The injury situation has been less than ideal for the Kansas City Chiefs with both L’Jarius Sneed and Kadarius Toney exiting the first half. Despite the adversity of losing two key pieces, Kansas City carries a seven-point lead over Cincinnati heading into the second half. They’ll get the ball to start the third quarter and they need to keep their foot on the gas.
Here are a few quick takeaways from the first half of play:
Chiefs leaving too many opportunities on the field
Missed opportunities and mistakes have been a huge theme in the Chiefs’ last three losses to the Bengals. There have been some BIG missed opportunities and mistakes by Kansas City in the first half. The most notable:
- Trent McDuffie dropped an interception.
- Kadarius Toney dropped a touchdown pass.
- An Andrew Wylie holding penalty erased an Isiah Pacheco touchdown run.
- Wasted a Jaylen Watson interception with poor play-calling.
If you don’t want a repeat of those previous losses, you need to capitalize on the opportunities you’re given. It’s hard to say that the Chiefs have done that so far outside of the execution on their fourth-down play near the end of the second quarter.
Let's not get too creative
It makes sense to have a creative game plan given Patrick Mahomes’ injury, but at times the Chiefs have been getting a little too creative. Travis Kelce, in particular, took a big risk when he attempted to lateral a football to Jerick McKinnon on a first-down reception. McKinnon did not catch the lateral and had to jump on the live ball. That positive play could have turned disastrous if not for the heads-up play from McKinnon.
Keep the pressure up
In Week 13, the Chiefs struggled to get to Bengals QB Joe Burrow, but that hasn’t been the case this week. With starters Alex Cappa and Jonah Williams out for Cincinnati, Kansas City’s pass rush has been quite active. Chris Jones, Frank Clark, George Karlaftis and Willie Gay Jr. all recorded sacks on Burrow early on in the first half. Later in the second quarter, the pass rush seemed to disappear. It was still impacting Burrow, but not quite getting to him for sacks. If the Chiefs want to win this game, the pressure is going to have to continue throughout the remainder of the game.
