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Five Things to Watch on Sunday | Bengals vs. Chiefs
from Chiefs.com
Here are some notes to know going into the gameSep 13, 2024 at 06:23 PM
by Matt McMullen
Chiefs ReporterThe Kansas City Chiefs will look to remain in the win column on Sunday as they take on the Cincinnati Bengals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Here are five things to keep in mind heading into game day.
1. Here’s a look at the final injury report for both teams.
The Chiefs are in relatively good shape injury-wise heading into Sunday, with the one exception being wide receiver Hollywood Brown (shoulder), who was placed on Injured Reserve on Friday.
As for Cincinnati, the Bengals listed wide receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring), offensive tackle Amarius Mims (pectoral), and tight end Tanner Hudson (knee) as “Doubtful” for Sunday’s game. Additionally, rookie defensive tackle Kris Jenkins (thumb) is listed as “Out.”
Higgins, who didn’t play last week due to the injury, is one of the better receivers in the NFL and will be a significant loss if he can’t play on Sunday. He caught 42 passes for 656 yards and five touchdowns in just 12 games last season, and in the two seasons prior, the 25-year-old Higgins topped the 1,000-yard receiving mark in each.
2. The Bengals allowed 170 rushing yards last week.
The Patriots upset Cincinnati last Sunday in one of the more surprising outcomes of Week 1, and a primary reason behind that result was the performance of New England’s rushing attack, which racked up 170 yards as a team.
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson led the way with 120 yards on 25 carries, averaging 4.8 yards-per-attempt. He also led the NFL in yards-after-contact (118) and forced missed tackles (10) last week. That effort ate up a lot of clock, too, as Cincinnati was limited to just eight offensive possessions on Sunday – the lowest figure for any team in Week 1.
The Chiefs averaged only 3:03 minutes and 6.2 plays across their five scoring drives last week, so it’s unlikely Kansas City deploys a “keep away” style offense like New England did, but a commitment to the running game could still make a difference. Keep in mind, the top statistical game of running back Isiah Pacheco’s career took place against the Bengals in Week 17 of last season. He rushed for 130 yards on just 18 carries in that game, averaging a whopping 7.2 yards-per-attempt.
3. Kansas City will have to find a way to contain edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.
The Bengals feature one of the league’s top pass-rushers in Hendrickson, whose 17.5 sacks last season ranked second in the NFL behind only T.J. Watt. He didn’t record a sack last week, but he did tally a team-best six pressures.
The man who will be primarily tasked with blocking Hendrickson will be left tackle Kingsley Suamataia, who made the first start of his career last week against Baltimore. Offensive Coordinator Matt Nagy spoke about Suamataia’s performance on Thursday:
“I thought he did well. That’s not an easy stage to be on in that first game against that defense,” Nagy said. “There is some [opportunity for] growth, for sure, technique-wise and fundamentally, but for the most part, if you asked me [what I would think] if he came out of that first game playing that way, I’d take that all day long.”
Suamataia will need to be at his best once again on Sunday.
Week 2: Chiefs vs Bengals – Run Game, Pass Rush Dominance & MORE! | Six Stats to Know
click Here to watch4. The Cincinnati offense was centered around short, quick passes last week.
The Bengals have become known for their vertical passing game over the years as quarterback Joe Burrow and his weapons in the passing game, notably wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, have demonstrated an ability to stretch the field. For context, Cincinnati racked seventh in the league in “air yards” in 2022, which marked the last full season in which Burrow was healthy.
Additionally, between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Burrow ranked second among all quarterbacks with an average yards-per-attempt figure of 8.07. It’s all to say that Cincinnati likes to air out the football, but when examining last week’s loss to New England, the Bengals instead emphasized a quick, short passing game throughout the contest.
The reasoning behind that approach was likely to avoid the Patriots’ pass-rush, which recorded three sacks on Burrow. So, to combat that, when Burrow wasn’t pressured, his average depth of target was just 4.5 yards downfield. Additionally, on those throws, Burrow’s average release time was only 2.33 seconds.
That approach can be effective, but it’s reliant on playmakers racking up yards after-the-catch. The Patriots tackled well last week, and as a result, Cincinnati recorded just 71 yards after-the-catch throughout the game, marking the 10th fewest of any team.
