Charles Goldman
6 hours ago
The Kansas City Chiefs are on the west coast, ready to take on the Los Angeles Chargers this afternoon at SoFi Stadium.
These are two rivals in the AFC West, and the Chargers would love nothing more than to serve Kansas City their first loss of the season. This game could end up having implications within the division as it puts the victor in the early lead over the rest of the AFC West.
So how can the Chiefs come away with a win in Los Angeles? It all begins with some young players continuing to build on their Week 1 performance.
Young defenders must continue to grow
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
The stage might not be quite as big this week for Chiefs rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed, but rest assured he’ll continue to be tested by opposing quarterbacks. That’s just the name of the game when you’re a young player in the NFL and there will probably be some bumps along the way. For as much praise as he received from his coaches and teammates, Sneed knew immediately after Week 1 what he wanted to go and work on.
“My leverage, you know when you get splits with two wide receivers, I want my leverage inside to outside,” Sneed said. “We’ll watch the film tonight – as soon as I leave tonight – learning from my mistakes that I made and keep going on to the next opponent.”
That’s exactly the attitude that rookies like Sneed must have after a big performance. He needs to continue to grow and work toward improving his game. Just because he arrived and had an impressive game on a big stage, doesn’t mean he won’t face a challenge this week. In fact, he’ll face two extremely talented and physical receivers in Mike Williams and Keenan Allen.
The same goes for the rest of the Chiefs’ young defenders. Whether it’s second-year CB Rashad Fenton, fifth-round draft pick Mike Danna or undrafted free agent DT Tershawn Wharton. They all need to keep growing and attacking each week with a clean slate. It doesn’t matter how good you played the week prior when there are still 18 games ahead of you.
Don't get gashed by the rushing attack
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
The Chargers offense will feature two versatile running backs when they face off against the Chiefs. Austin Ekeler and rookie RB Joshua Kelley were used often in Week 1, combining for 31 carries and totaling 144 yards and a touchdown.
Still, Ekeler and Kelley pose a problem for a Kansas City team that allowed 118 rushing yards in Week 1. The Chiefs are also missing their best run defender in defensive lineman Mike Pennel, who returns from suspension next week. The linebackers in Kansas City had a rough first week to start the season and there is an expectation that they’ll improve in Week 2.
Los Angeles also relies on the running game to get the passing game going, with Tyrod Taylor utilizing bootlegs and play-action passing often. If you can stop Ekeler and Kelley from running all over you, you set the Chargers offense up for failure.
Contain new Chargers QB Tyrod Taylor
Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time in what feels like a millennium, the Chargers have a new quarterback. No, it’s not one of Philip Rivers’ 13 children. The starter for the Chargers is journeyman QB Tyrod Taylor, who served as a backup for Los Angeles a season ago.
Taylor is at his best when he’s able to get out of the pocket and make throws on the run. Whether it’s by design or Taylor escaping pressure and keeping his eyes downfield, that’s the area where he thrives. Chiefs DE Frank Clark spoke a bit this past week about the challenge Taylor presents.
“He’s a veteran, so he understands systems, he understands blitzes and schemes, and he’s very familiar with of course, different players within our team,” Clark said. “I’ve played him when I was back in Seattle, I played him a few times when he was in Buffalo. Even now, even with the Chargers, he’s always been known as an elusive quarterback. If you let him get on the run and allow him to get comfortable in the direction in which he likes throwing, he’s going to make some completions, he’s going to make some big plays. You’ve seen, what was it last week, you watch on film, you watch from his past, if you don’t do a disciplined job rushing the passer on the edges containing the passer on the inside, getting the inside push up the middle and forcing him to bubble or force him to make tough decisions and stuff throws over – you want to force him to make those over the middle. His strength, just throwing to the outside and really throwing those quick routes and stuff over the middle, so you know it’s going to be key for our inside and for our edges and defensive line as a unit to keep him contained.”
Taylor is a bit of a dual-threat quarterback too and can hurt you with his legs if you don’t pay him respect. When starting in his career he’s averaged around five carries per game and has a 5.41 rushing yard per attempt average. That’s something that Steve Spagnuolo will have to take into account on third and fourth down.
The Chiefs defense will have their hands full keeping Taylor from making those big splashy plays outside the numbers and on the ground.
Exploit what the Chargers defense gives you
Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images
Chargers DB Rayshawn Jenkins spoke to The Athletic about how they plan to stop the Chiefs’ high-powered offense. He revealed that they want to force Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes to check the ball down instead of making the big explosive plays that he’s known for. The only problem with that — it plays right into the hands of Kansas City.
They already wanted to become less reliant on those explosive plays. Mahomes spoke a bit on this change after Week 1.
“All of us want to go for the big shot, all of us want to go for the touchdown pass every single time,” Mahomes said. “But if defenses are going to play us back and play us in coverage, I’m going to take the stuff underneath and let the guys make plays, find ways to score and find ways to win football games.”
If the Chargers want to let the Chiefs beat them by playing ball-control offense, they’ll be happy to do that. They might need to come up with another strategy in order to beat Kansas City.
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