Podcast: The definitive Kansas City Chiefs season super-preview
With five Chiefs experts in a two-day span, you won’t need to go anywhere else to prepare for Thursday night’s clash of AFC contenders.
On this two-part episode of Roughing the Kicker, a Kansas City Chiefs podcast, Joshua Brisco talks with five different Chiefs experts about what they expect from the Chiefs when they kick off the NFL season on Thursday night with the New England Patriots.
With Seth Keysor, Pete Sweeney, Matt Conner, Nick Jacobs and Matt Verderame, I talked to an absurd number of Chiefs experts over the last two days. But after all of those conversations, where do I land on this season? Funny you should ask.
I think the Chiefs go 10-6 this season. There are four of five losses I expect. The Chiefs probably drop one more they shouldn’t lose. The division likely hinges on the ability to win a game or two that they shouldn’t be favored in. Maybe it’s the boost they get from having a bye week before the Giants game, or maybe it’s getting Ben Roethlisberger on a bad night. But that’s not a bet I’d be willing to make right now.
I also think that, top to bottom, the Chiefs are the best team in the AFC West. But the Raiders have lots of scheduling advantages. They don’t have to deal with the Steelers. They have New England at home. They get the Cowboys and Giants at home. That’s a sizeable advantage. So I struggled up and down the schedule, but I can’t justify giving the Raiders less than 10 wins either.
So I think the Chiefs and Raiders rely on tiebreakers for the AFC West. I’ll take the Chargers over the Broncos, both also relatively close in the 8-8 range.
But before panic sets in, keep in mind: everyone who knows the Chiefs is splitting hairs this year. The difference between 12-4 and 9-7 is, ultimately, not that much. A couple of guys get hurt – the floor falls out. Justin Houston looks like the Justin Houston of old and Alex Smith plays well – they’re the two-seed in the AFC.
Bottom line?
The Chiefs are a serious contender for the AFC West – arguably the favorite.
They’re less than a serious contender for the Super Bowl.
I desperately want to believe in what the Chiefs can do. But I’ve been fooled too many times. To believe that this exact team can win multiple playoff games against teams like the Patriots and Steelers, I’m going to have to see it before I predict it.
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I’m turning out more Chiefs content than ever, thanks to my new show, (Almost) Entirely Sports that airs from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. every weekday on ESPN Kansas City, 1510 AM and 99.3 FM. Tune in to (A)ES for all sorts of almost-entirely-sports talk and make sure you’re subscribed to the Roughing the Kicker feed to get all of the Chiefs talk you could ever want. And, as always, come to Arrowhead Addict to talk about the topics covered in each show.
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