Witnessing an elite team's adjustments after a disappointing defeat is an inherently intriguing moment in any sport. How will the Kansas City Chiefs react to letting the game slip away last week? KC returns to Arrowhead today to face a foe from within the division with a bright future and a potentially elite young quarterback.
The Los Angeles Chargers, despite my praise, also failed to win a very winnable game last week when they lost 20-17 to the Dallas Cowboys. Justin Herbert shows flashes of brilliance and has completed over 70% of his passes this season, but he's falling short of the production offered by Patrick Mahomes. Herbert has a Passer Rating of 86.1, an Adjusted QBR of 42.8 and a 7.7 yards-per-completion average. Mahomes has a Passer Rating 131.4, an Adjusted QBR of 78.6 and a 10.1 yards-per-completion average.
The promising Chargers QB has an array of worthy weapons at his disposal. A potent combo of Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams and Keenan Allen could give the Chiefs defense headaches, but again, the Chargers haven't yet put the pieces together to create a consistently successful offense. After facing the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Football Team, this Herbert-led offense averages 416 yards per game which is fifth-highest in the NFL. Despite this success moving the ball, their average of 18.5 points scored per game is sixth-lowest.
The frightening truth for Chiefs Kingdom entering this game is that KC's defense keeps failing to perform at the same level as those in Dallas and D.C. The Chiefs defense allows the most yards per game of any team in the league and the fifth-most points so far this season. Their biggest failures have come in the redzone, where Chiefs opponents have scored eight touchdowns in eight appearances.
Today's face-off certainly seems like a good example of the old "something's gotta give" cliché. Will Herbert continue to stunt his own success with turnovers, or will KC's defense keep crumbling deep in their own territory? The results from this game will give us a little bit of both, I would guess. Look for the Chiefs to make a play or two on defense that will mostly make up for their aforementioned redzone struggles. I'm predicting an exciting, rivalry-growing 33-27 victory for the Chiefs as the Arrowhead crowd goes crazy.
No comments:
Post a Comment