Chiefs at the Jaguars - Matchups
There are matchups every week that you have to watch out for. Here’s this weeks matchups that could make or break the game.
Across the NFL every week teams win games you would never expect them to win and lose games you’d never expect them to lose. In most cases, it comes down to own of two things, turnovers or teams able to exploit matchups against the other team’s offense or defense.
There are other factors that play into every game from weather (which could be an issue this Sunday in Jacksonville), injuries, and even the hometown crowd. When you look at the Chiefs vs the Jaguars you are looking at a team that will be playing each other for the third time in less than a year. Kansas City so far is 2-0 in those meetings but this game could be different.
Chiefs Offense vs Jaguars Defense
Stating the obvious if the Chiefs have Travis Kelce this weekend it greatly improves the likelihood that we see an offense much closer to what we saw last season. However, we may not know whether or not he will be available until almost game time on Sunday.
Donovan Smith and Jawaan Taylor vs Travon Walker and Josh Allen
When the Chiefs go on offense the most important thing to watch is the pass rush of the Jaguars. Both LB’s rushed the passer on 19 and 20 snaps respectively. Walker applied pressure on the QB on 11.8% of his pass rush snaps garnering a sack and two hurries. Allen had pressure on the QB on 16.7% of his pass rush snaps leading to two sacks and 1 QB hit.
For the Chiefs Jawaan Taylor had a good first start against a very good pass rusher in Aidan Hutchinson. Taylor allowed 2 pressures including a hit and a hurry. Donovan Smith struggled against the Lions defensive front and allowed 6 pressures on Mahomes. The Lions got 1 hit on Mahomes and 5 hurries going against Smith.
While not great it’s important to also take into account that Mahomes was not sacked the entire game and he moves around the pocket a lot which can help his offensive line. That said, if the Chiefs want to be better on offense on Sunday they have to slow down the Jaguars pass rushing duo and Smith has to have a much better game.