Laddie Morse
Wow what a season this has already been for the Kansas City Chiefs! From the failed contract of Orlando Brown Jr. to the trade for and integration of WR/PT Kadarius Toney to the wipe out of the Raiders and finishing 14-and-3. It’s just an incredible season… already, and now the playoff are getting ready to roll. Some have their doubts about this Chiefs team, but I think there are plenty of positives to believe in this team. Here are the top 10 facts favoring the Chiefs heading into the 2022-2023 NFL Playoffs. Filled with good reasons to believe!
Divisional Record
The Chiefs had a perfect record in Divisional play at 6-and-0… and… went 6-and-2 vs playoff teams this season (losing only to the Bill and Bengals). The loss to Indianapolis is disturbing to some, but that was in the third week of the season and is four months ago now.
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Best Chiefs LB Ever?
The Chiefs have the best Linebacker in the History of the organization in Nick Bolton, as far as Tackling goes. 180 Combo tackles for Nick Bolton in 2022 and 131 Combo tackles for Derrick Johnson in 2011.
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Jaguars LB Foyesade Oluokun has 4 more total tackles then Nick Bolton to lead the NFL. That’s .2 (point two) tackles per game more than Nick. Bolton also makes his partner, Willie Gay, even better. Here are the top 5 (five) in the NFL this season.
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Travis Kelce is Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce is having a Travis Kelce-esk season: 8th straight Pro Bowl, 7th straight season with 1,000+ receiving yards, and his 1,338 yards receiving is 1st among tight ends, 8th among all receivers.
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Team Second in Sacks
Those who are used to complaining about the Chiefs DL and their lack of pressure they put on opposing QBs, are no longer justified in such expressions. K.C. finished 2nd in the NFL in total sacks in the 2022-2023 season with 55. That’s 24 more than they had in the 2021-2022 regular season. The Eagles who led the NFL with 70 sacks, were just two sacks off the all time record setting pace established by the 1984 Bears, who had 72.
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JuJu Reached Milestones
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster is playing at an incentivizing pace. He has earned another 500K for his breaking the 900 receptions barrier.
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JuJu has been just as we’d hoped, another target other than Travis Kelce over the middle of the field.
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A Jab Step Supreme
Kadarius Toney has the best Jab Step in the game today. We should all be in a position of gratitude that GM Brett Veach has traded for Kadarius Toney in the middle of this season. He gives the Chiefs not only speed, but side-to-side juke moves that are on a parallel with Tyreek Hills, maybe even better.
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Stone Cold Beastly
LAR won the Super Bowl a year ago with the best DL of all time with Aaron Donald. The Chiefs can do the same with Chris Jones playing at the top of his game. Jones 15.5 sacks this season just show a part of what he can do, and by comparison, Aaron Donald had but 12.5 sacks last season. While I’m not one to say you win Championships with Defense, I recognize it takes both offense and defense and many times a SB win comes down to the Defense making a play at the right time. Following the 2019 season in the Super Bowl, it took DE Frank Clark pressuring 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo and DB Kendall Fuller making a game turning Interception. They locked that game down.
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I don’t know who Braiden Turner is, but the “Chris Jones is the Best DL” is a prevailing thought that’s out there and the Chiefs will be able to depend on his elevated play this year in the playoffs. Here’s the Chiefs new Defensive Line coach, Joe Cullen, talking about the DL and Chris Jones:
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Handling the Bengals
The Chiefs have gone 10-and-1 in their last 11 games, losing once to Cincinnati, by only 3 points. Still, K.C. needs to prove they can handle the Bengals. However, things are looking up.
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Most AFC Pro Bowl Players
The Kansas City Chiefs have, by far, the most number of Pro Bowl players on their team with 7. Yes, Baltimore has 6 but the rest of the AFC West combined (2+3+1=6) have one less than the Chiefs do. The Pro Bowl players for the Chiefs include: LT Orlando Brown Jr., OC Creed Humphrey, DT Chris Jones, TE Travis Kelce, QB Patrick Mahomes, LG Joe Thuney, and Punter Tommy Townsend.
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For those who think that some Chiefs players were left off of the Pro Bowl list, here are the Chiefs I believe were snubbed: DB L’Jarius Sneed, LB Nick Bolton, and RG Trey Smith. I can see each of these players making the list next year. These ten players also gives the Chiefs a really strong base of elite performers.
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Multifarious Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes is a lot of things, but he’s also producing at a record pace this year… even without Tyreek Hill. In an article written in December for CBS Sports called, “Patrick Mahomes by the numbers: Chiefs QB shatters NFL record books entering 75th career start” author Jeff Kerr reveals that Mahomes has already set these records:
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*Played 74 games (74 starts)
*Played 74 games (74 starts)
*Played 74 games (74 starts)
*Played 74 games (74 starts)
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Mahomes has achieved much more than that now that the 2022-2023 regular season has come to a close. With WR Tyreek Hill allowed to go and sign with the Miami Dolphins (for more $$$.$$ than the Chiefs could pay), Mahomes had to learn to pinpoint other receivers and he gathered them all together last Spring and Summer, on his own, and they got to know each other on and off the field.
Let’s not forget that Mahomes now has 193 TD passes in his career and that’s many more than Troy Aikman had in his career with 165 total. Plus, Drew Brees had 5,562 total yards in the 2011 season, and Mahomes bested that mark in the 2nd quarter versus the Raiders in Vegas with a 14-yard run. Mahomes set the new mark at: 5,570. Mahomes has set so many marks it’s almost impossible to list them all. I said ALMOST! From Pro-footballReference.com comes this information which includes his records, awards, and performances:
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There’s a lot to be excited about with the Chiefs getting ready to head into the 2022-2023 NFL Playoffs. Still… I’m glad they have a Bye Week.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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