The Kansas City Chiefs have enjoyed as much success as anyone in the NFL over the last decade. Meanwhile, the New York Giants have seen their own bright spots pop up in extremely sparse moments over that time. But now, the Chiefs and the Giants are set to square off this upcoming weekend on Sunday Night Football.
Kansas City and New York are both 0-2 entering the primetime affair. The Chiefs are in a bit of newfound territory entering this game. For the Giants, however, being forced to climb out of an early hole is nothing new. New York has rarely been able to correct things in time before their hopes run dry.
What do some recent numbers and trends say about this meeting between the Chiefs and the Giants? Here is a deeper look at some key stats for each team entering Week 3.
Chiefs suffer first 0-2 start in 11 years
The Kansas City Chiefs are 0-2 to open the season. When was the last time they started 0-2? Kansas City last did so in 2014. Patrick Mahomes was only a freshman at Texas Tech at the time. Meanwhile, that was the one and only year in which the Chiefs missed the playoffs during Andy Reid's tenure as head coach. Kansas City finished that season 9-7. More notably, K.C. did not have a single wide receiver score a touchdown that year, a quirky stat that is always wild to look back on under Reid.
With this being the first time that the Chiefs have started 0-2 since 2014, it is also the first time that Mahomes finds himself in that position. He and Kansas City are on a current three-game losing streak, including last year's Super Bowl and the first two games of this season. The Chiefs had never lost three straight with Mahomes before this stretch.
Kansas City has a shot to do something new on Sunday night, to boot. As pointed out by Chiefs radio play-by-play voice Mitch Holthus, the Giants are the only team that the Chiefs have never beaten when Kansas City has been the road team in the matchup. A first occurrence of that, culminating in the team's first win of the year, could spark Kansas City as September draws to a close.
Giants feeling another slow September start
The New York Giants have started slow for much of the last decade. And quite frankly, that may only be putting it mildly for this franchise. The G-Men have now begun a season at 0-2 for the seventh time in the last nine seasons. New York has been unable to feel any sort of comfort by the time Week 3 rolls around for far too long.
Just how lousy have the Giants been in September? Let's go back from the start of the 2016 season until last Sunday. In that span, New York is a horrid 9-23 in its last 32 September games. That equates to a win percentage of roughly 29 percent in the month of September during that time.
Russell Wilson is the starting quarterback that the Chiefs' defense will see on Sunday. This will be his eighth meeting against Kansas City. Wilson is 2-5 against the Chiefs in his career. He has topped out at 271 passing yards in a single outing against K.C. Wilson's touchdown-to-interception ratio in those games against the Chiefs sits at 13:5.