mention as well, Martinas Rankin, who apparently is day-to-day and has not appeared in a game since returning to the active Roster. You may recall that I was impressed with Rankin last season when he was called upon to substitute for LDT. I still believe he could be a factor. Daniel Kilgore is another player to watch. When he was subbed in for Austin Reiter I was favorably impressed. I doubt, at this late date, he suddenly becomes the permanent starter at Center, but he should get the start against the Chargers.

It was observed that the Chiefs score total in the Atlanta game broke a streak of consecutive games in which they scored 20 or more. That is true. The streak of wins is something I see as most important and the fact that the Chiefs who have had a bulls-eye taped to the back of the collective ‘Uni’ has meant that every team that faced them, wanted to upset the defending champions. What I think is most important in this regard, is they have won all but the game against the Raiders, despite their opponents massive efforts to put the Chiefs game in their own win column. It didn’t happen.

Another factor is strength of Schedule of teams the Chiefs would face. At any point up and down the schedule, the Chiefs were facing, at least at the time… Contenders for the postseason… but it wasn’t the toughest that could have been. Over all, they faced the 17^th strongest schedule of all 32 teams and if you check on hit, most pundits who evaluate the second half of the season felt it was middle of the road.

The Playoff Picture For the NFC? It’s Complicated

We know the teams that have clinched but there are still teams vying for a slot. Division titles went to the Chiefs, Bills, and Steelers and the remaining berths will be decided in week 17. First off, the AFC South remains undecided with both the Titans and Colts tied with the same 10-5 record, which is also the same record the Dolphins have, another AFC team trying to wedge their way into the playoffs. 

In the AFC:

• The Titans face the 4-and-11 Texans and with a win all they have to do is win to clinch a playoff berth.
• The Dolphins make the playoffs by beating the Bills, who will likely sit players. If they lose, they can still get in, but it becomes tricky.
• The Ravens still have a shot. They have won four in a row and face the 4-and-10 Bengals. The Ravens would get in if the Browns or Colts lose.
• The Colts loss last weekend leaves them most likely out, but could still get in if any one of the following teams lose: Titans, Ravens, Browns or Dolphins. They would also get in with a win and a Titans loss – in this case, the Colts would win the AFC south.

In the NFC:

• The Packers will secure the Bye if they win in their match against the Bears. If they lose, they still obtain the bye if the Seahawks also lose.
• The Seahawks own the tie-breaker if both finish 12-4. The Seahawks need both the Packers and Saints to lose to win the bye.
• The Saints have clinched the division and can win the Bye if they beat the 5-and-10 Panthers (likely) and the Packers lose with the Seahawks win.
• The 9-and-6 Rams failed to win the game last Sunday against the Seahawks and still could be out of a berth. They need to win this week vs the 8-and-7 Cardinals, or they need the Bears to lose, to get into the playoffs.
• The Bears are 8-7 and won vs the Jaguars last weekend. To get in, they must either beat the Packers, or have the Cardinals lose to the Rams.
• Ron Rivera’s Washington Football Team took a hit when he cut Dwayne Haskins. What a mess. They are 6-9. Wow. The Washington Football Team wins the division if they beat the Eagles. If not, the winner of the…
• Giants/Cowboys game will clinch the division. I am rooting for Washington. How odd would that be to have an 8-9 team win a division? Ten years ago, the 2010 Seattle Seahawks went 7-and-9 and finished first in the NFC West. [Editor’s Note: perhaps the only other time a NFL team with a losing record has made the playoffs.]
• The Buccaneers clinched their division. They play the 4-and-11 Falcons and should win the #5 seed in the NFC.

Outside looking in? Bears, Cardinals, Giants? Whichever team wins the head-to-head Cowboys/Giants wins the division… dependent on Washington losing to the Eagles. The Cardinals must beat the Rams in Week 17 to have a chance.

Summary View of the NFL?

Covid-19 problems remain a factor. Fans are not in seats, and the playoff picture remains undecided. Not much time to wait a this point and all will be revealed come Sunday Night. The Chiefs have no worries. They need time to heal and can get that done over the next two weeks. Go Chiefs!

David Bell — Writing from Katy, Texas

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