Jaguars vs Chiefs: Andre Cisco brings violent reputation back to Arrowhead

Andre Cisco made his presence felt in the Jaguars Week 10 matchup with the Chiefs, making his return to Arrowhead Stadium one that the Chiefs are craving. 

I’m not one to bring a good experience down by focusing on one negative aspect. I took a trip to France last summer for my wife’s sister’s wedding. South France is beautiful, the food rules, and the people were awesome. Do I discount that because the hotels didn’t have the best (if any) air conditioning? Absolutely not!

With the Jacksonville Jaguars coming back to town for a Divisional Round rematch of the Week 10 tilt that saw the Chiefs walk away with a fairly easy 27-17 win—one in which Patrick Mahomes shredded the Jacksonville secondary for 4 TD passes—my general outlook on the playoff version of the matchup is going to be rooted in remembering the good things of the first matchup—the beauty of southern France, if you will.

But this time I’m not going to forget about the lack of air conditioning—or, in this case, the cheap shots levied by Jaguars safety Andre Cisco on both JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdez-Scantling—as easily as I normally would.

If you’re like me, Cisco became Arrowhead Enemy number 1 after knocking Smith-Schuster out of the game. He then added to his own bounty shortly thereafter when he did the same thing to Valdes-Scantling. Neither hit, which were clearly both targeting, was flagged by the officials in the first matchup. The hit on Smith-Schuster, which knocked him out of the game and put him into concussion protocol causing him to miss the Chiefs Week 11 matchup with the Chargers, was initially called but the flag was subsequently picked up after the officials gathered to talk about whatever it is that NFL officials discuss on the field. According to Valdes-Scantling, it certainly was not player safety.

Valdes-Scantling was certainly unhappy following Cisco’s pair of dirty hits against the Chiefs, and the same could be said for fans across the Kingdom. Loud boos could be heard raining down from every level of Arrowhead as the hits and fallout from said plays were occurring on the field. Like many of you, I found myself yelling at my TV while watching from home. Andre Cisco may be one of the nicest guys on the planet, but the atrocities he committed at Arrowhead Stadium in November are something we can’t just forgive and forget.

When the Jags take the field in Kansas City on Saturday after forcing the Chargers to absolutely Charger all over themselves in the Wild Card round, it is almost certain that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense will be looking to make an example of Cisco. Mahomes has not earned the moniker “Petty Pat” by being someone who doesn’t constantly keep score. Smith-Schuster, Valdes-Scantling, and the rest of the Chiefs receiving corps should be fresh after having the luxury of a bye week while the rest of the AFC playoff field scrapped it out last weekend.

As I mentioned earlier, K.C. won the first go-round between these two by 10 points but the final score wasn’t really indicative of how dominant the Chiefs were, or should have been, in this game. The Chiefs led 20-0 with 46 seconds left in the first half, and 27-10 late in the fourth before Trevor Lawrence connected with Christian Kirk for a garbage time touchdown just before the two-minute warning. The final score was also muzzled by an Isiah Pacheco fumble on the Chiefs’ opening possession inside the Jaguars’ 15-yard line, and a late Mahomes interception on the Jaguars’ side of the field.

Who picked off Mahomes, you ask? Andre Cisco. Needless to say, it’s going to be a noisy affair for Cisco and the Jags this weekend at Arrowhead. If the Chiefs come out firing as they have in past Divisional Playoff games against AFC South opponents, it could be an even longer day for Mr. Cisco and the Jaguars. Let’s just hope that the fireworks we see are between the whistles and after Chiefs touchdowns. Oh, and a note to the stadium staff at Arrowhead – make sure you have plenty of them. A Petty Pat game could result in an exorbitant amount of points for the league’s top offense this Saturday.