Four embarrassing stats that should motivate the KC Chiefs

Sometimes the numbers speak for themselves, and that’s certainly true for the K.C. Chiefs—at least how well the number express the sort of embarrassment they should feel after handing the game over to the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth quarter in Week 2.

Patrick Mahomes had an MVP level effort, once again, but Lamar Jackson and company absolutely torched the Chiefs defense. Even then, the offense wasn’t exactly as opportunistic as it could have. Let’s take a look at a few stats that tell the story of the Chiefs loss to the Ravens and even some struggles from the first two weeks.

6.1

That’s the number of rushing yards allowed per carry on Sunday night against the Ravens. It’s as if the ghost of Jamaal Charles was running rampant behind the likes of Willie Roaf and Will Shields—that’s just how successful the Ravens were at running the football. The sum total for their efforts: 41 rushes for 230 yards.

What’s insane about these totals and this average of 6.1 yards/carry is that the Chiefs knew the Ravens were going to run most of the time. They simply didn’t have an answer for it. Players were often taking the wrong angles or tasked with assignments well out of their pay grade. It was embarrassing. The Ravens did what we knew the Ravens would do and somehow they still did it .

31

This is the number of first downs put up by the Ravens on Sunday night. Thirty one first downs.

Last year, the Chiefs allowed an average of 22 first downs per game. The year before that, it was 21.5. In Bob Suttons final season before getting fired, back in 2018, the Chiefs allowed an average of just over 26 per game. The Chiefs allowed five more than that on Sunday to a Ravens’ team that was largely one-dimensional and saddled with injuries.

1-6

The Chiefs seemed to have no problem moving the ball for most of the game, which is how they ended up with 35 points against a tough opponent. However, those who watched the game will know they still left a lot of opportunities on the table, and thats’ best illustrated by the team’s anemic conversion rate of only 1 in 6 third down conversion attempts were successful.

How does a team with pass catchers who are very smart veterans somehow come up short on third down so often? It largely has to do with how few yards the Chiefs were generating on early running downs at key points. By comparison, the Ravens went 6 of 11 and even converted their lone fourth down call as well.

482

That’s how many total yards per game that the Chiefs defense is giving up. That sort of total is insulting to a team with Super Bowl aspirations. That doesn’t mean they won’t be able to turn things around (remember how bad the defense was during the team’s Super Bowl season in the first half), but it does mean some soul-searching is required before the Chiefs can be taken as seriously as they want to be.