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Giants (2-5) Chiefs (3-4)
Last Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves
down 27-0 at halftime. They started off the third quarter with a field goal, but
neither team scored a point after that. The Chiefs took a 27-3 loss to the Tennessee
Titans.
While the Chiefs were playing their
game, the Giants were busy giving their fans something to cheer about for a change.
At halftime, they had a 5-3 lead over the Carolina Panthers. They held the Panthers
scoreless over the rest of the game and went on to win 25-3.
Kansas
City Chiefs
What's
going on with the Kansas City Chiefs? They've been to the playoffs seven of the
last eight years, finishing first in the AFC West division in the last five, and
to the Super Bowl in the last two, winning one in 2019. Last year they started
off with a 7-1 record, beating one team in overtime by three points, but those
six other teams by an average 17+ points a game.
In the next half of the season,
they were also 7-1, but it's worth noting that those seven wins averaged out to
be less than a 4 point win. In the playoffs they went on to beat Cleveland by
5 points, and Buffalo by 14, before taking a 31-9 loss to Tampa Bay in the Super
Bowl. This year they are a 3-4 team, and tied for last place in the division,
after suffering their worst loss ever with Andy Reid as their head coach. Kansas
City Offense
The
Chiefs aren't doing well in the win-loss column, and you wonder why that is, considering
they rank third in yards per game, and eight in points scored. Turnovers have
been an issue, and the Chiefs lead the league in that area with 17 giveaways.
Patrick Mahomes has thrown 18 touchdowns, but has 9 interceptions, after having
thrown just 6 all last year, and only 5 the year before. In last week's loss to
the Titans, Mahomes was replaced by Chad Henne in the fourth quarter, but that
was because of concussion concerns. He had cleared protocol, and will be playing
in this game against the Giants.
Tight end Travis Kelce led the team in catches
and yards last year, and he currently leads all tight ends in the league with
45 catches and 533 yards. Kelce is tied with wide receiver Tyreek Hill with 34
first downs. Both these receivers combined for 26 of Mahomes 38 touchdowns last
year, and 9 this year. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the leading rusher
last year, averaging 4.4 yards a carry. He's upped that to 4.7 yards per carry,
and Mahomes is second, averaging 6.8 yards. Kansas
City Defense
This
defense ranked 11th last year allowing 23 points a game, That's up to 29 now.
They're 26th in passing yards, and 27th with their rushing defense, though last
week they limited Derrick Henry, the NFL's leading rusher to 3.0 yards a carry,
only 86 yards on 29 carries. The sad story for the Giants is that Daniel Jones
is the leading rusher on the team, and Saquon Barkley is still listed as second,
though he's missed a number of games. For Devontae Booker to even tie Barkley's
195 yards, he would need five carries that average 8 yards a carry.
The Giants
offensive line is still a work in progress, so that plays into the Chiefs hands.
Daniel Jones will have to be nimble and quick. Tight end Evan Engram was targeted
more last week than in any game before that, and he caught 6 passes for 44 yards.
Short passes to Booker have paid off. He's caught 12 of 14. The Chiefs defense
will have the benefit that if Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney do play, they
may still be dealing with nagging injuries that could affect their performances.
Those two are tied for the lead in first downs with 16. Giants
Offense
Daniel Jones put it all out there
with his performance last week against Carolina. Jones threw the ball, ran with
it, and even caught one pass on a trick play from wide receiver Dante Pettis.
Jones completed 23 of 33 passes for 203 yards and 1 touchdown, working without
Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, Kadarius Toney and running back Saquon Barkley.
The Panthers paid attention to Darius Slayton who would be considered their biggest
threat, and he led the team with 63 receiving yards, catching 5 out of 9 passes.
Pettis, signed off the practice squad for the second consecutive week, made
the most of his opportunity. Pettis caught all five passes, including the lone
touchdown that Jones threw, and even had the longest catch of the day, a 27-yarder
on a Giants field goal drive.
The offensive line is still struggling, with
Jones keeping some of the pressure off with his scrambling abilities, but that
doesn't help the running game. A totally healthy Barkley would be the fix for
that, but Barkley along with Golladay will miss their third consecutive game,
Otherwise it looks like the Giants will have Shepard and Toney, though they are
listed as questionable, as well as tight end Kaden Smith. Giants
Defense
On Sunday the defense played up
to the expectations people thought they would have carried through from last year.
It's a shame they waited until this game to demonstrate what that could be. The
group had a season high 6 sacks, with rookie
Azeez Ojulari getting 2.5, including 5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 4 pressures.
To be sure, the Panthers were missing an important piece on their offense. Running
back Christian McCaffrey hasn't been there for them the past few weeks, though
Chuba Hubbard had been doing a nice job in his absence.
The Giants slowed Hubbard
down to just 28 yards on 12 carries, and one of those went for 13 yards, so think
about the rest. Hubbard averaged over 4.2 yards a carry over the last four games,
and just 2.3 against the Giants. They need to keep that up against running back
Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
James Bradberry had his third interception of the season
last week, and needs to play well covering Tyreek Hill. Unfortunately, safety
Jabrill Peppers won't be on the field to help stop Travis Kelce. Peppers suffered
a ruptured ACL in his right knee in the third quarter last week, and was placed
on injured reserve.
Xavier McKinney will have to step up for that and keep
an eye on Patrick Mahomes, who can extend plays with his legs. Mahomes seems more
suspect to quarterback pressure this year, so that will be key for the Giants
in this game. Aside from Ojulari, Leonard Williams also brought it last week with
1.5 sacks, 3 quarterback hits, and 6 tackles. Overall
You
are what your record says, and many teams hope that phrase doesn't apply to them.
After all, football games are also lost on just a play or two, and there are very
good football teams that fall victim to that as well. How does all this apply
to the Chiefs and Giants? The Chiefs have killed themselves with turnovers and
penalties, otherwise a losing record might not apply.
The Giants have had
trouble fielding key players on offense, but their defense woke up last week.
Overall, the Chiefs have won four straight in the Monday night time slot. They'd
like to continue that trend against the Giants and get back to .500. The Giants
would like to pick up right where they left off last week to make it two wins
in a row. One team will achieve their goal, and their record will look better
than it said last week. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Eagles (2-5)
at Lions (0-7).
Sunday at 4:25pm Washington (2-5) at Broncos (3-4).
Sunday
at 8:20pm Cowboys (5-1) at Vikings (3-3)
Monday at 8:15pm Giants(2-5) at Chiefs
(3-4).
The Eagles and Cowboys are the NFC East teams favored to win in these
games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Giants
Devontae Booker in his career, has averaged 7.6 yards a carry in Arrowhead Stadium,
and 5.5 yards an attempt vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Giants
Azeez Ojulari leads all NFL rookies with 5.5 sacks. Giants
lead the all-time series with the Chiefs, 11-3, and are 4-3 in Kansas City.
Next Games
Nov 7 Las Vegas at Giants
Nov
22 Giants at Tampa Bay
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