It’s the breakpoint of the 3-and-4 Kansas City Chiefs 2021 season. They must beat the visiting 2-and-5 New York Giants tonight in Arrowhead Stadium, or their season is most probably over. Let’s take a look at the matchups the Giants present for K.C..
Patrick Mahomes vs the Giants Pass Defense
The recipe for beating a Patrick Mahomes led offense has gone viral now so I’d expect nothing less from the New York effort tonight. Play tow high safety coverage, which means, max protection on the back end to keep Mahomes and Hill from destroying them deep, then rush four if you can o get pressure and if you can sop the Chiefs offense early and ge a lead, force him into errors, which Mahomes has been so accommodating at providing this year.
The reality is, the Giants rank 27th in the league in pass completion percentage allowed a 69.9%. In the meantime, the CHiefs offensive pass completion is 67.6%, which is more than Patrick Mahomes career average of 66.2% completion percentage. Consequently… if… and this is a very iffy if because he has half the number of INTs this year as he does TDs (18-to-9)… so, if Patrick Mahomes doesn’t throw INTs, or fumble the ball away, he should be in for a very good game.
FanSided for he New York Giants, GMenHQ.com, reports that Safety Jabril Peppers (who is now on IR) played on, “88 percent of the NY Giants’ defensive snaps [in 2020], down to just 58 percent through the first six games of the 2021 campaign.” That means he’s not been very good this year and to beat Patrick Mahomes, you must have great Safety play. The Safeties they do have left include: Julian Love and Ryan Logan.
The Giants run a 3-4 base defense and their front three can be formidable with: Dexter Lawrence, Austin Johnson and Leonard Williams. Let’s not forget hat he Giants will be starting LB Reggie Ragland who has first hand familiarity with he Chiefs offense. While CB James Bradbury has three Ins this year, I’ unimpressed with their defensive backfield on the whole.
Giants Offense versus the Chiefs Defense
Years ago I charted Matt Cassel’s QB rating from week to week and Daniel Jones reminds me of Cassel when it comes to offering a smooth performance level. Here’s a look at the Giants QB Daniel Jones and his QB Ratings from week to week through the first 7 weeks of this season:
With four of the Giants primary weapons either Out or Questionable for this game, their OC, Jason Garrett, is going to have to be especially creative in how he uses Daniel Jones to spread the ball around. Here’s a look at the Giants injury report, condensed from SBNation:
The Giants Injury report is significant. With their main offensive threat Saquon Barkley, scheduled to be Out, you can expect Steve Spagnuolo’s defense to be in high rush mode the whole game. However…
… Giants WR Kadarius Toney looks ready to play tonight:
TE Evan Engram has averaged 605 yards receiving over his first four seasons with the Giants. He’s been in rumors to be traded, most recently, to the Packers so there exits the possibility that the Chiefs could see him this week, then again nextt week. However unlikely that is, if he can’t play tonight it hurts the chances of the G-Men.
While the Chiefs rank 4h in total passing yards so far this year, the Giants rank #9. So, if Daniel Jones can locate some of his alternate targets, they could challenge the Chiefs DBs.
Weather Over Arrowhead
A couple of days ago, the weather report for Monday evening was going o be rain and possibly even some light snow. Thank goodness that’s changed. Here’s the forecast as of Sunday afternoon, for Monday evening:
Current AFC West Standings
With a win tonight against the New York Giants, the Chiefs record goes to 4-and-4. Then they’d be tied with Denver, one game behind the Chargers, and 1 1/2 games behind the Raiders and they’d sill have both games yet to be played with them. If the Chiefs lose tonight… well… let’s not think about that. Suffice it to say, in that case, their road to he playoffs would become a monumental climb.
After I predicted the Chiefs would go perfect this season, I sopped predicting he scores of games so I won’t strain you with my obviously uninformed take. Enjoy he game! Go Chiefs!
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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