K.C. Chiefs: Atop the Division We Will Go

K.C. Chiefs: Atop the Division We Will Go

It is a beautiful day here in Jacksonville, Florida. The temperature is in the 70’s, the wind is non-existant and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. The birds are out singing their songs and the leaves have begun changing colors… as much as they do in North East Florida. Best of all I am still getting dirty looks from my fellow Duvalians every time I leave the house with my Chiefs gear on, and I never leave the house without my hat on.

I have been asked multiple times in the last six days if I knew my team, our team, had been outplayed by my hometown team, a team that now holds an inverse record of our 6-2 Chiefs. My reply has been the same to every poor, defeated and undeserving Jags fan; “Great teams win at home, and win the games they are supposed to.”

I’m not sure if you remember or not but I was high on the Jags before the season started, at one point I even said they would go 10-6 and win the AFC South and be a team we should worry about. Let me say that I was wrong there, but I do see a lot in the Jags that whoever is hired as the Head Coach in the offseason will be getting a lot of talent to build on. However, they aren’t as close as I thought they were and, once again, can’t quite put it together.

Conversely, the Chiefs have been able to figure it out; these two teams hit the reset button in the same season, both drafting at the top of the draft, both bringing in a new GM, Coach, QB and a new identity to their cities. In the same amount of time the Chiefs have done what the Jags thought they would begin this year, they have become a consistent top-tier team in this league.

While they are hardly pretty or flashy the Chiefs play a very controlled game that limits the chance of defeating themselves. And that is exactly what happened last week. The better team may have given up some big plays on defense, and maybe they looked like they were playing 40 percent backups on offense but they also clamped down and made the plays that counted and they didn’t give the ball away… thank you Tashaun Gipson.

I expect that to be the same reason that the Chiefs will win tomorrow and move to 7-2, and to the top of the division. This Panthers team that will play host tomorrow is not the same team they were last season. They show flashes of it but aren’t having the same consistency as they did with a league leading 15-1 regular season record that led up to a Super Bowl loss.

One glaring reason for this is their inability to hold on to the ball; they have given the ball away 17 times so far this season, tied for third…and this includes eight teams that haven’t had a bye week, and one that has played 10 games. This is great news for the Chiefs, as they top the leagues in takeaways with 20. We all know about the interceptions; the team has the most in the NFL with 12 and Marcus Peters has had more interceptions since his first start than any other player in the league. However, did you know that they are also second in the league only behind the Saints and tied with the Broncos in fumbles with 8? I guess if I think back on it and add them up it makes sense, but that stat really jumped out at me.

Another reason I think the Chiefs will win tomorrow is the Panthers are allowing 65% of all opponents passes to be completed. Couple that with Smith’s 66% completion rate and understanding of not throwing the ball into bad spots, only 2 picks this year, and I think we will see a lot (more) of underneath throws that while may not go for big yards, they will open up the run game and in turn move the chains.

The running game could be the difference between a close game and a game that goes down to the wire. The Panthers are only giving up 77 yards on the ground this year, with players like Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis shoring up the middle. This is going to be a big challenge for our young offensive line and the return of Spencer Ware, who had a concussion 2 weeks ago. I don’t think he has to go for 150 yards or even 100 yards for it to be a successful day tomorrow, I think if he can crank out 3 yards every time he touches the ball, and make the key pickups when a drive is on the line then it will be enough to open up the underneath passing and the play-action.

This week is another chance at bragging rights for me as my sister and her family are members of Panther Nation… and I think at the end of the game I will not be the one with the long face. My predictions for the game are the Chiefs will win the turnover battle once again with 2 picks and a fumble recovery. Smith will only throw for around 200 yards, but will lead a constant bombardment of time-consuming drives that mostly all end in points. Ware will be kept in check for most of the game, but will show up in both the rushing and receiving stats; 20 touches, 120 yards and 1 TD.

Final prediction for the game: Chiefs 29 Panthers 16.

What do you think Chiefs Fan, what is the final score going to be? What glaring holes do you see in both our Chiefs and in the Panthers?

As a post-thought, do you think Kelce is going to come out with a chip on his shoulder for getting ejected last week and shoulder the load with Maclin being out?

And that’s my read. ~Frank Rodela