Can Patrick's Passing Prowess Overcome Derrick Henry's Dominance?

The Tennessee Titans just shook things up in the AFC with a victory over the Buffalo Bills. This wasn't one of those weird, fluky games where crazy turnovers happen or timely penalties cost the superior team a victory. The Titans and Bills each turned the ball over just once, and Tennessee gave up 31 more yards via penalty than Buffalo did. The Titans just got the job done against a Bills team that looked, for a moment, like the best team in the conference.

This is an impressive feat, but it could turn out to be a major anomaly. Prior to their win against Buffalo, Tennessee faced four straight teams with defenses ranking no better than 20th in yards allowed per game. The currently undefeated Arizona Cardinals smoked the Titans 38-13 in Week 1, which means last week's victory over the Bills was Tennessee's only successful showing against a strong defense so far. Luckily for Titans fans, the Titans and the frontrunner for MVP will face off this Sunday with a defense that is objectively not strong, to put it kindly.

The Chiefs rank 27th league-wide in rushing yards allowed per game and 30th in opponent yards per rush attempt. KC linebacker Anthony Hitchens has already been ruled out, and Chris Jones' status is still listed as questionable. That's bad news for a team trying to stop this era's version of Jim Brown. Titans superstar Derrick Henry compiled at least 110 rushing yards in each of his last five games. He's going to beat up a bad Chiefs rushing defense, and that's no hot take, but will it be enough to make up for Tennessee's own flaws on defense?

Opponents with good offenses score a lot on this Tennessee defense that has allowed the fourth-most passing yards and fourth-most points to opponents this season. The only two teams with winning records that Tennessee has faced this season scored at least 30 points, and so did the 2-4 Seattle Seahawks when Russell Wilson was still healthy. If Derrick Henry couldn't ensure victory for the Titans against Zach Wilson and the New York Jets, fans in Chiefs Kingdom should be excited about Patrick Mahomes' performance today. I'm predicting a 37-34 victory for a Chiefs team with plenty of concerns on defense and plenty of firepower on offense.

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.

Buffalo's Strengths Present Problems for Flawed Chiefs

How will our 2-2 Kansas City Chiefs look when they take the field against the conference's other top dog? The 3-1 Buffalo Bills looked downright dominant in their last three weeks. Our Chiefs dropped two of three and made many fans wonder about their weaknesses. Unfortunately for Chiefs Kingdom, those weaknesses worth wondering about are weaknesses that tonight's opponent is built to exploit.

After losing to Pittsburgh in Week 1, Buffalo has scored 118 points and allowed just 21. They've shut out two of their last three opponents. Buffalo's offense scores the second-most points per game in the NFL. This compliments a strong defense that attacks opposing quarterbacks, which is clearly something Kansas City struggles with this season. Only three teams average fewer sacks per game than the Chiefs, and only five teams average more sacks per game than the Bills.

It's an all-around matchup nightmare for Kansas City. Buffalo's strengths can theoretically limit KC's strengths and exploit their weaknesses. The Bills rank 9th league-wide in yards per rush attempt, and nobody allows more yards per rush to opponents than our Kansas City Chiefs. While the Chiefs are still 6th in yards per pass attempt, Buffalo has allowed the fewest yards per pass attempt in the league this season. The Bills also have the best turnover differential at +7, and only four teams have a worse differential than the Chiefs' -3.

It looks bad for the Chiefs when seen from this perspective, but understanding the level of competition each team has played against alters that perspective entirely. The Bills faced off against Pittsburgh, Miami, Washington and Houston. The 2-2 Washington Football Team is the only team Buffalo has faced this season that has won more than one game. The Bills truly have not been tested, and the hungry, hard-to-stop Chiefs will be miles better than anyone on Buffalo's schedule so far. Kansas City, on the other hand, has played against three playoff-worthy 3-1 teams...and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Picking a winner this week is no easy task. It's difficult to determine how much the differences in each teams' schedule affect their statistical rankings. No matter who Buffalo has played this year, my eyes tell me they're a team with a strong rushing attack and secondary. Because of the aforementioned clashes of weaknesses and strengths in Buffalo's favor, I have to predict a 30-27 Bills victory. Still, it won't be stunning if Patrick Mahomes pulls of something magical and KC gets it done. I'll spend my night hoping for that magic and hoping that my predicting is totally wrong.

