Chiefs Prospects 23-4

 Chiefs Prospects 2023-4

The 53 man roster has just been revealed and it’s time to make sense of how the season will unfold.

The elephant in the room is Chris Jones – star defensive tackle.  He is holding out and time is running out before the situation becomes untenable. My guess is that there is more here than meets the eye.

Offence:

Getting back to the players who are on the team: the Chiefs are only keeping two quarterbacks; Mahomes and Gabbert. They will probably try to sneak one through waivers to provide cover.  ( My view: this is a mistake!)  At running back we have Pacheco, Edwards-Helaire and McKinnon ( too thin!)

Seven wide receivers will provide the bulk of the offence: Toney, MVS, Skyy, Jkustin Watson, Richie James, Rashee Rice and Justin Ross.  

No full back!

O-line: Donovan Smith, Tuney, Humphrey, Trey Smith, Jawaamn Taylor, Allegrettit, Prince Tega, Niang, Mike Caliendo, Wayna Morris ( solid if not spectacular)

Defence:
Ends: Katlaftis, Danna, Herring, Felix Anudike, BJ Thompson ( very thin without Jones!)

LB’s: Bolton, Gay, Tranquill Chenal, Jack Cochrane, Cam Jones (solid if unspectacular)

CB’s: McDuffie, Sneed, Watson, Williams, Nic Jones (should be the strength of the team – if we had a pass rush)

Safeties: Reid, Cook, Chamarri Conner, Mike Edwards ( could be good!)

Specialists: Butker, Townsend, Winchester ( solid)

This is supposed to be a run it back season.  Many pundits have the Chiefs as the number one NFL team before a ball is kicked.

Mal’s take: Chiefs were very lucky to beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl and the 49ers before that.  Some day the law of averages may catch up with them.  If Chris Jones remains absent we are in for a long season!  Another Super Bowl is always possible when you have the best coach and best quarterback in the league – but they are not my favourites at the moment: the AFC West teams are all going to be good to better and that may make the difference!

 

Chiefs Super Bowl

 

Watch out for Eagles to have their talons removed! 

To no-one's surprise, KC will play again in the Super Bowl.  Eagles v Chiefs should be a great game. Bookies have it as Philly are slight favourites.  They have it all wrong.  Chiefs will win and win big, say by 10 points.

Why?

Simple, the Eagles have not played a good team all season and certainly not in the play-offs.

Patrick Mahomes will run rings around the Eagles pass rush and find receivers all over the field. Pascheco will provide enough of a run game to not only slow down the rush, but also score on the ground.

On the flip side, Hurts will have to beat the tribe in the air. He just isn’t good enough. I expect Chris Jones and co. to have a big game. The Chief’s secondary is rapidly becoming one of their strengths.

Could the Eagles win?

Yes, of course they could, but I just can’t see it.

What are the dangers?  Injuries for starters.  Poor old Mecole Hardman looks like he will miss the game.  If the other receivers are good to go then this is just unfortunate for him, - if others are no good then it’s a real problem.  Travis Kelce has a bad back, now it was good enough for him to help defeat the Bengals - and hopefully two weeks rest will see it get as close to 100% as possible - if not that’s a real blow.  The defensive game plan will have to be spot on - stop the run and make Hurt throw the ball - often and under pressure.

Chiefs are certainly capable of doing both these things.

Could the Chiefs come out over-confident and rusty?  Not likely we have the best coach by far ( Andy Reid) and two weeks to prepare.  I suspect the birds won’t know what hit them.

A week away from the game there is, no doubt, still some twists and turns to negotiate.

Still - if confidence wins then I’m really excited!