Houston, You Have A Problem: Chiefs

Houston, You Have a Problem: Chiefs – like most NFL fans, I’m extremely impressed, Houston, with your improbable second-half comeback to defeat the Buffalo Bills last Saturday in overtime, 22-19.

Enjoy it while you can, Texans. The Chiefs team you scantily beat in week seven of the regular season, 31-24, will not be in Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday. Instead, you will face a much different team. This Sunday, Chiefs HC Andy Reid takes the training wheels off of the offense and you face a rejuvenated Honey Badger-led defense. This is how it ends for Texans. This loss will be the worst one that Texans have had since the Alamo.

I’ve long suspected that Coach Reid has muzzled our offense all season.  Gone were the back-to-back spectacular plays of last season. Even with his nagging injuries, Mahomes has seemed ‘off’ all season. Even when he’s ‘off’ though, Mahomes is better than 90% of the other quarterbacks in the NFL.  But, it’s still not the same high-powered offense that we became accustomed to last season. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out.

Were Mahomes injuries more severe than we knew? Was the loss of Kareem Hunt more of a factor than we originally thought? Had Kelce lost a step?  Maybe defensive coordinators had unlocked the cheat code to shut down the Chiefs.  No, Chiefs Kingdom, none of these things are true. The fact of the matter is old Andy has just been playing possum. However, come this Sunday, at 2:05 PM CST, the possum has left the building. Running wild will be a cheetah and a honey badger, all because a walrus unlocked his playbook.

Ready yourselves, Texans, for shock and awe. Mahomes, unleashed and the full Andy Reid playbook at his disposal, will prove unstoppable. With weapons like Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Damien Williams, and rookies Mecole Hardman and Darwin Thompson, it’s bombs away for the Chiefs offense. I fully expect that Mahomes doubles his 273 passing yards he had against the Texans in week seven, and that our RB committee comes close to quadrupling their 53 rushing yards from that game.

On defense, All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu and cornerback Charvarius Ward will impose a “no-fly zone” in the Chiefs secondary. Snagging a Deshaun Watson interception or two is not out of the question either. With Frank Clark, ex-Raven Terrell Suggs, and Chris Jones on the D-line, disgruntled Chiefs castoff Carlos Hyde will post pedestrian numbers and Watson will gain an unwelcome familiarity with the smell and feel of the Arrowhead turf.

Like other Chiefs fans, I have a few concerns heading into Sunday’s game.  Our swiss cheese of an offensive line worries me. Optimistic, as always, I think Coach Reid has a ton of quick-release plays to compensate. Also troublesome, however, is the loss of standout rookie Juan Thornhill. That losing a rookie has such an impact, is a true testament to Thornhill’s character, talent, and work ethic. Ever sanguine, I’m confident that a step-up in play by the combination of safety Armani Watts and CB Kendall Fuller will minimize Thornhill’s absence as best we can expect.

The problems facing the Texans this Sunday at Arrowhead harkens me back to my Navy days aboard ship, patrolling the rough waters of the North Atlantic.  The 1MC squawked, and the word passed, “Stand by for heavy rolls… batten all hatches and secure all gear adrift.” Then the fit hit the shan!

Yes, Houston, you have a problem. This time, however, not even NASA can help you. Chiefs win 42-24.

Michael Travis Rose — ArrowheadOne

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