Chiefs: It’s Too Late to Worry
the Stat Sheet
by David Bell | January 11, 2019
Saturday, the game decides which team advances and which goes home. Indianapolis has a very good team that has been on roll and they are rolling into KC to play outdoors on a cold day with snow likely. The Stats say one thing about Andrew Luck and it is not a good record out of doors in the cold on the road in the playoffs. Does this mean that the Chiefs will have easy sledding? Nope. The Stat sheet indicates the Chiefs powerful offense will outscore the Colts in a shootout. Does that mean they will win the game? Hope so, but assured a win? Nope.
The KC Defense has been a bugaboo all season long. We still don’t know if Eric Berry is going to start at Safety but the signs are not encouraging. Does this mean that the Chiefs will lose? Or lose a defensive football game where the PPG are thrown out the window and the Chiefs score 10 less than their APPG? Nope.
The Colts have a front end defense that is pretty good at rushing the passer. KC’s front 5 have done well against the top teams in the NFL with good pass rush and good defenders. The Colts secondary is suspect and they use a cover 2 and variations off of that “Tampa 2.” KC’s run defense has suffered the whole season and the Colts have a pretty good running back who had 908 yards rushing for 2018: Marlon Mack. He can catch passes but they don’t use him that way. KC had the top RB in the game and then Kareem Hunt was forced out. Spencer Ware has suffered injuries but is back this week and will be available. Damien Williams has shown a full gamut of tools from running the ball, catching passes and getting YAC in space. We have even seen UDFA Darrel Williams get some meaningful snaps. Do the Colts own an advantage here? I would say no they don’t but, they will try to run the football and control the clock.
Does that mean that the Colts will succeed? Nope. Their Offensive Line is pretty good. Will that mean they change the game to a grind-it-out low scoring affair? Nope.
KC has the top quarterback in the NFL. The Colts have the 2nd best QB in the NFL. Andrew Luck has experience but don’t tell me that Patrick Mahomes does not. In their playoff victory, we even saw Luck use his feet to advance the ball and he took a good shot at the sidelines and was up and ready to go. Luck is a tough cookie and so is Mahomes.
KC has weapons on offense that are difficult to match and cover in the aerial game from Tyreek Hill to Travis Kelce, to their running backs and other WRs (hopefully including Sammy Watkins but certainly with Chris Conley and Demarcus Robinson). Of course I want Watkins in but I am comfortable anyway because we have seen Conley and Robinson do the deal. No guarantee, obviously but an advantage the Chiefs exploited all season long. Doesn’t mean they will assuredly win. It does mean they bring a full complement of “threats” to any game.
Can Chris Jones, Dee Ford, Justin Houston and Allen Bailey pressure Luck effectively? Can the Colts defensive front pressure Mahomes? The game probably hinges on pressure. Some changes in defense have occurred on the Chiefs defense and it showed solid improvement over the past 2 games. Both teams have suffered injury and gone to their team depth which is what occurs as the season grows old and cold.
The Chiefs are playing the game in their friendly confines and likely in the snow and certainly it is cold and outdoors. This does not assure a victory nor does the noise factor from the Chiefs fans.
In the NFL the team that is ready, prepared and bursting to get the win will do so. My bet is that the Chiefs will emerge victorious. It is time to forget the past and get down to it at the line of scrimmage. It’s what football is about. No matter what, the fans on another city will rabidly follow their team to the Kingdom and the folks at the stadium and at home will be just as rabid.
This is NFL Football at it’s finest!
David Bell – ArrowheadOne
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