Will Patrick Punish Washington's Weak Pass Defense?

The Washington Football Team and the Kansas City Chiefs enter today's meeting with identical 2-3 records. I sure as hell did not predict that. I did predict that KC would ultimately come up short against the Buffalo Bills last week, but I wasn't expecting such a wide gap on the scoreboard. The key difference between last week's game and this one will be the ability of Kansas City's opponent to exploit their weaknesses.

Buffalo entered last week's game with a strong rushing attack, a studly secondary and the league's best turnover differential. The Chiefs entered that game with turnover concerns and a defense with no identity, or at least not a positive one. Buffalo reaped the rewards of these advantages and sent Kansas City sports radio into a dynastical death-declaring panic. Washington has Scary Terry McLaurin averaging 13.8 yards per catch this year, but their offense is otherwise remarkably average. Buffalo now boasts the league's best turnover differential at +11 while Kansas City drops to the second-worst at -7, but KC is one of only four teams with a differential worse than Washington's -3. The Chiefs only put 20 on the board last week against the legitimately elite Bills defense, but they should have better chances of succeeding against a Washington defense that allows the league's fifth-most passing yards per game.

If it wasn't already obvious, the problem here is not the Chiefs offense. Kansas City ranks fifth league-wide in points per game and fourth in total yards. Patrick Mahomes still ranks second in touchdown passes and Adjusted QBR while remaining top-eight in passing yards, completion percentage and Passer Rating. He's doing this while throwing as many picks through his first five games this year as he threw in either of his last two seasons.

Chiefs Kingdom should be excited to see what a guy like Mahomes does when motivated and maybe even angered by this undesirable start to the season. I'm predicting a 41-27 victory and a return to relatively clean football for the Chiefs today. Dropped passes, turnovers and penalties are topics I don't want to discuss for the rest of my life, let alone this week.