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Kansas City Chiefs: Good, Bad, Ugly vs Chargers in week 1 of 2018

By Leigh Oleszczak

CARSON, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: Wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates a touchdown with wide receiver Chris Conley #17 after scoring to lead 38-20 in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at StubHub Center on September 9, 2018 in Carson, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
CARSON, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: Wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates a touchdown with wide receiver Chris Conley #17 after scoring to lead 38-20 in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers at StubHub Center on September 9, 2018 in Carson, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Running back Melvin Gordon #28 of the Los Angeles Chargers  (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Running back Melvin Gordon #28 of the Los Angeles Chargers  (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

UGLY: RUN DEFENSE

One of the biggest areas of concern last season was the run defense, which allowed Derek Henry and the Tennessee Titans to absolutely gash the Chiefs in the Wild Card Game. Brett Veach went out and brought in Reggie Ragland (via a trade with Buffalo), Anthony Hitchens, and Xavier Williams.

The hope was that the opposition wouldn’t be able to run all over Kansas City and so far, that doesn’t look to be the case. The Chargers did well running the ball, totaling 22 carries for 123 yards.

The numbers might not look THAT bad, but the Chargers were forced to throw the football more in the second half due to trailing by double digits. Otherwise, I’d have been really concerned to see what more damage the Bolts could have done on the ground, as they were averaging 5.6 yards per carry.

Melvin Gordon, who has had some really good games against the Chiefs in years past, had 15 carries for 64 yards, but again… The Bolts were forced to air the ball out more, so Gordon didn’t get as many carries as he normally would have. Austin Ekeler took the ball five times for 39 yards while Travis Benjamin had one carry that went for 19 yards.

The Chiefs have to get their run defense figured out or else this could be a loooooong season.

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