The Kansas City Chiefs have a big game on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium against the Tennessee Titans. Will KC be able to run the ball successfully?
While many probably aren’t all that scared of the Tennessee Titans knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend, there’s one big thing to look at for this game and that’s the tremendous run defense that Tennessee has. According to ESPN, the Titans were fourth in the least amount of rushing yards allowed. That is a HUGE stat to keep in mind.
We all have said this season that the difference maker on offense has been Kareem Hunt. He’s been absolutely electric with the football, but Chiefs fans have seen that when Hunt can’t get going, the Chiefs offense is lost. That’s what I’m worried about for Saturday’s Wild Card game.
Tennessee allowed the least amount of rushing touchdowns this past season with five. They’re going to be able to stop Hunt from breaking off big plays and that’s going to force Alex Smith and the offense to really air it out.
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While Smith is a different quarterback this year, he isn’t always the kind of guy who can win the game all on his own. He’s struggled against teams who challenge him to throw deep all day long and that could be what the Chiefs are looking to have to do on Saturday.
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Kansas City probably won’t ditch the run all together (assuming the Titans are successful at stopping it), but it’s not going to be a staple in their offensive game plan. This will be a game in which Smith will attempt 40+ passes for the simple fact that he’ll probably have to throw more.
The good news about that is that the Titans are not as good against the pass, ranking 25th in the entire league in yards surrendered (though it’s worth noting that Kansas City is ranked 29th). If Smith can take advantage down the field, it’ll put Tennessee in a tight spot.
In a way, the Titans are a similar defense to Pittsburgh, and that should really scare Chiefs fans because we all know the Steelers have Kansas City’s number. If the Titans take a page out of Pittsburgh’s playbook and can successfully stop Kareem Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs’ run game, this could be a much closer match-up than fans are hoping for.
Hopefully the Titans aren’t as good as advertised against the run, but if they are, be prepared for Alex Smith to have to takeover and put the game on his shoulders.