The Kansas City Chiefs started slow

chenyan94 · Mitglied Angemeldet: 25.06.2018 Beiträge: 581 Interessen: COOK

https://www.thechiefsfanshop.com/Larry-Johnson-Jersey , finished slower, but still held on to defeat the Denver Broncos 30-23 on Sunday afternoon, completing a season sweep of their division rivals and advancing to 7-1 at the halfway mark of their season. Here are five hot takes from the victory:1. Division games are different.Photo by David Eulitt/Getty ImagesIt’s pretty easy to look at Andy Reid’s record against the AFC West over the last few years and conclude that Reid owns this division — and at the top level, he does.He’s now won 19 of his last 20 regular-season games against AFC West opponents.Seven straight against the Broncos.Nine straight against the Los Angeles Chargers.Six of the last seven against the Oakland Raiders.But while familiarity breeds contempt — are there any teams Chiefs fans hate more than these three teams? — it also breeds competition.It’s a lot easier to game plan against a team you play a couple of times a year. Aside from the reps — an obvious factor — there’s another one: you can learn a lot more by playing a team than simply watching them on film.For an offensive chessmaster like Reid, eventually, that gives him the advantage.Indeed, through his first two seasons with the Chiefs, Reid was 5-7 against the AFC West.Since then, he’s 19-2.But even during those recent years, the AFC West games haven’t been cakewalks.Ten of them — almost half — were decided by a single score or less, and two of them went into overtime.I can’t speak for anybody else, but all of this is why — regardless of the location, records or stats involved — I almost never predict a blowout in a division game.And there are three of those left on the 2018 schedule.Assume nothing.2. Sam-MY!Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty ImagesIf you’ve been waiting for Sammy Watkins’ big breakout, Sunday’s game might have been it.He had eight catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the game.That’s 453 yards and three touchdowns on 34 receptions so far this season.Eight games in, it doesn’t take complicated math to see that Watkins could end up with a season on par with his productive seasons in Buffalo; for the season, he could easily land somewhere near 1,000 yards, with catches somewhere in the high sixties.On a team where Watkins is third in receiving yards, receptions and targets, that’s saying something!Watkins is being paid a lot of money to be the third wide receiver, and the argument that this money might have been better spent on defense is indeed compelling.But that said, Watkins’ mere presence elevates the rest of the receivers; he’s one more weapon for which defenses must account.And regardless of how you feel about his paycheck, you have to love the way Watkins plays.He gets himself open Len Dawson Jersey , and once he has the ball, he’s a fearsome, hard-nosed runner who can get yards after catch.So it’s OK that we argue about the team’s priorities with regard to Watkins’ paycheck.But let’s not act like he isn’t a good player who isn’t helping this offense.He got paid because there are a lot of teams that would have paid a lot of money for what Watkins could have brought to their tables.And he’s delivering that to the Chiefs.3. The rushing quandaryPhoto by David Eulitt/Getty ImagesOn Sunday, the Chiefs rushed for only 49 yards on 18 carries.Meanwhile, the Broncos rushed for 189 yards on 30 attempts.That’s 2.7 yards per attempt to 6.3.That’s not going to do it, my friends.Everybody is convinced that in the NFL, the running game is dead — and there’s no doubt that in the 2018 season, the passing game is up significantly.NFL Offense through Week 7, 2017-2018Those are some amazing numbers.But none of this changes the fact that in a given game, being able to run the ball — and stop the run — can be very important.Last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chiefs were able to shut them down by rushing the ball late in the game, eating up the clock until there simply wasn’t enough time for the Bengals to overcome the Chiefs lead.Yet on Sunday, the Chiefs couldn’t even get a first down on their last three drives.While the Chiefs defense was able to make some opportune plays late in the game to keep the Broncos down, with an ability to run the ball at will, the Chiefs could have — and should have — made the outcome of this game a foregone conclusion early in the fourth quarter, rather than on the game’s final play.What they did on Sunday was enough to beat the Broncos.But it might not be enough against better teams.In the hours immediately after the game, I can’t identify the precise problem on either side of the ball; I’m certain that as the week progresses, we’ll begin to have some potential answers.But the Chiefs are going to have to figure it out.4. A step forward, and half a step backPhoto by Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesIt would have been nice for the Chiefs defense to continue the performance they had against the Bengals in Week 7.Five sacks of Case Keenum — one of them forcing a turnover — and Kendall Fuller’s interception certainly represented key defensive plays that helped put this game in the win column for the Chiefs.However, the 411 yards of offense the Broncos put up — while better than most games this season — still isn’t an acceptable number.But I’d really rather not focus on that.Instead, I’d like to focus on something the defense is continuing to do well: render opposing quarterbacks inefficient.Before the season began, I pointed out that in three of the last five seasons, the Chiefs defense held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating below 80.If your own quarterback can