On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Carolina to face the young and inexperienced Panthers. The Panthers, riding a two-game winning streak, and teams like the one they’ll face Sunday have given the Chiefs trouble. So, how does Kansas City avoid an upset this weekend?
With their recent loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs opened the door for another AFC Contender to challenge them for the top spot. With seven games left in the regular season, the Chiefs have a slim one-half-game lead in the conference.
The Bills are off Sunday, so if the Chiefs lay an egg in Carolina this weekend, they’ll drop to the second spot, and Buffalo, with the head-to-head tiebreaker in hand, will be atop the AFC. Now, in every category, the Chiefs are the better team against Carolina and against the Bills – especially in January.
I’m not reading too much into Buffalo’s loss to the Bills because Buffalo played its best game of the season and implemented its best game plan in defeating the Chiefs. On the other hand, Head Coach Andy Reid held back, and it showed.
Still, with a layup win looming for the Chiefs, it should be noted that Reid has struggled to put away bad teams in the past. The fact that we’ve yet to see a breakout performance by the offense led by Patrick Mahomes tells me they are still fine-tuning the offense.
There’s nothing wrong with that this time of year, but the playoffs are approaching. I’d like to see the Chiefs easily handle the Panthers because they have a Black Friday date with the Las Vegas Raiders at Arrowhead next week.
I know this time of the year, it’s hard to stay focused and even more difficult to grind out games for seeding purposes, but the light is on the Chiefs 24/7, and the players, after losing to the Bills, understand it’s go time. So, I’m excited to see how the Chiefs come out of the gate on Sunday against the Panthers.
Generally, quarterbacks like Bryce Young, with his allusive pocket skills, give the Chiefs’ defense fits. In addition to that, Kansas City doesn’t have a lot of defensive speed, so they better work together.
It was apparent last weekend the defense didn’t do that.
Setting aside the issue at left tackle, I believe that, eventually, Wanya Morris will get into a groove in pass protection. He has talent, but his issue has been leveraging his body. He gets beat when he’s off balance or drops too deep into protection. At this point, it’s a mindset.
So, with two AFC West games coming up, this is the kind of game where the Chiefs can get well in a hurry. If Mahomes can correct his mistakes on the deep ball with Xavier Worthy, and the tackles can give Mahomes more time in the pocket, KC’s offense should be able to put up thirty points against the Panthers.
On the other hand, the defense’s front seven must create more sacks. Yes, Young is elusive, but Chris Jones needs to be a wrecking ball on Sunday. Further, the young corners need to show progression in pass coverage.
The corners, including Trent McDuffie, Chamarri Connor, Nazeeh Johnson, and Christian Roland-Wallace, could have played better last Sunday. Again, it’s hard to judge the unit because the Chiefs could not get a pass rush against Josh Allen the previous weekend.
They must play better over the next two games.
In two weeks, the Chiefs will host the Los Angeles Chargers. With a win, they will lock up the AFC West. That game will be the biggest challenge the Chiefs will face for the remainder of the regular season.
Ultimately, Kansas City will take care of business against the Panthers. It might not look pretty at the onset, but this team will find its mojo and shore up some of the issues evident in the last two games.
If not, Thanksgiving week will be stressful for the fans and the players.
