Laddie Morse
The 3-and-0 Kansas City Chiefs will travel west to take on the 2-and-1 Los Angeles Chargers, at 3:25 PM CDT this coming Sunday, September 29th. When they do that, they’ll be shooting for their fourth win in as many games. Since Patrick Mahomes has come into the league, the Chiefs have a 17-and-4 record in the month of September, so make what you will of that. Although, it seems that lately, the Chiefs have been doing — just enough — to win.
Below, Foolish Club Media (A Kansas City Chiefs Podcast Network – FFSN) talks about the Chiefs needing a WR #2 to step up and that could be JuJu Smith-Schuster (2:14):
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#ChiefDawud thinks the Chiefs will be in a big fight on Sunday vs the Chargers:
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“We all know the Chiefs are gonna be in a DOG FIGHT
vs the undermanned Chargers this Sunday lol ….
I JUST KNOW IT!”
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Undermanned Chargers
A number of Los Angeles Chargers will be out for this game, likely including their excellent QB, Justin Herbert. Herbert suffered a High Ankle Sprain against the Steelers, who they lost to last Sunday, 20-to-10. If Herbert does play, he’ll be limited. Adam Schefter had this to say about Herbert’s chances of playing this Sunday:
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“My guess early on, let’s see how he heals, is that with
a huge divisional game against the world champions
in Los Angeles with a team coming off a loss that
Justin Herbert as tough as he is — a guy who has
played with a torn labrum, broken ribs, played with
plantar fascia, played with a hurt hand — that he
is going to find a way to be out there again. That’s
my early read on it. We’ll see how he does during
the week.””
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What may help Herbert decide to play, or not, is that the Chargers have BYE Week the week following this game. Although new head coach Jim Harbaugh will want to run the ball a lot against the Chiefs he’ll have to try and do that without the services of Rashawn Slater or Joe Alt.
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“Alt suffered a sprained MCL in Sunday’s loss to the
Steelers and is expected to miss Week 4 against the
Chiefs, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.”
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Slater exited Sunday’s game vs he Steelers with a pectoral muscle injury. We know all about those kinds of injuries and how long they take to heal because of Joe Thuney (it took Thuney the whole 2024 offseason to come back from that injury). Slater will not be available to the Chargers on Sunday, according to Adam Schefter (see above). Slater was the #13 pick in the 2021 NFL draft and he has also made the Pro-Bowl as an All-Pro. Alt was the #5 pick in the 2024 draft.
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The road gets tougher for he Chargers as their Pro Bowl Safety Derwin James has been suspended for this game as reported by Ian Rapoport:
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The Chiefs (nor any team) needs to deal with the kind of illegal hitting that Derwin James brings to the game. I’m gald the NFL took action, but I’m sure there will eb the Naysayers out there who cry foul for the Chiefs getting more favor from the league.
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“… James was one of 20 players who were warned
via a league memo before the 2024 season began
about potential sanctions due to previous unnecessary
violation penalties.”
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Also, LB Junior Colson is dealing with a hamstring issue that kept him out of ht e Steelers game on Sunday. He didn’t practice at all last week,
but the bigger issue for the Chiefs would be Joey Bosa. Bosa sat out the Steelers game after one snap:
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Chargers fans have reason to be concerned as Bosa has only played on 32% of the team’s defensive snaps this year. While the Chiefs may be planning to meet the Chargers this weekend in L.A. the Chargers might be planning on needing a whole new team. However, with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards at RB, and Ladd McKonkey and Quentin Johnson at WR, the Chargers will likely give the Chiefs all they can handle this Sunday afternoon.
What do you think?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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