The Kansas City Chiefs broke hearts all across Chiefs Kingdom in last year's playoffs. Will Patrick Mahomes be the difference between success and another divisional round disappointment? How would KC match up against not only the teams who they'll potentially face next weekend, but every team in this year's tournament? Without taking a deep look at any stats or specifics, I'm looking at each of this year's playoff teams and taking a guess at how the Chiefs would fare if they faced them.
Indy - The Indianapolis Colts enter the Wild Card Round red-hot, with Andrew Luck healthy behind a stout offensive line. I know little about their D, but it's apparently good enough to keep the offense within striking distance. KC would exorcise some demons by beating Indy at Arrowhead, and if Luck can beat Deshaun in Houston, the Chiefs will need to do exactly that. My guess is that Indy's offense would light up KC's inferior defense, but Mahomes still gets it done for a 7-10 point victory.
Texans - Watson looks legit and has led his squad to a great run after starting off slowly. The Texans D could limit KC, and their playmakers on offense match up well against the Chiefs' sub-par play at safety and ILB. I'm more scared of Houston than Indy, but I think Patty gets it done with a 3-7-point victory to prove the franchise was right in picking him over Deshaun in the draft.
Seahawks - Future Hall of Famer Russel Wilson had to play to his full potential to barely sneak past Patty and KC in the regular season. Andy Reid will not lose to that admittedly solid team twice in the same season. I'd imagine it would be close, but the Chiefs would have about a three-point edge against Seattle in a hypothetical rematch.
Cowboys - I simply don't trust Dak in the playoffs, and I don't think this Cowboys team is as good as they're hyped up to be. Chris Jones and #55 could apply pressure on Prescott, but stopping Zeke poses a real problem to the porous Chiefs. Ezekiel Elliot's hypothetical success would limit Mahomes' potential to make plays, leaving the Chiefs with a relatively low-scoring, single-possession victory over Dallas.
Chargers - I've heard enough about the L.A Chargers being the better team than KC. The eye-test still says that the Chiefs offense is dangerous every single snap, and while numbers show that Rivers is having a great season, it took a miracle for L.A to even split the series this year. Gotta give KC the slightest advantage in what would be booked and hyped as an extremely close game.
Ravens - Lamar Jackson almost got 'em the first time. While I would generally give my trust to Andy Reid in rematches because of his experience and ingenuity, I think the opposite about Chiefs DC Bob Sutton. I don't trust Sutton to get better at defending against that unique, run-heavy offense. I like Harbaugh, and I like that same Ravens D that number crunchers have loved since the start of the season. I'm going against the grain here perhaps, but I think Baltimore could sneak up and beat the Chiefs in an ugly, low-scoring game in front of the hypothetically disgruntled home fans in KC.
Philly- Nice Nickname Nick is a legend, and he could very well set the NFL ablaze yet again by beating Chicago on Sunday. Still, I can't honestly pick him and the up-and-down Eagles to beat my Chiefs at Arrowhead. Alshon Jeffery is an underrated stud, but as a whole, Philly's offense shouldn't have the kind of big-play firepower that KC's does. Mahomes Magic should give Chiefs Kingdom the edge in this what-if scenario. KC should beat Philly by 7-10 if they faced off in this year's Wild Card Round.
Da Bears- Mitch Trubisky has looked like the future of the franchise often this year, but he also fought through moments of looking young...probably because he's young. Tarik Cohen scares me more than a league-best defense led by Khalil Mack, but both frighten me deeply. Mahomes>Trubisky, but Tru only needs to be adequate while his defense stops Pat from being perfect. I think Chicago would beat KC by 7-10 points right now, but the level to which a Divisional Round victory would galvanize this squad would be impossible to foresee.
No comments:
Post a Comment