The Kansas City Chiefs were initially scheduled to play the Los Angeles Rams in Mexico City next Monday night. Now, however, that game will be played in Los Angeles due to poor field conditions.
This was the right call, as the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams were reportedly considering sitting out some of their star players if they were forced to play on the turf in Mexico City (see Adam Schefter’s tweet below). It’d have been hard to blame guys for not wanting to play, as playing on a bad field can result in multiple injuries and these two teams have WAY too much to play for.
Some Chiefs fans might be a bit upset because now the Rams will be back at their home turf. My argument to that is A) That field is much safer to play on, so who cares? and B) The Rams still don’t have a huge fan base due to only being back in LA for three years now. That means there will be plenty of Chiefs fans in the crowd and they’ll make their presence known hopefully.
This game is big for both sides, but it would have been interesting had the game not been relocated. Would Patrick Mahomes, Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and other Chiefs starters have strolled the sideline and let Chad Henne, Spencer Ware, Chris Conley, and Demetrius Harris fill their shoes?
The NFL will move the Monday, November 19, Chiefs-Rams game originally scheduled for Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles due to field conditions.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2018
If Monday night’s game is played in Mexico City, a number of Rams and Chiefs players are now strongly considering not playing in that game on that messy surface, per sources. “It’s not fair to risk our health,” one prominent player said today.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 13, 2018
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Personally – I’d have been okay with that decision if so. Yes, every game is important at this point, but these teams are in different conferences. The head to head match-up means nothing and the Chiefs already have a decent sized lead in the AFC.
The good news is we don’t have to worry about players sitting out now. We should get a highly competitive game in Los Angeles this Monday and now neither side has to worry about the altitude either. That had been a concern by both organizations coming in apparently.
A lot of analysts have had this game circled since the schedule was announced and the hype has only grown. The Chiefs and Rams each have one loss on their resumé and are looking to make a push for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
While the head to head isn’t important, the game itself is. The NFL made the right decision in relocating the game to Los Angeles, as no one wanted to watch Chad Henne take on Sean Mannion on Monday Night Football.