Laddie Morse
This may well be the TRAP GAME of the year for the Kansas City Chiefs. Why? Because no one, not even their fleabag cousin, expects it… and because the Chiefs are playing the Cincinnati Bengals in a week. That… should be good enough reason to call this a “Trap Game“… for anyone.
You know something’s up with a team, and a coach, when they won’t announce exactly who is their starting Quarterback. When Sean McVay was asked if their third string QB, Bryce Perkins, would start this week vs the Chiefs he said:
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“You’ll see on Sunday.”
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Now wait one second, you’ll see on Sunday sounds like he has something up his sleeve… as far as the starting QB is concerned. On Saturday, this site said John Wolford is healthy but may not start (probably because he was unable to play last weekend because of his neck) and this site said Rams 3rd string QB Bryce Perkins is “Trending Towards Starting.”
When teams and head coaches keep their plans underneath a vale of hidden secrets… it means one thing… they want to keep their plans a secret. Big realization huh? Well, that means, HC Sean McVay has a plan to beat Andy Reid’s Chiefs.
The Chiefs are 14.5 point favorites and many a pundit are picking the Chiefs up big over the Rams… and that scares me to death.
Andy Reid is not shying away from talking about the Rams either, as if they’ll be coming to play to win. While we can hope the players on the Chiefs roster are taking this game as seriously, Reid has said this week, that although he recognizes they have key players out on Offense like Matthew Stafford and WR Cooper Kupp:
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“… at the same time, 99 (Aaron Donald), 54 (LB Leonard Floyd), 5 (Jalen Ramsey) – these guys haven’t changed,” Reid said. “And their quarterback is banged up, but whether he plays or doesn’t play, they’ve got good backups there, they’ve got good receivers and O-line, so you’ve got to get yourself ready.”
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While they do have good back-ups — as you’d expect any returning Super Bowl quality team to have — without those key players on offense, the Chiefs defense should have a good day. Surprisingly, the challenge may come on offense.
If you recall, the last time these two teams met in the regular season, on November 18, 2018, in the L.A. Coliseum, the game was a shootout with the Rams overcoming, 54-to-51. Consequently, if the Rams defense can get a couple of early stops, the game is afoot… as Sherlock Holmes used to say.
“Afoot.” That may be exactly what Sean McVay and the Rams want to turn this game into… a foot race. A ground game. A pound the rock game. The Rams have a solid rushing defense and rank 4th in rush yards given up. Oddly enough, the Rams cut a good RB this week in the name of Darrell Henderson. On Thursday of this week, he was claimed off the waiver wire by the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars:
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Sarah Barshop of ESPN said this about the Rams running back situation:
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“Kyren Williams will lead the running backs in touches. Although Cam Akers led the Rams’ trio of running backs in rushing in Week 11 against the Saints, Williams led in offensive snaps, playing 35 compared to Akers’ 25 and Darrell Henderson Jr.’s 4. Henderson was waived Tuesday, further freeing up snaps and touches.”
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If the Rams can establish a successful running game, that seems to me to be their only real path to victory.
Now, there are good reasons to think this might be a trap game, but by definition, it takes players looking forward one week to another, perhaps more important, game. That game would be the Bengals game, and that game will be on the road to boot. The Bengals are 6-and-4 and still in the playoff hunt. Their AFC North Division currently looks like this:
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At one time, the Bengals were 2-and-3. However, they’ve won 4 of their past 5 games and won those games by an average margin of: 31.4 to 25.2 while scoring over 30 points in each of those games except their lone loss. Their team seems to be coming together at the right time of the year.
While that seems enough for any Kansas Citian to worry about, because the Chiefs have scored over 30 points just once in the past 6 weeks (and that was against the 49ers, 44-to-23). This Sunday, the Bengals travel to the land of Nashville to take on the Titans, a game you can be sure that Chiefs players, coaches, and fans will be keeping their/our eyes on. However, with that game scheduled for a beginning time of noon, we should know the outcome well before the Chiefs start up at 3:25 (unless it goes into OT).
Before the season began, many of us circled this game versus the Rams on the schedule and thought the outcome might tell us a lot about who will be in the next Super Bowl. With the Rams headed in the opposite direction of the Chiefs this year… mostly due to injuries… the one worry is… what if Sean McVay KNOWS how to beat an Andy Reid Team. He’s shown he can do that previously, so….
Len Pasquarelli of ESPN, wrote a piece called, “Teams Have Become Victims of ‘Trap’ Games” in which he defines “Trap Game” as:
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“A game in which a playoff contender faces a losing team, but one that still has some motivation for playing hard, and possesses some match-up advantages.”
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With the Chiefs Chris Jones motivated to show everyone in the NFL that he is a better DT than the reigning DT Superhuman, Aaron Donald… it’s not a stretch to think Donald will be motivated as well. With CB Jalen Ramsey still healthy and ready to start this game, if JuJu Smith-Schuster plays Ramsey will likely be able to take away JuJu. Leonard Floyd will sometimes be matched up with Travis Kelce — as will Ramsey — but the truth of the matter is: no one can cover Kelce one-on-one. With Aaron Donald still there in the middle of their DL, no one can take him one-on-one, so I’d expect to see K.C. double team him at every turn. The Rams still have Kyren Williams and Cam Akers at RB so if they have a good game, watch out.
The way this game gets away from the Rams is… if by the end of the 1st quarter, Reid has a 10 to 14 point lead, McVay should/will call off his dogs and the game should fall into the Chiefs laps from there.
If that doesn’t happen… you can say I told you so, and go ahead… say it… okay, I’ll say it for you: Trap Game.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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