Chiefs vs. Titans: Top matchups to watch
By David Thomas
Welcome to Week 15, where the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tennessee Titans in a game rife with playoff implications.
Boy is this going to be an interesting matchup. The smash-mouth offense of the Tennessee Titans takes on Team Chaos of the Kansas City Chiefs. This team and matchup honestly scares me more than any other previous matchup the Chiefs have had this season.
While the Titans are unlikely to score 30+ points and beat down the Chiefs offense. They are likely to stick to what they do best, which is to run it down your throat. The Chiefs just lost Derrick Johnson for the season, and will likely miss him as one of the teams top run stoppers.
The Chiefs will also be going against one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Not one of their starters ranks below 19th-overall at their position by PFF. Dee Ford and Justin Houston will have their work cut out for them as they go against perhaps THE best tackle duo in the NFL.
Chiefs rush defense vs. Titans run game
Lets go ahead and get this out of the way. The Titans offense is lead by two of the most bruising runners in DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry. The Titans altogether have averaged 30.6 rushes per game so far this season (second in the league). They rank as the 8th best run offense with the fourth-best run blocking line by FO.
As mentioned before, the Chiefs just lost Derrick Johnson one of their better run defenders. This is a problem especially because the Chiefs already rank 19th in run defense. They give up an average of 122.9 rush yards per game (sixth-most in the league).
The saving grace for the Chiefs is that they rank fifth in red zone defense, and have only allowed seven rushing touchdowns all season. Which is only two more than the leading run defenses Dallas and Baltimore. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Murray and/or Henry go over 100 yards rushing, but fail to score a touchdown.