A whole bunch of stats indicate that our Kansas City Chiefs should succeed handily against the New York Football Giants today. The 1-8 Giants are one of the three worst teams in football according to power rankings from ESPN, NFL.com, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report and probably several more power rankings I didn't check. New York's defense cannot stop big plays, and KC may be the league's best big-play offense. The Giants can't stop the run, and the Chiefs bring to the Big Apple one of the world's best running backs. However, KC is not without their own flaws, and the Giants have the tools necessary to exploit those flaws today.
The only Giants on the offensive side of the ball that scare me are the running backs, and not only because Orleans Darkwa averages 5.1 yards over 81 attempts this season. The Giants' only victory so far this year came against the similarly lousy Denver Broncos in Week 6. New York didn't turn the ball over, while Denver turned it over three times, and Darkwa ran for 117 yards. He and Wayne Gallman scare me because all running backs scare me until the Chiefs show marked improvement in the run-stopping department. The Giants are actually one of only three teams in the league allowing more yards per rush than KC. If the Chiefs limit turnovers and Darkwa, they should win. We know KC can limit turnovers, but we also know the defenses' run-stopping skills are lacking. This leads me to an ever-so-smooth segue that then leads me to these three quick predictions:
1. Because of all the aforementioned success with running the ball, I predict both Darkwa and Kareem Hunt to earn more than 85 yards on the ground. Savor every moment of Chiefs football you get today, because all this rushing should keep the clock ticking and make this a relatively quick game.
2. The Giants played arguably their best game of the season against the current front-runners for the NFC championship. Eli and the rest of the offense didn't show up until the fourth quarter that week, when they scored all of their 24 points to make the Philadelphia Eagles sweat late. The Eagles ultimately won 27-24, but let's remember those 24 points scored in a single quarter before we get too cocky at any point in this game. KC's coaching staff will undoubtedly keep that in mind. I predict that Eli helps the Giants keep things interesting in New York today and stops KC from covering their 10-point spread.
3. Despite my hesitation to predict a blowout or even a comfortable win, I predict a 30-23 victory for the Chiefs that should provide some calm to the Kingdom. It's not like a victory against a playoff-caliber opponent, or even a .500 opponent, but it's a meaningful "get healthy" moment for KC. This is the start of four consecutive weeks with a Sunday noon game for the Chiefs, so now's the time to return to normalcy with a win in New York.
Doug LaCerte still has a rarely used Facebook page and occasionally tweets things @DLaC67.
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