The Kansas City Chiefs have three consecutive wins and they’re back in the top 10 of USA TODAY’s weekly power rankings because of it.
With struggles in the early season, the Chiefs had fallen as low as the No. 14 spot in the power rankings. However, after rattling off wins against the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers and Las Vegas Raiders, they’ve reclaimed the No. 10 spot in USA TODAY’s latest power rankings.
Here’s what Nate Davis had to say this week, focusing on the dominance of Chiefs TE Travis Kelce:
“He may not be the most dominant blocker ever – yada, yada – but Travis Kelce’s argument as the best tight end in league history continues to gain steam now that he’s surpassed Rob Gronkowski with his 34th 100-yard receiving game, most all-time.”
It’s always strange when we get stuck on an individual player in power rankings, but Davis is mostly spot on about Kelce. The blocking argument with Kelce is a myth. Among tight ends with at least 150 run-blocking snaps this season, Kelce is the eighth-best in the league according to Pro Football Focus. He only has 14 pass-blocking snaps on the season because he’s almost always running a route, but on those 14 snaps, Kelce is tied for 13th in the league. Noah Gray and Blake Bell also rank in the top 13.
Back to the power rankings, having Kansas City at No. 10 is rather modest for some. Our friends at Touchdown Wire have the Chiefs ranked as their No. 8 team, citing Patrick Mahomes’ dominant Week 10 performance over the Raiders as the reason. They do have questions about whether K.C. can continue to string together success.
This week, the Chiefs can do some serious damage with a win as the Dallas Cowboys are in the top 5 of most power rankings.
