The Kansas City Chiefs are once again the #2 ranked team in every major Power Rankings heading into week 3. Can they keep it up and push for the #1 spot?
Week 2 has come and gone and the Kansas City Chiefs eked out a win against their divisional foes, the L.A. Chargers, last Thursday on a short week. It wasn’t a pretty win, but a win is a win. The Chiefs are now 2-0, and despite the ugly victory, they are unanimously seen as the No. 2team in the league behind only the Buffalo Bills for the second consecutive week.
I have a feeling we’ll probably see them in this spot for quite a while unless either the Chiefs or Bills lose a game sometime soon.
Over at Yahoo! Sports, Frank Schwab thinks the Chiefs are doing just fine, but he has just one small concern: their wide receiver corps. Their increase in running back and tight end usage has really helped though.
"“JuJu Smith-Schuster has 89 yards in two games and Marquez Valdes-Scantling has 57. Eventually the Chiefs will need a receiver to emerge as a dangerous option, but this approach is working for the Chiefs so far.”"
I agree with Frank that the Chiefs have been passing the ball around more which has helped keep the offense dynamic, but I don’t think there should be cause for alarm just yet when it comes to wide receivers. We get it, the Chiefs are going to miss Tyreek Hill more and more (especially after he has games as he did on Sunday), but in the long-term, I think the team will be just fine and continue to put up points.
Another consistent theme among this week’s Power Rankings was the emphasis on the Chiefs’ defense. They put together a pretty solid game on Thursday including a 99-yard pick-six by rookie Jaylen Watson.
The whole world saw that one. pic.twitter.com/PQuTcHpLpb
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 16, 2022
Dan Hanzus over at NFL Network certainly saw it, and emphasized its importance on the Chiefs’ win over the Chargers:
"This game was about getting key contributions in unlikely places: In addition to Watson’s INT, the Chiefs received scores from wide receiver Justin Watson and reserve running back Jerick McKinnon. After a summer of hype for the entire division, the Chiefs remain positioned as the clear kings of the West heading into Week 3.”"
Pete Prisco at CBS added, “They weren’t as crisp on offense against the Chargers, but they still found a way. The defense made some huge plays in that game to win it.” And even Mike Florio at PFT admired the Chiefs’ high-octane offense mixed with a solid defense: “The offense is great, and the defense is good enough to step up on the nights the offense isn’t playing that way.”
It’s hard to argue that the Chiefs aren’t the second-best team in the league. And unfortunately, after the Bills whooped the Titans on Monday night, it’s even harder to argue that Buffalo isn’t the best team in the league. It’s only been two weeks, and there are 15 games left to be played – including a crucial one between the Chiefs and Bills in a few weeks – so who knows how it’ll shake out in the end.
Until that match is played in Week 6, we may very well be looking at the top 2 teams in the league vying for Power Rankings supremacy for the next month.