7 Numbers To Consider Before Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans Game
By Ben Nielsen
Aug 23, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles (25) watches play on the sidelines during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at Arrowhead Stadium. The Vikings won 30-12. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
NUMBER: 59
Dwayne Bowe and Jamaal Charles, the team’s two best offensive playmakers, played a total of 59 snaps this preseason. Fred Williams, who is now on the team’s practice squad, played 74 snaps in the four preseason games.
Charles played in only nine of the Chiefs preseason snaps, and in many ways it showed up in the offenses’ production. One would hope Andy Reid sees fit to give the ball to Charles to more than two times per game over the 16 regular season games. This alone should be enough to determine the silliness of judging the Chiefs 2014 prospects based on preseason games, because in no game this season will the Chiefs willingly give Charles less than three touches in a game. And if they do, Andy Reid will be fired or we’ve punted week 17 of the season as we did last year.
It has been a long time since we’ve seen Charles play a meaningful snap in a game so it would make sense for us to become restless about the Chiefs red zone struggles and overall play. Hey, I’ve already panicked a few times about how the Chiefs have looked in the red zone.
Reality is Sunday will be the first time they play all of their best available players for a full four quarters since January. And it may be the first time they’ve attempted to game plan since then, too. Let’s keep this in perspective.