4 games in & the Chiefs are ready to roll
Derek Dietz @OriginalMrDietz
The Chiefs played a complete game Sunday night. From the opening kickoff fumble recovery to the final drive the Chiefs rolled into Tampa and led wire to wire. A dominant first half made Tampa HC Todd Bowles scrap the game plan of running the ball and playing stout defense to letting an aging quarterback drop back 52 times with a damaged WR corp. Tampa Bay had 6 rushing plays. (That is not a typo) That is the 2nd fewest attempts in the last 70 years.
The Chiefs’ running attack was a 2-headed duo of Clyde Edwards Helaire and Isiah Pacheco. They combined for 30 carries and 155 yards for a nice 5.2 YPC. Credit to the Offensive Line who created the holes and allowed this to happen. If this can even be close to replicated on a weekly basis, the Chiefs will be hard to stop.
Mahomes is tied with the almighty Jarod Goff with 11 TDs on the season and is on pace for 47 TD and 8 picks. Mahomes brought back some of the 2018-2019 magic with a few of his wizard-like throws. When Patrick is sharp, he is the best. You can see how his ability to dismantle a defense demoralizes the opposing players.
At the quarter pole, the Chiefs stand at 3-1 atop the AFC West. The next 4 games are home against the Raiders on MNF, Home against the Bills, at San Francisco, during a bye week, and home against the Titans on SNF. This is a tough stretch against the odds-on favorite to win the AFC (the Bills) and two legitimate playoff teams.
I stand corrected on my last article; the Chiefs simply overlooked the Colts. At the end of the day, the Colts are anywhere from a 9-8 team to a 4-13 team. It was just a bad day at the office for Kansas City.
Also, I was wrong about Mecole Hardman having a great year. Thru 4 games he has 8 catches for 71 yards. Mahomes has seems to have lost interest in looking his way. With that being said, Marquez Valdes-Scantling needs to step up and be the clear #2 WR behind Kelce and JuJu. If Mecole is the forgotten man, Skyy Moore must also step up his development and aim for 4-6 targets/touches per game.
Defensively, Nick Bolton’s stock continues to rise. He is a true stud playing Middle Linebacker. La’Jaruis Sneed may be the top overall defender on this team- he can do it all and will be on the top of Veach’s list for a long-term extension. Chris Jones was disruptive in the middle, collapsing the pocket on Tom Brady all night. The young secondary continues to get better. Jaylen Watson did about at well as could be expected drawing solo man coverage on Mike Evans most of the night. Are we looking at a top-12 defense under Spags? Maybe……
The Raiders roll into town for a prime-time rivalry game on Monday. Early lines have KC as a -7 favorite, O/U at 51. Funny things happen at the end of NFL games with garbage time TDs, so I think the Raiders cover the number, and my prediction is KC 34, Vegas 28.
