Critical Games for The Chiefs in 2017

On April 25th, I posted an article on the 2017 schedule and how the Chiefs were finally being shown some respect with 6 Prime Time games, 3 home and 3 away. Now I thought I would take a stab at the 3 games I think are going to define the team this season (and maybe into the future). As I wrote before, with the second-toughest schedule in the league, it is time to put up or shut up. 

Below is the schedule for the year. In there we play teams with a combined 2016 victory count of 147 wins. 

This one is a layup. Game 1, on the road, facing defending Super Bowl Champs, New England Patriots. Barring any preseason injuries, both teams should be at full strength. We will face them in Prime Time on Thursday, September 7 at 8:30 PM Eastern. This is the first game of the season and is sure to have the football starved eyes of every NFL fan on them. 

I look for this game to tell us what kind of identity we will have on the season. Do we see players wire fiery emotion? Do we see them playing with a chip on their shoulder? How is our play discipline? Are we coming out ultra conservative or attack out of the gate? 

It will be disappointing if we take the field against New England with some lackluster vanilla gameplan. I hope to see Andy Reid call some plays that are buried deep in his oft-mentioned playbook. Those plays had better not be “Hey, I don’t want to make a mistake and lose plays.” What I want to see are “You better saddle up cause it’s going to be some ride.” kind of plays. 

If Kansas City comes out of this with a victory, then I think the team picks up some confidence in their skill set as a team.

I am going to cheat a bit here with a twofer. “Big Game #2” is actually big game 2A/B. In week 7, we will face them in Prime Time on another Thursday night game, October 19 at 5:25 PM Pacific. We will then face them again 7 weeks later in week 14. Game 2 is on a Sunday afternoon, December 10 at 12:00 PM Central, in the comfy confines of Arrowhead Stadium. (It’s the world record holder for loudest stadium, in case you didn’t know)

I think these games are important due to Oak Vegas currently being viewed as our main competition for the AFC West crown. Additionally, winning both of these gives us a very important tiebreaker and can provide some mental aspects of our ability to beat them. With the second game being in week 14, we can generate some momentum heading into the playoffs.

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I debated which game should earn the coveted “Big Game 3” title and it was close, but I think it will be against the Dallas Cowboys in week 9. We travel to Jerrytown to meet the Cowboys in a Sunday afternoon game, November 5 at 3:25 PM Central. Dallas had an excellent year last year and has an ascending quarterback. They like the flashy plays and players. Additionally, this is the game that kicks off the second half of our season. 

This game will have us coming off a slightly shortened week after having played Denver on Monday night. We could be dealing with some heavy emotions for a victory or loss in that Prime Time tilt. If we lose (heaven forbid) to the Broncos, we will want to avoid a losing streak.

Starting the “Third Quarter” of the season with a victory will enable us to go into the Bye week on a positive note and not have to think about a loss for 2 weeks. That can really eat away at a team and crush their confidence. We really don’t want that when we still have to play 3 teams that had 10 plus win in 2016 still.

I think these three teams will be the most important for us to beat. If you are going to be the top team, you need to win against the top teams. 

What do you guys think? Which ones do you think are important any why?

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