How Will Chiefs Respond to Early Adversity?

It took several turnovers and game-changing penalties to get it done, but our Kansas City Chiefs reacted to their disappointing defeat in Baltimore with a disappointing defeat at Arrowhead. Few expected this. Chiefs Kingdom is shaken. The space between games felt painfully long this week. Ugly turnovers at inopportune moments cost the Chiefs two out of their first three games as they faced off with some of the AFC's best, but today will be different. Today, KC faces off with a 1-2 Philadelphia Eagles team led by a talented young quarterback experiencing significant growing pains in an organization with no expectations of reaching the playoffs this year.

It's no surprise that KC is a big favorite today, but if the Chiefs let this week's game stay interesting for long, the success-hungry fans of Kansas City will consider it an underperformance. Patrick Mahomes and a motivated Chiefs team should finish today with their biggest margin of victory of the season so far, and maybe their biggest of the entire year. Philly just lost to the Dallas Cowboys by 20, as Dak Prescott completed over 80% of his passes and threw for three touchdowns. Chiefs deep threat maestro Tyreek Hill only caught five passes last week and three the week before. I expect his impact on this game to be bigger than it was in these last two weeks, and I expect the Chiefs to overwhelm the Eagles with their superior offensive firepower.

What could turn this potential blowout into another nail-biter, or worse, another heart-breaking L for the Chiefs? The obvious answer is turnovers, which can ruin even the most well-crafted gameplan, but what else? KC's run defense is bad right now, and Jalen Hurts' running ability presents problems for bad run defenses. The Chiefs defense allows the second-most rushing yards per game and the second-most points per game league-wide. It's worth noting once again, though, that the Chiefs experienced these struggles while facing three of the best teams the AFC has to offer. Philly has upside, but they're objectively the worst team on paper that Kansas City has faced so far this season. Aside from the technical reasons why the Chiefs are the superior team taking the field today, there is another, more philosophical advantage that KC brings to today's meeting.

A team playing for their chance to achieve greatness becomes hungry and dangerous after facing early-season adversity. KC still has every reason to believe they can earn a bye week in the playoffs when they see the underwhelming teams currently atop the standings. The AFC's three teams with three wins are the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals. I don't believe that any of these teams that failed to finish last season with winning records will threaten the Chiefs' chances at the top playoff seed this season. Dropping to 1-3 would make reclaiming the #1 seed highly unlikely, while climbing to 2-2 keeps the chase for the bye week alive and well. This simple fact will motivate everyone in the Chiefs organization.

I'm predicting a 37-20 victory for our Chiefs today as they try to get mentally healthy before facing the Buffalo Bills next Sunday night. A Kansas City team led by Andy Reid won't overlook the Eagles; they'll simply execute their game-plan effectively enough to use Philly as their punching bag after two weeks of serious frustration.

Will Herbert Wilt Under Wild Arrowhead Crowd?

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.

Baltimore Brings Big Injury Issues Into Week 2

The 0-1 Baltimore Ravens are dealing with a ridiculous number of season-threatening injuries, and former MVP Lamar Jackson really has his work cut out for him against the 1-0 Kansas City Chiefs.

J.K Dobbins and Gus Edwards took the lion's share of non-Lamar rushes for the Ravens last year, and they're on Baltimore's injured reserve list. This cultivates serious concern for the team that led football in rushing yards last season. Receivers Miles Boykin and Rashod Bateman are also on Baltimore's injured reserve list, while Marquise Brown and Devin Duvernay are both listed as questionoable for today's game after getting limited time in practice on Friday. That's not to mention a list of guys missing from the Ravens defense that includes edge rusher Derek Wolfe and old friend Marcus Peters. How will so many meaningful injuries affect Baltimore when they face Kansas City tonight, and how will the Chiefs take advantage?