So, it will be interesting to see what Cincinnati chooses to do schematically on Sunday, but for what it’s worth, the Chiefs’ pass-rush was impressive against Baltimore. The box score, which only featured one sack on Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson, didn’t tell the full story, either. Jackson, whose speed and agility at the quarterback position is perhaps the best in the history of the league, scrambled five times when under pressure last week. For context, that figure marked his most scrambles when under pressure since Week 5 of the 2021 season.
It’s all to say that the Chiefs were continually disrupting the pocket against Baltimore, and while Jackson was able to extend several of those pressures into big plays with his legs, that effort by Kansas City’s defense will result in sacks more often than not.
So, if the pass-rush is effective once again against the Bengals, and Burrow elects to deploy another short, quick passing attack, the Chiefs’ ability to tackle will be of the utmost importance.
5. The Chiefs’ defense has held opponents under 28 total points in 22 straight games.
Speaking of Kansas City’s defense, Steve Spagnuolo’s unit is currently in the midst of one of the longest runs of sustained success that the NFL has seen in quite a while.
The Chiefs have allowed fewer than 28 total points in 22 consecutive games dating back to Week 1 of last season (including the playoffs), marking the longest stretch for any team since Washington posted a 23-game streak between the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
Kansas City will aim to continue that streak with another strong defensive showing on Sunday, and while it’s always a tough matchup when the Chiefs and Bengals take the field against one another, it also represents an excellent opportunity to notch a significant victory early in the 2024 campaign.
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from The Associated PressBengals visit Chiefs in matchup of perennial playoff contenders meeting in rare Week 2 showdown
By Dave Skretta
Updated 12:14 PM CDT, September 12, 2024KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs are accustomed to playing each other late in the season, when the stakes are at their highest — like an AFC championship, for instance, and along with it a spot in the Super Bowl.
The rivals have met five times since 2022 and all in December or January, including those two playoff games.
That makes their Week 2 matchup Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium a bit out of the ordinary, though no less important for two teams with postseason expectations every year.
The Bengals need to bounce back from a humbling loss to the Patriots last week while the Chiefs are coming off an opening-night win over Baltimore that took them to their limit.“For us, it’s just Week 2. It’s the next opponent, and we’re excited to turn the page and move forward,” Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said. “We got the taste out of our mouth, we’re done with that and now we get a chance to move forward.”
The prep shouldn’t be too difficult, given how often the Bengals and Chiefs have played each other. Their most recent matchup was last New Year’s Eve, when Kansas City clinched another AFC West title with a 25-17 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.
“There’s a lot of knowledge on both sides of it for us and them, just because we feel like we played them as much as we played a divisional opponent,” Taylor said. “We played them as much as we played any team in the league outside the division.”
That familiarity has led to some close games.In January 2022, the Bengals clinched the AFC North when Evan McPherson kicked a 20-yard field goal as time expired. When they met again later that month in Kansas City, in the AFC title game, McPherson drilled a field goal in overtime to send the Bengals to the Super Bowl. And the following season, in December, Joe Burrow rallied Cincinnati from a fourth-quarter deficit for another 27-24 win — its third over the juggernaut Chiefs in a single calendar year.
Kansas City exacted a modicum of revenge in January 2023, though, when the teams met again for the AFC championship, and Harrison Butker hit a 45-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to send the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl.“These games are going to matter at the end of the year,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “Obviously it’s early in the season. Everybody’s working through stuff. Everybody’s trying to get better and better. But you know that this could be a tiebreaker, whatever you want to call it, at the end of the year, that determines seeding for the playoffs. So there’s definitely a rise in intensity, especially in these games against other contenders.”
Turnover troublesThe Bengals can largely trace their clunky Week 1 performance to turnovers. In the first half against New England, tight end Tanner Hudson fumbled away the ball at the goal line after catching what appeared to be a certain touchdown pass. Later, Charlie Jones fumbled away a punt, leading to a Patriots field goal. Then, the Bengals came up a yard short on a fourth down pass, turning the ball over.
Chase’s contractNothing has been resolved when it comes to Ja’Marr Chase and his contract status. He has two years left on his rookie deal but expects an extension that will make the Bengals wide receiver among the highest-paid in the league. Chase didn’t participate in training camp, then practiced two days last week, before catching six passes for 62 yards against New England.
“We’ve had the discussions I feel like were needed,” Burrow said. “He’s ready to go out and perform.”
Catching KelceChiefs tight end Travis Kelce was outperformed by his understudy, Noah Gray, against the Ravens, catching three passes for 34 yards with a drop. But Kelce attracted so much attention that he helped to open up the field for Xavier Worthy and fellow wide receiver Rashee Rice, who hauled in seven passes for 103 yards in the 27-20 victory.
