Chiefs at Panthers: OPEN THREAD

Laddie Morse

With the Game of the Year against the Buffalo Bills taking place just a week ago, it’s understandable if the Kansas City Chiefs have a letdown this week when they travel east to take on the Caroline Panthers. My hope is that it doesn’t happen, but it could. The CHiefs have been popular this year logging some of the biggest TV attendances in history.

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With the average viewership of an NFL game sitting at 17.5 Million, the Chiefs have performed at a high level, as far as the Nielsen Ratings are concerned. What’s even more amazing is that this is the year that most games — for a national audience — can’t be viewed on regular TV. IOW… you have to sign up and pay for an App to watch these games, which can only be seen by streaming them.

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The main problems the Chiefs face today are:

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1. The Panthers can run the ball well. Chuba Hubbard is one of the league’s best RBs and in fact, he is fourth in pursuit of the rushing crown.
2. The Panthers are coming off a Bye week. IOW… they are a rested group of players.
3. The Chiefs just lost a big game — huge — and may be having a letdown.

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Here are the NFL’s current top 5 leading Rushers for the 2024 season:

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Adapted from ESPN – photo credit

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For a Chiefs Win Today

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1. The Chiefs must stop, or limit the Panther’s running game. Aside from the valuable Chuba Hubbard, they may also have rookie RB Jonathon Brooks making his debut today, and according to their Injury Report, Brooks was a Full Participant in Friday’s practice. So, I’m expecting him to play.
2. The Chiefs front seven must have a good game and stop not only the Panthers running game, but their passing attack as well, which means, putting consistent pressure on their young QB, Bryce Young.
3. The Chiefs offense must be at full strength and score big.

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If TE Travis Kelce and WR DeAndre Hopkins have big games — or either of them — K.C. should win going away. If the Panther’s defense can hold those two to the level that the Bills did a week ago, then the outcome will be in doubt.

Note: Hopkins had 3 catches vs the Bills. while Kelce only had 2. That is likely part of their defensive game plan, but the problem with that is, it’s super hard to double both Hopkins and Kelce, all the time.

Also, on offense, the Chiefs need to consistently employ the speedy Xavier Worthy more than the 4 catches he had in the first half last week. The main problem is, last week Worthy had zero catches in the second half and that seemed to bring the Chiefs attack to a screeching halt. If not for the contributions of TE Noah Gray — who had 2 TDs in that game — the Chiefs may not have even scored in the second half.

Here’s Noah Gray in a segment called, “Under the Helmet”…

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(2:48)

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Some are talking about the Chiefs perpetuating the losing attitude in this game. However, I don’t see that happening. They may have a letdown, but developing a losing attitude after one loss, I seriously doubt it.

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Injury Reports

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Adapted from Matt McMullen – photo credit

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Adapted from Matt McMullen – photo credit

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Game Time Weather

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Adapted from Weather.com – phot credit

Idyllic. Idyllic. Idyllic.

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Predictions

USA Today – Jordan Mendoza: Chiefs 29, Panthers 20. 

SI.com – Peter Dewey: Final Score Prediction: Chiefs 24, Panthers 10

ArrowheadAddict.com – Writers,

• Lucas Strozinsky: Chiefs 26, Panthers 13

• Stacy Smith: Chiefs 24, Panthers 17

• Charles Robinson: Chiefs 24, Panthers 20

• Shawn O’Brate: Chiefs 31, Panthers 14

• Jacob Milham: Chiefs 28, Panthers 7

• Braden Holecek: Chiefs 31, Panthers 12

• Felix Johnson: Chiefs 28, Panthers 13 (love what he said: “Sometimes Goliath just squishes David.”)

• Lyle Graversen: Chiefs 27, Panthers 13

• Matt Connor: Chiefs 33, Panthers 9

• Price Carter: Chiefs 31- Panthers 10

• Patrick Allen: Chiefs 31, Panthers 14

• Christian Ainsworth: Chiefs 34, Panthers 17

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The only other pundits I could find who are picking the Panthers to win are: Vince Michelino, Brent Sobleski. 43 others are all taking ghe Chiefs.

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Otherwise, most every pundit has the Chiefs winning this one except for a writer at catcrave.com named Luke Gray. He predicts a Panthers win in one of four BOLD predictions, in a piece called, “4 Bold Carolina Panthers Predictions vs. the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12” in which he says:

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If any of those predictions come true, the game will be in doubt and the Kansas City Chiefs won’t win going away. 8 members of the ArrowheadPride staff are picking the Chiefs to win. Also, Jesse Newell of he KC Star predicts a Chiefs victory 27-to-10.

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Here’s Mitch Holthus and Matt McMullen with a preview of the game (2:53):

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I’ll be somewhat surprised if the Chiefs don’t win this one going away, by a score of at least 38 to 10.

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What do you think?

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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