Around the AFC West, Week 1: Denver Broncos are embarrassing

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs traveled to sunny (Death Valley) Jacksonville to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Leading up to this game, there was much speculation as to the conditions (will the humidity kill the Chiefs?), the regression of Patrick Mahomes (the sophomore slump is real!), and the bullying defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars (kick return specialist anyone?). The highly anticipated 2019 season kicked off with a bang as the Chiefs offense didn’t look like it missed a beat.

The clock started running and within 94 seconds, the Chiefs were on the board with a huge reception from Sammy Watkins. From there, the Chiefs just continued to roll.

With Watkins having himself a career day (198 yards and 3 touchdowns), the Chiefs offense looked as unstoppable as ever. Travis Kelce had two beautiful catches going for over 30 yards on each, but did have some uncharacteristic drops. LeSean McCoy made his debut in a Chiefs uniform and put up 81 yards on ten carries. He looked as Shady as ever showing great vision—a good contrast to the burst of Damien Williams. Fantasy owners may not like this development, but it looks like it will work for the Chiefs long term.

Patrick Mahomes did Patrick Mahomes things playing with his typical swagger and posting 25 of 33 for 378 yards and 3 touchdowns. The league’s reigning MVP looks like he might be even better than last year.

The game was not without its scary moments. Quarterback Nick Foles went down early with what was revealed to be a fractured collarbone and had surgery on Monday. He has since been placed on IR. In addition, Tyreek Hill went down in the game early and was taken to a local hospital. While he will not require surgery, it does look like he will be out for a few weeks.

Lastly, in what was maybe the scariest moment for Chiefs fans, Mahomes came up limping on a play. This has been described as a minor ankle injury, but when your team’s most important player even gets a paper cut, you hold your breath. We should know more in the coming days on the statuses of both.

Next week, the Chiefs travel to Oakland to take on the Raiders. The Raiders looked solid in their opening win over the Denver Broncos, but they don’t have the talent to keep up with the Chiefs.  Even with the loss of Hill, the Chiefs didn’t miss a beat. Their offense looked unstoppable and the MVP looks better. I anticipate the Chiefs roll to 2-0 over the Raiders. Game time is 3:05 p.m.