Baltimore lost a thriller last Monday night to the Las Vegas Raiders. Another old friend Sammy Watkins and running back Ty'Son Williams helped Lamar keep the Baltimore offense moving, but the Ravens defense kept giving up big plays until it cost them the game. Vegas tight end Darren Waller looked particularly dominant against the Ravens last week, catching ten passes for 105 yards and a score. Luckily for Baltimore, the Chiefs are totally mediocre at the tight end position and have always lacked a real stand-out star. Jordy Fortson looks pretty good, I guess.

The Chiefs have concerns of their own to worry about, but it's difficult to get past Baltimore's current flaws following their loss to the Raiders and the aforementioned list of injury issues. I'm not so sure that Kansas City's potential weakness against a strong rushing attack will really doom them when they face off against a team that just let Derek Carr lob bombs to wide-open targets downfield when the game was on the line. Baltimore allowed Vegas to pile up 491 total yards on offense- the most allowed by any defense in Week 1.

Adjustments and improvements should be made to a well-coached Ravens D that ranked third league-wide in yards per attempt allowed last season. Still, if Derek Carr can throw for 435 yards on this Baltimore secondary, what's possible for Patrick? I'm predicting a 34-24 victory for the Chiefs, as Travis Kelce adds another great performance to his Hall of Fame resume and Lamar yet again looks great in defeat.

Revamped Chiefs Offensive Line Faces Tough Test in Week 1

Today, we witness an important and unprecedented change to the foundation of what makes the Kansas City Chiefs so successful. A total transformation of an offensive line for the sake of better protecting an asset this expensive has never happened. The Kansas City Chiefs acquired proven, top-shelf talent for the left side of the line, but the center, right guard and right tackle positions will all be filled by rookies.

 Lucas Niang, a 2020 third-round pick who opted out of playing last season, will join 2021 second-round draft pick Creed Humphrey and sixth-rounder Trey Smith to help protect the half-a-billion-dollar-man, Patrick Mahomes. The efficacy of this entirely new unit remains unknown despite the mostly positive reports from preseason and training camp. Today's game should prove a solid test, as even the most proven of NFL offensive lines would have their work cut out for them against this new Cleveland Browns defense.

Cleveland used their first round pick on Northwestern cornerback Greg Newsome II, who already impressed Cleveland so much that he leapfrogged fellow promising young defensive back Greedy Williams on the depth chart to be listed as the starter opposite Denzel Ward. Cleveland's second pick yielded an All-American and Dick Butkus Award winner in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah that should strengthen the middle of the Browns defense for many seasons to come. The Browns also added Pro Bowler defensive tackle Malik Jackson and former #1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney.

All these improvements for Cleveland could make things tough for Kansas City's new offensive line, but clues to how KC's coaching staff will deal with this can be found in film on the last time these teams met. Andy Reid's cleverness helped the Chiefs overcome a disadvantage in the trenches when they faced the Browns in last season's divisional round playoff game. Pre-snap motion and moments of misdirection helped Mahomes to such success that the offensive line's weaknesses were almost completely masked. 12 of Kansas City's first 22 plays on offense resulted in first downs. This helped the Chiefs to a 16-point lead at halftime that forced the Browns into a pass-heavy offensive scheme for the rest of the game. Baker Mayfield threw a pick to start the second half, and KC went on to win, even with Mahomes injured.

Despite the upgrades for both teams, I think smart coaching will again help the Chiefs mask their weaknesses and make the most of their strengths. I'm predicting a 31-24 victory for our Chiefs over a Browns team that should bounce back well enough to earn a playoff spot again this season.