consistently perform 10-20 points better than your opponent Derrick Thomas Jersey , it’s a pretty good formula for success.In Alex Smith, the Chiefs had such a quarterback — especially in 2017.Obviously, Patrick Mahomes is performing at a significantly higher level than Smith, which gives the defense some leeway in this area.Even so, going into Week 8 — despite the problems we’ve seen on defense — the Chiefs have held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 88.8 in 2018, which is good for eighth in the league.Since the Chiefs have a team passer rating of 114.0 — third in the league — it helps explain how a team with a few truly awful defensive statistics could be 7-1 halfway through the season.So while we’d all like to see the Chiefs defense do better, it’s not as if the team’s success to this point has been a fluke.5. Mahomes keeps knocking ‘em downPhoto by Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesMahomes needed only three passing touchdowns on Sunday to pass a list of all-time great quarterbacks who had thrown astounding numbers of touchdowns in the first eight weeks of a season.Three touchdowns also would have kept him ahead of the blistering pace established by Kurt Warner at the beginning of his NFL career.But on Sunday, Mahomes threw four.And also threw for 300 yards for the seventh consecutive week, which tied Peyton Manning’s modern-era streak that began in the 2012 season, but ended in the 2013 season.Drew Brees has had two streaks of nine games, but neither of those took place in a single season.But only one player has ever had a streak of seven or more 300-yard games in a single season.Andrew Luck had such a streak in 2014.It went for eight games.With one more next Sunday, Mahomes will tie Luck.With one more after that, he’ll be all alone.This young man — I just can’t call him “kid” anymore — is amazing. Below, you’ll find a list of players I have spotlighted for daily fantasy selections leading into the fourth week of the NFL season.I use the following criteria to try and find players — NFL Vegas totals, NFL team stats, what the fantasy gurus are saying and my GUT.Without further ado, let’s not wait any longer. Let’s see who’s made my list of five players this week!Sterling Shepard, WR GiantsJim Dedmon-USA TODAY SportsThe Giants face the Falcons in Week 7, and while I’m not big on the Giants offense, I am big on a couple of other factors leading up to the game.The first factor is the 54.5 point total Vegas has laid out for the Giants/Falcons game. The second factor is the Falcons have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to wide receivers (30.3). Combine those two points and Sterling Shepard should be an affordable option for teams looking for points.Joe Mixon, RB BengalsAaron Doster-USA TODAY SportsI typically don’t pick players who are their team’s first option at their position, but this is a special case.With Joe Mixon recently returning from an injury, his price may currently be a bit deflated. The Chiefs are the second worst team in terms of fantasy points allowed per game for running backs (29.0) and the massive 58 point total in the Chiefs/Bengals game should lead to a big game from Mixon.Robert Woods Joe Montana Color Rush Jersey , WR RamsRon Chenoy-USA TODAY SportsRobert Woods has had a pretty great start to his season. Unfortunately for the Rams, Cooper Kupp has been ruled out for their upcoming game against the 49ers. This should lead to Woods having more opportunities than usual.The Rams/49ers game has a Vegas total of 52 points, and the 49ers are in the bottom third of the NFL in points allowed to wide receivers per game (26.7). Add all of these together and we have a perfect storm for Woods to have a big game. He may be a bit pricey, but he should provide solid value on Sunday.Frank Gore, RB DolphinsDouglas DeFelice-USA TODAY SportsI love the fact I’m picking a 35-year-old Frank Gore, who somehow defies all logic when it comes to aging at the running back position.With Ryan Tannehill out, it’s likely the Dolphins will try and use their ground game more frequently. Seriously, I’d advise against asking Brock Osweiler to drop back 40 times.That leaves the Dolphins looking to run the ball against the Lions, and it makes sense. The Lions have allowed the third-most fantasy points to running backs so far in the season (26.0). Gore could be an affordable option that gobbles up a decent amount of points on Sunday.David Njoku, TE BrownsScott R. Galvin-USA TODAY SportsThe Browns face off against the Buccaneers on Sunday, and that’s good news for David Njoku because the Buccaneers have allowed more points per game to tight ends than any other team in the NFL (13.3).Also, since Baker Mayfield has taken over for the Browns, Njoku has seen his target share continuously rise. Mayfield and Njoku could be tuning their connection and good things may happen on Sunday for a relatively cheap price with Njoku.You win some, you lose some. Two weeks ago I picked the Chiefs defense to be the “Chiefs pick of the week,” and boy did they show up against the Jaguars.Last week... my decision making wasn’t as crisp. I picked Demetrius Harris to be the Chiefs fantasy pick, and he didn’t even collect a single reception.Maybe I’ll do a little better with this week’s pick:Travis KelceJay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsTypically, I pick players who are more of the “unsung hero” type, but after getting my butt kicked last week I plan on going with Kelce — and for good reason.The Bengals allow the seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends (9.6). Looking at the Bengals linebackers and their coverage abilities, it is very clear the Bengals will have a problem against Kelce. I’m looking for Kelce to have a huge game on Sunday.