On the spot evaluation of Chiefs’ AFC divisional spherical win over Jaguars
Very similar to the primary sport towards the Jacksonville Jaguars this season, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs pulled out a win regardless of poor circumstances. Issues have been trying fairly dire when Patrick Mahomes left the game with an ankle injury. Fortunately, he was able to return and play through the issue in the second half of the game. The group clearly benefited from the veteran expertise of Chad Henne being put within the state of affairs towards the Cleveland Browns within the 2020-21 postseason and so they managed to hold on in a really troublesome state of affairs.
So what else did we be taught concerning the Chiefs of their first postseason sport of the 12 months?
Closing Rating: Chiefs 27, Jaguars 20
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports activities
The Chiefs undoubtedly have some issues to scrub up after this sport, however they did a extremely good job of preventing by adversity, which is what the playoffs are all about. We noticed some rookies stepping up and making massive performs on each side of the ball. We noticed veteran prowess from numerous totally different gamers who’ve been within the postseason earlier than. If they’ll construct on that subsequent week, the group will likely be fairly robust to beat.
Weekly Awards
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports activities
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Chiefs Wire Recreation Ball: QB Patrick Mahomes
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Harrison Butker Rookie of the Recreation: RB Isiah Pacheco & CB Jaylen Watson
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Casey Wiegmann Veteran of the Recreation: QB Chad Henne
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Jamaal Charles Offensive Participant of the Recreation: TE Travis Kelce
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Bobby Bell Defensive Participant of the Recreation: DE Frank Clark
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Morten Andersen Particular Groups Participant of the Recreation: Okay Harrison Butker
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Otis Taylor Play of the Recreation: Chiefs rookie CB Jaylen Watson’s one-handed fourth-quarter interception.
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Wesley Roesch Stat of the Recreation: Chiefs 5.5. common yards per acquire.
Fast-hitting observations and evaluation
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports activities
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It’s extremely disappointing to see Mahomes harm on this sport as a result of he was enjoying such an ideal sport previous to his harm. He received by together with his injured ankle and put up a gutsy efficiency, however he was taking a look at his finest earlier than the harm.
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Chad Henne earned his paycheck after which some towards the Jaguars this week. He now has a chunk of Chiefs historical past, main a 98-yard scoring drive. That’s the longest postseason scoring drive in franchise historical past. He would possibly also have a case as the very best postseason backup QB in NFL historical past. I’m solely form of kidding about that.
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Nick Bolton had an opportunity at an interception on the opening drive, however that was the closest the middle-of-the-field protection was not notably good on this sport. Dump-offs to Travis Etienne and Evan Engram have been very open.
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The Chiefs have been compelled to lean on the bottom sport on this one and the outcomes have been fairly good. Late into the fourth quarter of the sport, Isiah Pacheco was averaging 9.1 yards per carry.
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The Chiefs’ offensive sort out state of affairs has been problematic all season and this sport solely magnified the difficulty. There isn’t any probability for adjustments within the playoffs, however I feel it’s important to make some adjustments subsequent season, be it a commerce or in any other case.
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The Jaguars’ proper sort out has mastered the flexibility to false begin and never have it referred to as on him. Apparently, it’s been taking place for some time per 1010XL’s Mia O’Brien.
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Jerick McKinnon has been so extremely beneficial for the Chiefs on blitz pickups. He’s the very best pass-blocking again on the group by a mile, however I feel he’s in consideration for the very best within the NFL. Right here’s a look at his best block in the game from Touchdown Wire.
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The protection got here alive for the Chiefs within the third quarter, forcing back-to-back punts when Okay.C. wanted it most. Frank Clark and Khalen Saunders made some key stress performs to throw Trevor Lawrence off his mark.
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On the onset of the fourth quarter, the protection was a a lot totally different story. They struggled with Trevor Lawrence scrambling on third down. They didn’t make tackles on first contact, with two or extra defenders needing to make contact to convey Jaguars defenders down.
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Harrison Butker put up an unimaginable efficiency after considered one of his worst NFL seasons to this point. He was 2-of-2 on 50-yard subject targets, which no different Chiefs participant has ever finished earlier than in a playoff sport. He was excellent on additional factors. He had a key sort out on kick protection to save lots of a rating.
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I used to be actually impressed by Chiefs rookie CB Jaylen Watson on this sport. He made that game-sealing interception and had some actually good tackles earlier within the sport. Not a foul begin to his postseason profession.
Up subsequent:
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports activities
The Chiefs await the winner of the Payments-Bengals sport on Sunday to seek out out whether or not they’ll host Cincinnati at GEHA Discipline at Arrowhead Stadium or travel to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face Buffalo at a neutral site. Both method, they’ll be one half of the AFC Championship Recreation for a fifth-straight 12 months with an opportunity to punch their ticket to their third Tremendous Bowl within the final 4 seasons.