After a terrific and entertaining version of Thursday Night Football, the Chiefs return to a Sunday afternoon tilt against a listless Cincinnati Bengals. Head Coach Zac Taylor’s group performed underwhelmingly against the lowly New England Patriots. While first-time Head Coach Jerod Mayo had his team prepared, the Bengals played as if they were looking to this game and thought they’d march past the Pats with an easy victory.
Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t have his usual offensive fireworks. Against the New England Patriots defense, he was 20-29 with 164 yards passing and rushed four times for 15 yards. He had zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked three times and fumbled once. His QB rating was 86. Granted, he is recovering from injuries, but he didn’t look like the confident highflyer he has been, nor did he come close to looking like he is ready to take down the reigning champs.
By contrast, Patrick Mahomes went 20-28 with 291 yards passing and rushed twice for 3 yards. He had one touchdown and one interception, was sacked twice, and still had a 101.9 QB rating. It was not a stellar performance, but this is the first game, and everyone is still getting up to speed. After a little more rust getting knocked off, I believe this game will likely be Mahomes’ weakest performance of the season.
Let’s talk about the rest of Cincinnati’s performance. WR Ja’Marr Chase caught six passes on six targets for 62 yards. With WR Tee Higgins out for the game, the rest of the team could only amass an additional 102 yards of passing offense and zero scores. They also had two fumbles lost. The running game was also uninspired. Between Burrow, RB Zack Moss, and Chase Brown, they could only generate 70 rushing yards and one touchdown.
New England has yet to turn into a sudden powerhouse, with QB Jacoby Brissett generating only 121 yards of passing and zero scores. RB Rhamondre Stevenson turned in a stellar rushing game with 120 yards and a score on the ground. That statistic alone tells me much about where the Bengals’ rushing defense is sitting. If Cincy Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo’s defensive line doesn’t improve this week, Isaiah Pacheco, Samaje Perine, and Carson Steele will run over the top of them. Who knows, Xavier Worthy may not have to do any end-around this week.
Speaking of the rushing attack, Pacheco only gained 45 yards on 15 carries and one score, and Worthy added that 21-yard end around on a nifty re-direct score for his first NFL touch and touchdown. That was all the Chiefs needed when Worthy added a nice 35-yard receiving touchdown on busted coverage in the 4th quarter. There is no question that Xavier Worthy is the player of the game. It was his first game as a pro, and he delivered a two-score performance and showed off the blazing speed he showed us from the Combine. All I can say is wow! If he can become a consistent contributor, Mahomes will go to the well as often as he wants to.
Rashee Rice was also a significant part of the passing attack by grabbing seven catches for 103 yards. Rice is making the case for the WR1 role. Travis Kelce was somewhat quiet, with only three catches for 34 yards. Also, don’t forget that the Chiefs hung 353 yards and 27 points on the number 1 defense from last year.
Unfortunately, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was a little leaky and allowed the Baltimore Ravens 452 yards of total offense with 185 yards on the ground and 273 in the air. Although they kept the score at 20, the gains the Ravens could get were kind of easy at times. Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen needs to prepare the line for better gap awareness and coverage. Between Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, the line got shredded. Jackson’s option play on broken coverage just sliced them up. Again, I see this and know Spags will right the ship quickly. After all, we are talking about the number 2 defense from last season.
Anarumo’s defense only gave up 290 yards and 17 points, not that New England could generate more. This stat comes with a qualifier: it was the Patriots. Against Patrick Mahomes and this new offense with actual receivers and Mahomes not having to figure out where to go with the ball on every down will put the Bengals “D” to the test. Andy Reid and Matt Nagy will have a great game plan for this outing.
Watch for a couple of things early in this game. The Chiefs will undoubtedly try to establish the run game. I know it sounds like a broken record every time we say, “We need to get the running game going early,” but hear me out. Because of the current state of Cincy’s line play, the Chiefs will try to bum rush the middle of the line, opening up play action on subsequent downs. We’ll see a downhill play from Pacheco and some Carson Steele.
We may see some “I” formation that will morph into shifting and screens. Mahomes is going to have fun with this, and he should. There will be several downfield shots, as well. Rice and Justin Watson will take the middle. If Hollywood Brown is back, he and Worthy will take the edge. Mecole Hardman and JuJu Smith-Schuster will rotate in for role-specific plays. Expect the Bengals to get a good taste of Kelce and Noah Gray and maybe some Jared Wiley, too.
Overall, this will be a good early test for the Kansas City Chiefs at home in front of Chiefs Kingdom. I’m comfortable with this team’s direction, and I see some clarity of purpose behind Reid et al. ‘s in-game decision-making: one down and 19 games remaining.
My Prediction:
Chiefs 35 – Bengals 21
