The Kansas City Chiefs remain the No. 1 team in the NFL in Touchdown Wire’s power rankings. After a quarter of the NFL season, the Chiefs have held down the top spot in Touchdown Wire’s rankings three of four possible weeks. So long as they keep winning, they’ll remain entrenched in that top spot, even if the wins aren’t pretty.
Here’s a look at some of what Doug Farrar had to say this week:
“The Chiefs have been held without a touchdown in the first half of a game just three times in the Patrick Mahomes era: Week 6 of the 2018 season in a 43-40 loss to the Patriots, the 2018 AFC Championship game in a 37-31 loss to the Patriots, and Monday night, in a 26-10 win over the Patriots. So, congrats to Mahomes and Andy Reid for getting over that hump. Mahomes wasn’t awful in this game — he completed 19 of 29 passes for 236 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions — but it was Kansas City’s defense that stole the show, and three total passes from Patriots backup quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Jarret Stidham. Safety Tyrann Mathieu, who could be called the Patrick Mahomes of K.C.’s defense, punctuated the win with this 25-yard fourth-quarter pick-six, which put the game out of reach.”
The emerging storyline about the Chiefs this season is that their once fledgling defense has grown into a flock of ballhawks. Kansas City notched four turnovers in Week 4, bringing their season total to seven turnovers. That number is tied for the third-most in the NFL through four games.
Yes, we are left wondering what this game would have been like had Cam Newton been available to play. As fans of the game, we’ll hope to see that matchup in the playoffs, but as Farrar also suggests, that’s not a guarantee for the Patriots at 2-2. Newton’s absence could hurt the Patriots’ chances at the playoffs significantly.
