Ahead of Schedule: What Week 1 Tells Us About Chiefs Opponents

Ahead of Schedule: What Week 1

Tells Us About Chiefs Opponents

by Ransom Hawthorne

Week one of the NFL certainly had it’s fair share of thrills. For Kansas City Chiefs fans, it also held a glimpse into the future. All 13 teams that Chiefs will play this year were in action this week. Granted, it’s just one game, for each team, but it gives a much better idea of how Chiefs could perform, on a game by game basis. Here’s a look at how the Chiefs opponents performed, and what it means for head coach Andy Reid and company.

LA Chargers: I’ve seen a fair bit of talk about the drops, but keep in mind, two happened on one drive, and another happened on a drive where LA scored anyway. The final point swing would’ve probably only been 7, which still wouldn’t have won them the game. Even that, assumes that Chiefs played the game exactly the same way. It was pretty obvious, to everyone watching, that Reid shut the playbook, in the 4^th quarter, and Sutton played prevent. At that point, the Chiefs were up 31-12. Sutton still has Rivers’ number. The Chiefs D needs to show some improvement, but they handled a quality offense well enough to secure the win. With K.C. splitting with them, at the worst, the Chargers won’t stand in the way of another division title.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Before you chortle at them tying the Browns, remember that the Steelers have a history of bouncing back after embarrassing games. The Chiefs will be playing at Hines Field, where QB Ben Roethlisberger has been significantly better, than on the road. The Cleveland Browns have a lot of good players on defense, and Chiefs do not. Expect a high scoring battle, as K.C. has yet to prove they can beat Mike Tomlin and Roethlisberger.

San Francisco 49ers: QB Jimmy Garoppolo had a rough outing against Minnesota. Most teams will. That’s a phenomenal defense. Even so, 49ers defense had a quality outing, allowing just 17 points by the Vikings (7 of Vikings 24 points came from a pick 6). Don’t overlook this game. It’ll be a tough one against a quality defense and a QB who’ll play a lot better, against Sutton’s group, than he did vs Minnesota. The Chiefs may need the fan’s help to win this game. It could be a close one.

Denver Broncos: The Seahawks are not what they once were, but Denver’s offense looks much improved. Darn it all if a big part of that hasn’t been RB Phillip Lindsay: my draft crush. Lindsay is an UDFA who averaged 4.7 YPC and 15.5 yards per reception. With the Chiefs struggles, against Ekeler and Gordon, any good RB should make fans nervous. Lindsay may be small, but expect him to have a big impact on the game. This match has moved from an easy win, to a potential shoot-out. The Broncos aren’t a threat to win the division, but they’ll still be a challenging match-up for Chiefs defense. The good news is, Denver’s defense is much worse against the pass, than they used to be.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Jags look like a team that took a step back this year. Their defense is as good as ever, but narrowly edging a bad Giants team, despite holding their QB to 0 TDs 1 INT and just 224 yards, is not very impressive. The Chiefs defense might finally catch a breather here, as Bortles looks more like his old self, than the new and improved version. As long as Mahomes can avoid interceptions and bad sacks, the Chiefs should roll the Jags in a lower scoring game. Still got to keep Fournette in check though.

NE Patriots: As long as Tom Brady is Tom Brady, which he still seems to be, this will be a challenge. Patrick Mahomes has impressed so far, but it’s unreasonable to expect him to go into Foxborough and win.The Chiefs defense is a year away, at least, from being league average, and Brady will probably score on every drive, barring some timely and lucky drops. If the Chiefs win this game, it’ll be a nail biter, but they probably won’t.

Cincinnati Bengals: It’s tough to tell a whole lot, from the drubbing of the Colts, but it doesn’t make you feel at ease. Dalton isn’t an elite QB, but he’s competent and surrounded by some decent weapons. As for many games, this season, the Chiefs will have to hope the offense can win a scoring match. The defense will struggle to stop Joe Mixon and AJ Greene.

Cleveland Browns: the Cleveland Browns may not have a win yet, but it’s evident that they’re much improved. By the time Chiefs face them, Baker Mayfield will have forced his way onto the field. That defense is going to be tough, and the offense will get better. John Dorsey has his flaws, but turning around bad teams is his specialty, and the Browns had all the cap space and draft picks he needed to do it.The Chiefs will play them on the road, and they’d better have the defense a bit more polished, when they do. Dorsey has something to prove, and I’m sure that will be communicated to the team. Don’t chalk this one up as an easy win.

Arizona Cardinals: Why write a whole paragraph to say that this team is bad? Cards are terrible this year, easy win for the Chiefs.

LA Rams: This game was thought, at the beginning of the season, to be nearly un-winnable. The Raiders might have lost, and coughed up the ball multiple times, but this game actually showed a ray of hope.The Raiders’ TE, Jared Cook, carved up the Rams to the tune of 180 yards on 9 receptions. As good as Rams are on the DL, and at CB, their LB core is pretty weak. Between Travis Kelce, Demetrius Harris, and Alex Ellis, the Chiefs have the weapons to hit LA where they’re weakest. Don’t get me wrong, this will still be a tough game, but that defense isn’t quite the world-beater we thought it would be, yet.

Oakland (for now) Raiders: the Raiders flopped against the Rams, but, for much of the game, their offense looked improved. Jared Cook, who was a thorn in Chiefs side, last year, looks even better, this year. Expect Chiefs defense to struggle early on against Gruden’s offense, but Sutton should be able to out-adjust him in the 2^nd half.The Raiders defense wasn’t great before they traded Mack, it’s worse now.The Chiefs offense should be able to move the ball with ease. While these games could turn into shoot-outs, I think Sutton still has enough of a handle on Carr’s weaknesses to give the Chiefs the edge.

Baltimore Ravens: It’s really impossible to tell much from the Raven’s dismantling of the Bills, other than that Buffalo will probably be poaching Dave Toub or Eric Bieniemy next year. That team is an unmitigated disaster. There’s a lot of football to be played, before the Chiefs see the Ravens. Injuries and player development will change the complexion of that match-up. It’s just too soon to tell.

Seattle Seahawks: Russel Wilson is still good, and Chiefs seem to struggle with super mobile QBs. Their secondary also can’t quite hold up, beyond the 4 seconds it should take the pass rush to get home. That’s a bad combo. Pete Carroll’s defense isn’t much to fear, anymore, but this game could easily turn into a shoot-out, and Wilson knows how to win those type of games. Coming in week 16, winning this game could be crucial to Chiefs playoff hopes.

Much as expected, the Chiefs will need to lean on their offense, almost every game this year. The talent on this team should not yield a 12-4 type season. That said, Andy Reid is a very good coach and, if Patrick Mahomes keeps playing like he did last week, the Chiefs will be tough to beat. Expect a lot of close games. Most teams won’t hand you the game, to the extent that the LA Chargers did. On the bright side, this is exactly the kind of schedule you want, this year. If Chiefs make the playoffs, it will be well earned, not just because the rest of the division laid down and died (well, except maybe the Raiders). Go Chiefs.

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