The Kansas City Chiefs are back at Arrowhead Stadium for a prime-time tilt with the Tennessee Titans on “Sunday Night Football.”
Buy Chiefs TicketsBoth teams enter with a 5-2 record and some big implications within the AFC conference on the line. The Chiefs are coming off of their bye week and are rested and healthy. The Titans are limping into Kansas City after a seven-point win over the Texans in Week 8. Which team will come out on the other side of this game on top?
Here are five of the things we’ll be looking at throughout the course of the game:
Containing Derrick Henry
Priority No. 1 for the Chiefs’ defense is figuring out a way to slow down Titans RB Derrick Henry. He’s coming off of an AFC Player of the Week performance, with 30 carries for over 200 yards and two scores against the Texans. It put an exclamation point on his AFC Player of the Month honors for October. In the lone victory Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has had against the Titans since 2019, the team held Henry under 70 total yards. While the Chiefs’ defense ranks amongst the best in defending the run this season, they’ve allowed 381 total yards on the ground in their last three games combined. They’ll need to tighten up the run defense in Week 9 if they’re to have success thwarting Tennessee’s dominant ground game.
Chiefs backfield developments
In Week 7 against the 49ers, Chiefs rookie RB Isiah Pacheco made his first career NFL start. Speaking to the media earlier this week, Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy downplayed the significance of Pacheco earning the starting role.
“All those guys are going to play, and at the end of the day, we’re counting on all (running backs) to contribute,” Bieniemy said. “We have a number of discussions that we have [had] behind closed doors that I’m not going to disclose, but everybody has an important role. So, we’re counting on all those guys to do their part. It doesn’t make a difference who starts the game or who finishes the game. When they’re in there, we expect them to contribute”
Will any of the trio of Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon or Clyde Edwards-Helaire emerge as a workhorse? Will Ronald Jones get a chance to get out of the doghouse and be active? Keep an eye on whether anything develops for the running game against a beat-up Tennessee defensive front.
Titans passing game (or lack thereof)
The Titans have one of the worst passing offenses in the NFL this season. Through eight games they’ve attempted just 160 passes (tied for the fewest in the NFL) and completed just 102 passes (second fewest in the NFL). They’re tied for the fewest passing touchdowns in the NFL (6) and only have a single touchdown pass to a wide receiver. The biggest thing about this game is that starting QB Ryan Tannehill isn’t even guaranteed to play due to an ankle injury. Last week, backup QB Malik Willis got the start for Tannehill and completed just six passes on 10 attempts for 55 yards and an interception. If Willis has to start again, the Chiefs’ pass defense should have some opportunities to make this day very tough on the Tennessee offense.
Kadarius Toney's debut
Toney is expected to make his Chiefs debut on Sunday night after joining the team via trade just over a week ago. It’s not clear how many snaps he’ll play or what his role will look like after just a week of practice, but the coaching staff seemed to come away impressed with his ability to retain information in the classroom. It’s just a matter of that translating to the football field this week. Given his skillset, there is a chance we’ll see him play some special teams in the kick and punt return game. There is also a chance that we could see some packaged plays on offense for him throughout the course of the game. It could range from a simple screen pass to some field-stretching plays to catch the Titans by surprise.
More history for Patrick Mahomes
Every week it seems like Patrick Mahomes is breaking some sort of new pace record or putting his mark on NFL history books. In Week 9, he’ll have an opportunity to make more history. With just 105 passing yards against the Titans, Mahomes will have 21,255 career passing yards. He’ll pass Rams QB Matthew Stafford for the most passing yards in a quarterback’s first 75 career starts in NFL history. After this record belongs to Mahomes, he’ll be coming for the first career 100 games record, which is also held by Stafford (28,057 passing yards). More important than this record is getting the passing game going against a Titans secondary which hasn’t been great this season.
