The Chiefs won their first home game of the season, beating the Ravens 33-28 to improve their record to 3-0. The offense continued to be dominant, and the defense shows improvement every week.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday’s victory:
Honey Badger is the solution at safety
Tyann Mathieu was all over the field against the Ravens. They challenged him, and he finally had an opportunity to show why the Chiefs made him one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL. Mathieu made a huge impact in the game, including multiple pass breakups that kept the Lamar Jackson and the Ravens from moving the sticks. Mathieu also had some great tackles against Baltimore tight ends. He effectively neutralized a huge part of their passing attack.
Seeing Mathieu make a big impact in the game is something that should make Chiefs fans happy after the team failed to have solid safety play in 2018. The Chiefs will be looking to see Mathieu continue to make game-changing plays as the season goes on and Steve Spagnuolo gets more creative. As of right now, it’s quite obvious there have been major improvements at that position thanks to Mathieu.
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It doesn’t matter who plays at running back
The Chiefs were without starting running back Damien Williams against the Ravens, and it didn’t matter. We’ve heard that the running back is the most replaceable position in the NFL, but that was the case for the Chiefs on Sunday.
The running back group featured LeSean McCoy and Darrel Williams, with Darwin Thompson sprinkled in. They combined for 197 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns, which came from McCoy. The performance was against a tough Ravens defense, so Chiefs fans should be happy with how well the running backs looked after only getting 80 total yards against the Raiders the week prior.
The Chiefs have plenty of depth at the running back position, so it will be in the team’s best interest to not rush Damien Williams back from injury. The offense will be fine without him for the moment, and it will allow some the backups to get plenty of reps to prepare themselves if they are needed later in the season.
Once Damien Williams makes his return, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Chiefs rest McCoy to get the group healthier as they get closer to the playoffs, but there shouldn’t be any worry because the offense will continue to excel no matter who is beside Mahomes.
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Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson quietly moving up in the ranks
It was believed that the Chiefs offense was going to take a step back without Tyreek Hill as he recovers a serious shoulder injury. The offense seems as if it hasn’t missed a beat and that’s because of the play of Hardman and Robinson. This is the second week in a row that each has come away with a touchdown. That only means teams are going to have to pay more attention to them, which will open up the offense for other players like Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins and Hill once he returns from injury.
Another thing to keep an eye on is that it’s a contract year for Robinson. If he keeps up this type of play, he may have too high of a price tag for the Chiefs. They might be wise to use some of the salary cap space they have to offer him an extension.
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Emmanuel Ogbah proving to be a great offseason pick up
Ogbah has quietly been the Chiefs’ best defensive lineman this year. He leads the team in sacks with 2.5 and he leads the team in tackles for loss. Today he was able to get in the backfield multiple times to disrupt Lamar Jackson. Even when he wasn’t hitting the quarterback, he was disruptive, getting his hands up at the line of scrimmage and making things difficult.
Ogbah was acquired via trade this offseason from the Browns. The Chiefs gave up Eric Murray, but no draft capital, to acquire him. This is quickly becoming the best move Brett Veach made this offseason, especially given how quiet Alex Okafor and Frank Clark have been through two games.
Hopefully, we continue to see Ogbah continue to make a big impact. If Clark comes around and Chris Jones continues his dominant play, the Chiefs could have one of the best pass rushes in the NFL.
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Chiefs need Eric Fisher to hurry back
The Chiefs struggled to keep Patrick Mahomes from getting hit this week. Mahomes was hit on roughly 20% of his dropbacks in the first half alone. There was some improvement in the second half, but this is the third week in a row where protection has been an issue. It could obviously be a lot worse, but keeping Mahomes upright needs to continue to be a priority as the season progresses.
Cameron Erving was the replacement for Fisher this week at left tackle, and for the second week in a row, he had a slow start. He surrendered a crucial sack on third down in the first quarter. It shows just how valuable Fisher was for the team at the position. Hopefully, we see Fisher return soon to make sure Mahomes has that extra protection.
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