Can the Buffalo Bills add to their win total against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 5?
In an effort to get more insight on the Chiefs, Bills Wire spoke to Charles Goldman, managing editor for our friends over at Chiefs Wire, for this week’s behind enemy lines feature:
Q: The Chiefs are in such a curious position at 2-2 overall. They did only lose two games all of last season, after all. Considering that, what’s the pulse of the fan base feel like right now? Any concern? Or still a ‘plenty of time’ type of approach?
CG: If we’re being honest, a lot of the fans didn’t take the two losses very well. You could really tell the ones who’d only recently been following the team’s success from those who’d suffered through decades of excruciating football. I think the Eagles win in Week 4 kind of reminded fans that there is plenty of time left. But also what everyone needs to remember about these two losses is that both games were close and the Chiefs had chances to win each of those games. It just speaks to the parity across the league. You’ve got to play good football against good football teams or it’s going to come back and bite you.
Q: In games where Travis Kelce has actually been slowed down, how did that happen? We know the Bills could use some pointers there.
CG: Usually, if Kelce has a bad day on the stat sheet it only really means that KC went elsewhere with the football. Last week against the Eagles, for instance, Tyreek Hill and Clyde Edwards-Helaire were the focal points of the offense. If you go back and look at the tape, Kelce was open quite a bit, though. They actually even used him as a decoy a few times in order to get other guys open. You can put pressure on Mahomes, but he and Kelce also thrive in those moments where they’re forced to improvise. Short of giving Kelce the Calvin Johnson treatment (literally pressing him on the line and covering him with two or more defenders) there’s not really a good way to slow him down.
Q: The Chiefs’ O-line has had some turnover. How are they looking protecting Patrick Mahomes? The Bills really wanted to improve their pass rush this offseason because of how lackluster it was vs. Kansas City in 2020.
CG: They’ve been fantastic protecting Mahomes and in the ground game, especially the interior offensive line. Creed Humphrey, Joe Thuney and Trey Smith are all among the highest-graded players at their respective position groups. If the Bills are looking to get pressure on the interior it won’t be happening this week. The tackles are probably the weak links for Kansas City, but they haven’t been particularly bad either. Orlando Brown Jr. and Lucas Niang have surrendered some pressures on Mahomes, but they’ve also made up for it in crunch time.
Q: In the red zone on defense, the Chiefs haven’t been doing the best. Why is that? What should the Bills offense look to do there to exploit that?
CG: There’s a whole litany of issues there, ranging from poor run defense to miscommunications on the back end. If the Bills can get creative in the red zone and use motion to confuse the Chiefs’ defense, they’ll be cooking with gasoline. They could also just resort to pounding the rock in the red zone and probably end up with six points. Whatever the case, penalties killed the Eagles in the red zone last week, so playing disciplined football is going to be key for Buffalo there.
Q: What’s your prediction for the game?
CG: I think the Chiefs are finally starting to hit their stride on offense and defense. They’ve got some reinforcements coming on both sides of the ball (WR Josh Gordon, LB Willie Gay Jr., DE Frank Clark and CB Charvarius Ward). I think they show their true colors this week in prime time with convincing performances on both sides of the ball. Chiefs 38, Bills 20.
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