Run to daylightThe Bengals and Chiefs will both be looking to get more out of their ground game Sunday. Bengals running back Zack Moss averaged nearly 5 yards per carry but only had nine chances, gaining 44 yards with a touchdown. Chiefs counterpart Isiah Pacheco had more opportunities, carrying the ball 15 times, but less success, finishing with just 45 yards and a score.
‘X’ marks the spot
The Chiefs got more than they expected last week out of Worthy, their first-round pick. He ran for a touchdown the first time he touched the ball, then hauled in a TD pass later in the game. And with Marquise Brown expected to miss another game while he recovers from a shoulder injury, Worthy could remain a big part of the offense against Cincinnati.
“It’s been cool just to have that — do what I did (last) Thursday,” Worthy said. “But I have, like, a 24-hour rule. You do it, you live it out, then you forget about it and it’s on to the next. So it’s on to the next.”
5 things to watch as the Chiefs host the Bengals in Week 2
from ArrowheadPride.comExpect the intensity of a bitter rivalry when these AFC foes square off on Sunday.
By
Ron Kopp
Sep 13, 2024, 4:53pm CDTThe Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) are fresh off a season-opening, home victory against an AFC contender — and hope to get another such victory in Week 2. The Chiefs will host the Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. Arrowhead Time.
In Week 1, there was some big-game energy between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens — and against the Begals, we will see more of that. This will be the sixth matchup between these franchises since 2021, including two postseason clashes in the AFC Championship.
Cincinnati will also be trying to avoid an 0-2 start following an ugly, 16-10 home loss to the New England Patriots. With 10 days of rest, the Chiefs will be ready to match their intensity — and aside from wide receiver Hollywood Brown, nobody will be dealing with an injury.
Here are five things to watch in an important, early-season battle:
1. Letting the pass rush loose
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Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesAt the start of the Kansas City’s Week 1 win, multiple Chiefs looked unblockable. Defensive tackles Chris Jones and Tershawn Wharton gave an inexperienced interior offensive line all it could handle.
But as the game continued — and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson started scrambling more — the pressure dwindled. The Chiefs finished with a pressure rate of 23.1%, which ranked 28th among NFL defenses in Week 1.
On Sunday, the strategy should be simpler: disrupt the offensive front and beat blocks fast. In Week 1, Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow had the league’s fifth-fastest time to throw; he wants to get the ball to his playmakers quickly. It will be up to Jones and Wharton to make it hard to see those options over the middle.
Defensive ends George Karlaftis and Mike Danna will focus on tightening the pocket from the edge. While Cincinnati offensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Trent Brown are big players, each can be susceptible to speed rushes around the outside.
2. A more balanced offensive attack
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Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesAgainst the Ravens, the Chiefs failed to find a good rhythm for their running game. And in their game against the Patriots, the Bengals’ defense allowed New England to control the clock with its rushing attack, which ran the ball 39 total times, gaining 170 yards and a touchdown over those plays. Running back Rhammondre Stevenson averaged 4.8 yards over 25 carries; none of them gained more than 17 yards. The Patriots had eight more minutes in possession.
While Kansas City shouldn’t commit as hard to the running game, the penetrable Cincinnati front may give the Chiefs’ starting running back Isiah Pacheco more room to work. That can help open up the passing attack even more than it was against Baltimore.
In last year’s Week 17 matchup against the Bengals, Pacheco totaled 130 yards on the ground over 18 rushes. The Bengals’ front seven has changed little since then.
3. Protecting Patrick Mahomes
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Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty ImagesIn Week 1, the Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked twice and hit three other times, according to PFF. That came on only 31 dropbacks. That tied for his second-fewest dropbacks in one game over the last two years.
The Ravens had a talented front — but they lacked the edge threat that defensive end Trey Hendrickson provides Cincinnati. In Week 1, Hendrickson lined up on the left side of the offensive line on 94% of his snaps. That sets him up for a one-on-one battle with Chiefs’ rookie left tackle Kingsley Suamataia.
The Chiefs sometimes left Suamataia on an island against Baltimore. Some of those plays ended with a hit on Mahomes. In last year’s matchup with the Bengals, Hendrickson beat then-rookie left tackle Wanya Morris around the edge and created a strip-sack that resulted in a turnover.
Kansas City will need a plan to help Suamataia against the three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher. It may become necessary.
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