Categories: Kansas City ChiefsPaul Pulley

Chiefs Host Jags in Week 5: OPEN THREAD

Chiefs Host Jags in Week 5:

OPEN THREAD

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The Jaguars Come to Arrowhead

by Paul Pulley

This game is already being billed as the #1 offense versus the #1 defense. The Jags are coming into Arrowhead after an easy home win against the New York Jets. The Jags quarterback, Blake Bortles, had a good game, throwing for 388 yards and 2 TDs with one pick. Jacksonville put up over 500 yards on the Jets, but the Jets offense was so anemic they only managed 178 yards of their own for the game and lost the time of possession battle by more than 15 minutes, that meant the Jacksonville offense held the ball by more than a full quarter more than the Jets.

While the Jaguars defense is very good, they have yet to face an offense ranked outside the bottom 10. Through the first 4 games of the season the Patriots were the best offense the Jags have faced and they are ranked at 23 for overall offense. Jacksonville’s other three opponents, the New York Giants, Tennessee Titans and New York Jets are ranked 25th, 26th and 29th respectively.

Jacksonville also has the number 1 rated passing defense through the first quarter of the season, but again the best passing offense they have faced thus far is the Giants, who are rated 19th in the league.

The third category the Jaguars are tops defensively, is points allowed. Jacksonville has only given up an average of 14 points per game so far this season. But again their competition hasn’t been the strongest in that regard either. The Patriots, ranked 15th through 4 games, have been the highest scoring offense the Jaguars have went up against, with the Jets (20th), Titans (26th) and Giants (27th) all having issues scoring against all of their opponents.

The Kansas City Chiefs have the 8th ranked offense for yards/game and are the top scoring offense in the NFL through the first 4 games, averaging just over 36 points per game. What might be an even bigger story, at least for Chiefs fans, will be the Jacksonville offense versus the Chiefs defense.

The Jaguars offense is ranked 15th, just a couple spots behind Denver, but statistically, the Jags and Broncos are very similar. Jacksonville averages about 30 more passing yards/game than the Broncos, but Denver has the better rushing offense and that should be even more apparent with Fournette out for today’s game.

Jacksonville’s offensive line started the season doing a great job protecting their quarterback and while they have only allowed 6 sacks for the season, 5 of those were in the last 2 games. In week 3, the Titans sacked Bortles 3 times and the Jets got him down twice last week. With 4 of the Jaguars offensive linemen showing up on their injury report, all being limited in practice through Thursday, the Chiefs defensive line should be able to get some good push and put some pressure on Bortles throughout the game. This could also have a negative affect on Jacksonville’s rushing offense. The only starting OL not on the Jags injury report is their LT, Josh Wells.

The Jags have three receivers that have been pretty productive this season so far. Led by Dede Westbrook with 294 yards, Keelan Cole has produced 225 yards and Donte Moncrief has catches for 173 yards. Jacksonville’s top TE, Austin Seferian-Jenkins has only caught 11 passes for 90 yards this season. The Jags second TE is James O’Shaughnessy, who most will remember spent 2015 and 2016 with the Chiefs. O’Shaughnessy has just 3 catches for 45 yards this year.

T.J. Yeldon, who is also on the Jags injury report, should be the leading ball carrier with Fournette out of the game. Yeldon leads the Jags offense with 49 carries for 205 yards. He is also a receiving threat, having 14 receptions for 125 yards.

Jacksonville’s offense has struggled some this year in hanging onto the ball. Bortles has only thrown 3 interceptions but the team has fumbled the ball 8 times, losing 4 of those. Creating turnovers hasn’t been a strong point of the Chiefs defense so far, but a turnover could be the difference in this kind of game, where the opponents strengths and weaknesses are polar opposite.

Prior to the season, this game was penciled in by most to be one of the toughest contests of the season for Kansas City and it looks like that hasn’t changed. Kansas City has the advantage of playing this game at home, but the disadvantage of playing on a short week having played in Denver on Monday night.

There should be plenty of scoring in this game but in the end, I think the Chiefs will win this one to go to 5-0. I don’t think it will be a blow out, but I do think the Chiefs score more points than they did Monday night.

The NFL has gotten what they have been striving for, for some time, a lot of high scoring games to excite the fan base. Of the 30 teams that played in week 4 (two teams had a bye), 21 of those defenses had at least 23 points scored against them. 12 teams gave up over 30 points last week.

While the Chiefs defense is currently at the bottom in yards allowed, there are 7 teams that are allowing more points than the Chiefs defense, coincidentally 3 of those 7 are the Chiefs previous opponents.

While the Chiefs defense is leaving a lot to be desired, they are showing signs of improvement. Versus Denver, they produced some three and outs and forced 3 field goals. I’m still not a fan of Sutton’s bend, don’t break style of D, at least if they continue to bend but can at least play more drives without breaking and give up fewer TDs, the offense should be able to hold their own against almost any opponent.

So what do you think? Will Mahomes and the Chiefs offense be able to take it to the Jags?

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