It’s been a tough two weeks for the Kansas City Chiefs as they have dropped games against the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans, but they will get the opportunity to make up for it against in a divisional matchup against the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. This is an important matchup for the Chiefs as they try to get back on track.
Here are five things to watch for in this week’s matchup:
Going to Denver on a short week
The Chiefs have the challenge this week of only getting a few days to prepare before traveling to Denver. A couple of things to keep in mind for the Chiefs on a short week: Mahomes has less time than usual to get his ankle to full health. In nearly every game this season, Mahomes has aggravated an ankle injury. Mahomes and Andy Reid claim this isn’t an issue, but it’s hard to not notice when he hobbles around after taking a big hit. The injury could be affecting his accuracy and mobility.
Another player to keep an eye on is Tyreek Hill who had his first game back last week against the Houston Texans. Although Hill looked perfectly healthy it wouldn’t be a surprise to see have him have a similar workload since it is a short week. Hill played just 50% of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps in Week 6. Kansas City will not want to reinjure one of the best playmakers in the NFL, so they may even look to dial back his workload.
Continue …
Will the Chiefs establish the run?
In each of the last two games, the Chiefs have had less than 60 yards rushing. If it weren’t for a couple of scrambles from Patrick Mahomes against the Lions, the last game where Kansas City had over 100 yards rushing would be against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3.
The Chiefs had 140 yards rushing against the Ravens, so we know Kansas City can get yards on the ground. They just need to find a way to get back to running the football with success. Too often they’re having negative plays in the running game, which has Reid moving away from it.
There are multiple reasons why the Chiefs haven’t been able to establish the run, including injuries on the offensive line, the game plan and playing from behind. Establishing a run game can be beneficial to them as it can take some pressure off Mahomes. The sooner they can get LeSean McCoy and Damien Williams running the ball with more success, the sooner the offense will be more successful.
Continue …
Another offensive weapon returning to the lineup?
The Chiefs could be getting another piece to their offense back this week with Sammy Watkins, who has been out the last two weeks. The Chiefs failed to score more than 24 points in either game, which hasn’t been good enough considering the problems with the defense.
It’s important to remember that Watkins won’t fix all the problems for the offense, but he would add a weapon that the Broncos must account for. We aren’t entirely sure what to expect from Tyreek Hill, who returned in Week 6 from a serious injury. Watkins’ presence also would allow the backup receivers, such as Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle and Mecole Hardman, to not be depended on as much to make big plays. They haven’t shown to be reliable from week to week.
Continue …
Will the defense be able to get off the field?
The secret is out on how to beat the Chiefs: Control the time of possession. In the last two games, Kansas City has lost the time of possession battle by a wide margin. This is a major cause of concern because the offense remains on the bench while the struggling defense is on the field more often.
The biggest problem with the defense is the inability to get off the field on third down and even fourth down. It’s not just the run defense, though; in Week 6, it was almost a guarantee for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson to throw for six or seven yards. Dink-and-dunk football is the Chiefs worst enemy right now.
It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs defense has better success against the Broncos, who have solid running backs Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of the two have career games with how poorly the defense has been playing. The Broncos also have Joe Flacco, who is an experienced quarterback.
Continue …
Will we see better execution?
The most important step for the Chiefs to get back into the win column is better execution. The Chiefs have had two bad games the last two weeks and if they could have just cleaned up some of the small things, they could be 6-0. Things like penalties, missed tackles and drops have plagued this team.
I understand that it’s a short week, but the Chiefs need to get back to working on their tackling fundamentals. They had several missed tackles in Week 6 against the Texans. If they improve this, it will result in more stops helping with their recent struggles with the time of possession.
They also need to cut down on penalties. There has been a lot of momentum-stopping flags on both sides of the ball. They’ve given up free yards to opposing offenses and cost themselves yards on offense. It seems like every time the Chiefs touch the ball on special teams, there is a flag.
If the Chiefs can have better execution in these areas, they will be able to get back to being one of the best teams in the NFL.
Go back …
