Spread The Ball Around On Offense
The Chiefs are the NFL’s top offense in both yards and points per game. That bodes well for K.C. in this matchup. The Jaguars are just 2-4 when allowing 27 points or more. The Chiefs, on the other hand, are an impressive 4-1 when allowing 27 points or more. So the Chiefs need to put points on the scoreboard in this game. Period. So how do they do that? By getting lots of guys involved in the offense.
In the Chiefs’ 27-17 win over the Jaguars earlier in the season the Chiefs put on a masterclass in spreading the ball around. The Chiefs had nine different players catch passes, six of those players caught at least 2 passes for 20 yards or more, and four different Chiefs caught touchdown passes. Travis Kelce, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kadarius Toney, and Jerick McKinnon all went for over 50 yards receiving and Toney added 33 rushing yards as well. Isiah Pacheco had 82 yards rushing and Patrick Mahomes added another 39 yards rushing on scrambles.
The Chiefs are as close to unstoppable as an offense can get when they spread the ball around like that. If a team has legitimate concerns about every guy running a route AND the Chiefs are running the ball AND Mahomes is a threat to take off and scramble, it’s simply too much for any defense—even one that is playing well.
Last season the Chiefs were very much centered around getting the ball to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, but this season the strength is in the number of players getting involved and against the Jaguars the first time around that spread attack worked wonders.
Kadarius Toney was especially effective in their first matchup and if K.C. can get him involved in multiple ways again that could be a big plus. An added bonus could be the return of Mecole Hardman as well. We haven’t really seen a Chiefs offense this season with Hardman and Toney both fully healthy and fully integrated into the offense. That combination could go a long way toward stretching the defense thin.
Finally, let’s talk about how absolutely vital the pass rush is for both teams in this game.