CHIEFS Headliners: 1.20.23

Laddie Morse

You would think that the Bye week, when the Kansas City Chiefs were at rest, that there’d be little to report, but if you thought that, you’d be sorely mistaken. With Wild Card teams making their mark last weekend, and the Chiefs getting ready to host the Jacksonville Jaguars tomorrow at 3:30 in Arrowhead Stadium, by the time the game rolls around, well let’s just say… “My cup runneth over.”

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Earlier this week, the Jags second year QB — Trevor Lawrence — was at the mic and rambling on about the game this weekend, and he said this:

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“I can’t imagine it’ll [Arrowhead] be much louder

than our fans were here on Saturday, honestly.”

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Don’t think for one second that the Chiefs organization isn’t taking this personally and using this for bulletin board material, and Kingdom fan faithful’s present in Arrowhead tomorrow should too. Shannon Sharpe has an excellent grasp of just how loud Arrowhead can be and points to a rule change — back-in-the-day — that came about in the NFL because of the crowd noise:

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I can’t wait to see how hotly the hard-core horde at Arrowhead responds to this over zealous overstated over site by Trevor — I can’t get my foot out of my mouth — Lawrence.

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The Chiefs Special Teams during the 2022-2023 season has been, well, less than special. One of our faithful here at ArrowheadOne shared this graphic just yesterday:

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In the game with the Jags just 10 weeks ago, they opened that contest with an on-side kick… and it worked.

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They took the first possession of the ball and then they had the first possession of the ball again to start the second half. The Chiefs Special Teams coach, Dave Toub was asked about the possibility of that happening again this week, to which he responded:

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“I’d be really surprised if they came out with a surprise onside kick again. That’d be something. … Watching that, we know they’ll do anything.”

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Andy Reid’s coaching tree is responsible for producing the Jags Head Coach Doug Pederson — who went on to win Super Bowl LII (52) as the Eagles HC — so we should have known he’d try something like that. If that happens again in these playoffs, the Chiefs will be cooked. Pederson will also try any of the trick plays he can think of, including Andy Reid’s own trick plays (or a version thereof).

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The Chiefs are 99% healthy and that’s a very good sign (or omen, if you’re into that kind of thing). While we don’t know whats’ going on in the training room with Mecole Hardman, he has already been scrubbed for this contest versus the Jags.

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With DE Frank Clark and CB L’Jarius Sneed back in at Full Participation (FP) the Defense should have no problem dealing with the Jags offense. Although WR Skyy Moore plays the same position as Mecole Hardman, he doesn’t have Hardman’s speed. Not to worry though, WR/KR Kadarius Toney does have Hardman’s speed and he also has more agility and a wicked jab step move that no one individual can defend against.

The Jaguars roster and IR list has more Question marks than a high school algebra test.

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Although QB Trevor Lawrence is on this list of “Questionable” players for the Jags, he’ll start on Saturday as will most of these other players listed.

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It’s been quite a week for WR Jerrion Ealy. On the 12th his contract was terminated, and five (5) days later, on the 17th, he was re-signed.

I think GM Brett Veach is on a fishing exposition for a quality Defensive Lineman. On the 12th, he signed DT Phil Hoskins, and on the 17th DE Daniel Wise had his practice squad contract terminated. Wise was originally signed by Veach on January 4th, so he had only been on the Practice Squad for less than two weeks, when Veach cut ties with him.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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